House of Reeds

fight.'

Hadeishi shrugged again and put down the v-pad. He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache start to come on. 'True. But something is going on…I'm getting a gitchy feeling.'

'Kyo…' Kosho paused, wondering how much she should push her captain. 'Have you considered going groundside with the first shore-leave contingent?'

'Should I?' Hadeishi gave her a questioning look. 'Do you feel I've been cooped up on this ship for too long?'

'No one,' Kosho said, after another pause, 'has carried more responsibility than you for the past twenty months. Despite Isoroku's grumbling about his workload, I would feel better if you put yourself on the first rotation. Did I tell you about the musicians I heard?'

Hadeishi lifted a hand. 'Sho-sa, you're avoiding the question. Do you think my ability to command has been reduced by a lack of…recreational activities?'

'I cannot say that, kyo.' Susan stiffened.

'No, you cannot!' Hadeishi sounded irritated. 'In some situations, that could be construed as mutinous. I will go with the last rotation, as I've already made clear. It is traditional for the captain to go last, so last I will go.'

Kosho remained silent, but he could see she didn't agree.

He settled back in his chair with a sigh. 'Which is not to say I haven't seen anything but bulkheads and v- displays and the same faces for too long. You think my judgment has been impaired by a too-long patrol cruise? That I'm suffering psychological effects from extended isolation in the big dark?'

That I would…mislay orders to keep my crew and ship together for just a few more months?

Kosho did not reply, but her already straight spine became even straighter.

'I see.' Hadeishi looked away for a bit and thumbed his medband. Clearhead hissed into his bloodstream with a cool, tingling sensation. 'I am a little tired, Sho-sa, but this grandiose suite of rooms and the ever-comfortable chair on the bridge come with unavoidable responsibilities. Our duty station here is set for seven weeks. If we rotate the crew down for three-day leaves, I will be groundside, and enjoying myself, within a week.' He grimaced, feeling the medband inject a second dose automatically. 'I will be very glad to do so.'

'Hai, kyo.' Susan politely turned her attention back to the reports in front of her. 'Have you seen this request from Isoroku to replace the decking in the officer's ward-room and surrounding areas?'

'I have.' Hadeishi tapped up the same report on his pad, accepting the change of subject with relief. 'Those rooms haven't been the same since that fire. Who would have thought a Khaid penetrator would decide the galley was a critical system? What do you think about his use of 'alternative materials'?'

'I'm not sure Fleet would approve the modification.' The stiffness in the lieutenant commander's demeanor relaxed a little. 'But with metal so scarce here, it is innovative. Wooden floors, cabinetry and paneling would be a nice change from the usual Fleet grey. These samples he's provided look gorgeous.'

'They do.' Hadeishi considered the same set of holos. 'What about fire danger? And slippage. Will nonskid stick to this material?'

Kosho plucked a stylus from out of the heavy bun of black hair behind her head. She tapped the wall v-display awake and scrolled through the system to bring up the Engineers' request. 'Isoroku sent one of his department supervisors groundside to look for replacement materials – Helsdon found the locals have developed organic replacements for a wide variety of metals. These trees – well, they're not really trees the way we think of them – are designed to lay down an internal structure like a honeycomb and secrete a crystalline lattice into the interstitial membranes.' An appropriate diagram appeared.

'According to Fo-san from the Imperial Development Board, the timber from this species of lohaja is fireproof and has a tensile strength approaching light steel. On pad, at least, it matches or exceeds the specifications required by safety regulations.' She looked at Hadeishi and shrugged, the very tiniest lift detectable at the corners of her lips. 'And it has a beautiful color.'

'Better than sanity-green on enameled metal,' the Chu-sa said, nodding. He scribbled on the bottom of his pad. 'Let him give it a try. If it works, and we can acquire enough of the material, we can use it to repair or refurbish internal non-bulkhead walls, furniture and cabinetry. What about the rest of the repair schedule?'

Susan sighed. Two years out in the dark had left nearly every shipboard system seriously degraded. The endurance of an Astronomer-class light cruiser on patrol was supposed to be nine months. Some systems had simply failed at a year plus, when parts wore out. Others had been destroyed or severely damaged in combat. It was unlikely they would be able to pass a shipworthiness review. 'We're stuck on over half of these items without a dry-dock to set into. Including the number one priority for everyone below decks…'

'The aft heat exchangers?' Hadeishi rubbed his nose. 'Could we run atmosphere with only the fore environment plant?'

Kosho shook her head. 'Only if we send all but repair crews off-ship. Efficiency of the whole system is down almost forty percent…we need to pull both and replace them with brand new units, if possible.'

'Can the Jaganite industrial base fabricate replacements?'

'Helsdon has been looking for compatible systems…but has found nothing. The natives don't have the right kind of machining and composite construction technology. Isoroku had been hoping a civilian spaceliner would be in- system with a spare, compatible environ-plant we could commandeer. This was not the case.'

Hadeishi smoothed his beard, looking at his chrono. 'Then we'll have to wait until we reach Toroson. And the rest of these leave schedules and maintenance priorities will have to wait. I've a conference cast about to start with Tlacateccatl Yacatolli of the 416th about our reaction and support plan.'

Kosho did not laugh, but she made a funny coughing sound. Hadeishi glared at her, suppressing his own smile of amusement. 'Now you have to sit here with me and listen to the Army and be polite.'

The Sho-sa nodded, resigned to her fate, and began sorting all of the report pads on the table into neat piles.

'I understand your combat lift requirements, Tlacateccatl,' Hadeishi repeated. 'But the Cornuelle is not an assault carrier. We carry three Varanus-class cargo shuttles and a captain's launch. Those shuttles could be stripped out, I suppose, but they'd still only carry a platoon each of troops in full combat armor. I don't have anything capable of evacuating one of your armored tracks from a combat situation.'

Yacatolli's face twisted into a truly fearsome grimace, the tattoos incised on both cheeks bunching into vaguely demonic shapes. He was getting angrier with each tick of the chrono. 'What good is your ship to me then? You've no lift support for my men, you say your missile inventory is exhausted, you've only two squads of Marines…why are you here and not a proper support craft?'

'You will have to discuss that with Admiral Villeneuve,' Hadeishi snapped, voice rising involuntarily. His headache was getting worse. The Mixtec officer's eyes narrowed to slits. Hadeishi's face closed up tight, lips thinning to a harsh line. 'My apologies, Colonel. My request to transit to Toroson for repair and resupply was rejected by the Admiral's operations officer. Instead we were put on picket here until the battle group returns. More than this, I cannot say. Those are my orders.'

'What support can you give me, then?' Yacatolli's tone verged on open anger. Hadeishi understood his position all too well – the Army was used to operating under an umbrella of rapid-response Fleet fire-support, used to being able to call on heavy-lift shuttles to redeploy their ground combat vehicles and troops, expecting supplies to be delivered in any kind of terrain – and now none of those resources were available. 'Anything?'

'Full communications net,' Hadeishi answered, knowing how paltry his offering sounded. 'For remote detachments. Surveillance overwatch. We can swamp all local comm from here. Override or seize any satellite support the native princes might have in operation. Medevac for your wounded. In dire circumstances I have three bombardment missiles still in inventory, but I was saving those in case we get jumped by a raider.' And we can't run fast enough to avoid battle.

'I see.' The colonel let his fury at the universe, Hadeishi and Admiral Villeneuve leak through into his voice.