by S. H. Jucha
Descartes asked.
Alex replied, allowing the SADE to receive his bio ID.
Descartes sent.
Alex replied.
Alex replied,
Descartes replied.
Alex said.
Descartes sent before closing the comm link.
While the Méridien squadron reformed and the Liberator continued on to Bellamonde, two critical conversations took place.
Descartes asked his captains.
the captain, whose ship Ellie had targeted as red adversary, replied.
the junior captain replied. That he hadn’t managed to do more than accelerate his ship before he was eliminated burned embarrassingly deep in him. Rather than shrink from it, it hardened his heart, and he vowed he wouldn’t die so easily next time or any time after that.
The Liberator’s second watch, which had been standing by, took over from Ellie and first shift. As they left the bridge, Ellie sent, and led Yumi to the captain’s cabin.
“I will give you the courtesy of hearing your reasoning for not immediately following my orders and then having the temerity to object to them, Lieutenant,” Ellie said. She hadn’t offered Yumi a seat and was standing with her hands clasped behind her in a parade-rest stance, realizing that she was imitating Tatia.
“I believed that I could take the Méridien, Captain. I sought to convince you of that.”
“What did you believe blue leader intended to do, Lieutenant?”
“I wasn’t sure, Captain. I just knew that I could outmaneuver his ship.”
“And if he intended to sacrifice his ship, Lieutenant?”
Yumi felt as if she had been slapped. “But this was a game, Captain.”
“It’s never a game, Lieutenant. Think about what the sphere did when it was cornered. You had demonstrated superior skills to blue leader, who lost two-thirds of his squadron to you. It would have been an easy decision for him to make. He sacrifices his ship and takes you with him, thereby removing a deadly enemy in the process.”
“I understand, Captain. You have my deepest apologies. Do you wish my resignation?”
“Not this time, Lieutenant, but never again hesitate to follow my orders. This was your one and only free pass. Think on this, Lieutenant. Next time, there might not be an opportunity for remonstration or resignation. Your hesitation to follow my orders might get all of us killed. And, in the future, Lieutenant, I would dearly appreciate it if you weren’t foolish enough to disregard Alex Racine’s orders, the last of which was that we were to survive. For failing to follow his directives, he might wish to remove both of us from his ship, and I’ve worked too hard to get here. Dismissed.”
* * *
Robert Dorian, Bellamonde’s naval academy commandant, finished the telemetry replay on his holo-vid for the Trident senior strategist.
“Unorthodox techniques, to say the least,” Pietro Luchelli commented.
“Nonetheless, highly effective,” Robert replied. “Two of our ships destroyed and not a single score against the enemy.”
“It was a slightly unfair game, Robert,” Pietro said, attempting to defend his senior captain.
“You’re going to suggest that Descartes couldn’t have anticipated his squadron would be attacked from the rear, despite the fact he was planning to ambush the Omnian warship.”
“It was one of our own, a Trident, I mean,” Pietro objected.
Robert laughed, his New Terran chest turning it into a rumble. “You’re miffed that Descartes’ quarry turned out to be a predator in disguise.”
“Speaking of which, Robert, why would an Omnian captain want to test our squadron?”
“And what makes you think the captain chose to do that? I’ll lay you odds, Pietro, that Alex Racine is aboard that warship, and he’s the one who chose to check on the quality of our training.”
“Well, we came up lacking,” Pietro grumbled.
“Nonsense, I’d have expected the Omnian warship to have defeated the entire squadron.”
When Robert received Alex’s message that he was inbound and would like some time, he sent a quick, I told you so, message to Pietro. Robert met his guests in front of the administration building, as Alex, Renée, Ellie, and Julien descended from their traveler.
Alex and Robert greeted each other, as the old friends they were, slapping and pounding each other on the back as they hugged. Robert was equally enthusiastic with Renée and Ellie, careful to limit the strength of his embraces, and he gave Julien a double hand clasp.
“Well, what do you think?” Robert said, spreading his arms wide to indicate the academy, as he led them into the administration building.
“When we flew overhead, we got a quick peek at the massive size of this complex. Half of the grounds is covered in buildings, and traveler squadrons occupy every meter of open space,” Alex commented.
“I’m reminded of the Confederation’s size, and how quickly things can be built if the Council’s will is focused on it,” Ellie said, although her tone didn’t necessarily say she was commending the Méridiens.
“Your naval academy looks to be about the only structure on the planet, Robert,” Renée commented.
“It is. The SIF worked out a deal with the Council. They have been granted the right to design the repopulation of the planet. They’ve chosen to optimize the land. A maximum of 40 percent will be dedicated to settlement, once they’ve completed the restoration of flora and fauna. When the SIF’s grand design is complete, the Council will open this place up to colonists, who must follow the SIF’s guidelines for building and infrastructure.”
Before Alex could reply, he spotted two heavy-worlders walking toward him, wearing huge grins.
“Stan, Eli,” Alex shouted, clapping his hands. There was another round of hugs and backslapping, as Alex greeted his two old crew chiefs, Stanley Peterson and Eli Roth, from the Rêveur’s early days.
“Commanders, I see,” Alex said, noting the men’s insignias.
Stan picked up Renée, who laughed, while she was twirled around and handed off to Eli.
When Ellie saw Stan eye her, she said, “A little more decorum for a warship captain, please.”
“Sure, Captain,” Stan replied and hoisted her up, as he had Renée.
Ellie relented and joined in the men’s infectious humor, as they handed her from one to the other. Her lithe Méridien build, which was the same as Renée, was no weight for the two New Terrans, who were near Alex’s size. More important, these were old friends, and they’d gone through much together and survived.
Stan stared at Julien and waved a hand in dismissal, “You’re too heavy, and I’m too old,” he said. Then he lunged at Julien and grabbed him in a tight hug, and Eli joined them. The two men couldn’t apply enough pressure to bother Julien, but they tried their best, and the smile on Julien’s face said he enjoyed the enthusiastic greeting.
As the two commanders walked off, chatting about their encounter, Alex returned to the questions on his mind.
“An interesting arrangement between the SIF and the Council,” Alex said. “Who has jurisdiction over the academy, the stations above, and the ship fleets, Robert?”
“That’s a funny sto
ry, Alex,” Robert said, ushering his guests into his plush office. “The Leaders argued for half a month over which House should be granted the rights to this new opportunity. But, they couldn’t get past the sticking point, which was that half of the warships, loaded with fighters, would be sent to join your fleet. No Leader wanted the liability. In the end, they decided that the Council would have jurisdiction, which meant the potential ship loss would be shared. Essentially, that makes Council Leader Diamanté my boss.”
The mention of Gino had Julien urgently sending a private message.
Robert sent in reply.
Julien replied.
“Robert, I notice that you have as many SADE IDs present as human bio IDs,” Julien commented.
“That we do,” Robert replied proudly.
“All in training for fighter and warship duty?” Alex asked.
“Yes and no. There are those who are here to help run this place, but most are in training for one ship position or another. And, it’s a real competition for the fighter, captain, and senior officer positions,” Robert replied.
“Who’s winning?” Ellie asked.
“I’d have to say no one,” Robert replied, the enthusiasm draining out of him. “It’s not like at Libre, Alex. The people there were …”
“Motivated,” Ellie supplied.
“I was going to say driven,” Robert added. “The individuals here want to learn and they’re working hard, but, to most of them, these are games. They’re enjoying the opportunity to play with their strategies. Even your discovery of a second sphere hasn’t dimmed their eagerness to excel, but they lack that desperate edge that I know they need to stay alive.”
“What you’re saying, Robert, is that we can’t let the Méridiens have their own squadrons. They’d be fodder for the spheres,” Ellie commented.
“That’s exactly right,” Robert replied. “I don’t want to tell you your business, Alex, and I don’t know how it will settle with the commanders of the disparate fleets you’re trying to cobble together, but the Omnians, with their training and experience are the best you have. They’ve got to command the other squadrons.”
“We had a taste of the Méridiens’ skills, when we entered the system,” Alex replied.
“I watched the telemetry on that skirmish,” Robert said. “It’ll become the training lesson for the next few days, dissecting what went wrong for our ships. I heard from Descartes that your pilot is Yumi Tanaka. I wanted to congratulate her on her efforts. Brilliant. She didn’t come down with you?”
“Not this time,” Ellie said curtly.
“Oh,” Robert replied. He didn’t need to ask a clarifying question. He knew Ellie too well for that. There must have been a serious breach of conduct on Yumi’s part to cost her a planetside trip to see the new academy.
“Robert, what’s the promotion style that you’re applying?”
“I insisted on a merit-based system, before I accepted the position, Alex, and Gino agreed. That gives the edge to the SADEs in the classroom, the simulators, and in routine operations, but humans have the upper hand when it comes to inventiveness. They intuit when to throw the enemy something unexpected. On average, the SADE captains win the games, but they can’t win every time, which frustrates them. I know they spend unbelievable computation time trying to figure out why that is, but I have three senior captains, all Independents, who outwit the SADE squadron commanders three out of four times.”
“What percentage of the humans are Independents?” Renée asked.
“The majority, which surprised me,” Robert replied “I expected 100 percent but nearly one third are regular Méridiens, who’ve signed up for training in crew positions. Most of them come from the more mundane aspects of Confederation society. I think they just want something different for their lives. They’re hard workers, and I’d like to see them promoted to pilots or bridge crew, but they refuse those jobs.”
“Returning to the skirmish, Robert, how long before you think your warship captains will be ready to engage in a fight with a Nua’ll sphere?” Ellie asked.
“My senior strategist believes another year, for those who are sailing now. I disagree, I’m afraid they might never be ready,” Robert replied, holding out his hands in supplication to Alex.
The room was quiet, while Alex stood and paced at the back of the room, eventually pausing at a window to watch the activity below.
“What you need are worthy opponents, Robert, who will deliver defeat after defeat to your captains, until they either learn or quit and go home,” Alex said. “Julien send a message to Admiral Tachenko. Her fleet will have had two months of rest by the time they receive it. Tell her to load up the fleet and make for Bellamonde. She’s to stay here and compete with the Méridiens until Gino or Robert scream at her to go home.”
“Done,” Julien remarked.
“Which gives me another idea,” Alex mused. “Julien, tell Admiral Reynard —”
Alex halted, when Julien cocked an eyebrow at him, and he rephrased his message. “Let’s try … please ask Admiral Reynard if she wouldn’t consider either taking her Tridents to New Terra or inviting them to Haraken for mock fights.”
“A polite request has been sent,” Julien replied, arching his eyebrow higher, and Renée tried to smother her snicker but failed.
Conversation about Bellamonde’s recovery, which interested Renée, and the naval academy training continued, as lunch was served in a private dining hall reserved for the occasion. After they were seated, but before the food was served, Gino and Katrina were ushered into the room.
“Good, we’re not too late for a meal,” Gino enthused. “Please don’t get up. We’ll join you, if we may.”
Gino and Katrina went quickly around the table, touching shoulders, shaking hands, and exchanging kisses with Renée.
Gino sent.
Julien sent in reply.
“Might I suggest that in this private meal among friends that we dispense with titles,” Gino suggested.
“Excellent idea, Gino,” Ellie piped up. “According to Robert, there are Independents here. Does that mean that the Confederation has dispensed with incarcerating them, and, if so, why are they labeled that way in the first place?”
Gino froze in the middle of picking up a glass of water. “Straight to the matter, Captain,” Gino replied.
“Please, it’s Ellie, Gino,” Ellie said, as sweetly as she could manage, under the circumstances.
As Council Leader, Gino was not accustomed to being braced so abruptly by a mere captain, and it was on the tip of his tongue to respond forcefully. However, he found Omnian eyes quietly watching him, while they awaited his answer. Most important, Alex, who sat across from him, waited.
“We’re taking measured steps, Ellie, but we’re making progress,” Gino said, carefully curtailing his anger.
“To answer your question in more detail, Ellie,” Katrina said. “Méridiens are still identified as Independents. However, Alex’s penchant for spiriting them away after they’ve been incarcerated has led the Council to do away with that.”
It was obvious to the table that Katrina was speaking of the fallout that must have occurred at the Council meeting that followed the discovery of the loss of the Daelon Independents. To ensure there was no confusion as to where the moon base full of Méridiens went, Alex had left the Council a terse message.
“So where are they being kept now?” Ellie pressed.
“Many of them are here, Ellie,” Gino said, adding a smile to encourage the captain to allow the matter to rest.
“Are they here voluntarily, a
nd what about the rest of them?” Ellie continued. In her implant, she heard from Alex,
“Ellie, I’ve been assured that the Independents are here of their own choices,” Robert said.
“But I wish to know what sort of choice they faced,” Ellie persisted.
“Ellie, the situation is in limbo,” Katrina said. “The Independents are under what you would consider House arrest. Their duties are curtailed to work and home. If they chose active duty here, they are relieved of duty to their House and assigned the category of naval personnel.”
“What happens to their status if they wish to leave the military someday? Let’s say, they’ve participated in the defeat of a number of Nua’ll spheres, which might have threatened the Confederation,” Renée asked.
“We haven’t figured that out yet, Ser,” Gino admitted. “At this point, if they left the academy or military service, they’d be returned to their House and would resume their status as Independents,” Gino said, deflated by the turn in the conversation.
Gino was proud of what the Council had accomplished by its quick action to undertake the Confederation’s defense. It was his hope that this aspect of naval personnel recruitment would never have come to light. But, it was never that way around Alex and company. They always wanted the undecorated truth.
Gino glanced at Robert, whose lips were twisted in a grimace. He understood the man’s distaste for what he’d heard. The commandant hadn’t been lied to, but he hadn’t been told the entire story either.
A pall settled over the conversation, as Robert signaled the servers, who’d been waiting, that they could finally deliver the food.
Alex was another individual who wasn’t happy with the turn in the conversation. He had important issues to discuss with Gino, but he’d been intrigued to learn about the Independents too. You should have suspected the answers to the questions weren’t going to be palatable, Alex mentally admonished.
Alex sent,