by Dietmar Wehr
Jaeger walked with Strider to the main entrance. “It’s a shame that you can’t go on the mission given that the base capture proposal was your idea. I’m a bit embarrassed that I didn’t think of it myself,” said Jaeger. “But you don’t really want to be away from your wife and son that long, do you?”
Strider took his time answering. “My heart says no, but I can’t help wondering what my father or grandfather would do in this situation. They didn’t play it safe when they could have.”
“That’s right,” said Jaeger slowly, “but maybe they should have. Growing up without a father is a hard thing for a young boy. My father died in a raid when I was twelve, and coping with that was hard. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose a father at the age when you lost yours. What would you give to have those lost years with your father back? What would your son, Troy, give to have you back if you didn’t come home ever again because you decided to listen to the ghosts that are crying out for vengeance?”
By this time, they had reached the main entrance and could see that it was now raining. There were several ground vehicles available to take officers wherever they wanted to go. Strider knew that arrangements had already been made to take his luggage to a hotel that had rooms set aside for off-world visitors.
“You have a way of putting things that make it hard to disagree, Karl. Maybe me going home now is the right thing. Sometimes I can’t help feeling that the Gods of War are steering me down a particular path. Ever since my father was killed in the last raid, I’ve had this feeling that some day I would avenge his death personally. I still feel that. So, if I go home now, that just means my time hasn’t come yet.” As he finished speaking, he heard the sound of thunder in the distance. He smiled to himself and patted Jaeger on the arm. “Thanks for your advice, Karl. Let’s make sure that you and I and some of the other officers have a night out on the town before I head home, okay?”
“It’s a deal.”
Strider walked through the entrance doors and over to one of the waiting cars. He didn’t mind the rain. It actually felt good on his face. When he got to the hotel and checked in, he called the other five officers together and told them about the meeting, the proposed mission to Tubal and the likely prospect that none of them would be asked or allowed to participate in that mission. The general reaction was mixed. Several were disappointed, but the others were pleased about the possibility of going home early.
Jaeger called Strider the next day to inform him that Morningside had approved the freighter loaded with assault troops and two escorting heavy cruisers for the expedition to Tubal. He also confirmed that the six New Caledonian officers would be taken home by Ajax in 24 hours. That evening, Strider and his officers joined Jaeger and several Haven officers from Savannah for their night out on the town. They got back to the hotel late and drunk. Strider and his people were pleasantly surprised to learn the next morning that Haven had a sure-fire cure for hangovers. Even so, they were late getting to the spaceport, much to the evident displeasure of Ajax’s CO. The trip back was quiet. Strider managed to find a chess partner among the ship’s officers and learned how to play a game called backgammon from another officer, but he spent most of his time writing his report for General Terrington.
It was early evening when Ajax landed at the spaceport. Terrington had already gone home for the day. Strider sent his report electronically for the General to read the next morning. He then called Samantha to let her know that he was back and would be home soon. After saying his good-byes to the team, an air car took him home where his wife and son—who should have been asleep by then—greeted him enthusiastically at the door. After the kissing and hugging, he gave them the gifts that he had managed to find time to buy. Troy got a model of the Savannah-class heavy cruiser, and Samantha got a virtual reality device with a two-hour digital recording of the sights and sounds of Haven’s most memorable spots, including a visual tour of the King’s palace. New Caledon did not yet have virtual reality technology, and her eyes opened wide with amazement at the wonderful device.
Troy wanted to start building the model right away but reluctantly obeyed his parent’s command to go back to bed. Strider and Samantha spent an hour sipping wine and talking about his trip before deciding to call it a night too. He was wide awake from still being on Haven time, but Samantha was clearly sleepy and didn’t seem to catch his hints about having sex as soon as they were sure that Troy was asleep. By the time he had finished his quick shower and was ready for bed, he found Samantha already asleep. He decided to check on Troy just to make sure that the boy was not working on the model. Troy was asleep all right, but he was still holding the lit flashlight he’d been using to read the model instruction sheet in the dark. Strider took the flashlight and instruction sheet away before heading back to his bedroom. It took him a long time to fall sleep. In the morning, it was Samantha’s turn to feel frisky and his turn to feel tired, having slept for less than five hours. They compromised with long kisses that were interrupted by Troy, who came bursting into their bedroom with the instruction sheet. Strider remembered that there was no school that day. He agreed to look at the instructions while Samantha made breakfast. Examining them, he realized that the model was far more complex than what Troy was used to working on, but his son was delighted by the fact that there were lots of internal components to be glued together as well as the outer hull. When breakfast was over, Strider showed Samantha how the VR device worked, and then he and Troy began working on the model. When his wife had finished watching the recording, she came over, put her arms around his neck and whispered in his ear.
“That was amazing. Thank you for that lovely gift, honey. The other wives WILL be jealous when I show it to them.”
“You’re very welcome. Just don’t lend it to them, or you’ll never get it back!” He checked his watch. “I hate to say it, but I really should report to General Terrington at some point today. He’s probably wondering why I haven’t done that already.” She hugged him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Strider was surprised that Troy did not seem disappointed to learn that his dad had to stop helping him with the model. Forty-five minutes later, Strider was at the Test Base and in Terrington’s office.
“Nice of you to finally report in, Captain,” said Terrington in a tone that indicated he was only half serious. Strider started to explain about the difference in day/night cycles between the two planets, but Terrington stopped him with a wave of his hand.
“No need to explain, Richard. Generals are expected to give their subordinates a hard time now and again; it says so in the operating manual for General Officers, you know.” Again, Strider wasn’t sure if Terrington was serious or not. “I won’t keep you long. The next few weeks are yours to do with as you wish. I just have a few questions about details that didn’t make it into your report. For instance…” The few questions ended up taking almost an hour. When Terrington seemed to have run out of questions to ask, he leaned back and said, “I think I have a pretty good understanding of the situation now in case someone higher up wants clarification about something in your report. Before you go, let me bring you up to date on what’s been happening here while you were gone. The AF managed to convince our esteemed civilian leaders that we should build a jump-capable proof-of-concept ship in order to make sure that we know how to do it. It won’t be armed or armored, but it will be able to carry a modest amount of cargo, so after it completes its test program, we can use it for interstellar trade. Ajax brought the first shipment of promethium, along with a lot of technical manuals, so the project can get started. I’ll be in charge of it. We think it’ll take at least six months to design and then build it. Ajax also brought a message from the Haven Navy to the effect that when you go back, you can bring nineteen other officers with you. Nine will be assigned with you to man Savannah, and the other ten will form the bulk of an alternate crew for one of their other cruisers, this time under a Haven CO. I’m not actually sure that we can pry loose that many offi
cers from our orbital ships, but we’ll try. Can you recommend someone who would make a good XO for a second crew?”
Strider didn’t need to even think about his answer. “Tomonaga.”
“Okay. I’ll keep him in mind. If you see him, don’t tell him he’s being considered. I don’t want him to start doubting himself in the event that we send someone else. We’re done here as far as I’m concerned. Say hi to your wife and son for me.”
Strider thanked him and started to leave. When he got halfway to the door, he heard Terrrington’s voice.
“By the way, my opinion for what it’s worth: coming back here instead of going on that mission to Tubal was the right decision. I know you want to strike back for what happened to your father and his father, but I think there’ll be plenty of opportunities to do that later. Regardless of what they find at Tubal, we’re not going to be able to get rid of the Star Wolves that quickly.”
Strider turned to look at Terrington. “I hope you’re right about getting a chance later, General.”
The next 34 days were idyllic. Troy was out of school for the summer, and Strider didn’t have to report for duty anywhere. The three of them took advantage of the free time to go camping for a few days near an almost white beach on the edge of the ocean. The three of them enjoyed sitting around a campfire and looking up at the many stars that weren’t visible from the city. When his leave was up, Strider realized that he hadn’t thought about Tubal or the Star Wolves in weeks. It had been a refreshing interlude in the battle that was rarely far from his thoughts.
Chapter Sixteen
The ship that picked up Strider and the others for the trip back to Haven was the star-freighter Haven’s Enterprise. With 20 of them going to Haven, a light cruiser would have been uncomfortably crowded, while the freighter was not. Her commanding officer, Captain Daniels, was able to bring Strider and his fellow officers up to speed on what had happened at Tubal.
“It was all a big waste of time,” he said with a shrug. “Our ship and the squadron got back just a few days before we had to leave to come here. There were no raider ships at Tubal and no sign of any kind of raider presence on the planet. From what I saw, the locals have a small population that’s huddled near the ruins of a pre-Collapse city, and their tech level isn’t even back up to making their own gun powder. As far as figuring out where the raiders come from, we’re basically back to square one.”
Strider and his five veterans spent the trip briefing their rookie comrades on Haven Navy practices and procedures, and getting used to the ship’s day/night cycle that all Haven ships used to stay in sync with Haven’s capital city. That didn’t change the fact that the ship arrived at Haven in the middle of the night cycle. Strider was pleased to see that arrangements had been made to take all of them to the same hotel, where they quickly got settled in. Messages had been left there telling them to report to HQ at noon the next day. When they got there, the New Caledon contingent was separated into the two crews for orientation sessions with the Haven officers they’d be working with. Strider, having already had that experience, was pulled from the orientation session for a meeting with Corso, Jaeger and Corso’s immediate superior, Vice-Admiral Janacek, whom Strider had met at the meeting chaired by Fleet Admiral Morningside. All three Haven officers greeted him warmly. Once everyone was seated, Janacek got things started.
“I understand that the Haven’s Enterprise officers told you what we found at Tubal.” Strider nodded. “The fact that there were no raider ships or raider ground presence there doesn’t change the fact that it appears to have been used as a rendezvous point. That’s assuming that the New Tripoli people who claimed to have overheard raiders talking about Tubal heard them correctly. The planet they were talking about may have a name that sounds similar to Tubal. If there is such a planet, it’s not in our astrogational database. That leaves us with two possibilities. Either Tubal was indeed the rendezvous point for reasons we don’t understand, or the rendezvous took place on a planet we know nothing about. I’ve had the opportunity to discuss this with Commanders Corso and Jaeger, but I’d be interested in hearing what you think we should do next, Commander Strider.”
“Thank you, Admiral Janacek. I had a chance to think about the situation regarding Tubal on the way here. The ship’s officers were kind enough to let me see where Tubal is in relation to Haven, New Caledon and the rest of all the ex-Federation planets. I was interested to see that it’s closer to the edge of human-explored space than to the center, and that suggested two possibilities to me. If the raiders originate from a planet outside of what used to be Federation territory, then Tubal would be in a good position to act as a rally point for raider ships either heading deeper into Federation space or coming back from deep raids. That’s one possibility. The other is, I admit, highly speculative, with no evidence to support it, but what if the raiders are looking for a planet to use not just as a rally point but also as a base of operations?”
“But there was no sign of any raider presence on the ground: no equipment, no raider personnel. Surely a base would have those things, would it not?” asked Janacek.
Strider smiled. “It would if the base was already set up. The rendezvous may have been to do a quick survey of the planet to determine how well it would meet their needs if a base were set up there, but there’s another possible explanation of why the freighter crew didn’t see any raider personnel. They told us that the local population was living near the ruins of a pre-Collapse city. I saw the recorded images of that city. There were plenty of places that raider ground personnel could have hidden in when they saw a strange ship land nearby. If they had threatened the locals with retaliation if they said anything, that would explain why the locals told the freighter crew that raiders hadn’t been there.
“You asked me what I thought we should do next. I think a ship, a heavy cruiser, should be sent back to Tubal to discretely keep it under observation just in case the raiders come back.”
Janacek looked thoughtful as he took his time responding. “Your observation about Tubal being a rally point is interesting. I’ll grant you that. None of our analysts have posited that theory. If we had three times as many ships, even twice as many as we do, I’d support your suggestion of sending a ship to keep a watchful eye on Tubal. Unfortunately, we don’t.” He turned to Corso. “Your opinion, Commander.”
“I agree, Admiral, that we don’t have a great number of ships to move around the chessboard. However, it’s not like we have a lot of other clues to pursue right now. With the two extra crews that the New Caledon contingent makes possible, we can send one ship to Tubal and still visit a dozen planets every two months with the rest of the fleet.”
Janacek nodded but said nothing. He turned to Jaeger to hear his opinion.
“I think we should pursue Commander Strider’s suggestion, Admiral, and I also think Savannah should be the ship that carries it out.”
Janacek returned his gaze to Strider. “How does that strike you, Commander? It’s your idea. Would you be willing to take Savannah to Tubal and sit there for awhile?”
Strider smiled. “Yes, Admiral, I would.”
Janacek rewarded him with the barest hint of a smile. “There’s one consideration that none of you have brought up yet. It takes twenty-one days to get to Tubal and another twenty-one days to get back here. That means a ship would only be able to stay in that star system for five or six days before having to come back in time to turn the ship over to the other crew on schedule. It hardly seems worthwhile to go to all that trouble just for five or six days.”
Strider wanted to kick himself. The Vice-Admiral was right, of course. He should have thought of that himself. He could tell from Corso’s and Jaeger’s expressions that they too were annoyed with themselves for not seeing the problem. The alternating crew plan gave the Navy a lot of flexibility in ship deployment if the schedule wasn’t disrupted. Keeping a crew in space for twice as long would also hurt morale. It was too bad that Savannah wasn’t operatin
g from New Caledon. His own planet was actually closer to Tubal than Haven was. He suddenly had an idea.
“There’s a way that we can extend the observation time at Tubal and still not disrupt the crew deployment schedule. Savannah goes to Tubal now and takes up an observation position. At the appropriate time, Ajax and Haven’s Enterprise bring the alternate crew to the Tubal system, where the alternate crew will take over from my crew. Haven’s Enterprise then takes my contingent directly back to New Caledon, and Ajax takes the relieved Haven officers back here. That will allow Savannah to keep Tubal under observation for…” Strider looked up to make a mental calculation. Jaeger beat him to it.
“Fifty-five days.”
That answer caused Janacek’s eyebrows to rise. “That would make a considerable difference. I will take all your suggestions under serious consideration. A decision will be made before Savannah’s date of latest departure. Thank you, Commanders. This meeting is adjourned.”
Strider and Jaeger heard about the decision 48 hours later. Savannah would be ordered to go to the Tubal system and keep it under observation from a discrete distance. The planet had a moon, and Savannah would land on the its near side in a particular crater, one that the relief ships would be able to find easily when they brought the alternate crew. Tomonaga’s team boarded the heavy cruiser Resolute and took off to visit their list of planets. Savannah took off three hours later and headed for Tubal.