Last Measure of Devotion (TCOTU, Book 5) (This Corner of the Universe) (5 page)

“IaCom
has answered our
casus bellum
and the preliminary orders of battle have
been produced,” Heskan announced as he zoomed the Sade system map to the tunnel
point leading to Seshafi.  “As the defenders, they choose the battlespace and,
as is customary I’m told, they placed it seven light-minutes from this tunnel
point.”  As the map focused upon the chosen locale, it became rapidly obvious
that the area of space was empty.  Nods around the table confirmed what had
been expected.

The
system map vanished with the press of a button.  In its place, the Seshafian
and Saden orders of battle appeared.  “We’re taking every fully repaired ship
we have available to the fight.”  He glanced at Lieutenants Williams, Harris
and Selvaggio and saw disgruntled looks.  “I’m not risking our Colossus-class snows;
they’re still too vulnerable to participate.”

Despite
the best efforts of the accommodating Unadex repair docks in the Lagrin system,
Rindr
,
Anakim
and
Ravana
were still far too damaged to
withstand the rigors of additional action. 
Maybe
, Heskan thought,
if
the stakes were higher, I would risk them but not under the current
circumstances.  Besides, I’m going to need those ships when Sade returns to our
system. 
Heskan had also withheld his least combat-capable ships to push
back against the growing meme of his supposed bloodthirsty nature and
willingness to sacrifice anything for victory.

“They
aren’t in the order of battle yet but the Catalina privateers will be sending a
brig and three snows in support.  With the addition of our new second-rate ship
of the line, we can muster ten ships in the effort.”

“Not
even two full-strength sections,” Commander Tannault summarized unhappily.  He
leaned forward to inspect the Saden order of battle.  There were twenty-eight
ships.  Sade’s trio of line ships proudly topped the lists followed by three
Saden brigs augmented with an additional five brigs from the Fleet Works and
Secure Solutions privateer firms.  A combination of seventeen snows and
corvettes rounded out their defense.  Tannault groaned.  “Almost thirty ships
in defense.”

“Is
this correct?” Covington asked in disbelief.  “Is Secure Solutions really
sending three brigs and three snows?  That’s half their entire stable.”  He
cast a questioning look to Heskan.

Heskan
stared blankly at him until he realized Covington was expecting an answer. 
That’s
right, I’d know such things since I’m supposed to have come from that company.
 
He was frozen in thought until finally uttering, “Umm, close to that.”

“Why
aren’t they supporting us, sir?” Tannault asked.

Heskan
felt every pair of eyes look expectantly at him.  After what felt like an
eternity, Heskan weakly replied, “You see, one of the ranking officers in the
firm has a personal grudge against me.  Because of my tactics…” 
Lame
excuse, Garrett
.

“That’s
a lot of ships to fight, Captain,” Baldwin said dubiously.

“It
is,” Heskan agreed, grateful for the change in subject.  “But, we don’t know
how the order of battle will change over the next week.  How many of those
ships we damaged last month are truly operational?  Our latest intelligence
suggests that some might even be out of Sade, in the repair yards of other
corporate systems.”  He tapped on the inlaid conference table screen.  “I
expect this number to go down as we get closer to the battle.”

“At
least we know it won’t be more than twenty-eight ships,” Nguyen added
optimistically.  By the rules of warfare, once sent, a corporation’s order of
battle could be revised to reflect the realities of logistics but only
downward.

Heskan
nodded in affirmation.  “We’re actually pretty fortunate.  McMillon Group is
sitting this
casus bellum
out because of the casualties we inflicted on
them last time.  I also understand that a conflict farther east is soaking up
most of the remaining privateer firms in the Federation.  We’re outnumbered,
but then we expected that going in.”  He offered the group a conspiratorial
smile as he added, “Besides, the primary objective of this venture has already
been accomplished.  We’ve delayed Sade’s next
casus bellum
and gained
valuable time to repair our damaged fleet.”

“Will
there be a secondary objective, sir?” Lieutenant Covington prompted Heskan as a
slight smile began to spread across his face.

“Absolutely,”
Heskan acknowledged as he rearranged the order of battle.  “I’m breaking our
ships into these two sections.  We’re going to try to knock a Saden ship or two
out of the next fight before we retire.”

The
door to the conference room opened and Commander Vernay stomped in with a grim
expression on her face.  “Sorry I’m late, Captain.”  She shook her head in a
frustrated manner as she proclaimed, “They won’t do it.  In fact, they’re all leaving
us.”

Heskan
gritted his teeth and shook his head with disgust.  “After everything we’ve
been through…”  He trailed off, staring at the tabletop.  Finally, he asked,
“Why?”

Vernay
circled the table and took the single, vacant seat.  “Lieutenant Gables says
that her crew has better things to do than commit suicide.”

Nguyen
spoke for the remaining officers at the table.  “What are you talking about,
Commander?”

Vernay
looked to Heskan who was slowly shaking his head.  “An initiative that might
have better balanced the odds,” he answered.  “I had hoped to employ Lieutenant
Gables and her shipmates’ unique abilities in this fight.”

“Captain,”
Truesworth interrupted, “let me talk to her.  Gabes wouldn’t abandon us.  Not
after everything we’ve been through.”

“Are
Pruette and Thomas going with her?” Selvaggio asked.

Heskan
flashed an angry, quieting look at the twin lieutenants.

“Those
two are staying,” Vernay answered.

Truesworth’s
expression screwed itself into confusion.  “That doesn’t make any sense.  Lee Thomas
would follow Gables to Hollara itself—”

“That’s
enough, Jack,” Heskan admonished as daggers flew from his eyes.  “They’ve made
their choices and that’s the end of it.”  He looked around the table.  “This
changes nothing.  Sade’s banquet is three days from today.  Per tradition, we
will travel together in one of AmyraCorp’s yachts.  We’ll then tunnel back to
Seshafi for final exercises before we make the dive to Sade for the real
thing.”  He looked darkly around the room with a sour expression that made his
final query a formality.  “Any questions?  Good.  Stacy, I want you to stick
around so I can catch you up on what you missed.  The rest of you are
dismissed.”

As
the meeting broke, Truesworth and Selvaggio shot up from their chairs and ran
for the door.  After the rest of the officers had exited, Heskan turned to
Vernay and said, “You know they’re headed directly for Denise.”

Vernay
smiled and shrugged.  “They won’t get to her,” she told him confidently while
glancing at her datapad.  “The Kite Fifteen are already aboard the transport.”

“Maybe
we should have told them,” Heskan hedged.

“No,”
Vernay insisted, “you were right.  AmyraCorp and IaCom are so in bed with each
other that we could never keep it quiet.  The fewer people who know, the
better.  This can’t get out.”

Heskan
nodded reluctantly.  “I just hate keeping secrets.”

Vernay’s
smile blossomed into a full grin.  “That’s my captain; always honest, always
open.”  She chewed her lower lip slightly in an attempt to stifle her smile. 
“And speaking of open… I really think you should leave part of the swimming
pool unsheltered.”

“You
want me to add a pool?” Heskan exclaimed.  “Stacy, I’m going to live right next
to an ocean!”

“Yeah, but nobody
actually swims in oceans these days,” she replied, dismissing his point.

*  *  *

Lieutenant
Clayton Covington walked from the briefing room and quickly scanned the main
hallway for his target.  After a moment, he called out, “Commander!”

Joseph
Tannault offered the lieutenant a questioning look as the son of AmyraCorp’s
CEO approached him.  Covington gave a perfunctory nod to Lieutenant Mark Hall
standing next to Tannault before saying, “Now that we’ve got a copy of the
order of battle, I’ve been meaning to ask you something.  I had heard rumors
that Secure Solutions was going all in on behalf of Sade.  That’s obviously
true and the personal grudge against Captain Heskan must run wide and deep for
them to commit so many ships to a single battle.”  He looked up conspiratorially
at his fellow officer.  “Any scuttlebutt from your brother on why they hate
Captain Heskan so much?”

Tannault
shot cautious glances around the hall before leaning in closer to Covington. 
“All Peter has told me is that Secure Solutions owes Sade big-time, something
about not fulfilling a past contract.”  He shrugged his shoulders before
adding, “He hasn’t heard of any grudge against Captain Heskan.  In fact, it
seems like our fleet commander has appeared out of a vacuum.”  He looked sternly
between his two companions.  “Not a word of this to anyone but Viscount Wallace
has been trying to uncover the man’s past… know your opponent and all that, and
well, Peter says that Heskan is an utter mystery.  Nobody in the Commonwealth
is giving him up.”

Covington
furrowed an eyebrow.  “That’s strange.  Aren’t Hollaran service files a matter
of public record after retirement?”

“Not
all of them and not in this case,” Tannault explained.  “There’s absolutely nothing. 
No file at all and Wallace called in all sorts of favors seeking the information. 
He urgently wants this man’s background.”

Hall
snorted softly.  “No surprise there.  You should have heard some of the things
Captain Heskan said to the Viscount during the battle.  We’ve all heard the
rumors of Wallace’s legendary temper but from his communications with Elathra,
I can vouch for it.  He was spitting fire by the end of the battle.”

“Yeah,
well, Heskan’s manner and tactics are a bit unorthodox to say the least,”
Covington noted with thick admiration woven into his words.

“And
incredibly effective,” Hall agreed but kept his eyes on Tannault.  “I’m telling
you, Joseph.  The way these outlanders managed point defense was unreal.”  He
tapped his chest with a finger.  “I attended I-MADS on Helwan and the professors
that teach the point defense courses there are mostly retired Hollaran weapons
officers.”  He shook his head in amazement as he added, “I’ve never seen
anything like what Commander Vernay set up.”

“Well,”
Tannault theorized, “maybe she’s adjusted their point defense tactics since
leaving the Commonwealth?”

Covington
rolled his eyes skeptically at Tannault.  “Yeah, because privateer snows are so
often matched against rated ships with missiles.”

“Fair
point.”

Hall
brought a hand up to his chin and rubbed absent-mindedly.   “So, if they aren’t
using standard Hollaran point defense tactics… then whose are they using?”

Covington
looked upward briefly.  “From what you told me, Mark, it’s not Federation.”  He
smiled sheepishly before continuing, “I attended—”

“Sekhmet
Academy on Kett!” Hall and Tannault exclaimed in unison.  All three men shared
a good-natured laugh.

Covington
dipped his head as his cheeks turned crimson.  “I, uh, mentioned that once or
twice before, have I?”

Tannault
teased, “Maybe a couple times, Clayton.  Rank may have its privileges but it also
never hurts to be the CEO’s son.”

“Well,”
Covington offered as he looked away humbly, “at any rate.  From what Mark told
me, they weren’t using standard Federation PD tactics.  That only leaves a few
spinward corporate systems left.”

“I
keep thinking of what Miranda told me last week…” Hall said absent-mindedly.

Tannault’s
eyes brightened.  “How is Lieutenant Ayala, by the way?  How’d she do on
Elathra?”

“She
did great!” Hall answered enthusiastically.  “Elathra took a lot of damage but
she kept us up and running.  We talked after the skirmish and she was gushing
with pride over her first action.  Ask her about running the core without a backup
cooling system.”  He snickered lightly.  “I dare you.”

Tannault
returned his friend’s grin.  “I’m glad she did well.  She worked hard for the
opportunity to be a chief engineer and I didn’t think she’d get it until Secure
Solutions sent us Elathra unexpectedly.”

Covington
nodded and reflected briefly before adding, “It’s tough being in a small navy. 
I understand why Peter jumped at the opportunity to join IaCom.”  He looked
back to Hall and returned to the topic at hand.  “What is it that she mentioned
to you last week?”

Hall
looked around the corridor to ensure there were no eavesdroppers.  “When
Elathra’s heat exchange went down, the operations officer, a sub-lieutenant
named Gables, had a conversation with Miranda over the net.  The sub-lieutenant
was furious over her orders.”  Hall looked fearfully at the closed door to the
conference room.  “I witnessed the exchange between Gables and Commander
Vernay.  Her station was right next to mine.”  Hall shivered while bringing his
voice to nearly a whisper.  “To be honest, Vernay scares the hell out of me.  She
grabbed Gables and told her to pick someone to run into an inferno inside one
of the wings.  When Gables told her it was nothing but suicide, Vernay gets
this unearthly expression on her face and coldly tells her, ‘I don’t care.’” 
Hall shivered again.  “The look she gave Gables… I can’t describe the depth to
it.  I’ve seen video of the Chetellx and I swear their faces were friendlier.” 
Hall swallowed and said, “I always thought it was strange that someone who’s
almost our age has such a high rank but… after Elathra, I’d swear Vernay has
seen more combat than our entire fleet put together.”