"I...thank you for the offer, Colonel. May I have time to consider the offer?" Tasha asked. Again, Tasha was baffled as a flash of anger distorted Hawke's face, as if she had just slapped him, but it was quickly replaced with one of resignation, and then replaced yet again with the calm and collected demeanor she had come to recognize as the mask he wore on a day to day basis, showing those he commanded the calm confidence he possessed.
"Of course, Lieutenant Commander." He replied, suddenly formal. "I just wanted to offer you this opportunity. We would be fortunate to have someone of your skill on the crew of The Heaven's Gaze when she launches." Sensing the sudden change in Hawke's demeanor, and still quite confused by the whole scenario, Tasha stood up and at attention, to which Hawke waved her away, dismissing her. With a stiff salute, she did an about face, and quietly left.
Hawke waited until the door had been latched closed before slumping back in his seat with a sad sigh. Well, there you have it, he thought. He had offered her a chance to continue their relationship outside the strict rules and regulations of a PMC, and she had coldly declined. Hawke couldn't help but feel a little sad. Sure, he had accepted that his lifestyle didn't lend itself to things like love and family, but that didn't mean he didn't ever think about them, or wonder what it would have been like to have a son or a daughter of his own. In fact there were times he had wondered if he had completely wasted his life because he had none of those things, but those moments usually quickly passed. Plus she was young yet, barely forty-two years old. Why would she bother with someone nearly past his middle years?
Hawke stood up and left the office, walking into the next room where his quarters were and shut the door. Moving to his hidden stash of bourbon, Hawke poured himself a small amount in a tumbler full of ice. Just as he was about to take a drink, someone pounded on the door leading to the corridor, though judging by the weight of it, Hawke knew who it was.
"Come in, Nate." Hawke called. A moment later, Nathan stepped in, saw the bourbon in Hawke's hand, and closed the door.
"No more singing." Nate quipped, "The crew can't take that kind of stress right now." Hawke couldn't help but chuckle, then took a sip and sat down. Nathan followed suit, before asking, "So what's the occasion?" Hawke shrugged dismissively.
"You didn't come in here to ask me why I'm having a bit of bourbon." Hawke prompted, trying to avoid the subject. Nathan cocked his head to the side, then shook his head.
"No, but it can wait. You don't drink much, nor often, so you either think this is a good time to take a moment to yourself and relax a little, or because something is on your mind and maybe eating at you." Nate said with a knowing look on his face. "Since I know you would never usually drink alcohol under these circumstances, I'd have to say it's the latter." Hawke set down the bourbon, and then stared quietly at the glass, realizing that Nathan was right, then shifted his gaze back to his oldest friend.
"I asked Tasha to stay on after the mission, to join us on The Heaven's Gaze." Hawke explained in a dead voice. Nathan smiled.
"And she either said 'no', or 'I'll think about it,' didn't she?" Nathan supplied. Hawke's startled glance made Nathan chuckle.
"How did you-" Hawke began.
"It's no secret to me that you seem to like her more than a commander should for a subordinate." Nathan interrupted. Hawke looked uncomfortable as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms, his drink forgotten. Nathan snorted and waved a dismissive hand.
"Oh calm down," Nathan said, "I'm the only one who knows." Hawke looked a little relieved, but then seemed to think again on what Nathan had just said.
"The only one?" Hawke asked. Nathan snorted, his version of a chuckle perhaps.
"Of course! You really didn't think she would understand the simple offer of continued employment, do you?" Nathan asked. Hawke looked surprised, and then guiltily glanced at the half glass of bourbon.
"Exactly." Nathan answered, "Why don't you try being a little more overt next time, and skip the bourbon altogether?" Nathan asked. Then he stood to leave.
"Oh, and we're ready to get under way, Captain. Whenever you're ready." Nathan added. Hawke nodded and stood as well.
"Very well. I'm heading to the bridge. You coming?" Hawke asked, his glass of bourbon forgotten.
"In a few minutes. There's something I have to do first." Nathan answered slyly. Hawke nodded, then took a moment to gather himself before stepping out of his quarters and into the corridor on his way to the bridge. Nathan waited a full ten seconds after the door had been latched closed before he settled into the chair Hawke had just vacated with a satisfied sigh, and took a sip of the bourbon Hawke had left behind. Everyone knew you didn't leave a twelve year old bourbon unattended, Amateur!
Chapter 17
They were well under way towards the system's jump gate that was in line with the Guan Yu's last known heading when the senior officers, and Tasha, filed into the Senior Officer's briefing room. Hawke was already there, as usual, though they did not find him leaning back enjoying a cigar while waiting for them to arrive, as was his custom. Instead, they found him scowling in concentration at the data before him. Along the wall to his left, their right, was a three dimensional image of the Guan Yu, slowly spinning in place. Along the bottom they could see data detailing its vital statistics, as discerned by the sensors of both The Fury, and The Black Wave. Gordy, ever appreciative of good engineering diverted his path from his customary chair and approached the screen, studying it for a moment, and then whistled appreciatively.
"This was built on the bones of the Fury class battlecruiser." Gordy observed, gaining Hawke's attention. Gordy pointed out the large laser barrels jutting out from the 'shoulders' of the bulldog design. "They replaced two of the bow laser turrets with these fixed lasers. From everything we've seen, they are more powerful by several orders of magnitude." Gordy shook his head in disbelief. "However they are powering this ship, it is well beyond any technology we possess." The other senior officers, Nathan and Raijan, were seated by the time Gordy turned back around to face the room. Then a sudden thought occurred to Gordy as he added, "Or they've found a way to transfer power faster than ever before, from one system to another, but either way, it's technology we don't have."
"Which is why we find ourselves here." Hawke agreed, as he waved Gordy to his seat, and waited for Gordy to sit down before continuing. "As you know, we can't keep a missile lock on the Guan Yu. We need to figure out how we can destroy something we can't effectively hit."
"Assuming we know where they went." Came Nathan's reply.
"Which is why I have asked Tasha to be in this briefing." Hawke rejoined. "She has been going through all the data we have managed to retrieve from Daroon." Hawke explained to questioning expressions. As if on cue, everyone turned their attention towards Tasha, who then brought up some of the data she had taken from the now demolished base on Daroon. Around the room, all three 2D displays showed different star charts mapping out a series of systems through which a ship would jump, from point of origin to destination.
"Spasibo, Colonel Hawke." Tasha said as she stood and mentally organized her talking points. She quickly decided to throw out the more elegant and elaborate briefing for the shorter, to-the-point version.
"We believe there have been several supply caches set up for the Guan Yu that provides fuel, and repair parts." Tasha said. "We know this because we cross-referenced several of the locations referenced by the intel gained on Daroon with the data we gained from the Choyo. While the data on the Choyo logged this as a delivery run, no actual coordinates were provided for its final destination. These same systems were logged in the data from Daroon as having inventories containing weapons, ammo, armor plating, and other equipment typically needed to keep a ship healthy. Like the data on the Choyo, the data recovered on Daroon never mentioned actual coordinates." The others in the room, except for maybe Hawke, looked doubtful.
"Is that all?" Raijan asked. There was no note of derision or reprimand in his voic
e, though Tasha felt the need to further justify her position.
"Nyet, there's one thing more. Each system has anomalies that would typically interfere with magnetometric sensors which, as you know, are the kind of sensors used almost exclusively by any ship built by the Gadari Republic." Tasha said with a note of satisfaction in her voice.
"But there's another thing." Tasha added. "We recovered a flight plan that details a rather long and involved route through sparsely populated systems that would take them over the shared border between the Gadari Republic and the Rejai Empire." Placing her spread hands flat upon the table's surface, she lowered herself into her chair, signaling that she was done with her report. The room was silent for a long moment as everyone thought about what was said, until Nathan seemed to nod to himself.
"They won't run. It just doesn't feel right." Nathan offered, beginning the conversation. Raijan, feeling more sure of himself and his position than ever before, agreed.
"It is now a matter of honor. We have destroyed the Choyo. We have captured their hidden production facility. We have destroyed their supply of Sarin, and then The Fury bombarded the base from orbit with a full flight of cruise missiles, transforming it into nothing more than a crater. Even worse, we defeated their cutting edge technology with this..." Raijan glanced at Gordy with a questioning expression before finishing with, "duct tape?” Everyone around the room chuckled as Gordy shook his head and rested his forehead in his hands in mock exasperation for a brief moment. The chuckles quieted as a smiling Hawke cleared his throat as if preparing to talk.
"Be that as it may, would they risk what we believe to be a prototype technology to be lost behind enemy lines?" Though Hawke was asking everyone sitting at the table that question, his eyes caught and held Raijan's, who looked away after a few moments. Hawke couldn't decide if the Rejaian looked more uncomfortable, or sad. For a moment, he considered throwing him a bone by relieving him of having to answer, for he knew that Raijan was the only one that could really answer that question with any degree of accuracy, but quickly dismissed the idea. The rest of them, with the exception of Tasha, who was Multani, were born and raised in the Gadari Republic. The concept of Rejaian honor often eluded them.
"What you must understand is that honor is not a code we live by." Raijan offered quietly, "It is our way of life. It is everything. It is..." Raijan thought for a moment, searching for an explanation that would adequately explain it to them. "There is an old earth proverb from a nation once called The United States. They said, 'A man's word is his bond.' The meaning of which was at once simple, and yet complex. This proverb implied that, should the man believe his decision to give his promise was ill-considered, he was bound by that promise, no matter what. To the Rejai, honor is our bond, and sometimes requires that we satisfy its demands, however ill-considered it may be." Raijan explained, then added with conviction, "They will not run." Hawke nodded, and looked around at the others, one or two of which seemed to have had gained a sudden insight into Rejaian honor. He too felt he now better understood what drives Raijan at times.
"Well then, it looks as if we better determine what system we can find them in." Hawke said, prodding the briefing along. Tasha raised an eyebrow, as if it was the most obvious answer in the world, but instead of saying anything, she leaned forward to her touch screen and displayed a system on the holodisplay. Everyone leaned forward, curious to see what system she believed harbored the Guan Yu.
"It will be the closest one." Tasha supplied after a moment. "So they can get repairs under way as quickly as possible, and gain the advantage of familiar territory." Raijan nodded in agreement, while a glance towards Nathan and Raijan told Hawke that they both thought that was as good a place to start as any.
"So...the Deramaar system, then." Hawke decided. "That leaves us with the most pressing problem. How can we actually hit the Guan Yu?" Gordy gave Hawke a self-satisfied smile as he tapped slowly on the touch screen in front of him, savoring every moment. Hawke couldn't help but smile. Gordy did this whenever he wanted to relish his victory over a particularly difficult problem. It was clear he felt as if he had done just that. After a moment, the holodisplay showed a three dimensional image of a standard missile rotating slowly above the center of the table, though it looked a bit different. The IR dome at the tip of the missile was larger, and the nose cone housing the guidance and control equipment was slightly larger. Towards the back of the missile, where the wings were, additional cylinders were attached between each wing. Each cylinder appeared to house additional rocket boosters, providing a total of four additional boosters per engine.
"What are we looking at, Gordy?" Hawke asked. Gordy tapped his chin, again savoring the moment, before his excitement got the better of him and he leapt up out of his chair and began pacing.
"It's a 'friend or foe, or FOF missile to which I have added second-stage boosters." Gordy announced triumphantly. Around the table, everyone looked at each other, looking slightly confused. Seeing their confusion, Gordy gave an exasperated sigh, then tried again, this time in simpler terms.
"If the missile loses its target, it searches for another enemy target of the same profile. The second stage boosters provide extended range, allowing for more missiles in space at once." Gordy explained. Seeing their expressions lighten with understanding, Gordy plunged on, now oblivious to their presence.
"You see, with the larger, more advanced IR system on it, and the upgraded guidance and control group the missile is more agile and maneuverable." Gordy explained as he gesticulated wildly. He was passionate about his tech. "With its second stage boosters it has an extended range, and if we change the auto-detonation sequence to occur when it runs out of rocket fuel rather than at a specific and preset range we can-"
"I think we get the picture." Hawke interrupted, not wanting to hear what would eventually devolve into a bunch of techno babble. "As long as it has fuel, it will continue to circle point of origin at a distance, looking for a new target, namely, the Guan Yu." Gordy, mouth still open and finger still upraised, let the remaining air in his lungs out as he dropped his hands.
"Yeah." He replied, flopping in his chair. "That's it." Hawke nodded appreciatively, but then looked confused.
"How in the world did you get FOF missiles? They usually don't even have many on the PMC Market - especially not way out here." Hawke asked. Gordy looked a tad uncomfortable as his gazed lowered to the tabletop. Hawke had a feeling he knew.
"I didn't get them on the PMC market." Gordy mumbled. "There was this lady...she said she'd give me the missiles if I-" Gordy began to explain apologetically. Nathan interrupted with a laugh while Hawke waved away the explanation.
"Nevermind, I don't think I want to know." Hawke said dismissively, to which Gordy looked greatly relieved. "Just tell me this. Do The Talons owe you a bonus?" Gordy gulped, then looked around.
"Like you wouldn't believe! " Gordy replied, to which everyone laughed.
***
The meeting had lasted another ten minutes before Hawke had dismissed them, and Gordy found himself sitting at a table in the mess hall with a cup of coffee and a plate of food to do some reading. It was the tail end of supper time. Usually, he would have eaten in the officer's mess, but no one else was there and he found that he craved the calamity of conversation. It was to his surprise that he was soon joined by Lieutenant Commander Altihkova, who nodded to him quietly and began to eat. Trying to ignore her, Gordy continued reading for a few moments longer before feeling as if he was being rude, so set aside the data pad.
"You did well in the briefing." Gordy offered. Tasha shrugged noncommittally.
Swallowing a bite of food she said, "I suppose." After hesitating a moment, she asked, "May I ask a question?" Gordy gave her a surprised look, and smiled.
"Sure." Gordy replied. Tasha again shrugged, indicating that she was not sure whether or not it would have been proper.
"Why would the Colonel invite me to be a part of the crew aboard The Heaven's Gaze if he
does not like me?" Tasha asked. Gordy gave Tasha a baffled expression, making her feel as if she had to clarify her question.
"Since my rescue aboard the Choyo, I have been taken out of regular shift rotation, and asked to work sometimes twenty hours straight, with little time to sleep, and requires me to provide intelligence when I do not feel I have properly researched all of the intel gained. I can only assume he is angry at me for something...perhaps for getting captured aboard the Choyo, or maybe he thinks I broke." Tasha explained. For the first time since joining The Talons, her mask began to slip, letting Gordy see how truly distressed she was. Gordy smiled, his brown eyes offering a warmth and friendship Tasha needed right then.
"On the contrary, I believe he might have a bit of an affection for you." Gordy offered. "He knows what you are going through, with the loss of your comrades, and science has proven that being awake longer somehow dulls the pain of heartache and loss as you create new memories, and allow past memories to gain some distance. Furthermore, he asks you to do all that he has done because he sees something in you, or your skill with electronic communications, cryptography, and cryptanalysis. He trusts your judgment. As for him asking you to join us on board The Heaven's Gaze, well..." Gordy trailed off, favoring Tasha with an appraising look before he said, "As a civilian company rather than a PMC, there aren't strict rules against fraternization." That made Tasha sit up straight, a shocked expression on her face. Hawke?! After a moment, her shocked expression was slowly replaced with a faint smile as she considered what Gordy had said. Finishing her meal, she quietly thanked Gordy for his company, and dismissed herself. Life, she realized, was so full of surprising twists and turns.
***
Hawke and Nathan had settled down to one of their favorite pastimes as the ship hurtled from jump gate to jump gate. That is to say they were deep into a game of chess being projected by the holodisplay, each sporting a glass of the Captain's stash of bourbon, when a quiet knock sounded at the door. Both looked at the door, and then at each other. It clearly wasn't an emergency, else Raijan, who was on bridge duty in the captain's chair at the time, would have contacted them on a private coms channel, well knowing they were both likely deep into their chess, and perhaps the Captain's supposedly secret stash, though neither of them usually got drunk. They had an obligation, after all, to not only keep discipline, but to be disciplined.
All My Sins Remembered Page 20
