Against All Odds

by DePrima, Thomas

  The house had changed little since Jenetta's last trip home. Her sisters knew it as well as she did because she had grown up there. Jenetta's cats immediately recognized her faint scent in the house despite the years that had passed since her last visit and treated the home as their own. They began exploring as soon as they entered the house.

  One of the few differences was the wall of photos in the dining room. The gallery now included images of Christa and Eliza as lieutenants, the medal ceremony where Jenetta received her first Medal of Honor, the images taken of the three girls when they were on Nordakia, and the ceremony on Stewart where Admiral Jenetta Carver had pinned captain's bars on her brother Billy. There was also a shot of Jenetta with the four gold stars that showed her rank to be that of a senior Admiral. It replaced the earlier image of her as a Lieutenant Commander that had been on the wall when she was last home.

  "Where did you get that image, Momma?" Jenetta asked. "I don't remember posing for a picture like that since I was last promoted."

  "A friend of mine had her son alter a picture of you with two stars. He's a computer whiz. Kind of like you when you were young."

  Looking at the image very closely, Jenetta said, "He's good. Now that I look at it carefully, I can see a little fuzziness around the edges of the stars, but it's barely noticeable."

  "My favorite picture is the one of you girls together on Nordakia. You look like princesses in your long gowns, hair extending almost to the floor. With your cats at your feet, it really adds a look of royalty to the picture."

  "As an Azula on Nordakia, Jen is royalty now, Momma," Christa said. "All members of the family Caver are recognized as noble born. You're the Azula Mum on the province of Gavistee on Obotymot."

  "The Azula Mum?"

  "Of course," Jenetta said. "I guess I didn't explain it as thoroughly as I should have when I told you about it. If you'd like to take a trip, you can live at the family palace for as long as you wish. There's a staff of twenty-five there with no one to serve. You'll have the run of the estate. I understand the weather is improving each year as more of the dust kicked into the upper atmosphere by the meteor clears. My chamberlain hopes to resume limited agricultural production in a few years."

  "Would I have to dress in one of those long gowns if I go there?"

  "Not anymore," Christa said. "The clothing requirements have changed for the better. We're glad you like the image, but we all hope we never have to dress like that again. You have no idea how uncomfortable those gowns were."

  Annette smiled. "You girls never could stand to wear anything feminine."

  "It wasn't that it was feminine," Eliza said. "The palace dressmakers had made the gowns too small and we had to wear corsets just to squeeze into them. We're not fat, so compressing the muscle around our midsections was almost unbearable."

  "You'd never know it from looking at the picture. You all look so relaxed and comfortable. And I still can't believe you're all here together. This was the best gift you could give me."

  Jenetta didn't mention it might be another six years before she would be home again. She didn't want to diminish her mother's joy at having them home, even if it was for just a short time.

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  ~ March 24th, 2282 ~

  Over the next week, the four women spent most of their time together. Jenetta explained about the cloning process and the initial emotions she had had to work through when she learned she had been cloned. Christa and Eliza talked about their efforts to separate their lives from Jenetta's past and establish a new identity for themselves. After that, all three women took turns telling Mom about the things they had experienced since Jenetta had last been on Earth.

  Jenetta had hoped to meet Richie's wife during her first trip home since the marriage, but her sister-in-law Marisa was off-planet visiting her own parents at the Sebastian colony.

  On the morning Jenetta was to report to the Admiralty Board, Christa and Eliza made plans to go shopping with Mom. Jenetta had always avoided shopping trips when she was young and they knew a day at the Mall with her daughters would delight Annette. Two of the female Marines from the protection detail would accompany them since many people would assume that either Christa or Eliza was Jenetta, or because some people might want to get a close-up look at clones. The Marines would do their best to protect anyone who got too close to the women.

  * * *

  Jenetta used her shuttle to fly alone to the Space Command Headquarters Base in Nebraska. She had debated whether to bring the cats and then decided to take them along. They had almost become a part of her identity after all and they always had a certain calming effect on over zealous newsies and curious civilians.

  As she climbed the wide stone steps to the impressive Admiralty building, she rehearsed in her mind what she was going to say. Lt. Commander Ashraf was waiting for her in the rotunda, just inside the entrance doors.

  "Good morning, Admiral."

  "Good morning, Lori."

  "Have you been enjoying your time at home, ma'am?"

  "Very much, thank you. My mother is beside herself with joy that we've come for the visit I've been promising for so long. Our assignments kept taking us further and further out. I'm happy to have finally made it. This is only my second trip home in twenty-five years. The last time was when we brought the Song home for repairs after the Battle for Higgins. How's your family?"

  "It's wonderful seeing them all again. It's been as long since my last visit— twelve years— as it has been for you. When you turned command of the Song over to Captain Yung, we were sent to the sectors near Dixon for patrol duties. We moved into the former Frontier Zone when the borders were expanded. At least my brothers and sisters are all on Earth, so my folks have some comfort there."

  "A life in space is tough on family life, romances, and friendships. Hopefully, the new speed improvement will help everyone cope just a little better. Instead of taking three months to get here from Higgins, the trip is only four days."

  The few minutes of peace they had enjoyed were interrupted by newsies as they converged on Jenetta from all sides. Her cats kept them at a respectable distance as Jenetta repeated that she had no statements to make right now, but the more obnoxious newsies continued to shout questions at her until she reached the Board's outer chamber. Correspondents weren't permitted into the chambers, except by special invitation.

  A clerk greeted Jenetta and her aide and asked them to have a seat until the Board was ready to convene. They sat in silence as Jenetta again slipped into meditation about the meeting.

  At 0945, the clerk invited Jenetta and her aide to enter the meeting hall but added that pets weren't permitted.

  Jenetta looked at the two cats and said, "Cayla, Tayna, wait out here for me."

  The two cats had stood when she did, but now sank back down to prone positions. They watched intently, the flicking ends of their tails their only movement as she walked to the doors and disappeared into the meeting hall. The clerk walked nervously back to his desk— nervous because the attention of the cats had shifted to him once Jenetta was out of sight. They seemed to understand he was responsible for separating them from their mistress.

  Inside the hall, a clerk escorted Jenetta to one of the seats reserved for visiting admirals at the horseshoe-shaped table. A holographic display at the front edge of the table, identified her to the other flag officers who would attend the meeting. It hardly seemed necessary, so Jenetta assumed that it was mainly for archival recording purposes. Lori took a seat directly behind Jenetta.

  The Board Admirals, along with their aides and clerks, began to enter the chamber from an entrance opposite that of the outer chamber a few minutes before 1000 hours. Jenetta stood and shook hands with each of the admirals, then exchanged pleasantries until it was time for the meeting to begin. She had met all but one at the ceremony when she received the Medal of Honor years earlier. Admiral Hubera hadn't attended that day, but she knew him from her days at the Aca
demy when he had been a professor there. He seemed pleasant enough today, but distant.

  "This meeting of the Admiralty Board is now open," Admiral Moore said. "We welcome Admiral Jenetta Carver as a visiting flag officer to this session."

  The Board discussed old business first, which included nothing that concerned Jenetta or Region Two, then moved to new business.

  "Admiral Carver, you've requested time to address the Board," Admiral Moore said. "You may make your presentation now."

  "Thank you, Admiral. I was quite astounded when this Board chose to place me in command of Region Two, but if that is your wish I shall do the job to the best of my abilities. I know you are well aware of the problems confronting me as I carry out the duties of my position. Region Two is twice as vast as Region One and establishing proper patrol coverage will take many resources and much time. Prior to their last expansion effort, the Milori had six hundred ships in the fleets tasked to maintain control over an empire just two-thirds our size. I have eight ships in my fleet at present. When all of the M-designate ships and the twelve Mars-built ships arrive a year from now, I'll have one sixth of the Milori strength, but it will be an additional five years before they can reach the remotest sectors of the Region.

  "I know that most of the output from the Mars shipyard for the next ten years has been pledged to Region Two and I will not ask for a more generous share of Space Command's assets than that already promised. I propose instead that the output from the yard be modified."

  "Modified in what way?" Admiral Plimley asked. As the Director of Weapons Research & Development, she headed the committee that directed ship construction at the yard, although the full Board decided the quantity and class of the ships.

  "It takes six or more years to build a new battleship. Each Prometheus class battleship is one-thousand nine-hundred-seventy meters in length and has a crew complement of three-thousand five-hundred."

  "We know that already," Admiral Hubera said testily, "get to the point."

  Jenetta stared silently at the curmudgeon for several seconds while he stared back. She had never intentionally done anything to incur his wrath and his attitude surprised her, but she didn't flinch as she returned his glare with a steady stare of her own. He had just spoken to her as he had when she was a cadet in his class. But she wasn't a cadet any longer; she was a flag officer, just as he was. In fact, she out ranked him, a fact that was eating away at him as he watched a superior officer who appeared to be about twenty-one years of age. Jenetta could see the bitterness in his eyes.

  "On the other hand," Jenetta said, continuing, "a Colorado class scout-destroyer is one-twentieth the size of a battleship, requires one-twentieth the construction resources, could be completed in one-twelfth the time, and only requires a crew one-twentieth that of a battleship. I would gladly accept twenty scout-destroyers in place of one battleship. More precisely, I would prefer to have sixty new scout-destroyers instead of the next three battleships earmarked for Region Two. The resources required to produce and crew the ships will be about equal."

  The members of the Board looked at one another as they thought about her statements. Admiral Platt was the first to speak.

  "A scout-destroyer can't do the things that a battleship can do. A point you might be overlooking is that a battleship has twenty times the firing capacity and carries a battalion of Marines."

  "I would pit any DS scout-destroyer against any non-DS hulled battleship. I need warships capable of Light-9375 and I need them in quantity as soon as possible. I realize everyone may be thinking of these small ships simply as adjuncts to battleships, but they are much more than that. I was able to crush the Milori resolve to continue the war with just two such vessels."

  "But you didn't have to fight any ship-to-ship engagements with them," Admiral Burke said.

  "While true that I didn't fight any prolonged warship-to-warship battles with them, I know their capability. We were struck thousands of times by laser pulses when we destroyed Milor's shipyard. We were able to completely ignore the ring of laser weapon satellites because we knew they couldn't harm us. It would be no different in a ship battle. We would only have to worry about torpedo strikes. And don't forget, I took and held Stewart for months with just one crippled scout-destroyer."

  "What about the lack of Marine fighter craft?" Admiral Woo asked. "And scout-destroyers won't allow you to have the normal complement of Marines, nor their landing craft and armored assault vehicles. Wouldn't you be better off having twelve new DS destroyers instead of sixty scout-destroyers?"

  "Right now I need quantity more than overall ship capability. I don't anticipate any planet-side actions until we first get basic control of space. I'm not saying battleships, cruisers, frigates, or destroyers wouldn't be much more useful, or that I wouldn't love to have a fleet of them. I would, most definitely. But I need as many warships as possible right now and I think the best solution is to mass-produce the scout-destroyers. These small ships can zip to the furthest reaches of Region Two in a matter of weeks, giving us a presence there years before our older ships can arrive. Any criminals who try to establish a power base in the remote areas will find us stalking them long before they anticipate our arrival."

  "We have five scout-destroyers nearing completion now," Admiral Hillaire said. "They're intended for the Prometheus, Chiron, Atlas, Hercules, and Epimetheus. Would they make such a difference if we could send them to you when they're completed?"

  "An immense difference. You can't think of these small ships as merely scouting vessels. I would use every one as a full-fledged warship until they can be replaced by destroyers, frigates, cruisers, or battleships. While it's true they can't carry the armament or supplies of a full-sized destroyer, nor the fighters and personnel of the larger ships, and must return for resupply more often, five more ships would almost double my current fleet size. I could either allow two of our three bases to begin making limited patrols, or I could open two more bases."

  "You believe two ships are adequate to protect a base?" Admiral Hubera asked.

  "I'd much prefer to have a minimum of five full-size warships protecting every base, but as was the case with Stewart when it became a base, we simply don't have that luxury. I'm forced to stretch my resources as much as possible, and hope I'm not risking lives any more than necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, right now we have an incredible edge over every other military in this quadrant of the galaxy. We all know that won't last because once intelligent beings see what's possible, they find a way to accomplish it themselves. The possibility of attaining Light-9375 is not idle speculation anymore. I'm sure every nation's military has intelligence agents trying to learn how we've done it, if they don't already know. Once they do know how it's accomplished, they'll be working to duplicate it. We know one way, but it may not be the only way. We have to take advantage of our technological superiority while we have it to secure Region Two. In future years, the scout-destroyers will be less adequate for the job we must do, but right now each is more useful than an older battleship for the task at hand, and one-twentieth the cost."

  "Thank you for your suggestion, Admiral," Admiral Moore said. "We'll study the shipyard construction schedule and see if the changes you request are possible. Is there anything else you wish to bring up for discussion?"

  "No, Admiral. My weekly reports contain everything that concerns the Board."

  "In that case, Admiral Bradlee has some information for you. Roger?"

  "Admiral Carver, we've received information that Raiders may be planning an attack against a former Milori base in Region Two. The information comes from part of a conversation overheard in a bar in the Uthlaro Dominion. We have no specifics and for all we know the base being discussed could be in Hudeera or Gondusan space now. Truthfully, it could be anywhere because the Milori were spreading out in their goal to rule the galaxy. But we felt you should be made aware of the information."

  "When did you learn of this?"

  "The information arrived her
e two months ago, but the conversation took place three months ago."

  "Three months? The Raiders could have traveled more than sixty light-years since then."

  "We didn't want to alarm you unnecessarily. We've been trying to get more precise information since then."

  "I see. I appreciate your desire to have substantive information before reporting something overheard in a conversation but, in the future, it would be helpful to learn about such reports immediately, even if it's only a rumor or partial information."

  "Of course."

  Jenetta sat quietly while other business was discussed. She appeared to be listening intently to the business of the Board, but she was in reality only half listening, most of her brain being used to consider the information about a base attack. The meeting was adjourned just before 1200.

  "Admiral Carver," Admiral Moore said as the flag officers rose from their seats, "would you join us for lunch?"

  Although not a command, Jenetta realized from the way it was worded that it was more than an invitation. She had intended to return directly home, but instead said, "Thank you sir, I'd love to. May I bring my pets?"

  Admiral Moore hesitated for a second and then said, "I wasn't aware they were here. Of course you may."

  "Thank you, sir."

  "Call me Richard, or Rich. May I call you Jenetta?"

  "It's Jen to my friends, Rich."

  Admiral Moore smiled. "Where are your pets, Jen?"