Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Read online

  Raymond said, "Yes, but the Malakins were building thousands of ships in secret, so I've heard. They can afford to lose that many ships. However, I understand that you're even more challenged in procuring officers and enlisted personnel for the Navy."

  Stephen replied, "Your information is correct, Raymond. In fact, I'm voting today on a bill permitting the Navy and the Space Academy to coordinate the procurement of suitable men and women for accelerated officer training."

  "Even with that," said Raymond, "how long will it be before those officers are available to the Navy?"

  "Three to six months," answered Stephen. "That's the only sticking point. Most of the representatives are leaning toward six months so that the men and women will have been evaluated and trained long enough to be more than just mere cannon fodder."

  "So, while you continue to fight off the Malakins with forces you can't replace yet, the situation will continue to get worse. Am I correct?" asked Raymond.

  Stephen said, "It appears to be that way. However, we still have plenty of qualified officers and enlisted personnel available who won't give up or quit. They're too good to do anything less than their best while performing their jobs."

  Raymond said, "I'm not criticizing them for how well they do their jobs, Stephen. I'm merely pointing out that you don't have enough of them."

  "Well, there haven't been any large scale resignations of officer commissions as happened in the Ape-oids War, either. Wait! You first said that Serapha was thinking of applying for membership to the Union?" asked Stephen.

  "I did," Raymond said with a smile. "You know also that our fleet is every bit as modern as your own and just as well-trained and dedicated."

  "They are, I've heard, but they're also untested. So Serapha is going to uphold the Universal Rights Bill then?" asked Stephen.

  "We're not prepared to go that far. However, we thought that in your current situation, you might be pre-disposed to consider waiving some of the provisions. That way you could beef up your forces with officers and men from our own Navy. We have more than enough officers to meet your shortages plus the men and ships to easily make up what you've lost. Why most of our fleet is comprised of cruisers and dreadnoughts. You know that. I would be surprised if you don't," remarked Raymond. "As far as being untested, they're hardly that since they have fought against pirates."

  Stephen asked, "What concessions are you looking for?"

  Raymond answered, "For starters, the abolition of free immigration. We are a God-fearing planet. We don't tolerate non-believers, perverts, and criminals and do not intend to ever tolerate such behavior. Now I've already been around to some of the other representatives. It looks very favorable right now that enough of them will go along with those concessions."

  "I see," said Stephen. "And you want me to join the band wagon in getting a waiver of the Universal Rights Bill permitted so you can join?"

  Raymond replied, "That's all we're asking for now. In fact, we're willing to show you and the other representatives that our fleet can take on the Malakins and fight."

  "How are you going to show us that?" asked Stephen.

  "You'll see. Trust me, you'll see," Raymond replied.

  ***

  Admiral Oden looked at the news reports and then the official dispatches. Congress had passed the bills granting accelerated officer courses. The new temporary officers wouldn't be entering the service as officers until almost seven months later. However, Oden was being permitted to graduate the current senior class of cadets at the Space Academy immediately to make up part of the needed officer shortage.

  ***

  "Cadets, dress uniforms today!" Sergeant Maria Delgado shouted.

  "What's up, Sarge?"

  She said, "You're graduating today! The Navy needs you now!"

  "Today?"

  "You heard me," she said, "dress uniforms unless you want Rear Admiral Oden on your case!"

  "He'll be here?"

  Sergeant Delgado said, "He's still the Commandant, even if he is leading part of the fleet against the Malakins. Now look lively and get ready!"

  Fifty men and women cadets were all who were left of the senior class after others had been taken ahead of time for fighters and the Space Marines or died defending Beulah until Space Marines arrived to take over. Some changed out of their regular uniforms and into dress uniforms. None of them was sure how the Academy would treat the top five percent of graduates since much of the class was missing. A few of those cadets had been in the top five percent of their class. Normally, the top five percent got their choice of assignment and even the ship within a squadron when they left. Furthermore, the top cadet got a promotion.

  ***

  Admiral Oden gazed upon the class of graduates and smiled. It was a smile born of pride for these were soon to be his fellow officers.

  Dave said, "You've probably had one of the more interesting and exciting four years of all those who have passed this way before you. As you know, you were all granted activation of your commissions when you went off to fight a few months ago. You gained experience and knowledge from that. You came back victors, though not without the loss of friends whom you and I will always remember and cherish in our hearts. Now you are leaving here early to resume that battle. I wish you, my fellow officers, all the good fortune possible. Doubtless I shall see and work with some of you personally in the times to come. I look forward to that. You have shown yourselves to be the kind of officers I want to work with."

  Dave paused and took a short sip of water. Then he continued, "Because one of the top five positions was awarded already, there will be only four. I hope that one of you won't be disappointed because of that. The top four graduates are to see me after they find out who they are. Then we will discuss your assignments. Officers, I salute you!"

  Admiral Oden snapped to attention and performed a snappy salute. He quickly received one in return from the new officers. Then the officers tossed their caps into the air before leaving when their instructors dismissed them.

  When Sergeant Delgado shouted, "Dismissed," she made sure that she wasn't in their way as they broke ranks and ran for the grade postings. Nearly fifty newly-commissioned officers ran hurriedly to the grade postings to look up their grades and assignments. Many were happy with their initial assignments, ignorant that Admiral Oden took their wishes and abilities into account before making the actual assignments. He probably could have done as well with the top five percent, but he would let them have a direct hand in that. Since he instituted it when he took over as Commandant nearly a decade ago, the policy had made the cadets more competitive and their overall performance was better. Even though he started it, it was nothing new. It was merely another old idea he revived.

  ***

  Congress was one of the few institutions that still used paper, though not nearly as much as it once did. Now the amount was less than a thousandth of what was used when the Union was formed. Primarily, it was used for documents so that everyone would be satisfied that no electronic hanky-panky was going on with proposed bills before they became law.

  In the Congressional convening room, Stephen looked over the documents handed to him by one of the secretaries for the day's work. He leafed through them, checked their titles, and stopped when he came to one that bore a request for waivers for application to the Union. He pulled it out and began reading, surprised somewhat at its length. It shouldn't have been more than two or three pages long. Instead, it was closer to a hundred and in small print.

  He addressed the Congress's convener. "Ethel, have you read this?"

  She answered, "No, Stephen, but Raymond told me what it's about."

  "I take it then that you're in favor of this?" asked Stephen.

  She said, "Yes, I am. I think that the Union has been too permissive and lax."

  "Well . . . I think I'll read it through fully first if you don't mind before it comes up for a vote. This is too much to be a mere request for waivers and admittance to the Union," Steph
en said.

  "That's your right, but don't take too long. We need their help out on the edge fighting the Malakins," she replied. "How soon will you be ready to vote on it?"

  Stephen replied, "I'd like a week to delve into this."

  "That could become more blood on your hands," she said.

  "Maybe so, but I want to know what we're getting into," Stephen replied. Stephen looked at the remainder of the bills and then said, "I've got no problem voting on the rest of the bills today."

  Ethel said, "Fine, then only one matter is being tabled and will be brought up this time next week. Let's get to the first bill."

  ***

  Stephen waved Admiral of the Navy Reason to a seat and then tossed him a thick copy of a bill. "I suppose that you've heard of Serapha's request for admission?" asked Stephen.

  "I have. Doesn't look too bad, what I've seen of it," replied the admiral.

  "You've only seen the condensed version. That's the full version in your hands. Take it and read it. It's nothing like the condensed version that they're advertising on the nets. They've got people everywhere all ready to add another dot to the flag to represent Serapha without the people knowing exactly what they would be signing away," said Stephen.

  "Oh? I will read it then. How soon do you want my reply?" asked Admiral Reason.

  Stephen stated, "Tomorrow."

  Admiral Reason replied, "Tomorrow? Yes sir. I'll do my best."

  ***

  Stephen looked up as Admiral Bill Reason walked into his office, his disgust barely disguised. Stephen said, "Well, it looks like you got to at least page seventy last night."

  The admiral nodded and then said, "Read it all as you suggested. I trust that you asked me to read it because you feel the same way."

  Stephen said, "You guess right. It's a step backwards for the Union if we accede to their demands in order to have their forces added to ours. The question is, can we beat the Malakins without their help?"

  Bill looked straight at Stephen and answered, "Damn straight we can! It just isn't going to be overnight."

  Stephen said, "Fair enough, Bill. I'll vote against it then, just to let you know how I feel. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some arm-twisting of my own to do. Serapha has almost enough votes corralled in Congress to get this passed. I've got to do some damage control before we sign away our rights."

  ***

  Rear Admiral Dave Oden looked at a copy of Serapha's request for admission and read it through. In it he saw danger, not only for the rights of the people within the Union of Planets, but for the Union and the Navy. He thought he was finished with the problems of taking orders from incompetent officers once before. He thought that the issue would never rise again. That was why he agreed to take the assignment of Commandant of the Academy and be responsible for graduating skilled, tough-minded, courageous, and fair officers.

  When Dave finished with the proposal, he was aghast at the overall implications. Not only would it harm human rights, it could foment a civil war within the Union. It would be a split that no one would be able to mend in anything less than a few centuries. That was provided someone could prevent both sides from fighting it again and again during the cooling off period.

  Dave left his quarters and went to fleet headquarters. Within moments of arriving there, he sent a coded message to Admiral Wund. Dave went back to his quarters a little later after receiving a reply, no longer piping mad, but still concerned about the implications.

  ***

  Admiral Wund arrived at Beulah one day before the vote would take place on Earth for Serapha's admission. He was welcomed into Dave's office and took a seat.

  Dave said, "Thanks for coming. Have you advised your government of the key points?"

  Benz said, "Yes, an emissary is already on her way to Earth to apply for admission. I am sorry that we will have to see a tradition of ours fade away because of the urgency, but sometimes it is necessary for traditions to be replaced."

  Dave replied, "I hope your emissary arrives before the vote. That will give the Congress something to consider as an alternative to Serapha's demands."

  Benz smiled, "We used our fastest ship and sent the information to her after it left. She should arrive in time."

  "Excellent! I wish you well, Admiral Wund, and hope that you still find the time to both vanquish enemies and father young," said Dave.

  Benz said, "Yes, I shall have to use what you call, uh, management time?"

  "Uh, right," said Dave. "Now presuming that your planet is admitted, we should begin considering how to coordinate closer in our actions until we can merge the two forces together."

  "Let us be on with it then," said Benz.

  ***

  Ethel convened the Congress that was composed of twenty-one other members besides herself. "I take it that we're ready to put the Serapha request for admission to a vote?"

  Stephen said, "I'm ready, thank you. However, it has come to my attention that we should be expecting another application from Leuion. I understand that they are asking for no waivers of any sort. They are willing to scrap their monarchy and change their military traditions to match those of our own armed forces. They fully intend to honor the entire Universal Rights Bill. I propose that we wait for an hour or two so that they might arrive and make their presentation."

  Mikelia, representing Mars, rose and said, "Excuse me, but can't we vote on them later? We can still get on with this vote now. Besides, the Blues won't be adding to our armed forces. They're already at war with Malak."

  Stephen looked at Mikelia, who had risen without recognition, and said, "Though I don't have to answer an unrecognized comment, I shall make an exception. It is true that the Blues are already at war with Malak, but they are not involved in offensive actions. Therefore, they still have sufficient armed forces at their disposal to offer our own Navy for a full-out offensive campaign. Furthermore, unlike the paragraph on page 75 in the Serapha application, the Blues are willing to take orders instead of demanding that they be put in charge of Union armed forces."

  "What?" exclaimed Rose, representative of Earth.

  "It's written plainly in the second paragraph on page 75 that the Seraphan officers are to be retained in their positions. All officers' ranks are to be adjusted to theirs. That's so that they won't have to insult any of their officers by demoting them so that they'll have the same number of officer ranks as we do. If we do that, a Seraphan officer will take over as Admiral of the Navy or whatever their name for that rank happens to be. They will be completely in charge of the armed forces if we accept their waivers," said Stephen. "Personally, I see it as a fairly slick way of putting things into their control. It's not the only area where they would become responsible for something within the Union. Perhaps some of my colleagues would care to defer the vote to this afternoon so that they can read pages 65 through 83. Those seem to be the most difficult to swallow. Then, if they feel as I, we can send the application back to Serapha with our comments and suggest that they rethink some of the waivers they are asking for. If these were unintentional, then they can correct those and give us back the document a little later for consideration."

  Mikelia asked, "You think these were intentional?"

  "I hope not," said Stephen. "If they are, then your planet would be one to suffer, I am certain."

  Ethel got a quick vote on a postponement. The Congress postponed the bill's fate until that afternoon.

  ***

  In one office, three representatives got together and discussed the bill.

  Stella, representing Echo, said, "If the Congress votes to accept this bill without change, my planet will surely be ready to revolt."

  "As will mine," said Garin, Edun's representative. "They put up with enough persecution before the Union was created. They've enjoyed true freedom since then, at least on our own planet. We won't give up those rights."

  Ivan, representing Gabrielle, said, "We joined because we saw honor in the Universal Rights Bill. This makes
a mockery of it. If it is waivered, my planet will quickly secede since that is their way to anyone who is not honorable."

  "We're talking civil war here," said Stella.

  "No, we're talking about how our citizens will feel if their rights are stripped away. Serapha has little tolerance for Pristine, Echo, and Edun. Serapha lumps them in with Opal," said Garin. "I have no wish to see the Union go the way of the Spanish Inquisition."

  "They'd never go that far," said Stella.

  "Look at page 82, paragraph 3," said Garin. "They could and they would."

  Stella feverishly flipped until she reached page 82 and read the paragraph that Garin pointed to with a finger. Her face turned pale, despite her tan. "Does anyone know how Stephen is voting?" she asked.

  Garin smiled, "He's against it or couldn't you tell? My own guess is that he wants to get the Blues in first, since they're not asking for any waivers, so that we'll have more votes against Serapha."

  "Who else?" asked Stella.

  Ivan said, "I think that we might see a change in Mikelia's position. That is if Mikelia sees how this can affect Mars or himself. We can probably count on Rose, too. Don't forget, they have a longer history than any of us. They're the ones who once suffered the Spanish Inquisition, not to mention any of their other conflicts. They have plenty of citizens in the Navy. Many more than any other member. I don't think Rose would like to have her citizens killed in battle because of incompetent officers from some Union wannabe."

  "I see," said Garin. "Counting ourselves, we have three. Stephen makes four and Rose could make it five. That's not enough to stop entry. If we had either Mikelia or Leuion, then we would have enough to block. It's too bad Pristine doesn't see this danger yet."

  Ivan said, "Precisely. That is why I suspect that Mikelia isn't too likely to vote with us. There's no guarantee that Rose will, either. I do think that Stephen has someone in mind and wants the Leuion vote to be sure we can block. For that reason, I am going to talk honorably for a long time this afternoon about not much at all in order to give the Blues enough time to arrive."