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"YOU NEED TO GET BACK to your ship," said Radko. "We launch the operation in sixty minutes."
They were sitting—he and Sigurdsson—on a chesterfield in the rarely used officer's lounge of the Vimy Ridge. The lounge was now little more than additional storage, as the much larger enlisted crew lounge had become the catch-all meeting spot aboard ship. It seemed very few cared for the division between officer and enlisted anymore, which was fine with Radko. It was also fine with Radko that it left the officer's lounge to him and Sigurdsson.
Well, him and Sigurdsson and Jaeger.
The big German Shepherd was curled up on the carpet, snoring softly.
"I know," said Sigurdsson, staring out at the stars and making no move to get up. "I just want to stay here like this forever. I know we can't, I just... I'm ready to stop."
"Me too," he said. "I'd love for us to just curl up in bed and sleep."
"We have something we need to do before we sleep, Finn," she said with a grin.
He laughed.
"Yeah, and we have something else we need to do before we can do either of those things."
Slowly, Sigurdsson stood. As she did so, Jaeger raised his head and Radko marvelled again at how in-tune the dog was to its master. No, he corrected himself, not master. Friend. Companion. Comrade.
"Finn..."
He looked up at her. The tone was... it was the kind that had in the past been used for the stereotypical 'it's not you it's me' conversation.
"About the future. I really don't know what all this means," Sigurdsson said, spreading her arms to indicate her passenger and thus her role with the udukiin. "Long-term, I mean."
Standing, he nodded and put an arm around her as they looked out onto the imposing hull of Her Divine Retribution. He knew exactly what she meant and had thought about it himself. With the death of the Priex Matriarch, Kaigor Kai Rii was the ranking figure in udukiin society. She was for all intents and purposes the empress of the Priex and neither knew for how long. There was a very real possibility that Sigurdsson would be leading the udukiin well beyond this mission to the Hornet's Nest and even beyond—dare he even consider the possibility—victory in the war.
"One step at a time," he said gently. "Let's make sure there is a future before we start complicating ours."
She smiled, but there seemed a sadness behind it. Maybe she was doubting there was a future for them, maybe she was thinking it was just too far away—he didn't know for certain. He wasn't sure what he himself thought, he just knew they had other bridges to cross to make any of it even a possibility.
"You take care of yourself," she said.
She gave him a quick kiss and then left, Jaeger at her heels.
Watching her go, Radko felt something twist in his gut.
That had sounded like a goodbye.
By the time he made his way to the command deck, Radko was in a foul mood and determined to take it out on the ril-galas.
El Bahari's first statement upon his arrival didn't improve his disposition.
"I can guarantee no official assistance from Thor's Hammer," she said.
"Explain."
"My brother-in-law is aboard the station. He's... well-placed to see and hear things about the current disposition of the government. DeFreitas is paranoid, Upshaw is feeding it and neither seems to have plans for any military action beyond further fortification of Thor's Hammer."
"We assumed as much," said Radko, sighing. "I'd hoped for more, but I can't say I'm surprised."
"Sir," she said, lowering her voice. "Are you planning to make good on your threat against ATC Castle?"
"Amira, if we take out the Hornet's Nest and liberate Earth, I won't have to—they'll implode. Their reputation will be destroyed. Everyone will know them as the people who put corporate interests in the way of saving humanity," he said. "I will be the least of their worries."
Though she seemed like she wanted to say more, el Bahari nodded instead and returned her attention to the sand table.
"Her Glorious Vengeance confirms safe return of Kaigor Kai Rii," said Owens. "Gholl advises they are prepared to depart at your order."
"All three icaran vessels and the Tianlong confirm likewise," added el Bahari.
"And Singh?"
Owens looked up at Radko with a half-smile.
"He's been confirming readiness for about half an hour, asking us what's taking so long."
"Advise the Captain that if my ship were as small as his, I'd have been ready half an hour ago too."
"Yessir, Commander," said Owens, chuckling. Several other command deck crew members stifled laughter or chuckled.
When Radko looked over to el Bahari, she was scowling in his direction.
"Do you really think this is the time for humour?"
To her credit, she said it quietly enough that none of the crew would overhear. No matter what anyone might say about the woman, el Bahari was incredibly aware of what the disposition of command staff could mean for the crew—and what a devastating effect open dissent between CO and XO could do to morale.
"I can't think of a better time for humour," he said. "Nothing relaxes people like laughter. And we haven't really had much to laugh about lately."
"I can't argue with that."
Stepping up to the sand table, Radko stared at the holograms hovering above it. The display was of their current position—the gas giant of Carncastle Gate, the Ven Shakara flanked by the Ven Vaar and the Vor Rokhaar. The Tianlong was above the group and the Vimy Ridge was alongside Her Glorious Vengeance and Her Divine Retribution, with the Azrael's Tear directly ahead. The eight ships that represented the entire strength of their little group, this Frankenstein's Monster of a fleet, this resurrection of his dream to create Joint Task Force One. When Radko and Cortez had first begun laying the groundwork for what would morph into the current mission, he had the Vimy Ridge and he had an aging but still formidable Leonid Gorshkov. He'd felt relatively confident that the icarans would contribute a ship, but it wasn't until Admiral Rhekarr had contacted him out of the blue one day that he knew he had the Ven Shakara to add to the task force. That Rhekarr had then convinced two other ICA naval ships to join had been an incredible coup, and having added Cagliari's Starfighters and even Captain Singh and the Azrael's Tear had made JTF1 stronger than Radko had allowed himself to hope. Even Kovalenko, now in such poor health , admitted that the mission was better off with the Tialong than it would have been with the Leonid Gorshkov.
Add to all of that the sudden and unexpected addition of not one but two udukiin dreadnoughts, as he'd learned they called them. His mind still reeled when he thought too long about what had transpired between Sigurdsson and the udukiin, and he badly wanted to sit down with her and hear the long version of the story. But for now, he was just happy to have them as allies and to have their dreadnoughts join the task force.
Joint Task Force One, after nearly two years of talking about it, of trying to convince the Commonwealth that it was necessary, of eventually going behind everyone's back to try to get it done... it was finally a reality.
And it was ready.
"Let's get underway," he said.
As the order was relayed, he felt the thrum of the deck plates change and he dismissed the sand table display, replacing it with the strategic display of the Hornet's Nest.
The two groups stayed together until they reached the Kuiper Belt.
"Alpha Group, this is Vimy Ridge. Good hunting," said Radko.
"And you," said Rhekarr, his disembodied voice floating back over the comm lines.
As the two groups separated, Radko's group—Beta Group—reconfigured, with Her Glorious Vengeance taking the lead.
Cagliari, who had been watching tensely from the sidelines, approached the sand table. Outlaw Squadron had already done all of its pre-flight checks and so she had come up to the command deck rather than sit in the hangar and wait.
"I just wanted to thank you again," she said.
"I should be thanking you, Cags," he said, smiling a little. "Outlaw Squadron has already been a tremendous asset. So have you."
She smiled and might even have blushed.
"It's nice to be appreciated. It's also nice to be able to make a difference for a change."
"I understand," he said.
"I know you do."
There was a slightly awkward pause before Cagliari spoke again.
"Don't let shit get in the way."
"Of what?"
"You and Freyja," she said, holding up a hand to stop the response forming on his lips. "I'm serious. We're fighting this war so things like that can happen. So people can stop just surviving and actually live. So when all this is done, you just fucking do it, all right?"
She waited until Radko nodded, then she headed off the command deck toward the hangar.
"She's right," said el Bahari.
"I know she is," said Radko, not caring that the XO had been eavesdropping. "But it's complicated."
"Of course it is. It always is, even when it's two normal people."
"Are you calling us abnormal?"
"She's an udukiin messiah and you're you."
"Commander," called Owens. "Pair of sunfish ahead—they don't appear to have spotted us yet."
"Pop everything up top," said Radko as he hurried up to the observation dome. A moment later, the secondary sand table flared to life and a mag window appeared on the dome, centred over the two ril-galas scout ships—the sunfish.
As planned, Her Glorious Vengeance moved out ahead of the Vimy Ridge, and slightly above, making sure it wasn't obstructing the Commonwealth vessel's line of fire.
There was no preamble, no warning shots. The second Her Glorious Vengeance was in weapons range, it unloaded on the sunfish and Her Divine Retribution joined in only seconds later. Super-accelerated flechettes tore into both ril-galas vessels, shredding their hulls and causing ruptures throughout their complicated power distribution systems. Flares, alternating between bright blue and angry orange, briefly burst through the cracks before first one ship then the other blossomed into a spherical fireball.
The Vimy Ridge hadn't needed to fire a single shot.
"A fine reintroduction," said Gholl.
He stood as usual, feet planted, one set of hands clasped behind his back, the other set of arms folded over his barrel chest. Sigurdsson, beside him, found herself nodding.
"A good warm-up for our gunners," she said.
Seeing the dreadnought in action against the Adirondack had been one thing—it had been a relatively safe target, not powerful enough to really take on Her Glorious Vengeance, and not a target they had any intention of destroying—but seeing it unleash its full power was incredible. For the first time in a very long time, Sigurdsson felt a little butterfly of hope fluttering in her chest. Hope that there might actually be a future for her after this war; that it might be possible for this war to be won.
"Thank you," she said.
Gholl turned to her, all of his left eyes squinting while his right eyes remained fully open. It was, she had learned, the udukiin equivalent of a raised brow.
"For doing this. For following me. For following Radko."
"You are Kaigor-"
"Yes, I'm Kaigor Kai Rii. I may not have known you very long, Gholl, but you don't strike me as the type to blindly follow," she said.
"Freyja Sigurdsson..."
He'd said it slowly, awkwardly, like the name felt wrong on his tongue.
"What you have done for my people simply by existing as Kaigor Kai Rii is immeasurable. You have given us purpose. You have reminded us of our past and what made the udukiin people great. You need not thank me for anything, Kaigor Kai Rii. Ever."
"It's not a matter of need, Gholl Kai Rendrek. It's a matter of wanting you to know I appreciate it."
He nodded and then a moment later, shook his head and barked out a short laugh.
"I feel I must apologise," he said. "I had always thought humans to be bumbling fools."
"Not all of us," said Sigurdsson. "Just quite a few. But it's okay, I always thought udukiin were psychopaths."
"Not all of us. Just quite a few."