Haven Ascendant

by Robert M Kerns

  “Hi. Thanks for coming,” Cole said as he invited Sasha inside.

  Sasha stepped into Cole’s apartment and walked with him over to the sitting area, where she accepted Cole’s invitation to be comfortable.

  “You said you wanted to discuss something that had been on your mind a few days?” Sasha asked as she leaned back against the sofa.

  Cole nodded. He sat in an armchair facing her across a coffee table, and he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Yes. Scarlett had a chat with me on the way to Baldur, and I probably should’ve done something about it by now. But there have been so many things happening, and to be honest, it was easier to push it to the back of my mind.” For just the briefest of moments, Cole thought he saw Sasha’s breath catch. “The thing is, seeing those refugees from the Duchy really drove home that we’re never guaranteed tomorrow; you’d think I’d be better acquainted with that concept, but there we are. Sasha, forgive me; I feel like I’m rambling. I…I want to ask you out on a date. Are you okay with me asking you out?”

  Sasha sat swiftly upright, her eyes going wide, and her left hand flew up to cover her mouth.

  Uh oh, Cole thought as he fought to keep his expression bland. This isn’t going well. I should’ve kept my mouth shut, and for that matter so should have Scarlett!

  “What…” Sasha’s voice started out almost as a whisper but she stopped and took a deep breath. “What about Haven? I mean…I’m the first officer, and you’re the captain. What kind of image is that going to present, and what happens when more people start dating on the ship?”

  Cole shrugged. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I’ve specifically refused to include any regulations against dating on the ship. We have regs against rape and sexual assault, of course, but nothing about two consenting people deciding they want to try for a relationship. You know what…you’re right. Hang on a sec.” Cole accessed his implant and initiated a call to Srexx, routing the call through the apartment’s audio system. The speakers immediately chirped to indicate a connected call.

  “Yes, Cole?” Srexx answered.

  “Srexx, buddy, may I ask a favor of you?” Cole said.

  “Of course, Cole.”

  “Please remind me tomorrow to make a clarification to the regulations for the fleet. If it isn’t expressly spelled out somewhere, I want to add a regulation stating that romantic relationships aboard ships are one-hundred-percent permitted, with the provision that one or both parties will be transferred off the ship if their conduct or relationship affects performance in any way.”

  “I shall remind you of that tomorrow,” Srexx said, “but I can inform you now that no such regulation exists in the current document you have posted as fleet-wide regulations.”

  “Thank you, Srexx; I appreciate your help. Cole out.” The speakers chirped again and Cole turned his attention back to Sasha, saying, “Sasha, I don’t want you feeling like you have to accept, and if I’ve crossed a line, please tell me. Think it over, and let me know. There’s no time limit on the question. I just—”

  “Yes,” Sasha said, nearly blurting it out.

  When no further clarification seemed forthcoming, Cole lifted his eyebrows as he asked, “May I ask ‘yes’ in what respect?”

  Sasha blinked. Cole thought he noticed her cheeks blush a bit, but she rallied, saying, “Yes, I’d like that date.”

  Cole fought once more to keep his expression neutral, but a smile did escape his control. “You would?”

  Twenty minutes and some nervous conversation (on both sides) later, Sasha left Cole’s apartment with a dinner date planned for two evenings hence. She managed to keep her expression neutral until she reached her own apartment, whereupon she immediately called her sister and said they needed to talk.

  “We need to talk?” Talia asked. “Everything okay, Soosh?”

  “Yes,” Sasha answered with a broad smile on her face. “Cole asked me on a date!”

  Talia was working a shift on the hospital deck when she received an incoming call request from her sister. Not giving it a second thought, she accepted the call. Fewer than ninety seconds later, everyone in the ward turned to look when Talia erupted in an excited squeal and pumped her fist in the air.

  Chapter Thirty

  Cole’s Apartment

  Citadel Station

  Beta Magellan

  26 January 3004, 05:37 GST

  Cole rubbed his eyes as he staggered to the hatch. Someone was ringing the hatch chime like there was no tomorrow. As he neared his destination, Cole heaved a huge yawn and was barely finishing it when the sensors detected him and opened the hatch. Garrett stood in the corridor.

  “Garrett,” Cole said, “you’re my oldest friend, but what in all the stars could’ve possessed you to ring my hatch chime at this hour?”

  “The Duke of Musilar is still alive.”

  Cole blinked, instantly fully awake, and almost pulled Garrett into his apartment. “He is? You’re sure?”

  “The Coalition has publicized the Duke’s upcoming execution, and I have people in the prison where he’s being held,” Garrett explained as they sat. “They smuggled out DNA confirmation that the person being held for execution is indeed the Duke.”

  “When’s the execution?”

  Garrett grimaced. “That’s the problem…eight days.”

  Cole accessed his implant and called Srexx, routing the call through the apartment’s audio system.

  “Yes, Cole?” Srexx answered.

  “The Musilar system,” Cole said. “How soon could we be there at maximum on the hyperdrive?”

  “One moment…” After no more than three seconds of silence, Srexx continued, “Three days, eighteen hours, and…well…the remainder is so small that it is not relevant for your answer.”

  Cole turned back to Garrett. “You are absolutely certain the execution isn’t for eight days?”

  Garrett nodded. “Yes. The new governor in the system is planning a big show in the former capital. The Duke, his admiral, and several others are all scheduled for execution at the same time. They want as many people to see it as possible; they’re wanting it to be a demoralizing event. Help drive home that the Duchy is no more.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Cole replied, almost a growl. “Srexx, if you please, issue an emergency recall of all personnel for the battlegroup and the two system pickets we brought back from those five systems.”

  “Yes, Cole.”

  “Garrett, get anything you need for the trip,” Cole said as he almost jogged to his sleeping quarters.

  “I’m ready to go,” Garrett said as he waited on Cole to change out of his sleeping clothes.

  Cole hopped out of his sleeping quarters in his boxer-briefs, in the process of pulling on his pants. A shirt hung across one shoulder.

  “My, my,” Garrett remarked. “Imagine if Sasha could see you now.”

  Cole stopped, almost mid-hop with his right leg lifted to slide into his pants. “Not funny, Garrett. Really not funny.”

  “Oh, don’t be a fuss-budget. Everyone has been waiting to see if you’d ever figure out that she has a serious thing for you.”

  Cole finished donning his pants and pulled on his shirt, then started hunting for his shoes. “Well, make it known that I don’t care who ribs me about it, but the first person to say anything flippant about Sasha won’t appreciate my response…not one bit.”

  “Everyone will think you’ll blackball them if you leave it like that,” Garrett remarked.

  Cole grabbed his shoes and flopped on the sofa beside Garrett and started pulling them on and tying them. “Heh…fine. You can let it be known that I’m not so far removed from Jax Theedlow that I won’t take someone down to the flight deck and kick his ass from the bow to the stern if he says anything nasty about Sasha, and you’ve seen me fight, Garrett.”

  “Yes,” Garrett replied. “Yes, I have. And if the offender is a woman?”

  Cole finished tying his shoes and stood. “You read
y?”

  Garrett stood as well and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Cole led the way to the hatch, saying, “If the speaker of the rude comment is a woman…well…I’ll just offer the use of my flight deck to Sasha.”

  Bridge Briefing Room, Haven

  Beta Magellan

  26 January 3004, 07:45 GST

  Cole, Sasha, Emily, Harlon, Yeleth, Red, and Garrett occupied their usual places around the table. Joining them were Admiral Trask (also seated at the table) and Admiral Sato, Painter, Sev, Paol, and Mattias Stone via holo-call.

  “Apologies for the early morning, people,” Cole said, “but Garrett woke me up with news I feel we have to act on. The Duke of Musilar is alive, as are a number of his closest advisors and officers. They are scheduled for execution in eight days, and we can be there in three days and eighteen hours. I’m advocating we go get them.”

  “Right, then,” Cole replied. “So, someone talk me out of this, or I’m giving the departure order.”

  “Could this be some kind of elaborate trap, after the drubbing we gave them in those five systems?” Admiral Trask asked.

  “Good question,” Garrett said, “and no, I don’t believe it is. At least not in the sense that the Duke and his people won’t actually be executed if we don’t show up. What Cole has never actively mentioned is that I am—for all intents and purposes—his Head of Intelligence. I have a rather impressive network of informants and dead-drops, and one of those informants works in the prison where the Duke and his people are incarcerated. The person smuggled out multi-factor, biometric verification that the person awaiting execution is indeed the Duke of Musilar. I have confirmation on the identities of the others as well. Now, full disclosure…the Coalition has a considerable fleet presence in Musilar as well.”

  Garrett tapped a few commands into the conference table, and a hologram appeared above the table’s center. It was the system scan for Musilar as of three days before.

  “That…” Admiral Trask said “…is a lot of ships. Two dreadnoughts, eight battleships, nineteen cruisers, twenty-five destroyers, and fifty-six frigates.” Trask turned to look at Cole. “What are you planning to take in there?”

  “Haven’s battlegroup,” Cole answered, “and the two system pickets that followed us home after our most recent op.”

  Trask turned back to the hologram, his expression thoughtful. Trask turned back to Cole, saying, “Okay. That could work.”

  “What kind of information do you have on the prison facility?” Harlon asked.

  Garrett just leaned back against his seat. “I have floorplans with guard posts highlighted.”

  “Want to help me plan an extraction by force?” Harlon asked.

  Garrett smiled. “Love to.”

  Cole surveyed by sight everyone around the table. “Okay. If no one is going to say this is a bad idea, we need to get moving. We’ll send a scout frigate ahead of us to recon the system under full stealth, but unless something’s radically different than what that system scan shows, I’m planning on blitzing into the system close enough to launch the extraction teams and then blast away at every ship in range until the teams return. Thoughts?”

  “We’ll refine that a bit over the next couple days,” Trask said, “but as a framework, it’s not too bad.”

  Cole nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s get going. Thank you, everyone.”

  Everyone stood up from the table, except Cole. As the others filed out of the briefing room, Cole said, “Sasha, a word please?”

  Sasha resumed her seat.

  Once the hatch closed with Cole and Sasha the only people still in the briefing room, Cole said, “I hope we can still continue with our dinner plans, as long as you don’t mind having dinner aboard the ship.”

  Sasha smiled. “I’m okay with that.”

  Cole sighed his relief. “Good. I was worried that if I rescheduled, you might think I was afraid of our date or something like that. Don’t get me wrong; I am a little nervous about the date, but I’m glad I asked and glad you said ‘yes.’”

  Sasha sat in silence, holding eye contact with Cole for several seconds. Then she stood and took the few steps necessary to reach him. After one moment of appraisal, she leaned in and kissed him full on the lips. When she finally decided to give him a break, she inclined her head close to his left ear and whispered, “Don’t worry, flyboy; you can run, but you can’t hide.”

  Then she pulled back, gave him a wink, and left the briefing room.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  System Periphery

  Musilar System

  30 January 3004, 13:05 GST

  Cole stood with Admiral Trask. It was the first time he’d ever been inside the flag bridge, and the space was subtly different enough from Cole’s bridge that he had a twitch between his shoulder blades. Trask’s staff occupied various stations around the compartment.

  The flag plot looked very similar to the tactical plot Cole was used to seeing. The core differences seemed to be more detailed ship vectors and different coloring for range increments, but Cole supposed the different coloring could have just been Trask’s preference.

  “That,” Trask said, “is a lot more ships.”

  The current focus of the two officers was the mass of ships near Musilar’s sole inhabited planet, Musilar Prime. Instead of the forces reported by Garrett’s informant, there were now five dreadnoughts and fifteen more cruisers, bringing that total up to a whopping thirty-five.

  Cole nodded. “Yeah…more ships arrived from somewhere.” One specific ship-code drew Cole’s attention. Cole reached up and zoomed in on the plot to get a better look at the ship. It was a dreadnought, by all appearances the same as the other four near Musilar Prime, but when Cole zoomed in, the ship’s transponder data appeared in the space beside the ship-code. The ship’s transponder squawked a ship name of Coalition Alpha. “Oh, holy crap.”

  “Holy crap, indeed,” Trask remarked.

  “Garrett has never been able to identify the capital for the Coalition,” Cole said. “I want to get Srexx within easy comms range of that monster.”

  Trask heaved a deep breath and shook his head slowly, saying, “Cole, I understand this operation is important to you…and not just you, to so many other people as well. But the presence of those ships changes things. We were at near parity before, between the two system pickets and the battlegroup versus their ships. There is now an additional dreadnought and fifteen more cruisers. I’m no longer certain this is a fight we can walk away from, let alone win…certainly not using the blitz-in/blitz-out plan.”

  Cole frowned. “How soon until they see us?”

  “Ah,” Trask vocalized as he scanned the flag plot for their current distance, “I’d guess ten hours, plus or minus.”

  “If I may,” Srexx interjected, “we are sixty-eight AUs from the near-planet space. It will take approximately nine-point-four-three hours for the light of our arrival to reach Musilar Prime.”

  “What if we blitz to what is our extreme missile range,” Cole began, “and launch the extraction teams under full stealth? We wouldn’t be in a position of overwatch, but we should be able to pull the fleet orbiting the planet out to meet us.”

  “Why would they care that we’re out there?” Trask asked. “What would they gain from coming out to meet us? Every engagement they have forced with you has been an overwhelming, embarrassing defeat for them. Did they not decline battle in Tristan’s Gate the last time?”

  “Yes,” Cole replied, “but they have us decisively outnumbered in capital ships and cruisers. Wouldn’t they want to take the chance that they could kill me or capture some tech they could reverse-engineer?”

  “What if that Coalition Alpha dreadnought high-tails it for a jump gate?” Trask countered.

  “So, we position a scout frigate under full stealth to get close enough to act as a relay for Srexx,” Cole replied. “Oh, that’s a good idea. One sec…”

  Cole accessed his implant and sent orders to one of th
e scout frigates in Haven’s battlegroup to go to full stealth immediately and maintain it until further notice.

  “Sorry,” Cole said. “I just ordered one of the scout frigates in the battlegroup to go to full stealth.”

  Trask merely nodded, still focused on the flag plot.

  “We still don’t have reliable data on just how many ships of an equivalent class one of our ships can defeat,” the admiral said after a few more seconds, “and now is certainly not the time to try and find out. I still think we should pull back. Yes…the Duke’s execution would be a huge morale victory for the Coalition and a major blow to whatever resistance remains, but I simply do not think we can survive attempting this against the Coalition forces currently in-system.”

  Cole nodded. “Okay. I’m going to take a walk and think on this.”

  Cole stood in the center of the unused Captain’s Quarters on Deck One. Each bulkhead around him displayed silent live holos of the dining halls on the mess deck. He took in the laughing, boisterous ambiance of the dining halls, drinking in the sheer vibrancy of his people as he wrestled with the decision he faced.

  Cole turned when the hatch behind him irised open, and he smiled when Sasha walked inside. She approached and stopped at his side.

  “You’ve been off-comms for a while now,” Sasha said. “No one could find you, but I appealed to Srexx. You have a few people worried.”

  Cole nodded his understanding of her statement but said nothing.

  “So, care to tell a girl what’s on your mind?”

  “‘But if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it,’” Cole answered.

  “That sounded like a quote,” Sasha commented.

  Cole nodded again. “It’s from a fifteen-hundred-year-old play, give or take on the fifteen-hundred years. The playwright is one of the most well-known figures in Human literature across the ages.”