Hero of the Rebellion (2nd Class)
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The big Russian loaded up his blini with sour cream and shallots and caviar in a fashion which suggested long practice, then pushed the tray in my direction. I did my best to emulate his style although, when I looked up, he was not paying me any attention, just reaching for the next glass of iced vodka to wash down his own mouthful. "I became an expert, perhaps the world's foremost expert, on the disposition of Expansionist military assets," he went on, seemingly refuelled by the combination of ersatz fish eggs and highly authentic vodka, "At first, I was directed to seek internal inconsistencies in the huge data set that had landed, more or less by chance, in our laps." "How did that work out?" I asked, around a mouthful of fish eggs and pancake. "It was pretty good," he replied, tugging the tray back towards himself, "Of course there were inconsistencies. Some entries were pretty sketchy. Duplicates and differences in location or capability data for supposedly the same installation were thrown up by the analytics systems for my review. Just what you'd expect if a considerable number of different information sources were rapidly consolidated with limited time for checking." The next blini was almost assembled. "I was then required to compare Lim's data with post-combat reports, again looking for inconsistencies," he went on, "This was rather more challenging, since the Expansionists never surrendered but fought to the last man, always, and a battle in space is inevitably a messy affair. Again, inconsistencies, but nothing serious. Perhaps fewer bodies, less equipment than might have been expected, but it was hard to be sure." "All this pleased the Top Brass, I was told repeatedly by my bosses. I seemed to get a new boss every few months. With hindsight, the bosses were taking credit for my insights and getting promoted although, to be far, if I had realised this at the time, I probably wouldn't have cared. I was having far too much fun with all that data." The shot glasses in front of us had mysteriously become empty again. The bartender appeared with fresh ones almost immediately, to the big Russian's evident satisfaction. Apart from the two of us, the bar was now empty, everybody else having retreated to their bed, or at least someone's bed. "Anyway, the High Command grew more confident in the intelligence and were increasingly prepared to commit more resources. This resulted in the famous battle at Himalia." Naturally I knew about that battle; it was all over the news for weeks. Himalia was one of the largest asteroids in the Belt and was used as a base by the Expansionists and also as a repair depot for smaller ships. A substantial fraction of the combined space navy managed to stage a surprise attack, with the result of the destruction of the majority of the Expansionist ships, the remainder turning tail and heading for the outskirts of the system, and Himalia itself split into several pieces. "One of the less well-known results of the Himalia attack," the big Russian went on, again skilfully assembling his caviar, "Our heavy cruisers managed to hole one of their ships in several places simultaneously, before they had a chance to close the internal airlock doors. This resulted in explosive decompression which killed everybody aboard almost immediately but with almost no damage to the equipment." I had not heard about this particular incident. I was intrigued. "One of the senior officers had the bright idea that the disabled but intact ship should be sealed off and left for forensic examination by experts, rather than it being stripped of anything not bolted down by navy ratings intent on looting." There was a pause while he swallowed his blini. "Which is how I got to review at first hand one of their ships."
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Part 2