Penance (RN: Book 2) by David Gunner

arrived to the mess earlier than expected after a tour of the ship that confirmed everything was in hand, with what repairs could be affected well under way, and those that couldn’t fully catalogued for when they arrived at the next quarter station.
    The ship had taken a hell of a beating for what was a short but lively encounter with a ...with a? He didn’t even know what the hell it was. A finger tapped the table as he pondered what to put in his report. The ship was attacked by a space dinosaur that almost bit us in half ! Denz grunted into his coffee at the preposterousness off it. He could see the admiral at Trent quarter station sharing disbelieving stares with his adjutant, as they then scribbled notes and stamped papers before a summoning finger requested the file be sped to the nearest board of psychiatrists. Yet he always had the recorded data and a group of solid officers behind him, so there could be no denying what had occurred.
    Denz listened to the chatter about the busy mess as he sipped his coffee. Every man and woman here knew what they were doing, knew their place and how secure they were in it. Yet there were still the favour seekers who snatched glances at him over their tablets, hoping to catch his eye and have him make an acknowledgement of their presence. Maybe he would even invite them to join him for breakfast. He despised such toadying as it was but a short step from bona fide sycophantry and favoured protections. So he sat alone with a spare seat reserved for Mr Canthouse who would arrive on the stroke to eat a hurried breakfast, before inventing some plausible excuse to depart and continue his monitoring of the repairs.
    A very capable officer that Malcolm Canthouse. A little liable to assume too much responsibility, a trait confirmed by his moving from console to console on the bridge to double interrogate any data. All he was lacking was a little more faith in his offices abilities to do their jobs without his intervention. Yet this was something that would come with time and more command experience. At least Denz hoped it would, because If it didn’t Canthouse was liable to burn himself out before he gained his own center chair. He’d seen it before in other promising officers, so an eye had to be kept on him to ensure he got the required rest, food and appropriate merits to enable his career progression.
    For some reason, Denz suddenly became convinced that Canthouse would soon be moving on, and it was with ill consideration that he passed the thought of breaking in a new first officer through his mind. He quashed the idea and chastised himself for the nonsensicality of it. However, even if Canthouse did move on there were other officers that could step up to fill the void. Mr Avery, the second officer, was another capable man, just not as capable as Canthouse.
    Denz stewed on such thoughts and considered officers he’d known as he finished his breakfast. He had known officers, some of them the finest men and women indeed. Officers who had served with him on this very ship. Officers who had placed their trust in him. Officers who had died because of their trust in him.
    Images of smiling faces snapped from his subconscious to superimpose on his reality like flash photography. He looked about the mess hall at the companionable beings as they chatted and laughed to distract himself, but the images continued.
    Lowering his head, he closed his eyes to will the faces away, only for the single frames to become a deluge of dark imagery from the last fateful voyage of the Bristol coursing through his mind.
    They had met The Koll fleet with more than fourteen hundred ships, which was every flight worthy vessel the EDP possessed. But the fleet had paled against the five thousand strong Koll forces that flashed into existence in front of them. It was to be the final battle for Earth, and with the two fleets closing on each other they had received the message from the TWC – Capitulate