Elfborn: The Quest

Plot and Counterplot

The lean and trim Vice Admiral Jordi looked up as the door to his office swung open to admit the dapper figure of Captain Hasan. He immediately smiled, his neatly trimmed mustache curving upward with his lips.

"Ah, good. Captain Hasan! We've been expecting you. Sit, sit. Would you like some mint tea?" He gestured to a liveried servant who stood waiting beside a silver carafe, which sat on a small brazier, a silver plate with several small cups sitting beside it on the table they all occupied.

Hasan saluted then, with a smile, nodded.

"Yes, please. Thank you, Vice Admiral."

"Pish. It's nothing!" Jordi said with a smile, his smooth, cultured voice easily working to make Hasan feel at ease, despite the disparity in their rank. His uniform, cut exactly the same as Hasan's, had the rank of vice admiral on his shoulders and sleeves and his sleeves were nearly all royal blue with just a trace of red, where Hasan's was half red. But the difference in rank meant nothing to the flag officer, who treated his senior captains with respect and honor. He had entertained Hasan and several of his peers many times.

"You, of course, have met Admiral Gabba-Amil, yes?" he said as he took the carafe from the servant's waiting hands to pour Hasan tea himself.

Hasan immediately looked to his right to the hawk-nosed man that occupied the second chair in front of Jordi's desk and saluted.

"No, sir. I haven't had the pleasure." He smiled as Gabba-Amil stood to reach out with a friendly hand, a smile on his thin lips.

Dark of skin and hard of feature, Gabba-Amil was every inch the Beduin, the tent-dwelling nation home to most of his family on the southern edges of Algers territory. For a desert-loving people to have produced such a formidable naval officer was almost unheard of. But there he stood, wearing a jabba in place of a uniform cap, his uniform almost exactly the same as Jordi's, except with more braid.

"A pleasure, Captain Hasan," Gabba-Amil said in a deep, powerful voice, smiling toothily as he took Hasan's hand in a dry and firm grip. "Your commanding officer has done nothing but sing your praises since I came to his office nearly an hour ago!"

"Undeserved, of course, Admiral," Hasan replied, nodding his thanks as Jordi passed the silver teacup to him before he took his seat. "I am an unworthy servant and barely manage to please my master on the best of days!"

The two admirals laughed softly at Hasan's self-depreciation.

"Yet you were sorely missed during our defense of Nakanir, Hasan." Jordi said, his smile becoming somewhat more reflective. "I could have used your skill in close maneuvering to take the day."

"But we defeated the Quest fleet, did we not?" Hasan asked, his smile growing slightly. "It would seem that my skills weren't needed, after all."

"We defeated a small part of the fleet." This time it was Gabba-Amil that spoke, the smile vanished from his thin mouth. "Our spies in the Evindelian port city of Tanais indicated that a much larger fleet initially sailed from port a week ago. Yet we only faced five of their capital ships in the waters beyond el Tamir. Capital ships only, no support vessels, or smaller warships amongst their number. The rest of their fleet has yet to be found!"

Hasan turned a wondering face to his commander.

"How many ships did escape our warships, admiral?" He asked intently, his own smile dropping from his lips. "Not a great number, I would hope."

"Fifteen, maybe more," Jordi reported, also grim now that the real reason for the meeting had been so quickly revealed after a minimum of pleasantries. "Along with escorts and supply ships. The five capital ships we fought yesterday may have gotten lost during the long voyage and splintered off from the main fleet."