Prominence

Part 2 - Retribution

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?"