Unity of Command
© 2021 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  ahro


Meredith stirred her coffee with a stylus, tapped a few drops off of it and set it aside. She’d clean it later; the stylus was useful if she wanted to draw or write something on her padd.

Right now, it was useful for stirring her coffee.

The A Quiet Life had been at Magus Station for a week while the Colonial Navy absorbed the lessons of its defeat at Faraway. Two other systems, Chenyu and Brinkmann, had also fallen, and after a sudden attack by the Confed, Kutua had defected to the Confederacy.

And she had started using the gymnasium facilities on the station, at Fuji’s suggestion. She could tell it was paying off because she no longer got winded or sore hooves hiking out to where he meditated. The mare had also managed to lose a kilo here and there, which she thought Fuji appreciated.

Varan would likely appreciate it, too.

She sipped at her coffee and accessed her padd. The latest messages from Transcosm gave the golden palomino mare hope that her ship and crew could soon go back to moving regular cargoes, and not carrying things for the ColMilComm.

Bury Danyell had started talking to her more often, and the pangolin had received some news out of Faraway. Her husband and family were quite safe, as the planetary government had been the only ones specifically targeted by the Confed after the takeover. Everyone else was lying low, particularly anyone with ties to the Colonial Navy.

So far, it appeared that the Confed’s intelligence services weren’t interested in finding those people.

Admiral Fikset tendered her resignation after Faraway, but First Minister Mo refused to accept it, publicly insisting that the wolfess was still the best person for the job. She confessed that she had learned a valuable lesson, and future battles would have a specific fur named as the overall commander.

When told about it, Jemel said, “My Aunt is smart, but it does take her some time to figure things out.”

He had added hastily, “Please don’t tell her I said that.”

Everyone else had laughed.

Meredith smiled as she brought her mug to her lips again. Mira Fikset was a merchanter at heart, and matriarch of one of the largest family-operated shipping lines in the Colonies, but just like everyone she still had things to learn. It was a concept the mare had learned when she’d been in the Confed Fleet; only one fur could be in command.

The shlani believed in it as well, and Meredith flicked an ear as she thought of Varan, and how she might be doing.

Her mug finally drained, she got some breakfast and a second serving of coffee, and prepared to face the day.