Fear God and Dread Naught Read Free Page A

you chose to beard me in my den?”
     
    “The new aliens attacked us,” Henry said.  “They made no attempt to contact us; they made no attempt, either, to sound us out before opening fire.  Even the Tadpoles watched us from stealth before the war began.  But these new aliens?  Their behaviour is insane, which worries me.  Either they were waiting for us to enter their system before attacking or they merely attacked us on sight ...”
     
    “That’s nothing new,” the First Space Lord said, sharply.
     
    “No, it isn’t,” Henry agreed.  He’d spent most of the last month closeted with the xenospecialists as they struggled to make sense of what few scraps had been recovered from damaged or destroyed alien ships.  If politics - damnable politics - hadn't drawn him away, he would be there still.  “But we are at war, sir.  We need every capable officer we have ...”
     
    He leaned forward.  “And destroying a young officer’s career for saving her ship - and a dozen others - is a dangerous mistake,” he added.  “What sort of message does that send to the navy?  Or have you been off the command deck for too long?”
     
    “ Touché ,” the First Space Lord said.  He nodded, slowly.  “It will be done as you suggest, Henry.  And I suggest” - his voice hardened - “that you don’t speak to me like that again.”
     
    “Of course, sir,” Henry said.  Why would he?  He’d won the argument.  “It was a pleasure meeting you again.”
     
    “I’m sure it was,” the First Space Lord said.  He rose, terminating the meeting.  “My aide will show you back to your shuttle, Henry.”
     
    “Thank you,” Henry said.  He rose, too.  “And you will tell Susan - Captain Onarina - the good news in person?”
     
    “I suppose I should,” the First Space Lord said.  The hatch opened; his aide hurried into the chamber.  “Be seeing you, Henry.”
     
    “I’m sure you will,” Henry said.  He shook his former commander’s hand, then turned to the hatch.  “But right now you have a war to fight.”

Chapter Two
     
    The chamber was a prison.  A comfortable prison, to be sure, but still a prison.
     
    Susan Onarina - who wasn't sure if she was a captain or a commander or on the verge of being put in front of a court martial board - lay back on the comfortable bed and sighed, heavily.  The suite was luxurious, easily more luxurious than her cabin on Vanguard , but there was a lock on the hatch and - she suspected - an armed guard on the far side.  She could amuse herself, between debriefings that often became interrogations, by watching hundreds of movies and television episodes stored in the room’s processor, taking long baths with seemingly unlimited water supplies or writing letters she knew would pass through a dozen hands before they reached their destinations, if they ever did.  But she couldn't leave.
     
    She sighed again as she tried to force herself to relax.  It had been a month, a month when the only human company she’d encountered had been her guards and a number of high-ranking officers, none of whom had bothered to give their names before launching into the same questions, repeated over and over again.  She wasn't sure if they were desperately trying to pin something - anything - on her or if they were merely stalling for time, unsure just how to proceed.  She’d tried pointing out that regulations entitled her to both a clear statement of her position and legal advice, if she wished it, but they’d ignored her. It suggested that her fate, whatever it would be, wasn't going to be decided on Titan Base.
     
    Giving up on relaxing, she sat upright and swung her legs over the side of the bed, dropping neatly to the deck.  Titan’s low gravity had been a shock at first - she wasn't used to working in low-gee environments - but she’d gotten used to it, after a few embarrassing incidents when she’d just arrived.  Striding over to the middle of the chamber,