He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (60 page)

“Should I bring anything special, sir?”  Conner asked, coming up behind him.

“Such as?”

“Umm, side arms?”  Mike chuckles.

“No, I don’t think we’ll need anything like that, but you can wear one if you’d prefer, here it's optional.  A couple of bottles of Torgon Brandy might come in handy.”  Conner gave him an odd look and buckled his side arm around his waist.

“Oh, a little oil to grease the wheels, yes, sir.”

He smiles and went off to pack.  Mike shook his head, Conner was ever suspicious, and it hadn’t really dawned on him that Mike was home.  This was the one place in the Galaxy he had little to fear.  A car was waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp when they stepped ashore, and the driver saluted and held the rear door open for them.

“Captain Gray?”

“Yes and CPO Conner Blake.”

“Yes, sir, if you would step in, I’ll take you to see the President.”

“Well, at least the chief mucky-muck is going to see you.”  Conner whispered as he settled down in the seat.  Mike kept his peace and looked out the window.

They drove out of the shipyards and into the green belt that ran between it and the City, then slowly climbed into the low hills.  The Capital city wasn’t large, but that was the way it was planned, and kept.  They didn’t want to re-create old mistakes.  They passed tree-lined terraces with houses of all shapes, sizes and description scatter among the trees, each house having an acre or more of land around it.  With the population density kept in check and strict controls on building, the Government ensures that they would be no overcrowding, or unsightly business districts.  Ecology was the key and building an environmentally friendly city with an eye to the future, or so it was hoped.  The hover car topped a rise and they could see the Capital laid out before them.  Conner whistled, and caused the drive to look round.

“Impressive, isn’t it.”

“I’ll say, especially considering where I come from.”

“The white buildings are all Government officers, the light blue, administration officer, and the yellow, education and social services.”  The driver informed them.

“Don’t see many white buildings, Skipper, mostly blue and yellow, and not too many of them, either.”

“You won’t, Avalon likes to keep the Government to a minimum.”

“That’s right, sir, you must have read up on us before you arrived.”  The diver commented.  Conner started to say something, but Mike touched his hand and he settled back in the seat with a puzzled look on his face.

“Yes, I did a little reading before we landed.”  Mike answered, looking out the window.

As they drove down the main boulevard, it was difficult to see much of the building between the trees and greenery.  Vehicle traffic was light, as most people preferred to walk or use bicycles or electric powered scooters to get about.  They did pass under a decorative overpass just as a sleek mag-lift train slid silently passed and vanished into the trees.  The driver turned left, then right and stopped in front of an elegant white building and stopped.

“We are here, sir.”  The driver got out and opened the rear door for them, Saluting as Mike got out.  “I’ll be here if you need a ride back to your ship, Captain.”

“Thanks, not sure how long we’ll be.”

“That’s all right, sir, I’ll wait.”

There was no guard at the door, and Conner was a little surprised when he discovered that this was the President’s residence, expecting some sort of guard and check points.  Entering the main hallway, they were met by an older woman who took their caps before ushering them into a spacious library.

“The President is waiting to see you, Captain Gray.”  She gave a little smile as she opened the door, closing it softly behind them.  Mike felt himself tense, and a galloping herd of booted butterflies stampeding around his stomach.

*  *  *  *  *  *

The gray haired man looked up as they entered, his bushy eyebrows drawing together in a slight frown.  He was an imposing figure, broad shouldered and tanned.  Gordon Tregallion looked at the young man standing before him, tall, 6’- 4” at least and about 220 pounds, and not an ounce of fat.  Was this confident young officer the angry teenager, he’d last seen?  He doubted it.  Security had managed to track him at last, and his time in the Marines seems to have served him well.  The Royal Navy had done an even better job than he thought.  More than once, he expected to see Mike come sneaking home, maybe begging for forgiveness, and he was glad that he hadn’t.  He looked more like Max Tregallion than Max did.  Now wouldn’t that come as a shock to the old man?  Mike saw his Grandfather smile at some secret thought at the back of his mind.  It wasn’t anger, he was passed that now, or was he?  Whatever it was, he knew he’d have to settle what was between them, yet standing there neither of them seem to know what to say to each other.  It wasn’t a test of will to see who would speak first, but more about how to speak.  Conner stood to one side, not sure what to make of the scene.  The silence seemed to go on for an eternity.

“I would say, welcome home, Michael, but I’m not sure if you are.”

“I’m not sure either.  Do we talk or fight?”  At that, the President smiled.

“I doubt I’d win either a physical or a verbal battle with you now.”  Conner swallowed softly.  This wasn’t what he’d expected.  “You rang my bell the last time we
talked
.”

“You didn’t really give me much choice then, did you?”  Gordon shook his head.

“No, I guess I didn’t.”  He growled.  “Either way, I am glad to see you home, and looking like you do.  I won’t say I’m proud of you, even though I am, because I had nothing to do with it."

“Thank you for that.”

“But, as you are here on official business, at least that’s what I inferred from the diplomatic message I received, let’s take that first, shall we?”

“Good idea, we are both on safer ground there.”

Gordon had to admit, this confident young man was a far cry from the one who left, more in control, more sure of himself, and his words.  Gordon stood up and came round the desk, holding his hand out.  They shook, each carefully squeezing the other hand, yet neither put his full strength into it.

“May I introduce my chief Petty Officer, and Chief of the Boat, Conner Blake.”  Conner stepped forward and shook hands, meeting hard grip with hard grip.

“A pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Same here, please have a seat, both of you.”  He indicated some easy chairs around a coffee table instead of those on the other side of his desk.  They sat, and Mike took out his dispatches while Gordon ordered up coffee, and brandy.

“CPO Blake has the distinction of saving my butt on more than one occasion, so I trust him with my life.”

“In that case, he is doubly welcome.”

The coffee and brandy arrived, and Gordon indicated they should help themselves.  They did, Conner took his black with a small shot of liqueur in it.  Mike just took just coffee for the moment.  With coffee in hand, Mike brought him up to date as to the situation back on Earth, then passed over the envelope.  This raised an eyebrow, as it wasn’t often nowadays that people used paper.  Gordon looked at the unbroken Royal seal on the back and pursed his lips.

“So, his Majesty deems to writes in person now?”

“This is a full account of my orders, and the request from the King.”

“And the gist of it is?”  Gordon asked, tapping the edge of the envelope on the coffee table.

“I’d rather you read the letter and decide for yourself, Mr. President.” Carefully breaking the seal, he extracted the document inside and began to read.  It was difficult to tell from the expression on his face what he was thinking.

“I take it that the Governor General doesn’t know anything about this?”  He tapped the document with a rough forefinger.

“No, sir, he doesn’t.”

“Wise precaution, he's been making noises about the Sirriens and how wonderful they are.”  Mike frowned.  “He has also been very careful about what he tells us of the going on outside our little star system.”  He growled.  “Bloody fool thinks we don’t know.”

“Well, you don’t exactly advertise that Avalon has its own spy network.”

“True, and the least said about that the better.”  He chuckled.  “The old bugger has been trying to get spy units into this building since he arrived.”

“I bet he heard some interesting conversations.”

“Oh, between the birds and the lizards, yes, very educational.”  He laughed.

“Have you had any recent visits from the Sirriens?”

“Yes, we had to chase two of their warships back through the Southern warp point on the other side of the Rift last week.”

“Any incident?”

“No, we just told them politely to get the hell out of our space, or else.”

“That would do it.”

“Where the Sirriens are concerned, we are not known for our hospitality, speaking of which, the news that you are here is going to get out, you know.”

“Yes, I tried to keep as low a profile as I could.”  Mike sighed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep the fanfare to a minimum.”

“Thank you that would help.”

“Why don’t you take off and show Conner our wonderful backward little planet while I take this proposal up with the Privy Council.”

“What’s your feeling on the matter?”  His being the only one that really mattered, well his and Max of course.

“I’ll go by the recommendation of the ministers, Mike.”  His tone was none-committal, and Mike had to smile.

“Come on, you and I both know they will go by what you recommend.”  The President looked at Conner for a moment.

“Is Conner aware of our rather unique system of Government?”

“I don’t know.”

“Your elections you mean?”  Conner asked, hearing them both laughed.

“Yes, you could call it that.”

“We have a lottery, Conner, all the names for each district are placed in a box, whoever name is pulled out gets to serve as Members of the Privy Council for one year.”

“Whether they want to or not.”  Gordon laughed.  “Some of them have to be dragooned into the position.  Usually kicking and screaming, I might add.”

“Good God, you usually have people begging to get into Government.”

“Yes, usually the wrong people, for the wrong reasons, money and power, but not here.”

“Once you reach 21 and completed your compulsory military service, you are a full citizen and eligible for the lottery.”

“We keep our Government to a minimum and only have one party.”

“That seems strange, sir, if you don’t mind me saying so.”

“No,  you are right, but in the beginning, we looked at the function of Government and decided to do it a different way, Mike will explain it all to you, I’m sure.”

“So, what are you feeling.”

“I have no trouble with it at all, I think a payment, or compensation plan can be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.”

“Can you build them in the time frame?”

“Yes, I don’t see why not.”

“Good, I have a complete set of plans and specification of my ship I want your people to review for possible improvement before construction starts.”