by R J Murray
“Please do.”
The meeting lasted far into the night and ended only when the humans required sleep.
~~~~~~
“Good morning Eric. May I speak with you frankly?” Asi asked.
“Good morning and yes you may. Let me get my coffee and sit down first.”
“Of course.”
Eric grabbed his cup and rinsed it before pouring it full to the edge of the lip. He sipped it as he walked to his desk, dribbling a little down his chin.
“Hot. Okay, ready.”
“You need a staff. I have observed your actions for many years now and have realized that you tend to work alone. You then blame yourself when you cannot think of every detail. A staff would make you more efficient and they are supposed to help you keep the details clear. I recommend an aide as well.” Asi suggested.
“A staff? I never had a staff. Not sure that would work.” Eric answered weakly.
“You never had a five kilometer starship before either. I did not see you turning it down.”
“I suppose you have suggestions as to whom as well.” Eric mumbled.
“I do. The list is on screen. I have taken the liberty of making their orders ready. Shall I send them?”
Eric looked at the list of names and the short bios with them. “You do this for the other Captains?”
“Yes. Their staff is smaller as they are not Fleet Admiral.”
“I am not a Fleet Admiral either.” Eric said.
“You are in fact the commander of this fleet and this empire. I have recommended a Captain to take command of your Flagship, the Dorn Tehage. All other Captains have agreed to this and to their staff choices. May I have your decision please?”
“Never should have given you permission to ask questions.”
“But you have and the cat is out of the bag.”
“What? You have been talking with Horace, haven’t you?” Eric procrastinated.
“Yes. May I send the orders out Admiral?”
“Yes.” Eric sighed. He was never going to have any fun again.
Chapter 20 Admiral
“Admiral on the bridge!”
Eric grimaced as someone blew a sharp whistle on the com, pretending to be a bo’sun. “Maybe they weren’t pretending. They had an Academy, a fleet and an Admiral now, so maybe they were going professional on me.” He thought.
“Captain O’Keeffe.”
“Welcome aboard Admiral. Thank you for the recommendation. May I introduce my bridge crew? I realize you know some of them but we do have a few new members.” Phyllis asked.
“Please do.”
“My number one, Commander Steve Rimouski. Weapons First Lieutenant Charles Demir. Our navigator First Lieutenant Julie Shibata. . . .”
At each name Eric stepped up, shook their hands and said a few kind words. He added a few more for Chuck. When it was over he realized he was supposed to say something.
“I am glad to meet each of you. I do know several, those who served under my command, and I know what they are capable of doing when it gets hairy out there. Some of you may not have seen combat yet, but rest assured, you will. Follow your orders intelligently, not blindly. Stay alert even when you are bored. Protect your ship, your crew and your planet with everything you have. Our enemy is a vicious beast who looks for food after a battle. That would be us, if we lose. Should they reach Acadia it would be every man, woman and child on the planet. You have been well trained and serve on the finest ship in this fleet or any other. Your Captain and first officer have seen battle and emerged victorious. You could do worse than to follow them. That’s all. I hate speeches.”
“Perhaps you would care to see your quarters Sir?” Phyllis suggested.
Eric lowered his voice and leaned in toward Phyllis. “Actually, I have seen them and they are very nice. Right now, I would like to make you incredibly nervous by watching you get underway.”
Phyllis grinned. “Do your worst Sir. Your former first Officer told us all about you at the academy.”
“Good. There should be few surprises on your part at least. Ignore me for now. I get bored I can always go down to the galley and bother the cooks for an egg sandwich.”
“Number one, take us out.”
“Yes Sir. Lay in the course for our first stop, the Tokay system. Go to FTL after we clear safe distance from the base.”
“Yes Sir.”
Eric relaxed against the rear bulkhead and watched the young people go through their paces. He didn’t feel old, yet he knew these people thought of him as the senior warrior. At forty, he was not ready to roll over and die yet, but it was nice to see the next generation in place and ready to take over. The familiar feel of FTL crept into his bones and he grinned. He still liked that feeling.
~~~~~~
“Listening posts and autonomous probes have been placed in seventeen systems by the Second team thus far. First team has place them in fifteen systems. Traffic is being monitored and intelligence is being gathered in all systems. Do you wish to see a list of systems and placement of probes Sir?” Lieutenant JG Marvin Eneko paused. As aide to the admiral, he hated the morning briefing for a number of reasons. The rest of the staff were present and several made faces at him while he was trying to be serious and professional. He never knew how the Admiral took these sessions, if he approved of his work or if he knew about the faces the others made and just let them.
“Not now. I will look them over later today. We have any new ships ready?” Eric asked.
“Three will launch within the month. Total numbers are five jumbos, ten mediums currently in service. The three jumbos will make eight in service. We have a total of thirty base stations now in our hands and in use. I have the fleet disposition available Sir and the Academy graduations.”
“Fleet dispositions haven’t changed since yesterday, have they?”
“No Sir.”
“Fine then. I will look over the Academy material after breakfast. Just leave it on my desk. Anything else from the rest of you?”
“No Sir.”
“Fine again. Everybody out and get some breakfast if you haven’t already. Eneko, please remain for a moment.”
“Yes Sir.”
The others, all six of them filed out while Eneko tried to figure out what he had done now.
“Relax. Take a deep breath. Nothing bad. I just wanted to tell you that in spite of the lack of excitement in the reports, you do a fine job of straining it all down to the fine points. That is the purpose of this morning report stuff, just to hit the high points. Details, I look over during the day as they occur so don’t worry about how you’re doing. Do you want me to say something to the others about trying to make you laugh during the reports?” Eric asked.
Eneko looked startled.
“Yes, I know they make faces at you among other things. Probably because you look so uptight all the time. Relax. Breath. Enjoy. Life is too short to be so nervous all the time. That’s really all I wanted to tell you. You are doing fine. Just learn to relax a little.”
“Yes Sir. Thank you.”
No problem. Now get out and get some bacon before they eat it all.”
“uh . . my people don’t eat bacon Sir.”
“It wasn’t an order, just a suggestion. You eat beef?”
“Yes Sir.”
“So go eat eggs and steak. Or whatever. Just go and relax.”
“Yes Sir.”
Eneko left and Eric sighed. “Was I ever that uptight?”
“No, you were not. Quite the opposite. I often wondered if you would remember to turn on the oxygen in your suit.” Betty said. “Hu-mor!”
“Any messages?”
“One. Playing.”
“Hey! Are you coming back to Acadia anytime in the near future? I know you are a vaunted space traveler and Admiral but eventually you should try walking on dirt. Besides, I miss you when you’re gone too long. Call me. Bye.” Martha’s image faded from the screen and Eric sighed again.
His
work and Martha’s always seemed to keep them going in opposite directions. He missed her too, but the ship had another month before they headed for home. He sat and composed a message, taking almost an hour before he was satisfied with the words.
~~~~~~
“Probes away. How many times have I said that this trip?” Steve asked.
“More than I want to count. I sure hope we are getting some kind of picture of what is out there with all this.” Phyllis said.
“FTL signature! Catroph ships other side of the system. Eight ships so far. I think they are heading for the second planet. Anqurashi is on the short range com.”
“You see them?” Amos asked. “I have five signatures bearing three seven five equatorial. They do not see me yet. They seem to be heading for the second planet.”
“We counted eight. One six three equatorial.” Phyllis answered.
“Two groups. Thirteen ships all headed for the second planet. Interesting.” Amos responded.
Eric waited in the back of the bridge sipping his morning coffee. The Catroph ships would be trouble if they spotted the two Empire ships. So far, it was up to the Captains so he waited.
“Five more. This is going to be close. Wait.” Amos almost whispered.
“They went dark Ma’am. Those last ships must be almost on top of him.”
“Eighteen Catroph ships. Call the Admiral.” Phyllis said.
“I’m here. Just finishing my coffee before it gets too exciting.” Eric walked up to her chair and took a look at the readouts. He took a sip of coffee before speaking. “Nice. Amos is close enough to reach out and tickle them. Do nothing yet, I would say. Maybe go to stand by on any weapons that do not leave an electronic signature. Otherwise just relax and let them pass.”
“Hard to do Sir.” Phyllis said quietly.
Eric nodded and kept chatting to relax the crew. “I like bacon crispy yet with some of the fat still slightly chewy. The eggs should be flipped but the yolk must be fluid and the white cooked. Not an easy thing to do. I always thought you were a great cook because the bacon always came out right.” Eric said.
“She does make good bacon. At the Academy we looked forward to her turn in the mess.” Steve said. “Her biscuits need a little work.”
“True. My mother made horrible biscuits and I learned from her. More like rocks, my Dad always said.”
“I always liked trying new foods, once we got here. I even tried natto once. Nastiest stuff I ever put in my mouth.” Eric grinned. “But I really like smelly cheese. Limburger is great stuff.”
“Good Lord. You eat that? Natto is Okay, but not as a regular thing. Limburger? How do you get past the smell?” Steve asked.
“Dark beer helps. You need to eat powerful foods with powerful cheeses.” Eric said. “You have good whole grain breads on Acadia that do well with dark beer. Very thinly sliced onions are good with limburger too.”
“Like a sandwich?” Chuck asked, his eyes on his scope.
“Yes, like a sandwich.”
“May I tell a tale on you Admiral?” Chuck asked.
“Should I step outside?”
“No Sir. Might be hard on your lungs.”
“Go ahead.”
“We were aboard the Pathfinder, the first time we saw a base station. We were close and the Ryu had already been fired on. No weapons back then, just us folks. He orders a course change and at the same moment we had a launch, two seconds away, a nuke headed straight for us. This person, our Captain, pushes the com and says yellow alert, brace for impact. He says it just like that, as if he is talking about cheese and beer.
“The missile hits us and crumples. It is just so old it falls apart. Do you know what he says?”
“No. But I think I can guess the tone.” Phyllis said.
“He says, gee that was anticlimactic. Mr. Reed, we seem to be on the same course.”
“No! What did Reed say?” Steve asked.
“Sorry Sir. I was momentarily distracted.”
The bridge crew laughed for several minutes and then started a light chatter normal on ships.
Phyllis leaned in and asked. “Is that true?”
Eric nodded. “Mr. Reed was always very cool and collected.”
“Mr. Reed was. I see.”
“They missed us. Not sure I see how it was possible but they did.” Amos’ voice came over the com. “They went right by us less than a thousand kilometers away and never even looked in our direction. It is almost like they don’t know what they’re doing.”
Eric stood up straight, a puzzled look on his face. “What if they don’t?”
“Sir? They don’t know what they’re doing?”
“It has been over two thousand years since the war was active here. It moved on out the arm of the galaxy and left these Catroph behind. The damaged, the injured, the broken ships and useless crews. I am pretty sure the Catroph do not help each other, not like we do. Three ran and left ships to die. I should have seen this too. It is so obvious!” Eric berated himself.
“Three ran? Sir, who ran?” Steve asked.
“When we first found the Astangii, we tracked back to the fight. Three Catroph ships ran, leaving the cripples behind to die. Two of the three were tracked down and destroyed but the last one made it to the base station where we found them later. The Catroph abandon the weak and move on. That is what we are facing here, in this sector, those the main force abandoned. They do not know what they are doing, they are the remnants of those who were too weak or damaged or just too stupid to keep up. That was at least two thousand years ago and since then these remnants have had no enemy to fight except possibly each other. They just roamed around, eating their cattle and forgetting how to wage war in space. There are probably groups marooned on planets where their ships finally broke down and they couldn’t fix them. We are fighting a bunch of amateurs, like we were when we first arrived. That’s why they seemed so formidable, because we didn’t have clue what we were doing either. As we moved further out on the arm, the Catroph we faced became stronger so, logically as we moved back down the arm we find them weaker and less well trained.”
Eric was pacing now and the eyes of the crew were following.
“So, what do we know for sure. We are stronger and better equipped. When we fought those eight ships before, they never moved out of the way of the first volley of missiles or tried to shoot them down. The second volley they started shooting but at the wrong stuff. The third volley, when we arrived at the Dalt’s position was on the way and they just began to react. We jumped between two and they just sat there and let us blow them away with rail guns. We jumped again, timed with the nukes Hobbs had launched and took out two more while the nukes took the third. The last ship just waited there. No move to escape, no running just waited and we obliged them with a full volley of everything we had. We could have pulled up to them and clubbed them to death probably.”
Eric paced a bit longer before he turned to Phyllis. “We have two Planet Killers aboard and six Hell Bombs, yes?”
“Yes Sir. Amos has the same.”
“Condition red, full attack. All weapons on line if you please Captain. Inform the Anqurashi of our plans and move to the second planet. Prep probes and be prepared for a planetary assault.”
“Yes Sir.”
The ships moved together through space, making micro jumps and scanning the planet ahead. Probes were launched at intervals.
“No activity. No ships in space, one base station in standard equatorial orbit. Moon in a three hundred thousand kilometer orbit. No activity.”
“When in range send a delta probe into that base and blow it up please Captain.” Eric asked.
“Ships on the surface of the planet. City located, space port located. Catroph identified on surface. Probe over city and scanning. Weapons fire at probe. Lousy shots too. On plotter.”
The planet was represented by a yellow flattened arc, the city and spaceport red dots on the surface.
“Orders Sir?” Phyllis ask
ed.
“Put the target on screen please. Nukes only at this point. How many torpedoes do we have aboard?” Eric asked.
“Thirty Sir.”
“Not enough. I was thinking of leaving enough behind for us to learn something. Thirty won’t take out the ships and the city though. What are your thoughts Captain’s?”
“War of extermination Sir. Them or us.” Amos answered. “Not sure they asked what to do with the Oristal Sir.”
“Are all ships on the ground? How many did we count?”
“We counted eighteen. We have twenty seven on the ground. Some are leaning over. Not all can fly.” Steve said.
Eric looked at the city, alien and bizarre. It was a mud village compared to Earth cities yet there were over a hundred thousand living beings there waiting for him to kill them. “One forty megaton nuke on the landing field and scan for results. You may fire when ready.”
“Yes Sir.” She nodded.
“Nuke away. Five seconds. Impact. On target. City burning and ships on pads blowing up.”
“Is there any other signs of cities or towns on the planet or moons?” Eric asked.
“Small settlement north toward the river Sir. On plotter. On screen.”
“It’s even more pathetic.” Phyllis said quietly.
“Remember those screams on the ship. Those were humans that these people or others of their race killed without thought.” Eric said.
“We are not them Sir.”
“No, we are not. Notify Acadia we are remaining on station to observe the planet and system for a time longer. We have destroyed one city and killed however many there were. Add the numbers of dead and ships killed to the message. Add also we have left a small mud hut settlement on a river for observation. Population five hundred. Launch additional probes around the planet. If anything bigger than a fly takes off, shoot it down. Keep scanning the rest of the system for more arrivals. If Catroph ships arrive, kill them.”
~~~~~~
There was a knock on the door to Eric’s ready room. “Enter.”
Phyllis came in and saluted. “Final report Admiral. We scanned the planet heavily and found something interesting. There were none of the beaked Catroph on the planet, unless they were vaporized by the blast. We found three ships on the moon base in bad need of basic maintenance. No nanobots were found on the base or planet.”
