Ride The Rising Tide (The Maxwell Saga) (16 page)

“
Did they tell you what we found aboard
Leona
, Sir? I haven’t heard the details yet.”

“
I heard this morning. There were a thousand carbines in that hidden compartment, plus mortars, light rocket launchers, plenty of ammunition for all the weapons, land–mines, a large quantity of explosives and detonators, and ancillary gear. More than enough to keep a terrorist campaign going for quite a while, I’d say.”

Steve winced. “It doesn’t bear thinking about how many civilian casualties they might have caused, Sir! What I can’t understand is why those four men fought us in the first place. I mean, the ship wasn’t going anywhere, not with four orbital and four heavy patrol craft in the system. They had no chance of winning and no way out, so why didn’t they surrender?”

Dhruv sighed. “PO, if you ever figure out how a fanatic’s mind works, let me know! I suspect rationality and extremism don’t exactly go hand in hand. I’m just glad we didn’t give them time to use the mines and explosives to take the ship with them — and us, too!”

Steve shivered involuntarily. “You come up with the nicest ideas, Sir!” Both men chuckled. “I guess stopping four terrorists was as important, in its own way, as stopping the arms shipment they were escorting.”

A ward orderly knocked at the door, and looked around it. “PO Maxwell, you’re to report to Captain Innes’ office. His clerk just called.”

“
Thank you. Please advise his clerk I’m on the way.” Steve rose, holding out his hand to the Warrant Officer. “I’ll try to visit you again soon, Sir. Take care of yourself.”

“
Not bloody likely! I’m finally in a place where I can make others take care of me. I intend to take full advantage of it!” He hesitated, then added, “Did you know this is Captain Innes’ last command? He’ll be retiring from the Fleet at the end of the year.”

“
No, I didn’t know that.”

“
He came to visit the wounded last night. He told me he’d never won much in the way of prize money before, but as the Force Commander here, he’ll get a very nice sum from
Leona
to see him into retirement. I think he’s feeling very well disposed towards you.”

~ ~ ~

Captain Innes’ office was two levels up and a long way forward from the hospital. It took Steve almost five minutes to cover the distance, even using the high–speed walkway to hasten his progress. He was a little out of breath by the time he arrived.

Captain Innes’ clerk was seated at a desk in the anteroom. He clucked disapprovingly at Steve’s slightly disheveled state, and waited while he hurriedly adjusted his uniform before opening the door to announce, “PO Maxwell is here, Sir.”

“Thank you, Jenkins. Send him in, please.”

Steve snapped to attention inside the door. “Petty Officer Third Class Maxwell reports to the Captain as ordered, Sir.”

Innes stood, a welcoming smile on his face. “Good morning, Maxwell.” He offered his hand across the desk. “Take a seat.”

“
Thank you, Sir.” Steve sat down next to Senior Lieutenant Parasurani in front of the Captain’s desk.

“
I’ve ordered
Leona
seized for prize adjudication by the Courts of Admiralty,” the Captain began. “Her Captain insists he had no idea the extra arms were aboard, but a couple of his officers tell a different story. Besides, it’s inconceivable he wasn’t aware of them, because we can prove that
Leona’
s longitudinal stability was dependent on them being where they were. That was a very useful suggestion on your part, PO. She couldn’t safely have made a hyper–jump without taking the mass and location of the smuggled weapons into consideration. If the Court agrees, as I’m sure it will, it’ll condemn
Leona
as a prize.”

Steve grinned. “She ought to bring a nice chunk of change, Sir.”

“Very nice indeed! However, that’s not why you’re here. You did an excellent job yesterday. You took charge of the search party after its leaders were incapacitated; saved the lives of our injured personnel by getting them out of the line of fire, in such a way that you avoided further casualties; and led a successful assault on the smugglers, neutralizing them and seizing the contraband. That was an outstanding piece of work, particularly given your relatively junior rank. We never have enough Spacers and Marines who are ready, willing and able to act without hesitation — and, more importantly, to be proactive rather than merely reactive when the need arises. You took the fight to the enemy, forcing them to react to you instead of controlling the action themselves. That threw them off balance, and you didn’t give them time to recover.

“
You’ll be hearing more about yesterday’s affair in due course, and also about your good work with the Marines on the planet last week. However, Lieutenant Parasurani and I think that some immediate recognition is deserved, over and above making you wait for whatever higher authority may approve in future. Therefore, he’s nominated you for, and I’ve approved, an immediate combat promotion to Petty Officer Second Class.”

Steve couldn’t prevent a broad grin breaking out across his face. “Thank you, Sir!”

Lieutenant Parasurani added, “You’ve earned it, PO. However, I’m curious. How were you able to react so quickly and so effectively to circumstances that would have daunted and disoriented many other Spacers of your rank and experience, or even more senior?”

Steve hesitated, then decided to be direct. “Sir, I want to apply for a commission as soon as I’ve qualified for Commonwealth citizenship and completed my degree. My Platoon Instructor in Boot Camp knew about my ambition, and gave me some good advice that I’ve tried to apply. One of his suggestions was to follow the Fleet’s reading lists for its various ranks and grades, in particular those for junior officers.

“The book ‘Platoon Leadership’ by Colonel David Hartzell is on the reading list for Marine Corps Second Lieutenants, grade O–1. Among other things, the Colonel suggests that junior officers should try to anticipate what might go wrong during an operation, and under what circumstances, then plan what they might do to salvage their part of it if that becomes necessary. I’ve tried to follow his advice, Sir. Of course, I couldn’t foresee and plan for precisely what happened yesterday — a lot had to be improvised — but I’d thought about what to do if we were ambushed.”

“
So the situation didn’t catch you off guard?”

Steve reddened. “Actually, it did, Sir. I hadn’t anticipated losing everyone senior to me, but I was able to get back on track a lot faster than if I hadn’t thought about potential problems.”

Captain Innes smiled. “That’s an honest answer, PO. How many of the Fleet’s reading lists have you completed?”

“
Up to and including grades E–6 for enlisted personnel and O–2 for officers, Sir, for both the Spacer and Marine Corps. I’m working through the O–3 lists now.”

Innes looked startled. “That’s a lot of reading — far more than most junior NCO’s would have tackled.”

“It is, Sir,” Parasurani observed, “but it paid off in spades yesterday.”

“
Indeed it did, Lieutenant.” He transferred his gaze back to Steve. “You’d normally have to attend PO2 Leadership Training before promotion to E–5, but since a combat promotion leapfrogs the normal sequence of events, you’ll have to attend it as soon as possible after promotion.” He turned to his terminal, called up a list of courses, and studied it intently. “PO2LT won’t be available in this Sector for a while, but the NCO Academy on Lancaster offers it, starting next month. We can ship you out two days from now aboard the weekly communications frigate to Vesta, with priority orders to catch the next available transport to Lancaster to attend the course. Have you ever been there?”

“
Only in transit through the system, Sir. I’ve never landed on the planet.”

“
You’re going to have an interesting time there. It’s the heart of the Commonwealth, and therefore of the Fleet as well.”

Steve decided to strike while the iron was hot. “Sir, when I was promoted to PO3 I submitted a request to take the first–level Instructor course as soon as it was convenient. I was told by my Platoon Instructor during Boot Camp that it covers many of the elements addressed in Officer Candidate School. So far I haven’t been able to take it, because of being shipboard rather than planetside; but if I’m going to the NCO Academy on Lancaster, is there any chance of attending it before or after PO2 Leadership Training?”

“Let me see… Yes, they offer Instructor One starting the week after PO2LT ends. I’ll put you down for that as well. After yesterday, I’d say you’ve more than earned it.”

“
Thank you, Sir.” Steve felt a warm rush of satisfaction. The two courses, plus his combat promotion, would look good on his record when he applied for a commission next year.

Parasurani observed, “You’ll probably continue to be based on Lancaster after completing those courses, because after two consecutive assignments in space your next one is certain to be planetside. Do your best to graduate among the top three students on one or both courses — they receive preferential consideration for their choice of assignment. I suggest you ask for a tour of duty as an instructor at the Small Craft School on Lancaster. It’ll make use of all your training and experience, and it’s near the planet’s Officer Candidate School. That’s where I did OCS, and I remember the cutters buzzing around overhead. It’ll give you a chance to look the place over and observe the candidates under instruction.”

“I’ll make sure to ask for that, then, Sir. Thank you.”

Captain Innes observed, “PO, yesterday’s action qualified you for the Space Combat Badge, to go with the Planetary Combat Badge you earned last week. We’re awarded only one combat star per campaign or operation, with one exception; if we experience both planetary and space combat during the same operation, we earn a star for each badge. Combat stars aren’t a primary criterion for officer selection, because candidates may not have been assigned to posts where they could earn them. Still, it can’t hurt for you to have two where others may have one or none. You’ll also have expeditionary service on your record after your assignment here, which will definitely help for selection purposes; and, of course, Lieutenant Parasurani and I will endorse your application when the time comes, on the basis of your performance with us.”

“Thank you, Sir.”

“
Very well.” Innes stood up, and Steve and his skipper rose to their feet in response. “Thank you once again for your splendid performance yesterday, and for all you’ve achieved during your assignment with us. I’ll put out a promotion signal today, including certification of the award of the Space Combat Badge, and cut orders for those training courses and your transport to Lancaster. Start packing your gear. You’ll have your work cut out for you if you’re to be ready in time to catch the frigate.”

“
I’ll be ready, Sir.”

~ ~ ~

As they walked down the passage towards the docking bay, Steve couldn’t help shaking his head slowly, almost in disbelief. Parasurani noticed.

“
Something wrong, PO?”

“
No, Sir — far from wrong! It’s just that… I’m a bit overwhelmed at the moment, I guess. Last week I volunteered to run some ammo out to a patrol and pick up some wounded. I didn’t think much about it at the time — it was just something that needed doing — but I ended up dropping a rock on a bunch of terrorists. Eleven days later, I had another fight with a bunch of smugglers. Now it looks like both incidents have lit a reaction thruster under my Fleet career. If you’d said to me a month ago that all this was going to happen in so short a time, I’d have laughed, Sir.”

His skipper grinned. “It’s like the first two waves of a three–wave set, isn’t it?”

“I don’t understand, Sir.”

“
I grew up on a surfboard on my home planet, Andaman. We speak there of a ‘three–wave set’, three waves following each other that are the most challenging for surfers. The first is usually of medium difficulty; the second is pretty tough; and the third is a humdinger, big and strong enough to drop you on the reef and hurt you very badly if you don’t ride it just right. I was thinking that volunteering to take out ammo and collect the wounded, then getting into a firefight and dropping that rock, was like the first wave of a set. Yesterday’s action was like the second wave, much more dangerous for you, and requiring more in the way of combat leadership and effectiveness. You beat that wave, too. The third wave’s still to come — the Selection Board and OCS. If you make it through those obstacles, you’re set fair for the rest of your career, given good luck and hard work.”

Steve’s face cleared. “That makes sense, Sir. I like the analogy of riding a wave. It fits with something else I was thinking about. At school we studied Shakespeare’s play ‘Julius Caesar’. I’ve never forgotten one quote by Brutus from Act Four. It goes like this:

“
There is a tide in the affairs of men

Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;

Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

On such a full sea are we now afloat;

And we must take the current when it serves,