Fleet Action Read Online Free PDF

at the floor and Tolwyn could feel the tension.
    "Come on, son, out with it."
    "Sir, something's troubling me, I thought I better come over and discuss it with you privately."
    "You mean this little thing called an armistice."
    "In part," Jason said quietly.
    "Well, what is it then?"
    "Sir, that communication from ConFleet announcing the armistice came through close to fifty minutes before our strike hit the carrier."
    Tolwyn exhaled noisily and leaned back in his chair.
    "How the hell do you know that, Bondarevsky?" he asked quietly, a threatening chill in his voice. "That message was directed solely to me."
    "Sir, Tarawa was the back up carrier for this operation. If something should have happened to Concordia it would have been my job to assume control of the air strikes. In that situation, I took it upon myself to monitor all ConFleet channels and that included yours. Suppose you were hit, sir? It would have then been my job to know the entire picture. I didn't notice it immediately since it was simply decoded and stored in my personal data system. But after the action I was going through the signals to dump them off my system and I saw it."
    What Jason was confessing was somewhat outside the regulations but it showed careful planning and foresight on his part. If something had indeed happened to Concordia the young officer before him might very well have to take full responsibility for everything that transpired.
    There was an ancient cautionary tale told in the service academies, the incident dating back to a war once fought between England and America. In an encounter between an American and British ship the commanding officer of the American vessel was mortally wounded, and the junior officer took him down below deck to the surgeon. In the short interval that followed all the other officers were hit and, without his even being aware of it, the junior officer was now in command. By the time he returned to the deck his ship had already been battered into submission and forced to surrender after barely putting up a fight. The junior officer was held responsible, court-martialed, and found guilty of dereliction of duty, a duty he was not even aware had suddenly come to rest upon his shoulders. The lesson was part of the tradition and backbone of the fleet — there is no excuse for defeat
    Geoff looked at Jason and realized as well that he had made a crucial mistake in not assuming that Jason might very well be listening in.
    "And what do you think?" he finally said quietly.
    "I lost two crews in that attack, two pilots and a gunner. I'm wondering how their families would feel if they knew their kids got killed after a war was officially over."
    Tolwyn nodded and said nothing.
    "I don't give a good damn about the furballs," Jason continued, "but five hundred or more of them died when that carrier got cooked. I don't feel too good about that either, sir."
    "Neither do I."
    "Then why did you do it, sir?"
    "I'd rather not say, Jason, but let me ask you a question."
    "Sure."
    "If this was just another day in the war, how would you feel about taking out that carrier."
    "I hate losing people, but trading a Rapier, a Sabre and two of your Broadswords for a light carrier is a damn fine piece of work in my book. I wish it had always been that easy."
    Tolwyn nodded.
    "That's how I still feel about it, Jason."
    "But the war's over. We were hearing the rumors even before this attack started out. Something about a peace party coming into power in the Empire, Prince Thrakhath falling into disgrace, and Foreign Minister Jamison pushing for an armistice. Damn it, sir, they're saying it's finally over and we can go home."
    "And do you really believe it?"
    Jason hesitated.
    "Well, do you?"
    "I want to believe it, sir."
    "Damn it, man, that's exactly it. You want to believe it. Everyone wants to believe it. But there's a hell of a long stretch between wishing for something and actually seeing it come true. Anyone who believes something