Ark Royal

Chapter Twenty-Eight

“So,” Rose said. “What do you think of our chances?”

Kurt considered it. She'd come to his office, they’d fucked, they’d showered… and every instinct told him to get her out of his office before someone caught them together. Every time he was called to a meeting, he wondered if the senior officers knew. But he knew Rose and he needed to talk… and besides, he didn't want to chase her out. They were supposed to be working together, after all.

“I wish I knew,” he said. Every war the Royal Navy had simulated had involved purely human opponents, with both sides aware of the tramline networks reaching through their territories. Now… tramlines could be predicted, to a certain extent, but there was no way of knowing what might lie ahead of Ark Royal as she made her way through enemy territory. “Too little data to calculate.”

Rose smiled. “You don't think this is a lucky ship?”

Kurt shrugged. They'd won their first engagement through surprise and superior firepower, the second when the enemy had broken off and the third… technically, they’d fled the battlefield, after giving the enemy a bloody nose. Luck had played a large role in their success, he had to agree, but he preferred careful planning. Planning tended to be more reliable, in the long run.

“I think we need to keep ahead of the bastards,” he said. Whatever damage they’d done at New Russia, the aliens would still be in command of the territory — and priming themselves for a drive on Earth. Or maybe head around the edge of human space and attack one of the other settled worlds. There was no way to know what they might have in mind. “And I also think we have to concentrate on our planning.”

Rose gave him a bewitching glance. It was funny how he could no longer think of her as anything other than beautiful. And she was beautiful. But dangerous, so dangerous… Molly was comforting, when Rose burned like a candle alight at both ends. And yet… how long had it been since he and Molly had made love, even before his recall to duty?

“Planning,” she repeated. One hand reached for her tunic, threatening to pull it open to reveal her breasts. “Isn't there something else you would like to do?”

“I’m not a young man any longer,” Kurt reminded her, embarrassed. “I need time to recharge my batteries before doing it again.”

Rose smirked. “And there I was thinking that you were behind the stimulant shortage,” she said. She went on at his questioning glance. “Someone — probably more than one person — has been talking the doctor into issuing stimulants. The doctor won’t say who.”

“Not me,” Kurt said. There were warnings about using stimulants for sexual pleasure. In the long term, they could create dependency or reduce potency. But if someone believed that the entire ship was doomed, they might not care about the long-term effects. “I still need to recharge naturally.”

He looked down at the flight rosters, although — in truth — they’d been over the same thing several times already. It provided an excuse to meet in private, yet it had long since worn out its usefulness. But the only alternative was to draw up new training simulations, which they would then have to fly out with their pilots… angrily, he scowled down at the list of names. Surely his life hadn't been so complicated before he'd started an illicit affair?

Rose leaned forward and placed her hand on his knee. “Thinking about your children?”

Kurt flushed. He hadn't been thinking about his children… but now she’d mentioned them, the guilt flooded back into his mind. Whatever happened between Molly and him was one thing, yet he would always be the father of Penny and Percy. His affair, his betrayal of their mother, would hurt them badly. He knew that for a fact. And yet he couldn't stop himself from touching Rose, now she’d broken the barrier between them.

“I miss them,” he admitted, partly to cover his real thoughts. “And I may miss the rest of their lives.”

The thought overwhelmed him. Penny would walk down the aisle… and he wouldn't be there to escort her. Percy would grow up, perhaps join the Royal Navy to be like the father he’d started to admire… and then marry himself, without his father to watch and advise him. And Molly… what would Molly do to make ends meet? Maybe she would marry again, even though her best years were past. Or maybe she would just work longer hours to keep the kids in their private school.

“You’ll see them again, I’m sure,” Rose said. She withdrew her hand and stood up, pacing around the cabin. “Tell me something. Where do you see us going?”

Kurt blanched. It was the question he had studiously refrained from even contemplating, as if refusing to think about it would make the question go away. But it hadn't and it wouldn’t.

“I don’t know,” he admitted, finally.

Rose made him feel young again, he admitted, in the privacy of his own thoughts. He was old enough to be her father, just about; there was no denying that the thought of making love to her was a hell of a turn-on. And the danger, the looming threat of death or discovery, added a certain kind of spice to the whole affair. But afterwards, assuming they made it home, where would they be?

It wasn't fair on Rose, he knew, to tell her that he would leave Molly. Even if he wanted to leave his wife, he wasn't sure what he could say to the children — and he didn't want to walk out of their lives. It was bad enough that his current job could end his life in a split-second leaving them alone. He knew it would be worse if he walked away from their mother, leaving them even though he was still alive. Or would he wind up competing with Molly for their affection?

“Neither do I,” Rose said, practically. She walked forward and sat down on his lap, wrapping her arms around him. “I don’t expect to survive the next few weeks and neither should you.”

Kurt blinked at her. The feel of her body pressing against his was hellishly distracting, but he didn't want to forget what she’d said. “You don't expect to survive?”

“We’ve lost fourteen pilots so far,” Rose pointed out. There was an oddly dispassionate note to her voice. “I had someone in the analysis section run through the numbers for me. The odds of any of us surviving any given battle with the aliens are terrifyingly low. Sooner or later, our luck is going to run out and the aliens will kill us. Don’t you know that to be true?”

Kurt nodded, wordlessly. The fewer starfighters Ark Royal could deploy, the greater the number of alien pilots that could be vectored onto each starfighter. And the aliens, damn them, didn't need to worry about watching their ammunition. Rose was right; sooner or later, a lucky shot would blow them into flaming debris, ending their lives before they even knew what had hit them. And the odds of the carrier making it back to Earth were very low.

“So here’s my idea,” Rose said. She shifted position until her breasts were pressing into his chin. “We enjoy ourselves now, between duty shifts. If we die, we die; if we live, you can go back to your family and I won’t say a word. This isn't… this isn't a normal situation.”

“I know,” Kurt whispered.

It was a troubling problem. Would he have cheated on Molly — and he knew that was what he was doing — if he hadn't felt trapped by the aliens? Or would he have remained untouched by her blandishments? His hands reached up, almost of their own accord, to pull at her tunic, letting her breasts bounce free. He felt himself stiffen as her hand reached into his pants…

…And knew he was lost.

The Captain, according to Royal Naval regulations, was the sole source of authority on any given starship. There was, James had learnt at the Academy, plenty of case law to back up the assertion that the Captain had a wide range of authority to reward or punish his crew, even rewrite the specific words of orders as long as the intent remained in place. But, by the same token, involving the Captain in a disciplinary matter meant that it would be recorded in the ship’s log. If the matter was not serious, XOs preferred to handle it off the record and ensure that nothing was ever written down.

He sighed as he studied the three crewmen facing him, both trying not to look guilty and failing miserably. It wouldn't have been a problem, he knew, if they’d kept their wits about them, but they’d been stupid enough to let rumours spread out. Crewwomen Sally Fletcher had lost a bet with Senior Crewman Daniel Meyer and Shuttle Technician Abdul Richardson and, as a result of the terms, had had to perform a striptease in front of a dozen crewmen. Gambling was bad enough — it wasn't technically forbidden, even though there were limits — but the striptease was a definite no-no. Luckily, the Boatswain had caught wind of the plot before Sally found herself humiliated in front of the entire crew.

“It's at times like these,” James announced, carefully not looking at each of them, “that I wish it was the lash tradition that we'd kept, rather than alcohol and sodomy.”

All three of the crewmen flinched. The Captain’s Mast might be official punishment, but there were limits. James had a far wider range of authority to issue punishments, provided he didn't do anything that was brought to the Captain’s attention. Whipping the three of them through the ship was permitted, if someone took a careful look at regulations, but it was normally reserved for thieves or idiots who endangered their fellow officers.

“I confess I have great difficulty in understanding what you were thinking,” James added, sweetly. “Please. What were you thinking?”

He looked from face to face, feeling his temper start to flare. “Let me guess,” he added, when none of them seemed inclined to answer the question. “You reached the limits of what could be legally gambled, so you started searching for forfeits. And one of you two idiots” — he gazed at the two men — “had the bright idea of a striptease. Right?”

“Yes, sir,” Richardson stammered.

James rolled his eyes. Gambling rings existed on almost every large starship, often serving as a vehicle for the younger and more naive crewmen to be separated from a third of their wages. Normally, the Boatswain would supervise to ensure that no one was drained of all their available wages — a third of naval wages were banked on Earth or Britannia, rather than onboard ship — but this particular ring had clearly failed to remain under supervision. He made a mental note to have a few sharp words with the Boatswain, then glared at the two men.

“Here is my judgement,” he said, coldly. He scowled at the two men until they were shifting uncomfortably. “You will return all the money you won over the past two weeks, then report to the Boatswain for shit duties for the next week or so. And, while we are on this cruise, you will refrain from any further gambling until we return to port. Do you wish to dispute my judgement?”

He smiled, inwardly, at their expressions. They could, legally, ask the Captain to review the judgement. It had been known to happen, from time to time, but it was far more likely that the Captain would confirm the punishment and add a few refinements of his own. And it would end up in their permanent records, where it would be a black mark when they applied for promotion or mustang status.

“Out,” he ordered. “Fletcher, stay behind.”

He waited until the hatch had closed, then studied the younger crewwoman. She was a year or two younger than Midshipwoman Lopez; her file stated that she was the youngest child of a merchant family. James was surprised she'd fallen for such an obvious trick — non-money forfeits weren't covered by any rules — but this was her first cruise. And perhaps she was foolish enough to believe that the next round would allow her to make up her winnings.

James rolled his eyes as she twitched under his gaze. If the two men hadn't rigged the game, James would have eaten his uniform hat. She looked too sweet and innocent to deserve the chewing out she was going to get, but he pushed that aside and straightened up.

“Agreeing to that bet was stupid,” he said, sharply. “What were you thinking, precisely?”

“I ran out of money,” Sally said. She sounded on the verge of tears. “I…”

“So you agreed to a forfeit without checking the terms in advance?” James interrupted. “Or were you idiotic enough to believe you could win?”

He paused, long enough for her to pull herself together. “I know; idiotic gamblers will agree to idiotic forfeits. And I'm sure they would have pushed you into it if you tried to back out. But there are regulations against such matters, young lady, and you would have been left holding the bag. You could have been summarily charged with breaking those regulations and booted out of the navy.

“Which might not matter,” he added, “if we don't make it home.”

She flinched, again. “You will not recover whatever money you lost to them,” James said. “Instead, it will go into the kitty — which should win you some plaudits from your comrades who might otherwise be disappointed. And, for the rest of this cruise, you will be barred from any further gambling, with anyone.”

He paused. Chances were she no longer had the money to gamble with, whatever else happened. “I would suggest, in addition, that you never played for forfeits again,” he added. “You are not experienced enough to tell the difference between something tolerable and something that will pose a threat to good order.”

“Yes, sir,” Sally said. “Thank you, sir.”

James smiled. He had let her off lightly… but it was her first cruise. Maybe she’d learn a lesson, without needing to face more formal punishment.

“One other thing,” he added. He glanced down at the duty roster, then looked back at her suddenly nervous face. “I'm assigning you to work under Deputy Boatswain Harrison. You will find her a good mentor, if you learn to listen.”

He watched her go, then sighed. Seven hours to the jump into unexplored space, seven hours until they knew what was waiting on the other side… and he was busy dealing with disciplinary problems. But at least it was a distraction from worrying about the future. His lips quirked as he realised that was probably what the gamblers had had in mind, too.

But she had been idiotic, he knew. Naval life could be hard for a woman, particularly one who went out of her way to make it plain she was a woman. Poor Sally would have lost all the respect she’d earned if she'd gone through with the striptease, her status plunging instantly from fellow crewmember to whore. Even now, her status had probably been weakened. At least she’d shared in some of the punishment the two men had earned. It would save her from losing everything.

But enough of a punishment, he decided, ruefully. She didn't deserve additional punishment duties — shit duties, as they were called — let alone a public whipping. Hell, jokes aside, there had only ever been four since the Royal Navy had become a space-based service. It was far more common for someone to be dumped in the brig and then discharged as soon as the carrier returned to port. Maybe Sally could be transferred to another starship, one where her new reputation wouldn't follow her.

Shaking his head, he made a note in his private log of what had happened, then stood. The reporters had been badgering for a briefing and he couldn't put it off any longer. Maybe answering a few silly questions would help him relax.

And if they didn't, he told himself, he could always discuss the odds of them reaching home, once again. The reporters always found it alarming to hear the odds from a naval crewman.

“Kiev is in place, sir,” Farley reported. Ahead of them, the tramline glimmered on the display, waiting. “They’re reporting ready to jump.”

Ted sucked in a breath. They’d repaired the damage, reloaded the mass drivers and reorganised the starfighter squadrons. But they weren't at tip-top condition, he knew, and they wouldn't be until they gained an additional handful of starfighter pilots, as well as some additional repairs.

“Order them to jump,” he said, finally. He couldn't help a thrill of excitement, even though he knew it was dangerous. This was real exploration, the sort of work he'd hoped to do as a younger man. But instead he'd been assigned to Ark Royal… he shook his head, amused. It was funny how the world worked out, sometimes. “And then power up the Puller Drive.”

Kiev vanished from the display. Long seconds passed before she popped back into existence, signalling urgently. There was no alien fleet waiting for them, Ted saw to his relief, but there was a source of radio signals orbiting the G2 star. An alien settlement? There shouldn't be anything human on the other side of the tramline.

He smiled to himself. No one had explored the tramline, according to the latest records. In hindsight, that had clearly been a disastrous mistake. Who knew what precautions could have been taken if the aliens had been discovered before the first encounter? But now… One way or another, they were definitely going where no man had gone before.

“Jump,” he ordered, quietly.