First Command kb-2

by Rodney L. Smith

  The admiral changed the subject to the K’Rang fleet on the other side of the star cluster.

  “I’m glad you put that probe out there. That K’Rang fleet could have ripped us badly if they’d hit us unaware. Even knowing they’re there, there’s not much we can do about them. My tacticians put us being wiped out in five scenarios out of eight. Even adding in the pirates, it’s a close run thing with the odds only improving slightly.”

  “I’ve sent a dispatch requesting a cruiser squadron to reinforce us, but none are in close enough range to reach us in less than a week. Now if the K’Rang will just cooperate…”

  Kelly thought back to the mystery fleet that attacked the pirates and pondered on how he could enlist their aid. He wondered where Mr. Debran was.

  Steven Maynard called up to speak with Admiral Minacci. “Admiral, I have a request to make of you, on a matter of legalities. Due to long mutual distrust, we don’t allow lawyers here on Barataria, except for unique circumstances. Our surrender is one of those circumstances. We have need of legal advice in regards to the surrender.”

  Admiral Minacci impatiently wanted Maynard to come to the point, “Yes, Mr. Maynard, what does this have to do with me?”

  “Admiral, we have an unarmed ship we use for courier runs that we would like to send to Aldebaran to return with our legal team, if you will allow it. It will require crew transport by our shuttle up to the moon. You may board or scan the courier ship to verify it contains no weapons or contraband. We may be forced to delay the surrender if we don’t have our legal representatives here.”

  Minacci responded, “All right, Mr. Maynard. Have your ship come up to my flagship and stand off 50 km for boarding. If we scan and detect any weapons, explosives, or anything we don’t like, we will vaporize your ship. Do you understand?”

  “Absolutely admiral, there will be no tricks. It’s just as I say.”

  Maynard closed the comms channel and turned to Thorson. “Thorson, pick your crew and take these dispatches to the law firm of Rondage and Jompe, in Santana City on El Nath Prime. They’ll know what to do. Return here tomorrow or the next day at the very latest.”

  Thorson rode the shuttle up to the moon and boarded his incomplete ship. When he purchased the engine and weapons upgrade they had removed the old engines and weapons, but had only replaced the engines before the surrender. He felt naked in a ship with no weapons, but the reduced weight and faster engines made him one of the fastest commercial ships in the area.

  After a thorough but, thankfully, expedited inspection, the Eclipse was on its way. During the trip, he worked on a little something the lawyers could do for him. His refund for the weapons should cover it.

  Friedrich Debran departed Rigel Station for Barataria in the custom executive transport. He would stop off first to retrieve his family, and then on to the planet. He couldn’t let a habitable planet go to waste. His pilot followed the path through the star cluster provided by Admiral Minacci and rendezvoused with his flagship. He wasn’t allowed to dock with the warship, but a launch was sent over with his family on board. There were no tears of joy from his wife and daughters when they came aboard, only a request to know where were their cabins and were there fresh clothes to change into.

  Friedrich had the steward show them to their quarters. He joined the captain and had him request permission to land on Barataria. Permission was denied and Debran just kept going higher up in the chain of command until he was put in touch with Steven Maynard. Maynard told him that he was busy surrendering his planet and didn’t have time for social or revenge calls right now.

  Debran quickly laid out the outline of a financial proposition, to act as Maynard’s Galactic Republic land agent for settling the unoccupied portions of the planet. The proposition interested Steven, and he authorized Debran’s ship to land.

  All the captives were released from their labors. This date would be henceforth known as Barataria’s Independence Day. Russell and Sally took the day to visit the main city park.

  Sally had made a picnic lunch for them, and they searched out a shady hillside patch to spread out their blanket.

  Sally was pensive as the two of them lay beside each other. She had been quiet during the walk to the park. Russell could tell something was bothering her.

  “Sally, what’s wrong?”

  Sally kept quiet and turned away from Russell.

  Russell pulled her over into his arms and asked again.

  She seemed to shrink away from him even as he held her tight.

  Quietly, she said, “I don’t want this to end.”

  “You don’t want what to end? The captivity?”

  “No, us, the restaurant, the time we’ve had together. It’s all going to go away. I’ve been so happy here in this intolerable situation. Of course, everything is going to change now. I’ll have to go and find a job in the Algol, Rigel, or Aldebaran system. I’m sure running a restaurant as a pirate’s captive will seem exotic, but won’t get me my own place. And you, you’ll go back to being a merchant sailor again. Everything will change.”

  Russell continued to hold her and kissed her head.

  “What will happen to us now that you…we won’t be forced to be together? You won’t continue to be happy with me, when you can have your choice of younger, prettier women.”

  Russell looked down at her and said, “You idiot! Don’t you know that I love you? I want YOU! You’re more than pretty enough and young enough for me. I couldn’t imagine living with you if you were younger. You work twice as hard as any one my age. You wear me out as it is, in the restaurant and in bed. I’ve chosen you.”

  Russell continued to hold her as tears streamed down her face. He leaned down and kissed her, tasting the saltiness of her tears.

  She looked up at him and said, “I’m sorry for being such an idiot. I never expected to find someone as wonderful as you in my life. Forgive me for being an insecure, emotional woman.”

  “You’re forgiven — now fetch me out a sandwich. I’m hungry.”

  The tears vanished and her smile returned as she laid out their feast.

  The Vigilant was chosen to take the admiral and selected officers down for the surrender ceremony. Chief Blankenship and the chiefs motivated the crew to make the ship gleam. When she came for Kelly to do his inspection walk-through, she reminded him how hard the crew worked and they would appreciate him recognizing their efforts.

  Kelly conducted his walk-through inspection and was impressed when he saw the shape of his ship. The crew really exceeded his expectations. He was effusive in his compliments and issued two on-the-spot awards for exceptionally well-maintained spaces. Chief B gave him a thumbs-up when he was through.

  Kelly ordered the probe launched again to maintain a watch on the K’Rang fleet. It would hover near the spot it had observed from before and pop out every hour or two to maintain contact with the K’Rang ships. It wouldn’t do to get caught unaware, with the only scout ship parked on the planet below.

  At the appointed hour, the Admiral’s gig pulled up to the airlock and docked. Kelly met him in his dress uniform and six side boys stood for his arrival. The party consisted of the admiral, his aide, his protocol officer, the captains of two of the three assault landing carriers, and his entire JAG section. The Yellow Jacket would be sending CPT Chen and the SOC down in an AS-500 as an honor guard.

  The gig pulled away and the AS-500 pulled up beside the Vigilant. Kelly called down to the spaceport and received permission for the two ships to land. Kelly ordered the helm to make a standard approach to the spaceport, and advised the AS-500’s pilot of his intentions. The pilot responded back that he would follow them down.

  They spiraled down through the atmosphere and lined up to put down at the designated spaceport parking spaces. An obvious government functionary met them at the gangplank. He introduced himself as Roger Delvane, secretary to Mr. Maynard. His first question was if it would be possible to move their ships to another location. The ceremony would
take place at the main parade field across town. If the people could see the presence of the fleet in the form of these two ships, it would do much to calm down certain reactionary elements in the Brotherhood, and raise the spirits of the former Prisoners of War.

  Kelly caught the reference to POWs. Someone in the Brotherhood knew the Galactic Republic law on non-aligned worlds. They were safe from execution by spacing as long as they could maintain this farce that they were a non-aligned world and secretly at war with the Republic. Kelly conferred with the admiral and the pilot of the AS-500, and they agreed to move to the parade grounds. Mr. Delvane had a hover ship waiting to lead them to the new location. Kelly and passengers loaded back up and held position until Mr. Delvane’s hover ship arrived to lead them across town.

  Kelly put the crew in their dress uniforms for the ceremony. They would form part of the honor guard. He would leave the sensor watch, two turret gunners, and the bridge watch onboard, in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Connie had the ship. She complained about missing the show, until Kelly pointed out that from the elevated position of the bridge, she would have a better view than he did from the reviewing stand, and an air conditioned view. It was quite warm and humid today in Lafitte City.

  CPT Chen marched her Special Operations Company out of the AS-500. They were quite impressive with their white hats, blue blouses, and red trousers with gold stripe down the leg. They were armed with the M-57 blast rifle. Kelly considered issuing his troops — at least the chiefs — with side arms, but decided their weapon was the deadly black ship behind him. He had twelve torpedo ships and two K’Rang scouts to his credit for this campaign.

  While he waited, he had Chief Miller survey the hull for damage. He did a clockwise walk and Chief Miller counter-clockwise. When they each made a full circle and met at the nose, they concluded that the ship was in good condition. It would need a paint job when they got back to Antares Base, but not much else.

  Mary Chen and her sergeants positioned her Marines in accordance with a diagram Mr. Delvane provided. Her sergeants put down markers where key personnel would stand so that others would line up on them, in lines so straight you’d think they were laid with a laser. First Sergeant Don McMaster helped Chief Blankenship do the same for the Vigilant’s formation. Formations and marching were not Fleet strengths.

  Mary Chen came over to Kelly. “I’m happy for your promotion, frocking, and command selection, but I really wanted to meet you as an equal. I had plans for you and me. Why did they have to make you a Lieutenant Commander?”

  Kelly choked slightly and responded, “I had to be frocked to qualify for this command. If it’s any consolation, it was a surprise to me, too.”

  “It isn’t any consolation. Here we are again in a war zone, too. I could get really pissed at the K’Rang. They are so inconvenient.”

  Kelly’s communicator buzzed. It was Sensors, reporting that the probe just reported no change to the K’Rang fleet disposition. Kelly went to report to the admiral. Mary walked back to her marines in a less than rosy mood. First Sergeant McMaster warned those near him and they passed it back.

  Friedrich Debran met with Roger Delphant in his office on board the executive transport. Mr. Debran was in an upbeat mood.

  “Roger, I don’t know if you noticed that there were two yellow suns off to starboard as we made our approach. I would bet that our friends here haven’t made a proper survey or claim on any planets or exploitable asteroid belts that might be there. Get our usual survey specialists energized and in here quickly. I want those systems surveyed and filed with the GR courts as soon as possible — as in days Roger, not weeks.”

  “Yes, Mr. Debran, I’ll see to it immediately. I know just who to contact.”

  Mr. Debran thought to himself that there were trillions of credits to be made here if he could move quickly.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Steven Maynard met with Friedrich Debran in the main administrative building. Mr. Debran made no pleasantries and launched right into his presentation.

  “Mr. Maynard, the one constant in the Galactic Republic is the need for more land and resources. Earth is over-populated. The original ten new worlds are approaching over-population, as are several of the second tier worlds. They are constantly seeking out new habitable worlds for settlement of excess population. They’re willing to pay generously for open land on which to settle these immigrants. I propose to make effective use of my contacts in the Galactic Republic, on your behalf, to offer land that you make available to me. I will collect all funds, arrange transport here, meet any planetary clearance procedures you establish, and settle the new immigrants here. When they are happily settled, I will provide you a complete accounting, and keep only a 30 % commission. Besides, with your surrender to the Galactic Republic, your supply of workers dries up.”

  Steven Maynard studied Mr. Debran’s written proposal in front of him while he listened to the briefing. At Mr. Debran’s pause he said, “Mr. Debran, I like your proposal. There is one minor change we would like to make. We would like 300 million credits up front to ensure you are focused on our mutual benefit.”

  Friedrich Debran stood up. “Do you think me a fool? It will be years before I’d make any return on that investment.”

  “No, Mr. Debran, I do not think you a fool. Do not think me one, either. You stand to make trillions of credits from this agency. There is over 3 billion excess population on Earth and the ten first tier worlds and half that number in the second tier worlds you speak of. If you made only a credit per immigrant you would recoup your entire investment and then some in a few months. Of course, we both know you will receive much more than a credit per immigrant. 300 million is our price. Take it or leave it.”

  Friedrich Debran had been a shrewd negotiator long enough to know when the negotiation was over. He had been willing to pay much more for this deal, so he was still coming out ahead. He reached his hand across the table to shake Steven’s hand and said, “We have a deal.”

  In a few moments the necessary changes had been made, the credits transfer verified, and the deal signed. Both sides were happy.

  Thorson returned by midday, and Steven pulled the lawyers into his office and began work on the surrender negotiation preliminaries. The Admiral waited patiently for an hour, then demanded the negotiations begin. Steven, Thorson, and the team of lawyers sat down at the conference table opposite Admiral Minacci, Kelly, and the 3rd ALG JAGs.

  The negotiation went swiftly with Steven agreeing to every term the Fleet JAGs insisted on. Maynard’s lawyer offered a few changes to the document, mostly dealing with recognizing the existing government of Barataria and respect for its laws. By early evening, the documents had been verified by both teams of lawyers and agreed to for signature tomorrow at the surrender ceremony.

  The Brotherhood’s lawyers also presented certified copies of Barataria’s non-aligned world charter, finalized filed claims on three adjacent solar systems, filed application for GR membership, and appointment of Francis Jesse Thorson as the Ambassador-at-Large for Baratarian and GR relationships.

  Now all that was needed was the thumbprint acceptance tomorrow at midday, to make it all official. Roger Delvane sat down with Admiral Minacci’s protocol officer to iron out the details for the ceremony tomorrow, while Kelly and the admiral retired to the guest quarters that had been made available to them just across from the parade field. Steven Maynard had invited them to dinner at the best restaurant on Barataria, and Kelly had requested invitations for CPT Chen, LTJG Cortez, and Alistair.

  While Kelly was changing he heard a knock on his door. He opened the door to see Mary Chen in her hot weather dress uniform. It featured a white hat and shirt worn outside the waistband of the red skirt, which showed off Mary’s shapely legs.

  She strode by Kelly without asking. Kelly shrugged, closed the door, and continued getting dressed. He wore his blue-black pants and a T-shirt, having not yet put on his uniform shirt. Mary sat on the bed, smoothing her skirt
to prevent wrinkles.

  “What can I do for you, Mary?”

  She laughed and said, “Well, I’ve been trying to get into your bed for a while now and this is as close as I’ve gotten. No, I got ready too soon and was becoming stir crazy in my room. I hate these events. I never know how to make polite conversation. I hope you don’t mind the company.”

  “It’s alright. When in doubt, ask if the weather is normal. People love to talk about their weather to strangers. If that dries up, compliment them on something cultural you’ve seen as you’ve wandered around the city. I would recommend asking them about the ruins of the previous civilization. Ruin View is the name of the restaurant.”

  She shifted slightly on the bed, causing her skirt to hike up and expose more of her nice legs. She said, “Thanks, I’ll use those. As you might have imagined, my Dad was not big on protocol or niceties. He was a legend in the Marines, but not for his tact or diplomacy.”

  Kelly pulled on his shirt, buttoned it, and tucked it in. Mary got up off the bed to help him get it tucked evenly across the back. When they both looked in the mirror and were satisfied with their appearance, they left the room.

  Alistair and Connie were in the corridor. Kelly had noticed the two becoming quite chummy in the last week. He wished them the best. Their duties wouldn’t allow much chance to be together after Alistair was delivered back to his ship. The Vigilant’s patrol schedule and the wide-ranging assignments of a Reporting Officer would make future meetings rare. They looked happy in each other’s company, so Kelly kept his thoughts to himself.

  They met the Admiral in the lobby, and waited a short time for Mr. Delvane to arrive with a ground car. The ground car was a luxury model and they all fit in the passenger’s compartment with no crowding. Mr. Delvane kept a running commentary of local sights and places of interest. Kelly elbowed Mary so she’d pay attention.