Amantus
Copyright© 2026 by QM
Chapter 7
It took less than a day to prepare the Lignet for XD transition, though Crendon informed Amantus that the ship could have transitioned immediately. Still, it would likely have taken half a binary cycle to get back to Gevase.
“So, by spending 1500 rotations on a repair (half a Vreekoosian day), we saved ourselves four days in total,” Crendon explained.
“OK. I get it,” Amantus nodded.
“What’s going to happen to the enemy destroyer?” Crendon asked.
“Commodore Heston has ordered it vapourised, after taking the crew to be involuntarily colonists,” Amantus replied. “His flotilla will do it before we depart.”
“Good, using antimatter is a war crime,” Crendon grimaced. “They could have killed us all, and no one would have known.”
“I suspect surrenders won’t be offered to the Troneks for a while,” Amantus shrugged. “Though Mance did allow the cruiser crew to surrender.”
“Probably not, no,” Crendon agreed. “Plus, our spy network will try to chase the trail of the destroyers as well as which fleet they hailed from.”
“Wonder how good they are?” Amantus mused.
“No idea,” Crendon chuckled. “We get fed rimphok schlek on any briefings we get.”
“Yeah, I noticed,” Amantus nodded. “Some of it seems given to take out the Lignet as well.”
“Not sure if that’s deliberate or just incompetence,” Crendon shrugged.
“Possibly both,” Amantus chuckled.
The pair caught up with Mabis at the end of the shift meal, and she filled the pair in on the details of the other repair crews.
“Seventeen dead because of that mine,” Mabis informed them.
“Anyone we know?” Amantus asked.
“All from the Green shift, so probably not,” Mabis replied. “The good news is the plant has managed to remove various taints from the atmosphere we breathe.”
“Can’t say I noticed any taint,” Amantus admitted.
“You wouldn’t, it was quite subtle, though needed purifying,” Mabis replied.
“Glad you’re looking after us,” Amantus smiled.
“I learned a lot, Lieutenant Commander Collis is a bit of a genius in playing about with the plant DNA,” Mabis replied. “Hope I get to be as good, one day.”
“If you remain on the Lignis, you probably will.”
“And what about you, Amantus?” Crendon asked.
“I won’t remain here, that won’t be allowed,” Amantus grimaced. “I’ll be transferred to wherever Fleet thinks I might fall into obscurity and eventual death.”
“You could do a Captain Mance,” Mabis chuckled. “Become impossible to kill.”
“I intend to, no matter where I end up,” Amantus laughed.
“Good attitude to have,” Mabis nodded.
“Totally different to my previous life and outlook,” Amantus admitted.
“So you’ve said, but it still doesn’t feel real to me,” Crendon replied.
“Doesn’t feel real to me now,” Amantus admitted. “To be honest, I’ve never felt more alive since I joined Fleet.”
“Even without a woman in your life?” Mabis asked.
“Was that an offer?” Amantus teased.
“If I weren’t in a good relationship, it could have been,” Mabis blushed. “Then again, what I know of you is quite the turn off.”
“Yeah,” Amantus sighed. “It’s become something I truly regret, now.”
“Should have stuck to entertainment centres,” Crendon chuckled.
“I refuse to pay for it,” Amantus replied in a prim tone, before sighing. “I was really a naïve shlecker,” he sighed, a look of loss on his face.
“You have a chance to turn it around,” Mabis smiled, before hugging Amantus.
“And I will,” Amantus promised. “Next woman I’m intimate with will be the one I’ll bond with for life.”
Don’t make oaths you’ll struggle to keep,” Mabis chided. “Just show more respect until you meet that one.”
“Ah, the hormone thing?” Crendon laughed.
“Yep,” Mabis chuckled. “Counts for both sides, too.”
“I’ll try,” Amantus promised, blushing. “I’ll try.”
Two nobles met in an anonymous room, one a Lendmenos, the other an Orliantomin, and far higher, clearly used to having his own way.
“I was under the impression we had an agreement, Hachat?” the higher-ranked one said into the silence.
“About what?” Hachat sniffed. “As far as I’m concerned, I have no personal agreements with anyone in your clan.”
“Then you’ll have no issue if I expose the infidelity of your daughter, Pelli, and the male servant she rutted with and who then mysteriously vanished ... or so you were falsely informed,” the patriarch retorted, making Hachat go pale.
“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hachat swallowed nervously.
“Then aren’t you in for a bad binary cycle,” the patriarch chuckled, rising as if to leave.
“Wait, I do recall a certain agreement between our clans,” Hachat nervously replied. “Something about a banishment?”
“Indeed so, yet it appears that the terms of the banishment have been abrogated by others in your clan, endangering the banished one who may one day return to my clan!” the patriarch replied sternly, returning to his seat.
“I’m unsure what you are getting at,” Hachat replied, looking as guilty as sin.
“Permit me to conjecture,” the patriarch continued. “Should anything untoward happen to the banished one over and above the strictures he naturally so rightly deserves, certain information would accrete to the scandalsheets, thus ruining a potentially innocent’s reputation and those of her clan.”
“A truly unfortunate happenstance for the clan involved,” Hachat replied, seeing a way out. “If totally deserved.”
“Indeed so, very, very, unfortunate ... indeed.”
“I’ll investigate personally to see if anyone in my household has attempted an ill-considered act, thus abrogating our agreement,” Hachat earnestly offered. “Though I’m sure nothing will be found, and whatever happened to the banished one will be seen as a random happenstance.”
“Thank you, I knew you’d understand,” the patriarch replied, rose and left.
“I have done what I can, granddaughter,” the patriarch told Helia, Amantus’s mother. “It remains to be seen if Hachat permanently withdraws.”
“Thank you, grandfather, I am greatly obliged to you,” Helia replied gratefully.
“Truth be told, the most I can manage is a sullying of his clan’s reputation.”
“It will stay his ire; he actually does love his daughter very much indeed,” Helia chuckled. “Though he is less than enchanted with the rumours circulating about his wife, Tialle.”
“Really?”
“It was she whom Amantus was visiting.”
“Damn the boy,” the patriarch sighed. “If only his weird sense of honour had permitted him to tell me!”
“To be honest, grandfather, I believe that Amantus is exactly where he needs to be,” Helia admitted. “He finally appears to have a goal in life.”
“Interesting,” the patriarch nodded. “Time will tell, no doubt.”
The Lignet limped back into Gevase and was immediately surrounded by tugs, which anchored the ship and guided it into the repair docks. The crew were assembled in the currently empty main hangar as the Captain informed them of various duties he wanted maintained as the yard crews rebuilt the Lignet.
“Those who will not be aboard the Lignet will be assigned quarters in the naval base and will be assigned tasks by your officers, mostly to do with training and skill enhancements,” Mance concluded.
“Will we be getting upgrades to the ship, sir?” Commander Ticce asked.
“In a sense, we’re getting the second-hand equipment from the Venxer, which was damaged beyond repair in an encounter with the Tarpheli,” Mance replied. “You can liaise with the senior dock engineer as to any extras by way of spares you need.”
“So we’re not getting the good stuff?”
“When have we ever?” Mance chuckled. “But the Venxer was only three years old, so it’s a lot better than we normally get.”
“Only three?” a surprised Ticce replied.
“Yes, but make sure you have room to store it that’s not in the ship corridors,” Mance grinned.
“Sir,” Ticce saluted with a grin of his own.
“Command officers, you’ll follow me. We have a meeting with Admiral Jorik, the military head of the station,” Mance continued. “This also includes you, Midshipman Amantus, as the Admiral ordered all bridge staff.”
“Sir,” Amantus saluted.
“Dress uniform, he is an Admiral,” Mance advised.
“Yes, sir,” the command officers all saluted.
Admiral Jorik was a prim, fussy man who gave the impression, when the command officers of the Lignet assembled, that he had far too much to do and was barely keeping up to it.
“Well done, Captain Mance, on your despatch of that cruiser,” Jorik informed Mance. “As ever, you haven’t endeared yourself back to Admiral Klessi in Third Fleet, as it’s the only real success they’ve had this binary cycle ... or the past two.”
“Thank you, sir, though I can’t say I’m surprised by the last part,” Mance replied.
“The main issue is that Klessi sees the Troneks as a minor matter, and then they go using antimatter, making the senior command ask awkward questions as to why a single cruiser was sent against opponents potentially packing the stuff.”
“I somehow suspect the Lignet will not be getting additional help,” Mance chuckled, making Jorik smile.
“Heh! You won’t,” Jorik admitted. “But you are getting reassigned to the Trema border, where they at least stick to the rules.”
“Ah, we’re being placed where Klessi can keep an eye on us in a sector where we can’t shine?” Mance queried.
“Pretty much it,” Jorik chuckled. “Though no doubt trouble of some kind will be attracted to you.”
“It does seem to play out that way,” Mance nodded.