Starlight Gleaming Ch. 21 Pt. 04

Once the device began to percolate, I worked on making a dent in my seriously backed up email.

Fifteen minutes later, the machine made its burbling noise to indicate the cahault was ready, the chocolate coffee scent permeating the air. Getting up, I rinsed out two mugs and filled them up with the brew, giving one to Cholan before settling back at my desk to resume tackling the digital morass before me. Absorbed in her reading, she barely glanced at me while reaching for her mug.

Around ten hundred hours, I had Hanami use my charge card to order hot food from the Commissary Diner; two score of sandwiches, another two score of wraps, four score of wedgies with various sauce packets, and two large five-gallon containers of hot, buttered quinoa, one red and one white and both with chopped, steamed veggies. Added to that was a case of electrolyte water. Half an hour before noon, several troopers volunteered to pick up everything.

Once the food arrived, I made sure to snag food for Cholan and myself, and saw to it Hanami, Chita, and her new assistant got a meal, too.

The security guards changed twice since Cholan and I arrived that morning. Fortunately, they wore an Air Security uniform with the Tactical Ops patch and the appropriate grade on their arms. They weren't to eat while on duty, but I also set aside a couple of wrapped sandwiches specifically for them once they were off shift.

The security guards hid their surprise and went back to standing stoically, but occasionally they glanced at me thoughtfully. When the shift change happened, they were quick to grab their food and exit to the office pool where they practically devoured their meal. The new team, having arrived too late, took in the news I had provided food with envious silence.

Unsurprisingly, security troopers and office support staff descended on the free food, and like locusts, the area was picked clean in no time.

Mack and Akama arrived about the same time. Hearing them greet my admin, I got up to say hello.

"Everything okay at home?"

"Yes, sir," Mack replied, casually surveying the remains of the catered food. "Looks like it was a good thing we ate before we left."

"Find a work station and relax, both of you. I've still got a lot more paperwork to deal with."

As I re-entered my office, I could see through the open blinds as Hanami produced a wedgie kit for their enjoyment. Both of them grinned at her. Coming into my office, Akama guarded the snack while Mack filled their cups from the urn. They perched on the edge of Wit's desk to share their largess. Both looked at least a little bit more rested, a fact that made me feel better.

Cholan, after a quick latrine break, refilled her mug again, closed up the manual, and took her time with her meal. Pulling out her tablet, she ate as she typed. I didn't even bother checking what she was typing about because I trusted her. She knew the situation and no doubt felt the pressure on her to make a miracle happen. Besides, I had plenty to occupy my time.

I was on my third cup of cahualt when I got a call from Janetta. Leaning back in my chair, I grinned as I answered the phone. "Well, if it isn't the finest pilot in the Empire. What can I do for you on this fine day?"

The warrior woman on the other end rolled her eyes before responding. Yeah, I couldn't see it, but I knew her well enough to imagine it. "Just giving you an update, Kandikan. The diesel fuel stinks and the engines are noisy, but they are working great. My CO is pleased with our progress and actually smiled for the first time in days. One runway is being inspected as we speak, and we expect to start patching another later this afternoon. With one runway open, some of the critical supplies will begin arriving."

"That's great news!"

"How are things going on your end?"

"Well, after missing a couple of days of work and, you know, half the war base in ruins, I have a lot to do. Hanami helps a lot, even with her leg in a cast, but even so, there is so much routine crap that appears on my monitor. And there are so many more things that are marked as critical, urgent, immediate to attend to. Typical day at the 602, I'd say."

"You are such a shitload of complications. As soon as she's ready to start work on my fighter, let me know and I'll head back to the hangar."

More serious, I replied, "Captain, this is an unsecured line. And, you're hovering."

"Okay, okay. You're right, of course. But as soon as you know anything--"

"It won't be talked about over the telephone, Captain. Are you on a landline or your cell?" Janetta didn't answer. "Absolutely no unsecured updates."

"You're right, damn your hide," she grumbled. "I'll be better."

Cholan paused her typing as she watched me, listening to my half of the conversation.

Glancing at my watch, I added, "Look, I need to make a trip to Ground Security in a couple of hours. We'll talk privately later tonight when we're both home, Captain."

"If there's more I should know, you'll tell me? I know I'm being impatient, but I want this so bad, Ranji, I can taste it! Gods of North and South, all of us want to deliver some fucking payback for what they did to us." Janetta took a long breath.

"Do I need to come down there and have a private consult in your office, Captain? The last time was at Tikún, but I will happily visit and give your engine a personal and thorough inspection."

Cholan suddenly choked on her food, blushing furiously and deliberately avoiding my gaze. Her thoughts had gone to the same place mine had.

There were several seconds of silence before she finally answered. "No, that's all right, Commander. Safe flight and safe return." Janetta hung up.

"Commander Kandikan?"

"What's up, Cholan?"

"I need a paper tablet, a pen, and if you have it, a straight edge."

Digging into a desk drawer, I retrieved the items and brought them over. "Everything all right?"

She gave me a meaningful look. "As well as lunch with my parents went."

Considering both the actual event and her nightmare the previous night, I looked at her with concern. "Fair enough. Anything you need, you let me know."

She nodded, already carefully sketching out a copy of the circuit board.

Seeing as she was still less than half-way through the manual, I wondered how much she was skimming. I sometimes did that myself, browsing through a technical manual to see how the information was organized before reading in-depth.

Back at my desk, I attended to my computer. Over a thousand emails to go and I hadn't even started on the various reports that needed my attention. Seeing one from Dr. Jehantli, I opened it up. He requested I stop by the nanotech facility later this afternoon, writing it would be easier to discuss things in person. Clicking on the confirmation request, I moved on.

A notice from the Base Commandant authorized the reduction of the alert to the next level down; some naval reinforcements had arrived, and the skies were being actively watched and undersea traffic was being closely monitored. The submarine pens were empty at the moment with more than a score of undersea vessels providing additional screening duty for the fleet. Weather patterns were also of interest. Rain was expected in the next day or so, with a hurricane by the end of the week.

The security upgrades for Cholan and the others were all approved, with copies to Personnel, Ground Security, and the appropriate superior officers. A platoon of Ground Service warriors were detached to provide security for any Atlantean tech recovered, and pieces were being assembled as requested.

Among the fresh emails were several complaints from various law enforcement officials in Capisco, declaring my press release the previous evening to have been high handed, cavalier, dismissive, and disrespectful while an inconsiderate guest of duly-elected officials of a sovereign foreign government. Pointedly, no comments at all about the return of all the young women freed from captivity. As punishment, Detective Crazy Wolf and his partner were overseeing the return process. A few heartfelt letters forwarded from the Detective Sergeant from some grateful parents and somewhat awkwardly translated by an obviously automated process. A missive from Detective Thunder Cloud requesting a date and time for the promised tour. Three emails requesting the same from Sammi Reo.

Hanami would normally handle these externally-sourced emails but I'd specifically told her to not get involved. If there was any political fallout, I didn't want her entangled in it. She was becoming a decent gatekeeper from the Imperial bureaucracy and I didn't want to lose her. I rolled my eyes as I skimmed through more of the complaints.

There are fine-line differences between a military sortie, a military police action, and a civilian police action. Real people get wounded and sometimes die in all three types of clashes, and all three can occur without a formal declaration of war.

Despite how badly we'd fared with the attack by Atlantis, there was as yet no formal declaration of war between our nations, and at this point, not likely to be one. The current tech differences were complete game-changers, and all to our detriment. Apparently while Izel and I had been in negotiations, another sortie from Atlantis had been launched. Once the aircraft were a hundred rads from shore, two cruise EMP missiles were launched and exploded over the ocean. The damaged flight of aircraft had promptly returned to Atlantis. The Imperial Naval Service bought us some time, but how much was to be determined. The ball immediately went into the purview of the politicians.

As for the locals? When dealing with criminal gangs and separatist groups, there's not even a formal government to attack. In such cases, the Empire's solution was simple -- overwhelming force, and the attitude is that alert and active prisoners make matters worse. Violent criminals either died fighting or were executed. Non-violent ones scooped up were often enslaved, typically doing hard labor in some mine until they dropped. Because these were non-citizens, there were no trials. We had literally followed the trail of bodies back to their lair, using their own road that had breached our defenses. The Empire's position was that the complaints from Capisco were just noise to be ignored. Responding to them gave those complaints unwarranted credence. I wanted good relations with our neighbors, especially with their law enforcement agencies. Citizens, even foreign nationals had rights, but armed criminals did not.

As the officer in charge of the rescue operation, it had been Doyya's right to order there to be no After-Action Reports.

However, that didn't fly with General Barankoshto. Two full companies of her Ground Service warriors had been involved in the action. The general had ordered that combat footage from the NCO and officer helmets be compiled into an overall report of events, and that a map and time-line of the battle's progress be created to evaluate how her warriors had performed under fire. A team of media specialists had been assigned to create that combat report and supporting maps.

The email further informed me that after the completed documents were viewed by the War Base Commandant and his senior staff; Doyya and I were required to attend a viewing and combat assessment.

I fully expected this, and noted the required additional attendance of the two Ground Service company commanders who had participated in the overall operation, Captains Reno and Kolloksl.

Interestingly, I was politely asked -- not ordered -- to bring Izel to that viewing. I confirmed that Doyya, Izel, and I would attend that meeting, and blocked out the tentative date and time on my calendar. I also noted that the new Air Service general was to be in attendance, a man I had yet to officially meet.

In my reply, I again asked permission to show the detectives and the news reporter the underground enclave. Pictures can convey a lot, but film can do more. Normally, I'd expect that an edited down version of the final combat report would be shown to the detectives and the reporter, but unless there was something that was embarrassing to the Empire, I felt showing the actual physical sites where real combat had occurred as well as the living conditions of the slaves would impress on our friends from Capisco that we'd acted correctly. Let them film the filthy, depraved conditions that our people had endured. We had been hammered by Atlantis and right after that, the women veterans had been targeted by Obsidian Tears -- and I didn't know if the latter was already planned or if it was retribution over the failed attack on my home. Ultimately, it didn't matter. In response, the next day the Empire had given Obsidian Tears firsthand knowledge of what it meant to take on a world power. I wanted to cultivate that message.

The underground town formerly controlled by the Obsidian Tears was still under Imperial occupation. I expected the underground road system would eventually be sealed with concrete, and interspersed with motion sensors to prevent any attempt to breach our borders again. With limestone making up so much of the coastline around High Guard and Capisco, blowing up the underground lair would simply be too dangerous, possibly even opening up sinkholes not only within High Guard but also with Capisco itself -- potentially leaving the Empire on the hook for damages. I didn't want that kind of headache and I was pretty sure General Barankoshto and the Base Commandant didn't either. However, letting the structures and roads remain as they were was out of the question; it was another entry into High Guard and could lead to unforeseen circumstances down the road.

Still, it did occur to me that if an evacuation of civilians was approved, the civilians could use this unconventional underground exit without alerting Atlantis about our activities. We had no doubt Atlantean satellites were watching us to see what we were doing, and the bustling trade with Capisco was no doubt being observed. Capisco's large civilian population could easily hide the exodus of civilians at High Guard by air and rail without overtly inciting Atlantis that the Empire was in retreat and thereby provoke a hardened attack, if not an outright declaration of war. The latter idea was a separate email to Generals Barankoshto and Rikoletsi.

More emails to scan through. Then I made a small dent in some of the older shift reports.

There was a minor disturbance in the afternoon. I got up to deal with it. Turned out an exhausted Penimits Fortri had fallen asleep at his desk and subsequently had a nightmare loud enough to cause worry among the nearby admins and security troopers.

When Pen's admin, Sergeant Jodana, saw me approach, she looked grateful. "He never went home last night, Commander," she explained, hovering by his open doorway. "He's been here since yesterday morning."

Frowning, I chewed over her statement as I entered his office.

Apologetic, the man also looked exhausted, with at least a day's beard on his face.

"I fell asleep, Jodana," Pen said, looking at everyone but me. "I shouldn't have, but I did. As for the rest of you, thank you for your concern, but please, go back to your assigned duties."

He gave me a worried look.

"It's all right, I've got this," I told Jodana, redirecting her and everyone else outside. After closing the door and making sure the blinds were closed, I sat in the chair across from Pen without comment.

Mentally, I kicked myself. All three of my watch commanders shared a dedication to duty, a need to see things through till completion. I had been so busy with my own projects that I hadn't even checked to see how many hours each of them had been putting in. Well, live and learn.

After rubbing his face, he said, "Ranji, I'm sorry. I'm all right, really. It was just a bad dream, nothing to trouble you about."

Technically, he had been asleep on duty. The military services all considered that a serious offense. But a lot of days I put in ten to twelve hours and many times worked six days a week. I had no problem taking a short nap on my couch when I needed it, and I held my staff to the same standards. Plus, he'd officially been on duty for more than twenty-four hours straight.

There was a sharp rap-rap-rap on the door before it opened and a concerned face peered inside.

"Doyya? Step in and close the door behind you." I looked at both of them and sighed. She sat on the couch, trying to gauge the situation. I continued. "Both of you look like shit. And to be fair, I have no doubt I look the same. If I ask, is Jay at home where he's supposed to be, is he sleeping in his office, or is he still out in the field somewhere?"

Doyya looked up at me. "He hasn't signed out. I think he's sleeping on the couch in his office."

"Perfect. Captain, go wake him up and get him in here," I ordered.

After she left, I watched Pen struggle to keep awake. A few minutes later the door opened and Doyya returned with my third watch commander. Jay plopped onto the couch, his blurry eyes blinking in the light. Doyya sat with more care.

"All right, my orders are that for the next week each of you will alternate duty time with your Seconds. When your duty shift ends, turn over the reins and go home. That is a direct order to all three of you. Lieutenants Fortri and Raltikon, you are obviously in no shape to drive yourselves. You will be driven by field troopers to your personal quarters. You will have the next twenty-four hours off. When I see each of you next, I expect you in a clean uniform and there to be signs of intelligent life in your eyes."

Doyya snorted at that.

"Yes, there are still many critical tasks to do, but the likelihood of us finding anyone still alive at this point is negligible. Our officers and sergeants in the field are capable. Further rescue efforts will be handled by those in the field. I deeply appreciate your loyalty and dedication to duty, but it's time to step back and return to a regular operations schedule. Am I clear?"

"Yes, sir."

Based on the volume, I saw I was already losing Jay and Pen. I took a slow breath. "Captain, who's doing today's Roll Call?"

"Lieutenant Kraydee, Commander. You and I have a staff meeting at Ground Security at fourteen thirty hours, sir."

Shit. It was to interview and assess the 1267's XO for possible permanent command. I stood. "All right. Captain, secure rides for both of these two and get them signed out. They are to enter the quarters and ensure their charge is undressed and secured in their bunk and to lock the doors on their exit."

"I'll see to it, sir."

We both exited. I strode over to Hanami. "Sergeant, draft a memo informing all 602 command staff that graveyard shift will be covered by Mongadeen--"

"He's still on the injured list, Commander," she interjected.

"Who's the XO?"

"Lieutenant Tineeksi, sir."

"All right. Tineeksi will be in charge of tonight's graveyard shift. Tomorrow's day shift will be covered by Lieutenant Tsutsunin. They will alternate command duty with their respective watch commanders. Lieutenant Kraydee will cover today's swing shift. Captain Lovyanchiti will be going off duty after this afternoon's meeting. Advise admin staff to make any adjustments for staff meetings. Draft that up right now. I want it to go out before I leave for my meeting at the 1267 in half an hour."

"Yes, Commander."

In my office, I closed the door and moved to my desk. As I shut down my computer, I suggested that Cholan turn off her tablet. After extracting the small cube, I waited until her tablet was off before I turned it on.

"Cholan? How does it look so far? Is this something you think you can manage?"

She set her pen down and sat back in her chair, looking at me thoughtfully. "There's a lot of physics in the manual, Commander, and honestly, I don't have the schooling for some of the advanced stuff discussed in this book."