“Yes that was a mouth full Vice Admiral. Now what is this about Calling Admiral Halsey at The Rock? There is a long range direct Comm blackout at The Rock. All messages go through staging stations. I have been trying to get ahold of anyone but that fucking Ditzen for 5 months and now I can’t even get him.”
“Well Ditzen is a bit busy as I said trying to kill me and my crew. That is if he doesn’t walk out an alien airlock accidentally. Right now he is trying to take over the Gama 13 station so he is running up and down the corridors of the station filling out a little test I gave him to qualify to Command the Station forcing me back to a simple Captain so he can enforce his nasty little plans.” Chuckling to himself. “The fact that I had to execute half his staff with the other half in sickbay with blaster wounds and under arrest after they tried to shoot me off the stage when the Admiral found out he had neglected to fill out Form 782 stopping the turn over ceremony is probably slowing him down a bit and will take him at least a couple of weeks. The shame is he found the Flag deck and the Captains Galley.”
“Yes 782, I am well aware of that little form. It has been the undoing of many a Commander when it is ignored or forgotten until something happens and lives are lost and then it becomes a very important career killing or making little piece of paper.” The Admiral smiled. “And his Staff tried to kill you? But let me see now… You can’t arrest him since I doubt he had a gun himself.”
“Yes I had his pistol taken away from him before that when he got all pissed off and stuck it in my ribcage because he thought I was stalling.” Jack smiled. “Which I was. My crews were busy stripping the station but more importantly his 8 wrecked battleships docked to it and pilfering their crews that really didn’t approve of the way he was running his squadron. For some reason with them off their ships for the Turnover Signing Ceremony, they expressed an interest in transferring to my little Command when I said I needed help to fight the Spiders and not Republic ships or bombarding colonies which is what most of their training was. What can I say?”
“Ok why was 8 wrecked Battleships docked at your station in the first place? Is there some Spider Battleship Activity going on around the Cloud not in the National news?”
Jack chuckled. “Not since I took out the last one a couple months ago. Vice Admiral Ditzen tried destroying the Basestation as soon as his squadron jumped out of the cloud and got into position over the Station. Of all the stupid places to attack from. They created one hell of a mess scratching up the top spider armored shield deck on the station with their new 24inch guns and the area around the Station with a massive Torpedo launch. My squadron had to knock out most of the 480 guns and their engines. Though about a quarter of his gun barrels exploded before they could be knocked out. I am sorry to say both sides had a few casualties. I lost a bomber and a pilot I still plan on taking out of his hide and the Admiral lost 8 Battleships but only a few crewmen thank God. My gunners on the attack runs were careful to only damage the turrets and not penetrate in deep were the crews were. The guns themselves are in good shape and fit nicely on my destroyers. The Admiral’s supply ship squadron came down the Corridor the next day and I got a few more ships to join. Only thing was they lacked Consumables as well. Why I decided it was time to go looking for our wayward Supply ships Admiral Halsey had been sending our way that never got there. At least I am glad someone got them that needed them.”
“Speaking of Corridor’s. How did you get here when I can’t get a ship past the next corridor intersection even when I was able to scrape up enough reaction mass for a squadron? It is mined with what must be a million mines and a full squadron of battleships and a Battlestation with guns bigger than my Dwarf has and only allows ships to pass one way. Or is that it? You came in and are stuck here as we are.”
“MM, I wonder if we have the same Intersection Battlestation guarding Gama 13.” Jack thought for a second and smiled. “Too bad we don’t need to use the existing corridors anymore to get around through the mazes of Cleared Passageways in the cloud. We make our own corridors now. Well at least my ships do as I hope you noticed.”
“You don’t say and yes I noticed you disappear into the cloud. Including you showing off your ship. Are those really 24 inch guns under your wings and a battleship engine under its ass?”
“Yap Admiral. Gives the Destroyer quite a kick in its pants along with a bit of a punch.”
“Nice but I don’t quite understand why you would want to go to all the trouble to make those changes to a light weight destroyer. One hit by even our 16 inch guns will destroy it not to mention those monster Guns the Spiders tore us up with.”
“That’s just it Admiral, even your Battleships got tore up. My little destroyer is a lot harder to hit than your Battleships and should be able to get close enough fast enough to get behind the Spider Battleships forward facing armored decks and take out their Monster Guns. And if a few get hit we still have a hundred others to finish the fight instead of the enemy taking out 60 guns with one hit on one big slow target.” Jack got serious. “So Admiral, I have quite a few Questions for you but it is a waste of time for me to ask them here when Admiral Halsey is going to want to ask the same questions. I would like to invite you over to have a chat with the Admiral if I have your permission to bring my little squadron in to visit and maybe we could get an update on your Supply situation even though it looks like your crew is more emaciated than mine.”
Jack felt a tap on his leg and bent an ear Truitt’s way. “We are detecting enemy frequencies from the fleet and station Admiral. I am trying to localize them now but it will probably take hand helds on the ships themselves to locate them. We will have to add a module to our PDA’s with an app but they should be able to detect and trace the transmitting sources.”
Jack took a deep breath as his mind went into high speed for several seconds as he adjusted his thinking and planning. “Damn Admiral Spencer. Change in plans. I have been fighting these Ass holes for almost 8 months now and lost too many good crewmen and I will not lose any more to stupid mistakes. I am sorry to have tell you this but we have just detected God transmissions from your fleet. My troops are going to search your ships to find the active transmitters and to make sure you do not have anything else Spider God related accidentally or purposefully planted on your ships. My marines are a mix of human and ex-slave God troops that are very good at what they do and they will find them.” Looking at the Admiral with a stone face. “Now if you cooperate we will get it done in a day or two.”
Jack looked at the Admiral with steely eyes. “If not, I will bring in the rest of my Big Gun Destroyers and start blowing up your ships into scrap even I can’t repair until I have your cooperation Admiral. Please believe me when I say that you can’t stop me. This little Destroyer you and the Rest of The Rock dismiss as shit can take out every ship you have in a couple hours with the odds of you even scratching our paint so low that I will probably have dinner while my joiner bridge crew get some training in.” Jack finally smiled. “And I have 2 squadrons assigned to me now with another hundred waiting to be picked up. Though Even Admiral Halsey does not know what they are truly capable of yet. Don’t make me attend the funerals for half your crews because I have to do what I must. We are running out of time quickly with a God Fleet approaching the Cloud. These transmitters are short ranged but the enemy may already have detected them.” Though Jack knew that all the God ships he could see were headed back along The Cloud and not in this direction he was not going to take a chance that would change soon.
Jack sat down staring at an open mouthed Admiral Spencer for a second before getting up and walking to the Comm console. Reaching over the operator’s shoulder he tapped up a window and then looking back at the Admiral. “You have about an hour to prepare your ships and crews. And believe me if you have even a chip from a God missile or shell that could serve as a beacon taken off a dud missile that hit one of your ships, as a souvenir, we will find it. And according to this mass of little wavy lines.” Jack pointed
at the top of the comm screen window. “You have a bunch. Turner out.”
Jack slapped the Comm. “General Meyers, we have detected some God tracking transponder transmissions from the fleet. You will have to find their sources and eliminate them. I don’t think you will find any God troops or crewmen but check anyway. I am going to have the Red Pepper electronics shops build up some plug in signal sensors for your PDA’s that should help if they work as they should. Baring that we will try to triangulate as best we can to narrow it down for you.”
“Don’t need the PDA sensors Admiral. Your Apes have been quite an education since you mixed them into our ranks. The Apes have a nice little hand held for that already. They love tracking down Command and Control centers with the little things during war-games’. We will find your transponders. How long until deployment?”
“About an hour General give or take. Depending on whether we get cooperation or not. We may have to go in hot but I hope to god we don’t but we have to take out those transmitters. I am going to try to get the other Division here as soon as possible so don’t spread your forces to thin. I don’t want to risk losing any of them.”
“Now Admiral, you know as well as I do that in an operation this big with all the new equipment, we would lose a few just too training accidents even in peace time. It just can’t be helped but we will keep the casualties to as few as possible and we will find and destroy those transmitters.”
“I am sorry General but I will take your word for that, I have very little experience with marine training operations this large. Most of my marine experience has been in the passageways during ship defense drills. Oh and be sure to record everything you can about those transmitters before you destroy them. If possible just shut them off and bring them back to the ship so we can get a close look at them later. And no killing unless it is absolutely necessary. These guys are supposed to be on our side and did not know about the transponders. At least most of them I hope.”
The General smiled. “Don’t worry Admiral my men know their jobs. Now I have to pass along new orders with a few perpetrations, we will be ready in 15 minutes. You just tell us when. Out.”
Jack turned to the pilot. “Lieutenant Commander, get me on the Red Pepper ASAP. I am headed for the lock now.” Turning to the Commander. “You have the ship Number One.”
Chapter 21; But Crewmen continue to die.
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Jack walked into the Captain’s Ready room or Office or Day Cabin or Sweat. He was still trying to get his mind around what the exslaves had built him behind the Flying Bridge on the Red Pepper and sat down hitting the Comm. “You have New Home yet and General Sherman?”
“Yes sir.” Came the reply. “Waiting on line 1 Captain.”
Jack tapped line 1 and the General appeared. “I hear you have had a little trouble Admiral.”
“Just a little. I need you to hop the Assault Transports over hear as fast as possible to help with a search and destroy mission looking for transmitters and possible infiltrators on the remnants of TF-58. Grab anything you can think of to help including grabbing some tracking modules I am down loading the plans for to the Stations factories now. I am also sending you all the Tactical information. Have you finished swapping our Republic Assault Shuttles out for the Spider Assault Shuttles yet? They are a cut above the Republics and I am afraid we are going to lose troops here because General Meyers did not have the time to swap his before we left.”
“Yes Admiral we have finished swapping out everything including the support fighters. Though once the Republic fighters are upgraded with the new weapons and technology, I think they will do a better job. Surprisingly we have already finished swapping the weapons in our tanks and Mechs. But then the Engineers had already had a couple of months to work on the needed modifications to the Ape weapons to readily fit into Republic mounts with the ships changing blasters for lasers. Since the mountings and rings used on naval ships and marine equipment are the same, the swaps were easy. The training in the new suits is coming along as well with the Apes mixed into integrated units speeding things up rather well. Though I am glad that having 22,000 marines in the division instead of 18,000 is not making the Assault Transports as crowded as I thought they would be. The compact more efficient and capable Ape Armor is making a big difference there. Though I had not realized how much wasted space there was on the Transports until your crews finished adding decks to spaces that did not need to be two and three decks high even with the birthing decks for the Bigfoots.” The new General smiled. “I have been able to almost double our heavy weapons and Mechs. The Big foots I think are also going to be a good addition with the loads and strength they have with them serving as medics, supply and gun support when needed. At least on the larger ships and planets that we can use them on.”
The General lost his smile as he turned a bit sour. “Though I am afraid your R-bots are having some problems fitting into the squads. I must admit that having an additional 15,000 troops that store in the space of a few cargo containers sounds good but they have their limitations and they still have to be maintained. So fare their best use has been with the support personnel were their added strength, speed and senses are beneficial while having to recharge every 24 hours and the momentary control delays that keep cropping up are not such a handicap when you consider the R-bot operators are not in any danger.”
Thinking for a few seconds. “We are also having some success in training with a couple of R-bots assigned to squads where they can perform the more dangerous tasks such as walking point or taking and clearing tight places with the rest of the squad in support making up for their flaws. The biggest problem with that right now is who do you keep safe in the rear to operate the R-bots? A marine on line with his life on the line is not going to like it when the R-bot operators is safe in the rear areas or back aboard ship. Though that may not be a big deal when we start getting wounded in no condition to go to the front but can operate the R-bots. Then it is definitely going to be a force multiplier with the trained troops to operate them that are not physically capable of Combat.”
“So you are just using them as replacements then?”
“Until we can figure something else out yes. I cannot use squads made up of only R-Bots no matter how nice it sounds. We just finished a series of tests where R-bot squads were pitted up against marine squads and the R-bots lost big time every time. R-bots are easy to confuse simply because the interface between bot and pilot are not perfect. The only success was when they were simply guarding a hatch or area where a lot of movement was not required and the slight delay was not such a handicap. They were harder to take out because of being armored skeletons and damn hard to hit but they were still taken out though not as fast as a human sentry usually is. It is simply harder for the operator to have the same instant awareness of what is around them, which means it is lousy at close combat and will lose most times. But like I said they are great as trip wires on point and other dangerous jobs including some scouting. Well that is until the enemy figures out how to jam their controlling signals. Then we will be back with the old Mark 1 Marines Admiral.”
“Very well, do what you can during this deployment but we are going to need a hell of a lot more marines later. I want you to start planning a new marine division with people that don’t qualify physically for the marines but can operate the R-bots. That should get around the fact of fairness for the front line marines and maybe with a lot of training they can overcome the bots limitations. I will start working on those and the other R-bot problems as well. I think I can add a new plasma battery that will increase its charge to last a week at least. Then take a look at other improvements to speed up the awareness and response times. Start recruiting as soon as you get back to New Home if you can find anyone interested that is.”
“I don’t think recruits are going to be a problem Admiral.” The General had been taping on his desk the whole time they were talking which was starting to bother Jack a bit. “We ha
ve been turning them away in droves while picking only the best since this war started. The same goes since we stepped foot in the New Home Domes. I will start forming the Geek marines before we leave and get their training started. I will also take the older retirees that we have reactivated with us to start training on the bots. We will be out of here in an hour as soon as the new sensor modules are ready. Pan has given them top priority. Is there anything else Admiral?”
“No. I think that covers it for now. It took us two weeks to get here but with the new trail blazed pretty much straight here and mostly new corridors, you should be here in less than a week I hope. Contact me then. Out.” Jack had been disappointed when it had taken them two weeks to make it to the Delta 7 Station as close as it was as the crow flies but it turned out to be harder to cut tunnels than he had thought it was when you have a lot of ships with you. Especially when you are trying to keep the new tunnels and New Home secret. At least the reinforcement would only take a week to get there. Though he was now having doubts about their return trip with a hundred half destroyed mass starving Battleships and the Black Dwarf.
Jack tapped the Comm again as the General disappeared off the screen. “Have you established a link with Admiral Halsey yet?” The Secret Comm laser had not stayed secret for very long when the Comm Techs had returned with the call logs still on the screen after Jack’s first conversation with Admiral Halsey. The AI Zoote had screwed up. Then with the push to get the equipment out and set up keeping it a secret from at least the Comm crews and Senior Officers was impossible. Too many crewmen already knew about the new equipment anyway during the development and testing before Jack was told to keep it a secret. Making the secret the ongoing joke around the ship’s senior Officers as well as the Comm crews.
A few minutes later Admiral Halsey came on the screen. Jack spent a good 15 minutes filling the general in on what had happened with TF-58 at Delta-7.
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 81
