what it was,â I said, wiping my mouth with my uniform sleeve. âBut go ahead.â
âYou asked what brought me to High Station. Iâve been assigned as a strategic attaché for the Carinthian Navy for the last three months, although my commission has recently been transferred to the Union Navy Command.â
âI see,â I said, finally recovering from the schnapps. âNow I suppose youâll want to hear all about me?â To my surprise, she shook her head no.
âNo need. You were born the second son of the Grand Admiral of the Quantar navy, who will soon be retiring to assume the honorary title of Director of Quantar. Since the untimely death of your brother in a Union Navy accident, you are now first in line to succeed to the chair after your father, should it ever be offered by the empire again. Your official title is Viscount of Queensland, but when your father becomes Director youâll become Duke of KendalFalk. Youâve just graduated at the top of your class of thirty-six cadets as a certified longscope officer, and your aptitude rating was off the charts. Your best friend is the Earth Historian, Serosian, who will stay with
Starbound
, and youâll be serving under Captain Lucius Zander aboard
H.M.S.
Impulse
beginning in a couple of days. Did I miss anything?â
âI donât think so,â I said, then thought about Derrick and how I had come to be in my current position. In many ways I didnât feel worthy, but that was something to deal with at another time.
I was a bit taken aback by her knowledge of me, and somewhat offended. It was clear she had extensive information on me and my family, some of it high-ranking intelligence. I didnât much like being put on the defensive and she had certainly done that. Frankly, I was more than a bit angry. âYou Carinthians donât miss much, do you?â I said as I finished my bitter and then stood to go without saying anything more, my eveningâs fun waning. She tapped the table.
âPlease stay,â she said.
âIs that an order, Commander?â
âNo.â
I sat, letting her know by the look on my face that I was upset with the direction of the conversation. âIâm afraid I donât like having my private life so . . . well known,â I said. She sighed, in sympathy, I thought.
âI donât believe you have a private life anymore, Commander. Thatâs something youâd better get used to,â she said. I contemplated her. Clearly she was much more knowledgeable about me than I was comfortable with, and the conversation seemed as if it had been arranged. I wondered if she knew about Natalie and my relationship with her, and what had happened with
Impulse
at Levant.
âIn earlier times between us you would have been thought a spy,â I said. She tilted her head slightly at me.
âThose times are over, Cochrane. What happened in a war fought a century and a half before we were born has no effect on us or how we behave. Quantar and Carinthia are allies and equal members of the Union,â she said. I waved off the serving girl as she came past our booth. Iâd had quite enough alcohol and quite enough of being lectured.
âAs you said, madam, a war fought so long ago shouldnât affect us today. But you should also know that wounds can take a long time to heal, especially fresh ones.â I thought of Natalie again then, and for the first time I began to feel a great sadness at her loss. There was an awkward silence as we sat together. I had no idea what she knew or didnât know about me, and at that point I didnât care. I just wanted a graceful exit from the conversation.
Then she broke through the silence in a quite unexpected way.
âDo you fence?â she asked. I was surprised by the question.
âFence? Well, I suppose so. I took a quarter of it at the Academy.â
âExcellent! Iâve been