I made the official announcement that a provisional Congress had accepted the resignations of all claims by former office holders, and that new elections would be underway in a week.
I switched over to Power Section. The NCO in charge threw me a snappy highball. Damned if he wasn't grinning too.
"I guess we showed 'em who's got the muscle, Commodore," he said.
"Your firepower demonstration was potent, Max," I said. "You must have stayed up nights studying the tapes."
"We've hardly scratched the surface yet," he said.
"I'll be crossing back to Alaska now, Mac," Stenn said.
I watched him move across the half-mile void to the flagship. Five minutes later the patrol detail broke away to take up surveillance orbits. They would be getting all the shore leave for the next few years, but I was glad my squadron had been detailed to go with the flagship on the Deep Space patrol. I wanted to be there when we followed those star surveys back to where their makers came from. Stenn wasn't the man to waste time, either. He'd be getting under way any minute. It was time to give my orders. I flipped the communicator key to the squadron link-up.
"Escort Commander to Escort," I said. "Now hear this...."