Solfleet: The Call of Duty Read Online Free

class-A uniform for the ceremony, complete with its rows upon
rows upon rows of colorful ribbons and all its highly polished gold-plated
accoutrements. And in thirty-five years of military service, he’d acquired a
lot of ribbons and accoutrements.
    In accordance with longstanding tradition, he was sitting
in the back of the auditorium. He stood up, straightened his jacket, and then
marched down the dimly side-lit right aisle to the stage. He ascended the five
plastiwood steps, marched over in front of Admiral Chaffee and faced him,
assumed the position of attention, and saluted sharply.
    Chaffee returned his salute just as sharply, and then both
men dropped their hands back to their sides together. Hansen then executed a picture-perfect
about-face to face the audience and remained at the position of attention.
Chaffee then posted himself to Hansen’s right and stood at attention as well.
    Admiral Rodrigo Martinez-Colon, Chief of Staff of the
Solfleet Naval Forces, and General Kristjana Jóhannsdótir, Chief of
Staff of the Solfleet Aerospace Forces, stood together and stepped forward.
Admiral Martinez-Colon, who held a pair of presentation folders, a medal case,
and another slightly larger case in his hands, posted himself to Chaffee’s
right while General Jóhannsdótir stepped up to the podium.
    “Attention
to orders,” Jóhannsdótir commanded, speaking slowly in her strong Icelandic
accent. Once again, everyone in the entire auditorium stood up, and as before,
those who served in uniform assumed the position of attention. After all,
Command Chief Watson might have been watching from wherever it was he had
hidden himself.
    “Special
order number twenty-one ninety dash four thirty-seven,” the general continued,
reading from Chaffee’s handcomp. “By order of Command Fleet Admiral Jeremy W. O’Shea,
Commanding Officer, Solfleet, Solfleet Central Command announces the following
award. The Distinguished Service Cross with Valor device, second award, is
hereby presented to Rear-Admiral Icarus Hansen, Chief and Commanding Officer,
Solfleet Intelligence Agency.”
    She paused
and tapped the page button, then cleared her throat, quietly so the microphone
wouldn’t pick it up, and continued.
    “On eleven
February, twenty-one ninety, Rear-Admiral Icarus Hansen was a passenger aboard
the starcruiser U.E.F.S. Bokken , returning to Earth after completing an
inspection tour of his agency’s facilities in the Caldanra system. While
traveling through jumpspace in the vicinity of the Rosha’Kana system, the Bokken was attacked by a Veshtonn scouting party, forced to drop out of jumpspace, and
then boarded by several dozen Veshtonn warriors. The Bokken ’s Security
Forces fought honorably to defend their vessel, but were vastly outnumbered and
barely able to slow the enemy’s advances toward several of the ship’s vital
facilities.
    “At great
risk to his own life, Admiral Hansen left the relative safety of his cabin and
gathered together a platoon of Solfleet Marines whom he knew to be among the
passengers to help defend the ship. After leading those Marines to the armory
to retrieve their weapons and equipment, Admiral Hansen broke them into fire
teams and assigned a team to each of the ship’s vital areas. Admiral Hansen
himself led the team that defended the Bokken ’s command bridge. The fighting
onboard the Bokken lasted for more than two hours, but in the end, under
Admiral Hansen’s command, the Marines and what Security Forces remained successfully
prevented enemy forces from capturing or destroying the vessel.
    “Immediately
following this action, Admiral Hansen assumed tactical command of the Bokken and ordered her captain to change course and enter the Rosha’Kana star system,
home system of our Tor’Kana allies. This decision led to the discovery of an
observation post the Veshtonn had recently set up there, which in turn led
directly to the discovery of their plans for invasion and allowed the