With a cheeky smile,Clemente asked, “What – not even me?”
“Oh...right...umm, sorryabout that, Doctor. I didn’t mean to cast aspersionson—”
Rita reached over andpatted Jacoway’s arm fondly. “Relax, I was joking. I knew what youmeant. Your admiration for your girlfriend knows nobounds.”
That pronouncement eliciteda shy smile from Tal. He soon excused himself and wished Clementeand Ricci a good night.
Watching him leave thelounge, Clemente ventured, “I’m guessing it won’t be long beforethat young man is your son-in-law.”
Heaving a sigh, Matt said,“I’m sorry to say, I don’t share your confidence right now. There’sa huge obstacle on the horizon for them.” The trouble had beenweighing on him and he’d been longing to discuss it with Zache.Since she was back at The Rock, out of his reach at present, heimpulsively decided to unburden himself to Clemente, who had alwaysproved to be a wise and attentive listener. He first offered to gether another canelazo, which she accepted. Once he’d procured fresh drinks for bothof them, he launched into his tale.
Rita listened quietly whilesipping her cocktail, saying little until he finished with, “Itkills me to have history repeating itself this way.”
“It hasn’t yet and maybeit won’t – she did promise to think it over. You’re going to haveto trust in Naiche, to keep that promise and hopefully, to heedyour wisdom.” A small smile lit her face. “Your daughter thinks theworld of you; anyone can see that – so I believe shewill.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “Ihope you’re right.” He glanced around the deserted lounge, beforeadding, “If only we could learn from the mistakes of others as wellas we do from our own.”
“Do we though – learn from ourmistakes?”
Upon detecting an edge tothat question, Ricci’s head snapped up and he stared at Clementefor a second. “And who was that bit of rhetoric pointed at?Me?”
With an exasperatedchuckle, she said, “Do you even listen to yourself? Here you are –going on about not being so fixed on a certain path that you’reblind to a better one and….” She trailed off shaking herhead.
As puzzled as he wasirritated, Ricci demanded, “And what?”
“And yet you’re stubbornlyrefusing a promotion to commodore because you can’t loosen yourdeath grip on the Lovelace!”
He looked off to the sideand muttered, “Goddamnit, Nils.”
“Don’t blame him. That isthe worst kept secret in the UDC.”
“Then the second worst oneshould be why I don’t want that promotion.” He leaned over thesmall table and his tone grew adamant. “I have no intention of being stuck behind adesk for the rest of my career!”
Rita thumped her forearmson the tabletop and leaned towards him as well. “Did youeven read the newdirective? That was not our intent at all.”
“Our intent?” He was mystified by her use of the possessive untilthen the truth broke over him. “Oh, that’s right. You were on therealignment committee.”
“Yes, I was. And we workedreally hard to create a more fluid system that expands theopportunities for everyone.” Matt grudgingly asked herto elaborate. She explained, “Our intent was that after two orthree years at the rank, commodores cede their ships to newlycommissioned captains – who will naturally be less experienced andtherefore given the less challenging missions. Our commodores willthen be available for deployment wherever their expertise is neededmost. Which is definitely notsitting behind a desk. It might be a short tourof duty on a Command ship bolstering a green captain on a toughmission, or at the helm of one of the new Star Streamers leading aSpec-Ops team into uncharted territory—”
The mention of the UDC’scutting-edge exploration ships caught Matt’s immediate attention.They were extremely limited in number and the source of muchspeculation among UDC commanders. “Commodores will get to lead StarStreamer missions?”
Rita grinned at him. “Noone commander is going to get permanent possession of a Streamerbut…the UDC isn’t going to hand those 100 trillion unno ships overto just anyone –are they?” Matt rested his chin in his hand and stroked thelate-evening stubble while considering this new information.“Well?” Clemente asked.
“Doctor, I believe I haveas much to consider as Naiche – I’ll give it some thought.” Hegraced her with a warm smile. “What am I ever going do withoutyou…and Lindstrom?”
“If you take my advice,Captain, it will only be for a couple of years. I’m sure you canmanage with Ramsey and Uddin for thatlong.”
Matt found it impossible tocommit to such a vast realignment of his future; he once againpromised to think it over and wished her a good-night.
***
The next day, late intoalpha-shift, the Lovelacereached the theoretical location of Jileesa, tofind nothing but an extremely dense asteroid field at the specifieddistance from the central star, Alpha-Persei. While Jacowayestablished a wide orbit around the field, Ricci asked for anassessment from First Lieutenant Mars Kaplita, who had charge ofthe science station in Lateef’s absence. Kaplita worked in silencefor a few minutes before reporting, “There doesn’t appear to be aplanet here, Captain. The largest object I’m detecting is about 500kilometers in diameter.”
That pronouncement evoked ageneral murmur of surprise and disbelief from the other bridgepersonnel. Ricci asked Carla Ramsey, “How certain are you of yourcalculations that this is where Jileesa is located?”
Carla, as acting firstofficer, had taken up Lindstrom’s usual spot, and scanned theconsole before responding, “I’m positive. In fact, the message isstill being sent from the Aurora– and received,right here.”
“Right where?” Ricci scrubbed a hand acrosshis lower face, staring at the asteroid field visible on the mainview screen. “It must be that the Lignatians are…a rather shy raceand are in hiding. They’re obviously blocking our sensors. Kaplita,see if you can breach the block.”
Twenty minutes later,Kaplita said, “I’ve tried everything in our sensor arsenal butnothing is working. It’s definitely not a projection, nor any kindof technological block that we’ve seen before.”
Out of better ideas, Riccisaid, “Maybe we’re over-looking the obvious. Evans, see if you canhail them.” The communications officer complied but soon reportedthat all her attempts at communication went unanswered.
“No one wants to answerour hails, these days. I’m starting to get a complex,” Riccimuttered as he paced the bridge. In a stronger voice he announced,“We’re not giving up that easily – not after coming all this way.”He turned to Ramsey with
