“It has a pacifist computer?”
“No, the computer’s operating system is patterned on my grandfather’s brain waves,” Bannon admitted.
“Grandfather, not your father the Bane?”
“That’s right, his name was John Bannon and though he was elderly at the time of the Occupation he was a great sword master who had also been taken for their death games. By the time they took the ship he was already dying and they needed a brain wave download to create a control matrix for the ship. So they used his brain scan and no he wasn’t a pacifist! My grandfather was a fierce and dedicated warrior but was also a man of philosophy and peace.”
“Kind of a contradiction?” Daily said.
“It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war,” Bannon quoted and added, “My father said that my grandfather must have said that to him about a million times. Hell, my father probably said it to me about a million times.”
“So, they tucked this sentient death machine away somewhere safe in case they ever needed it again.” Mike said shaking his head.
“Yes, except the ship and the A.I. are shut down in a sort of a sleep mode.” Bannon said and continued, “It will take the prince and myself or another descendent of the original crew to activate her.”
The commander had kind of looked at Mike when he mentioned who could active the ship but Collins ignored it.
“Well, now we have two impossible missions,” Hutton said glumly.
“No, three,” Hope said and continued when everyone was looking at him. “Rescue the Black Prince, save or destroy the Star Tiger and find and retrieve the Black Star.”
“You heard the Captain,” Richards announced, “Let’s get to it!”
Once more they were dismissed to get to work to try and find a way to do the impossible.
As the officers got about their duties Mike escorted the NIA Commander out to the outer corridor and towards the lift.
“Sir, would you like to go to your quarters first?”
“No, just find me a place to work so we can get busy with this data dump. I'll need a terminal link so I can coordinate with my crew who are already processing the Karduan files. I will also create a series of questions to use on your captured enemy prisoners so we can determine what they know about the station without tipping them off,” Bannon instructed.
“Very good sir,” he said and waved his left arm out from his body and said “just this way.”
Bannon took that moment to grab Mike’s right wrist and tried to twist it into a submission lock. Collin’s knew the technique but was again surprised at the strength of the navy commander. Exerting his own strength, he reversed the move and quickly broke free.
Jake Bannon smiled and quickly stepped back raising his hands. Mike also moved back and again drew his pistol with a lighting fast draw.
“Sorry Lieutenant, I just wanted to see how strong you really were,” he said still smiling.
“Why and what’s so funny?” he demanded tempted to shock dart his smiling ass into submission.
“I bet you're also a Psi Void,” he said.
“And how did you know that?” Mike asked unsure what he should do with this senior officer.
“Because, I’m one too and I’m as strong and as fast as you are or haven’t you noticed?” he taunted.
“I’ve noticed but there are lots of types of augmentation in the universe. There is everything from battle drugs to bionics and even being hardwired,” Collins countered “Heck, you could be a Templar for all I know.”
“I told you, I know your family. Beside your father, I know your uncle and his family as well as your grandfather,” he said and added “I bet it was your father who told you to hide your speed and power.”
“What do you want?” Mike said just about having enough of this.
“You don’t even know what you are, do you?” he replied ignoring his question. “You're a descendent of a Kazad altered human just like me.”
“I don’t know my uncle or my grandfather or anyone on my father’s side of the family. Nor do I know what you are talking about,” Mike declared.
“Really?” Bannon said and added, “Then let me explain, your grandfather was with my father and our current Emperor when he was the prince. They all had been captured and sent to one of the slave planets of the Voroosh. He fought in the death games and was with them when they escaped, and when they stole the Black Star.”
“You’re mad!” he replied but the commander just kept talking.
“Your grandfather was genetically altered by the Kazad as was mine. They needed humans to be strong enough to be able to beat the Voroosh and yet who were immune to Karduan telepathy. That is why you are a Psi Void and why when you need to you can move at extreme speeds, and can call on incredible strength. Not to mention being hard as hell to kill!”
Collins just looked at him and shook his head. He quickly holstered his Krager as the door to the bridge opened and two crewmen entered the corridor. It was so fast the crewmen didn’t even notice that his weapon had been out.
The crewmen nodded to Mike who nodded back.
“You know I’m right,” Bannon whispered as the crewmen entered the lift.
“Even if you are that doesn’t change anything,” Mike declared “We have a job to do and not a lot of time to do it in.”
Jake Bannon stared at the stubborn young officer and nodded.
“You’re right and I will drop it for the moment,” he said meaning what he said. “Lieutenant, take me to a work station where I can tie into the Raven’s database.”
“Aye sir,” Mike replied still grim faced after their encounter but eager to get onto their new mission.
_______________________________________________________________
Commander Richards had the bright idea to clear the star system that still had the wrecked Karduan sentry ships. This was where the broken hulls of the sentry ships who had been guarding the bend to Blue Rock where left floating in space. Once they were pushed into decaying planetary orbits or towed back to Blue Rock he then replaced them with captured and operational Karduan ships with human and free Blue Confederation crews.
An enemy scout ship had arrived a few days later looking for their missing squadron. Instead of capturing or destroying the sloop they reported to them that the area was quiet and that they hadn’t seen any other Karduan ships. The scout ship went on its merry way looking for the Star Wolf as well as the missing Blue squadron that was suppose to be hunting the attack cruiser.
As the command staff worked on planning for this new mission the rest of their forces continued repair operations. Salvaged hull plating and armor was distributed for use. Turrets were replaced or upgraded and battle damage was repaired. Humans, Blues and droids were working in around the clock shifts. The repair ship Spider was busier than ever and most of the Confederation ships were now very glad to to see the small Karduan craft appear to aid them even with its mostly Karduan crew.
The Templars were now all-in to fight this war. They helped with repairs and as well as salvage operations. The Knight Commander even transferred twenty star-fighters to the Nathaniel Green. Lt. Collins was given permission to return to the escort carrier and welcome them to his command. He also wanted to check on his crew as well as pick up a few things that he had saved from the Randori.
Exiting the shuttle bay’s interior space lock he landed his craft on the flight deck where he saw from his shuttle’s cockpit that things had changed for the better since he had first taken command of the escort carrier.
The eight LN-28 Wasps and two KSF-18 star-fighters had now been joined by the Templar fighters. The knights’ fighters included four Confederation SF-18 Hornets star fighters, eight SF-37 Firestone strike fighters complete with anti-ship missiles and eight SB-41 Typhoon heavy star bombers equipped with short range torpedoes. Now the Green Machine had some bigger teeth.
Mike had to admit that the vertical storage racks for the fighters looked pack
ed and after counting them twice he confirmed that the Nathaniel Green now carried thirty fighters. It seemed that the smaller Wasps allowed for a little more room on the hanger deck. One problem existed for so many fighters was that they only had twelve fighter launch tubes and would have to launch in three flights. They could still decompress the entire deck which would allow faster launching but then they would be vulnerable to enemy attack to their open flight deck.
Leaving the shuttle, he conferred with the Flight Boss, CPO George Remly about the new fighters. He seemed happy to be finally getting a full complement of star fighters for his ship even if they had Templar pilots. It seemed the chief was a devout Anglican and had a few misgiving about the militant Catholic order.
Thanking the chief for all of his hard work he excused himself and crossed the flight deck to a Wasp star-fighter that had its canopy up. There was a pilot leaning inside of it from a service ladder while a repair droid handed him tools.
Closing on the pilot and craft, he saw that it was the Random flight leader for his Wasp star-fighters.
“Lt. Grinder!’ Mike called as he walked up to the fighter.
“Damn Robot, not the spanner! Give me the magnetic tuner!” he yelled clearly a little upset with the helpful repair robot.
“John!” Collins called out a little louder.
Avoiding banging his head on the canopy, the senior flight officer looked out and down to his skipper.
“What’s up, sir?”
“You're still the CAG,” he stated waiting for his reaction. It was an old title meaning Commander Air Group. The official and more modern abbreviation was CSG or Commander Star Group but traditions die hard and most pilots as well as star carrier staff still used CAG.
Grinder nodded in return without smiling.
“Sure no problem, just tell the Templars,” he remarked.
“Any problems?” Mike inquired.
“Not yet but it would be better if you straightened them out before there are,” he commented and went back to working on his star fighter.
Mike noted that the lieutenant now had ten blue Karduan fighter space victory symbols under his name and up by his cockpit’s rim. That made him a double ace and would speak volumes to the new pilots whoever they were.
He left the flight leader to his work and hurried to get to the bridge. He really didn’t know the ship like he should have but he followed his instincts and tried to remember the route that Ensign Binkley had taken him on. Passing through the corridor he saw former crewmen from the Randori, Star Wolf as well as Templars and even an original New Briton crewmember.
One thing was the same when he saw them, no matter if he knew them or not. They all greeted him – either with a smile, a quick hello sir or captain. Some just nodded but it seemed like they all knew him and were happy he was back, even the ones he had never seen before.
Turning a corner, he nearly ran into his friend and chief engineer - Lt. Cappillo.
“Make Way! Make Way!” the engineer was shouting to those in his team’s path.
The stocky Italian was leading a group guiding a grav sled full of parts down the narrow hallway.
“Mike!” Rufo exclaimed and left his men to continue their work.
He gripped friend’s hand happy to see him.
“You’re looking better than when they carried you out of here,” he said his smile a mile wide.
“And you smell better,” Collins returned in jest though his friend now had a clean uniform on and obviously had taken a shower since the last time he had seen him.
“Sorry, about the Randori,” the Italian said also never having lost ship.
Mike nodded, “I’m sorry about the people we lost and … Specialist Rojas.”
Rufo shrugged indicating that it wasn’t a topic he wanted to talk about.
They had both seen people killed in battle and had taken their fair share of lives. These were all things you kept to yourself. Veterans didn’t brag or share unless they were drunk, a fool or needed a helping hand. It was these forbidden topics that woke them up at night or kept them warm with shame and anger. It was something that was hard to explain that you didn’t explain.
“How’s the ship?” Mike asked changing the subject.
“The Green Machine is in pretty good shape. Most of the battle damage has been repaired and we are shifting repair crews about to help on other ships.”
“Good, get your kit together and get over to the Star Wolf,” he ordered.
“Do they need a hand with repairs?” Rufo inquired having heard that Chief Warrant Zimmerman had the attack cruiser all but battle ready.
“No, we need you to help with planning a mission,” he explained.
Cappillo nodded, “I’ll get Chief Fraser and Chief Bell to finish up here and will be ready in an hour.”
“Good, I’ll meet you at the shuttle,” Mike said and left his friend to finish his work as he continued to the bridge.
Two steps later he realized he should have asked him for directions or a download of the ship’s floor plans. Giving up he touched a wall mounted computer interface and comm. panel. He didn’t call the bridge but asked the computer for directions. The computer gave him the direction and offered to light the corridor’s floor lighting to guide him which he declined. He didn’t want to look like a total idiot after all he was the ship’s captain.
Two turns later took him to the central lift to the bridge. The lift was thankfully empty and he took it to the bridge level. It didn’t open onto the bridge but instead at the end of a corridor. To the left was a door to the captain’s mess and to the right was his day cabin. At the end of the hallway was the bridge. It reminded him a little of the entrance way to the Randori’s bridge but the Q-Ship didn’t have a captain’s mess.
Ignoring everything else he headed right for the bridge’s door. Passing the Captain’s mess, he noticed the sliding door open and he could see several crewmen milling about. The crewman coming out of the mess was an ensign who nodded to him and went to the lift not recognizing that he was the commanding officer of the ship. Mike didn’t recognize him either and guessed that he was a transfer from one of the 12th Defense Fleet’s ships.
Moving over to the mess’s door he stepped closer and activated its sensor. The door opened and he saw that the mess was small for a gallery but this was designed just for the captain’s use. Looking around he saw to his far right was a small kitchen area and that there was a long table in the center of the room. Four men were standing around a coffee dispenser set in the wall. Each had a coffee mug and were busy talking and failed to notice him enter the room.
“How’s the coffee?” he asked reaching for a mug from behind door of a clear plastic cabinet.
The four men stopped talking and turned to look at this new arrival. They were all dressed in Confederation duty uniforms with three of them looking pretty young. These young officers all bore the rank of lieutenant junior grade on their collars. The fourth man was older in his late thirties and bore the rank of lieutenant commander.
One thing Mike quickly noted was that they all had a red cross patch over their name patches on right side of their uniforms. The other was that they all had extension sword hanging from their belts.
The older man with the Lt. Cmdr. insignia looked at his face for a moment as he swallowed a sip of coffee and then quickly set his cup down.
“Group attention!” he ordered snapping to attention himself.
Mike glanced to the door and then realized that the senior officer meant the announcement for him.
“At ease,” Collins said looking at the Lt. Commander. “Sir, you rank me,”
“No sir, you are the commanding officer of this ship,” he countered. “I’m Sir Arron, Knight Captain of the Templars and senior flight officer for our fighter wings.”
“Lt. Collins,” Mike said offering him his hand and adding, “Glad to meet you.”
“Yes, we know and the honor is ours,” he countered and grasped Mike’s hand.
It was in that instant that he wondered and waited for the Templar to squeeze his hand. Strong people sometimes do this by accident. Sometimes it is on purpose to test your grip or to show dominance. His father made this into a game with strangers who thought they were strong or who were just assholes. He’d shake with a weak or average grip and when the smart ass would squeeze he’d simply squeeze back leaving them with a sore hand. Mike had seen him do it a few times and each time when he asked, his dad would shrug and say that the other guy was being funny.
For a second he thought the Knight Captain might be funny like that but the Templar released his hand without incident.
“Welcome aboard, I hope you and your men are getting settled in and finding everything that you need?” he asked looking from Sir Arron to the other three knights.
A chorus of “Yes sirs” and head nods followed.
“We’re just anxious to see some action,” one of the lieutenants said and added “We’ve been stuck out here for over a year.”
Sir Arron gave the young knight a look saying shut up which Mike did his best to ignore.
“Don’t worry, in my last six months of service Captain Hope has never failed to find us some action and usually more than most ships could handle.”
“Yes, we know,” another young officer said.
Mike made a face at that and looked to their senior knight.
“We’ve were given cry-crystal recordings of the Star Wolf and the Randori’s service. Everyone has seen recordings of your ships in battles and no one could say that they were anything but heroic and brilliant,” he explained with admiration.
Collins now understood, someone had baited the bored knights by showing them the war that they were missing.
“Don’t forget being lucky,” he said in jest but no one else seemed to get it.
“Luck is a factor that can’t be predicted or prepared for,” one of the young knights said.
Mike nodded thinking that this was something that sounded as if it was taught to all of the Templars as doctrine.
“True, its not one of the nine principles of war but it does play a part in every battle,” he commented “and one must be prepared to exploit it when it works in your favor or be able to react to the enemy’s good fortune.”
Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2) Page 39
