“Yes Sir” acknowledged Dave.
Art dearly wanted to raise the possibility of him being reassigned but he assessed his chances as being worse than Buckley’s.
“I won’t detain you any longer. Just remember what I said earlier.”
Chapter 11. Hermes over Raleigh 0845, 30 September
Aubrey was in her element marshalling the seven transports that would make up the convoy. All was right to go except for one recalcitrant transport whose skipper just could not come to terms with the concept of formation offsets and separation distances.
Dave was admiring Aubrey’s patience and the way she was handling the situation. He knew he would have been less tolerant and would have given that skipper a piece of his mind by now.
“Finally” said Aubrey. The icons on the display were now in the correct formation alignment with the Hermes in the lead and the seven transports astern. “Congratulations” she hailed the recalcitrant. “All ships prepare to receive warp coordinates.” She looked across to Chase who nodded back. “Sending now” she added. Chase hit send on his terminal and the coordinates were sent to each of the ships in formation, offset by their respective positions.
Aubrey looked to Dave for his signal to depart. “Wait till 0900” said Dave. There was another five minutes to go so he got up and walked through to the cockpit. He stood next to James at the helm and peered out for a last look at Raleigh below. After a minute he whispered a last ‘goodbye’ to Rihan and made his way back to his seat.
“Prepare to warp in 2 minutes” hailed Aubrey as Dave took his seat.
Five minutes later with a week of warp travel ahead Dave met Art in the mess for a coffee. “So what are we to do for the next week to amuse ourselves?” asked Art. “In fact I can’t see any role for me at all in this escort business.”
Dave pondered for a moment. “Good point Art. We’re going to have to schedule activities to keep the crew from dying of boredom. How about we plan some training sessions?”
“Yeah but there’s only so many times you can go through drills and the like.”
“What about some wargames?” suggested Chase as he took a seat at the table.
“Yeah we can do wargames” said Dave but another thought had come into his mind. “Art you don’t have your watch certificate do you?”
“No Dave. I’ve always been a grunt.”
“So was I and if I can do it so can you.” Art didn’t look enthused but Dave pressed on. “Come on Art it would be a good skill to have – another string to you bow. Besides if you’re not challenged you will be frustrated and grumpy. You’ll be impossible to live with.”
Art knew that Dave was right but he was reluctant to admit it. He opted for diversion. “So Chase what type of wargames were you thinking of?”
Chase was eager to respond but Dave spoke first. “We’ll get to that in a moment” he said to Chase and turned back to Art. “Aubrey and I are both qualified watch instructors. I’ll get Aubrey to draw up a program of instruction for you. We’ll make it four hours each day. That will give you plenty of time for other things.”
“You’re not going to be deterred are you?” asked Art.
“Not a bit ol’ buddy. I’m on your case.”
“Alright” surrendered Art and he smiled at his friend.
Chapter 12. Chester 0900, 20 October
Rihan looked around the table at the other staff officers. She couldn’t believe it. None of them were giving the slightest indication of saying anything. Even the chief of staff Capt Matt Turiq remained unmoved.
“Sir we’ve sent out three escorted convoys now and none of them have been attacked and yet the pirates have attacked two other transports elsewhere within the sector.”
“Yes Commander?” said VAdm Wyatt.
“Well isn’t it clear that they are going to leave the escorted convoys and just pick off the unescorted transports.”
“We don’t have enough ships to escort all transports in the sector Commander.”
“Exactly Sir. In such cases, doctrine dictates that we should devote some of our resources to search, harass and destroy the pirates.”
“You’re new to this sector Commander. The pirates always retreat to the Betelgeuse system which you should know has been declared a no go zone due to its sun’s instability.”
“But Sir that’s a self-declared no go zone. As commander of this sector you can override that for pursuit purposes.” Rihan caught sight of Turiq’s shaking head. She glanced around at the others and she could see they were all starting to get very uncomfortable in their seats.
“Let me make this very clear to you” said Wyatt “On my watch we will not be taking unnecessary risks with Fleet assets. Is that understood Commander?”
The expression on Turiq’s face was a grim warning that Rihan decided to heed even though her natural instincts said to fight this stupidity. “Yes Sir understood.” She reluctantly relaxed back into her seat and saw the others do the same.
The meeting finished shortly afterwards and Turiq asked Rihan to come to his office. He closed the door behind them and once they were seated said “Look Rihan you are not the first to challenge the Admiral’s policy on this. But he’s not going to budge. Your predecessor made the same arguments you just made and the Admiral got rid of him after he pressed his case once too often.”
“But I can’t understand the Admiral’s position” said a perplexed Rihan.
“Word has it that he’s thinking of early retirement. I know that several of the big defence corporations have approached him with offers of positions. But the truth is that his wife is not well and she wants to go back to Earth. So he doesn’t want to do anything that would jeopardise his record or his pension.”
“What, so in the meantime we let the pirates have the run of the sector?”
Matt was trying to craft some response but his resigned expression told Rihan the answer.
“Something needs to be done about this” said Rihan. Her dander was up again. “You should inform Fleet HQ.”
“I have.”
“And?”
“Nothing” said Matt. “Look the Admiral’s got some friends in high places. They know the score and are prepared to let this play out. I was told that he may be gone as early as December. So until then we comply with the Admiral’s wishes. Be smart. Stay cool. It won’t be long.”
Chapter 13. Chester 1600, 25 October
Dave entered the briefing room at Raleigh HQ along with Aubrey. He was delighted to see Rihan at the table and gave her a huge smile.
Wyatt sat at the head of the table but Matt Turiq had the chair and called proceedings to order. First off Dave was invited to report on his mission. It was a pretty routine affair and did not take Dave long. Then Turiq asked the Intel Officer on his staff, LCmd Jack Malawi to provide the latest update on developments within the sector.
Matt then asked Rihan as the ops officer to give a run down on the plan for the next month. The plan was more of the same. Rihan could see Dave’s reaction and she knew he was about to say something but tried to head him off by shaking her head.
Dave was struggling to understand. He knew there was some form of sub plot going on here. He looked into Rihan’s eyes. They were pleading with him. He decided to heed them and so said nothing then or throughout the remainder of the debrief. He let Aubrey deal with the logistics and personnel matters. His mind was elsewhere when the Personnel Officer, LCmd Mary Montgomery, said that accommodation arrangements had been finalised for the Hermes crew.
So he was surprised to see the knowing and pleased expression on Rihan’s face. It brought his focus back to the meeting. He was intrigued now and was trying to work out what had just been said when Mary stopped talking and Turiq thanked them for attending and called the meeting to a close.
Rihan whispered something into Matt’s ear as they were leaving and then took Dave’s arm in hers and said “Come on we can go. I have something to show you.”
Once they were out
of the room she gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“You’ll get us into trouble you will” said Dave and he pecked her back on the lips.
“I’ll get us into trouble?”
They collected their gear and headed down to the ground floor via the elevator. It was nigh on knock off time and the early departers were already filling the street outside.
“Oh how I’ve missed you Darling” she said as she led him out the doors and to the nearby bus stop.
“Ditto” said Dave. “Where are we going?”
“New digs for you and moi…together” she said with a twinkle in her eyes. “It’s only two stops away. Here comes the bus now. They come every ten minutes during peak hour. Not that it’s much of a peak hour compared with Nova Vista.”
Dave was content to follow. The bus was full and so they both stood near the large side doors holding onto the passenger loops that hung from the roof. It was noisy and both opted not to talk, content on just communicating with their eyes and smiles.
They endured the jostling at the first stop and were thankfully first out at the next. Dave took a look around at the buildings. At the ground floor were an eclectic mix of small shops, restaurants and even a bakery.
“That’s ours” said Rihan pointing to the residential tower on the other side of a small open space that had a nice terraced garden on one side, a children’s playground on another and a small restaurant with outdoor seating on the third side. A woman was rounding up her toddler in the playground and a waiter from the ‘El Dorado’ restaurant was updating the special’s board with tonight’s dinner menu.
Once they got to the open space Dave noticed that the ambient noise level dropped considerably as it was shielded by the tower from much of the traffic noise. “Nice” he said.
“We’re booked in over there for 1830” she said. She took his hand and led him into the ground floor of the tower. There was a small two seater lounge, a public notice display and the elevator in the main foyer.
They alighted at floor 15, second from the top and soon Rihan opened the door to their new apartment. It wasn’t as plush as the senior officers’ apartments on Nova Vista but Dave could see that Rihan had already added some nice touches.
‘It’s lovely honey” he said and gave her a peck on the cheek.
“Thanks.” She looked at Dave as he gazed around the living room. She came up to him and arrested his gaze by placing her arms on his shoulders. “You poor thing. You look done in.”
“I was a lot better before that briefing.” He gave her a helpless look. “By the way what was that all about in the debrief?”
She parted from him. “I’ll tell you over dinner but you need a shower first to wake you up.”
“It will if it includes you.” Dave’s expression was now transformed and he had a cheeky grin of anticipation.
She undid the top button on her blouse. Then she turned and said “This way my tired but frisky friend” and she led him down the corridor to the bathroom. By the time she reached the door to the bathroom her blouse fell to the floor. She half turned back to him and saw that the expression on Dave’s face was full of delight. She made an effort to undo her bra and said “I may need your assistance.”
“Of course you do.”
Chapter 14. Chester 2000, 20 October
“Commander Warner?” hailed the voice. Dave was just walking back with Rihan from the restaurant.
“Yes who is it?”
“I’m Chief Blumberg from the Fleet Police. I have one of your officers here – a Lt Simons.”
“Yes what’s the matter?”
“I think you better come down to the station Sir.”
“Why what’s happened?”
“He started a scrap downtown. He’s drunk Sir.”
“Alright I’ll be there soon.”
Dave turned to Rihan. “I have to go and get Art out of the klink.”
“Oh what?” said an annoyed Rihan.
“He’s drunk and been in a fight.”
“Oh” is all Rihan said but Dave sensed she knew something.
“Oh what?”
“Sue left for Fulmar three days ago.”
“Terrific” said Dave. “Where’s the police station?”
“Which one?”
“The Fleet one.”
“You will need to call a taxi. I’ll do it” and Rihan hailed for a taxi. While they waited Dave said “He’s going to be impossible now. When did you say Wyatt is likely to be replaced?”
“December, so Turiq says.”
“Gee that’s going to be a long two months.”
Chapter 15. Hermes over Bellan 1300, 11 November
Now that they were out of warp the Hermes could receive communications. A week’s worth of routine messages started piling up in Dave’s in-tray on his console. He scanned the Senders and his eyes showed some interest when he saw a message from Cmdr Reina Suzuki. It was marked ‘personal – for recipient’s eyes only’.
It read ‘I hope you are well and that things haven’t been as boring as you feared. Now that the Washington is operating out here on our own I have been reflecting on what happened over Zuon, the decision you took and the consequences of that decision.’
‘I cannot go into operational details in this personal communication but you should already know that tensions with the rogan have heightened since they found out about our deal with the sleth. On a recent mission we undertook I was nearly forced to make a similar decision to the one you took.’
‘Thankfully push did not come to shove but I appreciate better now the dilemma you faced. If it’s any comfort I believe you did the right thing. Things are different when you are operating in isolation compared to operating as part of a combined force. When you are on your own, crew cohesion is vital. Without it you cannot function effectively and I believe this diminishes the risk argument.’
‘I realise that for you there was also a very personal reason for your decision. I would have previously argued that a good commander needs to subjugate personal objectives to the operational ones. But I now see that it’s the personal that binds a crew together, that makes it perform effectively. If we ignore that then we run an even greater risk.’
‘Your friend, Reina.’
Dave rocked back in his chair. He had an expression of appreciation on his face, then of reflection. He began typing a reply.
‘Reina,’
‘Thanks for your kind message. Alas my fears about boredom have been fully realised but we’re making the best of it. I really appreciated your thoughts about taking into account personal considerations. They are probably better expressed than my poor efforts prior to the court order.’
‘If it helps at the time I had to make that decision I remembered the words of a very wise person, my guru, who said that if it ever comes down to a choice between supporting the people or the task, then always support the people for only then can you get the task done.’
‘Your friend, Dave.’
Chapter 16. Chester 1000, 10 December
It was a long and tedious two months.
Art was close to impossible to live with, saved only by his natural dry wit and the knowledge that there may be hope for a change in December. He had finished his watch officer’s certificate on the way to Turintia on their second escort mission.
Dave was not going to let him be idle though and had him out with Parinya getting practical experience piloting the warthogs. His original pilot’s license had expired years ago. By the middle of the third mission to Saiph his pilot’s refresher was complete.
Dave then had him running training sessions on spy craft with select members from the marine detachment. Ivan, Val and Crystal had volunteered for Art’s course and if the truth be told had enjoyed it immensely.
But it wasn’t all constant activity and Dave was worried that too often he would find Art in the mess getting drunk and he was a bad drunk of the morose type. His mantra when drunk was ‘when will I see Sue again’. Dave was runn
ing out of ideas and activities to keep him occupied.
Sue on the contrary was extremely busy on Fulmar. With only an initial staff of ten, she had to assist with the physical setting up of the embassy and this was a major undertaking as they were starting from scratch. The environment of Fulmar was pretty harsh and even for someone as tough as Sue she found the high humidity and scorching temperatures difficult.
But she did enjoy the challenge of establishing relations with the sleth. She and the ambassador were meeting every few days with a sleth team headed by Fowlsit. The main focus was on crafting a technology exchange agreement. This was requiring a lot of technical input and more often than not specifics had to be referred back to Federation Council.
As interesting as the work was by the middle of December she had had enough and requested leave to be back on Raleigh for Xmas. She was missing Art immensely.
Rihan knew that compared with the others she had the easiest posting. She worked and lived in air conditioned comfort. She wasn’t under any physical or psychological strain. She got to spend one week in four with Dave and she lived for these times.
The work was dull and she was frustrated with the current commander but she had surprised herself exercising enough discipline to keep her natural temper in check. Dave had commented to her during his last layover that he thought she was more patient. Patience had not been one of her fortes so she was quite pleased with herself. However, her patience was running thin as they were now almost halfway through December and still no word on Wyatt’s replacement.
She was now in her office looking at her calendar - something she did so often these days. The Hermes was due back on the 22nd. She already knew from the signal they received yesterday that its escort mission to Saiph had been uneventful.
Redemption: Book 2 of Warner's World Page 17
