The Admiral frowned as he noticed that Lieutenant Commander’s records had, ‘The Game,’ details listed on it under qualifications. He had ordered that the name and rating in ‘The Game’, be listed in the records for the crewmen in his Transport Fleet but that should have not transferred over to fleet records let alone be listed under ‘qualifications’. But here it was with the Lieutenant Commander’s Game rank as a 6 year level 6 Captain with a whole shit load of medals and campaign ribbons with stars for actions in The Game. The Admiral shook his head as he looked back up. The young Lieutenant Commander was handling the bridge crew rather better than most of his Commanders would after only a couple of months. Most lieutenants would have been lording it over the bridge crew with swelled heads.” Taking a closer look at the crew. Most of the bridge crew were busy in the background doing their jobs getting the ship ready to dock while Captain Burns talked to him.
Taking a deep breath the Admiral couldn’t believe what he was about to do. Especially since they were at The Rock and there was absolutely no reason why he should with all the senior officers around. “Captain Burns. What are you doing? I don’t remember ordering you to take the Tomato back to The Rock.” Even if that was what he had planned for Burns to do and then scrape together a crew from his already dwindling crew and send an experienced crew down to man the ship. That is until most of the experienced crewmen had to transfer out as ordered. The Admiral smiled. This crew was not aboard the ship yet and technically not part of his crew. Yet. If this captain and his crew were kept busy without actually reporting to the ship until after the crew transfers were complete, the ship and its crew would go a long way to addressing his crew shortage problem. After all a new ship’s yard acceptance shakedown cruise was always crew heavy to quickly take care of any equipment problems that cropped up. Looking down at the crew sheet for the ship, the Admiral smiled. Burns had double the normal crew needed to man the ship with a large portion more than simply recruits.
“I am sorry Admiral but my orders state to dock with the Red Dwarf and join the crew on this date. And that if that is not possible, to return to The Rock for crew reassignment. Sending a message to you Admiral Halsey, confirming the condition and placement of the Tomato for later pickup. I have arranged and informed you of the location your crew can find the Tomato and have already transmitted a preliminary report on the condition and quality of the ships systems that will be updated after my crew does a thorough post deployment check of all the ships systems before reporting to the reassignment pool barracks. I understand and accept why the Famous Admiral Halsey would not want such a young and inexperienced Captain to join a crew that has accomplished so much for this war.” Seeing the Admiral’s expression that did not look at all happy. “Is there something wrong Admiral? Did I miss something?”
“Yes Captain. You missed a lot.” Looking down and taping the window on the paper work he had been working on for the last hour since it came in, Admiral Halsey shook his head as he glanced back at the files he had been skimming on Lieutenant Commander Burns and the ship now sitting a couple miles out his port knowing he was taking a hell of a chance. “It seems that 90% of my experienced crew and officers are being transferred to battleships that are being built at this moment. They did not take into account that I would have a new replacement Battle Transport for the Tomato that was destroyed reporting now, which leaves me short of experienced officers as well as crewmen to man said ship. Now you come up with a whole ship’s crew with at least a couple months of experience with very positive Shake Down cruise inspector reports which is more than most of my new crew has and you think I will send them back for reassignment at the pool.”
Shaking his head. “Now I must admit I am impressed with what training command has reported about you, and your officers during your deployment. Though I have to admit that you look like just about the last person I would put in command of a Battle Transport. But then the very last person I or anyone else would ever put in command of a Battle Transport wound up destroying a whole enemy fleet and capturing one of those Battleships.” Shaking his head with a frown. “I think I will take a chance on you if you will stop being so dense Lt. Commander.”
The Admiral took a deep breath giving himself a chance to change his mind. “I only told you that we no longer birth our Battle Transports inside the Docks. I did not reject you and your crew.” Taking a deep breath. “After spending a couple of hours docking practice on the Orange Dwarf ahead of us, you will test your ships ability to dock on the outer platform of number 1 lock and take on a load of cargo and transferees for The Rock. You will continue transfer tests between the Red Dwarf and The Rock until further notice. And I expect that you and your crew will be so busy performing transfer tests, that you will not have the time to officially report to and turn your ship and crew over to me for a very long time.” Getting a wry grin. “Hopefully that is if you are not too self-deprecating and dense to understand that the Red Dwarf is under orders to transfer 90% of our experienced crewmen down to The Rock to be replaced by recruits while we are here having upgrades done to our engines, mass storage tanks and other systems and you are technically not part of my crew yet.”
Looking at Captain Burns for a few seconds as shock started leaving his face the Admiral continued. “I understand what you have probably been going through getting a Command at your age. My own First Officer wants to send a docking crew over to hold your hand but I am not going to. You do the job properly and don’t ding my new Transport or the Red Dwarf and I won’t have a complaint. Until I do, it is your ship. We have a billion tons of cargo and a million crewmen, workers and dependents to transfer to The Rock and my other transports are still in transit probably waiting for pilot bridge crews to bring them into The Rock’s system, while all the other Battle Transports are transporting much needed cargo from a hundred stars across the Republic to Q-19 or The New Rock that is being built as far from the enemy as possible.” The Admiral and his fleet had just finished making a run out to The New Rock (as it was starting to be called) with some 10 million refugees and a whole system’s equipment and supplies taken from the next system the Spiders were headed for in order to build up The New Rock’s production capabilities as fast as possible. “So you are all we have as far as big Transports go until the first of the Tomato’s sister ships finish working up their crews and pass deployment inspections in the next week or two.” The reports from the Training command he had been seeing suggested that the other transports were not doing half as well and in fact the next ship may take even weeks longer. “Hopefully my other Transports will finally make it through the Gauntlet (the slang for the series of mazes to keep The Rocks location secret) in the next week. But you are it for now so just get it done. I am counting on you and the Tomato Captain Burns.” Admiral Halsey out.”
The Admiral fought down the erg to smirk at the thought of a whole class of transports being called the Tomato class with the Tomato being the lead or first ship of the class produced. It was a shame that the pencil pushers never bothered to take their heads out of their asses when naming ships. Lead ships should never be a joke but then the whole class of ships originally built to serve as shuttles for the Dwarfs were a joke until Turner redesigned their engines and he started killing the enemy Battleships with his. Something not one Republic Battleship had managed to do yet except for maybe a lowly Second Lieutenant now Commanding a Battletransport.
That was something else he needed to do. He had not gotten any new reports for over a month from Turner and his little band. He had managed to talk with Captain Turner several times over the first few months. But now the last report he had gotten was months old and said that the Red Pepper was being rebuilt and that Turner was creating some kind of Station made out of the Enemy Battleship’s hulk Jack had told him about. The Station was welded to the side of the bubble created when a Spider Battleship had self-destructed. At least the Wing of Destroyers he had sent to help them were running around looking for more Battleships to tak
e on. Even worse was that in the months since he was finding it harder and harder to send supply transports to Captain Turner and his thousands of refugees and exslaves. Not even knowing if any had gotten through as the reports he received were getting stretched out farther and farther apart with continuing requests for supply transports. Slapping his Comm. “Exec, any reports on Turner and the Red Pepper or hell, even from the Destroyers in that neck of the woods?”
“Sorry sir. I have made several inquiries about Captain Turner sense he is still listed as part of the Red Dwarf’s complement as well as his crew. But I keep getting a security need to know label each time I try. Not even using your high security clearances help sir. Though I have heard all kinds of roomers. And some rather reliable facts sir.”
The last thing he needed to hear were a bunch of rumors. “What do you mean rather reliable facts Phil?”
“Well Admiral. The pilot bridge crew that brought us in were talking in the wardroom about an old forgotten entry point clearing at the far end of the Cloud that has a bunch of Transports and Tankers that are classed as Alien contaminated and are quarantined. They can’t even contact them directly for fear of alien viruses transferring over the comm signals and taking over their ships. It seems that one of the crew piloted a squadron of new Battleships to a waypoint short of the Entry Station there to make sure none of them leave the entry Station. Another member piloted a Transport that was headed for a Spider Hulk Battleship that supposedly had been captured and turned into some kind of Way Station. But as soon as they reached the Waypoint collection area short of the new Spider Hulk Station, the ship received orders to go directly to the Quarantine entry point Station the other pilot had been to. Something about another damaged Spider Battleship turning up in the area of the Station the Destroyers were trying to destroy with little success.”
“That doesn’t even make any sense.” Frowning. “What about the transports Turner said he loaded with advanced tech and sent to The Rock, then disappeared? Are they in that damn quarantine collection waypoint?”
“I have no way of knowing except the rumors say no.”
“What rumors?”
“That the aliens took over the ships, ate the human crew and are out wondering around the cloud trying to escape or looking for more victims depending on which roomer you listen to.”
“How the hell do rumors start about something that is supposed to be top secret in the first place? Never mind. Secrets are always rumor factories.”
“You should hear some of the rumors about Jack. They are better than the news report propaganda about him. A bunch has him secretly building a Spider Battleship Fleet crewed by alien ex slaves to take on the Enemy fleet.” The Exec chuckled. “The ones I can’t figure out about are the ones about Turner finding a hidden utopia world orbiting a sun hidden in the middle of the Cloud.” Then getting serious. “The rumors that disturb me most after hearing about the quarantine waypoint, are the ones that report messages from Turner saying that his crew is starving to death because supplies are not getting to them.” Shaking his head. “Rumor or not, I think every transport we have sent that way has wound up in that damn entry Station quarantine area without getting near the Red Pepper. I know that messages from the area of what Turner called the Hulk Station is being routed all over the cloud supposedly to make it impossible to trace them back to The Rock which was why the last one we got was months old while the average delay is only a few days from everyplace else. Things must be damn bad around here for the rumors to be coming to my attention this fast without having to even try. I hate to say this Admiral but I think High Command is panicking. Like we have lost the war already and they are just waiting to jump ship with the Rats.”
The Admiral turned to watch the Tomato slowly head for the Orange Dwarf as dozens of the new 400 foot transport boats streamed to and from locks at both ends of the ship. “I know several that have jumped ship already Phil but I hope most aren’t. Get me Rock Command on the Comm and Admiral Schultz. Priority Alpha.”
The Admiral was standing at the edge of the deck and the bubble port hours later as the Tomato touched down on the dock platform and huge arms came out to clamp onto the sides of the big ship securing it solidly against all movement as cargo hatches started opening out and down to become ramps with tubes into the transport. The Comm Beeped. “Admiral Schultz on the line Admiral.”
“Put him through.” The Admiral did not bother turning around as the image of Admiral Schultz appeared on the opposite side of the big desk behind the Admiral.
“I see you are back from your little errand and packed out with supplies for more Battleships.” His smile turning to a frown as Admiral Halsey remained at the port with his back to him. “I see that you have the first of the new Transports arriving today Halsey. Sorry we could not replace the Red Pepper sooner but we needed the Battleships more than another Transport until the new line opened up. Producing a few transports in it to get out the bugs before it starts producing Battleships should make you happy at least.”
Admiral Halsey turned around. “Without Transports you don’t have a Battleship fleet Schultz. I have been losing a lot of transports recently and not to enemy action.” Halsey turned his seat around and sat before turning to face Schultz. The Admiral’s new Congressional uniform irking Halsey every time he saw it. “Why the hell am I not getting the updates about the Aliens, The Hulk Station and Turner? Tell me just what the hell is going on around here? I had to dodge a damn Battleship on the way in here that was a hundred miles out of its lane and now I see that the Orange Dwarf is still not repaired. It should have been done by now complete with the new massless engines.”
“What the hell are you complaining Hulsey. You are getting the new engines. I thought you would want to be first in the line for them. As for the Orange Dwarf. I reduced its priority and diverted the resources to producing more Battleships were it should have been in the first place.” Schultz smiled. “And don’t worry your little Transport head about reports that concern Battle Officers. You just concentrate on humping cargo for the real Earth Officers that are actually trying to win this war.”
“You little weasel. I am a Flag officer and member of the War Council and have more battle stars than you ever will have and I still out rank you by 6 months. You will put me back on the class Triple A intelligence list and return the Orange Dwarf to full priority 1A for repairs immediately. Now what the hell is going on with Sector 51, Captain Turner and the Alien ex-slaves? Why am I hearing rumors that Turners crew is starving to death and supplies are not reaching the Hulk Station like I ordered?”
Admiral Schultz sneered. “For your information Hulsey, they found another Spider ship and supposedly after a whole wing of your stupid Destroyers could not make a dent in it, Turner assaulted it and in spite of it having a hundred thousand troops, he somehow managed to kill them all and captured it with over 20,000 slaves and some 50,000 captured humans if I remember the numbers right. Even you can’t believe that bullshit. Turner has turned traitor on us and is massing a fleet in our back yard getting ready to assault The Rock as soon as Spider reinforcements arrive. That is if he can find The Rock. We are just making sure he can’t by not letting any ship that had any contact with area 51 get near the rock. As far as supply ships reaching Area 51 and your Hulk Station. It is not my fault that they keep turning around short of getting there. I can’t order transport Captain’s to commit suicide. It would be a waste of time anyway. Like asking a chicken to stand still while you cut off its head. They, like you, really aren’t line officers.” Schultz looked at Halsey turning red. “Don’t worry Halsey, we are ready to take care of the whole problem. A force of brand new Battleships and Assault Transports with some 40,000 front line armored Combat marines are headed there to wipe out the lot of them.”
“You fool. Those ex slaves and Turner are the only ones that have the technology to win this war.”
“Not when we get done Halsey. We sent the Republic’s Research Directorate and a ship
load of scientists to take charge of the new technology. Don’t worry we will still get the technology but it will be in Human hands not a bunch of stinking Aliens.”
“Tell me, has your Director of Research come up with anything new or revolutionary over the last 4 months?”
“Of course he has. He fixed the problem with the 24 inch guns burning out on the first shot.”
“That was Turner’s engineering development crew working with a few directions from Turner in the Hulk Station and even then your Research Directorate fucked it up and they are lucky to get a dozen shots before they blow up. He has even better liners on the guns of the Red Pepper that don’t burn out after only a couple dozen shot. But that is alien tech you wouldn’t allow into The Rock”
“Well we now are working on plasma power lines and generators replacing miles and thousands of tons of metal wires and old reactor cell generators. We should have them perfected in another year.”
“Turner developed and had them in his ship the Red Pepper to triple the power going to his upgraded guns that don’t burn out to destroy the enemy fleet before the Director even heard of the possibility 6 months ago.” Smiling at Schultz. “All the other improvements to the Fleet in the last 6 months have all been Turners directly or what he started with his engineers before I dumped him on the hulk of the Red Pepper, without the help from the Director of Research.”
“Bullshit. The Director told us how Turner stole his design for the Turner Drive and it is obvious that he stole the directors other work as well.”
Realizing it was a waste of time arguing with the block head, Halsey just shook his head. “I am calling a meeting of the Council. This has got to end now.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 36
