Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty by Mark E. Cooper Page A

to announce another lecture soon. He had more than enough new stuff already, and his last lecture was two weeks ago.
    “Have fun then,” Colgan said.
    “Thanks, Skipper,” Ivanova and her merry band said, as they left the bridge together.
    Colgan watched them go with a smile, then touched a control to turn his command station to face front again.
    The main viewer had a tactical overlay of the entire system displayed; the many coloured icons monitored and updated by Canada’s computer represented Shan ships and stations. The system was a rich one, something that pleased Colgan on behalf of the Shan. It meant they could trade and compete with member worlds of the Alliance when they joined, but more importantly, they could maintain their independence if that’s what they chose to do. It wasn’t Colgan’s job to protect the Shan from his own people, he was here to learn about them and encourage them to join the Alliance, but he felt a responsibility to do it anyway. He honestly believed they would benefit greatly from membership, but he also knew there were downsides. There were sharks in the Alliance—member worlds with economies based upon exploiting others—who could do huge harm here. He was determined to arm the Shan with knowledge of these dangers, and others... like the Merkiaari.
    Compared to many Alliance systems, this one had very little space traffic in the outer system. That was because Shan ships preferred to work closer in. With two habitable planets, something that still amazed and excited Colgan, much of the space traffic clustered in that region would be freighter traffic. There was plenty of it. More than an Alliance system would use in similar circumstances, but that was understandable—Shan ships were slower. They made up for the lack with numbers.
    Further out and the system became the almost exclusive preserve of the Shan navy, and it was to these ships that Colgan’s attention was drawn. They were beautiful and deadly. White hulled and sleek, they looked built for speed, but again that was deceiving. Colgan knew they were much slower than Canada and his ship wasn’t by any means fast. The Exeter class cruiser was an old design and most had been decommissioned or converted into survey ships just like Canada years ago. Slow or not, the Shan ships were still a threat to the mission and had to be watched. Normally that would be his XO’s job at Tactical, but Colgan had decided after a couple of months in system without being detected to allow Canada’s computer to handle it while the officer of the watch, himself on this occasion, monitored the situation ready to intervene if necessary. That was why the tactical overlay was prominently displayed on the main viewer. Francis meanwhile, was having fun learning about the Shan by overseeing the current survey operations of the Shan colony world. Colgan had a deal with her to trade places in a few hours so that they could both keep current with the ship’s operations and the Shan.
    Thinking about keeping current brought Anya’s list to mind, and he turned his attention to his station’s number one monitor. While his crew worked quietly and efficiently around him, Colgan used his control wand to highlight items of interest on the display, and open the associated data packets on his number two monitor. Splitting his attention between the two displays and the main viewer, he worked undisturbed for almost two hours, when Baz Riley interrupted him with coffee.
    Colgan took a sip and sighed. “God that’s good. Thanks, Baz.”
    “You’re welcome, sir,” Baz said and moved to supply the others with their mid morning coffee.
    Colgan finished his drink and then turned his attention back to the main viewer. Another Shan exercise was underway, and he was struck once again by how familiar it was all becoming. Their ships were always training or running fleet exercises in the outer system. They sometimes used asteroids in the outer belt for target practice,