A Forest of Stars - Kevin J. Anderson [39]
Now Jess tried to slow down, to savor every instant, but Cesca became even more heated, clinging to him, and Jess lost himself.
So many obstacles stood in their way, but the two of them were determined to stand firm. As Jess held her close, touching with every possible nerve ending, he wished they never had to be apart. Brief encounters such as this would give them all the strength they needed for the next few months, until they could finally be happy.
18
TASIA TAMBLYN
The siege of Yreka was long and dull, and already pointless as far as Tasia was concerned. As Platform Commander, she had done the math herself. Even if they did retrieve all the illegally stockpiled stardrive fuel, it would never make up for the ekti, firepower, and energy the EDF had expended to retrieve it.
Wing Commander Robb Brindle understood, though. “It’s not about the fuel, Tasia,” he had told her behind the privacy of her closed cabin door. “General Lanyan thinks that if we turn a blind eye to Yreka’s hoarding, then other colonies will follow suit. We’ll never stop the whole thing from unraveling.”
Tasia, though, with her nonmilitary background, could easily understand where the colonists were coming from. “Sounds good on paper, Brindle, but those are people down there. I never signed on to browbeat a handful of desperate colonists who’re just trying to survive.”
He shrugged. “You’re an officer in the EDF, Tasia. We leave decisions like that to the King, the diplomats, and the General.”
Under normal circumstances, as an enlisted Roamer pilot, Tasia would never have had a chance to become a commissioned officer. But, in the chaos and sudden drastic EDF buildup after the initial hydrogue attacks, she had been both lucky and special. The combination of her crack piloting skills and the aptitude tests, space survival, and innovation had gotten her into the tough school as an officer candidate. Though she was young, in only five years she had achieved a high rank, a Platform Commander, equivalent to a warship captain. Under different circumstances, she would have been just a mudfoot.
Tasia should have known by now not to talk politics with him. They agreed on most things, which made the infrequent fights all the more heated. If she’d had a gram of common sense, she would have opted to play low-grav Ping-Pong instead, or watch an entertainment loop, or go racing in demo Remoras. But no, they had to talk, even with all the land mines that involved.
“We’re all trying to survive,” he said. “And it’s the EDF’s job—our job—to make sure as many people survive as possible, not just the few colonists that hoard all the resources.”
After two months of boredom, nerves had grown ragged across the EDF battlegroup. The soldiers felt that Admiral Willis must have better things to do, but the Grid 7 commander required them to maintain the blockade.
For the day’s duty shift, Brindle took out his Remora squadrons to fly practice maneuvers around Yreka, dipping into the clouds and zooming back up. In theory, the rebellious colonists should have been awed by the show of force. Brindle claimed that he conducted the maneuvers to help his crew keep their edge; Tasia knew, though, that he was just blowing off steam.
Day after day, neither side made a move. Below, the rebellious Yreka colonists lived under the shadow of interdiction, growing more desperate. The beautiful, long-haired Grand Governor tried to go about business as usual. Something had to happen soon.
Tasia sat in the platcom’s lounge of her Thunderhead during another virtual conference with the main commanders in the siege fleet. As usual, Patrick Fitzpatrick advocated a fast strike, to do what was necessary and seize the ekti supplies. “We can attempt to minimize civilian casualties, Admiral. So what