The Sundering by Walter Jon Williams Read Free Book Online

this.
    “Permission is granted, lord elcap,” Do-faq said. “I will also have my tactical officer review your analysis of the battle at Magaria and see what comment he offers.”
    “Thank you, my lord.”
    “I’m glad that’s settled,” Kamarullah said. “The least we can do is learn one tactical system before we go off inventing another.”
    The rest of the conference produced little of interest, and Martinez left virtual world with a burning determination to wipe Kamarullah’s smirk right off his face.
    He invited his three lieutenants to dine with him, then hesitated for a moment and invited Cadet Kelly as well. She was one of Corona ’s old crew, one of those who had helped him steal the frigate on the day of the mutiny and escape the enemy, and she had been clever and useful on that occasion.
    Corona ’s former captain, Tarafah, had been served at his lonely table by a professional chef he’d brought aboard, given the rank of petty officer, and doubtless kept sweet with under-the-table payments. Despite the war and the edict forbidding Fleet personnel to leave the service, on arrival at Zanshaa the chef had produced a doctor’s certificate testifying to a heart condition unable to stand heavy gravities, and Martinez had shrugged and let him go.
    Alikhan, who had cooked for Martinez before the war, now continued in that capacity. He’d prepared a meal for Martinez alone, and couldn’t alter his arrangements until the ship lowered its acceleration to 0.7 gravities at dinnertime and he could get into the kitchen. Alikhan’s last-second improvisations might be less appealing than his usual fare, so Martinez decided to try to provide a convivial reception for the food by opening two bottles of the wine that his sisters had crated up to him when he’d been officially promoted into Corona .
    “I do want to apologize about today’s drill, lord elcap,” Dalkeith began. “The confusion with the damage-control robots will not be repeated.”
    “Never mind that,” Martinez said, and for once in her life Dalkeith looked surprised. “I’ve got something else to show you.”
    He called up the wall display and showed selected bits of the battle at Magaria. He watched the shock as they saw squadrons of the Home Fleet buried beneath waves of antimatter. “Our tactics aren’t working,” Martinez said. “The best we can hope for is mutual annihilation. And I don’t like annihilation, not even if we take enemy with us.”
    His officers looked at him in shocked surprise. “We need something new,” Martinez said. “Lord Lieutenant Vonderheydte, the bottle is at your elbow.”
    “Oh.” Pouring. “Sorry, lord elcap.”
    “My lord?” Cadet Kelly looked at him with wide black eyes. “Are you asking us to invent a new tactical system? Over dinner?”
    “Of course not!” Dalkeith poured scorn into her child’s voice. “Don’t be ridiculous!”
    Ah, Martinez reflected, the moment awkward.
    “Well,” he began, “I’m afraid I’m the ridiculous one, because that’s what I hope to accomplish.”
    Dalkeith’s face expressed surprise for the second time that day.
    “Very good, my lord,” she said.
    Martinez raised his glass. “Here’s in aid of thought,” he said.
    The others raised their glasses and drank. Vonderheydte looked appreciatively at the wine, glowing a deep red in the heavy leaded crystal created to stand high accelerations. “This is a fine vintage, my lord,” he pronounced.
    Vonderheydte, young and small-boned and blond, was Corona ’s most junior lieutenant. He’d been one of the frigate’s cadets when the Naxids mutinied, and as he’d performed well in a number of highly improvised roles during Corona ’s escape, Martinez had exercised his powers of patronage and had promoted him.
    Vonderheydte took the bottle and looked at the label. “We should get some of this for the wardroom.” The others agreed.
    Martinez let the wine roll over his tongue and found it much like any