and showed her the plans I’d drawn up. My new battle station would bristle with weapons. If I could capture a few more Macro factories, I could make it happen. She watched carefully, and I could tell I’d impressed her.
“I see the strength of the plan,” she said. “Using the rings as a natural bottleneck, we could outgun any enemy that came through by placing a massive defensive fortress there.”
“Exactly.”
“I understand your plan, and I approve. But Fleet believes you should build your battle station closer to Earth-preferably in the home system.”
“It might end up like that,” I admitted. “But I want to try to put it out here instead, giving us six lovely new habitable worlds. Just think of that, six new Earths. On top of that, we’d save two allied species, the Worms and the Centaurs. We need help, I don’t want to do this alone.”
“What about the other races?”
“Right now, they are either hostile or uncooperative. Take the Blues, for example. I think they have something to do with the Nano ships that have abandoned the Crustaceans and now orbit the gas giant, Eden-12. They are barely willing to communicate with us. But I have hopes for cooperation with them in the future. We have the same strategic difficulties to face in the long run.”
“You mean the Macros.”
“Yes.”
Jasmine rubbed at her neck, deep in thought. Her hair had slipped from the tight bun she’d worn upon arrival. She still kept her hair long, and loose strands hung around her face as she studied the data intently. To me, she looked as pretty as ever.
“What did you name the ship?” I asked her.
“What?”
“Your shiny new ship. The one Crow bought for you to go along with your new rank.”
She sat back and glared at me. “It is named Goa — after a lovely region of India. But Crow didn’t buy me off. I’ve earned this promotion.”
“I didn’t mean it that way.”
Sarin didn’t answer, because we both knew I was lying. I absolutely thought she’d been bought off. Crow was a crafty old devil. He’d found out what my most loyal supporting officer wanted, and given it to her to place her under his spell. He’d figured out she wanted rank, so he’d provided an impressive one. Then he’d built her a nice ship, and sent her out here to rub her change of loyalties in my face. He wanted to force her to prove her new loyalty to him. It was hard not to be annoyed with both of them.
I wondered if Crow knew that last time Jasmine and I had been alone together in a command conference room, we’d kissed. If he ever did learn about that, I was sure it would make this awkward moment he’d created for the two of us even sweeter for him.
“I’m not sure what I should do,” Jasmine admitted at last. “I have my orders-but you make a compelling argument. You always do.”
I smiled slowly. “Welcome to one of the secret hardships of command. Sometimes, the path is not clear-or there are several reasonable options. It’s your job to choose one and stick with it. You have to display conviction. The troops have to believe you are sure of yourself, even if you’re not.”
She looked at me. “That’s the thing about you, Kyle,” she said softly. “Somehow, you are always self- assured. You always proceed without the slightest doubt.”
“That’s a combination of a character flaw and an elaborate fiction,” I said. “It’s true, I choose a path and follow it tenaciously, but I’m not always sure it’s the right one.”
Her eyes narrowed and she squinted at me. “You fake it?”
“Sometimes,” I said, shrugging.
She snorted softly and smiled. It was the first honest smile I’d seen on her face for months. I had a thought then-a nice thought. I considered reaching out my hand and clasping hers. I’m an impulsive guy, but I made no moves. I just returned her smile with one of my own. We both sat quietly for a few seconds, enjoying the moment.
At that point, the ship’s inner wall melted. We both looked up in surprise. My surprise changed into shock as I saw who stood there in the opening. The nanites in the smart metal didn’t see too happy, either. The intruder moved faster than they did, not allowing them time to get out of the way. They moved in dribbles and slagged away from an outstretched, thin-fingered hand that punched its way through them.
The figure was female, and she advanced into the room so quickly the nanites didn’t have time to dissolve completely. They stretched over her like a bubble-which quickly popped and sent bits of semi-liquid metal everywhere. It looked like a shower of mercury. The beads of nanites quickly found their brothers on the deck of the ship and merged together, smoothing out.
The wall closed behind her again, and she loomed between us at the head of the conference table. She placed her palms flat on the table and suspiciously eyed each of us in turn.
“I couldn’t take anymore whispering and giggling,” she said. “I could hear you right through these thin nanite walls, you know.”
“Sandra!” I said, standing up. “I had no idea you’d come on this trip!”
I was honestly glad to see her, even if she was in one of her jealousy-fueled moods. She looked at me with pursed lips and narrowed eyes.
“You didn’t think I’d let Jasmine come out here to see you alone, did you?”
“Of course not,” I said, laughing nervously.
Jasmine didn’t make eye-contact with either of us. I sensed these two had endured a tense voyage on the way out from Earth.
I stepped to Sandra and attempted a hug. It was like hugging a manikin at first. She stiffened and I felt nothing but her bones and hard muscles. After a second however, she softened a little.
Internally, I complimented myself. I was very glad I hadn’t grabbed Jasmine’s hand.
— 29
The conference shifted into a three-way affair after Sandra joined us. She sat with her eyes flashing back and forth. She didn’t talk much, but she didn’t have to. As always, it was easy to tell what she was thinking.
“Well, Rear Admiral,” I said, “have you made up your mind yet?”
“No,” Jasmine admitted.
“What do you plan to do then?”
“I’m going to give you some time,” she said. “I’m going to observe and help if needed. I’m going to investigate the situation for a few days.”
I smiled. I couldn’t help but think of how unhappy this decision would make Crow when he heard about it. He’d have to wonder if his gambit had failed utterly. Instead of embarrassing me into returning to Earth under the thumb of Jasmine in her new ship, he would have to worry I’d turned her back into one of my supporters and stolen a light cruiser as well as a key officer. It would be torture for him.
“Wonderful!” I said. “That’s all I ask. An investigation-a hearing, so to speak.”
Jasmine inclined her head slightly. Only Sandra looked unhappy. “We’re all going to sit out here?” she asked. “Waiting for what?”
I glanced over at Sandra. She really didn’t belong in this high-level discussion. I was going to have to have a talk with her about that. I didn’t expect the talk would go smoothly.
“We’re not sitting around. We’re building a new fleet-faster than we’ve ever done in the past. Your light cruiser will provide a welcome shift in firepower. How many are aboard her?”
“Seventy,” Jasmine said. “Thirty crewmen and a full platoon of forty marines.”
“Excellent!” I said, honestly excited. “We started out here with less than three hundred marines, and we can really use the reinforcements.”
Jasmine looked uncomfortable. We both knew that she hadn’t been sent out here to reinforce me. But sometimes if you took things for granted, they went your way.