A knock. Sergeant Obutu.
“No calls, no interruptions!”
“Yes, but Mr. Tolliver says—aye aye, sir.”
I resumed my pacing, kicked an offending chair out of the way. Animals. Trannies. So what if I’d been provoked? Hadn’t I learned to take worse in wardroom hazing?
Another knock. “Sarge, if you so much as come near—oh, it’s you.” Johan Stritz.
“Sorry, sir. Yesterday you said I should come to do my Nav problems ...
“Stay out. I don’t have time to—” No, you fool! “Johan, that was uncalled for. Sit and do your work.”
“Aye aye, sir.” He took a chair, flicked on his holovid. I resumed my pacing.
“You should have seen them after you left, sir. They—”
“Mind your own business.” I stalked the office, muttering under my breath. If I took no calls until morning, Duhaney would have to wait until then to let me know I was cashiered. During the night I could creep down to Devon on our remaining shuttle. At least I wouldn’t hear the Senators gloat over their revenge.
I could only imagine what had been said about me.
No, I could do more than that. “Tell me.”
Eagerly he put down his holovid. “That old grode Wade called—” He saw my expression. “Sorry. Ms. Wade, I meant. You’re a muscle-brained adventurer. A sexist Neanderthal who enjoys humiliating his betters. And Senator Myemkin said you were an unprincipled—”
Another knock. I flung open the hatch. “How many times do I—”
Jeff Thorne. “Yes, I know you weren’t to be bothered, but this shouldn’t wait.”
“Tell the whole lot of them to go to hell! I don’t care what they want now!”
He stared, then comprehension dawned. “The politicians? No, this is more serious.”
“Let the new Commandant handle it.” Grudgingly, I stood aside for him to enter. “Make it fast.”
“I don’t think Stritz should be here.”
“Get on with it!”
“Aye aye, sir. You’re not going to like this. Olvira found two second-year joeys—” He seemed at a loss for words. “Sorry. They were pronging each other.”
“It happens, sometimes.” Arlene Sanders had told me as much, long ago in Lunapolis.
“Sir, they’re both in his dorm.”
Aghast, I said, “Bunkies?”
“Yes, sir. Tanya Guevire and the Chambers boy.” He saw my expression, rushed on. “I know, I feel the same way. They’re waiting outside my cabin right now, but I thought it deserved a visit to your office.”
“Don’t bother! Send them home tonight!”
“Sir, that’s a bit extreme. They—”
“I want them out!”
His tone was patient. “It’s morally repugnant, but—”
“Damn it, how can the middies crowd into a wardroom if everyone’s wondering who’s pronging whom! Disgusting! Call the Pilot, have him get the shuttle ready. They’re both expelled.”
“But—”
I snarled, “Can’t you obey a simple order?”
“Yes, sir. Aye, aye, sir. I’d like you to listen first.”
“Get—” I reached inward, found some last measure of control. “All right.”
“Thank you. We both know it’s wrong. But that’s what we’re here to teach them. I’ll see to it neither ever dreams again of having sex with a bunkie. You have my promise.”
“They’re mates, damn it.” It wasn’t just that the sex was morally repulsive. Our joeys had to learn that the Navy was as one, that we didn’t go around pronging our brothers. I thought of Arlene, and felt a hot flush of shame. I glared at Stritz. “What are you looking at?”
He snatched up his holovid. “Nothing, sir.”
Thorne waited.
I sighed. “I don’t want to see them. Make it a good one, Jeff. See that they can’t sit down for a week.”
“Aye aye, sir. Thank you for changing your mind.” He saluted, left before I could reverse myself.
I’d turned Academy into a madhouse. Cadets were humping in the corridors, a party of outraged Senators roamed Krane barracks, everyone, including me, questioned orders, and I was preparing to empty my desk while a cadet who should long since have been washed out sat where he didn’t belong, pretending he was engrossed in his holovid.
Law and order.
I snorted. At least Ardwell Crossburn was gone. His little black book would have steamed before he was done writing tonight’s events.
Another knock. I whirled, looking for something to throw. Kina Obutu. “I know, sir, but it’s Senator Boland. Are you sure you ...
“All right, put him on.” I took the caller.
“He’s right here.” She stood aside.
“Well?” It was far too late for civility.
“The vote was five to three, Captain. We stay.” He glanced at Stritz, turned away unconcerned. He raised an eyebrow. “Your novel hospitality is ... refreshing.”
His dry manner extinguished my temper. At a loss for words, I crossed to my desk, laid my head in my arms. Should I laugh or cry? Perhaps both. “Senator, things ... got out of hand.”
“Really? With you, I’m never quite sure.” He sat. “My colleague is somewhat abrasive.”
“She set me off, but I accept the blame. My replacement will smooth things over, I’m sure.”
“You mean when Duhaney finds out what you’ve done? That’s why I’m here, actually. I’ve been delegated to make the call, on behalf of all of us.”
“Ms. Obutu’s caller is on her desk.”
Boland locked his fingers behind his neck. “I think the circuit is busy. In fact, I’m sure of it. Tomorrow, I’ll have left Duhaney a message. That should hold them for a few days.” In a leisurely manner he got to his feet. “Silly old bitch.” He paused at the hatch. “Oh, by the way.”
I snapped shut my hanging jaw. “Yes?”
“I told you once I’d have liked to serve in the Navy, if I hadn’t gone into politics. Is this your way of giving me the chance?”
I fumbled for a reply, but he was gone.
Kyle Drew and Johan Stritz came jauntily into my office, cheeks flushed. Stritz flipped me a casual salute. “May I sit? They’re worse than plebes, sir. It took both of us to get Mr. Myemkin suited. Kyle almost had to sit on him.”
I smiled wanly. In the two days since I’d made mortal enemies of the VIPs, I’d had the two cadets help shepherd them around the base. Aides and Senators were continually losing themselves in the maze of warrens.
I studied Johan’s rosy face. The boy was coming along. The day before, he had made friends with Senator Rudolpho’s twin daughters. Audaciously, he’d knocked on the wardroom hatch to ask permission for the twins to look inside, knowing the frustrated middies couldn’t blame him for carrying out official duties. Today the twins were presumably out with their parents and the rest of the party, on a daring fifty-yard stroll to the Hull. Thorne and Tolliver would keep them safe.
Still no call from Duhaney. Senator Boland’s message must have been pigeonholed, if he’d sent it at all.
Kyle hesitated. “Sir, do you have time to help me with Law tonight? I’d ask Mr. Keene, but he’s busy with the Senators.”
I patted the empty seat by my desk. “Now would be better, Drew.” I sighed. Even in my private office, the boys felt all too at home.
Worse, I was starting to like them.
Chapter 21
I WAS BRIEFING NGU Bien on Systems and Maintenance when Sergeant Obutu knocked. “Sir, it’s the admiral.”
In the week since the Naval Affairs Committee had left, I’d heard nothing. If Duhaney wanted retribution, surely he wouldn’t have waited so long.
“Very well.” I warily took the caller.
“Seafort?” His voice was jovial. “Higbee’s been complaining again. Some Crossburn fellow. You gave him his walking papers without authorization.”
“I do a lot without authorization, sir.” He knew it better than I.
Good God. I’d created a monster.
“Listen, I apologize for my remarks about your being a politician. It seems you’re better than even I realized.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The Committee, Seafort. You know the impression you made.”
I gulped. “Yes, sir, I’m sor—”
“Boland couldn’t stop raving. Letting them sit in on classes, that was a masterstroke. And who was it put them through fish simulator firing drill for a whole morning, you?” No, it was Olvira. “Myemkin said he hadn’t been so tired in his life, but he understood for the first time why we take our drills so seriously.”
I regarded the caller as if it were a snake. “Sir, are you, uh, joking with me? Aren’t they—”
“They showed me the preliminary draft. Looks like we’ll see our first real budget increase in years. One dissenter, but she was overruled seven to one. They’re even giving us funds to upgrade the barracks next year.”
“There’s nothing wrong with—”
“I have to run, Seafort, another damnfool ceremony at U.N.A.F.”
I blurted, “Sir, what about the caterwauling bomb I—”
“It’s coming along, Commandant. Good work.” He rang off.
I sat dumbfounded.
Everything I tried to do well turned out badly.
It was only fitting that what I tried to do badly turned out well.
I dressed quickly, returned to my office to meet Sergeant Radz. On the caller he’d said it was urgent. Ms. Obutu, whom I’d also summoned, sat in the outer room, yawning.
“What’s up, Sarge?” I beckoned to a chair.
“A few minutes ago I heard noises through the bulkhead. It’s after midnight; they should all be asleep. I found two cadets in the head going at it full blast.”
“Again? Are they all sex-crazed?” One revolting incident was enough. “This time we’ll make an example—”
“No, sir, not that. They were trying to pound each other into the deck. A real donnybrook. I flung one of them halfway across the barracks, collared the other. He’s in my cabin now.”
“Good Lord. What was it about?”
“I don’t know. I came here before asking.” For the first time Radz showed a trace of anger. “My choice would be to send them both to the barrel, and ask after. But last time you didn’t like the way I—”
“Stow that!” I stood, turned aside to pace. Everyone’s nerves seemed to be on edge. Mine, the sergeant’s, even the cadets’. It was my own fault; the Commandant set the tone. “Send them up. I’ll deal with them.”
“Aye aye, sir.” He saluted, strode to the hatch.
I paced anew. I’d been far too lenient of late. I’d let off the middies, forgiven illicit sex, allowed Stritz and the others all sorts of familiarities. Time to toughen—
A knock.
“Enter!”
The boy limped in, drew himself to attention as best he could. His right eye had begun to swell shut; his lip still oozed blood. “Cadet Jerence Branstead reporting, sir.”
“You!”
“Yes, sir.”
“What in God’s own hell have you been up to?”
He mumbled, “A fight.”
“Stand straight! Speak up!”
“Aye aye, sir.” He complied, winced from the pain. “We were fighting.”
“I know; you’re bleeding all over my deck!” He licked at his lip. “Stand easy, if it hurts that much.”
“I’m all right, he just kicked me kind of ...
“Who? Better yet, why?”
“Cadet Ochard, sir.” He hesitated. “Please, sir, I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Four demerits, you insolent young—” I strode to the cane. “By Lord God, you’ll learn to obey before I’m done with you! Exactly what was this fracas about?”
“I—he said I was your—your ... The boy’s jaw quivered. He made a manful effort at control.
My anger dissolved. “All right, lad.” I led him to the couch, gave him my handkerchief. When I thought he was able, I prodded. “Well?”
“He said I got into the Navy by—by sucking up to you, on Victoria. Except, that wasn’t how he said it.” His breath came in a sob. “I work hard, Captain Seafort. Honest, I do. My coming home with you had nothing to do with my scores. It’s true, isn’t it?” His eyes flickered to mine. “Didn’t I earn them?”
“Of course.” My voice was tight.
“Sarge wouldn’t give—I mean, if he did, being in the Navy wouldn’t mean ...
“None of the instructors would dare. Not for me, or anyone.”
“Yessir. Some of the joes are always on me about it. Tonight, I had enough.”
I shook my head. If it weren’t that, they’d have found another pretext. Wolves always sense the vulnerable ones.
My voice hardened. “You expect sympathy, joey? No, what you get is a caning. You sat in a cabin for weeks resisting a vial of goofjuice, and now you fall apart because a boy calls you a toady!”
“Not just a toady, a—” He compressed his lips.
“It’s all right, you can say it. My bedmate, I assume. Children’s nonsense.”
“They’re my mates!” An anguished cry.
“All the more reason to hold your temper. How in heaven do you think you’ll cope with wardroom hazing if you can’t—”
The caller buzzed. “Sir, priority call from Earthport Station.” Sergeant Obutu.
“Later, I’m in the middle of—”
“Captain, pick up the caller!” Her voice brooked no argument.
Speechless, I thumbed the caller onto the speakers. “Yes, what—”
“—ERGENCY BROADCAST TO ALL SHIPS, ALL PERSONNEL! REPEAT: LUNAPOLIS BASE HAS BEEN BOMBED, EXTENT OF DAMAGE UN—”
“Lord God!” I stood frozen.
“—ADMIRALTY BASE DOESN’T RESPOND. SHIPYARDS AT EARTHPORT STATION UNDER ATTACK. AT LEAST SEVENTY-FIVE FISH ARE—”
“Captain Tsong on Invincible. I’m taking—”
“—OUR LASER BANKS. ANY SHIP WITHIN RANGE, PLEASE ASSIST. WE’RE—”
“Get off this channel; we need it! Until the chain of command is reestablished I’m senior. All vessels moored to Earthport Station, cast off immediately! About a hundred fish have Defused above Earth’s atmosphere!”
A hundred? Lord, save us. If—
“Sir, should I—” Jerence was white.
“Shut up!” I bent close to the speaker, strained to hear.
“How the hell would I know, Wellington? They’re not on a social call, that’s certain. Take your position and stay off the chan—”
“Mayday! U.N.S. Aztec! We can’t beat off attack, they’ve breached our hull! Mayday! Coordinates—”
I rasped, “Jerence, back to barracks! Move!”
“Aye aye, sir!” He saluted and was gone.
I keyed the caller to general frequency. “Tolliver! Thorne! To my office, flank!”
“Gibraltar to Invincible! We killed six, but a dozen more Defused alongside. We’re coming up on Aztec, will try to help.”
The caller buzzed. Sergeant Obutu. “I’m sending Cadet Ochard back to his dorm.”
“Who? Yes, of course. Have all cadets report to barracks, flank.”
“They’re already in bed, sir. It’s the middle of the night.” The calm of her voice was a warm, gentle wave.
“Very well. Send Tolliver and Thorne in. And you too.” I’d want her placid good sense. “Put someone on our landing radar. Wake a tech or one of the sergeants. If anything shows overhead, sound the alarms.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Turn off all outside lights. And no outgoing radio.” If by any chance we’d escaped notice of the fish, best to do nothing to attract them.
I turned back to the speaker, as the hatch opened.
“Lieutenant Thorne reporting.”
“Listen!”
Tolliver raced in, out of breath. “Hope this is important; I was dreaming of—”
“Quiet, Edgar!” I pulled up another chair. Kina Obutu came in, with cups and a pot of coffee, bless her. I poured a steaming cup, took a sip. “Lunapolis has gone off the air. We have no central command.”
Tolliver. “U.N. Headquarters will take over. Or London.”
“Groundsiders. We need Fleet Ops.”
Sergeant Obutu said, “It may take a while to reorganize. London Admiralty normally relays through Earthport Station, and if the Station’s under heavy attack ...
Thorne bit at his knuckles. “What’s Admiralty supposed to do about it? We can’t defend everywhere at once.”
“I know that. They have to assign—”
“—OUTSIDE THE HULL! THEY’RE BURNING THROUGH! WE’VE ALL GONE TO SUITS—”
“—Fusing to safety. We’ll reestablish contact when—”
“—most of the city under several feet of water. The asteroid struck the gulf fifty miles southeast of Galveston. We need helis, medical—”
“Do something!” I set down my coffee to pace.
We huddled at the caller while disaster swept through home system. Five ships were lost outright; thirteen others were damaged but still fighting. Four ships of the line were clear of gravitation and Fused out of the Solar System.
Fish came in droves. According to the scattered reports, almost three hundred aliens roamed home system. Earthport Station fought desperately to survive; if it fell, Earth’s vast interstellar commerce would die with it.
Why hadn’t the fish struck at Farside? Was it because only an occasional shuttle without fusion drives docked here? Thank Lord God that Radz and his Krane cadets were back from the Training Station.
I muttered, “Maybe we should get everyone suited. If the fish show ...
Tolliver. “There’s nothing on radar.”
“Sooner or later, they’ll come for us. They’ve knocked out Lunapolis and they’re swarming around the Station.”
Kina Obutu said gently, “Do we really want middies and Sergeants running to help five hundred teens change tanks every couple of hours?”
“Suits without helmets, then.” Thorne. “Call a suit drill. Have them practice putting helmets on and off.”
Tolliver’s eyebrow raised. “In the middle of the night?”
Fisherman's Hope (The Seafort Saga Book 4) Page 43