Only one table was extended, laid with a white cloth and Spaceforce china. Ky was reminded of the Vatta china she had bought at… where was it?… that had been blown to bits with the old Vanguard. She and the Commandant sat down facing each other.
Vispersen went to the rear compartment. When he returned, he held the case with her survival suit. “Admiral, do you want this stowed with the rest of your luggage? We do have a suit sized for you.”
“Stow it up here,” Ky said. He nodded and moved forward past their table, then came back to stand beside it.
“Commandant, Admiraclass="underline" regulations require me to remind you of emergency procedures—”
The Commandant waved his hand. “I paid attention on the way up, Simon.”
“Yes, Commandant, but the Admiral also needs to know—”
“Very well.” The Commandant gave a slight shrug. “I suppose something might have changed since she was last on a Spaceforce shuttle.”
“Admiral, this peep has all the audio and visual, and will sync to your implant if you’d rather.”
Ky took the sliver of black and silver but said, “I’ll hear it from you, if you don’t mind.”
“Of course.” He rattled off an obviously memorized speech listing the safety features, the kinds of emergencies most commonly encountered, the emergency supplies carried on board the passenger compartment—“which in extreme emergencies can be jettisoned and parachuted down safely, although this feature has been needed only twice in the past twenty-seven years.” Holograms formed in the air to illustrate what he was saying; Ky let her implant record it all for playback if she needed it, as she sealed the peep into one of her uniform pockets.
After that, Vispersen offered refreshments, and then retreated to a niche, closing a thick sound-baffling curtain behind him. She glanced at the platter of sandwiches and fought back the urge to laugh: the sandwiches were exactly the same kind she had been offered the day she’d been expelled from the Academy. She suspected the tea was, too.
The Commandant’s smile broadened. “It must feel very strange,” he said. “Here we are again, in a situation neither of us, I’m sure, anticipated. I had no idea what you would do, after that unfortunate day, though after having watched your excellent performance in the Academy, I trusted you would not be destroyed by it.” He paused; Ky said nothing. He gave a slight nod and went on. “But I did not imagine that within so few years—and after the devastating loss of your family—you would have raised a fleet larger than ours and saved so many worlds. Including ours. In hindsight, forcing you to resign was the best thing I could have done for everyone, not just Slotter Key. But tell me, did you really learn how to do all that in your Academy classes? Or did Rector Vatta give you private instruction?”
“Aunt Grace?” Ky laughed. “No, Commandant. Aunt Grace’s lectures were all about etiquette. I had no idea that she’d been in the Unification War, or run Vatta’s security and intelligence. We kids thought she was just a fussy old lady with a passion for manners.”
“Well, then, I’m even more impressed. We do our best, but we don’t usually have new-hatched cadets who can command ships, let alone a fleet in battle. I’ve seen the vids our ships made of that battle at Nexus Two. Our analysis said it should have been impossible for you to win.”
“I had a lot of help,” Ky said. “And I wasn’t that confident.” Just that desperate. Turek’s armada had defeated one system after another, and his agents had destroyed or sabotaged vital communications and financial ansibles, gaining wealth and ships with every conquest. By the time Turek attacked Nexus II, it was obvious that only Ky’s fleet and the allies she’d made had a chance of defeating him. A slim chance.
“Yes, of course. But by all accounts, you were the one who analyzed Turek’s tactics, grasped the potential of shipboard ansibles, gained the trust of multiple system governments to supply ships and personnel—and commanded in the battle itself. Your Space Defense Force has created a new paradigm for both military actions and political alliances. I hope you’ll consider giving some lectures to the instructors and senior cadets while you’re downside. We’ve cleared space in the schedule if you would.”
Return in triumph to the Academy, wipe out the former humiliation? Visiting scholars had plaques on the wall in the library; she imagined one with her name on it. Despite her desire to stay only as long as necessary, she felt the first temptation to linger and enjoy her fame.
“I can’t answer that immediately, Commandant,” she said. “I have nothing prepared; I was thinking only about the family business.” And since part of the reason for the victory at Nexus II was a secret she shared with Rafe—and had promised to keep—it would be hard to explain how she’d done it.
Vispersen returned. “Commandant, the pilot reports disengage imminent.” As he spoke, safety harnesses emerged from their seats.
“Very well,” the Commandant said, fastening his harness almost as fast as Ky fastened hers. “Any more on the route?”
“An extra orbit or two, sir; the new forecast puts the storm clearing Port Major an hour later than we were told before.”
“Keep me informed,” the Commandant said. He cocked an eye at Ky. “We shall try to keep it as smooth as deep space once we descend, but this is Slotter Key.”
She grinned and shook her head. “I haven’t forgotten that about Slotter Key. A thunderstorm or two isn’t going to bother me, Commandant.”
“Good.” He nodded at Vispersen, who retreated again behind the curtain.
Ky watched the other Spaceforce ship’s gleaming flank as they slid past it. “Most places I’ve been use tugs, even for shuttles. When we broke loose from a station without one, they were upset.” The shuttle cleared the station’s crowded docking space, angling away so that her view was again the planet’s surface, as if the planet, and not the shuttle, had moved.
He chuckled. “I imagine so. But clearly you didn’t hit anything. And here, Spaceforce has clearance to dock and undock smaller vessels without a tug.” He took a few sips of tea. “I’m delighted you turned out as you did, and yet sorry I can’t claim to have had much to do with it.”
Ky couldn’t think of an answer to that; she smiled, instead, and picked up a sandwich They ate in silence for a time. Ky wasn’t really hungry, and wondered whether the invitation to lecture at the Academy had really been his main point. Outside, the view below changed moment by moment as they slotted into a slow descent, several orbits shifting from Main Station’s to more polar. Sunlight on clouds and sea, darkness with flickers from lightning storms and lights outlining shores near the larger cities. She had a better view than she’d had before, even in the pinnace. Finally, the Commandant put down a last sandwich.
“About the lectures, if you choose to do them. Visiting lecturers have the assistance of staff—someone to help with library research, someone to run any visual displays you might want to use. There’s the speakers’ fee, too, and we can put you up in guest quarters—you and your aide both, if you wish.”
“How long were you thinking?” Ky asked. “I do have some issues back at headquarters—I shouldn’t be gone too long.”
“Whatever time you can spare.” He started to say something more and then shook his head. “It’s entirely your decision, of course. One thing I’d like to ask about is your organization—you mixed ships and commanders from several different worlds. Did you use Slotter Key’s tables, or come up with something new?”