The Silver Ships
Page 30
Stunned expressions surrounded her, but Tatia sat quietly observing Alex, hoping he’d understand. He smiled at her, and she smiled back at him. He knew. Somehow he knew, but he’d wanted to show everyone his faith in her, so he’d offered her the position anyway. This gave her the courage to demonstrate what she’d learned from him.
Andrea looked around the table for support, but found none. They waited with bemused expressions on their faces.
It was Edouard who offered her a few comforting words.
Renée said and heads turned to regard her, surprised that she was ignoring the Captain’s wishes.
Julien presented on organizational chart entitled the North American Space Force.
Silence reigned for a long moment while Alex privately discussed Renée’s suggestion with her. Then he turned to Andrea.
Though she had other concerns, many of them, this was the one that frightened her the most. Her days as Squadron Leader had taught her something about herself. She had discovered she could be a leader, but she wasn’t yet the strategic thinker they needed, not with so much riding on her decisions. Finally, she relented.
As she stood, she responded,
Andrea remained standing. She’d found what she needed in Julien’s organizational chart.
Tatia rose and saluted her new Captain. Andrea returned the salute then offered her a handshake and a cheeky smile.
Alex laid out his plans for the crew’s ranking system based on their new organization. They had less than five days to create a new House insignia, department insignias, and ranks to be affixed to the officers’ uniforms before they made a vid connection to Libre. Within two more days, the entire crew had to be outfitted in preparation for the expected guests. He dismissed them and waited for them to leave before addressing Renée.
“Renée, I’d hoped to minimize my responsibilities for military decisions. Tatia was a TSF Major. Andrea was a TSF Lieutenant and a trained fighter pilot, not to mention, she successfully captured that enemy fighter,” he said, the roughness in his voice betraying his emotions.
She walked around the table and put her arms around his neck from behind him, resting her chin on his shoulder. “I know you don’t want the responsibility, Alex,” she said, “and we would take it from you if we could, but we can’t. You’re our leader and we run to keep up with you. Without you, we’d stumble and our best opportunity to stop the madness that’s decimating our people might be lost.”
She stepped around him and slid into his lap. They held each other until evening meal.
-44-
In the evening, Alex sat on the bridge with his newly promoted officers, Captain Manet, Senior Captain Bonnard, and her Executive Officer, Commander Tachenko. Julien had disseminated Earth’s Space Force regulations to them. Later, they would have to decide what to adopt from the manuals. For now, they were discussing tactics to try against the aliens.
“It would seem most advantageous, Admiral, to strike while they are on the ground. Static targets, as the pilots say,” Tatia proposed. “But, we would have to find the means to attack them soon. They’ve been on Bellamonde for over seven years and they’ve swarmed as early as eight years after the initial infestation.”
“So we have less than a year’s time, but possibly more,” Alex mused.
“If the Admiral is correct about the Librans building fighting ships, they may be prepared to fight now,” Edouard added hopefully.
“And if they aren’t then we need the Librans to offer us a manufacturing base, or we have to return to New Terra. Either way, it will take time to produce an enormous supply of nanites, missiles, and fighters,” Alex said.
“Whichever way we go, our fighters are non-FTL. They will need carrier transport to Bellamonde,” Andrea added.
“And crew…a captain, engineers, techs, flight crew, pilots…all trained,” said Tatia, adding another blow to their hopes of taking the fight quickly to the enemy.
“Well,” Alex said, interrupting the dark mood that had descended, “as my uncle used to say, ‘the bigger the problem, the smaller the bites.’ Let’s see what Libre brings us. Get some sleep.”
As they left the bridge, Alex requested Andrea stay for a moment. “You need to own your new role, Andrea. I’ll move my gear out of the Captain’s cabin tomorrow.”
“Excuse me, Admiral,” Julien interrupted, “an update is in order.”
“Yes, Julien?” asked Alex.
“Captain Bonnard’s possessions have already been moved into your cabin, Admiral.”
“Ah…and what, may I ask, has become of my possessions?”
Julien hesitated in his response. Just then the bridge access way opened to admit Renée. “Ser is here to offer more details, Admiral.”
Alex sent Julien a vid of a thin, lanky man in an over-sized flapping coat running away while glancing over his shoulder in fright.
Julien sent back the words the better part of valor.
“Captain Bonnard,” Renée greeted Andrea, “your cabin has been prepared for you, and if you have no other business with the Admiral, I’d like a word with him.”
Andrea glanced at Alex, who nodded his approval. She offered him a quick salute and left the bridge.
“Good evening, Admiral,” Renée said in a business-like tone. Then, after they were alone, she slid her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. “How are you this evening?’
“Better now, I think.”
“You think?” she murmured as she started to nuzzle and kiss his neck.
“Well, this is nice, but why do I detect subterfuge?”
She stopped kissing him and stepped back. “Well, as House Co-Leader, I took charge of some of your directives. Personnel are at work on the fabricators, which will transform the crew’s wardrobe into military uniforms, and I managed some cabin changes to befit the promotions you made. As you heard, Andrea has been transferred to the Captain’s cabin. Edouard has been moved to a suite behind the Captain.”
“And what has become of my meager belongings?” Alex asked, “Where do they reside? On the deck of the landing bay, perhaps?” he teased. He could tell Renée was struggling with what to say next.
“Well, of course, their final destination would be the Admiral’s decision,” she teased in return. She turned away from him to hide her face and added, “Temporarily, your belongings were placed in my cabin.”
Alex turned her back around to face him, enveloping her in his arms. “Only temporarily?”
“Well, again, that would be the Admiral’s decision—temporarily or permanently,” she said as she buried her face in his shoulder and held her breath.
“I think that’s the perfect place for them,” he whispered.
* * *
The next morning, Alex woke spooned behind Renée, his arms cradling her. He smoothed the curls from her face and kissed her neck, receiving a soft moan in return for his efforts.
“Busy day, Ser de Guirnon of House Alexander. It’s time to rise up and greet the day,”
She wriggled back against him. “Are you certain it’s time to rise up, Admiral?” she said with a throaty laugh. Just then, the cabin door’s chime sounded, announcing crew members, and interrupted their banter. “Argh, I should learn some of your New Terran expletives,” she exclaimed. “There are times when they would be most appropriate.” She groaned in dissatisfaction as she watched Alex leave the bed for the robe she had fashioned for him. For a moment, she was tempted to stay behind and replay her recording of last night, but Alex was hurrying to the main salon, and she knew there was too much to do.
The salon’s door slid open and the inveterate triad entered. Terese and Pia carried morning meal trays, and Geneviève carried a uniform.
“The Admiral appears to be in a good mood this morning,” Terese quipped. “Perhaps the new accommodations agree with him?”
Alex ignored her goading as Renée joined them, wrapped in her robe.
Geneviève laid out the uniform. “If the Admiral would care to try this on for fit and give us his approval, it would be appreciated. We have much to do to fabricate all the uniforms.”
“You want me to do it now?” Alex asked.
“If you would, Admiral,” Geneviève said politely. Alex took in their expectant faces then took the uniform and left to change.
“Pity,” Geneviève said, as the door slid shut.
When Alex stepped back into the room, wearing his new Admiral’s uniform, Terese and Pia began fussing with it. The color was the Méridien midnight blue. Instead of the ship’s patch on the left shoulder, Alex’s uniform bore a House Leader emblem, a staff with a curled head over an image of the home world. On the right shoulder was the new House patch, a slender circle of gold surrounded a golden Dagger blazing across a field of blue-white stars. Four gold stars adorned each side of the short, standing collar. Renée turned Alex toward a mirror.
“Are you pleased, Admiral?” Geneviève asked anxiously.
“Beautiful work,” he commented. He queried her on the stars and she relayed their list—four stars, Admiral; three stars, Captain; two stars, Commander; and one star, Lieutenant. “The House patch is inspired.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Pia replied.
“Very handsome, Admiral,” Terese commented. Then the three left to continue the work on the crew’s uniforms.
“Yes, very handsome,” Renée repeated as she stood beside him, leaning against his arm as she admired him in the mirror.
“Well, let’s hope your people on Libre are impressed as well,” Alex commented.
Alex received an image of a dark-skinned man in baggy pants with cloth wound around his head. He bowed and sketched a ritual flourish with his hand. Alex laughed to himself. At one time, he’d thought to flush all of the colonist’s ancient vids from the databases. But then he’d thought better of it. His people needed all the respite they could find before the long fight to come. In four days, Libre.
* * *
Eric Stroheim, Leader of House Bergfalk, sat in his finely appointed office aboard an orbital station, floating in a geosynchronous orbit over Libre. His personal treasures, collected over generations of his House’s Leaders, decorated his office. They had been carefully transshipped with him when he fled Méridien for Libre a year ago. He was deep in contemplation, dwelling on their ships’ failing construction schedule, when the Station Director interrupted him.
asked Stroheim, fearing the worst.
Glossary
New Terrans:
Alex Racine – Captain of the Outward Bound, an explorer-tug for ice asteroids
Amy Mallard – Ulam University professor and Alex Racine’s mentor
Arthur McMorris – President, resides at Prima’s Government House
Clayton Downing XIV – District 12 Assemblyman
Clayton Downing I – Canadian billionaire killed in Mongolia by separatists, founder of dynasty
Clayton Downing II – Founder’s son who sank billions into the colony ship, New Terra
Clayton Downing III – a mining engineer and survivor of the New Terra’s catastrophic accident
Christie Racine – Alex Racine’s younger sister
Dagger Pilots:
Lt. Jason “Jase” Willard – Dagger-1, Flight-1 Leader
Lt. Andrea Bonnard – Dagger-3, Flight-2 Leader and Squadron Leader
Lt. Robert Dorian – Dagger-2, wing for Jase
Lt. Sheila Reynard – Dagger-4, wing for Andrea
Lt. Hatsuto Tanaka – Back up Dagger pilot, brother of Miko Tanaka
Lt. Miko Tanaka – Co-pilot of Outward Bound, sister of Hatsuto Tanaka
Lt. Gary Giordano – Backup Dagger pilot
Damon Stearns – Colonel in TSF and outpost commander on Sharius
Darryl Jaya – Minister of Technology and member of President’s Negotiations Team
Derek Sanders – Minister Drake’s Chief of Projects
Duggan Racine – Alex Racine’s father
Eli Roth – Rêveur’s starboard bay Flight Crew Chief
Frasier Brothers – Criminals hired to spirit away Sebastien Velis after the engineer stole the TS-1 database
Gregory Hinsdale – Head of Security for Purity Ores
Jerold Jameson – Naval Base Commander, stationed on Barren Island
Jonathan Davies – Aerospace senior engineer and a member of President’s Visitor Team
Katie Racine – Alex Racine’s mother
Lem Ulam – Captain of the colony ship, New Terra
Lyle Stamford – Outward Bound engineering tech
Maria Gonzalez – Terran Security Forces General and member of President’s Negotiations Team
>
Marion Delbert – TS-1 Station Manager
Michael “Mickey” Brandon – Rêveur’s Chief Engineer
Osara – Captain of the fuel tanker, Thirst Quencher
Paulo Oberon – TSF emergency room surgeon
Prima – New Terra’s capital, named after the first colonist baby to survive one year
Samuel B. Hunsader – CEO of Purity Ores, a mining company
Sebastien Velis – TS-1 engineer who stole the Méridien database
Sergeant Thompson – TSF trooper and volunteer for medical nanites demonstration
Stanley Peterson – Rêveur’s port bay Flight Crew Chief
Tara – Outward Bound’s bridge computer
Tatia Tachenko – Terran Security Forces Major and the Rêveur’s First Mate
Terran Security Forces (TSF) – New Terran system police force
Timothy Greene – General Manager of Purity Ores on Cressida
Ulam University – University in Prima named after Captain Ulam
William Drake – Minister of Space Exploration and leader of the President’s Negotiations Team
Zeke Krausman – Outward Bound engineering tech
Confederation:
Alain de Long – Rêveur security escort for Renée, twin and crèche-mate to Étienne
Albert de Guirnon – Leader of House de Guirnon, brother to Renée
Antoine Bassani – son of Governor Bassini of Cetus Colony and husband-to-be of Renée
Claude Dupuis (dū∙pwē) – Rêveur engineering tech
Edouard Manet – Rêveur navigation specialist
Eric Stroheim – House Bergfalk Leader, responsible for Libre Colony
Étienne de Long (ā∙tē∙in) – Rêveur security escort for Renée, twin and crèche-mate to Alain
Geneviève Laroque (lă∙rōk) – Rêveur passenger
Julien – Rêveur’s SADE, a self-aware digital entity
Jacque de Guirnon – Renée’s grand-oncle and Rêveur’s original Captain