During your presence at Strymon you will do all in your power to cherish, on the part of their government, good feelings toward the Republic of Cinnabar. In addition you will carry out such other duties as are placed on you by competent authorities. You will return to Cinnabar in accordance with the directions of Commodore Pettin.
The courier bearing these orders will provide additional oral instructions which you will carry out as a part of your duties.
You will communicate to all the officers under your command the orders of this Office that no one be concerned in a duel during the course of this cruise.
Commending you and your ship company to the protection of Divine Providence, and wishing you a pleasant cruise and a safe return to your planet and friends, I am,
Very respectfully,
Anston
Frowning slightly, Daniel handed the dispatch to Adele to read. To the courier he said, “You have oral instructions for me?”
The courier undid his cape’s throat catch and shrugged the garment off. It fell on the deck behind him. He was Delos Vaughn. He said, “Indeed I do, Lieutenant.”
Daniel’s face didn’t change. He said nothing while his mind shuffled through possibilities.
“And I have a reserve naval commission,” Vaughn continued in the silence; sharply, a little nervous in the face of Daniel’s lack of reaction. “I have a perfect right to wear this uniform.”
The others present were taking their cue from Daniel. Apart from Adele, none of them saw anything remarkable in the situation.
“All right, Mr. Vaughn,” Daniel said. “Come into my cabin and you can deliver your instructions.”
He turned, catching Adele’s eye. She’d risen to her feet when the courier arrived, but the data unit was still in her hand. She gave a minute shake of her head, her expression guarded.
“There’s no need for privacy, Lieutenant,” Vaughn said. “The further instructions are that you carry me to Strymon aboard your vessel, and that you provide me with such assistance as is commensurate with your duties as an officer of the Republic.”
“Mr. Vaughn . . .” Daniel said. The storm had resumed in all its elemental fury. Its thunder and actinic glare were anchors for Daniel’s mind, underscoring how trivial human concerns were against the majesty of nature. “An RCN corvette is not a pleasure yacht. Perhaps—”
“You have your orders, Mr. Leary,” Vaughn said, momentarily the aristocrat to a servant. “They are clear, are they not?”
Daniel felt his face tighten and grow warm with the blood rising to the skin. “Quite clear, Mr. Vaughn,” he said.
“As for the comfort of a yacht,” Vaughn said, a gentleman to a peer again, “I don’t require anything excessive for the few months the voyage will require. The van there—”
He twisted his head, sketching a gesture toward the vehicles waiting at the poolside.
“—holds my baggage. We can store it here in the entryway for the moment. As soon as we’ve reached orbit, you can expend a missile and then put the baggage in the emptied missile rack. And you’ll need to find accommodation for my two servants, though they can sleep with the common spacers.”
He beamed at Daniel in open-faced enthusiasm.
Daniel had a sudden vision of himself as a cog in a vast machine which stretched away in all directions. Parts whirring, trembling; wheels and pistons and slides in vibrant motion, and somewhere a control board at which a faceless figure sat. He thought, I am Daniel Leary, officer by grace of God and the will of the Senate. I am not a cog in anyone’s machine!
“I see, Mr. Vaughn,” he said aloud. “As you say, my orders are clear. You may board with the clothes you’re standing in. We won’t be making room for your traps by lessening our combat effectiveness in time of war; but as you say, the first leg of the cruise shouldn’t be too long. And we haven’t room to accommodate servants for supernumeraries, I’m afraid. This is a corvette, not a battleship.”
The first leg would be no more than eighteen days or he’d know the reason why!
“We can find you utilities to wear, I’m sure, until you can buy civilian kit at our first planetfall.”