The Honour of the Knights, Stephen J. Sweeney [reading women .txt] 📗

They've been shifting people over to the Temper system a lot lately. When did you actually get back?”

“Just this morning. I received a request from Commodore Parks to return to duty yesterday.”

“That was quick,” Estelle said. “You must have been pretty keen to get back here.”

Dodds started to saying something, then stopped walking.

Estelle studied him for a moment as he looked about. “What?”

Dodds sighed, then shook his head. “But I had to, didn't I? I have to make amends.”

“Hmmmmm,” Estelle scowled for a moment.

“I'm being serious, Estelle. Hardly a day goes by where I don't think about what happened.”

Estelle said nothing, but looked about the campus. She soon turned back to him, now appearing a little sympathetic. “How do you plan to do it?”

“I don't know,” Dodds shook his head again. “I'll find a way.”

“Well, if you ask me you could try just following orders.”

So I keep being told, Dodds thought.

Estelle said nothing more on the subject and the pair continued walking. They both knew that, whilst he was a good pilot, Dodds had a tendency to be reckless, and it was that recklessness which from time to time led to undesirable consequences.

Estelle began to point out some of the buildings on the campus: the housing blocks for the on site staff; a number of research buildings that they were not authorised to enter; a large lecture theatre, where they would attend the ATAF presentation; and a few large, square buildings that housed the simulators.

“Anything interesting happen whilst I've been away?” Dodds asked.

Estelle chuckled. “You mean aside from what happened to Dragon?”

“What happened to it?”

Estelle stopped walking. “You mean no-one's told you?”

Dodds' initial belief that Estelle was about to regale him with some useless trivia about the enormous battleship was quashed by the look on the woman's face. “Told me what?”

“It's been stolen! It hasn't been seen or heard from for months!”

“Dragon? The battleship?” he looked at her sceptically for a moment. “You're being serious, aren't you?”

Estelle nodded. “Didn't Parks tell you?”

“He seemed... distracted,” Dodds said, remembering how, after the two had departed the waiting room, Parks had seemed eager to return to other business, saying very little. “He didn't speak to me about anything other than getting through my medical and getting me down here. What happened?”

“It disappeared a few weeks after your court-mar... after you left,” Estelle said. Dodds noted how she doubled back and skirted around the touchy subject of his court-martial. Though she had not been on trial herself, he knew the many hours sitting in the courtroom, delivering evidence and being cross examined, was not an experience she had relished, wanted reminding of, or ever wanted to go through again.

“It just disappeared?” Dodds said. “That ship's not exactly small or defenceless. Did someone just take it out of dry dock?”

“It happened in Independent space, near the Independent-Imperial border. From what I've heard it was a hijacking.”

“What the hell was it doing all the way out there?” Dodds asked.

“No-one knows. Seems that information is classified,” Estelle said.

They came to a tall, circular fountain, water spraying out of the top. Estelle and Dodds joined a few people sat around it, enjoying a mid-morning break from their work, reading and chatting to one another. The two CSN pilots made sure they put a good amount of space either side of them so they could talk with a little more privacy.

“How do they know Dragon was hijacked and nothing else happened to it? Were there any witnesses or survivors?” Dodds asked.

“Only one: Commodore Hawke. He was captain at the time. And no, Dodds, he wasn't involved,” Estelle put in, as Dodds roll his eyes at the mention of the man's name. “They found him drifting through Confederation space in an escape pod, a week after they lost contact with the ship. The pod didn't have any food, water or medical supplies, and the stasis capsules had been smashed up. Hawke himself had been badly wounded and suffering from blood loss. He was lucky to be alive.”

“No-one else survived?” Dodds asked, mystified. Though he had never laid eyes on the vessel himself, having only seen it in archive footage and photographs, he knew enough about the Confederation Stellar Navy's flagship to know that the event of its theft was quite worrisome. Dragon was the largest and most powerful starship in existence, second to none. Owing to its size, firepower, starfighter and troop capacities, its mere arrival within a battle zone had been known to cause the opposing forces to make a hasty retreat or even surrender. Attempting to fight it was usually never worthwhile. It was so heavily armoured and shielded that the best defence against it was to be nowhere near it. If a battle was unavoidable, other capital ships, such as frigates and carriers, stood a much better chance of survival due to their own increased capabilities, though it would still be a somewhat one-sided battle. Dodds knew of only one other ship that stood a chance of taking on Dragon: Minotaur, flagship of the Imperial Naval Forces.

“No, there weren't any other survivors, he was the only one,” Estelle said, keeping her voice low.

“Did Hawke tell anyone what happened?”

“He says he can't remember much before waking up in the escape pod. He recalls a large boarding party appearing out of nowhere and storming all the major divisions simultaneously. Dragon was operating with a full complement, but they were completely overcome. Hawke believes they were in jump space at the time, so no-one is sure just how accurate his story is.”

“They were in jump? No, that's... well, it's not impossible, but it's extremely dangerous. They could have stranded both themselves and Dragon in the middle of nowhere.”

Estelle nodded. “I find some of it hard to believe.”

“You're not the only one. Exactly how did they get aboard in the first place? Who were these people?” They spoke for a while, discussing the possibilities, none of which Estelle had not already considered herself. They concluded that it may have been a faction from the Imperial civil war, though given Dragon's almost legendary status throughout the galaxy, even that seemed rather far-fetched.

After sometime, Estelle suggested to Dodds that they should leave the fountain. They started walking along the brick pathways, Dodds noting the sizeable wall that ran the entire perimeter of the campus, effectively shutting it off from the outside world. Though he had only been at the research centre a little under an hour, Dodds had counted no less than ten pairs of armed personnel patrolling the grounds. The young pilot said nothing as they continued to walk, still trying to put together the pieces of a large and complicated puzzle.

“Would have made your day if Commodore Hawke hadn't returned either, wouldn't it?” Estelle commented.

“You can't say you're very fond of the man yourself,” Dodds replied. Estelle had had her own brushes with Hawke, either as a result of her own actions or because of those under her command. Owing to her nature she was much more adept at handling such meetings, although those methods quite often came under many variations of “Yes, sir!”, “No, sir!”, “Sorry, sir!”, and “It won't happen again, sir!”.

“I find it's best to try and stay on the right side of him,” Estelle said.

“Which side would that be?” Dodds enquired.

“Just follow the chain of command, Dodds.” Estelle's voice was close to taking on a tired and irritable tone. “And please; don't either you or Enrique start leading each other astray. This is a fantastic opportunity we've been granted and we should all act like true professionals.”

Dodds decided it was time to let the topic lie. “So, what's the new guy like?”

“Chaz?”

“Yeah. I spoke to him before you arrived. He seems a little... distant?”

“He's very quiet,” Estelle mused. Dodds got the impression she was still trying to figure the man out for herself. “He's a good pilot, not as good as you or Kelly, but he still gels well with the team. He used to fly with a group called the Copper Beetles. His team have been shuffled around. They assigned him to the Knights and the others were transferred to Earth.”

“Guess I'll get to know him better during the training then,” Dodds remarked.

Estelle shook her head. “Wouldn't bet on it. He's been with us for three weeks and that's all I've managed to get out of him. He's nice though, if a bit grumpy. Likes to read, too.”

The pair had walked a fair way and Estelle suggested they head back. Dodds asked Estelle what she knew about the ATAF project, but it seemed that her knowledge on the subject was as good as his.

* * *

Returning to the dormitory, they found that Enrique, Kelly and Chaz were back in their original places. The accommodation of the campus was better than Dodds was used to: the dormitory was bright and spacious and, from the looks of things, sported much cleaner and improved washing facilities. He grabbed his bag from the bed and began to sort through his belonging, pulling things out and dumping them onto the mattress.

Estelle cleared her throat in an authoritative manner. She shuffled through the papers in her hands and then addressed the group as a whole,

“Okay everyone, listen up. We've still got a lot to do before tomorrow morning. The simulator results are extremely positive and we're all doing much better than we were yesterday on the advanced courses, but there's still room for improvement. We can get times down, minimise ally and ammunition losses... Kelly, could you stop writing for just one second until I have finished speaking, please?”

Kelly put down her digital journal, pushing it down the bed and out of reach for good measure, before giving the first lieutenant her undivided attention. Dodds feigned an irritation around his eye, looking away from his team mates as he saw Estelle's domineering side starting to creep in. Although Estelle liked to treat those in her command as friends, she was never afraid to pull rank to get the point across. Things had not changed much with her over the past five months either then.

“After lunch and the presentation, I want us to go back over simulation courses A4, A9, A15 and A19...” Estelle continued.

Enrique groaned and looked to the windows, at the warm afternoon sun that was streaming on through.

“We're not here on vacation, Enrique,” Estelle snapped at the man. “In fact, Dodds, you need to get on those sims ASAP to work out the rust. Enrique will go with you and give you a hand setting up.”

Enrique stifled another groan and pulled himself to his feet. “Come on, man, let's go,” he indicated to Dodds as he walked over to join him. Estelle flourished a red pen.

“I've not been over everything,” she said, tapping the papers. “But I'm sure after I'm done with these we'll be able to...”

“I'll go, too,” Chaz announced, swinging his legs off his bunk and jumping down. “I've never flown with Dodds before, so the sooner I see what he can do, the better we can exploit our strengths and cover our weaknesses.”

Estelle held a bemused look as the big man hurried towards Dodds.

“Yeah, good point,” Kelly said. “I think that having more familiar wingmates will help Dodds to get back up to speed much sooner than... uh... unfamiliar ones.” She hopped off her bed, and squeezed herself between Enrique and Chaz to get to Dodds, taking one of the man's arms and herding him out the quarters. “No time to waste now!”

Behind them, Enrique and Chaz hurried along and the four bustled out the dormitory, past Estelle who watched them go with a flabbergasted expression on her face.

“I'll meet you in the simulation suite just before lunch,” Estelle called after them as they disappeared down the corridor, towards the exit of the housing block.

“No, don't worry, we'll meet you in the refectory,” Kelly called back without turning around. “That was a close one,” she said in a low voice.

“Yeah, tell me about,” Enrique said, then turned to Dodds. “Seriously, mate, I can't believe she used to be your girlfriend.”

IV

— May the Best Man Win —

The simulator suite to which Dodds was escorted was contained within a large square glass building, its central expansive floor home to a large number of the systems. Each simulator itself was self contained, to guard against any visual distractions. The interior of each was an exact replica of the designated craft, with readouts and consoles all working as expected.

For the most part, the shiny white suite floor was devoid of anything except for the modules, whilst a high gallery of observation rooms and offices ran around the perimeter. Staff milled around inside, performing various tasks. After explaining their requirements to a staff member, Enrique and