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appeared
before him, DeChastelaine spoke first. “My delay was unavoidable, Admiral. I’ve
just had a most productive chat with Senior Lieutenant Corrinne Hood. I’ve
decided that I would like her to be seconded to my staff for an indefinite
period. Therefore the transfer order sending her to Tango Delta 39 is to be rescinded
immediately and oh, by the way, her new responsibilities are typically carried
out by someone with a higher rank, so I want her permanent rank to be upgraded
to SubCommander, as well as a further temporary upgrade to Commander. Now that
we’ve taken care of those administrative details, you may begin your
operational briefing starting with the deployment of Capital Fleet’s cruiser
squadrons.”
     
    Hiakawa had kept his expression under control,
but DeChastelaine noticed that the Admiral’s hands were clenched so tightly
that his knuckles were white. After a slight hesitation, the Admiral began
speaking.
     
    * * * *
     
    Logan was surprised at the hostility shown to
him by fellow Space Force officers upon his arrival on Earth. No sooner had he
stepped foot inside Headquarters than he was escorted by Military Police to a
room that had conferencing facilities. He was told to sit at the console. After
several minutes, the holographic projection of a much larger room with a round
table appeared, and other officers, all of them wearing at least three stars,
began to appear as well. Most ignored him. A few looked at him as if he had
committed some abominable crime. When all the chairs were filled except for one
at the opposite side, a chime sounded and Emperor DeChastelaine appeared. Logan
jumped up and stood at attention. No one else did.
     
    DeChastelaine noticed that one officer stood to
attention upon his arrival and a quick query of his console revealed that it
was SubCommander Logan.
     
    “At least there’s one officer who shows the
proper respect,” he said in a voice just loud enough that Hiakawa and some of
his admirals could hear him. “You may be seated, SubCommander Logan. I’m eager
to hear your first hand impressions of the events in the Rift. I’ve read your
After Action report, but I’d like to hear your account of events from the
beginning. Feel free to add any insights, comments, or conjecture that you feel
is relevant and take as much time as you need. You may begin.”
     
    As Logan began describing the initial
detections of the alien ships, DeChastelaine listened with one ear while he
looked around at the faces of the gathered admirals. They were all looking at
Logan, with expressions ranging from disapproval to barely controlled anger. At
first he couldn’t understand why that would be, but things became much clearer
when Logan described how he ordered the destruction of the wormhole positional
beacons.
     
    Hiakawa cut in angrily. “Do I understand
correctly that you DELIBERATELY ordered the wormhole beacons destroyed,
SubCommander, thereby effectively destroying six months worth of effort by your
squadron?”
     
    Logan was clearly taken aback by the tone of
that question or rather accusation. “Yes, Admiral, I took that precaution because—“
     
    Hiakawa didn’t let him finish the sentence.
“Don’t try to justify your incompetence, SubCommander. You’ll have an
opportunity to do so at your Board of Inquiry hearing.”
     
    Before anyone else could say anything,
DeChastelaine leaned forward and said, “Well, I for one would like to hear
SubCommander Logan’s explanation now. You may finish your explanation,
SubCommander.”
     
    “I thank my Emperor. Even though the initial
group of alien ships would already be receiving the signals sent out by each
wormhole beacon before my ship had a chance to silence it, it occurred to me
that the hostile ships we detected might be the reconnaissance portion of a
much larger hostile force attempting to cross the Rift to our side. If the
beacons were left intact, that larger force would be able to cross the Rift
much more