After the meal, they shook hands and went their separate ways. Kana didn’t seem to want to talk much, and Shin Ho easily understood.
He returned to his ship, arriving just ahead of the end of his liberty.
Part II – Incursion
Chapter 31
Admiral Shin Ho Lee, Federal Fleet Headquarters
Haifa Federal District, Earth
Admiral Lee entered a small chamber deep inside the complex of enormous office structures that housed a large percentage of the world government, including the admiralty.
Just three weeks earlier he commanded a maintenance base orbiting the frontier planet of Aditi. The assignment had moved Shin Ho as far away from Earth as possible, and had been designed to put him as far away from earth as possible.
The maintenance base was punishment for being entirely too competent, and almost worse, for being outspokenly opposed to corruption, graft and greed, as well as the hollowing out of the fleet he’d served so ably for so long.
A series of very public trials had led to revelation after revelation of kickbacks, political appointments – both to punish and to award – and of a fleet unable in many cased to even put to space, much less defend and support Earth and her systems.
Shin Ho had friends as well as a few enemies, and via backchannel comms, many hand carried, he managed to document a large number of violations of fleet and federal laws, leading eventually to the first of many trials, culminating in the current installment, this one featuring none other than the fleet admiral who had banished Shin Ho to Aditi.
Shin Ho had earlier testified and was now one of many fleet personnel, plus a few civilians, who listened in something akin to horror as the testimony against Admiral Hafez piled up indictment after indictment, over thirty new ones just in the last week, with the prospect of more in the legal pipeline.
Admiralty had ordered Shin Ho to remain in Haifa. He could only assume that meant a new assignment; either that, or enforced retirement. He didn’t know which, nor did he know which he preferred.
This complex was built on a flat, dusty plain inland from the Mediterranean Sea and just north of the easily visible Mount Carmel. Most of that mountain was closed to secular government or commercial enterprises, comprising the site of an ever-expanding assortment of classically beautiful structures of the Baha’i Faith. In fact, that religion had other pilgrimage sites within ten kilometers of the government complex.
This religion was new by most standards, being only a few hundred years old, but within just a few years of its appearance it had adherents pretty much everywhere, but with almost no concentrations anywhere.
Over the last three centuries it had, however, slowly grown in numbers to the point that it had more followers than Buddhism and almost as many as the still-collapsing number of Muslims, whose jihads in previous centuries signaled the beginning of a slow decline in numbers and spiritual authority, one that continued up to the present.
Oddly, this religion grew almost as if it deliberately avoided concentrating in any one area. This had achieved at least one desired result: it ensured that its primary enemy could not destroy it; and it would not freeze into a set form; it resisted acquiring dogma and rituals and continued to energetically grow down rather than up, meaning it concentrated on building local networks in which children could be raised in strong family and community settings.
Christianity continued to be highly ‘popular’, but it had fractured into so many factions and segments, and its practices had changed so drastically that as a whole the faith tended to be barely recognizable when compared to its own book.
Like Judaism, it had become more cultural than spiritual, although both of these religions continued to produce numbers of devout and largely beautiful examples of their teachings. For that matter, so did the other religions; it was simply that their ability to generate a vigorous ethical social contract had waned many centuries in the past.
Oddly that latest religion to appear on the world scene was, while still numerically smaller than the others, enjoying a steadily developing influence on world affairs, despite making an effort to remain apart from world politics. It had been this people who had lobbied for the cessation of the expansion to other worlds, claiming that each world had it’s own destiny, a right to develop consciousness and the ability to understand the universe it had popped into.
The dominant force in world politics remained the secularists, and it was they who had pushed humanity’s expansion to so many other worlds, despite the growing evidence that the stupendous proliferation of life on every planet in every solar system they’d surveyed signaled that life was the point to the universe, not an isolated accident of chemistry.
The huge advances in mankind’s growing understanding of the universe and the laws that governed it had also demonstrated the remarkable similarity and connection between the basic tenets of religion and science. This was not to say that the practices of governments, businesses or religions came even close to matching the utter beauty and rationality of the way in which matter came into being and evolved upwards in complexity, or how the Seven Valleys, the last three verses of the Quran or the Sermon on the Mount could bring the reader to his or her knees in wonder and awe.
Science now knew a truth, one long known by religious scholars: the universe was not what it seemed. The more science learned, the more questions it gained. The closer scientists came to understanding nature, the more they realized that math was real, matter not; that the similarities between the material and non-material worlds caused many to believe that the universe was more a veil that obscured a greater truth than it was a collection of stars.
Earth society was and had been for centuries, in a state of flux. The explosive colonization of so many other systems had bled off much of the internal pressure on society, but as the civil war had so tragically demonstrated, only temporarily. Now, today, another crisis was brewing, although most of mankind wasn’t yet aware of it.
The one single unifying force that knit the various systems into one whole was the navy, and the recent trials were now demonstrating that that navy was just as corrupt as it’s worst detractors had long claimed. The current trial was doing something else: it was revealing that the nearly empty shell that the navy had become was virtually unable to respond to an emergency. It was also a virtual certainty that an emergency was inevitable.
Chapter 32
As the morning session ended, Shin Ho was tapped on the shoulder by a Navy aide, one of many who roamed the immense building.
He was mildly surprised that he hadn’t been commed in the usual manner, but as he followed the very fit young man down into the depths of the building, he mused that whatever awaited him, it would be a secret someone didn’t want anyone else to learn.
He was ushered into a small office and led straight through into an interior room. Judging just from the crowded tables and aromas, it seemed to be an area used by lowly aides to eat their meals.
Sitting at one of the tables was Eloise Spinoza, the civilian head of the Federal Navy.
Shin Ho had known the woman for many years, had never found much in her to like, save that she was ruthlessly logical, meaning she was a politician rather than the selfless servant of the public that she claimed to be.
She silently gestured for him to sit and waved the aide out of the space. Once they were alone she smiled and said, “We are alone, in every possible sense of that word. Nobody knows I am here, or that we are meeting. Understood?”
Shin Ho simply said, “Yes sir. How may I serve you?” She knew he literally meant those words, that he truly believed in the federation; he also knew his attitude irritated the hell out of her.
She took a sip of tea and asked, “What do you think will be the outcome of the trial?” He replied, “If there was a death penalty, they would convict him, hang him and revive him just so they could execute him again.”
She snorted, “Shin Ho, when are you ever going to learn how to talk to civi
lians?” He smiled, showing his teeth, “I believe the man has violated numerous fleet statutes, and will in due course be found guilty.”
She shook her head, “You never learned how to talk and say nothing. That is what got you in trouble with that bastard upstairs – you just couldn’t keep your damn mouth shut.”
Shin Ho nodded, trying not to show the impatience he always felt around her – she couldn’t pass up an opportunity to lecture and hector. He took a breath and let it out, “Yes Ma’am. Guilty as charged. Not going to change any time soon.”
She was surprised into a weird, barking laugh, telling him one possible reason why she was never seen laughing – it was highly unflattering, “I have a task, and I’ve got a handful of people who might be up to handling it.”
He looked closely at her and almost shuddered, “Replacing Hafez.” She nodded and continued to look at him.
He smiled faintly, “Things must be…” She interrupted, “You have no idea, you really don’t.” Actually, he had a very good understanding of the situation, but he tended to hide his keen intelligence behind those blunt, punchy sentences that infuriated his boss. Bosses.
She took another sip of coffee, still eyeing him, set the cup down and sighed, “Shin Ho, we don’t like each other; never have, never will, but I know how to do my job, and as difficult as it is for me to admit it, you are capable. Yes, Hafez. Tell me why I should assign you to replace him.”
Shin Ho took a sip of his own coffee – she knew him well enough to know he’d spit in a cup of tea – and considered what she’d just asked.
Her mind resembled an onion, with layers upon layers. He detested that way of thinking – life in space came down to black and white – you had air or you didn’t. Unfortunately, the man currently on trial upstairs thought the same way she did and had assiduously cultivated officers who resembled him rather than, well, officers.
He set down the cup and said, “Sir, if you appoint me to Admiral of the Fleet, it will piss off any number of more senior officers, creating severe headaches for both of us. If you appoint me to that position, I will spend my first month on Jupiter firing and/or arresting people. If you keep me there, within six months I should be able to field a small force of operational light units, enough to resume patrolling the more important regions of federation space; within one year I will have enough units to be able to bring Seventh Fleet in for upgrades, repairs and refit; if you are able to keep me in command, and with sufficient budget, within five years the navy will be fully operational and able to meet all its current commitments, albeit with decrepit ships. Good, current ships will take ten years.”
She shook her head, “I don’t think we have that much time.” He asked, “Sir?” She smiled faintly, “We don’t like each other, and for reasons that are well known to both of us. Shin Ho, I rarely unburden myself to others, believe that once something is said, it cannot be taken back, but I have never lied to you. One of the reasons you have spent the last few years in purgatory is that you just can’t seem to keep quiet or lie. I have two more years, and then I’m gone. I…we must accomplish enough in that time that after I’m gone your position will be strong enough to withstand the usual efforts to replace you with yet another incompetent. I do not believe the navy could survive another idiot, and as the navy goes, so goes the federation.”
Shin Ho took another sip of coffee and mulled that statement. It had been almost shockingly direct, meaning he didn’t have to sift through the dust to find the grain of truth. He asked, “How much leeway will I have?” She smiled, “I know where the bodies are buried - all the bodies. I can keep you in that chair for two years; after that, you’ll be unprotected.”
She added, “If we agree, I can promise to keep the vultures off your back, but only as long as I’m here. After I’m gone, it is quite possible that all those enemies you are going to acquire will bring you down. You understand? You would have just two years.”
He cocked his head and said, “Sir, you are telling me that the situation is dire, that I may have just two years to accomplish a miracle, and after you are gone, I will most probably get sacked.”
She leaned forward and quietly said, “Shin Ho, if you are lucky, you will merely get sacked.”
He took another sip, thought about his wife and child, and said, “Sir, I am honored that you have considered me; if I am offered the position, I will do my utmost not to let you down, not to fail the Federal Navy.”
She reached across the table and they shook hands, “One ethical screw-up, one tiny screw-up, and you’ll wish you never shook my hand. There is a shuttle waiting for you; my aide will take you to it. It will drop you off on Jupiter base. I’ve detailed a company of Marines to meet you there. Their commander is…just as irritating as you are. I think you’ll like him.”
Shin Ho asked, “Marines?” She smiled, “I hope they’ll be enough. If not, tell me and I’ll send you more. En route, you’ll have some time to draw up plans. As a suggestion, shut the base down, completely down, and take physical control of all databases. Do that first, and only then begin cutting off heads.”
She rose to her feet, forcing him to follow suit. He asked, wanting to know exactly what she meant, “Cutting off heads?” She said, her voice bitter, “I was not suggesting that you literally cut off heads; that’s clearly illegal. If I thought we could get away with it…”
She waved her hand at him, “Remain here for five minutes, then follow my aide. Your things have already been packed.”
At the door she turned and looked back, “Shin Ho, I love the federation. It isn’t much, but it’s all we have. Please, don’t let me down. I know how you feel, and frankly, your viewpoint is one I admire. In a better world…well, don’t let us all down. Please.”
With that she was gone.
He sat back down and sipped his coffee. It was good; and oddly, so was his boss. People could sometimes surprise, rarely in a good way, but, sometimes.
On the ascent up to orbit, Shin Ho began comming a series of people he knew and trusted. Most were relatively low ranking, but he knew them to be capable, something of a rarity in the universe he found himself in.
Chapter 33
Rear Admiral Alexi Tretiakov
Fleet Base Luna
Alexi returned the salute of a Marine guard and surprised the woman by reaching out to shake her hand. He told her, “Lieutenant, it’s a pleasure to meet you. Is m y staff assembled?” She said, “Yes sir. If you will follow me, I’ll take you now.”
He followed the young officer out of the immense hold of the Krakow, a mothballed fleet carrier that had for decades been orbiting Luna.
That was due to change.
The recent revelations of corruption that had swept the fleet had begun to have repercussion, not the least, or last, of which, was the appointment to Admiral of the Fleet of a classmate and old friend of his, Admiral Shin Ho Lee. Not two days after assuming control of Jupiter Base, Admiral Lee ordered Alexi to bring the old Krakow back to life.
His orders were to assume command of a new taskforce, one not yet in existence, which would be charged with temporarily replacing Seventh Fleet, allowing the navy to repair and upgrade that severely overworked group of ships.
As yet, he had no idea what other ships would be assigned to him, save that they would probably all be older than he was.
In the stateroom, he went around the table, shaking hands with the female officers, and offering traditional Russian hugs to the men. In some cases, this proved to be a bit awkward, as many of the officers present were not familiar with Russians.
They would just have to learn.
Once everyone was settled again he asked his executive officer to begin by bringing everyone up to speed on the status of the ship.
Commander Bergman stood and brought up a schematic of the ship, “Sir, the Krakow is a late second generation fleet carrier. It was capable of embarking eighty-four Dash 4 fighters, which are significantly larger than the current Dash 6. It was desig
ned to attain eight G’s acceleration, and had enough bunkerage to remain out for as much as six months without replenishment, save for comestibles and munitions. It was the largest class of carrier ever built.”
She took a sip of something and resumed, “When she was commissioned the Krakow was already an old design, and is at present, the single remaining ship in existence of her class. In actual practice, the ship rarely exceeded six G’s and according to records, over the last decade of service, never achieved seven. We have been going through her engines, and believe that we can lift her out of orbit and shift to Jupiter Base within three weeks to one month; that is, barring unforeseen developments. Later this shift, we will begin taking on fuel, and that process should be completed within twenty-four hours. I have two full crews working on assessing the power systems. We have found a number of problems, principally with the Zerohm cabling, which, as you might imagine, has with time broken down and must be replaced. We are scheduled to accept a shipment of new cabling within two days. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide you with a more accurate time frame. Until we receive that cabling, we will not be able to bring the propulsion fusion plants online. In the meantime, I have one crew inspecting them. As you can see, we have one plant up, providing us with gravity and environmental. It’s still a bit cold, but by the end of this watch we should be able to stop complaining.”
Hawk Flight (Flight of the Hawk Book 3) Page 18
