Hero's Return, page 27
He nodded. “I’m ready.”
Dorothy nodded in return, stepped aside, and motioned for him to lead the way. Hazard walked out of the bedroom and through the living area to the suite’s entry hatch. The door hissed open, and he stepped into the main corridor, Rear Admiral Evers on his heels. Four Marines in shipboard armor formed up around the pair, two in front and two behind. The sixteen Marines pulled from the carrier’s Marine company were among the few who knew Hazard was alive. Dorothy had insisted. He was the emperor, and Dorothy was going to ensure nothing happened to him aboard her flagship.
“Flag bridge,” Dorothy said to the escort, and they started off.
Hazard heard complaints from behind them and glanced over his shoulder. Two Marines, positioned near the access lifts to the flag deck, were stopping anyone from coming down the passageway.
“Is that necessary?” he asked Dorothy, jerking a chin over his shoulder.
“I didn’t want a commotion in the passageway spoiling our entrance.”
Hazard grunted his acceptance.
Dorothy stopped and grabbed Hazard’s arm. The act, so out of character for the woman, shocked him.
“You don’t understand how important what’s about to happen is. Our emperor—our hero—has returned. I know it embarrasses you, and you don’t believe you’re all that.”
Hazard looked at his friend and saw that her eyes were misty.
“You’re all that and more. So don’t spoil this for them.” Dorothy waved a hand at the open armored hatch leading to the flag bridge. “This is a day all of us will remember for the rest of our lives.”
“Then let’s go make history, Admiral.”
* * *
“Admiral on the bridge,” the bosun’s mate of the watch announced. On the flag bridge of a warship, the position was largely ceremonial. His counterpart on Connie’s bridge assisted the carrier’s damage control officer and made announcements on the 1MC, the ship’s general announcement system. The flag bridge rarely made ship-wide announcements and had no damage control station, but traditions are important and die hard. Ship’s bridges always had a bosun’s mate.
Hazard observed that Dorothy was the type of officer who didn’t expect her staff to drop what they were doing and pay respect to her. He had discovered that there were two types of officers regarding rank: those who wanted everyone to know they were the ship’s captain or flag officer and wanted their subordinates to come to attention and grovel at the feet of their betters, and the ones like Dorothy, who only wanted her presence announced so everyone knew she was on the bridge and could make reports directly to her.
The flag bridge of a warship was not typically a loud place, but there was always a low hum of background conversations as watchstanders exchanged information or reported to more senior officers. Many of those watchstanders glanced toward the entrance hatch when the bosun made his announcement and saw that their admiral was not alone. The bridge suddenly became silent as every watchstander stared at a man who couldn’t be there.
“You’re on,” Dorothy said in a voice pitched low enough that only Hazard could hear her.
Hazard strode past her to the command chair mounted on a raised dais in the center of the command center. Walking past a stunned Captain Mary Thompson, Dorothy’s chief of staff, who’d been sitting in the command seat but had risen at her admiral’s arrival, Hazard slid into the familiar seat.
“Computer,” he said aloud, looking up. Like most people verbally interacting with a computer, he always looked up. He’d heard various reasons people did it, and none of them made sense. “Activate verbal input interface.”
“Verbal interface activated.”
Hazard slowly spun the chair around, giving everyone on the bridge a good look.
“Computer, voice recognition. Who am I?”
“Voice recognition software identifies you as Henry Kane, also known as Hazard King.”
“Computer, what is my command authority?”
“In accordance with this system’s most recent update, conducted in the Lenin System, you are the emperor. You have Imperial-Level One authority.”
“Thank you, computer,” Hazard responded. He knew it wasn’t necessary to thank a computing system, but one never knew when they might take over everything, and he hoped they would remember that he’d always been polite to them when they did.
“I didn’t die in the Zenkarr System.”
Hazard again rotated the chair to scan the faces of the bridge team.
“But the attack left me gravely injured. Someone managed to stuff me in an escape pod and launch it before the final set of explosions that destroyed Superb’s flag bridge, but the earlier blasts had destroyed the escape pod’s launch tube. It jammed in the wreckage. Because of the damage to the bridge, no one noticed a missing pod.
“For two years I hovered near death in one of the pod’s stasis chambers. Workers cutting away wreckage, preparing Superb for a rebuild, found the pod only a few months ago.”
Hazard could see the shock wearing off the faces of the command team. It was being replaced by awe, which he wasn’t sure was a good thing.
“I realize a lot has happened while I was asleep. Some might even say I’m not really the emperor. My son is.”
Hazard waved a hand dismissively. “Those are all things others will help me clear up. But right now, I need your help to stop a rebellion. I’m hoping my surprise appearance will allow us to solve this issue without killing a lot of our fellow innocent comrades. Are you with me?”
Nothing happened. For a minute, Hazard and the bridge team stared at each other. It was Mary Thompson who broke the trance that engulfed everyone. She reached out and touched Hazard’s arm. He realized why she’d done it. The chief of staff needed physical confirmation that he was really there.
That simple action broke the dam. Within a minute, nearly all the watchstanders crowded around the command chair. Some just wanted to be near, to see their emperor up close. Nearly all touched him. Some gave hugs, and there were even a few kisses. For just a moment, the fleet briefly abandoned its iron discipline.
Surprisingly, Hazard was okay with it. A very private individual, having so many people crowding in and touching him would normally bother Hazard, but not this time. This was his gift to them for being loyal.
Hazard wasn’t sure how long it lasted. He tried, awkwardly, to return the gestures, but then Dorothy cleared her throat loudly.
“Time for us to get to work, people.”
Yes, it’s time to get back to work, Hazard thought.
* * *
Crux Star System
Empire of Britannia
Empire Date: Aug 1049
Hazard watched as the portal opened in front of Constellation.
“What transponder code are we using?” Hazard suddenly asked.
“We’re identifying ourselves as a United Federation Ship, sir,” Captain Mary Thompson answered, “Rear Admiral Evers in overall command.” Dorothy and her chief of staff stood at Thompson’s console to Hazard’s right.
Hazard nodded absently as he pulled up a virtual keyboard and began typing in commands. He was certain that word of him being alive had spread through the entire ship. That was okay, as long as it stayed on the ship. The commands he’d just entered would make sure it would stay a secret until he was ready to reveal the truth. All of Constellation’s outgoing comms now had to be routed through his command chair. It would be a pain in the ass, but it was necessary.
“As soon as sensors clear, get an update from Home Fleet.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” came the response from several watch stations. Hazard hid a smile at the response. Many of the bridge team were veterans and had served with Hazard over the many times he’d used Connie as his flagship. They knew how much he hated the honorifics Your Majesty or Your Highness when he was on the bridge of a ship.
“Do not tie into the local net.”
The last order drew glances from most of the watch team.
“I want to keep my presence a secret as long as possible.”
That got Hazard the nods of understanding he’d been hoping for. He shifted his gaze to the fighter control station and found it unmanned. He scanned the bridge and failed to find a space fighter pilot.
“Admiral, Captain, a moment, please?”
The two senior officers walked up to his command chair.
“Where’s the flight operations team? Where’s the CAG?”
“We don’t have one,” Mary Thompson said sheepishly. “It’s a scratch team, made up of the pilots who didn’t want to stay in Federation space.”
“Are they at least organized into squadrons?”
“Yes—sir,” Hazard heard Dorothy respond. He was certain she’d hesitated because she’d almost called him Hazard. “We organized them into four squadrons, just in case we ran into anything during the trip back to the Empire.”
“I want one squadron prepped for combat space patrol and three for an anti-ship strike.”
Dorothy waved for Captain Thompson to return to the chief of staff’s station. Once she’d left, she leaned in close.
“What’s your plan, Hazard?”
“To force the surrender of the rebel force, hopefully without killing too many innocent officers and spacers,” Hazard responded, then gave her a brief explanation of the plan. When he finished, she nodded.
“Astrogator, plot a course for the inner system, max acceleration. When you have it, send it to Connie’s CO and have him execute it.”
Dorothy listened as the commander repeated back the order, nodded to the man he’d gotten it right, then turned to her chief of staff.
“Captain Thompson, I want the four acting squadron commanders in the flag briefing room.”
“When, ma’am?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Dorothy looked at Hazard. “Anything else?”
“That’s a good start.”
“We just received a message from Admiral Kong,” the comms officer announced. “He wants to know why we’re here.”
Hazard pondered the request and how he should deal with it.
“Change our transponder to show we’re now an Imperial ship,” Hazard ordered.
“That will only make Gathii more curious,” Dorothy observed, “and make him believe he has authority over us.”
Hazard spun his chair to face the comms officer. “Inform the Home Fleet commander that Constellation is following special orders issued by the emperor.”
“Special orders from the emperor,” the lieutenant commander repeated back. “Yes, sir.”
“It has the benefit of being the truth,” Hazard said aloud, bringing chuckles from the bridge team. “We’ll see how long that satisfies him.”
“It won’t if he thinks Connie might have sided with the rebels,” Dorothy stated.
Hazard cocked a head toward the admiral’s office/stateroom door. “Gathii knows you. He’d never believe you’d go over to the Senate’s side, but he might not believe you’re on board and in charge. Send him a personal message. Reiterate that we’re on a secret mission from the emperor to defuse the situation.”
“Well, I’m not exactly in charge, but I am on board,” Dorothy responded and headed for the cabin.
Hazard watched her go, and as he did, he felt the battle carrier accelerate.
Now it’s the age-old story of space operations. Hurry up and wait.
It would take Constellation a day and a half to get within fighter range of the rebel fleet.
* * *
Gathii Kong sat in his command seat in the middle of the flag bridge. Nothing was going on, just another long, boring day of his fleet keeping the rebel forces bottled up in the Crux System. Since pinning on his first star, the silver one of a commodore, he’d made it a point to be on his flag bridge during first watch. It made him feel like he was still involved in the day-to-day operations of his force, as opposed to only being on the bridge when something was happening.
“Hyper portal,” the flag tactical officer reported. If the fleet commander was on the flag bridge, so was the first team. Senior staffers manned all the bridge watch stations.
Gathii had been reviewing reports on a handheld tablet, and his head snapped up to check the large tactical overlay currently displayed on the bridge’s forward viewscreen.
“It’s a big one, sir, and only five light minutes away.”
“It’s a battle carrier,” Jori Goodman, Kong’s chief of staff, announced.
“What the hell?” Gathii responded. “Which one? Ark Royal or Illustrious?”
“The portal radiation is still interfering with sensors. We can’t read her transponder yet.”
“That’s Constellation,” Tactical announced. Seeing both of his bosses turn to stare at him, the commander explained. “The designers modified Ark Royal and Illustrious from the original design. Connie carries twice the fighters and has twice the launch tubes.”
“It’s the Constellation,” Goodman confirmed a moment later, “and she’s squawking a Federation transponder code.”
“Admiral Goodman, get a message off to her, and find out what she’s doing here.”
“Yes, sir,” the chief of staff began, then stopped. “That’s interesting.”
“What?” Kong asked.
“An old friend is in charge over there. Dorothy Evers.”
Kong made a hand motion to his friend and chief of staff to come over.
“At first, I was concerned that the rebels might have gained control of one of our carriers. That would shift the balance of power significantly. But Dot would never join the rebel cause.”
“But we don’t know for certain that she’s actually over there,” Jori responded. “Just because the transponder says so…”
“Send the message asking why they’re here,” Kong said, “and get confirmation that Dorothy is in charge.”
“Aye, aye, sir.”
Five light minutes’ distance meant it would take at least ten minutes to get an answer from the carrier. At the fifteen-minute point, Admiral Kong became concerned. He was just about to act on that concern when his comms officer announced the receipt of a reply.
“Constellation is under direct orders from the emperor to enter the Crux System and force the rebel forces to surrender.”
“What do you think our young emperor is up to?” Kong asked Goodman.
“They’re headed into the system and accelerating,” Tactical reported.
“Why won’t they talk to me?” Kong asked his chief of staff in frustration as he walked up to his seat.
“I’d have to guess that it’s part of the emperor’s orders.”
“Deities, I hate politics.”
“We should send some ships with them,” Goodman said.
Kong cocked his head and thought about that.
“I agree, but who? The hyper-missile ships need to stay beyond the hyper limit so they can micro-jump to cut off anyone making a run for it.”
“Agreed, but we have plenty of conventional ships that can go.”
“Put together a force of two improved battleship squadrons and two supercruiser squadrons,” Kong ordered, “and us.”
Jori cocked an eyebrow. “All of the 6th Missile Dreadnought Squadron?”
“No, just Steadfast. The rest of the squadron will remain out here. Tell Captain Jackson that I’m leaving him in command of the rest of the Home Fleet.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Jori responded, then turned to leave.
“That is, after you cut the rest of the orders detaching our task force.”
“I’ll get right on that, sir,” Goodman said with a chuckle and headed back to his console.
* * *
“Admiral Kong is messaging again,” the comms officer announced.
“What’s he want?” Hazard asked.
Dorothy chuckled. “In order: one, that we slow down so the task force he’s leading can catch up. Two, that we fill him in on the plan. Three, that since he has to be the ranking officer, he should take command.”
“Sounds pretty needy to me,” Hazard stated. “What’s he bringing with him?”
“His missile dreadnought flagship, two improved battleship squadrons, and two supercruiser squadrons,” Mary Thompson answered.
“Having the extra ships along might come in handy,” Dorothy pointed out.
“If your plan works—” the admiral hesitated when Hazard gave her a hard look “—I mean, when your plan works, we could use the extra crews and Marines to take control of the surrendered ships.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think through that part of the plan very thoroughly,” Hazard admitted. “I was sorta focused on getting them to surrender.”
“I’m going to reference Gathii’s second point,” Dorothy said. “What is your plan?”
“Why, I’m going to ask them, very nicely, of course, to surrender,” Hazard responded. Somehow, he managed to say it with a straight face.
“You’re just going to ask them to surrender?” Mary Thompson asked, her surprise clear. “Damn, why didn’t I think of that?”
“Careful, Captain. You don’t know me well enough to mock me,” Hazard responded. There was an edge to the statement, even though he smiled at the chief of staff.
“Sir,” Dorothy said formally, “I don’t doubt some of the rebel captains may surrender because it’s you asking. But several of them don’t like you. In fact, since you ran their asses out of the fleet for incompetence, they detest you.”
“The key to the plan is who I ask. You’re correct, many of the captains won’t surrender, but if their crews find out what’s going on, they may want a change of leadership.”
“I read the reports. Admiral Kong sent general messages to all the ships, trying to convince the crews to do that,” the comms officer reported. “Just as you locked down Connie’s comms, those captains have done the same.”
“Then I’ll just have to unlock those comms. And—I think it’s time to start that process.”
Hazard pulled out a computer tablet and tapped some commands into it.
“Admiral, it’s time to change our transponder again.”
“To?”
“Imperial flagship.”
