The Void War (Empire Rising Book 1) (41 page)

Just then the doors to his uncle’s office opened and Lieutenant Gupta walked out. James was surprised to see her. He had assumed that she would be spending at least another week on shore leave with her family. “Lieutenant, it’s good to see you,” he said warmly as he shook her hand.

After returning his handshake she released him and waved her finger in his face. “I’m afraid not Captain.” Reaching into her pocket she pulled out a single gold star, the rank insignia for a Commander. “It’s no longer Lieutenant,” she said grinning.

“Congratulations,” James said with genuine pleasure, “You deserve it more than anyone else I know.” He wanted to give her a hug but he wasn’t sure their relationship had developed that far.

“Thank you sir, that means a lot to me,” Gupta replied. She looked like she was debating something for a few seconds and then she pulled him into a hug herself, “I couldn’t have done it without your example and your recommendation.”

“Nonsense,” James said as they broke apart, “you were ready for promotion even before I took command of
Drake
. We’ll have to go out for a drink to celebrate. Can you wait until I am done with my uncle?”

“I’m sorry sir, my family already have a celebration planned. The Admiralty has put me on special assignment. I have two days to myself and then I have to report back to Vulcan to take charge of my new command – though I am still being kept in the dark as to what ship I’m getting. Until then my family wants to get as much time with me as possible. You should come though. We’re meeting for dinner at Bishop’s in London, it’s on Regent Street.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to intrude,” James said not feeling up to having to deal with a crowd.

“Nonsense, Gupta insisted, “you’ll be more than welcome. My family will love to meet you. You can tell them all stories about how I’m such a brave and courageous naval officer. I’ll tell them you’re coming so they’ll be expecting you. If you don’t show they will all be deeply offended.”

James felt trapped but he was genuinely pleased for Gupta. She deserved her promotion and command of a warship. “Ok, I’ll see you later,” he conceded. “But I better go see my uncle now.”

“Good luck then,” Gupta said as she saluted and then watched James turn and enter his uncle’s office.

As he entered, his uncle stood to receive him. “Welcome James, it’s good to see you,” he said as he came around his desk and shook James’ hand. “I must say you have done us all proud. Your reports have been impressive. Both Lightfoot and Jensen spoke very highly of you. You have certainly exceeded my expectations and I think your ambush in the Paracel passage will become a set engagement to be studied at the naval academy.”

“Thank you sir,” was all James could find to say. He hadn’t been expecting such praise.

“There has been one problem though,” his uncle said sitting down and looking more serious. “The official reports of the Battle of the Void have you, Rear Admiral Jensen and Captain Lightfoot disobeying a direct order from Admiral Cunningham. Further, analysis of the COM chatter also indicates that you and Lightfoot disobeyed a series of orders from the Rear Admiral as well.”

“Yes sir,” James replied. He had been worried his actions would come back to haunt him. “We had been assigned to
Valkyrie’s
flotilla sir. Lightfoot and I both felt it was our duty to protect our flagship. I’ve had the last six months to think about the battle. I don’t think I would do anything different.”

Somerville visibly relaxed, “That is what I was hoping to hear,” he said. “As you know Jensen has posthumously received the Victoria Cross. Admiral Cunningham has also officially endorsed her course of action even though it was against his orders. We could hardly punish you or Captain Lightfoot for simply following her example. I wanted to make sure you were willing to take responsibility for your actions though.

“Now,” the older Somerville said as his expression changed again, becoming more excited. “Let’s talk about your future. You’ve distinguished yourself in independent command. I don’t want you to be wasted being assigned to a picket squadron to spend the next few years going back and forth in Britannia or Cook. Tell me what you think of her,” he said as he brought up a ship in his holo display.

James took several minutes to take the image in and read the text that scrolled along its side. The ship was four hundred and twenty meters long, more than a third larger than
Raptor
. She had two more missile ports on each broadside than his previous command and her three plasma cannon turrets were a caliber larger that
Raptor’s
. Unlike the streamlined destroyer, or even the light cruisers of the RSN, however, her middle sections bowed out, giving her the impression that she was a light cruiser that had put on a lot of weight. As her technical details continued to scroll past, her operational range jumped out at him. His first command, the survey ship
Drake
had been designed to operate for up to seven months without having to return to port to refuel. Yet that had only been in extreme cases with every non-essential piece of equipment turned off. This ship boasted a maximum operational range of two years. It was astounding.

“She’s certainly impressive sir, is this just a concept design or has construction on one already started?”

“Actually the first one has just finished her space trials and passed with flying colors. She’s designed to be a deep reconnaissance ship. In times of war she can spend months behind enemy lines observing fleet movements and occasionally ambushing shipping. In times of peace she is designed to be able to carry out extensive survey patrols. She was due for completion about a month after the war broke out but we put her construction on hold when we shifted over to a war footing. It was deemed we needed to finish construction of the hulls meant to join a battle fleet first. After the war ended she was finished off and has spent the last month completing her space trials. Essentially, she is a light cruiser with some of her armaments stripped off and extra fuel tanks incorporated, she’s yours if you want her.”

James almost missed his uncle’s last statement he had been so focused on taking in the new ship. “Mine?” he asked.

“Yes. You’ve earned the right to refuse. I’m sure we can find you another destroyer or light cruiser but I think you would be perfectly suited to command her. She’s called the
Endeavour
by the way.”

James took a moment to think. He had spent the first two years of his command on
Drake
cursing the day he had been forced to take command of her. Now he was being given another survey ship. Albeit it with a lot more prestige and a lot more firepower. If another war did break out commanding
Endeavour
meant he would be in the thick of it. Until then a long cruise away from Earth and the other British colonies might be exactly what he needed.

“I accept,” he said. “When am I to take command?”

“Tomorrow if you are ready. She will be returning from a run in from the outer system by then.”

“What is to be my first mission?” James asked.

Somerville paused and looked James over as if assessing him for the first time. “This stays between the two of us understood?”

“Yes sir,” James replied, already intrigued.

*

It took his uncle another hour to fill James in on all the information regarding his upcoming mission. Eventually his uncle stood and shook his hand again to congratulate him on his new command. James was jumping at the bit to get out of his uncle’s office. He wanted to go read up on his new ship

As he was leaving James suddenly remembered, “Oh by the way,” he said as he turned back to his uncle. “Before she died Rear Admiral Jensen gave me a message for you. She said she hoped she had done you proud.”

His uncle looked taken aback. For a moment his mask disappeared and James saw the grief he had obviously been hiding. “Thank you for telling me,” he said.

“Was she close to you?” James asked.

“Yes,” his uncle answered after a moment’s hesitation, “she served under me as a Lieutenant aboard
Revenge
and then as a Captain when I was in command of the Britannia fleet. I always thought of myself as her mentor of sorts, I had hoped she saw me that way too.”

“I’m sure she did uncle,” James began, “I just hope I can live up to her example.”

“That’s a noble goal Captain, enjoy your next command.”

“Thank you Admiral,” James said as he saluted and left.

The End

You can follow James, Gupta and all the others in the next book in the Empire Rising series – coming soon!

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