It took Jessica about ten minutes to get from the living quarters area of the ship to the bridge. Once she got there the Marine guards snapped to attention and called, “Captain on the Bridge!”
Lieutenant Wei was manning the Con when she came walked in. He was generally on shift around 0630 and would have control of the bridge before Jessica came on duty. The XO would be on duty later so the ship could have continuity of leadership between watches. He stepped out of the way and gave her space to get in her seat.
“How are we doing this morning, Lieutenant?” Jessica asked.
“We are doing well, Captain. Engineering has reported that the two damaged PDS turrets have been replaced with spares and they will run tests this morning to make sure they are tied into the system properly,” he replied pointing to Jessica’s terminal screen that displayed a list of action items.
“Excellent,” she said with a smile. “How’s the progress on the Rail cannon?”
“Slow. Lieutenant Commander Magnuson is reporting he has got the actuation systems working and one barrel of the system is operational. His fear is that we won’t get the second barrel on-line without spending time in a repair depot,” he said.
“That is unfortunate, but I think he has done the best that he can with what he had available,” she said. “Thanks for the update, you can return to your station.”
“Aye, Captain,” he replied, stepping down and walking over to relieve the person manning the tactical station.
Jessica placed her coffee cup in the holder and sat back in her seat. She looked out at the main screen. She was a little apprehensive about today. Sometime today the Spruance was supposed to meet up with them to help investigate what happened out here. Captain Kovacs was not her favorite person in the universe, and she would rather not deal with him.
A warning signal came across her screen. Then Lieutenant Wei called out, “Displacement Field activity detected. We have an incoming Jump.”
Springing from her seat she ordered, “Get me an ID.” Earth-built ships had identification beacons that would give anyone on the other end of a Jump an idea of who is coming. This was helpful to prevent friendly fire incidents.
“It’s the Spruance,” Lieutenant Wei he replied turning towards Jessica.
Jessica looked up at the main view screen. A portion of space seemed to give off a liquid appearance for a moment. Then suddenly a ship winked into existence in the center of the screen. The ship was a Shenyang class destroyer. The front of the ship reminded Jessica of a hammerhead shark. From her point of view, she could make out the four forward missile launch tubes in the center of the nose of the starship. The port and starboard sections of the ship protruded away from the center. These were where the dorsal and ventral forward 500 Terra-watt laser cannons would deploy from, making this ship have one hell of a destructive firing arc.
“Comm, open a channel to the Spruance. I would like to give Captain Kovacs a welcome,” she said. Her stomach turned at the thought, but it was the right thing to do.
“Ma’am, I have already received a message from Captain Kovacs. Text only. I am sending it to your terminal now,” the comm specialist replied with a confused look.
“Thanks,” she said. Then she sat down in her seat and punched in her credentials into her terminal. The screen displayed a message addressed just to her. It read, “Commander Stollar, please send over all your data regarding your investigation. Then meet me in my ready room aboard the Spruance at 0930 hours for a debrief. I look forward to seeing you then. Captain Kovacs, C/O EDS Spruance.”
“Still a pretentious ass,” she thought to herself. Jessica took a deep breath to calm herself. She opened an audio-only link to Lieutenant Commander Sinclair's room. A moment later Sinclair’s deep voice answered, “Yes, Captain?”
“XO, it looks like I am going to need you to report to the bridge a little earlier than expected. The Spruance has arrived earlier than anticipated. How soon can you report?” she asked.
“I can be there in—” he paused a moment, “fifteen minutes.”
“Good, I will see you then,” she replied and cut the feed. Jessica sat to think for a moment. She had to make the best of this situation. She stood up to look down at the helm station. “Ensign Hunter. How would you like to take a little field trip?” Giving the young ensign a smile.
The ride in the shuttle to the Spruance took a little more than five minutes. It took longer to get the shuttle prepped and launched than the actual travel time. Once the ship was in a secure bay with atmosphere, they were given the green light to open the ramp. Jessica thought there must be a better way to travel between ships in which it won’t take longer to prep launching and landing versus actual flight time. One day maybe.
The ramp lowered to the ground and two individuals were standing waiting for them. Neither one of them was Captain Kovacs. One was a tall man looking to be of Persian descent, not that the Iranian flag on his uniform was enough of a giveaway. He had a sprinkling of gray throughout his head. His face had a finely groomed beard. His brown eyes were laser focused on Jessica. She could tell he was probably the ship’s XO, by the black oak leaf rank insignias on the shoulders of his flight suit.
Standing to the gentleman’s left was another man. He was younger, probably in his twenties, brown hair and brown eyes. He had black single bars on his flight suit and was standing at parade rest mirroring the XO.
Jessica and Kai walked down the ramp to meet the men. Both men stood at attention and the XO gave a salute. Jessica returned the salute. She was technically the same rank as this man, but she was a visiting starship captain, so that gave her rank above him.
“Permission to come aboard?” she asked.
“Granted,” the commander said.
Jessica dropped her salute followed by the commander.
“My name is Commander Ramin. I am the executive officer of the ship. This is our operations officer Lieutenant Springer. We welcome you to the Spruance, Commander Stollar,” he said with an accent indicative of growing up in the middle east. “Captain Kovacs is waiting for you.”
“Pleased to meet you, Commander,” she said and turned to point to Kai. “This is my helmsman Ensign Hunter. I asked her to join me so she may get a chance to say hi to her wife while we are here.”
Commander Ramin looked at the young ensign. “Of course. Please to meet the other Ensign Hunter,” he said with a welcoming smile. He turned to Springer and said, “Lieutenant, would you please escort the young ensign here to see her family?”
Springer gave a smile and a nod. “Yes, sir,” he said. “If you would follow me, Ensign.” Turning to begin to walk.
“Yes, sir!” Ensign Hunter excitedly replied. Both young officers were dismissed and walked away from the commanders.
“Now if you would follow me, Commander, the captain is waiting,” Ramin said.
On her trip from the shuttle bay to Captain Kovacs’ office, Jessica couldn’t help but marvel at the ship’s construction. The Spruance was just over a year into service. The interior had clean lines and had a black-and-white color scheme. Which was an improvement over the Little Rock’s monochromatic brown, gray, and clunky architecture. The Little Rock was built during a time of rapid ship construction. The result was a very basic starship. The Spruance, on the other hand, took years to design and build with input from former fleet captains, and it showed.
They approached the door to the ready room. Commander Ramin pressed and held a button on the panel next to the door. It let out a buzzing sound which continued until he released the button. Then a voice, who Jessica recognized, answered, “Yes?”
“Captain, Commander Stollar is here to see you,” Ramin said into the speaker.
“Enter,” Kovacs replied.
The door slid open with a hiss and Jessica stepped in. The ready room was cleanly designed and twice the size of hers. It included a couch, multiple chairs, and a small table and chairs. All of which were lacking in her ship. At the other end was Captain K
ovacs sitting behind his desk. He was fully engrossed into whatever was on his tablet. He looked up and waved at Jessica to come in and said, “Come on in, Commander, and have a seat. XO, you can head back to the bridge. I’ll call for you later.”
Commander Ramin gave an about face and stepped out, the door closed behind him. Jessica approached one of the chairs in front of his desk and sat down. She sat at attention not wanting to give him an excuse to nitpick anything. He placed the tablet on his desk, leaned back in his chair and gave Jessica a smile. “Well it looks like you have had a busy couple of days, Commander.”
“You could say that, sir,” she responded not moving.
Kovacs stood up and Jessica began to follow suit, when he stretched out his hand to signal for her to keep seated. “Just relax, Commander. This is not an inquisition of your actions, just a debrief,” Kovacs said as he walked to the coffee machine on the other side of the room. He pulled two white mugs from the shelf and placed one under the machine’s nozzle. “Coffee?” he asked turning back towards her.
“Yes. Please, sir,” she replied. Maybe he wasn’t going to be such an ass after all, she thought.
He pressed a button and the coffee streamed out of the machine into the mug. Once it stopped, he placed the mug off to the side and put the empty mug beneath the machine and pressed the button again. “Cream or sugar?” he asked, holding canisters in each hand.
“Three sugars and one cream. Thank you.”
He turned away from her and finished preparing both cups and walked back. He handed Jessica one cup and he took the other. The mug was warm in her hand, and from the aroma emanating from the cup, she could tell this was quality. She took a sip as Kovacs sat back down in his seat placing the mug on his desk.
“How is it?” he asked.
“Better than the sludge we got on the Little Rock,” she said with a smile. “What brand is it?”
“I don’t remember. It was a gift from a friend, and I thought I would try it. All I remember, it comes from one of the colonial farms,” he replied.
“They are finally producing. Good. If you remember the name, let me know,” she said taking another sip.
He took a sip from his own mug then set it down. “Okay, now to business. I understand, from what I have read, there was a survivor from the station?”
“Yes, he is resting in our med bay right now. The Doc says he is suffering from extreme stress and has him on some meds to help him rest,” she replied.
“Any more to his story? I understand he was the one who sabotaged the reactor, causing your team to cut short its investigation of the station,” he stated.
“No. We haven’t been able to fill the gaps in his story and yes, he did admit to causing the reactor to meltdown,” she replied, wondering where this line of questioning was going. He had all the data already.
“Interesting,” he said while forming a steeple with his hands and leaning back in the chair. “I would like to talk to him in person.”
“I can arrange it, once our Doc clears him,” she said, taking another drink.
“No. I want him and the Moscow’s emergency buoy here as soon as possible. We are taking over everything here,” he ordered.
Jessica coughed as she was in mid swallow and some of the coffee went down the wrong tube. “What was that?” she asked one hand covering her mouth.
“You heard me. I am exerting my authority here and taking over the investigation. Plus, you still need to ferry your passengers to M051, and you don’t need to be held up any longer. Admiral Jackson sent me to help, and this is the best solution. Regulations now put me in command of this situation,” he said with a greasy smile.
“Damn glory hound. He is trying to take credit again!” she thought to herself, but there was nothing she could do right now. Regs were clear on who has situational command in events like this and it fell on him. She hated it too. She gave out a low sigh. “I understand that sir, but I was hoping to see this through.”
Kovacs picked up the tablet and almost looked uninterested in her response. “I know, but you have a mission to do and my ship is better equipped to handle the investigation. Please have the chief sent over to my ship by 1200 hours, and I want the Little Rock out of the system by 1400 hours.”
Jessica’s stomach turned at the change of events. She bit her lip and responded, “Yes, sir.”
“Is there anything else you would like to add?” he asked still looking uninterested.
She leaned over and put her mug on his desk. “There is one more thing. Did you get my request for the joint spouse for Ensign Hunter?”
He looked up from his tablet and stared at Jessica. From what she could make out he looked annoyed. “Yes, and I am holding on to my Ensign Hunter. For now.”
Jessica’s mouth dropped open. How in the hell could this guy be so insensitive? She had to leave before she gave into the urge to reach across the desk a smash his face. With gritted teeth she asked, “May I be dismissed?”
Kovacs looked back at his tablet and gave her a wave and said, “Dismissed. Wait outside the door for the XO to escort you back to your shuttle.”
Jessica stood up, turned, and left the room. She waited in the hall for Ramin trying to figure out how to give the bad news to her Helmsman.
21
Outside Camp Chapman
Planet M051
The interior of the Armadillo was cramped, and the smell of human body odor stung her nose. The ride was rocky, and with every bump, the seat restraint dug into her already tender shoulders. To add insult to injury, the medication PFC Kelly gave her was beginning to wear off. She could feel the pain in her head slowly intensifying. The loud noise of the engine running throughout the cabin didn’t help either.
The vehicle came to a stop, and the straps dug into her shoulders causing her to wince in pain. “I am taking a year’s worth of leave after this. Nice beach and a lot of beer,” she mused to herself, trying to push the pain out of her head. Once they came to a complete stop, she unfastened her harness and leaned forward to look out the windshield. They were the last of four Armadillos that survived. She was regulated to the last vehicle with the rest of the wounded. She surmised it was probably Lamb’s idea, which made her frustrated. She couldn’t believe with all the she had done that woman still treated her like crap.
“Roger, will hold,” the individual in the right seat said over his headset. Then he turned his head back to the group and said in a raised voice, “We are holding here until the scout team verifies everything is still quite at the camp.” A rumble from the lead Armadillo could be heard, as it sped away from the group.
Sitting across from Haley was PFC Kelly, and after the vehicle commander said they were holding, she unbuckled and sprung out of her seat. She then went one by one to check the wounded. She was making sure they were still stable. Jessica admired the junior enlisted woman’s poise taking over as the only medic left in the group. It was a great quality in someone so young.
Haley got out of her seat and walked up to the center console looking out the thick armor glass windshield. It was a short narrow window, but she could see that the sky was getting darker. Two other Armadillos were parked in front of them, and she could make out the cloud of dust the lead vehicle made as it sped away. She hoped that the situation hadn’t changed. They were in no shape to fight right now. They had four Armadillos, yes, but only two had working cannons. They were also low on people, weapons, and ammo. At this point they couldn’t fight themselves out of a wet paper bag.
Haley felt someone peer over her shoulder. “How’s it going out there?” Kelly asked.
“We are just waiting,” Haley said, sidestepping to get some room. “It could be awhile.” Then she turned to look back at the group of wounded soldiers. “How are they doing?”
“Stable for now, but we need to get them to the clinic. Hopefully there are supplies left,” she replied.
Haley drew in closer and lowering her voice. “Speaking of that. My headache is c
oming back. I might need another shot.”
“Now? You do realize without the I.V. line in I am going to have to give you a shot,” she said.
“Yes. That shouldn’t be a problem,” Haley responded, giving a questioning look.
Kelley turned back to the medic bag, grabbed the syringe, turned back to Haley, and said, “Okay. Drop your drawers.”
Looking around the cabin of the vehicle Haley’s face turned red with surprise and replied, “Say what now?”
“This shot has to be given in the butt cheek,” Kelly replied, waving the syringe between her fingers.
Haley shook her head and sat back down in her seat. “No thanks, I’ll just die,” she deadpanned
“Are you sure?” Kelly asked raising an eyebrow.
“I can wait until we get to Camp,” Haley said.
“It’s your choice, but if it gets worse, I might be forced to give it to you,” she said, placing the syringe back in the bag.
“Hopefully it won’t come to that,” Haley began. “If everything is still clear we’ll be back at Chapman and then I could get my dose in a little more privacy.”
Kelly sat down in her chair and stated, “Yes. That would be the ideal situation. All we have to do now is wait.”
It took about two hours for the lead Armadillo to report everything was clear. After that they were on their way. Fifteen minutes later they were at the gate of the camp. The lead team had already opened the main gate, and the remaining Armadillos sped through the entrance single file. Once they reached the center of the base, the vehicles stopped in a column formation.
Haley unbuckled her restraints. There was a humming noise emanating from the back of the Armadillo. She looked in that direction; the thick armored door was opening.
“Hey, can you help me with offloading all the wounded?” Kelly asked, tapping Haley on the shoulder.
Stollar's Gambit Page 14
