“Big guy, red hair.”
Anthony shook his head. “Doesn’tsound familiar. Anyway, put them online.”
“Now?”
“If you want your ship fixed.” The tone was patronising before turning serious. “Yes, now!”
John located the three men andlinked the intercom into the one channel. After greetings all round, Anthonyexplained exactly what he wanted them to do. He even had a list of placeswhere they could get parts. And, if they were game enough, he told them thelocation of a moon that was used as a dumping ground for old ships. The shipswere supposed to have been destroyed before dumping. Regular patrols were onthe lookout for looters, who were dealt with severely.
John noted down the co-ordinates.
When the discussion turnedtechnical, lack of sleep had him closing his eyes. The voices continued tochurn around in his head.
The voices had stopped when heopened his eyes again. The screen was blank. He switched it off, checked hiswatch and rubbed his eyes.
A small blue light flashed on theconsole beside him. That would probably be his orders. He wondered why theyhadn’t come through before, but spending time in the office hadn’t been hispriority. They could have been sitting there for days and he wouldn’t haveknown. And with Command trying to co-ordinate a fleet and strategise a war,they didn’t really need a complete itinerary until they reached the jump gate.
He hit the button with theflashing light, keyed in his access code and Command’s orders displayed.
Bismarck had a huge sector ofspace to scout; to report any unusual activity, no matter how insignificant itmight seem, and to rally support from the listed systems and incorporate asmany others as they could while being respectful of their wishes.
Well, that was a contradiction initself.
A map marked a basic outline ofwhere the most recent encounters had taken place and what possibly constitutedfor a border between the allies and the invaders. There were a number of starsystems that may be friendly towards an alliance and others in strategicpositions that they couldn’t afford to turn offside.
John ran down the list of systems;each marked with a set of co-ordinates and links to the protocol required and atreaty agreement. Some he was familiar with, some he wasn’t. He flinched atone – Manados. A race of telepaths who knew your thoughts before you did. Andthey didn’t like being blocked. Yeah, they didn’t like him very much.
They were way down the list andhe had plenty of time to sort something out when it came to them.
He reasoned the treaty agreementswould be similar. The only alterations to a standard agreement would be racespecific. There was no point promising someone what they already had orcouldn’t use. Protocols – yeah, they were going to keep him up nights tryingto memorise. Most races he had come across seemed offended if protocols weresimply read off a screen or sheet of paper. And he agreed. It was like yousimply didn’t care about those on the receiving end.
He closed the file.
His thoughts drifted back to theconversation with Anthony. The co-ordinates of the moon were scribbled on apiece of paper in front of him. He brought a map up on screen and plotted themoon and jump gate, and smiled. That was going to work in nicely.
* * *
The battle simulationscontinued. While this brought vocal objections, John told them that theycouldn’t expect the ship to be in perfect condition for every encounter. Theyhad to manage whatever the conditions. Giacomo continued to fail and his moodscontinued to sour.
John was in the bar one eveningwhen Giacomo caught up with him. He was on his own. McReidy, having joinedhim earlier, much to the delight of Soghra who was completely besotted withher, had left minutes earlier to command the bridge.
John picked up his glass,swirling the mouthful of brown liquid around the bottom of it. Giacomo stoodin front of him. His hand stilled, his eyes looked up from the glass.
“Can I talk to you?” Giacomofidgeted slightly.
John indicated the empty chairopposite.
Giacomo sat down. He looked pastJohn to where Humphries and a small group of junior officers appeared to becelebrating. They were becoming noisy, but hadn’t disturbed anyone yet.
“Care for a drink?” John asked. Partially to lighten Giacomo’s mood, but he also felt like another beforeretiring.
“I’ll get it,” Giacomo blurtedout and moved to get up.
“Stay where you are.” Johndrained the glass and was on his feet. It was only a few steps to the barwhere he deposited the glass. “Two more.”
Soghra ducked beneath the counterand pulled out a half empty bottle. Putting two clean glasses on the bar, heproceeded to fill them. “Next time, you go on duty and leave the female?” hesuggested.
“Not on your life,” Johngrinned. “I wouldn’t leave any woman alone with you.”
Soghra should have beenoffended. Instead, he leaned toward John and lowered his voice. “You havebecome tough on the crew. Some of them don’t like it.”
Sometimes, more could be gainedfrom what Soghra didn’t say. His glance flicked in Humphries’ direction. Johndidn’t answer. He picked up the drinks and returned to the table.
Giacomo was about to burst. “Iwant to ask you about the simulations,” he began. He looked to John as thoughhe hoped the commander could read his mind so he wouldn’t have to put it intowords.
John was silent, giving Giacomoall the time he needed.
“I want to know why I keepmessing up. I get it all planned out, pictured clearly in my head. It startsout okay, then for some reason, I choke. Everything falls apart.”
“Don’t worry yourself about it.”
“I do worry about it. I thinkI’m the only one who hasn’t succeeded. Humphries is throwing a party aftertoday’s win. Gillespie scored. Tan, Hartford, Red,” his tone raised, thewords coming out quicker. “Even McReidy scored and she’s –” He cut himselfshort.
“A woman?” John finished for him.
“Well… yes.” Giacomo shrank backin his chair, immediately realising the way it sounded. He lowered his headand stared down at nothing.
John smiled warmly, swirling hisdrink before taking a sip. “She’s got years on you.”
Giacomo’s head tilted up slightlyas though he expected a lecture that wasn’t coming.
“Look, I know it’s discouraging,but have faith in yourself. You can do it. No matter how real it seems,subconsciously, right in the
