Nemesis of Mars, page 28
“I believe…seventeen of our people were killed during Nemesis’s takeover and the liberation of the ship,” she said softly.
“Yes,” he confirmed. “Including myself, there are two hundred and thirty-one members of the trials crew still…present.”
“And how many of them are we keeping, Commander?” Roslyn asked.
“The medical team has recommended forty-six medical retirements,” Beck told her. “One hundred and eight are being placed on indefinite medical leave, but the doctors think that, with therapy and treatment, they will be back to normal in under a year.
“Fifty-two, like Dr. Niven, have been recommended to take short stints of leave, between two and eight weeks.”
“Even those personnel will need to be transferred from their postings on Thorn and replaced,” Roslyn noted. “That leaves us…twenty-five.”
“Yes, sir,” Beck confirmed.
“In this office, in times like this, Matthias, please call me Roslyn,” she instructed. “We don’t have time tonight for formality.”
“As you wish…Roslyn.”
“Captain Yang should be promoted to Major by tomorrow,” she told Beck. “I’m prepared to dump collecting our Marine battalion primarily on him. We have explicit authority to poach anyone we need from anywhere in the system.
“Anyone who argues is to be referred to the Prince-Chancellor.”
Beck chuckled.
“That does make it a bit easier,” he admitted. “As does…”
He trailed off and she gave him a questioning look.
“Matthias?”
“Permission to speak freely and off the record?” he asked.
“Implicitly already given,” she told him. “Generally, that goes with the alcohol. But yes, granted.”
“I had a long conversation with Vice Admiral Kawaguchi when I was assigned to this post,” Beck said quietly. “He…advised me that you were basically a political appointee. You’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time and lived, and that was what had earned you your medals.
“Your promotion was because it would look bad to hold back someone with three Medals of Valor, but you’d been sent to the Academy to keep you out of trouble. The only reason you were given the command, according to him, was because of your connections to the Royal Family and the Prince-Chancellor.”
“I…see,” Roslyn murmured. She’d wondered, if she was being honest, how the formal orders for command of a ship under Kawaguchi’s authority had gone astray without the Yards’ military commander noticing.
But in the scenario Beck was laying out, it would almost make sense to have the future XO run the trials. The Navy wouldn’t want the “political appointee” to break something, after all.
“The Admiral was, of course, entitled to his opinion,” she continued. “One also hesitates to speak ill of the dead—especially as I have a generally positive impression of Admiral Kawaguchi.”
“There are and will always be officers who look at people promoted through blood and ash and miss the price of the medals and the insignia,” her executive officer told her. “Kawaguchi won’t be the last to dismiss you, Roslyn.
“But to give him credit, my instructions were to run the ship for you and to ease you into actually running her over time,” Beck said. “He didn’t think you were incapable. Just…not ready.”
“That you are telling me this, Matthias, suggests that you do not share his belief.”
“The officer Vice Admiral Kawaguchi believed you to be would not have led the assault on Thorn’s bridge,” he told her. “She would not have shot me.”
Roslyn winced.
“I’m not going to apologize for that,” she said. “But I do regret your injuries.”
“I don’t.”
The office was quiet for a second as she processed that.
“Won’t stop me bringing it up,” he continued with a chuckle, “but you did exactly what you had to do. At that moment, under the control of Orpheus-Ultima, I was not a loyal officer of the Royal Martian Navy.
“Now that I am once again a loyal officer, I am glad you disabled me. And, frankly, relieved you didn’t shoot me with a real gun.”
“We will deal with people who misestimate me as we have to,” Roslyn told him. “And I promise not to shoot them with real guns, either.”
“I’ll take more of that brandy as a starting payment,” Beck said. “Because the rest of this conversation might be less personally stressful, but what a mess it’s going to be.”
“Master Chief Kovalyow will be joining us shortly,” she said. “She didn’t shoot anyone in the face, but she still gets brandy.”
She poured another careful measure into Beck’s snifter and passed it back to him.
“And this, Roslyn, is how I know you’re Tau Cetan.”
“No, mostly you know that by how I drink coffee,” Roslyn said with a grin. “All right, XO, we’re short eleven hundred and forty personnel and we are launching a long-range, extended-duration cruise to pursue a stolen Navy ship.
“I’m hoping you have some thoughts?”
“You are the Captain,” he pointed out.
“And I have part of a plan and I’m hoping you have suggestions for the other parts,” she said.
“I have a list of Chiefs and Petty Officers I would suggest we recruit,” Beck said instantly. “I have names and suggestions for junior personnel as well, but I am solidly comfortable on the Chiefs and POs—though, of course, we’ll want to run that list by Chief Kovalyow.
“I also checked—as I assume you have—and of your former officers, only Lieutenant Commander Lee Andrews is in Tau Ceti. He is serving a tour as executive officer aboard one of the Yards’ fortresses.
“We can co-opt him easily enough, I think.”
Lieutenant Andrews had been the assistant tactical officer aboard Voice of the Forgotten before the ship had been wrecked. He’d got a medal and a promotion out of that mess—like most of the survivors.
“Agreed. Andrews is a good officer; he’ll leap at tactical on a cruiser instead of XO on a fort that goes nowhere,” Roslyn noted. She’d double-check, but she doubted Beck had missed anyone.
There was a quiet knock at the open door, and Roslyn looked up and gestured Kovalyow in.
“Patience, come in. Grab a drink.”
“I can count on my fingers the number of times you’ve served me alcohol, sir,” Kovalyow said calmly. “And at least one of them was when you told me you’d found evidence of a multi-student cheating ring.”
“We ended up expelling seven students. Alcohol seemed like a good idea,” Roslyn agreed. “We have twenty-five crew, Patience. Twenty-eight, I suppose, including me, you and Baars.
“And we’re supposed to ship out after Rose in four days.”
The Master Chief nodded slowly as she took a seat and accepted a glass of brandy.
“I see that the Navy—or the Prince-Chancellor, at least—continues to hold near-infinite faith in your abilities, sir.”
“This is an informal meeting, Patience. Call me Roslyn,” Roslyn instructed. “Matthias has an initial list for a good chunk of our officers and noncoms, but we want your take on both.”
She transferred the file to both of her two subordinates’ wrist-comps and to the wallscreen.
“I think the Chiefs and our middle management officers are going to be our biggest issue,” she told them. “If we get the Chiefs onside, they’ll tell us who we can draft for the junior noncoms and enlisted. Junior officers, well.”
She grinned.
“I have a plan there. I did just teach the last three graduating classes at the Academy. I need, I take.”
Kovalyow chuckled.
“Sometimes, Roslyn, it’s very obvious you aren’t from a military family.”
“Oh?”
“Need is practically irrelevant. You’re an academy instructor transferring to a major command. The students you’re going to ask for? They were always going to be yours.”
“That’s how the best of our larval officers get their education truly finished,” Beck agreed.
“Good to know,” Roslyn conceded. “We might need to pull some ungraduated students on early commission, too. Four days, people, is not a lot of time to put together a crew.”
“Well, between the three of us, I think we can manage it,” Kovalyow said.
“Because let’s be honest, the Navy doesn’t have infinite faith in you on your own, Roslyn.” Beck pointed out. “They have faith in your skills and your command team. Which, right now, is the three of us.”
He gestured around the room.
“And I, for one, am damn sure we can make this happen.”
Thank you so much for reading Nemesis of Mars. The next book in the Starship’s Mage series is due in 2024.
You may also like:
Humanity’s rise from fresh conquest to key vassal of an interstellar alien empire: The Terran Privateer (Kindle Link), Book 1 in the Duchy of Terra series. There is also a preview chapter at the end of this ebook.
See the other paths taken by the crew of the Blue Jay: Interstellar Mage (Kindle Link), Book 1 in the Starship’s Mage: Red Falcon Series
From nobody to nightmare, an action-packed urban fantasy: Changeling’s Fealty (Kindle Link), Book 1 in the Changeling Blood Series
For all the Glynn Stewart news, announcements, and more, visit GlynnStewart.com
THE NEXT BOOK IN THE STARSHIP’S MAGE SERIES
Coming early 2024, Roslyn Chambers pursues Nemesis into Reejit space.
also
In Fall 2023, Kiera Alexander embarks on a solo adventure! In Mage-Queen’s Thief: A Starship’s Mage Novella, read the story of a kidnapping attempt gone wrong, set before the events of Nemesis of Mars.
For information and updates on the Starship’s Mage Universe, visit GlynnStewart.com.
OTHER BOOKS BY GLYNN STEWART
Humanity’s rise from fresh conquest to key vassal of an interstellar alien empire
Duchy of Terra Series Information | Book 1 on Kindle - The Terran Privateer
Transhuman starfighter pilots fight for liberty
Castle Federation Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Space Carrier Avalon
Rebels flung to the other side of the galaxy to build a civilization, or die if they fail
Exile Trilogy Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Exile
Betrayed transhuman starfighter pilots turn mercenary to fight greater galactic evils
Scattered Stars: Conviction Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Conviction
Starship merchants getting in way over their heads
Scattered Stars: Evasion Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Evasion
Witness the Commonwealth’s downfall and James Tecumseh’s rebellion
Castle Federation Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Admiral’s Oath
Merchant spy space fantasy
Starship’s Mage Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Interstellar Mage
Peacekeeping in the power vacuum of an alien empire’s downfall
Peacekeepers of Sol Series Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Raven’s Peace
A mercenary’s interplanetary revenge in a fragmenting solar system (with Terry Mixon)
Vigilante Universe Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Heart of Vengeance
Techno-thriller urban fantasy with worldbreaking consequences
ONSET Series Information | Book 1 on Kindle - ONSET: To Serve and Protect
From nobody to nightmare, an action-packed urban fantasy
Changeling Blood Series Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Changeling’s Fealty
Six shooters and blood magic in this cowboy fantasy adventure
Teer & Kard Series Information | Book 1 on Kindle - Wardtown
Standalone Novels
Icebreaker: A Fantasy Naval Thriller
City in the Sky
Children of Prophecy
Standalone Novellas
Excalibur Lost
Balefire: A Dark Fantasy Novella
PREVIEW: RAVEN’S PEACE BY GLYNN STEWART
Enjoyed Nemesis of Mars? Try the post-war gunship diplomacy space opera Raven’s Peace!
Ten thousand stars, once chained, taste freedom
An eternal empire, once undefeated, falls to pieces
An alliance, once united, now lacks a common foe
War was hard enough. Peace may be impossible
For seventeen years, Colonel Henry Wong and the United Planets Space Force have fought the Kenmiri Empire. They drove the alien overlords back from humanity’s borders into their own stars and found allies among the Kenmiri’s slaves and subjects.
Now the war is over. A great Gathering has been called of the allies who fought the war, but they only ever shared a common enemy. With the Kenmiri in retreat, a thousand new agendas are revealed.
The United Planets Alliance wants peace above all else. Their allies want everything from new homes to new empires – and all too many of them are prepared to do anything to achieve their goals!
1
The battlecruiser shook around him and Henry Wong recognized the dream. It was a familiar nightmare now, which helped rob it of the strength it had had months before.
“We have a grav-shield blowthrough,” a seemingly faceless noncom reported across the warship’s bridge. “That dreadnought hit us dead-on.”
“We’re going to get shot to pieces!” That figure had a face. Commander Kveta Vela wasn’t that pale and sunken-eyed in reality, though. The dream warped Henry’s old navigator into a figure of nightmare.
It fit there.
“The shield will hold,” Henry heard himself bark. With a moment of practiced effort, he separated himself from the dream-him.
He’d learned he couldn’t stop the dream, but months of therapy allowed him to disconnect from it.
The man in the center of the bridge of the battlecruiser Panther was less warped than the officers and crew around him. Tall and narrow-shouldered, Colonel Henry Wong was a beanpole of a man with short-cropped black hair, dark skin and his father’s dark Chinese eyes.
The dream didn’t distort him much as his old ship dove through the maelstrom. The figure of dream-Henry was focusing on the set of massive screens giving the bridge a view of the world around the United Planets Space Force battlecruiser.
Henry himself didn’t need to look. The arrangement of forces in the Set-Sixteen System was burned into his brain, even asleep. His perception was still pinned to his dream self’s, though, and he was dragged to it.
Set-Sixteen was a Kenmiri provincial capital, deep on the far side of the Empire from the United Planets. The Kenmiri hadn’t been expecting an attack and their defense fleet was weaker than it should have been. That fleet was still five full dreadnought battle groups and the UPSF’s Vesheron allies were getting hammered.
Panther’s grav-shields and weapons could turn the tide of that fight—but that wasn’t their mission, and the birdlike starship plunged through the Kenmiri lines.
“There,” Henry’s avatar said sharply. “That ship. Broos, confirm.”
Commander Broos Van Agteren wasn’t a normal part of Panther’s crew. He was from United Planets Intelligence, their handler for Operation Golden Lancelot.
In person, he was a squat and dark-haired man with a ready smile and a brilliant glint to his eyes. In the dream, he was a distorted goblin, every aspect of his features twisted and torn to make him into the monster of Henry’s own subconscious.
“Confirmed,” Van Agteren told him. “That’s the evacuation ship for the Kenmorad. The queen and her consorts will be aboard.”
The ship was the size of one of the dreadnoughts pounding the Vesheron ships behind Panther but lacked their devastating main guns. The evacuation ship had one purpose and one purpose only: to evacuate the Kenmorad population of Set-Sixteen if they felt the planet was threatened.
A Kenmorad breeding sect could repopulate an entire planet of Kenmiri drones in a few years. They could create more breeding sects, more drones…more Kenmiri.
The Kenmiri couldn’t reproduce without the Kenmorad.
“Ser, that’s the last one. We can’t kill her!”
Lieutenant Colonel Emil Tyson had been Panther’s executive officer, Henry’s right-hand man and lubricant who kept a battlecruiser working in the face of the enemy. The redheaded Irishman hadn’t raised any complaints on the day. They hadn’t known.
“Stand by all missiles and prep the main gun,” Henry’s avatar ordered, as if Tyson hadn’t spoken. “Vela, get us in hard and fast.”
Panther lunged across the void in a quarter of the time she had in real life. Suddenly, it was the moment of truth, the evacuation ship’s escorts making a suicide charge at the battlecruiser as Panther dove toward her prey.
“She’s the last one, ser,” Tyson repeated, the avatar of Henry’s subconscious. The one that knew what he’d done, even if he hadn’t then. “If we kill that ship, we commit genocide. We end a species.”
Henry hadn’t known the full scope of Golden Lancelot. He wasn’t sure if anyone aboard Panther had—he knew that Van Agteren hadn’t known when they fired. He suspected the Intel officer had guessed…but hadn’t realized that the breeding sect they were firing on was the last one left.
“Ignore the escorts,” dream-Henry barked. “Target the evac ship with everything. Fire!”
It had taken dozens of missiles and multiple hits from the main gun to take out the evacuation ship. In his dreams, however, there was only the single gravity-driver round that had finished her off. It flashed across space and detonated, turning itself into a shotgun blast of superheated plasma.
