personal. I began to interrupt, but Suli didn’t seem offended, and I decided to see how she was dealing with the other crewpeople.
Her blinding grin preceded her answer to one of his questions. “Yes, Jax, I’m pretty much the same color all over; well, except for my palms and the soles of my feet.” She saw his eyes drop to her hands, and continued, “I know. But on my planet, it’s customary to use makeup to darken the palms a bit to match the rest of our complexions.”
“I’d like to visit your planet, someday,” Jax gushed. “Imagine, a whole planet full of beautiful black people!”
Her smile faded. “I… uh… I don’t think you’d enjoy it much, Jax. You’d have to be very careful about exposure to the sun, and… well… not all of the people would be very friendly.” Her face turned grim for a moment before she changed the subject, asking him about Pascua.
I must admit to a guilty pleasure in her discomfort. At the same time, however, I was pleased she was adapting so well. Reports I’d received from other crewpeople confirmed that she was honestly trying to overcome her prejudices.
My own relations with her were a bit strained. Since she was bridge crew, we were frequently on the bridge together, often alone. I found myself tongue-tied and sweating on these occasions and more than once had fled red-faced when I’d made a particular fool of myself.
Men my age shouldn't have such raw and vivid fantasies!
We arrived at the jump points with an estimated three hours, plus or minus two, before the destroyer was due. Actually, of course, there was no way we could calculate her arrival that exactly; in fact the three-day time limit was just an estimate. Nevertheless, I had to keep my rabble of fighters focused on the mission, and the possibility that the target might arrive at any moment helped do that.
As it happened, I was incredibly lucky. The destroyer arrived at the main jump point almost exactly three hours after we arrived. This gave an amazing boost to my reputation, which amused Suli, who knew better, tremendously.
Surprisingly, the operation went just as outlined. While Valkyrie hung back at a thousand kilometers, the two armed tramps dove for the destroyer. At the same time, the boats swarmed toward her. I held my breath as they approached the destroyer, but they really did stop at fifty kilometers. Then they began an intricate ballet. For a few moments, I was entranced. They were taking seriously my invitation to make their boats dance. They darted and whirled, avoiding certain collisions at the last split second, resembling nothing so much as bees swarming about an intruder.
Suli broke the spell. “Commodore, hadn’t you better talk to the destroyer?” she prompted. Cursing, I spun and ran to the bridge com console. We were already being hailed.
“Empire destroyer Predator to unknown vessels. Please identify. Predator to unknown vessels, please respond.”
I keyed the panel, and the screen lit to show a Fleet lieutenant starting to repeat his call. He broke off as I appeared on his screen.
“ Predator, this is Commodore Val Kedron aboard the command ship Valkyrie…”
The lieutenant spun from his seat while I was still talking. “It’s him, sir!” he yelled, “It’s the Commodore!”
I was about to shout at his back when he was brushed aside and a familiar form took his place. “Shar!” I shouted happily. He grinned. “H’lo Val… or, should I say Commodore?” Sharlo Tan-Li hadn’t changed much. A little grayer, perhaps, but still slim and aristocratic-looking. He was wearing the uniform of a Fleet Commander, the same rank as when I’d last seen him ten years ago.
I was delighted. “Don’t tell me they let you get your hands on a ship again,” I said. “You never could drive worth a damn — look what you did to the last ship you tried to fly!” His last ship had been damaged so severely that she’d had to be scrapped in the operation that earned him a well-deserved Empire Star, and incidentally saved my life and those of 650 of my men.
His answering grin was broad. “I heard you were running around out here without a keeper, so I grabbed a few friends and we came to bail you out!” The grin faded. “So, do you come to us, or do we come to you?”
I shook my head. “I’d better come to you. If your gig left your ship, one of my yahoos might get excited and trigger a fight.”
Shar chuckled. “Yeah. Say, what are those things, anyway? Our gunners are going crazy trying to lock onto them.”
I promised to tell him when I arrived, and signed off. I passed the word to tell all ships and boats that the ship appeared to be a friend, and to not get trigger-happy, but to stay watchful. Then I took Valkyrie 's boat and crossed to Predator. As I approached, I noticed she’d suffered battle damage. I began to suspect that Shar would have an interesting story to tell.
Shar entered the boat deck as soon as it was pressurized. Two younger men accompanied him. One was in the uniform of a Fleet Lieutenant Commander. I assumed him to be Predator ’s Captain. The other wore a marine Major’s uniform.
Shar introduced the Lieutenant Commander as Captain Sri Bendo of Predator. Regardless of rank, the commanding officer of a ship is the one and only Captain aboard. Officers holding the military rank of Captain who board are temporarily referred to as “Commodore” (Fleet) or “Major” (Marines). This tradition is so ancient that it is said that it may even be pre-spaceflight.
Captain Bendo was a husky young man in his late twenties or early thirties. The fact that he commanded a destroyer at his age spoke volumes. This young man was on his way to a flag; but his boyish looks and perpetual grin made him easy to underestimate. A young man to watch. In the normal course of things, after two years commanding Predator, Bendo would be expecting orders to the Empire War College for Strategy and Tactics and several other courses before being temporarily transferred to the Marines, probably to command a company or regiment.
Bendo’s regiment would be sent to any trouble spots that erupted in violence — he couldn’t be promoted to flag rank until he’d commanded troops on the ground in combat. Therefore, Captain Bendo had risked everything by fleeing Jonas’ forces on the chance that Jonas had lied to him. Smart and gutsy; a redoubtable young man.
Wil Tor, the marine Major, on the other hand, was obviously a career marine. His salt-and-pepper hair was trimmed to less than 2 centimeters. Most experienced marines cut their hair short — long hair has many drawbacks in the field. Something about his eyes and grim lines about his mouth told me that this man was a veteran.
His manner, though, was one of youthful enthusiasm. He pumped my hand vigorously. “I’m honored, Commodore!” he said, “I really am. Did you know that they teach your tactics on Haskins’ World in Strat amp; Tac now?”
I grunted in surprise. “My tactics on Haskins’ World mainly involved running. I didn’t do anything on Haskins’ except lose more than half of my men.”
“No, sir,” he corrected, “What you did was save almost half your command in an untenable situation. Yours was the only force landed on Haskins’ World that was still an organized military force when extracted, rather than a panicked rabble. Yours is a textbook example of withdrawal under fire without loss of unit cohesion in the face of overwhelming odds.”
I flushed. I don’t think there was anything heroic about Haskins’ World. I’d been having the nightmares for ten years, now. However, if there was one thing I didn’t want to argue about, it was Haskins’ World. “Humph!” I grunted. “Shar, here, was the reason we got as many as we did off Haskins’ World. He’s the one who brought a destroyer, an orbit-to — orbit ship, down into an atmosphere, somehow managed to hover it there and bring its space weaponry to bear on a ground battlefield, while simultaneously sending boats down to lift us off; the six hundred and fifty that were left. The rest of us, well, we were just trying to do unto others before they did unto us.” I noticed that Captain Bendo was looking at Shar with a new respect in his eyes.
Shar grinned. 'Sorry, Val, but Wil’s right. They do teach you at the War College. Face it; you’re stuck with being a hero, like me. You just managed to sneak your resignation in before they could hang one of these things on you.” He indicated the Empire Star ribbon around his neck.
My face burned hot, and I desperately changed the subject. “Let’s get down to business. I’d suggest we adjourn to somewhere where we can talk.”
Captain Bendo escorted us to his cabin. Once we were all seated and had drinks, I said, “Captain, coming
