The Lieutenant turned and looked for a few seconds and smiled. “Well Admiral. This ship and the whole squadron was not doing too well with you laid up comatose and unsure if you were alive or brain dead. The word was around that a beam had hit the Flag Bridge puncturing your suit, that you may be brain dead from lack of oxygen. With what little is left of the Flag Bridge sticking out on the hull for everyone to see, it is easy to think that and hard to believe you survived. It looks like the word is starting to get around that you are up and moving again and they are celebrating.” You have hundreds of crewmen, possibly half the off duty crew lining the passageways around these quarters and the Flag Deck here in the core. More every day as ships send representatives over, waiting to see if you were going to pull through.”
Giving him another hard hug as Chump walked in the cabin behind her with a tray of unopened food packs still frozen on plates with silverware alongside each. A rapidly boiling cup of water on one corner of the tray spewing steam and scalding water over everything including the teabag and sweetener packets next to it.
“You are going to need to take a walk around the ship as soon as you get a bight to eat just to prove to the crew you are still alive. Besides I know you are going to need to visit every space we lost a crewman in to see what can be done to make sure it doesn’t happen again. So does the crew. Doing that now instead of 3 in the morning when you think no one will notice, will allow the crew to go ahead and start repairs that are waiting for your inspection. Inspite of orders to the contrary.” Taking a deep breath and hugging Jack again. The fact that he had taken the walks at 3 in the morning because he could not sleep had escaped her.
Chump sat the tray down on the side table and set two places with china plates, salad plates, soup bowls, finger bowls and bright silver wear, 2 forks, 2 spoons a steak knife and a butter knife all neatly and perfectly arranged with cloth napkins. Then plopped the frozen ration blocks on the big plates with a nutrition pill in the soup bowls. The rapidly boiling cups of water soaking everything around it including the tea bags and sweetener packs that had been cut open and dumped on the saucer next to each cup as the heated plates started melting the frozen food blocks. “Breakfast is served Admiral Turner.” Taking a step to the side and standing there strait as a board with one arm across his chest with a towel draped across his forearm. If a Bot could be prideful, Chump was the recruiting poster as he kept adding boiling water keeping the cups filled to the rim as water kept boiling out. Though with the show going on Jack was not interested in eating. Chump contacted the bridge. “The Admiral is watching the ships maneuvering around the Red Pepper and not eating his breakfast. Please tell the ships circling the Red Dwarf that they need to stop distracting the Admiral.”
The word quickly spread through the fleet and the ships and boats and they all did just the opposite.
Jack stood in his hospital gown, his naked butt hanging out the back looking out the port at the Space Show that included hundreds of icons from ships stretching out hundreds of miles away hidden in the cloud. Still not quite believing that the Republic Fleet had not suffered total defeat. Wishing he was back on the Flag Bridge so he could see and count the number of ships stretched out around him without the need for the tactical sensors. Until he saw the ships himself, he would not totally believe they were still alive.
“Admiral, Lieutenant. Lunch is served.” Chump said just in case they had not noticed.
“Thank you Chump.” The Lieutenant smiled at Jack without even glancing at the table as she squeezed him as hard as she could. “Enjoy the show and the honors Jack. It’s all for you.”
The show kept growing as more and more ships arrived from the spread out fleet trying to make at least one close pass of the Red Pepper. One pass turned into two, then three as more ships joined the close escort. As word spread, the DD’s on patrol raced back or delayed leaving while more and more of the outlying Captured Battleships drifted in trying to see for themselves. Fighters and bombers and boats were launched as well making Space around the Red Pepper even more crowded. Hundreds of ships and thousands of fighter and bombers all firing their guns, joined the dance as Jack watched.
Tears streamed down Jack’s eyes as he stood ridged watching the show and cataloguing the damage on every ship as it passed, every laser gouge or blast hole and missing turret on their hulls, every gun that fired and those that didn’t as well as the color of the beams. For an hour his legs grew tired and his back sour with aching muscles but he continued to stand as he studied every ship, fighter, bomber, transport and boat that passed the Red Pepper close enough to see. He could not believe the hundreds of DD’s streaming past the screen. His smile and confidence growing with each ship that joined the show.
The Tea cups splashing scalding drops of water continued to soak the thawing breakfast, colored water slowly running across the table and dripping down onto the deck from the tea bags and soggy sweetener packs. The proud Chump standing strait as a statue until he finally looked down at the growing mess after refilling the tea cups yet again. “Breakfast is very messy.”
The END of Book 2.
Book 3 will be out soon.
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 129
