“You’re keeping me awake, girlfriend,” Jaydea said quietly. Cyndora remembered the bad nights in prison and the training center when Jaydea would comfort her like this. She held onto Jaydea’s hand feeling a little better already. “You two are in love, huh?” her friend asked her gently, keeping her voice low so that no one else would hear.
“Yes,” whispered Cyndora. “Please don’t tell anyone, Jay.”
“My lips are sealed, sweetie. I wouldn’t be surprised if Marsh has guessed though and I’m certain Xian knows. She’s a smart cookie when it comes to people. But we won’t tell.” Jaydea hugged her. “Now get some sleep so I can get some rest, too.”
Cyndora settled a little and she felt Jaydea fall asleep. Eventually she fell into a troubled doze, waiting for the morning.
The dorm stayed crowded the following morning as the rec areas were shut down whilst the crew was on alert. Cyndora’s friends tried to keep her spirits up, but the hours seemed to drag on endlessly. Eventually, they felt the funny little shiver that indicated a jump. Still they waited and no one came in to tell them anything. Their access to the data nets was severely limited so they couldn’t even query that source. Finally, later in the afternoon, a group of guards arrived to escort them back to the shuttle bay. Some of the Forge’s assistants came to wish Cyndora and her three friends’ goodbye before they left. She sat nervously in her seat for the entire trip and was glad when the shuttle touched down. The lieutenant who had been in charge of loading them onto the shuttles the day before was there to oversee their return. Cyndora stopped nervously in front of him as he worked on his data pad.
“Yes?” he asked before looking up with a semi-irritated expression at having been interrupted in his work. His face grew puzzled as he tried to recollect who she was.
“Sir? I’m Assistant Cyndora, I’m assigned to General Crineal.” She wasn’t sure if it was a statement or a question right now.
“Oh, yes. I remember now.” The lieutenant’s face cleared. “What’s the problem?”
Cyndora stood there not sure how to ask the question she wanted to. Marshalla came to her rescue “Sir. We don’t know what’s happened and Cyndora is worried about the general.”
“Oh. Of course. Let me check.” The young officer consulted his data pad for a minute. “Looks like he touched down twenty minutes ago. He’s probably in debriefing right now. If you hurry you should be able to be in his quarters before he gets back there.”
Cyndora let out a huge sob of relief and began to cry. Jaydea, Marshalla and Xianing gathered around her to hold her up and hug her.
“See, girlfriend? I told you he’d be ok,” Jaydea said, looking as pleased as anything. The lieutenant stood watching the four of them unsure of whether he should issue reprimands or offer assistance. In the end he decided to ignore them.
“I’m ok,” Cyndora sobbed. “I want to get back so I’m ready when he gets there.”
Xianing smiled at her. “Yeah, you need to run and clean up, Cyndy. You’re a fright when you’ve been crying,” she teased.
“Go on, Cyndy,” Marshalla said kindly. “We’ll see ya in a couple of days,” and gave her a push towards the smaller bay doors leading to the pilots’ area. Cyndora was running before she reached the door.
Crineal opened the door to his quarters and stepped in, immediately starting to unzip his flight suit as he headed to the shower. Ten minutes later he was in a clean uniform and feeling much refreshed. Settling at the table with a cup of tea, he picked up his data pad to study some of the battle reports before attending to Hera Squadron’s debriefing. The sound of the door sliding open caused him to look up. Cyndora almost fell through the entrance and then saw him seated at the table.
Crineal had just enough time to put his tea down and say “Hey youmpph” before she was wrapped around him, crying and giving him kisses. He hugged her back whilst weathering the storm of emotion. Finally Crineal managed to speak. “Miss me much?” he asked breathlessly.
Cyndora kissed him again, smiling through the tears. “Don’t ever send me away like that again.”
He brushed the dampness from her cheeks. “Sorry, Love. I can’t promise that. I won’t leave you in danger if I can help it.” She looked at him before nodding helplessly in understanding and then kissed him some more. They were interrupted by the buzzing of his comm link.
He managed to find a little separation from her to answer it. “Crineal here.”
Major Strieger’s voice replied. “Sir? The pilots are all assembled.”
“Thank you, Major. I’ll be right there.” Crineal killed the link. “Sorry, Cyndy, duty calls. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Cyndora nodded, sniffling still. “I know. You’d better go and I’ll get cleaned up.”
Crineal gave her a steady look. “That’s going to be difficult to do whilst you’re still sitting on my lap,” he said, making a point of her current seating position.
Sniffling again, she agreed with him. “That’s true.” Cyndora made no attempt to move.
Crineal kissed her once more and pushed himself up, forcing her to stand as well. “I promise that I’ll give you all the attention you want later. Deal?”
She slowly dropped her arms from his neck. “You’d better.” A thought struck her. “Is Fel ok? And Saphy?”
“They’re both fine. I’ll tell them you asked,” Crineal said reassuringly.
“And tell the Major, too.” she asked whilst sealing up his jacket.
“I will.” He hugged her to him tightly, very conscious of the thin material of her uniform and her shapely body beneath it pressed up against him. “Now, I really have to go.” Crineal gave her one last loving kiss on the lips before leaving his quarters.
Hera Squadron was waiting for him as he entered the ready room and they snapped to attention and saluted. Crineal waved them back into their seats. Major Strieger was waiting for him by the stand.
“Not like you to be late,” she whispered to him as he approached her.
Crineal gave her a small smile. “Cyndy got back just before I left.” Strieger nodded at him in understanding tinged with amusement. The debriefing lasted for about an hour before he dismissed them with a promise of further meetings in the days ahead.
“Lieutenant Feldea? Lieutenant Saphya? Would you mind staying behind please? You too, Major.” The three women dutifully waited as the room cleared. Once they were alone Crineal relaxed a little. “Cyndy asked me to tell all of you that she’s glad you’re ok. She was worried about you apparently.”
Feldea smiled fondly. “She’s a sweetie, Sir. Tell her I’ll see her soon.” Crineal nodded and the two younger women left the room.
“I gather she was somewhat emotional, Sir?” Strieger offered with a laugh in her voice.
“Just a little,” he agreed wryly.
Strieger waited for a moment and then asked quietly. “What do you think happened with the Devastator, Sir?”
“Maybe someone got antsy over there and messed up the data-package? They fought well, though. Whatever their record was like beforehand, they gave a good account of themselves at the last.” The major nodded somberly in agreement and they both stood quietly for a moment. “Well, I promised Cyndy I’d get back to her as soon as I could. So if you’ll excuse me, Major?”
Strieger grinned at him. “By all means, Sir. Say hi to her from me as well. If you get a chance between the kissing, of course.”
Crineal grinned back at her before leaving the room to return to his waiting assistant.
Admiral Ken’Rathel sat in his office, working despite the lateness of the hour. Finally, he set down his data pad and put a call through to Admiral Sybilene. He was unsurprised when she answered immediately from her own office. He thought she looked as tired as he felt.
“Good evening, Sybil. How are you doing?” he asked solicitously.
“I could be worse, Rath. We’re still looking for survivors from the Krystalee. I guess I’m going to have a long night,” she r
eplied wearily.
Ken’Rathel nodded. “How’s the search going?”
She sighed. “Better than I expected. We’ve picked up two hundred crew members so far.” That was better than he had hoped for but still less than half of the destroyer’s crew. “Still, it could have been a lot worse today,” Sybilene added reflectively. “So what do you think happened? Arizankis make one too many stupid mistakes?”
“Maybe,” Ken’Rathel sounded uncertain. “I keep wondering about all of those transfers.”
“Why so? One of the new crew unfamiliar with procedures over there managed to screw up perhaps?” she asked speculatively.
“Perhaps. I’m wondering about something other than an accident, though.” Ken’Rathel’s finely sculpted features took on a troubled look.
The silver-haired woman’s eyes widened. “You think someone sabotaged today’s operation just to get rid of them all?”
“I don’t know, Sybil. I’m starting to think that what happened today was exactly according to plan.” He leaned forward to look at her earnestly. “The whole thing is bothering me. Crineal is one of the Fleet’s best tacticians, but he comes up with a standard frontal assault plan that would cause us heavy casualties.” Sybilene nodded for him to continue. “That plan is then approved by Sar’Clax, who’s also no slouch in the tactics field, and Crineal is appointed to implement it under my oversight. Suddenly, all of our rotten eggs are moved to the Devastator, which then makes a fatal mis-jump into the middle of the rebel positions. Fortuitously, this distracts the rebels and allows us to sweep away their defenses at very little cost to the rest of the task force.” He shook his head. “I stopped believing in that kind of luck decades ago.”
“Let me see if I have this right, Rath. You think that your general, along with Sar’Clax, came up with a plan to sacrifice a big chunk of the fleet’s problems in order to capture a rebel base whilst limiting the damage to the rest of us?” Sybilene looked at him through narrowed eyes.
Ken’Rathel let out a breath. “That’s exactly what I think.”
His fellow admiral looked thoughtful for a moment and then shrugged. “Then give him a medal. If you don’t want to I’ll come over there and pin one on him.”
He looked at her in shock. “Sybil!”
“Rath, look at it this way. Would you rather we were both sitting here, sorting through massive casualty lists, coming across the names of our friends and comrades? I’ll tell you now that it’s bad enough to be here looking at the list of missing crew from the Krystalee. What were the casualty projections for the plan we were presented with? Thirty to forty percent?” The black-haired admiral nodded. “And what did we actually suffer over all?”
“A little less than twenty,” Ken’Rathel said quietly.
“And taking out the Devastator losses?” Sybilene probed.
“Less than five,” he admitted, not able to meet her eyes.
“So, if you’re right, then Crineal decided to spare his comrades and instead get rid of the scum of the fleet?” She shook her head. “That took a lot of guts. If he’s found out, they’ll shoot him.”
“I know that, Sybil. It’s the calculation of it all that bothers me,” Ken’Rathel replied, unable to hide the unease in his voice.
Sybilene watched him sympathetically. “I know it’s hard, Rath. But you know Crineal better than I do. Do you think he did this to increase his own power? Or for petty vengeance or something?”
He sat back and considered that for a few moments. “No, that’s not his style. You’re probably right, if this was his idea he did it to save his friends and help clean up the fleet.”
She looked at him gently. “Then let it go, Hon. Bury any evidence you find and pat him on the back. He just did what we’ve all wanted to do on a number of occasions.”
Ken’Rathel smiled at her wanly. “You’re more cold-blooded than me, Sybil. But I take your point.”
“Good.” Sybilene studied him for a moment to reassure herself he had taken in her words. “I notice that the base has been sealed and the prisoners are being held in isolation with no interrogation?”
“Yes. On the advice of Crineal and confirmed by Fleet HQ. We’re awaiting an Intel team to take the whole thing off our hands.”
“Interesting. Did anyone say why?” she asked.
“No. Crineal said it was need to know and I’d be told if necessary. He seems to know what it’s about though.”
“Sounds like more spook games. Well, I need to get on and finish up here. You need to get some rest, Rath. Take some leave, go on vacation with that wife you so hideously neglect,” she teased him knowing how much he loved his partner.
“I might just do that,” he smiled back at her. “You get some rest too, Sybil. Good night.”
“Night, Rath,” she said fondly as she closed the relay down.
Crineal’s evening was spent cuddling, kissing and generally reassuring Cyndora of his love. They eventually went to bed and snuggled up happily with each other, before falling asleep peacefully wrapped up together.
Breakfast the following morning was equally intimate and filled with kisses. Cyndora had decided that his lap would be a suitable chair for the morning meal, which was pretty distracting as she was still in her nightwear. Crineal noticed the bag he had provided for her was lying on the sofa, seemingly empty. He pointed to it with a spoon between mouthfuls of cereal.
“So what happened to all the stuff?” he asked.
She looked around at the bag. “Oh, I shared out the chocolate between all the assistants in the rec dorm on the Forge. I gave the cosmetics to Jay, Marsh and Xian. I told them I wouldn’t need any of it because you’d be coming back.” Cyndora snatched another kiss.
Crineal’s data pad beeped at him and he looked at it. “Damn, the admiral wants me for a meeting as of five minutes ago. I need to go, Love,” he told her, giving her a kiss.
She pouted at him. “Not fair!” Cyndora protested before sighing, “I can go to the gym I guess.”
He took a last swallow of orange juice before giving her a final kiss and went to find out what the admiral wanted.
Ken’Rathel was waiting for him in his office. “Good morning, General. How are you feeling today?”
Crineal smiled wearily at him. “Tired, Sir. Yesterday was a busy day.”
The admiral nodded in agreement. “Can’t argue with that. I’ve had a message from HQ and an Intel team is due to arrive later today. The task force is to remain on station until they’ve stripped the base computers down. I’m told it won’t take more than three days. Then our strike force has been ordered back to Earth for repairs to the damage we took. Forge is doing what it can but some of it will need to be fixed in a yard.” He paused to study Crineal for a moment. “I’ve ordered engineers from the Forge to carry out demolitions on the wrecks of the Devastator and its escorts, along with any other wrecks, of course. The small craft from that force that made it back were fairly badly damaged and I’ve ordered them all scrapped, too, after a complete systems wipe. We’ve recovered a few hundred survivors from those ships that mis-jumped and we’ll be taking them with us to Earth for transfer to other assignments. We haven’t found any bridge officers from any of the ships so far.”
Crineal considered the second part of the admiral’s information before replying. “That seems prudent, Sir. Wouldn’t want to risk any information falling into the wrong hands. There’s no telling if the rebels might return and try to salvage anything.”
Ken’Rathel looked at him steadily. “My thoughts exactly, General.” Neither man was fooled by the other and both of them knew it. “I’ll be recommending the Devastator Strike Force for an Imperial Unit Citation for its bravery in the battle here.”
“They deserve it, Sir,” Crineal agreed. “They might have been unlucky, but they fought well under impossible odds.”
“Also, HQ has sent me a list of commendations and promotions for personnel involved in the encounters during our stay in Earth orbit. I’ll
forward you the list. I’d like to have the ceremony once we’re back in dock. That should be about a week away.” The admiral finally smiled at Crineal and the general felt some of his uneasiness disappear. “If Hera Squadron gets any more medals, Crin, they won’t be able to move at official functions.”
Crineal chuckled. “We could just strap them into grav chairs, Sir. May need heavy duty ones, though.”
Ken’Rathel laughed. “That would be a sight, wouldn’t it?” Then his face grew serious once more. “I just want you to know, Crin, that I do appreciate your efforts and dedication to the fleet. Admiral Sybilene does, too.”
“Thank you, Sir. I only want to serve the fleet the best I can and, through it, the Emperor too,” he replied solemnly, understanding the words that Ken’Rathel hadn’t said.
“I understand that, Crin. Now go and start getting your after action reports ready. I’ll let you know the exact time and date for the ceremony once we’re back at Earth. Dismissed, General.”
Chapter Eighteen
Nine days later saw the pilots from the Annihilator assembled by squadrons in Fighter Bay Alpha Ten. All were wearing dress uniforms for the awards ceremony; everyone sparkling in their white outfits. Crineal had bent the rules a little and managed to find a place for Cyndora amongst the spectators as Feldea and Saphya were both receiving well-deserved promotions. Crineal took particular pleasure in pinning the insignia of a 1st lieutenant on Feldea and captain’s bars on Saphya. Muscovy and Staller each received awards for bravery. Whilst he had been setting up the arrangements for the occasion with Major Strieger he had succeeded in withholding one item from her. With the last of the awards apparently made, Crineal addressed the squadrons.
“The awards and promotions made here today are a testament to the bravery, courage and dedication to duty of the pilots receiving them. All of you should feel justly proud of your performances even if you weren’t amongst the recipients. Unfortunately, it is my sad duty to report that one pilot here has not acted according to the rank that they hold. I have found them to be insubordinate, disrespectful and even unwilling to carry out my commands. I submitted a report on that person to Personnel HQ.” He paused dramatically and savored the looks of surprise on the faces before him. “Captain Treynar, Captain Saymes, would you please escort the offender to stand in front of me?” There was a shocked silence as the two captains took up positions either side of Major Strieger.
Crineal Chronicles 1: In Hera's Service Page 30
