by Chris Hechtl
“Okay,” the admiral stated when he heard that report. “I look forward to hearing your full report.” He shook his head. “I think,” he said to himself.
When he did get the full report, he whistled softly. They were lucky to be alive. Two Nelson class destroyers had been escorting a pair of large freighters through the star system and had arrived just as the convoy had entered the system from the opposing jump point. The Clydesdale class freighter turned militia ship CF-1701 in the star system had managed to avoid the pirates, but she had burned through a lot of her fuel to do it.
The Apollo class corvette Tweedle Dee had also been forced to avoid action. The two warships had outgunned the two frigates and two corvettes that had been sent in as convoy escorts to the transports and collier.
Despite enemy jamming Tweedle Dee had gotten off a warning to the convoy, but it had been too late for the ships to turn around and escape. Rose and her division mate Farragut as well as one of the corvettes Lisbon had put up a valiant defense of their principles as they tried to run. Unfortunately, the drive damage Lisbon had sustained had doomed the corvette and her crew.
Lisbon had gone down swinging, crippling one of the Nelson's port weapons before they'd torn her apart. Amadeus signed off on Lieutenant C'lax's medal requests for the corvette's crew.
Rose had taken some damage that had killed her captain. Captain C'lax on Farragut had assumed command of the convoy, but all seemed lost when Captain's Lady, and what a name that was, made a run on the enemy's shipping. Apparently Captain Truex had deduced that the enemy shipping was important. Tweedle Dee had joined her from another flank for the run despite being low on fuel. Those colliers were important enough to draw the Nelsons off from pinning the frigates and destroying them like they had the corvette Lisbon.
Captain Truex's run had been risky, but it had forced the Nelsons to divide their efforts. A lucky shot from Farragut had taken out a couple of the port weapon mounts of the second Nelson forcing her to roll ship and go on the defense. After that the enemy ships had rendezvoused and departed the star system.
According to the bug's report, he'd expected the enemy ships to escort the freighters to the jump point then come back in. Instead they had jumped for B-452C. He shook his head in wonder.
“They were lucky.”
“Yes, sir. Did you notice the contribution from Gunny McClintock?” Jojo asked.
“That name again …,” the admiral frowned, tapping his lips with his index finger.
“I mentioned him before, sir.” Jojo leaned over his shoulder and scrolled to the appropriate paragraph and highlighted it. The admiral frowned as he read it.
Apparently during the battle, the gunny had taken his armor and a flight pack over to the wounded Nelson in a desperate bid to distract her. He had gotten through the ship's shields and tore her hull up before getting inside. He'd uploaded viruses and had been busy tearing the ship and crew apart from the inside when the Idiot's Array's surviving crew had set off her self-destruct package. It had been a bluff to get the cat off their ship, but it had worked.
Amadeus nodded slowly. The gunny was the real reason the ship had withdrawn though it was apparent that the Veraxin captain wasn't willing to admit it.
“He scared the piss out of them I bet. That's why they set off the self-destruct. But he didn't stay to try to shut it down. I can't blame him for not risking it, sir,” Jojo said.
The admiral shook his head. To have done that stunt …. “He's insane.”
Jojo looked at him. “It worked, sir,” she said with a shrug. He glanced at her and away.
“So it did.”
“I think he earned a commendation. As did Captain ... oh hell, Lieutenant D'lif'ther? That bug had been in charge of Rose?” Jojo sniffled. She scrubbed at her suddenly sad face.
“A problem, Lieutenant?”
“A classmate, sir,” Jojo replied, dashing tears. “It said he died on Rose, sir.”
“Ah,” the admiral said. “My sympathies,” he said awkwardly. He decided to give her a moment to regain her composure.
---<>---<>---
News of the battle had already hit the ansible network when the courier had returned to Protodon with the advanced warning. The full report was transmitted to Antigua at the end of the day.
“One ship lost. It could have been worse I suppose,” Sprite said, gauging his reaction. She no longer had access to his internals, so she couldn't read him like before. That was another point of frustration for her.
“True.”
“Losing D'lif'ther sucks,” Captain Vargess stated. “Truex …,” he frowned and then shrugged. He shook his head.
“A medal or a mast? Definitely a medal for Captain D'lif'ther and the others who died. I'll give notice to the fleet times to update them for the obits.”
“And the battle?”
“Yes. Are we going to do hot washes on all the battles? Or are you going to give JAG their head to do their paperwork? The full investigation?”
“If we have time, we can ship more JAG personnel in to do a captain's review of each battle. But I don't want witch hunts. We can't afford it. Get me a list of who deserves a medal and who needs work. Also, a list on who Amadeus recommends for promotion.”
“You know he's still sore about losing Meia.”
“He'll get over it.”
“He's not losing her for long, I take it?” Captain Vargess asked.
“No.” The admiral shook his head.
“And you're serious about having that EC do her working-up exercises on her way to Protodon? That's a hell of a risk,” the captain stated.
“I know.”
“I'll take her,” Vargess said softly. Irons eyed him. “No, I'm not crazy, and I know the usual stuff about who should have the hot seat. I need experience in larger ships, right?”
The admiral nodded slowly.
The captain returned the nod. “That's what I thought. So, I'll take her, one or two cruises. At least until something else, maybe bigger,” he paused to give the admiral a hopeful look, “comes along.”
Irons couldn't help but snort over that dig.
“What about Jethro? I think he should be rewarded for his heroism.”
“Yes. He doesn't need the headache of a promotion. But we can give him another piece of ribbon,” Vargess said. He nodded as he looked at the admiral. “I concur, sir.”
“And so does Amadeus and the officers from Farragut and Rose,” the admiral replied, waving his tablet. “Cut the orders, Sprite.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Make sure Amadeus has the ceremony recorded.”
“And the concern about the price on the gunny's head, sir? Shouldn't he be keeping a low profile?” Sprite asked.
“Yes. But I don't intend for him to remain in Protodon for long. Besides,” the admiral said with a trace of a smile of mirth, “that's more for me than the navy or the media.”
“Ah.”
“I want to see his expression when they give him the medal,” the admiral replied.
“I see. Funny.”
“I thought so.” The admiral tapped at his tablet, He sent an email to Jethro. “And I want him to be a bit more careful,” he said, writing that as well before he signed it and put it in the transmit cue.
“Rose is going to need a support ship, Admiral. And we're going to need a bigger picket in Kathy's World,” Captain Vargess reminded him.
The admiral nodded. “And no doubt TF 22 doesn't have everything they need to patch up Farragut and Captain's Lady. Make sure you get them what they need in the next convoy.”
“It would be easier sir if they had an engineer with an industrial replicator, sir,” Sprite sighed. Irons eyed her avatar. She shrugged after a moment. “It's a thought. We're going to have to send one eventually,” She reminded him.
“Eventually,” the admiral replied. “For now they'll have to make do with what they've got.”
“Yes, sir. Wanna bet Admiral White will hang onto the escorts
?”
Irons snorted. He knew better than to even bother to reply.
“I thought not,” Sprite said smugly. Captain Vargess shook his head and chuckled softly. “Did you notice that Captain White Wolf is in Protodon with the convoy?”
The admiral blinked in astonishment. “Are you serious?” he asked slowly.
“Ah, so you did miss it,” Sprite replied, again amused and smug.
---<>---<>---
“Captain, no offense but what are you doing here? Don't they need you in Kathy's World?” Admiral White asked as he returned her salute. She was a white wolf, quite beautiful but aged, terribly aged. He felt for her, he'd read up on her story.
“I thought we should have a heart to heart, sir. And like any marine I can't resist the call to arms,” the Neowolf replied after they had exchanged salutes.
Her place in the convoy had surprised Amadeus. He hadn't known she had been there until Jojo had alerted him that her shuttle was on the way over. He wasn't happy about how frail she was but was glad to see her. She had immediately taken charge of the marine forces on the ground as senior officer. “I have a general idea of what the admiralty wants done, bust the Horathians. Getting it done with the forces currently in the system will be tricky,” the wolf said.
She was to relieve Lieutenant Ebensher. From the sound of it, the human woman was grateful for the support. She didn't sound at all miffed about handing over the job unfinished to a bunch of half-trained Neos.
“I know. We've been having all we can do to keep the three firebases,” the admiral said, shaking his head. “I know you want command Major but ….”
“Major …,” she sniffed and then seemed to smile slightly. Some amusement glittered in her ancient eyes. “Ah, I had forgotten the courtesy promotion while on board a ship.” She flicked her ears. “I'm not stupid enough to go groundside, sir. I know my limits,” she murmured. Something about that statement made the admiral doubt that however. “Besides, if I did go groundside that would put a lot of marines in danger since they would have to protect my carcass and not be doing their jobs. I'll mind the store from orbit through the drones, sir. At least until the beachhead is expanded on,” she said.
“Good. But part of the mission is diplomacy. The locals are not happy about our rate of progress,” the Neochimp grimaced.
“Or lack thereof?” White Wolf asked, again flicking her ears at his grudging nod. “We'll see if my name will wake some of the survivors up. We'll build off that and go from there, sir.”
“Good. Get on it then, Major,” he said. “If you need navy support, let my flag lieutenant or the captain know,” he stated.
“Aye aye, sir,” she replied smoothly. She left after a moment.
He watched her go and then shook his head. Her convoy had brought in two additional precious things, a small class 1 industrial replicator and a small fusion reactor. He was surprised that the captain hadn't kept both in her system. Then he shook his head. No, she was a marine, one from his time. She knew where they were most needed.
Well, he would indeed use them. Some of his engineers had been trying to fabricate some sort of space station expansion project. A simple thing, but they had lacked support. Now he could give them a little. And the fusion reactor would go a long way to solve their power problem. It wouldn't be a lot of power, but something was definitely better than nothing.
Since he didn't have any space support and the planet's space port was still contested, Amadeus had to keep the two transports in orbit of the planet. The escorts he gratefully folded into his own force. The frigate and corvette each had minor damage that had yet to be repaired. He turned TF 22's collective engineers and the parts they had onto the problem with strict orders to get the ships squared away before they worked on their side project.
He was surprised by the engineers, Ensign Lovejoy especially. The chief engineer was a piece of work. He shouldn't be so surprised he thought; they were all students and admirers of Admiral Irons. But to see them actively working on side projects?
Projects to help them in the long run? On their own initiative? Of course, they didn't have much red tape, and they were making a lot of additional work for themselves. But these people didn't coast for long; they kept moving forward. Apparently the past seven centuries of apathy was at an end. Admiral Irons and to some extension his own arrival in the time period had knocked something loose. He was glad. Glad to see them wanting to rebuild and glad to help in some small way. He made a notation to say something nice in their evaluation reports and to make sure any early promotions went through without a hitch.
He just hoped the pirates didn't show up to destroy all their hard work.
Chapter 16
One week after 1the arrival of the Kathy's World convoy, Xavier arrived in Protodon space escorting one collier, a small transport along with four gunships, four corvettes, and two frigates. To the naval personnel in the star system, it was like Christmas all over again. A sense of anticipation and relief went through many like a wave.
The marines were also overjoyed since the collier and transport had some supplies intended for them. Extra supplies had even been strapped to the outer hull of some of the ships. It would take time to get them inside and onto a shuttle, but they were now in the pipeline.
Captain Sampson of Xavier proudly reported aboard Yris'ka'th to Admiral White eight weeks after departing from Antigua. The first lieutenant did his best to contain his exuberance as he formally handed over a flash chip with his orders. The chimp took the chip gingerly and frowned at Sampson and then the chip. “I thought Irons wasn't going to spring you lose?”
The lieutenant shrugged. “He changed his mind once they got the Arboth production line running in Antigua, sir. He figured you could use all the hands you could get. He did tell me to tell you that you will only be getting experienced hands and ships. At least for the time being.”
“I see.”
“I heard Damocles and Mary Apple are also in the pipeline, sir,” the young captain said with a trace of a hopeful smile.
The admiral cocked his head and then nodded. “Good to know.” He had known about Mary Apple but Damocles had been a big question mark. So was the rumor that he might be getting Bounty as well. He'd heard some good things about the skippers of Damocles and Bounty. Both were experienced ship captains. Harris had taught at the academy and had handled several ships. He was pretty sure Phil wasn't going to be thrilled about losing his services. Tough for him. His loss was Amadeus's gain the chimp thought happily.
“Are you going to partner Mary Apple up with Viper as division mates? I mean when she gets here, sir,” the lieutenant asked.
The Antelope's small force had been sent out as soon as she had arrived in Antigua a few days after Xavier's departure. She had a tiny convoy but most of it was warships, which he could appreciate. They were due within a week of Xavier he thought. Amadeus raised a shaggy eyebrow. “Working under the assumption that we should pair like class ships together, Lieutenant?”
“It's a thought,” the ship captain replied.
“I'm still of two minds about that. On the one hand, they have mirror or similar specs so they should complement each other. They would be able to keep up with one another and so on and so forth. But on the other hand each ship design has a slight specialty. Pairing an Arboth with an Antelope might get better results.” He didn't mention that they could even out their disadvantages too, however. The two ships would have to travel at the fastest speed of the slowest ship. They might also have other minor issues.
“I guess it depends on the mission, sir.”
The admiral nodded. “It does indeed. We have time to game it out now.”
“Aye, sir. Nothing to do but to wait and train.”
“Yes. Dismissed, Lieutenant, make sure your ship is squared away. Get the latest downloads from Marshall. I expect you and your XO and AI on hand for the conference tomorrow morning 9 a.m. We'll begin outlining the morning's exercises then.”
&nb
sp; “Yes, sir,” Lieutenant Sampson stated crisply, coming to attention. He saluted. The neochimp returned the salute and then watched the young man leave.
“It's good to have another ship, sir,” Jojo said.
“True. Every little bit helps I suppose.”
---<>---<>---
“Things seem to be looking up, Admiral,” Marshall commented. “At least we have half a destroyer squadron now, sir,” he said as the senior officers met for a once a week formal dinner.
The admiral nodded as he dabbed at his mouth with a linen napkin. “Yes, now. It would have been nicer earlier,” he observed dryly, setting the napkin aside and then picking up his cup of coffee.
“A little late but better than never,” the AI replied. Jojo glanced at his avatar and then away. The AI and the flag lieutenant didn't bother to point out that the admiral hadn't initially wanted Xavier due to her green captain.
“What is the largest force you have commanded, Admiral, a battle squadron?” Captain Ssri'allth asked causally.
“No, no, nothing that grand,” Amadeus replied with a slight smile. “I haven't exercised an overall fleet command on that scale. At least, not yet,” he said with a small smile. The other officers nodded. Many of them knew that they were in line for bigger and better ships now that things were moving along. “Trucking along” was the saying Amadeus thought. Hopefully nothing came along to slow up the pace.
“When I was a captain, I was tasked with a small force to take down a Raven clan base Intelligence had found,” he replied. “They were classified as Crow's Nests,” he stated. His fingers played with the handle on his mug. “I had a destroyer squadron as well as a half squadron of cruisers. I was senior officer.”
“How did it go?”
“I thought it was going to be a false lead. You know, get us out of the area then hit a ripe unprotected target. But it was a legit lead; we hit them nicely.” He grinned a feral smile at them. A few of the captains smiled in delight in return. “We picked off a couple of privateers and then hit the base itself before she could evacuate. They set off their self-destruct before we could send the marines in.”
