The Honour of the Knights (First Edition) by Stephen Sweeney Page B

Station and completing
our flight. I trust you will have a pleasant stay.”
    Estelle
went back to sulking.

 
     
    VI
     
    — An Admiral’s Confession —
     
    C ommodore Parks ’ transport shuttle touched down on
its appointed cliff-side landing pad, and the man made his way
along a connecting jetty that led towards a number of tall
buildings, set up against a small mountain range. The buildings
that he walked towards were home to a number of research centres
and offices, one of which had been designated to Admiral Turner for
the duration of his stay on Xalan. Though the admiral had been
present on Xalan during the three week ATAF evaluation program, he
had, for various reasons, remained far from the Obex Research
Centre, upon a different continent entirely; the ground that Parks
now trod.
    Despite being home to the Confederation ’ s main research and development
facilities, Xalan was also populated by a number of thriving
cities. Civilian immigration and migration was rigidly controlled.
On a planet such as Xalan, the Confederation were careful not to
allow free movement and risk losing value research and findings to
enemy, or even allied, hands.
    Unlike
Spirit, Xalan had no orbital ring, a standard orbital station
sufficing. Even so, the planet was one of the most fortified
throughout the Confederacy, a huge array of long range planetary
defence platforms circling a vast distance. Many of the platforms
were automated and would open fire on any unidentified object that
came into range, after issuing only a single warning.
    Turner ’ s
office was high up, affording him a stunning panorama of the city.
It was early evening when Parks arrived and the many lights from
buildings and low flying vehicles could be seen twinkling in the
fading light. Occasional patrol craft passed by his office
window.
    “ Good evening, Commodore,” Turner said as
Parks was shown in by the admiral ’ s security.
    “ Good evening, Admiral,” Parks responded, saluting.
    “ Please leave us,” Turner looked to the security personnel who
stood either side of the door inside his office. The pair saluted
and left.
    “ Don ’ t concern yourself with any
standards of correctness, Commodore, I don ’ t expect this to be a formal
meeting,” Turner said once the door had shut. “Let me apologise for
having you run around so much these past few days. I appreciate
that the constant back and forth can be stressful and I myself find
space travel so much more convenient. No need to worry about things
like atmospherics.”
    “ That’s quite all right, sir,” Parks said.
“Whatever was needed to get the job done.” Parks had indeed been
travelling a lot recently. Whilst in the Indigo system he had
divided his duties between Xalan ’ s many research centres and the
orbital station, spending a fair amount of time being transported
between all of them. The constant travel had begun to take its
toll, but he was coping.
    “ Spectacular, isn ’ t it?” Turner changed the subject,
nodding to the view out of the window.
    “ I was about to say so myself,” Parks agreed, looking out at
the bright lights of the city in the distance. “How do they manage
to get any work done here with a view like that?”
    “ That ’ s part of the reason we move most
of them underground!” Turner chuckled. “Drink?” The admiral walked
over to a cabinet and removed two spirit glasses. He picked up a
near full decanter of whiskey and gave it a gentle shake, with a
smile. “Imperial White Label.”
    “ How did you get that?” Parks asked, knowing that the contents
of the vessel the admiral held were not only very expensive, but
also difficult to get hold of.
    The
admiral smiled, pouring out a modest amount of the amber liquid
into each glass. “It was confiscated from one of the local
residents returning home. I saw it on the seizures list and decided
to help myself. One signature and it was mine.”
    Parks
raised an eyebrow at just how blasé the admiral was