The senior officers around the table were all smiling at him. Captain Hope and Captain Kirkland were seated at the end of the table. On the right side of the table were seated Commanders Richards, Stout and Hutton. On the other side were Commanders Hildebrandt, Martha Kirkland and Doc Beilor.
Dr. Edie Beilor was the only one not smiling expecting her patient to still be in sickbay not running around in a mad rush.
“Damn it Mike, you shouldn’t be out of the medical center or your bed!” she scolded.
Edie was a retired navy physician and a full commander who had joined their mad quest to steal the Star Wolf. She was now their squadron’s chief medical officer and Mike’s unofficial grandmother and she didn’t like her patients being out of bed.
Captain Hope raised a hand cutting off any further protests or reprimands.
“He’s up and about on my orders,” the commanding officer said as he touched a panel on the desk and deactivated the holo map.
“Sir, he needs to be in bed,” she countered, her lips pursing in displeasure.
“If this was peacetime I would agree with you,” Hope said and continued, “but beings this is war and after reading your fitness report on him I believe he is able to serve.”
“Under my protest,” she added unwilling to just give in.
“Noted,” the Hawk replied.
Captain Kirkland cleared his throat at that moment.
“Perhaps a ten-minute break would be in order,” he said with a smile.
The other officers quickly agreed and the room cleared out leaving an anxious young lieutenant and his former headmaster alone.
“So Mr. Collins, what did you think of our express freighter?” he asked looking down absently at some notes on his palm pad.
Mike had been standing there waiting and finally let it all out.
“She’s a damn Q-ship!” he said and then quickly added a “Sir” at the end.
The old warrior slowly looked up and smiled.
“I’m sure you’ve found that she has much more firepower than those old Queen’s ships from World War I and World War II.”
The Harpers Academy graduate smiled in return having learned his lessons well.
A Q-ship or a Queen’s ship was nothing more than a merchant ship that had hidden armaments. They were used to lure German U-boats to the surface appearing as an east targets and then ambush them. Unfortunately, their effectiveness was very limited due to their inadequate weaponry. Later in history, their use against modern pirates proved much more successful.
“Sir, she seems to have as much firepower as a light cruiser,” he exclaimed.
“Perhaps a bit more,” the old veteran remarked.
Mike nodded, “With her new armaments, reinforced superstructure along with her powerful engines she’ll give the enemy quite a surprise.”
“Yes, that’s the plan but a ruse is only good if you can surprise the enemy. So don’t think you can just slug it out with an enemy destroyer or two.”
“Ruse de Guerre” Collins said remembering his lessons.
The old teacher smiled in pride, “A trick of war.”
At that moment Captain Kirkland returned to the conference room.
“Well, what did he say?”
Hope look a little surprised, realizing that he hadn’t gotten an answer from the young officer.
“So, Mr. Collins, do you want to command the Chaos for this upcoming operation?”
“Yes sir, that is on one condition,” Mike said with a mischievous smile.
“Condition?” Kirkland repeated, moving over to stand next to Hope’s chair.
The Hawk lifted an eyebrow and frowned a little, “Do tell, what condition would you like?”
“I want to change the Chaos’ name,” Mike replied having given it some thought ever since they first captured her.
“What do you want to call her?” asked Captain Kirkland.
“I want to name her the Randori,” he stated smiling in his conviction.
Hope looked up to Kirkland who shrugged in indifference.
“As a student of naval history, I have to admit I’m unfamiliar with that name,” the senior captain said leaning back in his chair.
“It not a ship name that I know of. It is a term used in martial arts,” Mike informed and continued, “It is a technique used to take an enemy’s attack or energy and turn it against them.
“So what does it mean exactly?” Kirkland asked.
“It means, Seizing Chaos,” the young warrior replied with a broad smile.
Hope simply nodded, “I think that name will do just fine.”
Chapter Two
The new captain of the Randori walked through the Queen Mary of Scots’ halls to the quarters he shared with his love. His lady, one Dr. Lt. Angelique Duarte, should still be on duty at the medical center he thought. She wasn’t going to be happy with him escaping the medical center and probably would be even madder that he took this dangerous new command.
Reaching his stateroom, he saw that the door was open and Angelique was standing in the doorway talking to a brown haired officer whose back was toward him.
Walking up behind them he could hear the tail end of the conversation.
“I’m glad for you Lieutenant,” Her French accented voice sounded musical as she spoke.
“Thanks and could you tell Lt. Collins that I dropped by to see him and about my request?” the officer replied.
Angelique smiled a most beautiful smile.
“But of course,” she said.
“Tell me what?” Mike said, coming up behind him and smiling at Angelique.
The officer turned and he could now see that he was in his late twenties early thirties with a long narrow face and small brown eyes. It was face Mike recognized and not in the most favorable light. Instinctively he took a step back giving him fighting distance in case he had to defend himself.
“Lt. Thornton!” he said in surprise.
The last time Mike had seen the young officer was on the Mammoth just after he and a Wolf boarding party had liberated the ship from Karduan hands. The helm officer was the ranking surviving officer from his ship. The Karduan lady captain had dissected the Mammoth’s senior officers for resisting her will. The Blues, as the Karduan were called, due to their slight blue pale skin, were once servants of Voroosh. These reptile hominoids had shared with them their love of death games and their passion for the patar. The patar was a made of composite clays thought some were made of Kazad white tritanium. It was a long straight needle like sword that was used to settle personal arguments among the upper Karduan caste, and usually resulted in blood or even death.
When Mike and Wolf team took the Mammoth’s bridge Lt. Thornton had a sort of a mental breakdown trying to pull rank and order him to make for Confederation lines. This of course would have been suicide as the enemy had numerous ships covering the various bender routes and the lightly armed repair ship would have stood no chance at all of making it.
Lt. Collins was about to pull his men off the Mammoth and take his chances on the damaged Alamo when Lt. Duarte arrived on the bridge. She had pointed out that she was the ranking officer and that she was turning command over to Mike. It was at that point that Thornton had refused her orders and called her a French whore. Mike took that moment to shoot him in the mouth with a shock dart rendering him a quivering mass of jelly on the deck of the recovery ship’s bridge.
Since that unfortunate incident Mr. Thornton had been under medical treatment for anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Lt. Collins,” he said in surprise with a quick if seemingly forced smile.
“What are you doing here?” Mike said letting a little of his Irish anger slip into his words.
Angelique moved smoothly from the doorway to his side and slipped her right arm through his left.
Collins’ first thought was that this would interfere with him if he had to block and counter. A second later he realized that she was trying to deescalate
the confrontation.
“Mike, the Lieutenant here has just been restored to full duties,” she explained sounding happy as she spoke.
“Yes, and I just wanted to apologize to you and the good doctor for what happened on the Mammoth,” he said quickly letting it all out in one long breath.
“That’s ok, it was a horrible situation. You and your crew were under an incredible amount of stress,” Mike said believing that many people might have had a breakdown from the treatment they faced. There was no shame in needing help. Veterans for centuries have had to deal with such pressure, sometimes all alone.
Thornton looked relieved, “Thanks, could I buy Dr. Duarte and you both dinner tonight?”
“No thanks, I think we are eating in tonight,” Mike replied as Angelique squeezed his arm.
The lieutenant looked down a little dejected, “No problem, I understand it was all a little last minute.”
Turning away he walked a few steps down the hall before Angelique called him back.
“Actually, we’d love to go to dinner with you,” she said with a smile.
“That’s great!” Thornton exclaimed with a grin as he turned back.
This time it was Mike who squeezed her arm but she just squeezed back and pulled him along as she moved up to the waiting lieutenant and the three of them then strolled down the hallway.
They had made their way to the Tudor deck and went to Club Henry Eighth. It was a restaurant with an adjoining nightclub. At this hour it was still a little early for dancing but the restaurant was fairly busy. When the star liner’s staff ran the restaurant it was easily a five-star establishment. The civilians who had either escaped to here from Austro Prime or had been rescued from the Blues were now running all of the ship’s restaurants. It wasn’t five star but they still provided a good meal.
The trio of officers had a nice meal along with a decent bottle of red wine. Their conversation was mostly limited to the food, life on the star liner and family. Everyone seemed to be avoiding any deeper or more personal topics. Near the end of the meal Thornton excused himself to use the rest room. Once he was gone the topics quickly changed.
“Why did we accept his invitation to dinner?” Mike demanded wishing they could have avoided the whole thing.
Angelique shook her head and took his hand in hers.
“It is part of his healing process; to make apologies to the people he may have caused harm to,” she explained and continued, “and that includes for us to accept his contrition.”
He nodded as he thought of the sense she was making. His beautiful French dove smiled as he nodded and she squeezed his hand in return. Looking into her deep brown eyes he leaned close to her and kissed her softly on her lips.
“I hope I’m not interrupting?” Thornton asked with smile as he returned to his seat at the table.
Breaking their kiss, Mike forced a smile. “Not at all.”
“Excuse me, I need to freshen up,” Angelique said standing up from the table and leaving for the ladies’ room.
For several moments the two officers sat in silence.
“Well…” Collins started.
“Mike, I do have something else to speak to you about,” the former helmsman interjected looking rather nervous.
“Go ahead, what can I do for you?”
“I’ve been reinstated to full duties again,” Thornton started.
Mike smiled at his good news.
“That’s great! Where have you been assigned?”
Thornton paused for a moment.
“Well, you see that’s my problem. They’ve given me the choice of being a helmsman here on the Mary, or I can return to the Mammoth as third officer.”
Lt. Collins nodded his head gently and brought his hand up and rubbed his chin understanding the other officer’s dilemma. If Thornton returned to the Mammoth he’d return to the crew that knew of his breakdown and would be right back in the environment where he had it. Both the Mary and the Mammoth were ships unlikely to leave the Wolf’s Den. They were rear echelon ships and would prove to be an easy assignment for a pilot, though a boring one.
“Both ships need a good pilot and it would be pretty light duty,” Mike commented trying to subtlety point out some good points.
“That’s my problem, I don’t want an easy job or to be on a ship that I’d pretty much would be doing nothing more than stations keeping operations,” he revealed sounding a little angry.
Mike understood the man’s frustration but maybe command wanted to ease the helmsman back into duty.
“So why tell me?”
Thornton looked down at the table, then slowly raised his gaze upward and met Collins’ blue eyes.
“I heard that you’ve been offered the command of that merchant pirate ship - the Chaos,” he said as a little excitement slipped into his voice.
“That’s true, I’ve just accepted the command,” Mike answered.
“Well, I was hoping you could use a helmsman,” he said holding his breath for a moment before adding, “I’ve been checked out on her controls.”
“I believe she has a full crew compliment,” he revealed as he thought over this his first decision as a ship captain.
Thornton frowned and shook his head as he let out a sigh.
“Thanks, it was worth a shot,” he said sounding a little let down.
Seeing the man’s disappointment Mike had an idea.
“I might be able to submit your name to join the prize crews we will be taking along.”
Thornton’s eyes squinted at him questioningly, “Prize crews?”
“Yes, this is going to be a deep space operation but we still plan to take all the enemy ships that we can,” he revealed.
“I’m not qualified on Karduan ship’s systems yet,” the pilot admitted.
“I’ll see what I can do but realize if this works out you might be under my command,” Mike pointed out.
“Don’t worry, I’ll follow your orders faithfully,” Thornton said with a big grin.
Mike held out his hand, “No promises.”
“Understood,” he said with a serious nod then smiled and added “and you can call me John.”
At that moment Angelique returned to the table.
“So what’s for desert?”
Hand and hand they walked back to their quarter’s stopping in front of their door for a moment. Mike leaned forward as Angelique turned her head waiting for his kiss. As their lips touched the young lieutenant didn’t feel her hand move up to his ear.
“Ouch!” he said breaking their embrace as she squeezed his earlobe in a hard pinch.
“What was that for?” he asked rubbing his earlobe between his thumb and his finger.
Her beautiful face scowled at him as he wondered how long she had been simmering in anger.
“YOU snuck out of the hospital!” she said sounding angry but with her French accent she just made him smile.
Upon seeing his grin, she punched him hard for which he turned and took on his shoulder.
“Is that any way to treat your patient?” he accused feigning injury.
The slender physician let loose with a stream of French swear words so fast that he couldn’t even make them out. When she stopped cursing he held his arms open inviting her to come into them. She pouted for a moment and then stepped into his embrace.
“I was worried about you,” she admitted.
“I’m sorry, I was called away by Captain Hope,” he explained.
She leaned back and looked at his face, “He is not your doctor!”
“No, but I’m back on full duty,” Mike revealed waiting for another bout of bad language.
“You are not ready,” she said putting her head against his chest.
Scooping her up in his arms, he ordered the door to open.
“I guess, I’ll just have to show you that I’m both fit and able,” the young officer said carrying her into their quarters and back to their bedroom.
Over the next few days he fou
nd his new command was shaping up as prize crews, supplies and armaments were transferred to the task force’s few ships. After thinking it over Captain Hope agreed with his staff’s suggestion to take a Karduan Vanguard sloop with him. The small ship would act as a scout ship being fast and of enemy design. The IPS Cody was added to their group making them a squadron of just four ships. The IPS Randori was to act as bait, the repair ship IPS Spider would ride along with the ISS Star Wolf and the IPS Cody would round out their squadron.
What surprised many people was who the senior captain had chosen to command the fast sloop. He had picked Commander Alfred Hutton, though Mike wasn’t all that surprised by his choice. The commander was for most of his career a navy commando. He had left active service due to his wife’s ill health and had taken a posting at Harpers Academy as the resident weapons instructor and Master of the Sword. Hutton had joined them on the very night of their escape.
Since then, he like many officers and midshipmen had to leave their comfort zone and gain new skills. He had served as the Star Wolf’s second officer and had been trained as a bridge command officer. He had even commanded several capture prize ships as well as being the command pilot for their fighter wing and had even led the Werewolf commandos during the Battle of Austro Prime.
He was a perfect choice to command the Cody for several reasons. The first being, that he was a commando. The Vanguard sloop would have to operate ahead of the Star Wolf and would often be on its own. To do that you would have to think like a special force operator, using guile and deception instead of force.
Another reason was that he was trained and trusted by Captain Hope. The senior fleet captain didn’t need officers second-guessing his orders especially when it was crunch time. It was probably the same reason why Mike was given the command of the Randori. What they were planning to do was risky to begin with and the last thing you wanted was an unknown factor or untried officer messing it up.
Mike immediately joined his ship and started joint training sessions. Luckily, many members of his crew were either from the Star Wolf or were Harpers Academy alumni. He did have some new personnel that were unknown to him as well as the prize crews that were stationed onboard. The halls and all of the rooms were packed, and everyone was sleeping double hot racking their bunks. That meant when one person was done sleeping another person would take his place on the already warm bunk.
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 5
