Nobody's Kind (RoTSA)

----
=By Cannonshop=
----
==Trial by Fire==
Dante, Raven alliance
3132
----
"It is not…
…that I do not want to be worthy of the name." Star Captain Mai stood with feet exactly shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind her back, elbows at exact, parade-ground, position. "It is, rather, that there are somewhat fewer people qualified to head a Bloodhouse within the Clan, given that I am the first generation after the bloodhouse founder died. This makes a trial for the name…complicated."
Sterling McKenna raised an eyebrow, the Khan looked somewhat surprised, "You do realize, Star Captain Mai, that Amanda Roberts, from whom you were drawn, was nothing if not an iconoclast, Quiaff?"
"Aff, My Khan. The silly hats being one side-effect of her affectations." Mai acknowledged, despite her own Tricorne hat being almost rigidly regulation-positioned on top of a stylized bandage wrap of white, with a single patch of dyed red, like a crest, "or that these long, bulky coats she liked have become the dress uniform for the Privateers, a second-line formation within the Touman with its own traditions…which I observe as a good member of the Clan."
"What do you want?"
"I want a fair test of my abilities for a Trial, not just to hear 'Hey, you made command of a ship, here is your bloodname'." Mai stated, "It makes us…less in the eyes of the other trueborn. The name must be won in an honorable trial or it will lose meaning."
"There are, at present, no other candidates." Sterling told her, "Your fellows have been less impressive-"
"Less opportunity to prove themselves." Mai filled in, "Peaceful patrols and accident reports are hardly a challenge fit for Warrior Caste, even Warriors who report to the Watch."
"What do you have in mind?" the Khan asked.
"One year tour outside the borders, the target is the Tortuga Dominions." Mai stated, "Maybe longer than a year, even-we go on a tour, destroying Bandit-Caste that prey on other realms since that bandit caste has been…less apparent here. Greatest number of captures or Wanted Bandits taken out or taken down, wins a spot in the general melee. Each potential candidate takes a ship, and conducts their operations with only their ship and what they can secure, recruit, or capture, with strict restrictions making anyone NOT on the wanted list immune and therefore by definition unworthy."
"So…a 'pre-trial', quiaff?"
"Aff. 'Roberts' will never be a name in one of the front-line Galaxies, not until we can prove we are good enough. The Bloodhouse needs this, to prove Amanda Roberts was not some flashy one-off, to prove our Bloodname was not a prior Khan's mistake."
"What brought this feeling on-that you think…that you believe anyone would think, that your bloodhouse is a mistake?" Sterling asked, pacing the room.
"I saw the memos from your immediate predecessor, the ones that were not purged, and I have heard…loose talk among members of the Touman. We are not considered a true Bloodhouse of the Clan, we are seen as a sort of…as a mistake, by many trueborn warriors, some of considerable rank."
"I see…Your 'pre-trial' is approved…conditionally. We do not have fifty Bonaventure Mark Twos to hand out for this. Conventional Jumpships with combat DropShips will be used, you will have three months to prepare, and ninety three days from today, you will embark on your mission, which is to last exactly 365 Terran Days, during which, the most successful ten candidates will advance to fight a bloodname trial against one proxy from each of the Clan's more established Bloodhouses, should one of you achieve victory, that person will get to bear the name 'Roberts'."
"Seyla."
"Be of a mind, Mai, it might not be you, that first winner will have to serve as loremaster and leader of your Bloodhouse, until they are replaced by a newer generation that can win it."
----
Somewhere spinward and rimward of the Taurian Concordat…
"Well…that is what you get when you rely on official reports." The system was empty-had been empty for a long time, based on trace.
They'd been here for two weeks.
"It is method. There are a thousand routes the Tortuga Pirates can use between their targets in the periphery realms, and their base of operations."
The problem being, to strike any of the bandit-held worlds would require more than a single Invader with three dropships.
It would require a major force.
"Or does it? Hmm…"
-----
==New Strategy of Training==
"So, it has been six months…
…and we have four whose path has ended messily so far." David Foster rarely visits his Clan these days-his position as a 'retiree' and civilian being just about shit cover for his Clan-approved position as Watch Liaison to Helena Cameron's AI faction, with some freelance diplomacy to Noriko Murakami's Star League Exploration Service.
But he'd been one of the main forces shaping the Privateer Clusters, and he had NOT been a fan of this 'pre-trial deeds' idea.
"I gave them a year." Khan Sterling McKenna had been somewhat displeased when Foster rejected her request to join the Privateers as a recent Sibko Graduate, and she'd been displeased by his critique of her strategic proposals during the Plunder War, but that was the past & experiences had changed her outlook. The woman she'd become, the Khan she'd become, recognizes that it was no insult.
The man had been horribly right. "Why did you never try for higher positions, David?" she asked. "You stepped aside and let Dierdre nearly dismantle everything you built."
Dave shrugged and grinned, "You stopped her." he said, "I did not need to do a damned thing except let someone like you put her out on her ass. Besides, there was never any chance I would have the support to lead a bloodhouse, never mind contest for the Khanship."
"I seem to remember looking at the assets you were managing for the Alliance, and you could easily have contested for the Khanship." she argued, "You did not."
"Scale." Dave stated, "This is not the Homeworlds, like or not, you have a position that covers as much in resources and problems as the entire homeworld Grand Council had to deal with. I ran a small half-caste agency with a limited set of duties, not an entire clan, plus the takeover of a sovereign state-peacefully. I learned my limits in my twenties, Khan Sterling McKenna, and I kept it in mind through a longer life than most." He moved a chess piece, "You dodged my question instead of refusing it or answering."
"Aff." she nodded. "Four absolute failures out of twenty sent out." she told him, "Two we know will go rogue or defect, they can be dealt with in time. I already have my preferred candidate in mind, and that candidate has neither died in glorious-but-futile battle, nor turned coat."
"Okay, so why?" he asked.
"Because I read your book." Sterling told him, "the one you do not seem to be willing to submit for publication, on policy and strategy. If you were not so problematic, I would be pushing Howe to retire in favor of putting you in that seat. I can not have that, so I will have the next best thing."
"Which part of this 'book' do you think I put together?" He asked.
"The part that defines what a Navy must do to be effective." Sterling told him, "What our 'territory' really is."
"You are testing them to formulate the next iteration of the Star League Navy, quineg?"
"Aff." she countered with a sharp nod. "Part of it. Naval officers can not find Naval Battles when it is convenient, and arranging them is a waste, but proving function? Aff. Proof of function and a reputation to influence outsiders."
"So expanding on what we began-using Anti-piracy operations as a proving ground for future Warship command?"
"It strikes me that a broader understanding of the universe is never a poor thing for a Naval Warrior to have."
"Planning to do this with others?" he asked.
"If the Roberts experiment works, Aff." she asserted, "If it fails, I will have to formulate another method. One thing I am sure of, however…"
"What?"
"There will always be pirates and bandits to pursue, and if we run out locally, we can find them elsewhere to sharpen the Claws of the Touman." she moved her knight, "Huh, checkmate."
"Good game."
----
==Knowing when to make the Call==
Fletcher's Feast system…
The Pirates who use this world, expected to be safe. Safe enough that their defenses on their Jumpships were minimal, the DropShips were ground-side, enjoying whatever passes for the pleasures between raids.
"They tried to 'lock it' by pulling the fuses between the navigation board and the jump core…stupid." Mai shook her head, "We have those in stores."
The key, was not bothering to try to raid the surface when she lacked the manpower. Stranding them in the system until their allies could come to their aid? Absolutely doable.
"We will come back with a real force some day." she said, "Let's take our prizes home."
----
==Function of the Navy==
"...it is the function of the Navy…
…to safeguard the flow of goods and services, the economics of interstellar nations ultimately rests on the movement of commerce, and on the strategic level, a nation can be broken by choking that flow off. Thus, unlike the role of Armies and ground forces, the Navy is not tied to a single world or continent or factory, but instead, it must flow across the stars, both to keep the blood of commerce and communication going, and to, when necessary, cut that flow off from our enemies."-Foster, David, "Philosophical musings on the role of Naval Warfare in the interstellar era." Unpublished manuscript, 3132
----
Finis
----
--Back to Star League Anthology of short(er) stories - Main Page--
Nobody's Kind
Nobody's Kind
Nobody's Kind