And she was glorious! Only her wide shoulders and erect posture could have supported such large, full breasts. The large aureoles and prominent nipples, both in purple, were an effective contrast to her ebon velvet skin. The triangular pubic patch was coarser of texture and not quite the pure white of her head hair, having a slight yellow tinge.
Gods! She was gorgeous! Again, I was amazed. How could this exquisite creature, this fantastic example of nature’s artistry, really be interested in me?
After a long moment, she put her hands on her hips and bent one knee in the eternal pose of women. She smiled. “Well, Val, are you just going to look?”
I began fumbling with my uniform, flushing with embarrassment at the hairy, paunchy, pale body I was revealing. When I was as nude as she was, she stepped forward and planted a huge, passionate kiss on my lips while her hands roamed my body.
We never did use the Viceroy’s aircar that day.
The next few days passed in a glorious haze. I barely managed to check in with Shar every day. It was about three weeks after we'd grounded that his reports began to give me hope that I could extricate Suli and myself from the social whirl.
I went to visit Cord. “Sir,” I began. “I think I need to get back to work. Shar’s starting to run into problems.”
He started to shake his head, and then paused. “What kind of problems could Captain Tan-Li be running into that he can’t handle himself?”
“Trouble holding our forces together.” I replied. “The privateer captains want their ships disarmed so they can get back to trading. The mining companies want their boats and pilots back.” I hesitated, and then continued, “You’ve been so successful selling the idea that we’ve won, that everybody wants to declare victory and go home. They seem to forget about Thaeron.”
Cord nodded, his expression thoughtful. “You may be right, Admiral. Very well, you may return to your ship.” He grinned. “I don't suppose you’d be willing to leave Suli here, would you? No, I suppose not. Oh, well.”
It was with an immense sigh of relief that we boarded Valkyrie. It felt wonderful to escape Haven’s cold bleakness and walk onto Valkyrie ’s bridge. It took all my strength of character to keep from ordering her into space immediately.
If what I’d experienced was the life of a politician, I couldn’t imagine why anyone would want political power.
Suli was as weary as I was, but unlike me, she’d delighted in the attention and social whirl. Besides, we were still investigating each other. We’d decided that for the moment, she would keep her own cabin. Too much was happening, could still happen. After the insurrection was over, we’d make plans that were more permanent. Permanent! Glorious!
Once again, the shipboard grapevine had shown its amazing efficiency. Judging from their expressions and actions, our new relationship was no secret from the crew. I didn’t have time to pamper my embarrassment. I had to immediately summon Shar so we could assess our forces and status.
We had Valkyrie, of course. Relentless, our best battle cruiser, had been badly mauled by Nemesis ’ weapons. She was at Outback, along with our other cruiser, Fearless, and two of our three destroyers, Harpy and Predator. Only Raptor, the destroyer that had surrendered at Haven, was undamaged. She was the only true warship still in the Haven system. We had a total of eighteen privateers remaining, and some thirty-two boats.
Those last two facts shocked and disturbed me. We’d started with thirty-two privateers and over a hundred and fifty boats. Of the remaining eighteen privateers, seven were in the Haven system, largely undamaged. The other eleven had gone to Outback for repairs.
There were also the six unarmed rim tramps. Since the Battle of Haven, they’d resumed their trade routes, and were reportedly making their fortunes due to the lack of competition. That was one of the factors causing the privateer crews to want to get back to business.
Another of the factors causing trouble was the attitude of the Outback repair yards. They had assigned higher priorities to the true warships than to the privateers. I wasn’t quite sure why they’d done so; I certainly hadn’t issued any such orders. I suspected that it was simply that military skippers become quite adept at bullying yard personnel.
In this case, it couldn’t be permitted to go on. If we had to assault Thaeron, we needed the psychological advantage of the largest number of ships possible, even if none of the number was completely battle-ready. Besides, we owed our privateers better than second-class treatment.
I decided to take Valkyrie to Outback as soon as I’d talked with the privateer skippers and boat pilots here in the Haven system. I was going to have to convince the privateers on Outback to stick a little longer. Besides, I wanted Shar to coordinate the repair efforts, with strict orders to make sure that he assigned the repair priorities, based solely on the need to get the largest number of ships possible spaceworthy.
I met with the privateer crews and boat pilots in Valkyrie ’s wardroom. Before, we’d needed much larger spaces; but now, with only about fifty people to accommodate, the wardroom was adequate.
As soon as I entered the wardroom, chaos erupted, crews demanding to have their armament removed, and boat pilots demanding transport to this world or that one. I simply stood quiet until the uproar died away.
Finally, the roar subsided to a dissatisfied rumble. I held up my hand, and the rumble faded.
“First,” I said, “I’d like to thank you all for coming. I’d also like to thank you for making possible my escape from Cord’s program of parties and dinners!” Chuckles erupted, but it would take more than lame jokes to do what I had to do.
“All right,” I resumed, “I know you’re dissatisfied. You privateer crews want to get back to the important stuff — trading profits.” I paused for another rumble of laughter. “And you boat pilots, I know you want to get back to herding asteroids instead of shooting up dreadnoughts.”
“You’ve all been hearing Cord's speeches. ‘The danger is past’; ‘the rebellion failed’ and so on. Yes, he makes it sound like it’s all over.
“But it’s not over!” I continued. “Those speeches are for the civilians; those who would have been screaming for surrender as soon as a ship appeared in their sky. How much peace can we count on with an entire fortified system in the sector? Thaeron’s yards and docks have the capability to actually build complete warships. Are you willing to have your children go through this all over again in fifteen years, just because we quit too soon?
“I’m asking you to stay with me just a while longer. I sent a scout tramp to Thaeron several weeks ago. I expect him back at any time. When he arrives, we’ll know more. Maybe you will be able to be disarmed and go home. Perhaps Thaeron is just waiting for someone to come and accept her surrender.
“On the other hand, Thaeron’s commander may be feeling secure behind his thousands of drifting mines, and his fortified moons. He may even have at least one warship. I’m told there was a battle cruiser in orbit there that was being cannibalized. I doubt it’s being cannibalized now. He also definitely has one destroyer. Gyrfalcon was damaged in the battle at Lonesome; Jonas sent it to Thaeron for repair. Those repairs are probably complete by now.”
“What we’ve done so far,” I continued, “is the equivalent of beating off a mugger attempting to rob us. But if you did beat off a mugger, would you be content to turn away and leave his armed accomplice in an alley behind you?”
“I hope that you will stay with me for awhile; but I won’t try to force you. Every one of you is a hero already. I will not try to compel heroes to face more and possibly even greater dangers.”
“In a few hours, I will be taking Valkyrie to Outback, to talk with the privateers and boat pilots there. I give you my word that I will direct the yards and docks to begin removing the weaponry of any privateers that ask, as soon as possible. However, you must understand that repairs to our damaged ships are a higher priority, with a battle yet to fight. So, we’ll disarm your ships, but you’ll have to wait until the yard and dock space is available.