“And I told them to keep their mouths shut and let you work,” Cobb said. “It was clear you had things well in hand.”
That…seemed like an overstatement.
“We may not have done everything exactly by the book,” I said, “but we’ve made progress on the alliance, and we have a lot more knowledge of how our own technology functions. I think you’re going to be really pleased about what we have to work with. There were some rough patches, sir, but we pulled through them. And now that you’re back—”
“You’ve taken on an incredible amount of responsibility,” Cobb continued.
“I’m sorry, sir,” I said. “I was doing the best I could with the resources I had. And I think my judgment was a little impaired by what happened to my parents—”
“I’m sorry about what happened to them,” Cobb said. “The med team filled me in. They were lost in the explosion?”
“Yes,” I said.
Cobb shook his head. “We disagreed, but they didn’t deserve for it to end like that.”
My eyes started to burn, but I blinked it away.
“None of that changes the incredible work you’ve done here,” Cobb said. “If this is what you do when your judgment is ‘impaired,’ I’d like to see what you do when you’re thinking clearly.”
“I was simply trying to do what I thought you would do if you were here,” I said.
Cobb gave me a look, and I stuttered.
“I may not have predicted that perfectly,” I added.
“In this case, that only seems like a good thing.” He looked up at the clouds and shook his head again. “You have things so well in hand that I’m going to promote you to vice admiral.”
Stars. Vice admiral? That was skipping a lot of ranks. Though I did like the idea of getting to advise Cobb directly, what with everything we’d done and learned since he was replaced by that Superiority plant.
“Thank you, sir,” I said.
“As soon as that’s taken care of,” Cobb said, coughing again, “I think it’s clear that I’m in no condition to lead, especially when we’re now hopping our entire planet around the galaxy.” He eased himself back on his stretcher, staring up at the sky. “So I’m going to need to relieve myself from duty, until such a time that I’m fit for command.”
I blinked at him, trying to make those words mean something other than what I thought they meant. “Which of the vice admirals do you intend to give operational command to, sir?”
“I know subtlety isn’t your strong point,” Cobb said, “but if you can figure out how to move an entire planet, I think you can answer that question yourself.”
Saints and stars. “You can’t be serious. You have so much more experience—”
“With all of this?” He waved his arm, taking in the kitsen city, the ships above us, Detritus shining in the sky like it had always been there. He winced, holding his side, and then let his arm fall again. “No, Admiral, I would say you and your flight are the only ones with any experience dealing with all of this. Both our military and a coalition of alien races are ready to follow you into battle against a foe so powerful they probably shouldn’t have any hope of survival, much less victory. But they do. They’re chattering about it over the radio, all of us resisting together.”
“I didn’t mean to take control,” I said. “I was only trying to hold out until you returned. I never wanted—”
One corner of Cobb’s mouth turned up. “No,” he said. “The good ones never do.”
I stared at him. “You’re serious.”
“I am. I don’t intend to abandon you. There’s a whole lot of paperwork surrounding the position, and it’ll be good for you to have someone to help keep that out of your way. But clearly you’re best suited to be in strategic command. The Saint knows you’re better suited to it than I am.” Cobb raised an eyebrow at me, and his mustache twitched. “Unless you mean to turn down the promotion.”
He watched me carefully, waiting for my answer.
I looked up at the sky, at the gleaming moon of Evershore and Detritus hanging up there with it. I’d brought us this far on the hope that Cobb would relieve me of the responsibility to pull us through this—if not unscathed, then at least alive. I’d thought there was an end, a point at which I could unload everything that rested on my shoulders.
If I said yes, that might never end. But if I refused, I’d only be shuffling it off to someone else. There was no one besides Cobb that I’d trust to lead us as we faced what was coming. I’d pushed us this far so we could have the benefit of his judgment again.