Operation Chimera by Matthew S. Cox, Tony Healey Page A

relating that to anyone.”
    Now it was Driscoll’s turn to laugh. “He’s right. I do like to do that. I find it keeps people sharp. Now then, I want to get a few things out in the air first, Commander. If that’s okay with you…”
    “Yes,” Teague said.
    “When it’s just you and I, nobody else around, I’m not Captain. I’m not Driscoll. I’m Nick. That’s it. If we’re to work together, I want us to relax a bit. But only when we’re away from the crew, right? I mean, you’re my XO for Christ’s sake. If we can’t be on first name terms behind closed doors…”
    “Sure.”
    “The other thing you may be aware of… I hand-picked all of you. The
Manhattan
wasn’t meant to launch on such a shortened timetable. But we have. And with the exception of the Chief―who I need to get around to seeing―I decided who was assigned here. I didn’t have long, and nearly all of you I’ve never met before.”
    A frown crossed Teague’s face. “Don’t mind my asking, but how did you know who to pick?”
    “Word of mouth. I went on what I heard. A small handful of people I’ve worked with in the past. Commander Grey, for example. We go way back. But mostly, you’re all new faces. Yourself, for example. Captain Waters had nothing but praise for you. Said you were one step away from being promoted to Commander and given the lead as Executive Officer. I decided to make that happen. Throw you in the deep end.” Driscoll smiled. “By the way, how are you adjusting to the promotion?”
    “Fine,” Robin Teague told him. “It’s not much different to my role on the
Starbuck
. Just a bigger ship. And we didn’t have an AI…”
    Driscoll drained his coffee. It’d been piping hot, and yet he’d swilled it as if he had a cast iron mouth. “Goddamn thing. I don’t know. I hear it’s good, but you never can be sure. I trust buttons and levers, Robin. I trust men and women. Does that make me old fashioned, do you think?”
    She smiled. “If it does, then that’s two of us.”
    “Well, I think we have an understanding,” Driscoll said. He accessed a data tablet and a holo-display at the centre of the table burst into life. It showed a moving point of light, travelling through one star system after another. Like an airliner from a bygone era, hopping from one exotic island to the next.
    “This is our course?” Teague asked. She studied the display. “And here’s our destination.”
    She pointed to a cloudy area. It was huge, and she didn’t need to be told what it was.
    “The Chimera Cluster,” Driscoll said. “We’re headed right for the hornet’s nest.”
    “Why? There have been expeditions to the Cluster before, but it’s always been deemed too damn dangerous,” Teague said. “Why now?”
    “As I said to the whole ship, we make war to end it. Our mission is to do what we can to turn the tide of this conflict, by whatever means necessary. I don’t know if you’re fully aware of this or not, but we’re not winning the battle. Not by a long shot.”
    “I heard about the losses at Cablan…” Robin said. Her voice faded away. The Draxx had gone there and bombarded the planet’s surface from orbit until it was a smoldering cinder. Nothing had escaped.
    Why had they done it? For no good reason―simply because they could. And because Cablan had been a Terran Union colonial world. The Union expanded by peaceful co-operation and settlement. The Draxx did the opposite. They spread throughout the galaxy like a tumor.
    “Yes, there are losses on a planetary scale, too, but I’m referring to the burden on our fleet. Our manpower. We can’t continue to fight them the way we have been. If we’re going to gain the upper hand we need to get dirty. Take the fight to them.”
    “So that’s our mission. We’re troublemakers, sent in to disrupt them in any way possible,” Teague said. “Try and cause them as much grief as we can manage?”
    “In a nutshell―
almost
. As you’re aware, we know