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.I had dodged a bullet.“I wanted to know what had happened before I declared myself Captain.”“Quite right,” Rutherford agreed.He looked at me for a long moment and then stood up and started to pace.“How old are you, son?”“Twenty-four, sir,” I said.It was certainly true, although wormholes did have a slight time dilation effect.I might actually be twenty-three and a half.There was no way to be sure.“My birthday’s in March.”He nodded.“The Board of Inquiry did raise the issue of allowing you to continue to command the Jacques Delors,” Rutherford said.I felt my heart twist inside me, sharply.I’d grown to love being the Captain.“Some felt that you were too young for a cruiser command, others felt that you had succeeded to command according to regulations and couldn’t be removed from command without weakening the regulations.A load of bull, in my opinion, but Boards of Inquiry get terribly hair-splitting at the best of times.However…“It seems that you have some powerful friends,” he continued.I blinked in surprise.As far as I knew, I had no powerful friends, with the possible exception of Captain Shalenko.“Captain Harriman spoke highly of you in his letters to his family and his family have apparently decided that approving you as commanding officer of the Jacques Delors would be a suitable legacy for him.You may not be aware of this, but his family have considerable influence in high places and have succeeded in pushing most of the objections out of your way.These are politics well beyond my level, but…the short version is that you have been confirmed as Captain of your ship.”I felt cold.Favours like that tended to come with strings attached.I would have liked to discuss the issue with Roger, who might have known what was going on, but I had no idea where he was now.With his connections, he might even have made Captain himself by now, maybe even of a cruiser himself.It didn’t matter.I couldn’t trust him enough to talk about my own plans.“Thank you, sir,” I said, finally.I had my own ship.It was almost enough to leave me well-disposed towards the system.“I may not have done you any favours,” Rutherford said, shortly.He sat down again and peered at me over his fingers.“Your Political Officer was due for retirement some time ago.It’s not policy to pair up a Political Officer and a Captain for as long as Captain Harriman and Jason Montgomerie were paired up, but no one was too concerned.You’re going to have to learn to tolerate a new Political Officer, I’m afraid.”I nodded.I had expected as much.“Yes, sir,” I said.“Jason was talking about retiring to Mars or even Luna City.”“He’ll be extensively debriefed first,” Rutherford said, coldly.I nodded.I hadn’t dared take the Political Officer into my confidence.“However, we’ll assign a new Political Officer to your ship later today.Two of your Lieutenants, I understand, have already put in for transfers.We’re going to be approving those and appointing two new officers in their places.I hope that that meets with your approval?”“Yes, sir,” I said.The two officers requesting transfer had done so at my suggestion.They’d be going to two different starships to build their own cells.Given enough time, I’d have every starship in the system riddled with my people, ready to take over in one blow.“I understood, however, that Captains had to approve transfers to their own ships.”“Under normal circumstances, yes,” Rutherford agreed.“However, we have a pair of Lieutenants who require billets and you’re the only ship with open places on the crew roster.”In other words, don’t argue, I thought, coldly.“Which brings us neatly to the final matter,” Rutherford concluded.“You seem to have a First Ensign who will not be rising any higher.”“Yes, sir,” I said, masking my surprise.The Grand Admiral couldn’t be concerned about Sally, could he? The political enemy she’d made must be very well connected.“She’s a good officer and I found her useful in the wardroom while I was training Ensigns.”“Indeed,” Rutherford said.His voice darkened.“Captain Harriman recommended that she be promoted, but that was unfortunately impossible.Do you still wish to keep her on your vessel?”“Yes, sir,” I said, firmly.“The Captain would want me to keep her.”“He probably would,” Rutherford agreed, and dismissed the issue.“I believe that there were actually no plans for your ship’s next cruise as you weren’t expected home for another two months.I suspect that you will either end up being assigned to Captain Shalenko’s escorting force or Admiral Tao’s invasion fleet.”I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.“Invasion fleet, sir?”“We’re going after Williamson’s World,” Rutherford said, coldly.I kept my face blank with an effort.Heinlein had been bad enough.Williamson’s World had to be going all-out to build up their own defences.“We believe that they have been providing covert support to the Heinlein Resistance Fleet as well as building up a defence force of their own.”I had to admire his honesty.He wasn’t providing any of the bogus reasons the Political Officers had used to justify the invasion of Heinlein.Intelligence might even be right.God knew that the locals would have to be insane not to think that they weren’t on the target list.“But that will take time to organise,” Rutherford added.He stood up and extended a hand.“Return to your ship.You may dispatch parties for shore leave if you wish, as well as the transferring officers.And congratulations, Captain.”“Thank you, sir,” I said.I hadn’t seen much of EarthStar One as I entered, but on the way out my guide showed me the interior of the asteroid.It had been mined out and then spun up to provide gravity, while the interior had been given a biosphere and a breathable atmosphere.The buildings in the main habitation section were luxurious beyond belief.They were the homes of the Admirals who commanded the UNPF and many of the rich or well-connected of Earth.They didn’t want to live down on the surface.It was easy to understand why.EarthStar One was not only the hub of System Command, but the safest place in the solar system.I mulled on that as I boarded the shuttle and flew back to my command.We’d have to take it out or capture it in our opening moves.Earth looked, if anything, worse than the last time I’d set eyes on the planet.There was a dark cloud of some kind hanging over the ocean, almost like a giant dark eye peering into the vastness of space.I checked the newscasts, but there was no mention of anything like the cloud.The news focused on sporting events and reports of the war on Heinlein, which was on the verge of victory [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.I had dodged a bullet.“I wanted to know what had happened before I declared myself Captain.”“Quite right,” Rutherford agreed.He looked at me for a long moment and then stood up and started to pace.“How old are you, son?”“Twenty-four, sir,” I said.It was certainly true, although wormholes did have a slight time dilation effect.I might actually be twenty-three and a half.There was no way to be sure.“My birthday’s in March.”He nodded.“The Board of Inquiry did raise the issue of allowing you to continue to command the Jacques Delors,” Rutherford said.I felt my heart twist inside me, sharply.I’d grown to love being the Captain.“Some felt that you were too young for a cruiser command, others felt that you had succeeded to command according to regulations and couldn’t be removed from command without weakening the regulations.A load of bull, in my opinion, but Boards of Inquiry get terribly hair-splitting at the best of times.However…“It seems that you have some powerful friends,” he continued.I blinked in surprise.As far as I knew, I had no powerful friends, with the possible exception of Captain Shalenko.“Captain Harriman spoke highly of you in his letters to his family and his family have apparently decided that approving you as commanding officer of the Jacques Delors would be a suitable legacy for him.You may not be aware of this, but his family have considerable influence in high places and have succeeded in pushing most of the objections out of your way.These are politics well beyond my level, but…the short version is that you have been confirmed as Captain of your ship.”I felt cold.Favours like that tended to come with strings attached.I would have liked to discuss the issue with Roger, who might have known what was going on, but I had no idea where he was now.With his connections, he might even have made Captain himself by now, maybe even of a cruiser himself.It didn’t matter.I couldn’t trust him enough to talk about my own plans.“Thank you, sir,” I said, finally.I had my own ship.It was almost enough to leave me well-disposed towards the system.“I may not have done you any favours,” Rutherford said, shortly.He sat down again and peered at me over his fingers.“Your Political Officer was due for retirement some time ago.It’s not policy to pair up a Political Officer and a Captain for as long as Captain Harriman and Jason Montgomerie were paired up, but no one was too concerned.You’re going to have to learn to tolerate a new Political Officer, I’m afraid.”I nodded.I had expected as much.“Yes, sir,” I said.“Jason was talking about retiring to Mars or even Luna City.”“He’ll be extensively debriefed first,” Rutherford said, coldly.I nodded.I hadn’t dared take the Political Officer into my confidence.“However, we’ll assign a new Political Officer to your ship later today.Two of your Lieutenants, I understand, have already put in for transfers.We’re going to be approving those and appointing two new officers in their places.I hope that that meets with your approval?”“Yes, sir,” I said.The two officers requesting transfer had done so at my suggestion.They’d be going to two different starships to build their own cells.Given enough time, I’d have every starship in the system riddled with my people, ready to take over in one blow.“I understood, however, that Captains had to approve transfers to their own ships.”“Under normal circumstances, yes,” Rutherford agreed.“However, we have a pair of Lieutenants who require billets and you’re the only ship with open places on the crew roster.”In other words, don’t argue, I thought, coldly.“Which brings us neatly to the final matter,” Rutherford concluded.“You seem to have a First Ensign who will not be rising any higher.”“Yes, sir,” I said, masking my surprise.The Grand Admiral couldn’t be concerned about Sally, could he? The political enemy she’d made must be very well connected.“She’s a good officer and I found her useful in the wardroom while I was training Ensigns.”“Indeed,” Rutherford said.His voice darkened.“Captain Harriman recommended that she be promoted, but that was unfortunately impossible.Do you still wish to keep her on your vessel?”“Yes, sir,” I said, firmly.“The Captain would want me to keep her.”“He probably would,” Rutherford agreed, and dismissed the issue.“I believe that there were actually no plans for your ship’s next cruise as you weren’t expected home for another two months.I suspect that you will either end up being assigned to Captain Shalenko’s escorting force or Admiral Tao’s invasion fleet.”I couldn’t keep the surprise out of my voice.“Invasion fleet, sir?”“We’re going after Williamson’s World,” Rutherford said, coldly.I kept my face blank with an effort.Heinlein had been bad enough.Williamson’s World had to be going all-out to build up their own defences.“We believe that they have been providing covert support to the Heinlein Resistance Fleet as well as building up a defence force of their own.”I had to admire his honesty.He wasn’t providing any of the bogus reasons the Political Officers had used to justify the invasion of Heinlein.Intelligence might even be right.God knew that the locals would have to be insane not to think that they weren’t on the target list.“But that will take time to organise,” Rutherford added.He stood up and extended a hand.“Return to your ship.You may dispatch parties for shore leave if you wish, as well as the transferring officers.And congratulations, Captain.”“Thank you, sir,” I said.I hadn’t seen much of EarthStar One as I entered, but on the way out my guide showed me the interior of the asteroid.It had been mined out and then spun up to provide gravity, while the interior had been given a biosphere and a breathable atmosphere.The buildings in the main habitation section were luxurious beyond belief.They were the homes of the Admirals who commanded the UNPF and many of the rich or well-connected of Earth.They didn’t want to live down on the surface.It was easy to understand why.EarthStar One was not only the hub of System Command, but the safest place in the solar system.I mulled on that as I boarded the shuttle and flew back to my command.We’d have to take it out or capture it in our opening moves.Earth looked, if anything, worse than the last time I’d set eyes on the planet.There was a dark cloud of some kind hanging over the ocean, almost like a giant dark eye peering into the vastness of space.I checked the newscasts, but there was no mention of anything like the cloud.The news focused on sporting events and reports of the war on Heinlein, which was on the verge of victory [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]