Part 75: INTERLUDE: ADMIRAL DENT'S OFFICE

The commandant of the Newport Academy stood on the open balcony of his office, his hands wrapped around the railing. As it was his habit at this time of day he watched his Cadets run in cadence at the exercise yard.

It was an exceptional well trained bunch this time and they would only need a little of his special brand of help to win the trophy this year.

He was a short man, especially to Venusian standards, since natives of this Sol system planet tended to grow taller than the average Terran human, due to the slight difference in gravitation. It wasn’t much of a difference but over the millennia, Venusians grew to an average of two meters and twenty centimeters. Admiral Hiro Dent was only 165 centimeters tall, and that included the special insoles he wore. He blamed his parents for not doing anything about it. Of course there were surgical options open to make him much taller, but now his pride did not allow that and he promised vengeance to anyone noticing his size or even dare to mention it. He strongly believed that his shortness was the very reason that made him try to excel in everything.

It was a long road for him to get his first star and to be given command over this the most prestigious academy of them all; he had kissed every behind there was to kiss, even used bribery once to get past the psycho evaluation and sold his soul to the devil. Not the real devil of course, but in order to get here he had accepted the help of the Worm and they owned him ever since.

Sometimes he wished his academy buddy Swybar had not introduced him to these people, but without them he would most likely still be a Commodore at Academy headquarters, constantly overlooked when a new posting as Academy Commandant became available. He was so sure they would pick him as the next Academy commandant, but no they overlooked him again, promoted that stinking fish-maw from Ulta who was younger and had fewer years in the service. They always promoted Non humans over humans when they had the choice. He hated Webb Stokes, the cursed Ult with a burning passion. It should have been him.

Dent’s hands pressed so tight around the steel rail, they turned white with strain even now as he thought about it.

The Worm was burrowed deep into the fleet and they offered to assist him in obtaining an equally prestigious posting, complete with a promotion to Admiral. He accepted of course.

Admiral Connors, the Commandant of the Newport Academy had a sporting accident the very next week. The accomplished alpinist loved to climb around in the rugged mountains of Newport North and somehow lost his footing. This accident and a set of completely new evaluations turning up in his personal file finally opened the doors and he was picked as replacement and arrived here almost exactly twenty years ago.

He immediately put his own brand of leadership on this place. He made sure that most of the Non human cadets, no matter how good they supposed to be, failed or left. He carefully selected his staff and made sure they were loyal to him and didn’t mind to bend the rules here and there, to assure his cadets would excel above all others.

Of course he was not completely his own master and had to accept the guidance of the Worm. His position was a perfect platform for them to place officers who were connected to this organization in leading positions all over this huge fleet.

His scheme had almost been discovered by a Cadet almost right at the beginning. A Cadet excelling in almost every field was sent to him, by the Immortal Admiral Mc Elligott. Yet that cadet was too nosy for his own good and could not be persuaded no matter what he tried to see the light. He made the life of that Cadet a living hell and thought this was the end of it after he dismissed him as not suitable from his Academy. That this misfit John Harris somehow managed a stellar career and made Captain of the Devastator was a burning thorn in his side ever since. Especially since the Worm blamed him, missing a prime chance to get a man of this Organization at the helm of the most powerful starship in the known Universe.

He leaned over the railing that had been made lower especially for him and smiled to himself; Harris was captain of the Devastator now for almost ten years and sent him his finest midshipmen to compete and never managed to take home the coveted trophy. That no other team really had a chance against his Cadets because he made sure they would win was unimportant.

It was then when he noticed a shooting star; something broke through the cover of the clouds and descended way too fast to be a shuttle. It was also much bigger than the ships that usually landed here.

His mind raced, was it an orbital attack? Did the Nul or someone manage to penetrate this deep into Union space? Of course Newport would be on top of their lists of targets.

Whatever it was had disappeared in the distance and behind the South Forest, exactly where the Landing field was.

No explosion, no fireball and no rising mushroom cloud.

He ran inside his office and yelled at the GalNet terminal. “Get me Command and Control!”

He was instantly connected to the Academy control center located just a level below his office and he looked at Commander Becker’s face and said with a demanding tone.”What just happened?”

“Sir, what exactly are you referring too?”

“Are you blind? Something just crashed on our landing field.”

“No, Sir. A Barracuda Destroyer just landed.” Becker was clearly trying not to tell Dent everything he knew, most likely fearing the reaction of his superior.

“What in the Devils name is a Destroyer doing here and why did it come down like an orbital bomb? Was it not enough that we had to grant landing permission to a fish-stinking Ult captain and his Battle ship just yesterday?”

“Sir, it is Newport tradition that we grant landing permission to competing teams. We could not refuse the Ult captain as we never refused anyone before, and we could not refuse the Barracuda as it brings the team of the Devastator. Their landing maneuver as reckless as it appeared was executed within the rules and it was done manually by a very talented Helmsman.”

“Remind me to find a reason to change this tradition or this cursed Captain Harris decides one day to land his flying continent.”

“Yes Sir.”

“So Cadet Suppor and his team has arrived as I was told he would. Make sure the Captain of that Barracuda is reprimanded for any damage he did to our lawns and welcome Cadet Suppor right and have him brought to me.”

Becker looked astounded.”Sir I do not know where you got this information from, but the name of the Cadet Team leader from the Devastator is Olafson and he is the captain of that Barracuda. I double checked but all command codes and orders check out, Captain Harris has made this Cadet, acting Captain over a full destroyer and they arrived alone. I also must add they managed to land on the Duro-Crete and did not damage the lawns at all.”