Rich Man's War (62 page)

Weir’s jaw fell. “How can you say that? This will be a drain on the whole economy!”

“No, Mr. Weir. As Secretary Bennet has said, the corporations represented here today are not the entire Union economy. However, you all have rather deep reserves of resources. I’m sure you’ll get by.” Dhawan shook his head. “If your corporation had come to me before embarking upon this course of action, I could have taken some steps to prevent all of this, but it is too late now.”

With that, he stood. Most everyone else stood as well, some out of conscious observance of etiquette and others out of reflex. A few, including Jon Weir, remained too stunned to rise.

Again, Theresa put her hand on Andrea’s wrist, and then motioned for her to step outside. Both women abandoned the negotiating table without another word or glance at their counterparts.

“I can’t believe it,” said Andrea.

“I can,” frowned Theresa. “This is Dhawan’s chance to bleed NorthStar and the others. Oh, the Assembly will debate and the corporations will bribe as many people as they can, but the wolves just lost their wool coats. Everyone wants to see them brought down to size, but until now no one has wanted to step up to do the job. This leaves us stuck doing all the heavy lifting and paying the cost. Dhawan sees the opportunity here. He’s not going to let it go.”

“An amendment could take months even after it’s brought up for debate,” fumed Andrea. “What the hell’s going to be left of us when this is all over?”

“I don’t know what’ll be left of Archangel,” admitted Cotton. “I’m starting to wonder what will be left of the Union.”

* * *

“Orders for ships, armaments and other necessary supplies have skyrocketed at domestic manufacturers all across the system of Archangel. Following the occupation of Michael, President Aguirre and the Senate acted swiftly to put the economy on a wartime footing. While the government has emphasized a policy of keeping defense spending inside the system, some voices have noted that the contracts and orders placed by the government have happened too quickly and with little oversight. Those voices have been roundly shouted down by a government eager to maintain political unity.”

--Bob Norris, Raphael Public Media, December 2276

Life on a captured battleship proved entirely different from life on
Los Angeles
.

Archangel’s prized cruiser, battered and exhausted in defense of Raphael, now underwent heavy ref
it and repair alongside Apostles’ Station in orbit around the planet.
Resolute
and
Rio de Janeiro
lay in a similar state, with so much of their hull plating and thruster manifolds shot away that they needed intensive work before they could go into combat again.

For all the weaknesses of the Archangel Navy’s fleet, however, another assault by her enemies in the near future seemed unlikely. Uriel and Gabriel both held orbital and planetary defenses strong enough to hold off any conceivable invasion fleet long enough for help to come from Raphael. Archangel’s capital world had similarly strong defenses, which could shoot down anything short of a full battleship strike force… and the only two battleships in the system orbited Raphael in friendly hands.

Those hands felt all too few at the moment, but Archangel’s enemies had little way of knowing that. In the meantime it meant for a decent amount of space within the two huge vessels. For one thing, Tanner could have a couch in the junior enlisted lounge all to himself. Behind him, several other young crewmen and third classes played pool and dined on junk food and soft drinks. Despite the obvious accommodations for alcoholic drinks offered by NorthStar’s recreational facilities, and despite all the stresses and loss of recent weeks, the Archangel Navy maintained its ban on alcohol on active ships.

Given the grim situation on Michael and the inability to do anything about it, most everyone on board wanted a stiff drink. Or ten. Regulations said they’d all have to wait until they could go ashore.

Though he gave it little active thought, Tanner hoped that the Navy would at least abandon its faith-based naming schemes for the captured ships. Before the smoke had fully cleared from the battle, some enterprising crewmen found a few buckets of paint and covered up the name
Hercules
on the most obvious signs and placards throughout the ship, replacing it with the name
Beowulf
.

Tanner much preferred that name to the usual religious iconography. He didn’t know if it would fly politically. Matters like this seemed to mean an awful lot to at least some portion of Archangel’s government. But he heard more and more of his shipmates invoke
Beowulf
as the ship’s name despite every official discouragement, and he couldn’t help but feel a little pride.

Given all he and everyone else had done and lost, he often wondered if
such pride was remotely appropriate, and what it might say about him.

He sat facing the broad window look
ing out into the void with his feet kicked up on a small table. Rather than a vac suit, Tanner wore his dress uniform—sans the jacket laid beside him. A pair of screens generated by his holocom floated in front of him, one containing a text-only account of the “Battle of Raphael,” while the other offered computer-generated animation replays of the ship-to-ship battles worked up by the Uriel Media Service.

On that second screen, the “passenger liner”
Argent
rushed headlong at the destroyer
Janus
, then at the last second went into a full turn and charged at
Helene
, streaming chaff missiles in her wake. Tanner stopped the animation, reset it and let it play again.

He’d seen that maneuver somewhere before. Not in a movie. Not in a computer game. And certainly not in person. But he knew he’d seen it before.

“Mind if I join you?” asked a familiar voice.

Tanner glanced up to find Yeoh standing beside the couch, wearing her regulation vac suit and with her helmet slung over her shoulder like most of the other crewmen. Tanner blinked, then glanced back toward the rest of the non-rates and third classes in the rec room. Most of them managed to cover up their awe and surprise at seeing the admiral in their presence. Some couldn’t help but stare.

He couldn’t blame them. Yeoh’s presence here was a surprising breach of custom and etiquette… not that anyone could call her on it.

“Ma’am,” he said,
gesturing to the plentiful space on the couch. He picked his feet up off the table and straightened up as she sat down. “I didn’t, um… should someone have called out ‘attention on deck’ or something?”

“Why? It’s a rec room. And you’re one to talk about regulation right now,” she said, nodding at the disheveled state of his dress uniform.

“True. Memorial service.”

“I thought as much. Whose?”

“Ramos. Operations Specialist Third Class Domingo Ramos. He was on
Ursa
. Oscar Company grad.”

“You knew him well?”

“Well enough,” Tanner shrugged. “Chief Everett was there. He said Oscar Company lost forty-three people.”

“I’m deeply sorry.”

“I know.” He searched for words. “We still don’t know what happened on
Ursa
, do we, ma’am?”

“No. We may never know. It happens.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t press the matter. “So what brings an admiral down to the junior enlisted rec room?”

“Ten minutes to breathe,
and the chance to walk through the ship. I’ve wondered how you’re holding up.”

“As well as anyone else, I guess.
”

“
Have you heard from your family?”

“They’re still on Arcadia. They’re fine. Worried about me and all of this, but they’re fine and they know I’m okay. I’ve got lots of friends and family of friends on Michael, though, and… well. No word there, ma’am.
Gonna be a shitty Christmas for everyone, I’d imagine.”

“
Yes.” Yeoh looked at him carefully before she went on. “You’ve been told about the ship’s logs by now?”

“No. What about them?”

“Captain Wagner transmitted them all before he surrendered the ship. NorthStar has every moment on every sensor and every comm channel right up until you and the others walked onto the bridge… including video of you in Cannon Two and the shot that destroyed
Saratoga
. In another week, maybe two, maybe sooner, you’ll doubtlessly be a part of their propaganda narrative all over the Union.”

Tanner consider
ed it and sighed. “Yeah, well…fuck ‘em.”

“I thought you might feel that way. But I also thought you should know.”

“We’re not gonna be ready to move on Michael anytime soon, are we?” he asked.

“Not until these battleships are fully and competently crewed and the rest of our fleet is back up to fighting strength, no. Our only blessing is that the enemy doesn’t want to tangle with us now, either. They didn’t like the losses they took out here and they don’t want to find out just how ready we are to use these ships against them. They want the
ir toys back in one piece. But I don’t believe any of that requires expert knowledge.”

“No, ma’am,” Tanner replied. “No, it doesn’t.”

“I wanted to speak with you because I’ve thought a lot lately about the conversation we had back in Ascension Hall all those months ago. You wanted none of this,” she said, “but you stepped up. Time and again. Like you stepped up here. I’m very glad you are here, Tanner, and that you chose the role you did. A lot of other people in your shoes would’ve shot Eldridge on the spot.”

He wasn’t sure what to say to that. “Yes, ma’am.”

Yeoh reached into her pocket and drew forth a small pair of chevron pins, holding them out to him. Tanner blinked. He sat up on the couch. “Ma’am?” he stammered. “Aren’t there requirements for time in grade and stuff?”

“This ship is a little thin on Masters at Arms. I believe you’ve more than earned this.”

He reached out to accept the pins, staring at them.

“What is it?” she asked.

“My mother made it to second class while she served, ma’am,” he said. “I didn’t think I’d do the same. Not in five years.”

“I think she’d be very proud.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” He took a long breath. “But if you’re looking to fix the holes in the chain of command, Baldwin’s the one you should promote. You should’ve seen her during the battle.”

“
I’m well aware of her actions and her record. Master at Arms Baldwin received her second class pins while you were at the memorial service.”

Tanner let out a laugh. “Well, as long as we’ve got seniority ironed out.”

“To be honest, I’ve had a few people—civilians, mind you—tell me you deserve a full commission after all you’ve done.” She pursed her lips. “I have explained that it doesn’t work that way. Regardless, I think we both know you’d sooner throw yourself out an airlock.”

“Might throw the commission out the airlock, anyway,” he agreed.

She smiled, but only briefly. “It’s going to be a long war, Tanner. I’m glad you’re here with us for it.” She glanced over her shoulder at the others in the rec room. “I imagine I should move on and let things get back to normal in here.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he said. He didn’t get up as she left. His eyes drifted back to the screens from his holocom, and then he looked
over his shoulder. “Admiral?”

Yeoh paused and turned back. “Yes?”

He gestured to the animation floating over his lap. “
Argent
made a real difference, didn’t she?”

The admiral’s serene expression never cracked, but Tanner thought her response felt a bit hesitant. “They all did,” she said tactfully, and then left.

Tanner turned back toward the window. Behind him, conversation returned to normal. The pair of second-class pins remained in his hand.

He reached out to the screen on his right and replayed the animation of
Argent’s
attack run again.

He’d seen this maneuver somewhere before.

Like many Seattleites, Elliott Kay is a refugee from Los Angeles. He is a former Coast Guardsman with a Bachelor’s in History. Elliott has survived a motorcycle crash, serious electric shocks, severe seasickness, summers in Phoenix and winters in Seattle.

He can be reached by email at
[email protected]
. He maintains a blog at elliottkay.blogspot.com.

Rich Man’s War
is his fourth novel. His other works include
Poor Man’s Fight
,
Good Intentions
and
Natural Consequences
, along with the novella
Days of High Adventure
. All are available on Amazon.com, Smashwords.com and other online book vendors. Please heed the warning labels where applicable.