Jack sighed. “Then all we have to worry about is the enemy.”
----------------------------
The Red Pepper slid into orbit around the Ice Moon. The Ice Planet just shy of being large enough to be a Jovian which was one step from being an outright star. It was also just small enough not to be shrouded by massive amounts of radiation deadly to humans that would have advertised its existence to the universe from far far away even outside the cloud. As it was the planet could only be seen as a blob through the cloud as they orbited the little moon that was itself orbiting just outside the clear area around the planet. In a few hundred thousand years the moon’s orbit fighting against the friction of the cloud would decay to hit the planet and another few million years the planet would become a hot gas giant and another few million after that a star. But Jack did not expect the large moon sized ball of ice to last that long. The need for Ice in the Cloud was too great to let this windfall just sit until it destroyed itself when it could be exploited and used so easily. The fact that this system with all its Ice moons could supply The Rock with water and reaction mass for thousands of years was just pure luck. Though he knew there actually were people that were covered in the news all the time opposing man using any natural resources anywhere. Even cutting trees on planets that would grow back almost as fast as they were cut. Hell, most of the mines had been closed in Earths own system even in the Ort cloud from moronic lawsuits in the last few years, mostly from a few environmentalists suing over every and anything they could invent or lie about, demanding regulations and restrictions and driving up costs until they had driven even the big companies out of Earths system. A few selfish people going out of their way to use a corrupt system to ruin the lives of millions. Even an Ice ball like this would get its share of idealistic squatters and lawsuits if the Navy had let any into the cloud, trying to prevent them from mining the ice even though it would eventually destroy itself crashing into the planet. Jack took a deep breath and tried to relax. Glad that at least he did not have to contend with them and their lawsuits. Though as a Tramp he realized that because of a few selfish idealists and greedy lawyers, his families Tramp ship the Turner Joy was able to make a good living hauling things to Earth. Making a good profit for themselves and everyone in the colonies with the people of earth paying 10 times the price they should have been paying for products and raw materials if the environmentalists had not driven most manufacturing and mining out of Earths system. Something every Tramp ship crewman and most of the colonies were taught in their free locally controlled schools.
Jack smiled at the Ice moon below them. The 1/5th gravity on the surface of the ice moon that was just a little bigger than Earth’s moon made it perfect for Ice Mining. Allowing the water once it was melted to readily run down to collect into insulated tanks once the mine had been set up. The planet the moon orbited not only had a high gravity well but the storms that ravaged the planet from the cloud hitting the rapidly spinning planet at some two thousand miles an hour increased the risks, complexity and cost even though there was no sun to warm it.
The lesser ice moons orbiting the planet with gravity wells below 1/20th standard had their own problems requiring much more infrastructure to keep both crew and product from simply being blown off the surface. Requiring equipment to operate slower over wider areas unless everything was anchored down and confined as if there was no gravity at all. Then the possibilities of blowouts or collapses from even moderate pressure or temperature changes under the surface could kill crewmen and destroy equipment with no warning unless strict and costly procedures and additional structures are used at all times.
The moon they had picked did not need the time consuming and costly procedures, structures and risk of the lower gravity moons. Making the moon they had picked as perfect as anything in the system could be. All they basically had to do was land and burry the bare minimum of equipment just under the surface to protect it from the occasional storm and start mining. Though the Captain had insisted on doing more than that since they did have the deep mining equipment on hand and the weapons on the Red Pepper handy. Saying that deep below the surface she could produce 10 times the tonnage with half the long term costs of a surface strip mine.
The plan Captain Leslie had come up with, called for the Red Pepper’s weapons to drill several large holes deep down into the ice to drop the habitat into with the cylinder pointed up. With the top buried a thousand feet below the surface, the ice itself would provide insulation reducing the habitats energy needs allowing more to go to production. Additional shafts and caverns were rapidly cut to bury the huge storage tanks for the same reason. Then the last thing she had the Red Pepper guns do before leaving was drill a simple shaft all the way down to the rock core of the moon where they dropped most of the mining equipment and power cores down to the rock mantle. She was going to mine the moon from the inside out were every watt of energy would be used without waste escaping into space. The mine heads creating a series of huge caverns through the ice around the rocky mantle. Using the tanks and habitat at the top of the shaft as only a shipping, construction and living base at the beginning.
With the basic holes blasted and the habitat installed and in operation with most of the survivors from the Republic Battleship now willing participants still trying to figure out why their Republic Battleship would attack unarmed Republic transports, Jack was finally leaving. Taking the few hard core Congressional Earth crewmen with him that consisted mostly of officers. Jack was just walking across the top of the habitat to the last shuttle going back to the Red Pepper when Captain Leslie came jogging up calling his name. The open shaft stretched above him. Turning around Jack looked at her as his breath streamed out into the cold air of the shaft, glad his armored suit was keeping him warm in the minus hundred degree cold. The open top of the shaft a thousand feet above with only the shimmer of an Aircurtain to keep the air in. Still a bit skeptical of leaving her there alive as he fought down his hate for her, still not sure if he was doing the right thing.
“Admiral. I just wanted to thank you for giving me this opportunity. When I was working at the mines around Jupiter fresh out of Collage before they shut down, I was told that I would never be anything more than a low class engineer without the right Political and Company connections to ever do anything more than, run a cutting crew. I would never have the opportunity to actually use what I learned to build anything let alone a complex as big as I now think this will turn into. Fact is I minored in Political science and all its crap courses because that was where the money was to pay for my education in mining which is what I really loved after being raised in the mines of Mercury. I got into politics when the 4th mine I was employed at closed because of Ort cloud Environmentalists. A politician at the closing celebration told me that I could make something of myself if I attached myself to him. But then all it got me was my brains fucked out, these breasts and then trained and used to destroy lives and again told to shut up and accept my place in life or they would send me to a reeducation camp again. Now for the first time I can’t believe I actually have a chance after all those years of hard work and training with the opportunity to create the largest Ice Mine known to man. It could take me years just to get the basic systems started and working adequately let alone perfect Admiral.”
“Years Captain?”
“No don’t worry Admiral. It will take a few weeks to cut and outfit the tunnels connecting everything up here together but we should be ready to start shipments as soon as we are finished upgrading and installing the first mega drills for ice mining down below and the crews trained to operate them safely. Fact is we could probably ship a few hundred thousand tons in a couple of days just from the tunnels we are cutting up here if you can use it.”
“Very good Captain.” Jack said surprised. “Yes we can use it. I will have a tanker here in 48 hours.” Jack smiled as he thought about telling her why they needed all the reaction mass she could get them over the next couple of weeks but dec
ided that was just asking for trouble if she decided to side with the Congressional Fleet. Trying his best to keep his face not caring. “If you find you need something to make it happen send me an E-mail and I will see what I can do to get it for you. Fact is, a list in the next few days would be best since as you know, we are going to raid the Q-19 Supply Transfer Depoe.”
“Thanks Admiral. I will have a list ready to send with the tanker.” Frowning for a second as Jack tried to hear her mind but as with most of their meetings the last few days, she had been totally silent in her mind with only a few words to herself now and then telling herself not to be stupid. Whatever that meant in her context. Her mind was much too busy working to talk to herself. “Am I right Admiral that the more mass I can produce in the next few days, the more supplies you will be able to bring back?”
Jack’s heart skipped a beat. The one thing he had not wanted her to realize right now was that specific fact. That she actually held his balls in her hand. This could be painful as well as messy if he had to kill her. That is if she did not kill him first since she was a damn good assassin. “Yes Captain. The more reaction mass you can give us the more supplies including what you put on your list we can bring back. Hell I will even make your list priority for most of the extra ships you enable us to take.” Jack watched her closely still getting nothing from her.
“Very well Admiral.” Her mind seem to be racing as he watched her head’s temperature go up rather rapidly. Then. “I will have enough to top off 4 tankers in 48 hours. Get at least one here in 24 hours to start loading.”
Shocked, Jack had to take a breath. “Captain I don’t want any casualties. Don’t push too hard getting that drill head going and get someone killed.”
“Not at all Admiral. We are already melting the ice to cut the connecting tunnels and equipment caverns. We just need to collect it is all instead of letting it blow out into space like we have been doing for two days. With a few changes in priorities like cutting all the tunnels and caverns we need a few days or weeks ahead of schedule. I won’t even have to take that many off assembling the drill heads down below or training.”
Jack had to force himself not to grab the Captain’s shoulder in appreciation as his head swam with the possibilities of a supply of reaction mass that was several times more efficient than the crap they were skimming from the clouds. Taking a deep breath as the Lieutenant took a step closer as Jack shook his head returning his mind to current business. “Ok Captain. Yesterday you were doing your best to kill me and everyone else in two fleets, even killing a crewman in a plan to create a riot and stop the conversion of the transports. Now you are helping us when all you had to do is stay silent and do nothing to increase the chances that your side would win. What the hell is going on in that head of yours?”
Jack felt the shock in her mind at what he had confessed to. Kicking himself for being stupid and telling her that he knew all about her. Finely she straitened herself and continued. “I am a soldier Admiral in an army in a Communist state that like every feudal society in history, has a King at the top and a ruling class below that picks the King and then a lower class of serfs. Only in modern times it is called Communism or simply Big Government and uses the slogan, “For the good of the people.” To keep the serfs in line while the King and the Ruling class decide what is good for the people whether the people like it or not. With the serfs groveling in poverty waiting in lines for bread that is barely eatable and cloths that have no color because someone might object while the ruling class cloths are too bright to even look at while they attend ever more lavish feasts. The only way for a Serf to advance him or herself into anything close to the Ruling class is to vigorously defend and spout the Communist Democrat Party line of crap no matter how much bullshit lies it is, in the hope of gaining the notice and backing of someone in the Political Congressional Elite, the Kings and Dukes of the Ruling Class.”
Taking a deep breath as she put her hand on Jacks shoulder before she continued. “The fact was that the more people I fucked, or killed or destroyed following orders like a good soldier, the more those same people looked down their noses at me. They spout tolerance, freedom and let live but only for themselves while ordering everyone else (the Serfs) around as the slaves they are with the fiction and lies of freedom and choice when there is none and ever higher minimum wages that never rise above the poverty level because the cost of living goes up as well. I realized a long time ago that no matter how vigorously I followed orders I was never going to be allowed to become a member of the Kings, the ruling class. But like most captives suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and all the lying propaganda, I kept telling myself that I just had to be a little bit more vigorous in spouting the party line, kill more pour assholes who only got in the way faster, ruin more lives that did not have a clue, when ordered, to eventually join the Elite.”
Putting her other hand on Jack’s other shoulder Jack knew that if she wanted to with the grips she had she could kill him before anyone could intervene if she wanted to. “Then you come along and offered me my own Kingdom not for spouting a bunch of crap and toeing the party line and blindly following orders no matter how disgusting they were, but for not only doing what I have always loved, I also have the possibility to create my own world as long as I deliver the mass, follow reasonable orders, treat my crews right and fairly and I don’t have to kill anyone or ruin any lives doing it. In fact just the opposite. I can create a world for people to live and flourish in as long as I make sure no one dies under my watch.” Taking a deep breath her smile turned sour for second. “Maybe make up a little for all the pain I have blindly caused.”
A smiling came back to her face at Jack. “Relax Admiral, I am a good Republic soldier now. You have taken me out of that Communist Democratic Liberal Hell and dropped me into my own Heaven and not the prison you think you dumped me in for all my sins.” She fingered the thin collar around her neck. “I am not stupid, I now know you have found out who I really am and yet you have given me this truly wonderful opportunity and I am not about to do anything that will fuck that up including leaving. In fact you can keep your offer to give me Command of my own ship if that was your real plan and not simply executing me since it is obvious that nothing I have said is a shock or news to you. I have everything I will ever want or need here and the only people I will kill now is anyone that tries to take it from me or tries to destroy it or hurt my people.” She smiled at Jack as she planted a kiss on his cheek then turned to leave. “Got to go Admiral if you want your reaction Mass on time. Ohhh and in six months I should have a large enough cavern dug out of the core of this iceball to house close to a millioin people or grow the food to feed them. You just have to decide which you want to do here. Even if it is half and half. Though I am already planning farms to feed my workers. The first crops will go into the caverns in a month.” Smiling at Jack. “Please come see us once in a while, I am going to be much too busy to come to you even if I could.” Fingering her collar again. “Bye.” And she was off tapping and talking into her PDA. Softly singing to herself.
Jack still half in shock let the Lieutenant pilot the shuttle up through the Aircurtain and out of the hole in the ice and watched as two of the DD’s that had helped bring the habitat to the ice moon and then lower it into the hole, dropped a prefabricated landing pit down into the much widened mouth of the hole to cover the top. Once reinforcements and then water had been sprayed in around the edges to freeze the pit in place, the empty hole between the habitat and ship landing pit would have its walls insulated with a thin layer of spray on foam aerogel insulation then heated, allowing for cargo handling and work crews to work with only light gear on instead of the heavy environmental suits worn in most of the early tunnels. The Engineer Captain Lesley, learning and jumping at the air curtain and many other improvement the exslaves had stuffed into the Red Pepper for her to learn about to improve safety and production. Sometimes only hours before her crews did.
The other 4 DD’s were alr
eady attached to the Red Pepper as the shuttle approached the landing bay’s wide open hatch with work crews busy inside around the other shuttles that had arrived only a few minutes before. Paying little attention to the shuttle that drifted in through the air curtain to follow the flashing deck lights to its birth.
The Lieutenant finished shutting the shuttle down then turned to Jack with her PDA and ran it over his cheek looking like she could take his head off.
Jack looked at her funny. “What the hell is that all about?”
“She could have had poison on her lipstick when she kissed you. Do you really believe that crap she was spouting? She is still a murderer for Earth’s Congress. I swear her boobs change size every time I see them.” The lieutenant started to get out of the pilots seat.
“Why? You are jealous. Don’t be, yours are all natural, bigger and I love them.” Jack smiled slapping her butt as she turned it toward the front to squeeze back between the seats. “As for all that crap. I think she believes it whether it is Stockholm syndrome towards us or not. Though I wonder how much Pan’s fact scrambling and deprograming her mind had to do with it. We need the Captain’s abilities and training and if she is honest about staying and doing a good job then I see no reason not to let her. Countries have been letting the best minds of the enemy help them win wars as long as there have been wars.”
Stopping and turning around to face Jack. “But she killed people. She practically confessed and you said yourself that she is responsible for the deaths of those 4 transports and their crews.”
“Yes indirectly and in a perfect world I would charge her and execute her when a judge found her guilty. That is if we had enough evidence. But we are not in a perfect universe and she was technically following orders as a soldier and no matter how much I hate her or myself for what I have to do. As long as she truly has changed sides, I have to let her save as many of our sides lives as she can. And getting us that water, Oxygen and reaction mass will save a lot of lives with every shipment. We will just keep a close eye on her is all and pray.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 97
