Valkyrie (Expeditionary Force Book 9) by Craig Alanson

Author:Craig Alanson [Alanson, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-12-18T22:00:00+00:00

“Sir,” Smythe barked excitedly as he strode into my office.

“Gaah!” He startled me so badly I felt an icy chill stab down my spine. When he interrupted my thoughts, I was concentrating on watching a replay of our epic thirteenth battle, when we nearly lost the ship. The video recreation was so engrossing, I was in another world when he walked in. “Uh, sorry, Smythe.”

He peered at my laptop screen. “Ah. Watching our latest near-death experience?”

Folding the screen down, I sat back in my oversized chair. The damned thing always made me feel like I was six years old and sitting in a big boy’s barber chair, getting a haircut. The seat was too long front to back, if my knees were properly positioned, my back didn’t touch the upright. That problem could have been solved by stuffing a pillow against my back, again, that would make me feel like a little boy. So, not happening. “Yeah. Every time I watch it, I find something new that I should have done better. Or not done.”

“We can always do better.”

“Yes, but,” I stole a glance at the closed laptop, wanting to get back to the video like an addict seeking a fix. “I should have committed to fighting it out sooner. My hesitation caused us a lot of trouble.”

“You are so used to running away, it is difficult,” he shrugged, “to adapt an offensive mindset. You’ll get it, Sir.” He raised an eyebrow, as he must have seen the surprised and hurt look on my face. “When I said ‘you’,” he added, “I meant all of us. We have been avoiding direct combat for so long,” he let his words trail off. “Perhaps our instincts to be aggressive in combat have become rusty.”

“Oh.” That made it somewhat better.

“Reviewing an after-action report is useful only if you learn from it,” he chided me. “Not use it to beat yourself up.” His shoulders lifted as he took a deep breath. “Believe me, I know.”

“You? Doubts?”

“Ha.” He laughed quietly. “More than you can know.” A shadow fell across his face, remembering fallen comrades. “I keep thinking that if I had ordered Desai to hold us until the first dropship was recovered by the Dutchman-”

“Smythe, you can that shit right now, you hear me?” I snapped at him with a vehemence that I didn’t know was inside me. “There is nothing to be gained by going down that rabbit hole. I was in command. You did everything by the book. My orders were to egress that station as fast as possible, and I was right about that. You did everything by the book,” I added quietly. “People still died. It’s combat. Shit happens. The only person who fucked up that day was me.” Cutting off his attempt to speak with a gesture, I continued. “At the time, I thought I was making the safe bet. Jump out to a distance where our scanners were effective, look for an enemy ship before it could appear out of nowhere.

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