Admiral's Revenge (A Spineward Sectors Novel:)

by Luke Sky Wachter

  “Thank you again, Sir,” he gushed, taking the hint and hurrying out the room.

  I released a pent-up sigh and allowed my smile to fade away so that when I turned back to Laurent, I deliberately allowed my displeasure with the situation we found ourselves in to bleed through. In all honestly, while I’d been planning for the worse—which had basically been for Jean Luc to already be in this star system—somewhere in my gut I still hadn’t been expecting it. It was as if I’d just taken a blow to the body and was still fighting for the next breath.

  “Is something bothering you, Admiral?” Laurent asked with concern and then he flushed. “I mean other than the obvious,” he said, waving his arm vaguely in a direction I took to mean Tracto.

  “You could say that,” I said sitting down in my chair wearily and rubbing my temples. “Pull up a chair,” I said, indicating he should move closer to me than where he was currently sitting.

  Chapter 22: An Oath—and a Rebuke

  “Alright,” I began, activating the holo-screen until it showed a map of the closest star systems surrounding Tracto, “I need some recommendations of which ships we should plan to send out on an interdiction mission.”

  “What are we supposed to interdict?” Laurent asked evenly, clearly playing things cautiously. I suppose I would have done the same thing in his place if my commanding officer was out for bloody revenge and had just been told he couldn’t win, so I didn’t take any offense at the question.

  “Those freighters I just mentioned a moment ago,” I said, easily emphasizing the point with a languid flip of the wrist.

  “If you’re sure they’re going to be here,” he said, giving me a significant look to go along with his leading question.

  “I am,” I replied neutrally.

  “I can do it,” Laurent said giving me a nod, “although with Eastwood and Shepherd already on the case…” he hesitated, then shrugged indifferently as he continued to search my features.

  “A little duplication of effort can be helpful at times,” I said with scoff, “just humor me.”

  “Yes, Sir,” he said with another shrug and started bringing up potential point transfer routes, the nearest stars and the average and extreme hyperspace ranges for merchant freighters.

  When he was done, we had half a dozen likely candidates, and I felt far more knowledgeable about merchant jump ranges than I ever had.

  “Excellent work, Captain,” I said with a regal nod.

  “This was just a preliminary run up, based upon my own knowledge,” Laurent warned, “normally I would consult with the Navigator before a briefing of this nature.”

  “I completely understand,” I said, my pleasure fading slightly but I refused to be put off right then; there were enough things constantly going wrong around me that it was important to remember to stop and feel some satisfaction every now and again.

  “Was there anything else, Admiral?” Laurent asked breaking me from my silent contemplation with his continued stare.

  “What?” I asked irritably and then gave myself a shake, “yes, yes of course,” I said reaching for the table controls and deactivating the holo-projector.

  Laurent just looked at me expectantly, waiting while I mulled over exactly what to say.

  “Is it about Tracto?” he asked with a clearly leading question.

  “After a fashion,” I said with a sigh, realizing there was probably no better way to go about the matter than to just plunge in. “Captain Laurent,” I gave the other man a significant look.

  “Yes, Sir,” the Lieutenant Commander said straightening.

  “I have a plan for taking back Tracto and for bringing down my Uncle Jean Luc and his pirate minions,” I said looking him in the eye.

  “If I might ask…” Laurent said.

  “I plan to keep the particulars close to the vest,” I said, shaking my head, “however, what I can tell you is that in the meantime we’re going to do our best to interdict any pirate freighters with our lighter vessels, while our larger ships stay out here waiting for our opportunity.”

  “Out here?” Laurent said looking distressed.

  “Yes, Captain,” I said flatly, “out here. Right here, in fact. Although, we might cast our sensor net a little wider, just to be sure things go according to plan.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better to withdraw to another location, Sir,” Laurent suggested, his face a professional mask.

  “But then the Bugs would pass us right by on their way to Tracto,” I said with a deliberately oblivious smile.

  “Yes, Admiral, and possibly cause damage to the pirate fleet holding Tracto,” Laurent explained all-too-patiently.

  “One Heavy Cruiser was able to destroy this entire group,” I said patiently, “so I doubt they’d be much of a problem for the pirates and with their multiple Battleships and Cruisers. On the other hand, this same group of Bugs could still cause quite a bit of damage to the Belters, or anyone else in space, until the pirates decided to do something about it—if they decided to do something about it. Pirates aren’t generally known for their generosity, after all.”

  “A worrying possibility but, much as I hate to admit it, space is dangerous and the Belters knew the risks when they came here,” Laurent said in a clinically professional tone. “On the whole—”

  “Which also,” I said sharply, raising my voice to deliberately talk over him, “completely leaves out the possibility that the Bug Harvesters will head straight toward the largest source of biomass in the system—a system that I’ve sworn to protect. Now what kind of Protector would I be if I stood aside and trusted these pirates to protect the system? Furthermore, what if due to some form of concerted resistance on the surface, Jean Luc decides to make an example of a couple city states—Messene, or Argos, for instance—and allows several Harvesters land and start converting people and vegetation into bio-mass?”

  “Sir,” Laurent protested, “Devil’s Advocate here, but if we weaken ourselves fighting off every Bug expeditionary force we come across then we won’t be in any condition for a knock-down, drag-out battle later on!”

  “I’ve sworn to protect this system from Bug genocide, and that’s exactly what I’ll do: stop these Bugs,” I said scornfully. “Anyone who doesn’t like it can get off of this ship and hitch a ride back home as soon as one of our vessels gets damaged enough that it needs to head back for repairs. Everyone knew the risks when they signed on for this mission; no one said this was going to be easy.”

  Laurent looked distressed as he considered his reply. “I understand your position, Admiral, but I’m not sure how we’re going to explain it to the rest of the fleet. I’m not sure how the men will take us fighting the Bugs out here, instead of patrolling the Border—and all while the pirates sit it out in safety around Tracto.”

  “Lady Akantha,” I said, turning my chair from one side to the other to check its range.

  “Pardon,” Laurent said looking perplexed, “you mean you’re here because of her?”

  “No,” I said patiently, turning my chair at an angle to the new Captain, “you asked how we would explain this, and I said ‘Lady Akantha’.”

  “Ah,” Laurent said in false comprehension, as he was clearly still in the dark.

  “Forget about me, or about explaining things to the crew for just a minute and turn this thing around,” I said, whipping the chair around to pin Laurent with a level stare. “Let’s suppose this fleet turns around and goes home so we can ‘gather our strength’, while the Hold Mistress of Messene’s world is eaten down to the bedrock because its inhabitants somehow offended the pirate King—say, by trying to kill him just like they did his nephew. What exactly do you think my beloved wife’s response is going to be toward the men of this fleet who ran away and did nothing while her people were, quite literally, eaten?”

  Laurent blanched and his eyes bulged as I smiled grimly and continued, “When the crew asks you to explain why we’re ‘wasting our time’ out here, you tell them Lady Akantha—a woman wi
th an Imperial Medium Cruiser and her own ‘independent’ fleet of genetic uplifts—would probably take rather poorly to us turning around and leaving her world to the mercy of Pirates and Bugs. Then you just let them do the math,” I said, stabbing a finger on the table for emphasis.

  “A strong argument,” Laurent said after half a minute’s silence.

  “The men and women of this fleet may no longer feel they need concern themselves with what I think—” I began icily.

  “That’s not true!” the Captain cut me off in protest.

  “No, I’ve been proven fallible and lost respect. I can deal with that,” I said, my mouth a tight line as I forced a shrug, “but they’d better blasted well be ready to do some serious explaining to Akantha and our Lancer force when she catches back up with them, and have a good reason why they cut and ran on her home world the next time they see her.” I paused and then added, “A good reason, as far as a grieving and enraged Tracto-an Lancer would see it.”

  “On second thought explaining to the crew from the Clover won’t be as hard as I originally thought,” Laurent said, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe his forehead.

  “Good,” I said with finality, and turned away in dismissal.

  “But,” Laurent added pointedly, and I turned back to him with a frown.

  “Yes?” I grunted.

  “The Officers, especially the Officers and crews from Easy Haven, will be more difficult to convince. The Admiral’s Lady has a certain cachet with those of us originally from the Clover, and no one wants to look at an angry, Tracto-an Lancer crosswise,” Laurent suddenly cracked a smile, “unless they’re from the gun deck, of course.”

  I stared at him nonplussed for a long moment, and then we broke out chortling simultaneously.

  “Saint Murphy, but I needed that,” I said with a chuckle.

  Laurent slapped a hand on the table.

  Regaining myself, I looked down at his hand and quick as a raptor I reached out and grabbed the top of it before he could react.

  “I need your help, Laurent,” I said, refusing to let go when he instinctively tried to withdraw his hand, “I can’t do this on my own.”

  “We’re with you, Admiral,” Laurent said, staring down at my hand on top of his.

  “We’ll hold here and gather our strength,” I said with sudden fervor, “Spalding, Akantha, the Omicron, Commodore Druid and the recruiting drive, the Sundered, Easy Haven,” I rapidly ticked off the people and places we might be able to expect support from going into the future, “we are not alone in this thing. I have a plan to win this that doesn’t involve throwing ourselves in front of the Bugs like some kind of self-flagellating human sacrifice.”

  Seeing the other man still focused on his hand, I let go but still kept leaning forward with the intensity of my impassioned little speech.

  “I have no intention of committing suicide; I’m in it to win this thing, Officer,” I said pounding a fist on the table before leveling a finger in his direction, “never doubt that.”

  Laurent closed his eyes. “What’s the plan, Admiral?” he asked with a heavy breath.

  “We have to keep this Fleet in line, focused, and on task. I trust our Clover’s crew, but when it comes to dealing the Easy Haveners I need you in my corner, fully focused and ready to help push this boulder all the way up the hill,” I said, feeling my eyes burn with emotion. “I need your support, but more importantly I need your trust. I know that’s a lot to ask after betting the house at the Omicron and coming up busted and imprisoned—on the line for execution, even, which I’m sad to say pales in comparison to the fate many of our fellows met with.”

  Laurent lifted a hand with his eyes still closed, and I could see the way his fingers trembled as he did so. “I’m not sure…” he said shakily.

  “I took a risk and rolled the dice. I lost. I failed. Our Battleship was taken and we were cast upon the tender mercies of politicians who had none,” I declaimed, slamming another fist into the table.

  “That wasn’t necessarily your fault, Jason,” Laurent said opening his eyes.

  “Yes it was,” I shouted angrily, “yes it blasted well was! I trusted Sector Central and those blighters on Capria, and that’s a mistake I won’t be making again. You know it, I know it, and any member of the crew with two halves of a brain cell to rub together knows it. I failed all of us—all of you!”

  “Yes, you did,” Laurent shouted standing up from his chair.

  “Good, let’s see some emotion,” I jumped to my feet, matching him glare for glare, “let me hear what you really think, or just plain shoot me down where I stand; I won’t stop you,” I said, and with two fingers pulled my holdout blaster pistol and threw it away to land against the wall with a thump. I then spread my arms to show that I was unarmed and did a slow turn around. “But whatever you’re going to do, you need to stop acting like you’re going to help in private and then slow-playing me when people are actually watching!”

  “Stop acting like a crazy man,” Laurent growled, “you don’t have Chief Engineer Spalding’s panache and ability to pull it off.”

  “Either you believe in this mission, or you don’t,” I said flatly, “either you think I can do the job, or you don’t. There is no middle ground here; there are no second chances. I need you all in, or all out, and you’re free to shoot me if you think that will help,” I said, still holding my arms wide.

  “I don’t want to shoot you, you stupid, royal, gint,” Laurent raged, “punch you in the face maybe, for not saving us, but I don’t want to kill you. Space Gods,” he growled, running a hand over his face.

  “In or out,” I said flatly, “this is not the Confederation Forces of Easy Haven, where Captains like Synthia McCruise are not only expected, but encouraged, to ‘play it safe!’ They would leave us rotting in her brig without so much as one word—one Murphy-blasted word! Of aid and comfort in our time of dire need,” I placed both hands on the table and leaned forward, “this is the MSP! We don’t always make the smart play, or the safe play, or the Easy Haven play. If we’d been playing it safe from the get go, that Settler you’d been riding in would have been captured or blown up by pirates. Tracto would be a barren wasteland of Bug Marauders, milking every last bit of bio-mass out of her. Easy Haven would be back in mothballs, and the Omicron would certainly still be in pirate hands!” I ran a hand through my hair as the other officer remained silent, “We don’t always make the safe play. We don’t calculate the angles and always go with the safest choice, like McCruise! We make the right blasted choice every blasted time, and blight the ever-loving consequences!”

  I came to a rambling stop, feeling winded and breathing heavily.

  “Are we really here to do what’s right, or is this all about revenge against your Uncle, the pirate? Do you really have a plan, Admiral and Prince Cadet Jason Montagne?” Laurent asked finally. “Because from where I sit it’s hard tell if this isn’t just some grand Royal Feud in the old tradition, just like we used to have back home on Capria.”

  “I always have a plan,” I exploded, “they don’t always work—but that’s irrelevant,” I leveled a finger at him. “Jean Luc’s not a Central Politician; he’s an old school Montagne. Once he finds out where I am and that I’m still at large, he’ll come gunning for us. He’ll come for me, for you, and for anyone who even once dreamed of supporting me. If it’s in the best interest of our people, I’d scream and fight it, but in the end I’d let go of my revenge. But he doesn’t think like that,” I said hotly, feeling every inch of my face flush. “To him I’m a threat that will need to be tied up and eliminated, and the MSP is just a tool or organization that needs to be destroyed, whether I’m around or not. In this case, payback for what was done to us and doing what’s right are one and the very same thing.”

  Laurent opened his mouth, but I wasn’t finished. “I need you with me, or I need you gone,” I said, deliberately turning my back on him. “Shoot me in the back or leave this room if giving me your full-fledged s
upport in leading the fleet as its Admiral isn’t something you can live with. Or you can stay—you don’t even have to say anything, and I pledge you my complete trust and any support I can give in return. But if I’m going to command this fleet, I can’t do it without a strong right hand in command of my Flagship.”

  There was a long silence behind us and then I heard the Officer move over to where I’d thrown the holdout blaster pistol. My skin crawled and everything in my body tensed. My neck muscles shivered when the Captain stepped up behind me, but I forced myself to remain still. I meant it; I couldn’t do this without his support, and if the man thought I needed to die then so be it. It wasn’t how I’d wanted to go out, old and in bed, surrounded by beautiful naked women but hey, we don’t always get what we want. At least it would be freedom of a sort.

  I held hard to that thought as the muzzle of the pistol pressed hard against my back.

  “Curse all royals everywhere, and especially your family—every, single one of you blasted Montagne tyrants,” Laurent said in a tight, furious voice, and I knew in that exact moment that everything I’d been working towards was over. I heard a thump behind me, and for a split second I wondered if I’d just been shot.

  “Get it over with,” I said angrily.

  “You always have to get what you want, don’t you?” Laurent said, his voice sounding thick.

  “It’s a character flaw I’ve been working on,” I said, unable to fight the urge to babble. If he was talking, then I wasn’t getting shot, and that was still a good thing in my book. “You know, losing my wife, my ship, my crew…and almost my own life as well…it’s just hard to figure out how much more there is to give away.”

  “Turn around and look me in the eyes,” Laurent said.

  “Just do it,” I sighed.