ROMA

by R. A. Ender

  As for Janus, Richard knew almost nothing about the man. He was aware of his position, but couldn’t remember him from any special event or historic Defense Force engagement. Too often Fleet Admirals were chosen for their reliability and controllability, and less about their strategic vision. If real fighting broke out, they wouldn’t be in charge for long anyways. That said, Janus’ conduct during arrangements for the secret rendezvous mission with Bazan and their meeting today all but set in stone Richard’s opinion of the man. And it was less than favorable.

  Richard had hoped to get Janus on board for a redeployment of the Northern Fleet to a more secure location before F’lwok was invaded by a large IAE fleet. A simple enough process of setting up a repeating message being sent from a large deployment of temporary satellites could have done the job. Any ship answering the recall order could immediately jump back into hyperspace. And since it was on a coded frequency, it was possible that the invasion fleet would be too busy, slow or stupid to take them out right away.

  But Janus refused. He also refused to believe that it was an IAE invasion. This statement sent Richard over the edge. At first, he just explained why he thought it was. By the end, he just sat there amazed that an Admiral of the Fleet could have such a large amount of proof, yet chose to ignore it in favor of following an ill-conceived bureaucratic plan from headquarters.

  What finally sent Richard flying down the concourse in a rage was that Janus ordered him to immediately dock his ship and submit to the authority of the Northern Fleet. He didn’t even answer. Richard just stood and left the Admiral’s office.

  Now, turning the corner to enter the tavern Robin had messaged him to meet her at, he tried to put Janus and his horrible mood out of his mind. As he entered he passed an extremely large and muscular security guard, unusually large for a F’lwoka.

  It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the greatly reduced lighting in the tavern itself. At first, he could only make out people as shapes, but soon the details began taking shape. He looked around but the tavern was busy and rather chaotically setup. He couldn’t see Robin at all.

  Then, suddenly, a loud and raucous laugh penetrated from the back of the room. It was the distinctive laugh of his longtime friend. Drawn to the sound of her laugh, now matched by a much lower bass laugh, he maneuvered around a few tables and caught sight of them behind a support pillar.

  As he approached he saw that Robin had managed to find an especially provocative dress from the store he had left her at this morning before he had gone to meet with Janus. It was a rare treat to see his second in command in such an attractive light. Though he had never acted on his more base instincts, there was no doubt that he had always found Robin very sexy. She had entered his thoughts more than a few times over the years. Today, no imagination was necessary as her curves were on prominent display.

  Approaching the table, he noticed that her companion had already locked his eyes on his approach, and Richard saw his hand slowly drop to his leg. No doubt, the freighter captain, obvious from his dress, was armed for protection. Robin caught sight of her companions distracted attention, and turned to see what was going on.

  When she saw it was Richard, a big and beautiful smile broke across her face, and she waved him over.

  “Argus, this is my commanding officer, Fleet Admiral Richard Hilbornus.” She introduced with a motion of her hand, not standing up.

  The now identified Captain Argus gave a nod, and Richard was happy to see his hand came back up on the table. “Please, Admiral, have a seat. Your extremely beautiful subordinate and I were just discussing matters of mutual interest.”

  “Thank you, Captain. I’m glad to hear we are exchanging ideas. Friendly discussion is always welcome.”

  Robin gave a smile and a pat on the back to Richard. “Captain Argus has been most generous.” With a more direct look, Robin gave a small nod.

  They had agreed in advance that if they could get some good intelligence, they would do two things. First, they would offer contact information for the Captain, in case he ever needed a favor in return. Being beholden to Private Freight Captain’s was not an ideal position for Defense Force personnel to be in, but under the circumstances, Richard felt it was a risk worth taking. At the end of the day, he could always say no later.

  The second thing they agreed to was to pay for the freighters docking fees and escort their ship safely out of the system. Usually, a freighter doesn’t leave until there is a paying customer to pay for their berth and next jump. However, given that anyone they spoke to was likely to be detained by Defense Force Intelligence, or now even worse by Admiral Janus’ men, it was only fair to offer them safe passage out of the system.

  “Well, Captain Argus, we appreciate your assistance. I believe Captain Shelbus has already extended our offer of future assistance?”

  “If you mean this gorgeous creature in front of me, then yes, she has.” Turning his attention back to Robin, he continued. “You never told me your rank was Captain, my dear. A compliment to you. For a freight Captain such as myself, one need only acquire a ship to be promoted. In Defense Force, that is a great accomplishment. Congratulations!” And he tipped his glass toward her.

  “You are as much a charmer as a gentleman. Thank you, Captain. And please, do call us if you ever need help. Even if we can’t do it personally, we both have a lot of friends in the service.”

  Argus gave a big smile while he nodded understanding. As he did, he looked over toward the door again, peeking around the pillar.

  “It seems some of your friends have arrived.” He said motioning toward a small group of Defense Force security and plain clothes intelligence men. Richard looked over his shoulder with some concern. Being a Fleet Admiral gave him a certain amount of leverage with subordinates, but, if Janus gave specific orders, he likely would not be able to override them.

  “Captain Argus, I think perhaps it is best if we left now. Robin and I will escort you to your ship and ensure you will be permitted to leave. She has already paid your docking fees and you have clearance to leave.”

  Argus popped an eyebrow up. “So, not your friends after all?” He asked with some level of humor as he stood to leave.

  “Friends of Admiral Janus. Admiral Janus is currently not one of my good friends, though.” Richard answered with a big smile, as he and Robin also stood to leave.

  Without speaking and raising any more attention, Argus motioned for them to follow him. He walked a few steps backward into a small hallway which appeared to lead only to the bathrooms. However, at the end of the hall, Argus pushed the wall and it swung open into the kitchen area.

  Quickly, all three walked into the more brightly lit, but quiet kitchen, and Argus pushed the door shut. Inside, standing in front of them, was a single F’lwoka dressed in the uniform of a cook.

  Argus smiled and spoke to the man in the F’lwokan language, which neither Robin nor Richard knew more than a few common greetings of. Whatever was said produced a wish of luck, a common F’lwokan goodbye that Richard recognized, and Argus began walking toward a backdoor.

  The backdoor exited back onto the concourse, but nowhere even close to the front door of the tavern. Turning with a smile on his face, Argus said, “Sometimes it’s best to know the backdoors to even the most classy of establishments. You don’t know how many times I’ve avoided a firefight slipping out the back door.”

  Pointing down the concourse, he continued. “The docking bays are down that hall for the freighters. I assume you’ll be heading back toward the military arm? How should I leave the base?”

  “Just leave like you normally would. I’ll make sure you have no trouble with local security outside the base. Avoid internal security, get in your ship and you’ll be fine. And, thank you again, Captain.”

  “A pleasure.” Turning his attention to Robin, he half bowed, took her hand and gave it a kiss. “And a billion pleasures,” he said with a smile. Before Robin could answer, he was off.

  The half ru
n, half walk back to the hangar bay produced no problems for Richard and Robin. Arriving back, they quickly put on their flight gear. Usually, they changed entirely, but given the situation, it was best to rush a bit. It did mean Robin was extremely uncomfortable with a flight jumpsuit over her dress. The bunching of material around her mid-section was extremely uncomfortable and made fitting into the Squalus’ small fighter seats difficult, to say the least.

  Richard had less trouble, but he felt extra bulky with his uniform on under the flight suit. As soon as he had his helmet on, he called hangar control to get permission to launch. Then, he flipped channels, boosted his fighters comm system and sent a narrow transmission to the Caesar Augustus.

  For a few minutes, Robin and he waited for hangar control without speaking. Even the internal fighter communication could be heard from hangar control if they wanted to. However, the silence coming from hangar control was making Richard nervous.

  He was about to open his comm line to Robin when hangar control came through his headset.

  “Hangar control to Squalus CDF-0781, please power down your systems. The base commander has requested a meeting with you before you leave. Confirm?”

  This was the answer Richard had really hoped he wouldn’t get. For a moment, he tapped his finger on the button for the comm unit but didn’t activate the system. He knew that as long as he and Robin were inside the Squalus, they were safe. No one could get them out unless they opened the canopy.

  But unless hangar control allowed the ship to pass through the aerodam shield covering the launch bay exit, his little fighter wasn’t exactly going anywhere fast.

  Pushing the comm button, Richard began to speak. “Janus, open the hangar bay shield and let us out. And just so we are clear, I’m not asking, I’m ordering. I am on a detached mission ordered directly by the Commanding Admirals Council. And at this moment, you are impeding that mission. Any further efforts you make to stop my people, my ship or myself, I will consider an act of insubordination and I will have you arrested and relieved of duty. Is that clear, Fleet Admiral?”

  And with that, Richard turned off the comm and powered up the Squalus. The three grav jets under the roughly equilateral triangle shaped fighter began to glow a bright blue and the ship lifted into the air. With an easy touch of the controls, the Squalus turned in midair, orienting toward the hangar bay exit. The bay exit was huge and could easily accommodate the passing of most small and medium sized space crafts. And, the slight shimmer and distortion of the view of space clearly indicated that the aerodam shield was still activated.

  To pass through, the Squalus fighter needed to activate its aerodam shield at the same frequency as the shield on the hangar exit. With both shields matching frequency, it permits the passage of ships while maintaining the seal that prevents all particle passage, including air particles.

  But unless hangar control provides the frequency, the Squalus can’t pass through the aerodam shield either.

  “Do you think your speech is going to work?” Robin asked through the comm system. Her sarcasm came through very clearly.

  Richard didn’t bother to answer her. He was hoping that Janus was a weak enough leader that he would fold under the pressure from the CAC authority that he had, and that he knew Janus’ knew he had.

  It’s taking a while, though, he thought. I thought that moron would fold right away!

  Richard looked down at his control station and eyed the weapons. For a brief moment, he thought about lighting up his guns to put pressure on Janus but thought better of it. It was one thing to put pressure, a whole other thing to threaten the use of force.

  The comm system came back to life, with some open microphone silence and discussion in the background that couldn’t be heard.

  “What do you want me to say, sir?????”

  The voice of a young lady came through clearly followed by some confused yelling in the background, again it couldn’t be heard.

  “Ok....huh....ok. Hangar control to Squalus CDF-0781. You are clear for launch, use frequency 2.1.6.2.3.4.5. Confirm?”

  “Confirmed, hangar control. Thank you.” And without waiting for a change in mind, Richard hit the mass driver jets and propelled the Squalus out of the hangar bay, confident that Robin had adjusted the aerodam shields.

  Out in space, Richard curved the Squalus in a circular path to turn and pass over the star base, heading toward the freighter docking arm. As soon as the fighter cleared the base structure, he could see the Caesar Augustus positioned along the side of the docking arm.

  Adjusting to fly straight toward the ship, the Squalus approached at what would be seen from a stationary observer as an upside down position. When maneuvering in space, pilots were drilled endlessly to break the planetary instinct to maintain a single plane of perspective. When operating in a zero gravity, three-dimensional environment, it was a tactical error to constantly attempt to adjust one's perspective. Fighter training worked hard to beat into the heads of the pilots that their ship was always falling into infinity and everything they saw was just objects that were falling toward or away from.

  It was a difficult concept to internalize, but once done, it produced amazing pilots. Starship navigators were similarly drilled. For Richard, it had been a long time since he had successfully learned that view of space, and he was never bothered by objects at all different angles.

  In this case, though, Richard did need to rotate the Squalus to gain an angle that would permit him to land inside the hangar bay. But just as he was about to spin the fighter, his comm unit sprang to life.

  “Richard, can you take up a position in front of the freighter. I’m launching three wings of Squalus’ to back you up.”

  The voice was Sara’s, who was commanding officer on board the Caesar Augustus at the moment. The freighter, though Richard couldn’t see it yet, must have been Argus’. As soon as they had entered the Squalus, he had ordered the ship to come and protect their new friend. With an exact position, he was able to open a direct comm line to the ship in real time, which could jump into position in moments from further out in the outer system.

  As his fighter got closer, Richard caught sight of the Freighter emerging from the docking bay. It was a surprisingly powerful looking freighter. Its hull design was not that unique, using one of the standard small hull designs the Maxix Technology Corporation had built for centuries. But it was clear very quickly that it was heavily modified.

  The mass driver jets were several times larger than the standard for a small freighter and were curved sufficiently that Richard guessed the maneuvering capabilities of the freighter was likely quite fast. Even from a distance, the weapon turrets were clearly visible as well. Richard counted at least ten covering all sectors of the ships aspect. And most surprisingly, all the turrets were active and extended outside of the ship’s hull. Robin obviously noticed that as well.

  “Looks like he needed to motivate his launch as well. That’s a lot of guns.” Robin said over the comm.

  As they watched, Argus’ Freighter began leaving along a particular course. As Richard maneuvered the fighter to take up a position in front of the freighter, his navigation station received an upload from the Caesar Augustus with the freighters intended course. With a few touches of the station, he set the fighter to automatically follow the course and speed specified.

  With navigation controlled, Richard rotated his display to capture the three Squalus wings moving into position on his two wings and rear, and the Caesar Augustus swung into position behind the freighter. Sitting in front of his battleship, the Freighter appeared absolutely tiny.

  “Well, looks like we are all set, Robin. So, what did you learn from Captain Argus?” Richard asked as he returned his attention to his sensor station, and started tracking the inner system traffic to make sure Janus didn’t sneak up on their little convoy.

  “A lot of interesting details, that’s for sure. Most useful I think is the extent of the TeleGod crash. His contacts have told him that
it’s down across most of the Confederacy with one big exception. Apparently, most of the Royalist League worlds still have the network.”

  Richard was a little surprised to hear that. “Really! Did he have a reason? How reliable do you think that is?”

  The comm line was quiet for a moment before Robin answered. “Reliable? He was sure. I’ll be more doubtful. However, if we guess that TeleGod is down because IAE has ships that can disrupt our network, it makes sense. The best they could do is position those ships along our border with them and maybe along our border with the Canua who they have a good relationship with. That could kill TeleGod across most of the Confederacy, but it would leave most of the Royalist League unaffected. Only Veselyy is really close to the Canua border. The rest of the league worlds are comfortably sitting between Ka’Tak and Bxtozil space.”

  “Hmm, I agree with that. Do you think we should head toward Augustus? That’s likely the recall world for the Western Fleet, and if they still have interplanetary communication, it would be a good place to build a fleet.”

  Robin didn’t answer at first. She didn’t always take a lot of time to express an opinion but without any rush at the moment, there was no harm in a little more thought.