CHAPTER THREE
I probably couldn’t have requisitioned a better captain than Elthen Gravelhand. When it comes to walking into a room and taking charge, I’ve seen admirals who don’t do it as well. When Captain Gravelhand walks into a room, it’s just understood that he’s the one to make the decisions, and he’s going to make the right decisions, so just sit and wait until he’s done talking. Cap’s tall for a dwarf at about 135 centimeters, but that’s still a bit shorter than all of the elves and most of the goblins. Regardless, he doesn’t seem to look up or down when addressing someone. I don’t know how he does it, but his presence just makes you want to meet him at his eye level, even if that’s tactfully or gracefully impossible. It’s much easier when we’re all sitting in the conference chamber.
Cap’s also one of the smartest folk I know. Sure, he’s about a hundred years older than I am, but the time still seems too short for the amount of wisdom behind that furry beard. Per regulations, dwarven beards have to be kept at chin level for officers (and fully shaved for the non-commissioned) which rankles some of the traditionalists, but Cap wears it smartly and proudly. I can’t imagine a dwarf elder ever trying to pull rank on Cap due to beard length. When Cap talks, everyone listens.
Cap tries to sit down, then remembers he’s in full battle armor and not really able to move his joints like that. Lada and Gimmir don’t even wait for a signal. They both jump up from their chairs and quickly move to help Cap remove his armor. I’m sure Cap had a steward help him put it on earlier, but there’s no hesitation from my dwarven senior officers in helping their boss back out of it. No one would even suggest waiting until the steward came to help. There’s not a crew member in this room that wouldn’t do anything Cap needed of them… although none of the non-dwarves in the room would ever touch his battle armor unless he was gravely wounded while wearing it.
As each piece is removed, Lada and Gimmir set it reverently on an unused chair, being extremely careful not to scuff or scratch a single piece. Dwarves are incredibly particular about their battle armor, and its formality and importance is never forgotten. When they’re done, Lada pushes the chair full of armor to the side of the room while Gimmir accepts custody of the pole-axe and carefully lays it along the length of the table, between the terminals.
Now in only a long-sleeved woolen undershirt, long black underarmor slacks and stockings, Cap is standing in front of his senior officers in his underthings… but there’s not a soul in this room bothered or embarrassed by it. Cap would lead this crew naked if he had to, and we’d all just pretend his clothes were invisible. He grabs his chair and sits down, stretching his legs as he does. “Thank you, fellas, for helpin’ me out of my steel skin. It’s much appreciated.” Lada and Gimmir stand tall and salute, then sit back down with smiles on their faces.
Cap turns to me. “Thanks for callin’ the group together, Rylae. I forwarded the message to ya as soon as I got out of the High Admiral Council, and I’m glad to see ya got it early enough to beat me here. Test go well?”
I nod and shrug at the same time, which makes him laugh. “Rylae, ya ridiculous dung beetle. I’m sure ya did fine. I passed Railmaker in the passageway as I was draggin’ my overly heavy self out of the Admiralty, and he looked pretty happy. Not that that means anything, really. Railmaker’s always happy.” My eyes get pretty wide at that. Sure doesn’t sound like the VA Railmaker I spent the entire morning with, but dwarves are a bit weird. Cap grins at me and looks to the table in front of him.
“Was I interruptin’ somethin’? I see Tanna’s terminal is up.”
I nod. “Yes, sir. We were just getting an Engineering report on our readiness.” I nod towards Tanna to continue, and she does.
“Sir, I was just reporting that we have about three months on our main battery without our docking recharge. I was looking at ways to save some power, and had the idea to requisition a fully charged spare secondary battery to make up the difference.”
Cap nods and looks at me. “Do it. Whatever emergency reqs ya need to get off the ground in two days, put ‘em together. Send ‘em to me, and I’ll send ‘em straight to the warehouse XO. We’ve got Priority One for this one, and costs are bein’ covered by Stenchstone. Not that they entirely know that yet.”
With that revelation, everyone sits up a little straighter and pays more attention. Even already knowing what I know, the fact that the Admiralty is going to make the goblin homeworld cover expenses means they’re not taking a light hand with this one. Goblins hate parting with money, and the Admiralty knows that hitting them in the purse is as bad as taking food away from a dwarf.
Cap smiles in his beard. “I love testin’ operational security! Rylae, Calgonnel. Excellent work.” I smile a bit to myself. It’s nice to be recognized for things. Cap looks at the room and continues. “Alright, time to read ya all in to the mission. If ya haven’t guessed it’s important from the context clues, this one’s Level 0 Confidential. Ya don’t share it outside this room.
“The Admiralty received a communication this mornin’ from the Enforcement Overseer on Stenchstone. A UCST Lieutenant Commander by name of Spazkin Darkmuck was arrested and is bein’ held for tryin’ to assassinate King Damnation. Since it’s an officer, they of course immediately declared war against the UCST.” The older two goblins at the table start nodding in agreement, like that actually makes any sense at all. The goblins immediately think it was a sanctioned hit on their king? I mean, really… that’s goblins for you.
Cap continues with the details. “Obviously, there were no official orders from the Admiralty to assassinate the king. Admiral Bax Shockpaw is goin’ to Stenchstone to tell them that directly and stop all this war nonsense. The Corsari is the only ship currently on Terra, which means we’re the lucky ones that get to escort him. The Admiral will be on the ship in two days, so we need to be ready to go by then. A week and a half there, a week and a half back, and a couple weeks on-world, I figure we’ll be gone around a month or so. Maybe two at the most.”
Tanna starts to say something, but Cap waves her off. “I know, Engineering. Stenchstone is high mana bleed. That’s why I already agreed to the spare secondary. With that, we should easily have enough for two months if we need it, even if we bleed it dry on the way back. Good idea, that.” Tanna smiles and relaxes a bit. See what I meant about Cap being smart? He somehow did the math in his head for the mana batteries and didn’t even flinch at it. I hope I’m that good when I get my chair.
“Sir.” All eyes turn to Simon, who continues, “if Stenchstone has already declared war against the UCST, I assume we’re going to need the battalion. Is our goal to strike first and hard, and burn the villages behind us so they can’t regroup?” Sitting there in his skirmish armor, Simon looks ready to take down the entire goblin world and put the king’s head on a pike. There’s no problem a goblin can’t somehow solve with violence. Weird, evil little folk.
Cap grins. “Absolutely not, Simon. This is a diplomatic mission. Admiral Shockpaw’s gonna talk them down. We’re not gonna go in with axes and spells at the ready. We’re gonna need the battalion to stand guard in front of the ship, as a show of force against the Stenchstone army, but yer orders are to act in defense only, and only fully engage those stupid enough to break ranks and come after ya.” Simon and Gimmir look at each other, then reach out arms to pat each other on the back. Two weeks on world will probably create a lot of ‘training skirmishes’ for the battalion, thanks to battle-hungry goblin soldiers who can’t sit still and follow orders.
The room goes quiet, but I can tell by looking around that Zaxn wants to say something. That boy has to find himself some more confidence somewhere. Smart as a whip, but not really willing to put a foot forward, especially to ask for something. Must be what Sen likes in him. Not often you find a goblin ‘bottom’. Anyway, I know what he’s thinking, so I’ll just say it. “Captain, Sir. Zaxn’s originally from Stench
stone, and his family works for the royal family. Since this is just a diplomatic mission, and there won’t be much for Science to do while we’re on-world, I’d like to ask on his behalf if he can visit the palace after tensions have been broken.”
Cap smiles a big smile and looks at Zaxn, who looks like he’s trying very hard to melt into his chair. “Zaxn, buddy, you’re startin’ to sound a lot like a female elf. Might wanna get that checked. We have an excellent hospital ward on-ship. They can do all kinds of things, as I’m sure you already know.” At that, Zaxn’s eyes get large and he looks to Sen, who now has the most evil goblin grin on her face. Cap starts roaring with laughter, and Zaxn looks like he’s wondering if running out of an official meeting to hide under his bed would be considered treason.
Cap takes a deep breath to stop laughing and wipes a hand at his eyes. “Don’t worry about it, Zaxn. Ya know I’m just messin’ with ya. Ya have permission to visit home once things are cleared up, but if ya want my advice, ya probably don’t want to take anyone with ya to meet the family.” Sen chuckles, and Zaxn looks even more embarrassed. Cap knows everything that goes on in his ship, and he won’t shy away from any topics. As he likes to say when you first come on his ship: we’re all friends here, just some of us are more boisterous than others.
Cap looks around the table, and his eyes land on Calgonnel. “Alright, back to business. We have two coordinatin’ missions while on-world. Admiral Shockpaw and I will go to the palace and speak with the King to talk him out of this war stuff. Lada will go with us. While we’re doin’ that, a separate diplomatic mission will go to the Overseer’s office and find out what’s goin’ on with the assassination attempt, and get LC Darkmuck released into our custody if he’s not guilty. Calgonnel and Rylae are gonna handle that. Take Simon with ya. Not that I need to worry about ya, but I know how… uh… ‘difficult’ is a good word… how ‘difficult’ the Overseer’s office is likely to be, and Simon can help out with that.”
Lada and Simon look thrilled, but Gimmir looks like someone just shot his horse. Not that dwarves ride horses, but you get the idea. Cap notices and makes a ‘tsk’ sound. “Major, have ya already forgotten about the battalion that’s gonna be defendin’ the ship against a royal goblin army?” He obviously had, because Gimmir immediately looks happier, and now Simon looks a little dejected. I’m thinking tonight’s an alehouse night for those two.
Cap chuckles and looks at me. “That about sums up the mission, XO. Continue with the meetin’ and figure out how to get this ship in the starfield in two days. I’m just gonna sit back and listen for awhile.” That’s another thing I like about Cap. He really will just sit and listen, unless he thinks of an important point. He likes to know what’s going on, but he also likes to let everyone else handle the things that he doesn’t have to handle.
I look back to my terminal, then look down the table. “Battalion Major. Master Sergeant. Let’s talk about battalion readiness for a minute.”