Jack took a big sigh. "I do, sir. I'm not sure how I'm going to do this mission, but I will accept it and do it to the best of my ability."
Lucas pounded the table. "That's what I needed to hear, Jack. And besides, you haven't heard the best part about your mission yet. Follow me."
Lucas stood up from his desk and headed for the door. Jack followed him out into the hallway of the third floor, staying just a few steps behind the commodore.
At the end of the hallway, Lucas produced a key and placed it inside a heavily armored door, which gave a creaking sound as the lock turned.
Inside were two clerks, both hard at work at the stations in front of them. Lucas led him around the side until he came upon a large, locked chest. Producing another key, Lucas turned the lock and opened the chest, earning an astonished gasp from Jack.
Inside laid more gold than Jack had ever seen in his entire life. Stunning, sparkling golden coins in the likeliness of Emperor Charles IX filled the entire chest.
"Go on. Pick one up and touch it," said Lucas, urging Jack forward.
Jack grabbed a small handful and rolled the soft metal between his fingers. He examined both sides of the coin—one side had the profile of the emperor while the reverse carried the great seal of the Javan Empire.
"Now that you know it's real, this is all yours, Jack."
"Mine?" Jack whispered.
"That's right. The emperor knew that this task would be a hard one to accomplish so he wanted to make sure you were well-supplied with funds to do whatever you may need in this mission. You shouldn't want for much with all that. But I urge you to use this gold wisely. That chest could have funded several cruisers from the keel up. Instead it's being given to you to complete your mission. You will have total authority within the vector to govern and fight as you so choose. In effect, you'll essentially be a warlord unto yourself."
Jack had never contemplated having access to so much gold before. Anything was possible with this amount. It might even get the Fourthies to give him a chance. Right before they ate him and stole it from him anyway.
"I'll make sure this gets sent to your quarters on your ship, Jack," said Lucas before grabbing hold of his shoulders and marching the stunned commander back to the door and away from the room. "But we need to address the last matter of business."
Lucas took him to yet another room, this one opening up to a balcony at the top of headquarters. The balcony itself opened up right above the harbor and afforded a perfect view of the ships.
Jack could make out the silhouette of the Valiant as well as the Tiger, and he could see men at this very moment working on fixing the hole in the Tiger's bow. On the other side of the dock stood the proud ship Destiny.
"The Admiralty doesn't expect you to go into the unknown with just your light cruiser and destroyer, Jack. Fine vessels they are—don't get me wrong—but they are a bit underpowered for the mission we have in mind. You're going to need something with a bit more speed and firepower. Something with twelve inch guns even."
"You don't mean..."
"That's right, commander. The Destiny is coming under your command. From this moment forward, you carry the designation of Task Force 21. The Destiny, Valiant, and Tiger are yours to command for your upcoming mission. I'm even assigning you two companies of Javan marines as well. We want you to be as prepared as you can be to accomplish this task. Before you leave, I'd like to introduce you to Lt. Commander Wainwright of the Destiny. Being that you'll have your headquarters on the ship, I think you should be intimately familiar with your officers."
Lucas then spoke into the radio. "Send in Wainwright at once, Lt. Settler."
"Aye, sir," came the response.