by Jim Rudnick
“Yes, that's it,” Tanner said, “it's to make me impervious to what is to come. It's to help me face the admiral.” He downed the shot and chased it with a big gulp of beer. Randi beer was beer that had a tang that he'd had nowhere else; perhaps because it was made with grown-only-on-Randi hops, the bartender had said a few visits ago.
Now, he looked at Tanner and raised an eyebrow.
Tanner nodded, held up a single finger, and watched as the free-poured double shot appeared with the chestnut-colored Randi beer. He nursed them until it was almost time to go. Downing them quickly, he slapped his card against the pay terminal built into the bar in front of him and left, swaying only once as the auto-door closed behind him and he strode off toward Navy Hall.
His boots rang out on the terrazzo floor as he marched into Navy Hall on Juno. They’d set down less than three hours ago and the Kerry was still swarming with repair droids doing their measuring and figuring as they worked on sending out requests for needed parts over at the Navy dry-dock. Once they were done, the Comm would move the ship over to the dock to begin repairs and that was how it should be. Most of the crew meanwhile would be debriefed and then receive shore leave while the officers would oversee repairs and take their own leaves as needed.
Tanner knew those repairs would be speedy and welcomed being back aboard the Kerry when she was refitted. The Navy funerals would be next, and he shook his head at that sad thought, and instead he tried to smile as he strode along, trying to ignore his sore left knee from the punishment he’d received falling in the mess hall over a table, a bit tipsy he knew, just a couple of days ago. Either that or the Scotch was getting stronger and better, he grinned to himself ruefully. Better for what though was still the question.
He moved through the soaring arched lobby and up to the elevators that would take him up to the next-to-the-top floor. Awaiting the floor, he barely noticed the other occupants except to see that their everyday uniforms made his dress grays look shoddy, and that made him a bit uncomfortable too. Adding to my problems today, he thought, as he marched out of the turbo-lift and over to the chief petty officer who was the admiral’s adjutant.
“Lieutenant Commander Scott, reporting, CPO. Here to see Admiral McQueen,” he reeled off quickly as she looked up at him.
Flashing him a quick smile as she studied him, she looked down then at the appointment book and ran a finger down a column.
“Right, Lieutenant Commander, here you are. You made it back okay, we see?” she said as she checked off his presence in the book.
“Took a bit of effort to get us space-worthy, Chief, but yes, we made good time all the same,” he said as she pointed to the chairs opposite her desk and he sat down in front of her. She picked up the comm phone and made a quiet comment that he didn’t catch and then hung up. “You can go right in, Lieutenant Commander,” she said and watched as he turned and first knocked at the admiral’s office door then entered.
The admiral had a large office on the corner of the building, and Tanner had to walk a bit to stand at attention before the desk and his superior officer.
“Lieutenant Commander Scott reporting, Sir,” he said as he stood at attention and saluted the man seated behind the desk. The admiral stopped his reading of papers on his desk and gave a close inspection of him, Tanner noticed, before saluting back and saying, “sit and relax, Commander—and report.”
Tanner did and as he spoke, the admiral’s face was like it was carved out of stone as he didn’t show one sign of emotion as he heard the complete story. More than eighty years old, McQueen was the model of a man in his prime, his waist narrow, his shoulders square, and his face cleanly shaved and devoid of lines or wrinkles. Nor did he ask any questions at the telling and waited until Tanner was done. He did, however, make a few notes on a desk pad and turned to them as Tanner finished with the items of repairs and that they were currently being moved to dry-dock to start repairs.
“Right, Commander. So, the old ‘where are we’ trick worked again, did it?” he said, as he leaned back and smiled at him. He’d been Tanner’s superior for almost a dozen years or so, long before they’d both come to the Rim, and they had been together since they'd met in the Earl of Kinross’ Navy. It was he that had invented this tactic, and Tanner had taken it for his own against the Pirates. And it was he who had brought Tanner to the Rim as part of repayment for saving his life. But that was more than four years ago.
“Yes, Admiral, it still worked fine. Course, they’ll be ready for that next time,” he cautioned and eased his left knee by sliding his foot forward a bit and tilting his body slightly to the right, mentally still cursing at the mess hall table.
“Um ... okay, Commander. I take it that the shock of this loss is something you're 'working' on overcoming. Would I be correct there, Commander?" McQueen said quietly, his eyes narrowing as he spoke.
Tanner didn’t know what to say. He'd not made a slip up at all, so there was no way that the admiral would know he'd just "steeled his nerves" and that’s for sure.
So Tanner just nodded at the question and said nothing.
The admiral looked at Tanner and looked at him hard, his left eyebrow askew as he often did when he studied something.
“I see that you’ve fulfilled all the requirements that a captain himself would have had to fulfill,” he said.
“You’ve undertaken repairs and gotten the crew and officers organized. You’ve made the proper paperwork out for the new equipment, and we've already gotten ETAs on the replacement shipping and installations have been scheduled over at the port." McQueen nodded and checked the list in front of him once again.
"Moreover, as I’ve noted, you’ve also written all the letters of condolence that you should have—and you’ve also been good enough to be kind to Captain Richard’s wife, Ramona, via your letters to her over the past days. That says a lot, Commander—quite a bit in fact,” he noted and waited for Tanner to speak.
And he didn’t know what to say. The admiral expected a reply but what could he say. He’d done what any Navy man would have done. But the loss of a captain was as serious as it came for any Navy man. He hung his head and shrugged … wishing for just another Randi beer right this very minute.
“Don’t know what to say, Admiral—just doing my duty, I suppose,” he said and looked him straight in the eye. Which was mostly true, he thought, and he waited for whatever came next.
The admiral shrugged and nodded too.
“Me too, Commander. And a part of that duty will be to find a new captain for the Kerry, when she’s due out of dry-dock in some weeks. However, the Cruiser Marwick comes out in only three days, and she needs a captain now. And that’s you, Captain Scott. Consider this your promotion,” he said as he opened up his desk drawer and tossed over the silver collar eagles.
Tanner stared at the eagles in front of him and gulped.
“But ... well that’s a double-jump, Sir. Surely there must be more deserving commanders already that are due for promotion. I’m ... I’m not sure that I’m the best choice for this, I guess—”
“Nonsense, Captain. I’ve been banging the hatches trying to find a captain for the Marwick and you’re it. Council’s been leaning on me for a name, and now I need two as I’ve still got to find one for the Kerry within three weeks when she’s out of dock and that’s another chore that’s worrisome. But you’re on your way. Report to the Marwick in dock and take over. Here’s your orders, Captain, dismissed,” he said as he passed over a sealed envelope and turned back to the pile of paperwork on his desk.
As Tanner was leaving and only a few feet from the door, the admiral called out to him.
“Tanner ... nice to see you back, my boy ... continue ... and you take care.” Tanner nodded at the admiral and left the office and Navy Hall on his way to dry-dock across the port.
# # # # #
The Baroness was furious and threw the tablet against the wall as she motioned for her EliteGuard bodyguard to leave the room.
&n
bsp; “You idiot,” she yelled at the man slouched in front of her, “do you not know that you’re NOT supposed to take on the damn RIM Navy as yet?” She was vicious in her tantrum and slammed her fist down on the table between them. As the door to the ante-room closed, the bodyguard now gone, she added, “Who gave you that order? It wasn’t me—and you work for me!
The man on the couch in the all black un-insigniaed uniform facing her shrugged.
“Um, no one, of course. But I thought it time to try out our latest gadget on the real powers that be out here on the Rim. Besides, we got back safe and the gadget’s fine. Only our Inertials were knocked out for a time,” he said and shrugged once again.
The Baroness looked at him with open disgust. He was her man, no doubt about that, but that he’d taken on the new responsibility of making tactical choices infuriated her, especially since he’d failed at destroying a Navy frigate.
“You must understand, Rhys, that it’s not your job to decide what to do—that’s up to me, and my money and title say so. Do you agree?” she said, staring straight at him and awaiting his answer.
He nodded.
She looked at him even more deeply and said as slowly as possible “Then you will realize that you must then await orders and not take matters into your own hands. You know what my cause is and why you must support me, not to mention that I hold your family as ransom should you ever try to betray me, Rhys. The consequences of your little action a bit ago have awaited your return. Now see what will happen if you ever try something like this again,” she said as she made a few button stabs on her PDA bracelet and a video comm screen against the far wall came to life.
On the screen was a small girl, Rhys’ nine-year-old daughter, who filled the screen. As the picture pulled out to take a wider view, Rhys could see that someone was holding her high above the street below; should that person let go, his daughter would fall to her death. It was a simple but sickening example of what his family would endure; he had no idea on whether this was live or recorded, and he wouldn’t ask either. He nodded violently to her as if he wanted to ensure his voice would not fail him.
“I understand completely, Baroness. This will not happen again and on that you have my word.” He noticed that her poised finger over another of those bracelet PDA buttons never wavered, but at least it did not stab his daughter’s life out of existence.
“Yes, the word of a man who thinks he knows better, there’s a comforting thought,” she said as she pressed instead a different button and his daughter was brought back to safety on the roof of the building they were watching, and then the picture faded to black.
“Rhys, I believe you, but remind you that your family is your word. Now don’t disappoint me again. No more attacks against the Navy until I say so."
She clasped the file from beside her on her couch and looked down at it as she read the contents of the file carefully.
"I see you were successful in getting those nine cargo containers which is important to us for sure … would you care to know what was in them?" she asked quietly.
Rhys nodded in response … knowing what he risked his life for might come in handy one day, he thought.
"They were the first ever of those new chemically made diamonds from Eons, via Ttseen … seems they test almost double the natural kind on the Mohr's scale I'm told …" She looked down at her wrist PDA and made a few pushes.
"Here, let me beam over the latest revised merchant and freighter passenger lines routes and itineraries for you. We have made our choices and they're highlighted for you. Ensure that the cargo containers off the big freighter moving to Merilda are successful for sure. No mistakes, understood?"
She looked straight at Rhys, her stare never wavering.
She beamed the information over, and moments later, Rhys stared down at his own display of various changes to normal passenger routes and times for the next few weeks on the Rim.
“I will follow orders, Baroness. And all other things the same, I take it?” His voice was quieter and his head a bit bowed as he looked over at her.
She could tell that the daughter threat had worked fine and was glad that she’d had many different scenarios recorded for both his wife and daughter before they’d been shipped off to the colony mines on ITO. Could already be dead, she thought, but that’s really no consequence to me. And as long as he thinks he can save them, he’ll stay in line from now on.. She raised her head to look down at him. She was the Baroness; he was merely a paid mercenary.
“Yes, Rhys ... get us at least 100 more hostages to work the mines. Get us another shipload for next week; they die far too fast mining what we need. Far too fast ...” She dismissed her head of the Pirates and leaned back against her chair.
Mining on ITO was such a chore, but now much easier as she was able to do away with much of the safety equipment that her late husband, the Baron, had to put in to mine the rare earth ores that were so lucrative for the Barony treasury.
Add in the recent seizure of those chemical diamonds which should enrich the treasury nicely and if Rhys was successful in weeks to come once again, the treasury would grow.
It's just that the damn mines on ITO were so costly.
If only Duke D’Avigdor hadn’t pushed them to appease their colonists, they could have left out such onerous and costly tasks and found the new Argosenium ore that much quicker. Of course, that would have maybe meant the Duke would have courted the colony himself and tried to bring them into his own Duchy and away from the Baron who had died trying to save his precious colony, she thought, the brainless old man.
He’d begun the colony even before she’d met him and while it took a back seat to his courtship of her—which she’d really had to work at to get him interested—eventually after their marriage a few years ago, he began to pay attention again to the ITO colony and how the Duke was trying to woo them away. He knew that the then-upcoming vote at the colony’s registration date would be close and had moved in the safety equipment, the sprayers and the detoxifiers, the new insulated materials for their housing, and the purifiers for their water supply as soon as he was able.
That had most likely helped win the registration and the colony’s allegiance to the Barony rather than the Duchy but had proved in the long run to be not worthwhile to the colonists once the new ore had been discovered. While originally mining for Lawrencium, a vein of strange new Argosenium ore had been discovered, and even being near it proved deadly to the miners. It’s location and the number two tunnel in which it lay were put off-limits to the non-hostage miners, but after some testing had been done, it was shipped back to Neres, the Barony’s home world, and there undergone much more rigorous testing.
She remembered that only a dozen or so scientists had died during that period until it was discovered that the new element, named Argosenium by some mid-level scientist of hers, could be made to “adapt” the TachyonDrive magnetic candle that powered the ships all across the galaxy. By pushing her white-coated idiots, she had eventually learned that a drive unit with a special mechanical modifier made of the new material could somehow be made “invisible” as it moved along under the drive’s power. And further, recently they’d been able to learn they could also control other candles that got within a light-year but only if both candles were on the same axis. Even being off by less than a degree and the Pirates who now used the newly adapted TachyonDrive units couldn’t control their quarry.
Enough, she thought. Now who else to aid her in her larger quest today? She turned on her wrist PDA again.
# # # # #
As he moved across the tarmac toward the dock, Tanner realized he’d have to see the quartermaster and stopped by quickly to order new uniforms and even an extra set of dress grays. No sense in looking like a country cousin, he thought and signed the order form and was back out in the Jeep in a few minutes. The seaman at the wheel cleared his throat and said nicely, “I hear you beat back the Pirates, Captain, well done, Sir!”
Tanner let that si
t for a moment, and then puzzled, he looked at his driver. The lad was about twenty-five or so, rake-thin, and judging by the folds in his uniform shirt had seen little of space by the lack of any ribbons above his chest badging.
“Seaman, my rank is on my uniform. So how’d you know that I just made captain? Aren’t I still a lieutenant commander?”
The seaman grinned. “You’re the talk of the yard, Sir. You pulled some kind of trick on the Pirates and they were beat so they took off. We all heard about it, Sir, and we’re all happy that they got theirs—and hopefully, they’ll get lots more, Sir.”
Tanner nodded. It made sense that they’d heard, looked at his exploits, and figured out his reward for same. Wouldn’t have been the way I planned it, he reasoned, seeing as this is the second time I’ve been a captain in a Navy. As he rode along, he looked at the still uncompleted ships in the dry-dock in their partial skeletal form. There were the frigates Henderson and Davies and over there the cruiser Carpenter. And beside it the almost finished Marwick, now standing tall, her hull burnished silver. As he watched, he saw the droids who were linking up the just attached various arrays and saw the sparkle of the welder’s torch from afar. Moving ever closer, he saw the flaring fins and their rippled vents and beneath them the massive landing vanes that kept her upright when on the ground. As they pulled up to the entrance boarding escalator, he motioned for the seaman to pull up short and got out to look at his new command from below.
Above him for almost 600 feet straight up she soared, and at 23,000 tons, she was as massive as she looked. Carrying 290 crew and almost sixty-five officers, she was the tenth cruiser that the Navy had commissioned, and she was almost ready to go. They had bigger, he knew—the destroyer Nugent was a full 1100 feet and had two of the immense Perseus engines. And while like Navy men everywhere, he wanted the biggest and fastest, today he just smiled as he strode now toward the boarding officer on duty at the base of the escalator. He saluted as he arrived.
“Permission to come aboard, Lieutenant,” he said as his presence was noticed by the busy lieutenant who suddenly was flustered and almost dropped his PDA tablet. He threw it to his left hand and snapped a salute back as he came to attention.
