Authors: Thomas DePrima
"He's received and acknowledged his orders. I understand that he's on his way to Earth now. He should arrive here in— oh about— seven or eight months, assuming no other delays or course deviations."
"Seven or eight
months
?"
"Yes, ma'am. The Roosevelt has been on patrol out in deca-sector 8667-1844. Captain Yung has hitched a ride back aboard the Destroyer Tokyo, but she's an older ship and it will take at least that long for her to arrive here. You're to remain in command until he relieves you."
"I see. Thank you, Commander."
"My pleasure, Commander. Welcome home."
"Thank you," Jenetta said just before pushing the com cover down. She snorted slightly. She might be technically in command of the Song, which prevented her return to the Prometheus, but that wasn't going to keep her stuck aboard ship. She touched the face of her Space Command ring, and when a carrier was initiated she asked for Lieutenant Ashraf.
"Yes, Captain," she heard in her head.
"Lori, could you come into my briefing room please."
"Right away, Captain."
A few minutes later, Ashraf entered in response to Jenetta's command to the door interface.
"You wanted to see me, Captain."
"Yes, Lori. Have a seat." After the lieutenant had sat down, Jenetta said, "It appears that I shall be remaining in command longer than I expected."
"Wonderful, Captain," Ashraf said smiling.
Jenetta couldn't help but smile. Each extension of her command time aboard the Song had been greeted similarly by Ashraf. "But I need some time with my family. So I'm going to leave you in command out here while I enjoy some liberty time. You have adequate personnel to keep the bridge fully staffed, and you can always contact me if you have any problems. My folks live just outside the base, so my CT should function, but I'll bring a portable repeater with me to insure that you can always get through. Since the ship is sealed inside a space dock, I don't expect problems here to be many."
"No, ma'am. I can't see many problems arising while we're in space dock."
"If you have no further questions, I'm going to take a shuttle down to my parent's home."
"Have a wonderful shore leave, Captain."
"Thank you, Lori."
The commander of a SC warship enjoys certain personal privileges not extended to most other crewmembers. One was full access to the ship's support craft. Since the square rigger days, captains had always had a small vessel reserved for their use. Although the Song didn't have a shuttle reserved exclusively for the captain, there were several from which Jenetta could choose, rather than waiting for one of the yard's shuttles that made regular runs to the orbiting stations. By having her own transportation, she would also be able to return to the ship immediately if a problem arose. Her parent's home was just off-base, in an area occupied exclusively by SC officers and their families. There was even a special gate onto the base from the adjoining, secure housing community.
She received permission to land on the Potomac SC base without having to identify herself personally over an open communication channel. She was logged simply as a shuttle flight from the Song. Wanting to keep as much distance between herself and the newsies as possible, she then swore the grinning ground crew to silence about her presence once she had exited the craft. She knew that her presence must be reported to the base command structure, but she hoped that some overeager public relations officer didn't issue a press release.
The base commander, upon learning of her arrival as she touched down, had immediately placed a military ‘oh-gee' vehicle at her disposal for the entire length of her stay on Earth. As she cruised towards the home where she had spent all of her young life before entering the Academy, she breathed deeply. This was her first time dirt-side since landing on Obotymot a year earlier and she enjoyed the smells that assailed her nostrils and the sounds that reached her ears. There was the familiar fragrance of the flower gardens meticulously maintained by armies of gardener bots, the sounds of happy children playing in a base schoolyard, and even the faint smell of saltwater from the not too distant Chesapeake. It was wonderful to have the sun on her face and arms, and the wind in her hair. The most difficult part of her drive home was keeping under the posted speed limit. She had a penchant for high speed.
Jenetta slept in her own bed that night for the first time in more than twelve years. Initially, her parents had kept everything because her body hadn't been recovered. They'd clung to a tiny sliver of hope that she would be found alive. Later, when Space Command had listed her as officially ‘missing and presumed dead', they had just never gotten around to disposing of her things. Eventually, they'd packed everything up and stored it in the attic, but after learning that she'd been found alive and well, they'd reassembled the room to appear as it had when she'd left. They'd even gotten the gel-comfort bed's controls set the way that she liked them.
Billy and Richie arrived home the next day. There was a dynamic reunion with lots of hugging and laughing, and discussions that lasted late into the night. The following days were more of the same. They had eleven years to catch up on, after all. Billy never let on that he harbored any jealousy towards Jenetta and she began to wonder if it was all in her father's imagination.
On Thursday, Andy arrived home, and on Friday, Jimmy showed up. Each arrival was another occasion for celebration and more long discussions. Jenetta never mentioned it, but she was dismayed by how much older everyone seemed. For them it was twelve years since she had left Earth, but to her it seemed only a year and a half, and she neither looked nor felt much different than when she left. Her appearance actually made her feel much more like a ‘kid' sister than she had even before.
Being together allowed them to discuss things they hadn't felt comfortable talking about in vidMail messages. Jenetta was shocked to learn that Billy had married. Three years after Jenetta's ‘death,' he'd married a young woman he met at Belagresue. Unfortunately, the marriage only lasted two years. She'd said that she understood there would be long absences, but wasn't really prepared when he didn't return home in the two years following the honeymoon. She divorced him before he again received leave and he had never seen her again. He'd come to realize during their separation that the marriage hadn't been a wise one to begin with because their interests were too diverse. He was now engaged to another woman, but this time she was a Space Command ‘brat'. The daughter of a Master Chief Petty Officer, she was one of three siblings. Her father had been away most of her life and was currently serving on the GSC frigate Washington. She claimed that her life had been wonderful at the base and was both fanatically devoted to the military and fully prepared for the long absences. Her parents heartily approved of the union. Billy and Regina were to be married as soon as he could arrange leave and travel to Concordia SCB. He showed Jenetta and everyone the latest images he had of her. In one she was sitting with her sisters. The three attractive blondes didn't stop laughing during the entire thirty seconds that the animated image ran. Jenetta wished him all the happiness in the galaxy with his bride to be.
Richie was likewise engaged to be married. His future bride lived on the Sebastian Colony. The daughter of a vintner, they had met three years earlier and Marisa had twice traveled to meet with him when he could arrange leave on a suitable planet. They were hopelessly in love and he showed Jenetta an animated image that he always carried with him. Jenetta liked the auburn haired beauty's smiling face and she told Richie how happy she was for him. The couple planned to settle on Earth after they were married, although he would be gone more than he was home. His future wife had already met Mom and they'd hit it off right away. If he could arrange for housing in the area, his new wife would have family nearby.
Andy and Jimmy both had special people in their lives, but hadn't advanced to the point of talking marriage yet. Andy's girl was a lieutenant aboard his ship. He and Linda were on the same watch, although she was a supply officer while he was a line officer. Jimmy was involved with a Lieutenant(jg) who was a nurse. Unfortunately, they were on different watches and that made their lives difficult. She was always going off watch when he was going on. Even on the same ship, love can be difficult.
Her brothers asked Jenetta if she had met that special someone yet, but she replied that she hadn't had time. She said she had been too busy kicking Raider butt to think about love. That drew a loud avalanche of ribbing and several jealous comments about her being out where the action was while they were stuck in
backwater
sectors where the most exciting thing to happen was when a smuggler tired to evade their checkpoints.
* * *
Councilman Strauss was the last to arrive for the special meeting of the Lower Council. Rather than taking his usual place he sat down in the chair at the head of the table that Chairman Gagarin usually occupied.
"I have an announcement," he said. "Chairman Gagarin has retired from the company. Apparently, the severe losses we've suffered while he headed the Lower Council have led the Upper Council to institute a few changes. I have been named as his successor."
"Surely the Upper Council doesn't hold us responsible for the losses at Vauzlee and Higgins?" Councilman Blosworth asked.
"Us? No. Chairman Gagarin had complete operational leadership in both debacles. He alone has been singled out for censure."
"What about Captain Wolff?" Councilwoman Overgaard asked. "He made the decision to quit the battle at Higgins just when we were about to overcome the Spaccs?"
"We've reviewed the message log from his ship and decided that he shouldn't be held accountable. He was only following orders from Admiral Nazeer. The last orders he received from the com operator aboard the Glorious were, and I quote, ‘Admiral Nazeer states that the Glorious is under attack by a Spacc force. He orders you to break off.'"
"Break off?"
"That was the order Wolff received. Then the com channel went dead. Following that, only encrypted signals on a Space Command frequency were received from the area where the battleship had been positioned. We've confirmed the authenticity of the message by also checking the logs of several other ships that survived the attack. We may never know why Admiral Nazeer gave such an order; perhaps he panicked. When Space Command encrypted messages were detected coming from the area where the command vessel had been stationed, Wolff naturally feared that an unexpected Spacc task force was about to descend upon them, as happened at Vauzlee. By that time, our remaining task force was too badly damaged to take on a fresh, Spacc assault force. He immediately ordered all ships to break off and head in different directions, then proceed to the Raider Four base when they were sure they weren't being trailed."
"But there wasn't any other Spacc task force," Councilman Blosworth said. "It was just Carver with her heavy cruiser."
"Yes," Strauss said with a single chuckle, "just one mid-level officer with a severe stomach wound. Pretorious' aim was apparently a little off."
"Are you going to increase the bounty?" Councilwoman Overgaard asked.
"No. In fact, I've lowered it. I've felt that the amount was excessive from the moment Gagarin set it. I've reduced it to ten thousand credits."
"No professional assassin is going to attack a highly visible Spacc officer for a mere ten thousand credits," Councilman Kelleher said as he scratched his bearded chin. "An assassin would have to be pretty desperate, or hopped up on narcotics, to attempt such a mission. Killing a Spacc officer is always a risky business. It's not like killing a mere business leader or politician. If Space Command identifies the assassin, he'll suddenly find he has a million Spaccs looking for him with murder in their eyes."
"That's perfectly acceptable. I've never approved of this kind of revenge anyway. I'm only offering the ten thousand because Upper Councilman Stengel is upset with Carver for destroying the pretty new battleship they'd planned to use as a temporary base in that deca-sector after Higgins was obliterated. In a few months, when he's calmed down, I'll try again to convince him to drop the bounty altogether. I agree that we must keep Carver under close observation, but I've cancelled the
accident
that I'd arranged at Gagarin's behest."
"I support that position," Councilwoman Overgaard said. "We cannot allow ourselves to get caught up in ridiculous revenge operations. This is a business."
Chairman Strauss nodded. "Unless anyone has anything more to add, this meeting is ended. Oh, one last thing. If anyone cares to attend, there will be a brief graveside ceremony this Friday for Chairman Gagarin. That's all. Goodnight."
* * *
On Saturday, the 3rd
th
of November, 2268, the entire Carver family traveled together to the Galactic Alliance Headquarters Complex in Nebraska for the Medal of Honor ceremony. Nary a cloud was visible in a clear sky of deep majestic blue. Although the overnight air temperature had dipped slightly below the predicted fourteen degrees centigrade, the bright sunlight was rapidly warming the countryside to comfortable levels. A massive raised stage sat on the edge of the parade ground, within three concave, semi-circular rings of tall flagpoles, each bearing the cloth emblem of a member planet in the Galactic Alliance. Two thousand folding chairs, erected to seat the expected attendees, filled the field in front of the stage.