Empires gambit, p.62
Empire's Gambit, page 62
“Aye Aye, Admiral,” Alvarez said as he and everyone else on Drake’s bridge broke into a grin of their own.
When she got to Drake’s sick bay, Becket felt a little guilty that she was there before Emilie. A quick check of her datapad told her Emilie was already in a shuttle on her way to Drake. Not wanting James to wake up and just be surrounded by medics, she went on in. Flores was there waiting for her. “He’s still quite groggy. I was just going in to speak with him though. You can join me if you like. It will probably be reassuring.”
“Of course, his niece is more than five minutes away though, should we wait?”
Flores looked down at her datapad. She shook her head. “No, his vitals are picking up very quickly. Someone should be with him now.”
“All right, let’s go,” Becket said.
When they entered the medical bay, the door swished closed behind them, it caused James’ eyelids to flutter. Touching a dial, Flores increased the brightness of the room. Both of James’s arms rose up to cover his eyes. His right hand covered his right eye. His left arm simply waved about in the air. James’ left eye flickered fully open. He groaned, surprised by the light and then shut it again. “Wher..” He croaked.
“Here, take some water,” Flores said as she picked up a cup and leaned in offering James the straw.
He drank deeply, rolled his mouth around and then tried again. “Where am I?” He was just barely intelligible.
“You’re on board Drake, Admiral. I am Doctor Flores. I’ve been treating you since your fight with Taranaki.” Flores said loudly. “I have Admiral Becket with me, and your niece Emilie is on her way.”
“My side,” James said as his left elbow pointed towards his side.
“It’s sore, I know,” Flores said. “It will be for quite some time yet. But you’re on the mend. We had to regrow some of your organs. They are all functioning well now.”
James looked around, clearly still in distress. “Becket?”
Becket moved around to James’ right side. She took his hand into hers. “I’m here, James. You are safe. Doctor Flores has worked miracles.”
“I’m back on board Drake?” James asked. He waived his right hand down and his eyes cracked open a little bit more.
“Yes, you are, we brought you here after the fight. What do you remember?”
“Pain,” James said as his head fell back into his pillow. “Lots of pain.” Then his eyes snapped open. “Taranaki! I was fighting him!”
Becket smiled to try and reassure him. “You were, but you’re safe now.”
“Did I kill him?” James asked, his eyes were now fixed on hers.
Becket nodded slowly. “You did. You won, James. We’re all still alive because of you.”
James’ eyes widened as he remembered more of the battle. His head snapped around as he raised up his left arm. His teeth clenched together at the sight of the stump that greeted him. “We had to amputate,” Flores said. “I’m sorry Admiral, but you suffered too much damage. You will be able to receive a fully functioning prosthetic when we return to Earth. I expect you to make a full recovery.”
James tried to prop himself up to take a look at the rest of his body. Forgetting about his left arm, he tried to use his hand to shimmy up the bed. Instead, his stump slammed into his mattress soliciting another groan. Flores moved in and helped James back onto his back. “Don’t move Admiral, your bed can do this.” Tapping a button, she moved James into more of a sitting position. Both Flores and Becket watched as James explored his body with his right hand. He traced the scars along the left side of his abdomen. Then he found the ones on his legs and torso.
“I must have been quite a mess,” he said as he looked back at Flores.
“That would be one way to put it Admiral,” Flores said with a smile. “It actually looked far worse than you can probably imagine. But we put you back together. You’ve got a new kidney and stomach, and we’ve regrown about a third of your liver. They are all as good as new. Give your body another six months or more to recover, and you’ll be even better than before.”
James let out a deep breath. “From what I’m feeling at the moment, I find that hard to believe.” He turned to Becket. “How long have I been under?”
Flores answered before Becket could. “We had you in stasis for six weeks while we grew the organs. It took another week of surgeries to put everything in place. We’ve kept you unconscious for an additional seven weeks. We wanted to give your body plenty of time to heal before waking you up. It would have been much more painful if we had done it sooner.”
“And the fleet,” James asked, not looking away from Becket. “Where are we now? How are our ships doing?”
Becket reached out and squeezed James’ shoulder. “You shouldn’t be worrying about that now.” James raised an eyebrow at her. Becket laughed. It was good to see he was quickly regaining his sense of authority. “We are almost out of Karacknid space. We’ve had to fight a few small battles, but by and large, the Karacknids have been leaving us alone. It seems your deal with Taranaki is holding up. Another two weeks, and we will be out of their territory. Though from what our scouts can detect, the Karacknids have already abandoned all the systems between where we are and the edge of their space.”
“Abandoned?” James asked, confusion filling his face.
Becket laughed again. “There is much to catch you up on. We don’t really know for sure, but at least two Karacknid Clan leaders claimed to be Taranaki’s true successors before we left the Gayla system. I suspect Tanaka-lan has similar ambitions. His fleet actually left Gayla before us. He didn’t even try to engage us.”
James shook his head. “After the threats he made… I don’t suppose he has forgotten about them though.”
“No, I imagine not,” Becket agreed. “But with Taranaki’s death, all of the Karacknids have more important things to worry about than our fleet or their war with us. I hope it is the same when we get back to Earth.”
“Earth,” James said as a wide smile spread across his teeth. “I didn’t think we’d ever be getting back there. Yet you say we are almost out of Karacknid space? Then we are well on our way.”
“We are indeed,” Becket said as she squeezed James’ shoulder again. “We are all going home to our families. That’s because of you. You beat Taranaki. Of all the things that have happened, that’s still the hardest to believe. Yet I saw you do it. You were amazing. Even Johnston has said so.”
“He has?” James asked as his voice perked up. “That would be something. I don’t suppose he’ll admit it again, at least not to me.”
Becket chuckled. “You might be right Admiral. I had to get a few drinks into him for that to come out.”
Suddenly behind them, the door to the medical bay swished open. Emilie almost barreled into Becket as she rushed into the room. “Uncle,” she called out as she moved forward and leaned into him. She was careful to avoid the left side of his abdomen and chest, yet her embrace brought a grunt from James even so. He was smiling however. Becket raised a hand and waved to James, then she slowly backed out of the room. Flores had already proceeded her. She would have plenty of time to catch Somerville up on everything that had happened. Now was a time for James to have family with him. And no doubt he’ll ply Emilie for information as soon as she lets him go, Becket thought with a smile.
As she walked out of the medical bay, she found herself humming a marine marching tune Johnston had taught her years ago. She smiled when she realized. For the first time in what seemed like many years, she was genuinely happy. All the sacrifice, all the lost friends, it now all seemed worth it. Somerville’s hare-brained Operation Hail Mary had actually paid off!
Chapter 47
It is my experience surviving a war leaves one with so many ‘what if’ questions. ‘What if I had done this differently?’ ‘What if he had survived?’ ‘Where would he be now?’ ‘What would our Empire look like with all those we lost still here?’ We who survive will always carry around such questions.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising 3002 AD.
IS Drake, 18th August 2486 AD, (two months later).
Setting his mug down, James let the last sip of his coffee roll around his tongue. Swallowing, he placed his right hand on the table in front of him. It was time. Not wanting to wait for Fox to return to clear away his breakfast dishes, he lent forward, putting most of his weight onto his arm. With the smallest of grunts, he stood to his feet. Most of the deep cuts Taranaki had sliced into his right arm and legs were fully healed. They gave him almost no bother now. His side was another matter. As he stood up straight, he felt the skin along the left side of his torso stretch. Shooting pains passed through his stomach and up to his diaphragm. James stood still and took several deep breaths waiting for them to pass.
“Admiral, you’re not meant to be doing that on your own,” Fox said as he hurried over to James’ side.
“Today I am,” James replied. “If you want to help me, pull out my dress uniform. We are going to pay a visit to the bridge.”
“Are you sure that’s wise Admiral? We’ll be jumping out of shift space soon, what about the reversion tremor?”
James shot Fox a wry look. “How many times have we entered or exited shift space in our careers? It must be tens of thousands by now. I think I can handle one more.”
“Yes Admiral, of course,” Fox said as he turned and headed towards James’ wardrobes. If he thought he had hidden the slight shake of his head, he was mistaken. James rolled his eyes. Fox had always fussed over him. Since his injuries though, his steward had taken it to a whole new level. He knew if Christine saw it, she would have been amused. Both by the care Fox was showing him, and by James’ frustration. When Fox returned, they set about getting James dressed. He was starting to get proficient with being able to do so with one hand, yet his dress uniform provided a new level of challenge. Eventually, after a couple of attempts and a few more grunts of pain, James was happy with how he looked. Standing in front of one of his quarters’ reflection screens, he couldn’t help but think of Lord Nelson. Since joining the Royal Space Navy, he had become a hero to James; largely thanks to the books his uncle had once shared with him. Now we are more alike than ever, James thought to himself. Fox had pinned the empty sleeve of his left arm to his chest just below the many medals that hung there.
“You look as dashing as ever,” Fox said.
James smiled. If Fox thought he was fretting about what Christine might think, he needn’t be concerned. James had no fears on that account. “I think we are ready. Let’s go.” When Fox moved closer to James to put a hand under his left shoulder, James held up his right hand. “Not this time, I will be fine on my own.”
“Yes Admiral,” Fox said, giving James a quick bow.
For the last six weeks, James had been slowly starting his rehabilitation. His muscles had atrophied during the time he had been under sedation and then consigned to bedrest. He was slowly regaining his strength, but Flores had told him it would be a long process. The pain he was still feeling from his left side and arm slowed everything down. He had been walking several lengths of his quarters for the past three days, but always Fox or Flores had been there to support him. That was not happening today. James intended to walk onto Drake’s bridge solely on his own strength. Clenching his teeth, he turned towards the hatch that led out into the corridor to the bridge. Every time his left foot came down, it sent jolts of pain up his side. Ignoring them as best he could, he tried to walk as straight as possible. After the first six steps, his implants kicked in and started to release more pain reliever. It allowed James to unclench his jaw and stand a little straighter. “Come on,” he called after Fox. “You deserve to see this as much as anyone else.”
With Fox following closely behind, James walked through the hatch as it swished open and then along the length of the corridor to the bridge’s main hatch. He paused just before the point where it would open to catch his breath. Then after a glance and a nod at Fox, he continued forward again. As the hatch swished to one side, James stopped again. Drake’s bridge was full of officers. Rather than sitting at their posts, they were all standing at attention, their hands at their foreheads, holding a salute.
“Welcome back Admiral,” Becket called out from amidst the officers. “It is an honor to have you rejoin us. Please come and take your proper seat.”
James smiled at her as he stepped onto the bridge. “The honor is all mine. You have all done a most excellent job getting us home. For that, I thank you all.” Moving forward slowly, James made sure he smiled and nodded at each of his officers. When he came to Ivanov, Alvarez, and then Becket, he shook each of their hands. “The fleet is still yours,” he said to Becket. “You have the honor of bringing Drake home. I’m only here to observe.”
Everyone waited until James sat to return to their posts. Becket took the command chair next to his. “Update our ID transceiver, show Admiral Somerville is commanding Drake,” Becket requested.
“Show that Admirals Somerville and Becket are commanding,” James corrected. Showing two Admirals commanding from one ship was technically against regulations, but James didn’t care. One of the perks of being Emperor, he supposed.
“Exiting shift space in thirty seconds,” Anderson reported.
James gripped the armrest of his command chair with his right hand and tensed his body. As Drake reverted to real space and a tremor ran through the dreadnought, it shook James’ insides. He had to keep his mouth firmly shut to fight back a groan. When he spotted several of his staff officers watching him closely, he raised his chin. “Let us get a good look at her,” he requested.
Seconds later, Drake’s main holo display updated to show the Sol system in all its beauty. Earth and Mars were lit up like Christmas trees as thousands of contacts moved back and forth between them and many of the other habitats or orbital facilities within the system. The Empire’s economy looked to be thriving. Copious amounts of energy were being detected from the shipyards around Earth. Clearly, they were still working flat out. James was filled with a sense of pride. Everything was just as he had left it. And so it will stay, he promised himself. No one knew how much of a respite the Karacknids turning upon themselves would buy the Allies, but James didn’t intend to waste one second of it.
A brief sadness assaulted James as he settled his eyes on a group of four hundred warships in high orbit above Earth. Home Fleet, he thought. They had learnt of Tanaka-lan’s invasion of Human space from the Gift forts when the fleet had passed through the wormhole from Conclave space. Lightfoot’s loss had hit James hard. Since the beginning of their careers, James had seen Lightfoot as both a friend and a competitor. They had risen through the ranks of the Royal Space Navy and then the UN Navy together. It seemed both of them had been fated to face the Karacknids together. And now we have won a measure of peace, and you’re no longer around to enjoy it, James thought towards his friend as he stared at the fleet Lightfoot should have been commanding.
“We’re being challenged by a patrol frigate,” Petrov reported.
“Inform them the Emperor has returned home,” Becket said before James could say anything. She turned to James, “Shall we proceed?” James nodded. “Set course for Earth, take us in,” Becket ordered Salamanca.
For an hour, James was content to sit in his command chair and take in all the sights of the Sol system. He couldn’t deny that he had seen quite a number of more impressive systems throughout his career, yet none had the beauty Sol held for him. It’s because it’s ours, he knew. We have built it all. We have bled to defend it. And we will improve it even more. Humanity’s future depended upon it.
“Look at that,” Anderson suddenly said. He was pointing at Earth on the holo display.
James’ eyebrows rose as he turned. Thousands of ships had suddenly come to life in Earth’s orbit. Together, they started to move away from Humanity’s homeworld. Almost, it looked like they were forming up to attack James’ fleet. Nothing was further from the truth. Over the next half an hour, it slowly became clear what they were doing. “They’re forming an honor guard,” Alvarez said as he shared a glance with James.
