Fall of the Terran Empire - Traci Ganner series book 1

FTE - Ch 19

“Well, I must say, Admiral, this will certainly come as a surprise to the Valdi,” Admiral Pearson told Admiral Nagao. Both men sat in Nagao’s study aboard the Orion flagship, Hallel. Admiral Nagao was a man with several anachronistic interests, including the collection of old books. Perhaps the greatest oddity was that in one corner of his study had had a fireplace, specially installed aboard his ship. It had a small hydrocarbon chemical fuel source that burned in a chamber near the floor. The resulting smoke was vented and cleaned as part of the ship’s normal environmental recycling, and added a certain burden the ship’s chief engineer did not appreciate; it required an additional maintenance cycle to clean the soot out of the ventilation shafts.

Lining the paneled walls were row after row of books from various authors, dating back hundreds of years. They were all kept in good condition and dusted often by a yeoman steward, lest they collect a fine sheen of black soot. Why they were not stored and read electronically was beyond the imagination of Admiral Pearson.

In addition to the books, Admiral Nagao also served tea. It wasn’t that Pearson minded tea; he enjoyed a cup from the ship’s galley on occasion. It was just that Nagao served tea using an actual porcelain tea set. And not just that, he actually heated it on the fire in his study!

It was hard for Admiral Pearson to imagine even being here. It was only four weeks ago that his command was in combat with Nagao’s forces. Now here he was, a guest aboard the Orion flag. How things had changed since the Valdi invasion. If it weren’t for the fact that his own command had taken such punishment from both the Valdi reinforcements and Duke Mihialovich’s fleet, he would not be in this humiliating position. But with the Imperial family massacred and his own fleet outmatched three to one, there was no tangible reason to continue the conflict with the Orions. In point of fact, Admiral Pearson hadn’t really understood the reasons to invade the Orion territories. He had inherited his command after Duke Mihialovich had been given a good taste of defeat at the hands of Orion Admiral Frano.

Admiral Nagao sat in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, his tea cup held in both hands. “I’m pleased you approve, Admiral. As you discovered in the battle of Fourth Telluride, we do have a crude cloaking technology. We have made improvements since then.”

“Yes, and the Valdi won’t suspect it. Especially since they only have a complete tech base on Terran vessels,” he said, the words bitter on his tongue.

Nagao smiled and set his tea down. “Admiral,” he began slowly, looking down at his tea, “one of the reasons I invited you here, to my personal study, was so that we could begin laying down a foundation of trust. Comrades at arms need to have this in order to feel confident that we will cover each other’s back when the battle gets hot. I will be fully committing my own fleet, as will Admiral Frano.”

Pearson sniffed and willed his posture to relax. He had gripped his tea cup so tightly that he was concerned it might shatter. He took a deep breath and said, “I know. But trust does not come easy to my people, especially after a conflict as long as ours.”

“True, true. But I did allow you bring a full company of marines aboard my ship; a force that size should surely put your mind at ease.”

“Tell me, Admiral,” Pearson began, setting his tea down on the table beside his chair. “When did you find out that the Valdi were invading our people?”

Nagao took a moment to sip his tea, not looking at the Terran admiral. As he lowered his cup, he looked at the crackling fire.

“I was the one who approved Captain Ganner’s plan, Admiral. Once it was set in motion, we had to make some terrible decisions. In addition to not forewarning you about the coming invasion, we also had to sacrifice some of our own starships and their crews in order for Captain Ganner to gain your confidence.”