by D. J. Holmes
“And in doing so, you put not just their future, but the future of Rooke’s fleet and our Kingdom in jeopardy. You see, reckless,” Somerville said. He stared at his nephew until James was forced to lower his eyes.
“You have shown yourself to be a fine combat officer,” Somerville continued when he felt his nephew had been sufficiently chastised. “But a great naval officer is more than someone who can charge head first at the enemy. A great naval officer knows what he needs to do to defeat his enemy. Not just how to destroy a couple of ships.”
“I see,” James said, trying to listen to his uncle’s point fairly.
“I don’t think you do,” Somerville said. “But you will. Here, take these,” he continued, passing a datafile over to James.
“What are they?” James asked.
“You look up to the late Admiral Jensen and I so much, I thought you should have a look at these. Maybe they will give you some perspective.”
“Thank you Sir,” James said.
“Now,” Somerville said, lightening his tone. “Let’s get you up to speed on what is happening around here. No doubt some of the other Admirals and politicians will want you to brief them on what you saw at Haven.”
“Yes Sir,” James said, happy for the subject to be changed. For another forty-five minutes he listened to his uncle outline all that had happened on Earth in his absence. Finally, after his uncle instructed him to keep his crew busy on Endeavour to keep anyone from revealing the Gift the Indians, James stood to take his leave.
“Think on what I said,” Admiral Somerville said. “I have been lenient on you in the past. From here on in, your career will advance based on your merits. If you can’t show the strategic awareness of when to run, then you may stay the Captain of an exploration cruiser for the rest of your career.”
“Thank you uncle,” James said as he turned to leave.
*
When he got out of his uncle’s office and into one of Vulcan’s many corridors, James looked down at the datapad in his hand. It was an Admiralty report. As he turned to walk back to where Endeavour was docked with the large construction station, he began to read.
Forty minutes later he let the datapad fall to his side with his arm. Have I really been that self-centered? James asked himself. His uncles’ words had cut him deep, and what he had just read had rubbed salt into the fresh wound.
He knew he had been self-centered when he had stepped aboard his first command, HMS Drake. But I thought I had grown past that. The voice that had spoken to him in his uncle’s office came back to him at that moment, you did, you became a hero, look at all you have achieved.
As he listened to his own pride James knew his uncle was right. There had been a part of him that had lusted to go after the Indian convoy. He had believed himself invincible. The consequences of losing the battle hadn’t really registered with him, not as something that was actually going to happen. And more than twenty of my crew members died. The thought hit James like a ton of bricks. He had lost people before. But then he had been able to console himself with the thought that they had died doing their duty, as James had been doing his. Yet now he wasn’t so sure. How many lives are on my hands because of my pride? he asked himself.
Looking around, he realized that he was a long way from where Endeavour was docked. He had lost track of what he was doing. Dismissing Endeavour for the moment, he continued to pace around the construction station, examining his own thoughts. He was so engrossed that an hour later he didn’t notice when he eventually wandered past the docking hatch that led to his ship.
“Welcome back Sir,” an Ensign supervising the hatch to Endeavour said, shaking James out of his thoughts. “The Vulcan’s Chief Engineer arrived forty-five minutes ago. Mallory is showing him around our damaged sections now. Your wife is here as well. She is waiting for you in your quarters.”
“Thank you Ensign,” James said. “Send a message to Vulcan’s Chief, let him know I will join him presently.”
“Aye Sir,” the Ensign said to James’ back as James had already walked past him.
When he got to his quarters he found Suzanna sitting at the small desk in his bedroom, “James,” she exclaimed with a large smile as she stood and almost jumped into a hug. “It’s so good to have you back.”
“It’s good to be back,” James said, drinking in Suzanna’ fragrance ae he hugged her back. “I have missed you,” he added before she pulled him into a deep kiss.
“Come, sit down with me,” Suzanna said once they broke apart. “Tell me about your mission. I saw the damage to Endeavour’s nose. Was it serious?”
“Ok,” James said. “But I don’t have long. I need to go meet with Vulcan’s Chief Engineer. He will want to begin the repair work on Endeavour right away.”
“I understand,” Suzanna said. “You can tell me the highlights.”
As James retold what had happened to him over the last several months for the second time in the space of a few hours, he couldn’t help but revaluate everything in light of what his uncle had told him.
When he was finished, Suzanna moved over to sit in his lap. “I’m sorry about your crew,” she said as she wrapped her arms around him. “And for my own people. They are fighting bravely for their freedom, but it is a high price they are paying.”
Sensing she needed comfort as much as he did James pulled her into a deeper hug. “My uncle is working on that. With the intel we gathered Admiral Rooke should be able to begin the first part of my uncle’s plan within the week.”
“I know,” Suzanna said. “I have been included in some of the Prime Minister’s COBRA meetings.”
“And just what else have you been up to?” James asked, eager to change the subject from his recent experiences.
“Well,” Suzanna said. “I have made a lot of new friends among the nobility, mainly among the other countesses and duchesses. Many wanted me to join one or two of their private get togethers to discuss Haven and the potential war with India. I have also been on a few news broadcasts. I am quite the celebrity you know.”
“I don’t doubt it,” James said. He had seen how the British public had reacted to her speeches and their wedding.
“I have also made a few enemies,” Suzanna said. “Oh nothing too serious,” she hastily added when the saw the look that came over James’ face. “Just others among the nobility and House of Commons who oppose intervention in Haven. They like the status quo too much and they don’t want to risk all that they have. They have pulled me into more than one heated conversation. But I am a politician don’t forget, I know how to handle myself.”
“That you do,” James said proudly. “I wouldn’t want to be the one to go up against you. I bet you have given one or two people a verbal lashing.”
“Well, I have been trying to be on my best behavior,” Suzanna answered. “But I did get carried away at a dinner I was at last week. I don’t know if it was on purpose or not but I was sat at a table with a certain Lady Reynolds. She was talking to everyone about how foolish it was for British lives to be risked for a colony no one knew even existed five years ago.”
“Reynolds,” James said. “That name is familiar, how would I know it?”
“Her husband I expect,” Suzanna said. “He is a member of the Liberal Party; they have formed part of the opposition alongside the Moderates. Both of them are opposed to any more British military aggression. That is why they have gone into opposition together.”
“I’m not totally oblivious to the mechanisms of British politics,” James said, “You don’t have to talk to me like I’m a complete imbecile. I know who is currently sitting in the opposition benches,” he added as he tickled Suzanna’s side.
“Then you should already know who Reynolds is,” Suzanna said in her best school teacher voice after she fought him off. “He is the Shadow Defense Secretary; surely a military officer should know that?” she finished with a pinch back at James.
“Aahh, I guess,” James said, admitting to hims
elf that he had probably heard Reynolds’ name in countless briefings, he had just never registered it as something important.
The British House of Commons operated along adversarial lines. The largest party or coalition of parties would work together to form a government to run the country. Those parties that were excluded could therefore form their own coalitions and go into opposition. They would set up a Shadow Cabinet filled with opposition MP’s who made it their responsibility to set out their own parties positions on areas like defense, expansion, industry and economics. The Shadow Cabinet Ministers also sought to hold their governing counterparts accountable and, where possible, force the government to follow the opposition’s plans. Now that he thought about it James had heard about Reynold’s views in a number of different briefings, but he had never been someone James had worried about.
“Well, I’m sure you gave his wife a good talking to,” James said as Suzanna snuggled back into his arms.
“To be honest, I actually started with her husband a few days before the dinner,” Suzanna replied.
“You do like to make enemies,” James chuckled. “What happened?”
“Well I was being interviewed by a news broadcaster. They asked me about my thoughts on the opposition’s calls for a recension of the ultimatum Fairfax sent to India. I may have called the Shadow Defense Secretary a coward. But that was all, I don’t know what all the fuss was about.”
“I’m sure there was hardly any fuss at all,” James said chuckling. “And someone sat you beside Reynold’s wife after this?”
“I guess they were looking for fireworks,” Suzanna answered.
“Did they get any?”
“A little,” Suzanna said. “I simply asked Mrs. Reynolds if it was her children who were on Haven, under Indian occupation. Would she be willing to risk British lives then?”
“How did she react?” James asked.
“Well, it turns out she doesn’t have any children. From what I understand, both her and her husband have a very rare genetic condition that has prevented them from having any children.”
“So she took it a bit too personally then I’m guessing?”
“You could say that. She jumped up shouting profanity at me and said I had insulted her and her husband for the last time. She promised to make sure I and my people paid for it.”
“It seems you have indeed made yourself an enemy then?” James said.
“Just one more to add to the list,” Suzanna replied with a sign. “I hope Councilwoman Pennington isn’t another one that I will have to take on when we return to Haven.”
“Yes,” James agreed, his countenance changing as his thoughts turned back to Haven.
“Now,” Suzanna said as she sat back a bit on his lap, took his head into her hands and looked into his eyes. “Tell me what else is wrong with you. I know you well enough to know something is eating you up.”
James let out a breath. He didn’t really want to talk about his newly found self-loathing. But he didn’t want to lie to his new wife either.
“It’s something my uncle said,” he began. “When I attacked that Indian convoy I put the entire fleet into danger. I put my selfish desire to win another victory over the fleet’s need for intel. In the end, we were lucky to survive the attack. We could easily have been destroyed. I should never have gone near the convoy. My crew members died for no good reason. I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a Captain.”
Suzanna pulled him into another hug. When she pulled back she was smiling.
“What is so funny?” James asked, hurt.
“Not funny,” Suzanna said. “I’m proud of you. Don’t you see? Your uncle may be partially right. You have just said so yourself. But, listen to yourself. Someone who is really self-centered, a Captain who only cared about this own fame and glory, wouldn’t be talking the way you are.
“They would be trying to defend themselves. Or arguing about how wrong your uncle is. You are cut up, you do care about your crew and your country. Yes,” Suzanna said as James was about to cut in. “You may have begun to believe your own press. I’m guessing I’m to blame for that in a small way. But you are not too far gone. Your concern shows that the kind of Captain your uncle wants you to be is already in there,” she said as she reached over and touched James’ chest. “You just have to let him grow.”
“I don’t know,” James said, looking away. He wasn’t ready to hear how wonderful he was again.
Reaching over to the datapad that James had set on the table, “Did he give you this?” Suzanna asked.
“Yes,” James answered. “It’s the Admiralty reports for two incidents from years ago. One involved my uncle when he commanded the Achilles and another involved the late Rear Admiral Jensen.”
“And what are they about?” Suzanna asked.
“In both cases they retreated from the enemy when the odds were in their favor,” James explained.
“So they ran away?” Suzanna said, already knowing the answer to the question.
“No, of course not,” James said quickly. “They retreated because avoiding action was the best strategic option. It allowed them to fight and win a more decisive battle later on. Exactly the kind of thing I would never do. I would have just run in gung ho.”
“You are too hard on yourself husband,” Suzanna said sternly. “You are forgetting all you have accomplished. Tell me this, didn’t your uncle almost singlehandedly thwart the Russian invasion of New France when he was commanding a heavy cruiser?”
“Yes,” James said.
“And didn’t he do it by being gung ho, by attacking the Russian fleet head on even though he was badly outnumbered?” Suzanna pressed.
“Yes,” James said again, “but that was different.”
“Different than when you stepped in to protect Haven from the Vestarian fleet, or when you protected the entire Kulrean civilization from the same fleet?”
“Well,” James tried to say.
“Well nothing. You are too hard on yourself,” Suzanna insisted, smiling. “You may still have a lot to learn. Certainly, we both know you have a lot to learn about women. But you are made of the same stuff as your uncle. You just need to learn when to jump in and when to hold back. Let me ask you this, how many perfect Captains or Admirals do you know?”
James could think of a couple. Captain Lightfoot came to mind immediately, and Rear Admiral Jensen. But after those two, the list became very sparse. He knew Captains who were good at one thing or another. But at different times he had thought each of them could be better in one area or another. Guessing Suzanna didn’t want to hear any answer though, he kept quiet.
“There, you see, there is no perfect Captain,” Suzanna said triumphantly. “You are setting the standard too high. Do you think you are the first Captain to make a mistake? Or the first one your uncle has had to share some harsh words with?”
“I guess not,” James said.
“You see, all you need is some perspective,” Suzanna continued. “By all means, learn from your mistakes, take you uncle’s words to heart. But don’t think that you have suddenly become the worst Captain in the navy. If you really were, your uncle would have removed you from command months ago.”
“I suppose,” James said, reluctantly admitting to himself that there was something to her words.
“Of course I’m right,” Suzanna said smiling again. “I am your wife after all. Now get up, brush yourself off and go and see Vulcan’s Chief Engineer. I will be here when you get back. Then I can tell you all about my exciting life in the British nobility. And,” Suzanna added as she leaned in and kissed him again. “We can get better reacquainted.”
“I think I can manage that,” James said, already eager to get back.
Chapter 23 – Machiavellian Movements
History has shown that adversarial politics often work best. Whilst it may make life difficult for the ruling government, it also holds them accountable. The one downside is that governments can fall quickly, and often in tim
es of trouble. The permanency of the Emperor and the Senate provides the perfect balance to this flaw.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
2nd June 2467 AD, Houses of Parliament, London, England.
Admiral Somerville stepped through the ornately decorated gold encrusted door into Prime Minister Fairfax’s office within the Houses of Parliament. Fairfax and King Edward were already there.
“To what do I owe this summons?” Somerville asked. “The COBRA council will be meeting in several hours. What is so urgent?”
“We may have a problem,” Fairfax said. “Something I think we need to discuss in private.”
“What is it?” Somerville asked.
