Halfway through the battle on Albera, I ended up as acting battalion exec when Major Warrick went down in a firefight. She wasn't badly wounded, but her armor was scragged, so she was out of the action. Captain Torrance had been acting executive officer, so he moved up to take command of the operation. He bumped me up to exec even though half the other captains had more seniority.
The toughest part of the fight was right near the end on Albera. The enemy had back held a tac-group of Janissaries we didn't even know was there. Roughly equivalent to a reinforced company of ours, they were completely fresh, and they hit us when we were tired and low on supplies. Eventually I took the battalion reserve and we found a way through the tunnels around to the other side. Once we hit them in the front and rear simultaneously their position became untenable, but they still fought on. Janissaries almost never surrender, and we had to wipe them out. It cost us.
Despite the serious losses, the victories were complete, and with Gliese and Zeta Leporis we had taken two vital Caliphate systems in less than four months. They'd have to try to take both of them back, which at least would keep them too busy to attack any more of our worlds for a while. I suspect that was the major reason we attacked the moons. I seriously doubted we'd be able to mount a credible defense of both systems, and since our only access to Zeta Leporis was through Gliese, it was an easy choice which one to try to hold. Our prospects were improving, but we were still playing catch up, and we were short on resources across the board. When we pulled back to Gliese 250 to refit and regroup it was immediately obvious we were going to make a play to hang onto the system and its massive space station. The place was swarming with naval units - the biggest fleet I'd seen since Achilles. The station itself was a beehive of construction work, and it was now surrounded by a ring of defensive satellites and weapon platforms.
When we returned from Zeta Leporis we looped around the orange Gliese primary and decelerated at full power. It made for an uncomfortable ride, getting slammed into our accel/decel couches the whole time, but it got us docked quickly. We all needed some rest, and while the station wasn't the ideal place for leave, it was still a chance to rest and recuperate with no one shooting at us. Unless the enemy attacked while we were there, of course.
The station, renamed Tarawa, was amazingly organized considering it had only been four months since we'd taken it, and we had billets assigned when we arrived. I dismissed the company and headed to my assigned quarters, planning on an extended period of sleeping without being crushed to death by 6G deceleration.
My quarters were quite large and comfortable; I was really coming up in the world. Rank does indeed have its privileges, and frankly I was starting to enjoy some of them. I flopped on the bunk and was just about to order the AI to turn off the lights when the door buzzer sounded.
"Open," I barked at the AI. I wasn't really in the mood for visitors right now. All I really wanted to do was sleep.
"So look how far my resourceful sergeant has gone." The voice was familiar and the voice cheerful.
I jumped up. Standing there in my doorway was Elias Holm. No longer Colonel Holm, as evidenced by the single polished platinum star on each collar. I stood at rigid attention and gave him my best salute. "General Holm, sir! I am very glad to see you sir. I believe I am greatly in your debt…in more ways than one.
He smiled warmly. "Please, please. No standing at attention. You're making me tired just looking at you. At ease." He looked the same, more or less. Maybe a little more gray in his hair or another line on his face. I realized with a start that between the hospital, the Academy, and my campaigns since, it had been well over three years since I'd last seen him on Columbia.
He motioned for me to take a seat. "Let's sit and relax. We can catch up a bit. I brought us a little refreshment." He held up a small bottle of caramel-colored liquid. "Cognac, straight from Earth, imported direct from Europa Federalis. Got it as a gift." I guessed that that little bottle would have cost a month's pay. To be honest, I wasn't much of a drinker, but I wasn't going to turn down the general. Besides, he brought the good stuff. If ever there was a time…
I hadn't really checked out my quarters at all, but I asked the AI for glasses, and a small cabinet in the wall opened. Inside were a dozen glasses of various sizes. I took two that looked suitable and brought them over to the table. The general popped open the bottle and poured.
"Erik," he said, "I am very proud of what you have accomplished. I had a strong feeling about you on Columbia, and your performance there and since has reinforced it. You've done solid soldiering, my boy."
I found praise hard to handle sometimes, but this was the one person in all of human space I most wanted to please. Ok, he was probably number two, but I respected the hell out of General Holm, and it meant a lot to hear all of this. "Thank you, sir. I've tried to do my best, though I must confess I sometimes feel out of my league and just lucky when things work out."
He snorted. "Erik, let me tell you a little secret as part of your initiation to the brotherhood of command. We all feel that way. If you didn't, you wouldn't be worth a damn as a commander. But you've dealt with it all, and you've risen to meet every challenge thrown at you." He raised his glass. "To the Corps. And to our brothers and sisters who are no longer here."
I grabbed my glass and clinked it against his. "To our lost brothers and sisters." I took a sip and felt the heat of the cognac sliding down my throat.
"I brought you something, Erik. It's not 100% by the book, but I figured it wouldn't hurt anything for me to bring these." He slid a small box across the table. I picked it up and opened it. Inside there were two small round platinum circlets. A major's insignia.
I was speechless for a few seconds, and then I managed to stammer out a few words. "I'm not ready. It's too soon."
"Look Erik, you're ready. I have total confidence in you, and I want you to lead one of the battalions in my new offensive. I know you've come up quickly. The fastest in Corps history, in fact. Though I don't suppose that helps your confidence any." He let out a little chuckle. "But you know better than anyone how many losses we've suffered. We just don't have the extra years to waste. We're desperately short of capable command personnel, and it's all the more crucial since so many of the troops are green. So accept your promotion stoically, because we both know that when the time comes you'll do what needs to be done."
He grabbed the bottle and refilled the glasses. "Have another drink, because the promotion isn't all. You're being decorated again. Twice. Once for taking this station and again for the moons campaign. And you're getting the platinum star cluster for that stunt you pulled in the corridor here."
He paused to let that sink in. I just sat there silent, dumbstruck. "It reminded me of your adventures on Columbia. I noticed back then that all your troops were in heavy cover, but you were standing out in the open. You ate a nuke for that one. I'm sure you remember. Those were magnificent displays of valor. I salute you." He raised his glass and drained it. "But that's the end of it. I don't want to see you pull anything like that under my command. I need you as a commander, not a fallen hero."
I started to argue. "But general, the situation was…"
He held up a hand and stopped me. "Erik, you are one of the most intelligent soldiers I've ever seen. Think about it. You know I'm right. You indulged yourself on the station. You assuaged your guilt over the men and women who've died under your command by taking on the most dangerous task yourself. Believe me, I understand it. I would have wanted to do it too. But in the end, you made yourself feel better and jeopardized the mission to do it. You were in command of the whole operation, not just taking out one gun. In another place or another time things might have been different, but at that moment, on this station, your life was more important than that of anyone else. You could have sent a private or corporal down that corridor, and if he or she got killed you could have sent another. But you had no right to go yourself."