"You would, wouldn't you?" I asked.
      "Yes," she admitted in a girlish voice.
      I said, "Well, I've already promised you every night until I ship out, so since you've already admitted that you'd probably do it anyway, I'll give you my blessings for now. I won't get upset if you get pregnant with my child."
      Annie practically leaped on me as her arms circled around my neck and she planted kisses on me. For a moment, I thought she was going to take me in the hover as we sat outside Headquarters.
      I drove us back to the Mad Dogs Squadron area and broke the news to everyone in the squadron. I let the
Thurman
's Captain take over the squadron and her First Officer took over as ship's captain. A new officer would be assigned later to bring them up to strength. Then I removed my few items from the ship and returned to my quarters with Annie where we spent part of the afternoon in bed.
***
Two nights later, I spent the night at her home in her bed. As I entered the home, her father greeted me from the living room and waved me on by as Annie led me away to enjoy her sexual delights. In the morning, he said nothing about our night together as we all sat at the same breakfast table. Instead, he chatted amiably about my upcoming assignment among other things.
      "Looking forward to the cruiser, son?" he asked.
      I replied, "Uh, yes sir."
      He said, "Well, I know that you'll do well. Just remember that they don't turn as fast. They make up for that with the wallop they carry. You'll get used to it real quick. You remind me of myself a long time ago. Hell, six months of cruisers and you should be commanding a heavy cruiser, if I'm any judge of men. I know that my daughter is."
      "Is what, sir?" I asked.
      He answered, "A judge of men. You're the first man she's brought home overnight and kept this long. I'd say she's got her eyes and hooks on you. Pretty soon, you'll probably have to call me Dad."
      I replied, "Oh . . ."
      I realized then that Annie was capable of stretching the truth, if not of telling some downright deceitful lies to get attention. I wondered if she had been using any protection the entire time and was already pregnant. I decided to confront her after her father left for work.
***
We saw her father off a short time later. Then she threw off her robe and tried to seduce me on the kitchen floor.
      "Enough already. Have you been taking any protection at all during the time since you first got me in bed?" I asked.
      "No," she admitted guiltily.
      I said, "I thought not. Your house of lies toppled at breakfast this morning. I'm the first man you've had at your home according to the breakfast conversation."
      She said nervously, "Well . . . in bed, but not the first man I've brought home."
      "I see. Just a little stretching of the truth. Okay. Can I believe anything else you told me is the truth about how you feel?" I asked.
    She said, "Yes. Well, I do love you. At least, I've fallen in love with you."
    "I guessed that much. Are you pregnant already?" I asked.
      It was obvious from her face that she was. She didn't have to answer, but she did. "Yes, and it's your baby. I've known for a few days now. You were on patrol when I found out. When Dad said you didn't take the Rust Bucket up with you after he told me about how the aliens are so afraid of that ship, I was scared that you wouldn't be coming back in one piece. When you did, I knew I had to give you a choice about the child or have an abortion. I was going to tell you when you got to your next assignment since you're leaving now. I didn't want to make my whole time with you into a lie. I've never taken any protection when I fooled around with anyone. This is the first time I got pregnant. Because it's yours, I didn't want you to think that I was trying to do it behind your back."
      "I see. You sure do like to live dangerously. I suppose you would like me to marry you?" I asked.
      She said, "Yes, well, no. I meant that part, but it would be nice if you did, not only for my sake but for Dad's. He respects you a lot and is looking forward to you asking me to marry you someday."
      "Is that why he took the basketball in the face?" I asked.
      She replied, "No. He didn't know my feelings then. He did that because it was the right thing to do in his opinion. He didn't want to see a brilliant career crushed by someone who didn't play fair. He looked at it as leveling the playing field. I never lied about anything I told you about him or anyone else for that matter. Only about my feelings."
      I said, "I see and I think I understand. Unfortunately, having a family isn't part of my plans yet. I've already stated that I wouldn't get upset if you got pregnant with my child since you sounded like you wanted to bear it. I'm going to stand by my statement even if you had already made the permission moot. I can't marry you because I don't want someone saying that my next promotion was the result of being related to an admiral. What I've accomplished is earned by my own effort. It always will be while I have anything to say about it. I take what comes to me and I don't cry over the bad. I didn't go crying to the Admiral to bail me out. What I did was merely make a report on what transpired, though I appreciate what he did."
      She said, "Daddy warned me that you would probably feel this way. He said he did at your age. I hope you don't hate me."
      I said, "No, Annie. I don't hate you. I guess I'm flattered that you want to carry my child, but I can't put aside my own principles. Not now. Especially not now. Maybe in a year or two, I'll return with my goals achieved and ask for your hand, if you'll have me. And like you said, maybe I'll meet someone that I'll fall madly in love with and marry her instead. I can't guarantee the future. I can only build towards it."
      "I understand. I will have the baby then since you still don't mind. You'll be welcome to visit our child anytime you desire. I do hope you decide someday to return and marry me, but I'll understand if you don't. It's not your fault that you're in this predicament. It's mine and I'll carry the burden. Will you stay with me today?" she asked.
      "You still want me around even though I just said I wasn't going to marry you now?" I asked.
      She replied, "Not only that, I still want you to have me as much as you want while you're still here. Besides, if you should get a leave later and come back to visit, I'll probably be too fat to fuck."
      I decided that if we were going to part as friends, then I shouldn't just break the relationship off abruptly. I felt somewhat of a bastard for not marrying her, but I gave in to her desires and continued to take her until shortly before I shipped out.
Chapter 19
I reported to the naval base on Echo, a small planet with a more Earth-like gravity than Beulah. I reported into the Headquarters there and was warmly received by the Fleet Admiral of that sector. He had received an electronic letter from Fleet Admiral Reason and was well-versed on what I was going to try to accomplish. Not only that, but he had seen first hand some of my handiwork already in the person of Commander Majel Remm, who was doing her best to carry on in training some of his officers. However, she was skilled in individual ship training and not in the refinements I made to squadron training and attack. Her work on Echo was the only bright spot in the whole defense.
      He said, "Captain Oden, I've taken the liberty of giving you a suitable cruiser, just overhauled with four Mark IV quads, four Mark III quads, two Mark III duals, and four Mark II singles. She has a fitting name considering your own last name. The
Valhalla
is all yours, along with the other nineteen ships of her command. Because this is a larger squadron than what you've been working miracles with before, I'm going to ask you how long you need to get ready instead of giving you a deadline."
      I thought for a moment about the fact that the last squadron took a week, then a week of patrol, another week off, and then the successful patrol where we defeated a slightly larger squadron. Then I spoke. "Sir, I'll have an effective squadron ready in one month. Have I got full discretion and authority?"
      He replied, "Wouldn't have it any other way. You'll either succeed or fail on your own merits. If you fail, then I'll ship your ass off to where you came from. If you succeed, then I'll personally pilot your ship for a month."
      I said, "I appreciate your candor, Admiral, but I hardly think that you'll need to pilot my ship for a month. I'll settle for being shown where the enemy is most of the time and where the personnel records are kept for all the officers and crew members. I also wouldn't mind having Commander Majel Remm as one of my squadron ship captains. She'll give me an extra resource to draw upon when I want something demonstrated. Also, what's the rest of the squadron ship types? How many of what do I have? I don't want to go out badly mismatched."
      He said, "You do try to cover your bases. All right, you've got Majel. Your squadron has three light cruisers. The rest are destroyers much like you're already used to. Nothing lighter."
      I said, "Fine. Also, Commander Remm may want to take some of her crew with her."
      "You don't want her ship?" he asked.
      "What's she got?" I asked.
      He answered, "She's been working with the regular destroyer class ship like you're used to."
      I replied, "No. I intend to put her in a light cruiser, so she'll probably want to take along some of her personnel."
      "All right, it'll be arranged. One month, huh? I'm really looking forward to this. Do you still do weapons testing on orbit?" he asked.
      I answered, "Almost every time, sir. Gives the crew some reassurance that their weapons are functioning as well as getting some of the nervousness out of their systems. Now, sir, if you'll give me directions on where to find my squadron, I'll get started."
    "What about the records?" he asked.
      I replied, "I'll start with those after I see the ships. I want to get started on any modifications or repairs that might be necessary. In all likelihood, they're in fine shape. But sometimes, things get overlooked and I don't like that. I want every man and woman out there to have the best chance for success and survival I can give them."
***
The Admiral furnished me with a driver and a hover because of the distance between the 17th Squadron and Headquarters. I arrived at the squadron site and poked around the ships, going in one and out after looking at everything I could get into. Not once did anyone challenge me, although it was kind of obvious that I wasn't an Ape-oid. Still, they weren't acting professional. They needed shaking up and then some building up.
      The Admiral was right. My last name and the name of the cruiser did go together. I figured on using it, if necessary. I couldn't call the 17th Squadron the Mad Dogs. I had left that squadron behind along with the Rust Bucket. This squadron needed something just as bad-ass sounding. Something they could live up to. Valhalla was a Viking term, so I punched up the Vikings on a terminal and did a little quick reading. It didn't take me long to find the perfect name for the 17th Squadron. I wanted something that implied we were crazy and would charge anything. Berserker fit the bill perfectly. My new squadron would become the Berserker Squadron.
      As I continued to look around the ships, I spotted small deficiencies that wouldn't make any difference in the performance and others more serious, yet somehow overlooked. Those last ones were the ones I would concentrate on.
***
I found the officers at their recreation hall not far away from the ships and walked in among them. Not one of them recognized me at first. Either they hadn't seen my image, despite the fact that the Navy showed it off nearly everywhere, or they didn't know that I was their new squadron commander. I decided to get tough with them first. I walked into the center of the recreation hall where they had gathered, reached into my hidden holster, removed my antique projectile weapon, and pointed it at the ceiling of the one-story building. I released the safety and pulled the trigger. I got their attention immediately. Everyone stopped and stared at me as if I was crazy. That's what I wanted them to think.
      "Gentlemen, ladies! I presume that you are the officers of the squadron outside! I see that most of you are present! That's good! I hate repeating myself! I am Captain Dave Oden, your new squadron commander! Inside of five minutes, I want everyone of you standing beside your ship with your crews lined up behind you! I do not mean five minutes and ten seconds! I do not mean five minutes and five seconds! I do not mean five minutes and one second! Move out!" I ordered loudly.
      I stood out of the way as close to a hundred officers hurried to the exits to get out of the building and over to their ships. I watched out the window to see which ones went after their crews as instructed and which ones didn't. I wanted to know who could follow orders. Individual initiative could start the next day. I made note of the faces of the male and female officers who ran to get the crews and tried to determine if there was any communication among the officers to split the tasks. If so, I would give them credit for teamwork. As soon as the last officer was out of the building, I made my way to the exit. I continued to watch as I casually walked over to the ships at a pace that would get me there in four and a half minutes.
      The officers apparently didn't make their instructions clear to some of the crew members about being in line in precisely five minutes. Most of the officers from the recreation hall were standing at attention beside their ships, but only a few of their crews were present. I looked at my watch. When the five minutes were up, I fired a second round from my antique weapon into the air where it would fall harmlessly. Almost everyone stopped and stared when they heard the sound from my gun.