by Rob Buckman
“Well, that’s a turn up for the books. I’ve heard about these but I’ve never thought to ever see one… I take it as a given that this is real?”
“Oh indeed, Commander. The King handed me that himself and wished me God’s speed.”
“Very well then. I assume from this, as strange as it may be, I am to place myself under your command.”
Mike shook his head. “As much as I might like the title of Lord High Admiral and all that, I don’t want it. This is just my authority to do whatever I damn well please with the King’s and the Admiralty’s blessing.”
“Even if the said Admiralty doesn’t have a clue what’s going on.”
“Right, and there you have it. What I need is a commanding officer to run everything, and I think you are the man for the job.”
“Reporting to you I suppose.”
“No sir. The only person you will be accountable to for your actions after this war is over will be the King.” Commander Hancock gave him a funny look and swallowed several times as if to contain his emotions. He coughed to clear his throat.
“And… and what will you be doing?”
“I’ll be doing all the fun stuff.” He gave the commander a lopsided grin.
“In other words, going in harm’s way.” Mike nodded. For a moment, the commander looked at the twin ribbons on Mike’s chest.
“When I first heard about someone getting two of those, which I thought was impossible, and then hearing that you were in two branches of the service under different names to earn them, I thought there had to be a mistake. I see now I was wrong.”
“In what way, sir?”
Hanson pursed his lips. “One of the reasons I was posted to that forward supply base was because I couldn’t stand the type of officers that infested the Navy. I admire few senior officers, Admiral Rawlings being one of them, and he saved my career by putting me out of the way until such time I was needed. That time seems to be now. I’ll be glad to take up the assignment.”
“In that case, by the authority vested in me, I hereby promote you to full admiral of this independent mercenary command, with all the duties and responsibilities that go with it.” Hearing that, Commander Hanson broke out laughing.
“Right, a first leftenant is promoting me to full admiral. Isn’t that one for the books?” Mike saw the humor and laughed with him. “By the way, my first name is Raymond.” He held his hand out across the desk.
“Mine is Michael or Mike if you prefer.”
“Hello, Mike, pleased to meet you.”
“Oh, I almost forgot. It’s Michael Bear, not Gray.”
“Good god! How many names do you have?”
“Sometimes I forget myself.”
“No matter. Captain Michael Bear it will be from now on. Can you tell me about that strange looking ship of yours?”
“The Hemlock, as she is now.” Mike thought about it for a moment, wondering just how much to tell him. Very soon, he would see a lot more like her, and know all the intimate details. With a slight shrug, he told him the story of how she came to be built.
“Fascinating.” He shook his head. “The more I see and hear about you, the better I like you. You’re the kind of officer I wish we had more of. Maybe the Navy wouldn’t be in the state it is now if we had.”
Mike had the grace to blush slightly under his scrutiny. “I’m just someone trying to do his duty in the best way possible.”
Hanson nodded. “As will I from now on.” He paused for a moment. “I take it I have full authority to promote and demote as I see fit?”
“Of course, you are the admiral of the fleet. As such, you are expected to know and have a 201 file on every man and woman in it. In that light, I’d like you to meet someone, a Mr. Andrew Anderson.”
“And he is?”
“A hard-assed bastard who runs the security department for Avalon.” Saying that, Mike stood and put his cap on. “No time like the present. Oh, by the way, Andy Anderson’s bite is worse than his bark.”
“Oh, one of those.” They drove across the base to the security office, and it wasn’t long before they were ushered into his office.
“Now what?” he asked, gruffly, eyeing his visitors.
“I’d like you to meet Admiral Hanson. He’s now my CO, and in charge of my growing fleet.”
“Is he now? Coffee Admiral? Cream, sugar?”
“Um… yes, I suppose so. A little of both. Thank you.”
“Take a seat and let’s get acquainted. I hope you have more luck controlling him than I, or anyone else has.” Andy shot a look at Mike, and it was enough for him to move to one side and stand by the window as Andy handed the mug of coffee to Hanson. Knowing what was coming Mike stayed silent, and observed. He noted that Andy didn’t drink the coffee, simply made it look as if he had.
“I have the feeling I might not have any more control over him than anyone else, from what I’ve seen so far.” Raymond said, smiling slightly.
“So, tell me who you are?”
It took a few moments, but as the TD-Penta took hold Raymond Hanson poured out his life story. As he started recounting his childhood, Mike silently left the office. Only Andy needed to know the intimate details of the man’s life. Any inconsistencies, and he’d be given a stronger dose of the drug until all his secrets, hopes and desires were revealed. To some degree Mike felt a little dirty digging into a man’s past. Knowing all of us had things in our past we might not be proud of.
Under the influence of level-three TD-Penta interrogation, it was impossible to hide anything, even the thoughts and memories you’d normally hide, even from yourself. He sometimes wondered how Andy Anderson could do it and remain sane. Over time he must have heard of every perversion, disgusting habit and thought from a multitude of people. Heaven knows he knew all of his and chided himself for not according him more respect. He did a very dirty job protecting Avalon from its enemies, all the while resisting the temptation of using that knowledge for his own benefit. An hour later, his port-comp beeped, signaling the “interview” was at an end.
“Oh, there you are. I didn’t see you leave.”
“Sorry, I got called away. I hope you two got along well?”
“Everything is fine, Mike. I see no problem with working with Admiral Hanson.” That was Andy’s signal that Hanson passed muster. No Sirrien deep cover agent here, or someone not to be trusted. They shook hands all the way round, and they headed back to Raymond’s billet.
“The first thing I need to do is get you a working office.”
“Good, I need to get all these men and women sorted out and find out who does what, so to speak.”
“Right and get each of them over to the security office to be vetted. Oh, by the way, that includes all foreign ship’s crews if they want to join us.”
“What, all of them?”
“In this we can’t be too careful. Operational security is going to be a nightmare until we are safely tucked away in our own forward operating base.”
“True. I see your point. The Sirriens could have sequestered a few agents in those other ships.”
“And the Royal Navy ships for that matter.”
“Oh, I see. When you said everyone, I thought… never mind. You are right. We need to vet everyone and make sure we don’t have potential trouble down the road… Wait!” He stopped in mid stride. “I just got vetted, didn’t I?”
Mike pulled his earlobe and nodded. “Sorry about that, but it was necessary.”
“I’ll be dammed. I didn’t even realize he was interrogating me.”
“And so you shouldn’t.”
“I have the feeling I was in there a lot longer than I thought.” He looked sideways at Mike. “How deep did he go?”
“I can’t say, and neither will he, ever. All I know is that you passed with flying colors.”
“That deep, huh.” Then he shrugged. “I understand the need, and whatever he used is a lot more effective than anything I’ve ever seen, or heard about.”
“Sounds about right. One question.”
“Yes?”
“Will I ever get to see Avalon itself?”
Mike nodded. “One day. One day soon, I hope. Once this stupid war is over.”
“I hope we all live to see that.”
EPILOGUE:
Three days later, the Hemlock/Nemesis came in over the water into Avalon Naval Base next to Port Stratford and set down on her sponsons on the hardpan.
“Signal finished with engines, Number One.”
“Aye, sir. Finished with engines.” A moment later the electronic telegraph repeater answered the signal and quiet settled over the ship.
“Shore leave, Skipper?”
“Of course. I cheated them out of it when we were in the Sol system, so they can make up for it here.”
“How long?”
“Until recall. I have a lot to do while I’m here, so have fun and get falling down drunk if you want,” he laughed.
“Whoopee! Party time, Cooper,” Jan responded.
“You want me to go with you, Skipper?” Conner Blake asked.
“Not this time, Chief. Go ashore and have fun for once.” Conner grinned and gave him a salute.
“Aye, aye, Sir.”
Jenks was another matter, and no matter what Mike said, or threatened, he wouldn’t budge. For a moment they glared at each other.
“Oh I see, you’re ashamed of me and don’t want to take me home to meet your parents, I take it.”
“Jenks! That’s not fair…” Mike gritted his teeth. “Alright, you can come, but I warn you, you’ll be bored out of your mind.”
“We’ll see about that.”
As expected, there was a reception committee to greet him and as they stepped ashore, the crew followed, mustering on the dock. One look at their expectant faces and Mike didn’t have the heart to tease them.
“Well! What the hell are you all standing around here for? Get gone!”
“Parade! Attention. Parade! Dismiss.” Conner called, and amidst a lot of laughter and cheering they did a smart left turn and fell out, taking off in groups of two and three. Mike took the salute from Pete, Jan, Gable, and Adam, and they too took off for town.
“Welcome home, Michael.” His Aunt came up and gave him a hug.
“This is Mr. Jenks Silverman, my yeoman and nursemaid among other things. Jenks. This is my Aunt Iris.
“Shalom aleichem, Mr. Silverman, and yes, he needs someone to look after him.” She laughed, seeing the delighted look on Jenks face at her greeting.
“Aleichem shalom, Ms. Iris. Call me Jenks, my Dad is Mr. Silverman.”
“So, what bring you down to the docks, Aunty?”
“To pick you up. You have a meeting with Gordon, and you know who.”
“Good God. You mean he’s come down from the mountain just to meet me?” He laughed.
“Since your last visit, Max has become… let’s say less inaccessible. He’s even been to one or two council meetings.”
“Wow.”
“He’s been sailing with Gordon and attended a few parties. Whatever you two talked about broke him out of his self imposed shell.”
“Let’s just say that we cleared the air a little.”
“Well, whatever you talked about did the trick. Shall we go?”
Aunt Iris drove and took the air car on a high-speed ride over the mountain to Government House, and an hour later they entered the council chamber. It was empty save for Gordon, Max, and Admiral Cunningham. Reluctantly, Jenks waited outside as this was an official private meeting between the president and Mike, and strictly off the record. Even without being asked, Mike handed Gordon the Letter of Marque after he’d shaken hands all round and taken a seat. The letter passed from hand to hand until it got to Max. One look and he laughed.
“Now that is a document.”
Mike helped himself to a cool drink while they were reading, and a couple of times he stuck his finger in his ear and wiggled it around. It was as if there was a slight hum or buzz in his ear that he couldn’t place or get rid of. As he sat down again a greenish yellow flash shot across the wall and leaped onto the huge, round council table, then took a second leap onto his shoulder. He knew what and who it was without even looking, as the foot-long, six-legged lizard nuzzled him under the chin. He reached up to stroke the crest hearing the hum get louder. Not only that all the lizards in the room and on the shoulders of each of the people there sat up and looked at him. That was a little odd as normally they didn’t pay much attention to anyone else except their companions.
“I see your little friend has found you again,” Gordon observed.
“Yes, he always seems to know when I’m here…” He suddenly had the picture of sunlight on sparkling water and happiness. Reaching up, he slipped his hand under his friend and held him up so they were eye to eye. “Oh, my lord!” he muttered.
“What was that, Mike?” his grandfather asked, looking up from the letter he was rereading.
“What? Oh… nothing. Just a thought I had.”
“So, what do we do about this?” Gordon asked the room as he took the letter back and held it up.
“Officially nothing, as Avalon has nothing to do with that letter. It just gives me the authority, as Captain Bear of the mercenary ship Hemlock to do whatever I need to take the war to the Sirriens.” Mike answered.
“About bloody time if you ask me.” Max Tregallion snorted.
THE END
Book Three
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE:
CHAPTER TWO:
CHAPTER THREE:
CHAPTER FOUR:
CHAPTER FIVE:
CHAPTER SIX:
CHAPTER SEVEN:
CHAPTER EIGHT: