He browsed a few volumes of technical data concerning the new ship, then called it a day. Before switching off his workstation, however, he downloaded several crew psychology volumes from the base library. In his new job, he would be responsible for a lot more than good Helmsmanship—and he meant to start with all the background he could get.
Little more than six months following the last Mitchell Trophy Race, Starfury coasted off the stocks with Brim at her partially finished helm. That evening, he found himself promoted to full Commander. Afterward—for the remainder of what seemed to be an interminable ordeal of administrative bilge—he spent most of his waking metacycles managing her fitting out, as Regula Collingswood had gleefully predicted he would. At long last, however, K 5054 was ready for space. Finished in pale blue hullmetal, she was so fast and powerfully armed that Wogord's famous yearly publication All the Galaxy's Starships termed her a "pocket battlecruiser."
The morning of her first flight, Brim was in the left-hand seat, commanding mostly Sherrington technicians—with a few old hands to assist. Bosporus Gallsworthy, once the greatest Helmsman in the Fleet, backed him up at the right console. Dean Nikolai Yanuarievich Ursis, Master of the prestigious Dityasburg Institute managed the systems console. P. Dvigat Krasni IV, Senior Director of Krasni-Peych, presided over the Drive chambers while Mark Valerian and Veronica Pike rode at the structures and navigation consoles respectively. And—unknown even to the Emperor—Crown Prince Onrad occupied a huge weapons-control station behind the helms.
History would never record that totally ridiculous crew—in the first place, nobody would have ever deemed it credible. But as they taxied out onto cold, gray Glammarian Bight, each understood that everyone aboard was riding much more than a starship. I.F.S. Starfury was a commitment.
Later, amid steady, velvet thunder from four Wizard-C Reflecting Drive units, Brim checked hundreds of colored patterns flowing across his readout panels, trimmed the autohelm slightly, and then relaxed with a feeling of real satisfaction. A few minor systems problems had surfaced so far—some still flashed angrily on warning panels here and there. But all in all, Starfury was nearly flawless. Outside her dimly lighted bridge, speeding stars streaked the Hyperscreens in a familiar "spaceman's tunnel" while five recently commissioned K-class destroyers struggled to maintain formation—after requesting a third reduction of speed. Following a day of intense concentration, he had a few moments to himself before he again busied himself reversing course for their scheduled return to Bromwich.
He took one last check of the readouts, then sank back into the deep cushions of his recliner with a grim smile. The future promised little in the way of his present tranquility. Ominous shadows of war once again darkened the galaxy in every quarter. Nergol Triannic busily augmented his already impossible demands against neighboring dominions like Fluvanna and Beta Jagow, bringing the delicate fabric of galactic civilization a little nearer to disaster with each new exaction. The Torond—rotten from within by Leaguer fifth columns—had already fallen with hardly a shot fired in its own defense. And in the Empire herself, League apologists like Commodore Puvis Amherst functioned with little or no oppostion, shrilly contesting every effort to preserve what few squadrons remained of the Imperial Fleet.
Starfury was potentially the most deadly warship ever launched. But alone, she could have little effect against whole fleets of powerful—albeit old-fashioned—enemies. Squadrons of Starfuries were needed to restore the Imperial Fleet—and soon. Yet even with the most up-to-date shipyards, building programs of such magnitude required time.
Brim pursed his lips as the great warship gracefully steered herself clear of a huge planetary system that materialized ahead. Could Nergol Triannic be stopped this time—or was it too late for anything or anyone to save Greyffin's Empire? He had a premonition that this and a number of similar questions would be satisfied sooner than anyone suspected.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1, **End of the Line**
CHAPTER 2, **Claudia**
Royal
Book Early for the
CHAPTER 3, **Old Friends**
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5, **Lys**
CHAPTER 6, **A Short Ride in a Fast Machine**
CHAPTER 7, **Princess Margot Effer'wyck-LaKarn**
CHAPTER 8, **Anna Romanoff**
CHAPTER 9, **Dityasburg**
CHAPTER 10, ***The Champion***