Mission of Honor

sergeant major ought to be able to manage a single squad of Marines.

* * *

The hike from the lift to Leeuwenhoek 's flag bridge seemed to take far longer than it ought to, and Markiewicz suspected he wasn't the only person who found the silent emptiness of the deck eerie. Pabst obviously didn't feel much like making small talk, for which he scarcely blamed her, but no one had much to say over the Marines' com net, either.

Good communications discipline , the major thought wryly. Maybe we should try boarding surrendered Solly superdreadnoughts more often as a training technique .

Lengthy as the walk seemed while they were making it, it ended abruptly at an open pressure door. Pabst glanced at Markiewicz, then stepped through the door.

He followed her, and found himself on the SD's flag deck.

Like the passageway outside it, Leeuwenhoek 's flag deck was considerably more spacious than a Manticoran flag deck would have been. That was interesting, Markiewicz thought, given the far larger number of people crammed aboard the Solarian ship. A Manticoran designer, with considerably more volume to play with, would have fitted the command stations into no more than two thirds of the volume Leeuwenhoek 's architect had assigned to them.

The various displays and consoles had a sleek, aesthetically pleasant grace to them. Their shapes and spacing seemed to flow into one another, almost as if they'd been designed to do just that, although, he thought as he glanced over them, they didn't seem to be arranged quite as well from the viewpoint of information flow. The ops officer on a Manticoran admiral's staff, for example, was placed so that he could see the astrogator's display by looking in one direction and the master tactical plot by looking in the other, all without moving out of his bridge chair. The way Leeuwenhoek 's command stations were arranged, however, the ops officer would have to stand up, take at least two steps, and crane his neck awkwardly to see the astro display. And one of the reasons he'd have to was that he had at least twice as many assistants as a Manticoran ops officer would have required, and he would have had to walk around one of them to see it.

Obviously, they figure the guy who does the shooting doesn't have to see where the guy who's steering is headed , he thought dryly. Not to mention the minor fact that they're way over-manned .

He noted those details out of the corner of one eye. Most of his attention was focused on identifying Admiral Keeley O'Cleary. In one way, it wasn't very difficult, since his armor's memory had been loaded with her picture. But what he hadn't counted on was the sheer number of stars stenciled on various people's skinsuits.

He was still registering the fact that the compartment seemed to be filled with an extraordinary number of flag officers when O'Cleary stepped forward. She looked at him, dark-eyes stony, and he saluted.

'Major Evgeny Markiewicz, Royal Manticoran Marines, Ma'am,' he said.

'Admiral O'Cleary,' she replied, acknowledging his salute with frigid correctness. 'I trust you'll forgive me if I don't add 'Welcome aboard,' Major?'

Silence, Markiewicz decided, was golden, and he contented himself with a courteous little half-nod from behind his armor's visor.

'Vice Admiral Hansen Chamberlain, my chief of staff,' O'Cleary continued, indicating a short, squared-off officer to her right. 'My operations officer, Rear Admiral Tang Dzung-ming. My staff intelligence officer, Rear Admiral Lavinia Fairfax. And my staff communications officer, Captain Kalidasa Omprakash.'

At last, someone who isn't an admiral! Markiewicz thought as he acknowledged each introduction in turn. Then he indicated his own officers.

'Captain Ingebrigtsen,' he said, 'Lieutenant Fariсas, Rear Admiral Oversteegen's flag lieutenant, and Lieutenant Lindsay.'

All three of them saluted, and O'Cleary returned the courtesy. Then she looked back at Markiewicz.

'I suppose I should be handing you a sword or something, Major,' she said tartly. 'Unfortunately, I'm afraid the Solarian League Navy isn't very practiced at this sort of thing.'

It could have come out with an edge of humor, but it didn't. Nor was there any humor in the cold smile which accompanied it.

'If I've discovered one thing over the last twenty years or so, Admiral,' Markiewicz replied, meeting her eyes steadily, 'it's that we don't get much of a chance to practice a lot of the more important things until it's too late.'

O'Cleary's lips tightened, but then, visibly, she made herself stop and draw a deep breath.

'I imagine that's something we should all bear in mind,' she said then. 'In the meantime, however, how does your Admiral Gold Peak wish to handle this, Major?'

'Ma'am, as soon as I have formally received your surrender, and that of Captain Lister, I will so notify Admiral Gold Peak's staff. At that time, I will place one of my squads on the command deck, one in Central Engineering, and another in each of your boat bays to provide traffic control and security. As soon as that's been accomplished, a naval boarding party will come come aboard Leeuwenhoek and complete the task of securing the vessel. I am to extend Admiral Gold Peak's compliments to you, and invite you to return aboard Rigel , Admiral Oversteegen's flagship with Lieutenant Fariсas. My understanding is that Admiral Gold Peak will be arriving aboard Rigel shortly herself.'

'I see.'

O'Cleary gazed at him for several moments, her face expressionless, then nodded.

'Very well, Major. It would seem that I, like the rest of this task force, find myself in Admiral Gold Peak's hands at the moment. I will, of course, comply with her wishes.'

'Thank you, Admiral.'

'Would you prefer to receive Captain Lister's surrender here, or on his command deck?'

'Since my orders are to secure the bridge, as well, Ma'am, I think it would probably be more convenient for the Captain if he simply waited there for me.'

Markowitz kept his voice as politely, militarily impersonal as he could, and O'Cleary nodded again. There might actually have been a trace of awareness of his efforts not to step any more heavily on her toes—or Lister's— than he had to.

Of course, there might not have, too.

'Kalidasa, please be good enough to inform the Captain that Major Markiewicz will meet him on his bridge,' she said, without looking over her shoulder at Captain Omprakash.

'Yes, Ma'am.'

'Well, I suppose that concludes the formalities—here, at least,' she said, and gave Sebastiбn Fariсas a thin smile. 'Should the other members of my staff accompany us, Lieutenant?'

'If you so desire, Ma'am,' Fariсas said, 'I feel certain Rear Admiral Oversteegen would be pleased to offer them the hospitality of his ship. The decision, however, is yours.'

'In that case, I'd like Vice Admiral Chamberlain to accompany us.'

'Of course, Ma'am.'

'Iwasaki,' Lindsay said over the platoon net, and Corporal Dunston Iwasaki and his section of three stepped forward, arranging themselves as an honor guard around O'Cleary, Chamberlain, and Fariсas.

Well, the kid got that right , Markiewicz decided after glancing at Ingebrigtsen. From the captain's expression, it was obvious she hadn't set that up ahead of time. And that she was as as pleased to see it as Markiewicz was.

O'Cleary cocked her head, smiling slightly, as if she were trying to decide whether it was an honor guard or a security detail to keep her for making some kind of break for it. Then she snorted quietly, a bit less bitterly, somehow, and nodded to Markiewicz.

'If I don't see you again, Major,' she said, 'allow me to thank you for your courtesy in a difficult situation.'

'Thank you, Ma'am,' he acknowledged, and he and his officers saluted her again. She and Chamberlain returned the salute, then followed Fariсas out of the compartment.

* * *

'We've got a pair survivors, Ma'am.'