The new security unit assigned to the destroyer Singapore incorporated the entire strike team from a fast-attack craft which had been shot down while they were on the ground conducting their assault. Thomas didn’t ask for details on how they’d survived being stranded on a hostile planet, but the fact that all ten of them were still alive spoke to their abilities.
His briefing, therefore, had been short. Aside from learning the specifics of their new vessel, they already knew what they were doing.
The lieutenant in charge didn’t seem that interested in small talk, and Thomas found himself dismissed and wandering the flats of Singapore. The damage his own team had done defending this ship had been mostly repaired, but he ran his hand absently along one of the black scars on the bulkheads. In the haste to get ships back in action, Fleet maintenance had repaired all the airtight doors but ignored the cosmetic effects of his battle. Glancing at his watch, he wondered if the XO was also ahead of schedule.
He activated his headset, pinged, and received a quick response.
“Lieutenant Perry.”
“XO, sir, strike officer. I’ve completed my briefing and I’m ready to go when you are.”
“I’m still busy.” There was irritation plain in the reply. “I’ll call you when I’m ready.”
Severing the connection, he continued strolling forward. He obviously wasn’t welcome at strike stores, and he doubted the bridge would appreciate his presence. The wardroom? Making idle chit-chat with strangers didn’t appeal, especially since the topic of careers inevitably came up. So he continued forward and found himself at the open door to the captain’s cabin. Part of him wondered if it was a bad idea.
At his knock, Commander Sean Duncan looked up from his chair.
“Thomas, come on in.” Duncan motioned him to a seat and set down the tablet he’d been studying. Thomas sat stiffly.
“Your strike team has been briefed, sir. I have no concerns about their ability to defend this ship against boarders.”
“Yeah,” Duncan said with a smile. “She’s a tough bitch and her troopers worship her. I hear every single one of them was wounded during their last action, but no one was left behind, and they carved a wake of destruction as they cleared to the evac point.”
“Good to hear that the Corps is upholding its reputation.”
Duncan sat back, studying him. There was a moment of silence between them which Thomas didn’t enjoy, but had expected all along.
“Thomas, what’s up with all this? I never understood in the first place why you did a crossover tour with the Corps. You could have done support, like I did, and here you are again.” Duncan seemed to be groping for an answer to his obvious question. “Is this some sort of special mission, you hiding out as a subbie trooper on a ship?”
“I wish it was, but in fact I’m the luckiest guy in the worlds to be here.”
“Why?”
“Because the other guilty parties in that Fleet Marshall Investigation were forcibly retired, put in jail, or killed. I think I got off lightly.”
“What Fleet Marshall Investigation?” Duncan frowned. “You mean the one a year ago in the Research Squadron?”
“I was the XO of the ship in question,” Thomas said, jerking a thumb at himself.
He shrugged, settling back heavily in his chair. “I’m still alive, and I’m still in uniform—those are good things. Being forced to start my career over again does wonders for a man’s humility.”
Duncan snorted. “In other words, you’re a changed man— but at least as a subbie you can be a skin hound again. I can’t really do that now that I’m CO.”
“But I’m still married, Sean, subbie or no.”
“Wow, you are a changed man.”
Thomas considered those words, even if his old friend had meant them in jest. It was strange, he realized, sitting here in a CO’s cabin with his old classmate, friend, and rival. Duncan had won the race and had achieved a major command—their shared dream since the Astral College. But Thomas knew that with senior rank came political challenges, new threats. He wondered if his straight-shooting friend Sean was properly equipped to deal with them. Thomas’s own dabbling in that world had led to disaster, and this past year he’d enjoyed the lack of responsibility.
“I’m just a simple trooper these days,” he said. “I do my job, I look after my team. Oh, and I keep the other subbies in line.”
“Sounds like fun,” Duncan offered, his smile almost wistful, “but I’m sure you’ll be back soon enough.”
“I don’t care.”
“Really?” Duncan’s gaze sliced right through the defensive walls Thomas had erected.
“Okay, whatever,” he confessed. “I do care, but there isn’t shit I can do about it.”
“No, but I think somebody else is doing something about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your CO told me about that commendation that came down for you last week. Apparently it came all the way from Parliament.”
Commander Hu had presented Thomas with a bar for his Distinguished Conduct Medal—in effect presenting him a second DCM. In front of all the other officers, Hu had praised Thomas’s brave service and upheld him as an example of consistent professionalism for all others to follow.
At the time it had been nice, but didn’t seem to make any difference.
“I didn’t know that.” But now that he thought about it, he quietly suspected where the initiative had come from. Maybe Breeze had been telling the truth when she’d declared a truce between them.
“I don’t think you lack for supporters, Thomas,” Sean said. “I saw Admiral Chandler last time we were in, and I mentioned how you’d saved my ship. He looked genuinely pleased, mostly I think just to know that you’re still alive and kicking.”
Admiral Eric Chandler had been the XO in the first ship aboard which Thomas and Sean had served, right out of training. What had been scheduled to be a routine patrol of Sirius had exploded into a desperate battle for survival as the Sirian civil war had erupted around them. Sublieutenants Kane and Duncan had learned from their XO and had served well. Chandler had never forgotten them as his own career path continued to climb.
“That’s good to hear, thanks.”
“Your CO doesn’t know what to make of you,” Duncan said suddenly. “He sees your obvious ability, but he also figures there’s a good reason why you were busted down to subbie.”
“He’s a fair man,” Thomas said. “I’m happy to earn his respect.”
“That’s a solid approach, Thomas. Always has been, in our business.”
Was that a criticism? Thomas had always been the more politically minded of the pair, always the one to look for underlying opportunities in every situation. Duncan had always been the earnest one, the take-me-as-I-am boor of a line officer. Thomas had seen that as a weakness, and yet… here they sat, Sublieutenant Kane in the cabin of Commander Duncan.
There was a knock at the door. Thomas looked over and saw his own XO peering in. Perry’s face registered surprise, then darkened in anger.
“Excuse me, sir,” Perry said to Duncan. “I’ve finished my discussion with your XO and I’m ready to depart at your convenience. Although I see Sublieutenant Kane has decided to impose upon you.”
“I actually requested his presence,” Duncan replied evenly, “as I wanted to hear his assessment of my new security team. I’m sure you agree that Mr. Kane’s experience is very relevant here.”
“Of course, sir. It’s why I brought him along. I appreciate you taking the time personally.”
Duncan rose to his feet, and Thomas followed suit.
“Give my regards to Commander Hu,” Duncan said. “My Hawk is standing by to take you home.”
“Thank you, sir,” Thomas said, nodding to his friend and slipping out past Perry. He heard the XO say some parting words, and then march up alongside him.
“The senior officer speaks, Mr. Kane,” he growled as they headed aft for the hangar. “Commander Duncan’s comment was addressed to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And don’t you go sneaking around behind my back. If you’re summoned by Singapore’s CO, you call and tell me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Perry’s hand grabbed Thomas’s coveralls and pulled them both to a stop.
“Look at me when I talk to you, Sublieutenant.”
Thomas turned, every muscle in his body tensing, but he ignored the fist gripping the fabric at his shoulder, and glanced down the passageway to ensure that they were alone. Then he met his XO’s eyes.
“We’re off our ship, so just for a second let’s drop the facade,” he said, keeping his words measured. “I am older, more qualified and more experienced than you are, Lieutenant Perry. I have commanded both ships and troops in battle, and I am twice decorated for my service. So get your fucking hand off me.”
Perry released his grip, expression tightening in a fight-or-flight conflict. He stared back with an intense uncertainty fueled by growing outrage.
“I don’t give a shit what you’ve done in the past, Sublieutenant Kane,” he said finally. “Because whatever good you did was obviously wiped out by your crimes. You are a bad influence in my ship, and your presence threatens the required hierarchy. I don’t trust you, and it’s only because we are so short-staffed that I don’t get you shipped off to a front-line platoon.”
Was that supposed to be a threat? Thomas would welcome the brutal simplicity of life back in the Corps—at least then he’d be free of all the Fleet bullshit.
“I’ll do my job to the best of my ability,” he said, “wherever that is. And if it’s decided that I should serve aboard Admiral Bowen, then so be it. You can trust me to do my job. Now leave me free to do it.”
“And leave me free to do mine,” Perry snapped. “I know that the officers resist my demands for routine and protocol, and they do it because they see how laissez-faire you are about proper conduct and discipline. I am trying to maintain an exhausted crew at wartime readiness, and they need the consistency of regulations to stay focused.”
“What they need is respect.”
“Which you have none of, for anyone.”
Thomas bit down his response, watching the fear and anger flashing through Perry’s eyes. This man was totally overwhelmed, and his view of reality was skewed beyond all recognition. There was nothing Thomas could say to alter that view, or even help him.
“I’m sorry, sir,” he said, dropping his eyes and pushing down his frustration. “I will cause no further trouble.”
Perry exhaled sharply. Finally he raised a finger and stabbed it in the air between them.
“Don’t talk to me, don’t talk about me,” he said. “Do your job and nothing more.”
“Yes, sir.”
Perry stormed off, and Thomas followed a few paces behind.
He thought back to the old days in the destroyer Victoria, when he and Sean had felt crushed under the burden of still earning their bridge qualifications while their ship fought in a messy, brutal, and confusing war. Their XO, Eric Chandler, had taken it upon himself to guide them and train them, keeping them focused on the essentials and cutting out any peacetime nonsense which their training packages had demanded. He’d rewritten the rules of training, basically, and produced two of the fastest-qualified young line officers in Fleet history.
And then there was Lieutenant Perry, and the subbies of Admiral Bowen who were all brilliant, but floundering. Following his XO back to the Hawk, Thomas realized what part of his job was. He wasn’t just the strike officer. He was also the Bull Sub, and if the XO wasn’t going to help the subbies in training, there was only one person who could.
Perry wasn’t going to like him. Not at all. But it was for the good of the ship, and the good of the Fleet. And most importantly, it was for the good of the subbies.