Relv paced back and forth inside the crane control room anxiously. He had agitated loudly and boldly for such a long time to get a place in the fleet and had exhausted every official avenue along the way without success. To be invited suddenly to a private meeting with the Fleet Admiral had caught him completely off guard leaving him stunned and ill-prepared. Then to find out that he was meeting at such short notice at such a late hour and in a very unofficial place filled him with foreboding. He wondered whether he might find himself in an isolation cell before the night was done and not let out until the fleet actually left...or worse.
He stopped pacing for a moment and stared out of the observation window that stretched across the entire length of the control room. The giant boom stretched out for over a kilometre into the vast orbital construction hub. It was idle as was the rest of this part of the ship yard with the recent completion of its latest battle cruiser. Unlike the majority of the other battle cruisers, which had been manufactured as giant glass cannons in the aid of speed, this one was much more bulky and heavily armoured.
Nicknamed Brutes by their builders there were only a handful made due to the precious additional manufacturing time and resources required. By all accounts they were going to pack a hell of a punch with the addition of a dark matter beam generator to complement the normal full array of anti-missile defences and other more conventional energy weapons.
Relv pushed his face up against the glass not unlike a child looking into a candy store window and with about the same level of unadulterated desire. What he would not give to be allowed onto the crew on one of those!
His appraisal of the warship was interrupted by the hiss of the airlock behind him. He turned around and immediately stood at attention and threw a picture perfect and practiced salute.
"At ease Lieutenant Commander," ordered Fleet Admiral Mafex as he entered ahead of Relv's own unit Commander and two armed MP's. Fleet Admiral Mafex was in his late sixties and chronologically 20 years older than Relv even though he was technically born a hundred or so years earlier. He was the most renown and experienced military officer on all of Vaslus and he was a long term spacer.
He had been handed overall command of the fleet from construction to strategy and ultimately to battle. Relv had not met him in person before and was a little shocked at the depth of the worry lines on his face. Despite all his experience handling local disputes on colony worlds nothing of this scale and importance had even been tried before and the pressure was showing right through the stern and confident facade that he was trying for.
"You requested to see me Fleet Admiral?"
"It was not a request it was an order," stated the Fleet Admiral firmly as he sat down in one of the crane operator stations and gestured for Relv to do the same. He snapped his fingers and Captain Ardel, Relv's commanding officer, quickly produced his military file in the form of a holographic slate.
Fleet Admiral Mafex swiped his finger in the air and scrolled casually through the holographic pages. As he did so his brow furrowed deeply.
"You have an impeccable training record Lieutenant Commander, but you are also an agitator. If it were left up to me I'd throw you into the brig and leave you there until the fleet had jumped out. However...it seems that one of your fellow survivors on the Abarath is now in a position with enough influence and political power to have me ordered to allow you the opportunity to fight in my fleet."
"I promise you I will not let you down sir," replied Relv, unable to suppress a smile.
"Don't get too smug Lieutenant Commander I didn't say you were in yet. Welcome to your job interview and there is just one question I have for you. Think carefully before you answer," said the Fleet Admiral as he leaned in closer to Relv until they were eye to eye. "Why do you want to fight?"
"There were just over three hundred thousand people sent to Egra and I was one of 6 survivors. I saw firsthand the destruction of our fleet and of my ship. If not for the heroic and selfless actions of my Jump Master I would be dead too. Tell me, what would you do in my place Fleet Admiral?"
"You have been at this for almost thirty years. Harbouring a need for revenge that long can send a man mad and I am not inclined to have mad men in my fleet. They tend to do irrational things and endanger everyone else around them."
"Please do not misunderstand my single mindedness as a need for retribution. You are correct the shock and anger of what happened passed away long ago. What drives me is this one chilling thought that became very clear to me as I sat slowly freezing to death and waiting to run out of nitrogen in the warp core of the Abarath. In our entire history of space exploration and colonisation we have never encountered another intelligent civilization and when we do its first thoughts are not to communicate, but to obliterate. I mean what type of race does that? They have left us no other choice except to fight back. It may be the only form of communication they understand. I want my life to mean something. If I cannot explore to ensure the future of my people then I want to fight for it."
Fleet Admiral Mafex rocked back in the control chair and stroked his multicoloured head plumaged. He stared out at the battle cruiser anchored in front of them and shook his head.
"I don't like being manipulated into things and I certainly do not like you Lieutenant Commander. Your training record is impeccable, but your service record had better be a step higher again because the minute you step out of line or screw up I will gladly have you cleaning latrines!"
"Understood Fleet Admiral," replied Relv with a sharp salute and a barely suppressed grin.
"Hand him his orders Captain," said the Fleet Admiral reluctantly as he stood to leave.
Captain Ardel tossed a holographic slate unceremoniously at Relv. Relv opened it and read it with some trepidation, half expecting to be assigned to lead a cleaning crew or some other demeaning role they could think up for him. His brows furrowed in confusion as he re-read the orders.
"Excuse me Fleet Admiral. I don't understand. It says I am to report to the Abarath immediately."
Fleet Admiral Mafex was halfway out the door and stopped. He turned to Relv and frowned. "You have a problem with your orders?"
"Is this a joke? I mean the Abarath. I have made it my priority to know every single ship in the fleet and its mission and there is no such ship."
"That's because until today there wasn't. I present to you the Abarath," said the Fleet Admiral as he waved his hand grandiosely towards the window behind Relv.
Relv turned and stared at the battle cruiser. It was more than he could have hoped for and he was momentarily gob smacked.
"Who...who do I report to?" he said turning back to the Fleet Admiral who drew a small box from his pocket and tossed it to Relv.
"Read your orders again, they say report to the Abarath Commander. Your crew has already been picked and will be assembled in the docking area at six hundred hours tomorrow morning. You will get more orders then."
Relv opened the box to see his gold Commander's insignia. He was completely stunned and all he could think to do was salute the Fleet Admiral as he and the others left. After the airlock closed behind them Relv pressed up against the window and stared at his ship. He shouted so loudly from pure joy that he half expected the window glass to shatter and to be sucked out into space.
"A long time ago Tanlen you told me your future was all sor
ted and I had to worry about mine, well now I am going to make them worry about theirs!" he thought with maniacal satisfaction.