A four-soldier fire team of GroundDiv troopers hovered behind him as he waited for the shuttle to land. They had the cases of Todorovich’s people’s gear on trolleys. All of them would fit easily on the spacecraft they were waiting for.
He could have taken one of his own shuttles. Raven had two of them left, after all, but he couldn’t really argue with a superior officer sending a ship for him. Plus, those shuttles might be needed. The battlecruiser didn’t seem likely to acquire any new trouble in the next few hours, but it might. She’d been battered hard enough.
He was half-expecting Alex Thompson to be aboard the shuttle, so he wasn’t surprised to see a figure at the top of the ramp after the shuttle settled to a stop.
He was not expecting Sylvia Todorovich to walk down the shuttle’s ramp alone, dressed in one of her sharply conservative suits but moving with renewed purpose the moment she saw him—and he hadn’t expected the instant decision that the deck was quiet enough that propriety could be damned.
Before Henry Wong even realized what he was doing, he’d wrapped the Ambassador in a bear hug. He had just enough time to process just how thoroughly he’d broken every rule of military-civilian decorum before Sylvia’s arms wrapped around him in turn.
“I thought I’d lost you,” he murmured.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she told him, leaning her head back to study his eyes for a seemingly eternal second. Then her fingers were on his chin and she was leaning in.
Henry was reasonably sure he was blushing like a teenager when he finally came up for air and looked around. The GroundDiv troopers and the scattering of techs in Raven’s shuttlebay had apparently found something spectacularly interesting on the wall opposite.
“I’m supposed to report aboard Scorpius,” he admitted. He hadn’t let go of her. She hadn’t let go of him. His escort was still studying the wall.
“I know. I just hitched a ride on the shuttle,” she told him. “Thompson is also aboard, but he thought he’d give us a moment.”
Henry coughed. He was pretty sure he was flushing harder now—but Sylvia was clearly not letting him go.
“Everyone seems to think we should have that moment,” she whispered in his ear. “But I think we should continue this…conversation later. In private.”
“We’ve got work to do,” Henry agreed. He slowly, reluctantly, released her. A moment later, she let him go.
“Somehow, I don’t really want to do the work today,” she said with a wicked spark in her smile. “But you’re right. Let’s let poor Commander Thompson off the shuttle and get aboard ourselves.”
Chapter Forty-Seven
There was, in Henry’s mind, no subtlety about the way he and Sylvia arrived at the meeting. If any of the UPSF officers in the conference room thought it strange that the ambassador had flown over to Raven to fly right back and enter the meeting side by side with the battlecruiser captain, though…they didn’t show it.
Henry very carefully did not meet Peter Barrie’s gaze as he took a seat across from Admiral Cheung. Another man and woman in identical uniforms to his, the Colonels commanding Cheung’s two battlecruisers, sat at either end of the table.
It was one of the carrier’s midsized meeting rooms and would have been easily capable of handling the negotiations that had taken place aboard Carpenter. Right now, though, it had three Colonels, a Commodore, a Rear Admiral and the UPA Ambassador.
“I thought we were meeting with Aval and Rising Principle,” Henry asked.
“We will,” Sylvia told him. “This is a preliminary meeting for us to all get on the same page.” She turned her attention to the Admiral at the head of the table.
“As I understand, Rear Admiral Cheung, Colonel Wong is not under your command?” she asked.
“That is correct,” Cheung said in English that carried the tones of his home country. “Colonel Wong is the senior ship captain of the Peacekeeper Initiative and reports to Admiral Hamilton. While his ship is the entire Initiative presence here, he does represent an independent command.
“Though I think he and I will agree on what Raven’s next step is,” Cheung admitted. “What is her status, Colonel?”
“Raven is no longer a functioning capital ship,” Henry said quickly, before he could think about it. “Her spine has been broken. She is no longer capable of withstanding subjective thrust, and her primary batteries are offline.
“I do not believe that Zion’s repair yards will suffice to restore her to function. She will require scrapping or a complete rebuild.”
The words hung in the room like the Sword of Damocles—or the end of Henry’s career. He’d commanded one of the UPSF’s most modern starships to an unquestioned defeat and her destruction. Only paranoia on the part of High Command had saved his people.
“Understood,” Cheung replied. “I believe, then, that your next stop is Zion, yes?”
“Yes, ser,” Henry confirmed. “Admiral Hamilton will decide whether I accompany Raven back to more substantial shipyards.”
“If you will permit, Colonel, I would like to detach Rook and two of our destroyers to escort you back to Zion,” the Rear Admiral told him. “It would be a poor reward for the heroism of Raven’s crew to leave them vulnerable.”
“It would be appreciated, ser,” Henry admitted.
“In general, I believe we have no choice but to divide up Battle Group Scorpius,” Sylvia said after that was resolved. “Voice Oran Aval has no transport back to the Hierarchy.
“It will serve everyone’s interests if she is returned to Kozun and the rest of the Voices as safely and as swiftly as possible. I would like to borrow at least one of your destroyers, Admiral, to make certain she makes it home.”
“She agreed to the peace treaty, didn’t she?” Barrie asked.
“She did. The Drifters made an enemy of the most powerful woman in the Hierarchy,” Sylvia told them. “She has already asked the La-Tar Cluster to consider a treaty of mutual defense against the Drifters.
“Both Rising Principle and Aval will need to get authorization from their home governments to continue that particular line of discussion—as will I,” she admitted. “But we will want everyone to make it home safely to make sure the war ends.”
“Then I think we will want to send more than a destroyer to Kozun,” Cheung said. “I believe Jackdaw will make an impression—of both the UPA’s power and of our willingness to protect their Voice. A destroyer companion—Brachiosaur, I think—will make the point in strength.”
“I had intended to ask if I could borrow Jackdaw to deliver Ambassador Rising Principle,” Sylvia admitted.
“Scorpius will be heading to La-Tar with the escorts I am retaining,” Cheung replied firmly. “We can easily transport the ambassador home. To honor our commitment to secure La-Tar’s defense, I feel that the presence of a proper fleet carrier will be needed.”
He grimaced.
“The Drifters have lost their chance to keep us and the Kozun at war. I do not know what their next step will be, but we must be ready to honor our promises.”