by Chris Hechtl
“I'm dead serious about this. I focused on parts you three still don't have the authorization to make. It's the best I can do. You can put the pieces together or stockpile them in Pyrax.”
“Thank you sir.”
“On another subject, do you two have any issues to my leaving Captain Logan in charge of Pyrax?” he asked. “You two will be senior now,” he said. Shelby stiffened, bristling at any implied insult to her father.
“No sir,” Firefly said. “I'm after all, a ship AI. I prefer that.”
“No,” Captain Mayweather said slowly. All eyes turned to her. “I'm a ship's Captain,” Renee said carefully. “I do admit, we've helped him where we can. He's not a born officer sir; he's struggling to deal with it all. I think his stubbornness has helped a lot. But he does have his blind spots,” she said, ignoring Shelby.
“So do we all. I've screwed up. Rather spectacularly at times,” the Admiral admitted. “Captain Logan is more interested in running the day to day engineering efforts than in managing the entire system. He is a yard dog at heart sir,” Firefly reported.
The Admiral smiled. “He's not the only one,” he said softly.
“True,” Shelby replied. She raised her hands. “And dad will admit, he's a techy at heart. He hates being chained to a desk. He loves playing hooky, going out to see the ships or get his hands dirty.”
“Me too,” Irons said softly. He felt a pang at not being with Horatio.
Mayweather wasn't quite ready to be pried from the Captain's chair, but she admitted that she and Firefly have been helping to run things. Apparently, Vargess was also helping. The troika and senior staff seemed to be working... most of the time.
Ambivalent, Irons let it ride for now without trying to resolve the issue. Right now, it was working for them without a clearer chain of command.
“Has Nata'roka settled in? I sent her an e-mail apologizing for not checking in with her,” the Admiral said.
“She's fine Admiral. Sleeping now. She is very grateful for the much larger tank,” Doctor Standish reported. He had dark circles under his eyes, he was still getting little sleep with all the wounded on board.
“Very well,” Irons rose. The others rose with him. “It's been an honor ladies and gentlemen, I hope to see you all again sometime in the future. But let's leave the last minute dashing rescue out this time,” he said dryly. He shook hands with each of them.
“Unless we need it,” Sprite interjected. That got a laugh.
“Good sailing folks,” Irons said. The compartment came to attention and saluted. He returned the salute.
<----*----*----*---->
At the appointed hour the Admiral nodded to Miss Nobeki. She returned the nod.
“Firefly group moving out sir,” Lobsterman said. The voice was childish, not quite an adult. Maine's AI had chosen a male personality and the name Lobsterman. He wore a yellow rain suit over his skinsuit. He had a baby face and the rank of acting Ensign.
“Send them a salute Mr. Lobsterman,” Irons replied with a curt nod.
“Aye aye sir,” the AI said, sounding chipper. Irons smiled softly, he knew the AI was enjoying each opportunity to act as an adult for the first time. Sprite rolled her eyes. She knew that the new would get old and routine soon enough. Not that she was going to ruin his wonder. In some ways she enjoyed his childhood, it reminded her of her own.
The Admiral and bridge crew watched as Firefly escorted one of the captured corvettes, the gravely wounded frigate, six freighters turned colliers and transports, the most wounded destroyer Xavier, female alien Ssilli, and the liner stuffed with Horathian prisoners into hyperspace. All of the surviving gunships were docked to Firefly and Xavier. The Admiral had no need or interest in the small ships, they would just slow them down. Besides, he lacked the manpower to crew them anyway.
Irons surveyed his own group in pride as they lit their drives and headed for the Beta100 omega jump point. Their one Manta frigate broke trail as point, the destroyers Bounty and Apple followed, Echo and the two other Apollo's and their four fighters and the battlecruiser Maine came up in the rear. The factory ship Carnegie, six large freighter-colliers stuffed with pirate booty and replicated equipment, and two tankers followed them, along with the eager skeleton crew’s of all the ships. Anticipation over not only a fresh start, but getting their own back and returning civilization to the masses seemed to be on everyone's minds these days. All for the good.
He was proud of them. They were making great strides in not only repairing the damage to the ships, but also rebuilding them, practically from the inside out. More would be done in hyper, but for now external repairs would have to wait.
“I'm curious as to what the future brings,” Sprite said softly.
“I think it's looking up Commander,” the Admiral said. “The future holds promise. Lots and lots of promise,” he murmured.
“Amen,” Sprite replied, equally soft.
Three days later they arrived at the jump point and Admiral Irons took them on to their next adventure along the path to Antigua. It was finally time to return. To return on his own terms, and this time, even invited it seemed.
The End
Author's afterward
My has this book changed! I plotted this out, oh, years ago. Even before Fools Gold was written. In fact, Books 3-9 and Jethro 2-5 were plotted out around the same time, or thereabouts. Sprite and Trinity didn't have names then. Nor did Irons if you can believe it. I referred to him as 'the engineer' in my notes. lol
And like I said, a lot has changed. Loads. The Admiral and AI have evolved, grown up a bit I guess you could say. And my writing style has also changed and grown. I don't know about finding my voice, but I am now thoroughly enjoying telling this story. This and others. :)
I tried to follow my original script, but I cut a few things back that just didn't work or weren't too believable. (I had planned on side trips to other worlds to pick up ships and crew. That was dropped... or at least kicked to Ghosts of the Past.)
Which leads me to another thing, like I said in the above side note, I kicked some things to Ghosts, and changed a few things. Ships were broken, some lost, some people lost too. (I had planned on keeping Mary alive) So, it's going to be fun sorting GP out... when I get around to writing it that is!
Hopefully I started wrapping up some of the issues people had, answered some questions and started some more. You may have noticed I started filling in some of the blanks about the Milky Way, the Xenos... Go back and run “Find” if you missed that. :D If I missed a particular noisome hobbyhorse, let me know in the comments on my blog. :)
What's next? Well, first, a bit of a break to work on the cover of this book, then I'll either write Jethro 3 (explaining their arrival plus other stuff) or I'll work on oh, Alive, or that Bootstrap sequel I'm getting 'encouraged' (nagged) about. I dunno yet. Lol
Oh, special note, something Ulrich put me up to. "That there could be slight changes in parts to the older books as a re-check is underway. There will be slight changes to them over time." Translation, he is working with me on the various hyperspace calculations, the maps, formulas, and other things, so some tweaking may be required. Also, he, Poon, and a few other insiders are doing the occasional fact check of the other books. So, don't shoot me if minor things crop up.
As always, if you want to see some of the stuff and images for my various universes, sneak peeks, find out my news, talk to me, or just listen to me ramble, you can check out my blog.
http://cyberforge3d.blogspot.com/
Or the Facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/582559128466667/
And yeah, you can make comments there too.
Dramatic personnel:
Fleet Admiral John Henry Irons: Engineering fleet Admiral, possibly the last in the galaxy. At the time of stasis he was 102 years old with nearly eighty years in the service, 70 as an officer. He has 3 Doctorates and multiple other degrees, most of them engineering related. He slept in stasis for 713
years missing the end of the Xeno war. He was a bit of a celebrity before and during the Xeno war, having a hand in the design of the first Stargate and one of the Dyson spheres.
He spent 15 months on Io 11 after being rescued by her crew. He then spent a year in the Pyrax system and then 8 months on Destiny before transferring to Kiev 221.
Lieutenant Commander Sprite: Smart, sometimes spunky smart AI and central core of Trinity. Serves as his adjunct. She is currently growing and evolving.
Proteus: Experimental distributed AI based in the Admiral's nanites. Serves as his engineering helper and bridge to controlling his nanites. Rank of Ensign.
Lieutenant JG Defender: Extremely intolerant dumb AI programmed as the Admiral's security.
Phoenix: Semi-smart male AI core of the starship Phoenix, created by Sprite and Proteus. Lt. Jg.
Goldie: introverted shy mini cheetah
Blaze: hyper mini cheetah
Bounty:
Lieutenant Lazarian Bounty: Dumb AI. ship AI of bounty. barely sane. Restored by AI. Becomes Bounty's executive officer.
Trey Ulster: Lt jg. engineering officer -new Chief engineer
George Takagi: older taciturn supercargo. In his 60's. Grumpy, but damn good at his job. Silver hair, tonsure hair bald on top. Slight Asian looks. 1st lt.
Marcus Ahearn: rear guard on Admirals team. 20's. Male. Ensign. former navigator.
Irina Nobeki: smart cookie. rear guard. engineer and officer. Tactical officer, 1st lt.
Enric Patter: rating injured on the bridge. Promoted to ensign.
Ezri Patterson: Shuttle pilot, cobra pilot. KIA
Dita: Red head, shy. cobra pilot. extensive shuttle pilot. Officer
Meia: silver hair and suit. cobra pilot and security officer. shuttle pilot, extensive experience. officer Tactical officer interest.
Nata'roka: old female Ssilli, found in a pod several years prior. The captain of the Bounty had adapted the pod and a cargo bay and tied her into the ship's systems. Commander Navy.
Ornell Drago: officer
Jesus Cortez: Old, grizzled no nonsense. Boat bay officer Bounty.
Marty Glenn: Doctor husband to Holly
Holly Glenn: Nurse, wife to Marty.
Mutt: Cyborg Bulldog, adopted by the Glenns. Mascot of the Bounty.
Rajesh Ramada: Skeletal thin SBA. Indian. Quiet. Black curly hair.
Howard Chan: enlisted on Bounty.
Bucky Allen: rating killed in attack on Bounty
Yosef Behr: knocked unconscious. memory loss. Enlisted rating, former friend to Caid. assistant Chief on Romeo. Jewish. Black curly hair.
Waldo: Drive room tech. Former crewman on Anderson. Quiet. Frequently disappears. Tall wavy hair, paper white skin, broken glasses, wears a tattered red and white long sleeve shirt.
Karmen Santiago: Spanish woman, long wavy brown hair. Sultry. Gets into trouble. Bit of kleptomaniac and a nymphomaniac.
Grace: Blue haired yellow eyed woman: Former love interest to Waldo. Also from Anderson.
Rita: Slim female. Sweet, friend of Grace. Rating on Bounty.
Diego: Quiet 30 year old engineer rating on Bounty. Likes apples.
Darren: Chief cook on Bounty. Chief petty officer.
Derrick: Rating on Bounty.
Other ships:
Captain Ian McGuyver (Lt commander) told him that they were being kept alive for intelligence they could provide to their captors and for slave labor. Horath had managed to rebuild dozens of small warships and had over thirty freighters in its merchant fleet before they became aggressive and began sending out raiders.
There were sixty four non Horathian prisoners, they took them out in lots of eight to fifteen each shift depending on the work. Sometimes they formed work parties doing cleaning jobs, sometimes they were broken into smaller groups and then chained to consoles to man unimportant parts of the ship's engineering.
Bounty exec until takes command of corvette Echo.
Vestri Sindri: dwarf, Lt commander engineer. 120 centimeters tall. squat, massive build. massive hands, broad bulbous nose. brown hair, long brown beard. balding on top. piercing black eyes. former Chief engineer of Anderson. Briefly Chief engineer of Bounty before transferring to be Chief engineer of Echo.
Paul Edding: rating. head wound. transferred to Echo
Hershell: 1st Lieutenant. new recruit. Old spacer. Retired to Hidoshi's World after ship lost. Considered bad luck. Takes commander of collier 2.
Bill Peters: -ensign, commanding officer on Lassie KIA
Tirana Platt -Ensign on Lassie KIA
Mary Apple: Officer 1st lt. Captain of Romeo corvette KIA
Raoul Lee: life support. Team leader team 5. takes port life support. Lt assistant Chief engineer of Bounty Promoted to Chief engineer of Romeo.
Charlene: female bonobo primate. has a mental breakdown, beats a crew member. 1 of 2 surviving chimps. Signed on as an engineering life support rating. Transferred to Romeo to be with Captain Apple.
Yuri Malkovich: broken ribs. rating transferred to Romeo
Brandon Bynum: Lt Cameo
Rob Miller: Lt cameo
Jacob Larson: cameo
Jim Olson: Lt cameo on Phoenix KIA
Jory Gray: Lt computers
Mark Anderson: Lt
Tim Brown: Lt
MARINES:
Rory Gustov: 1st Lt Marines former security officer on Jaw-te
Craig Lewis: Marine, second in command. 2nd lt. Sent to Hidoshi's World with 23 other Marines.
Thomas Burrows: Marine 2nd Lt cameo. Sent to Hidoshi's World.
Gord Archer: Cameo. Marine 2nd lt.
Yorrick: Seemingly dull accident prone male. Marine Private. injured in taking supply convoy. Big hulking guy.
Cherry: female marine private
Reiner: male marine private
Civilians/Other:
Exec Karen Hoshi (captain of Le More) Small Asian woman, from the Jaw-te was introduced and Admiral Irons tried to avoid her haunted eyes while looking to the final beaten captain. The woman's injuries... his jaw set. There would be a reckoning, that he vowed. For her and for all the other women who never had a chance.
Kinja: tall mahogany woman. team 4 leader. Engineer. Former Chief engineer of Le More. Retakes roll.
Caid: Engineering mate. Civilian. went with Hoshi.
Jake Sisko: black kid, early 20's. Team leader. Engineering apprentice, life support Chief. Also amateur reporter.
Kyle and Lyle Turner: Brothers. good kids. work in the mess. Apprentice engineers. Interested in piloting as well. Work in boat bay as well. Not nailed down a field yet.
Doctor Hasad: From New Horizon. white hair, muttonchops. Went with Hoshi.
Diegin: sour faced thin man, downer.
Yuan Chi: Male Asian. New crew. Civilian.
Ling Mai: Asian female Civilian.
Dana Truepath: sole elf survivor on Deianira. Hid in the ducts of Deianira for year. Elf female child.
Antonio: Child taken by Horathians
Captain Luscious Franx was the former Captain of the Le More, a small freighter captured a week prior to the Admiral's arrival. The small wirey man was badly beaten, with two black eyes, missing teeth and welts on his neck. He could see some badly healing ribs and some minor internal injuries. Two of his fingers on his right hand were broken. His right wrist had a hairline fracture, he kept the hand close to his chest. KIA
Miller: KIA on the bridge.
Rob: Injured/killed with Ian in struggle.
Merlo Che: Bald radiation guy. Died 10 days after liberation.
Horathians:
Admiral Cartwright: Rear Admiral in charge of attack on Protodon/Kathy's World area.
Commander Brian Hathaway: Captain of the Tin Lizzy, aka the Bounty. Average male, 160 cm tall, suave. gunning for flag rank. Black hair, brown eyes. Distant Spanish lineage. KIA.
Exec Lieutenant Peter Blye: 26 year old up and coming officer. Rough, wants to prove himself. sets himself up as mad dog that the captain has to
rein in from time to time.
170cm tall, sycophant with captain. Too young in rank to go higher. Blond with blue eyes.
Chief Serall: Acting Chief engineer of Tin Lizzy/Bounty. Was assistant Chief. Plodder. complainer. complains about lack of manpower.
Lieutenant Sikes: Pear of a woman. Rough, tortures men for fun.
Sergeant: Old sweat. Bald.
Crewman Franks: shocked on bridge by auto gun mishap.
Corporal: has cut here tattoo on throat. Heavy jaw, big rough hands, nose flattened by repeated breaks. Killed cub. KIA
Guppy: corporal on duty when Irons is admitted to brig.
Johanen: one of the guards that escorted Irons to the brig. Pervert.
Chief Bard: Big 182cm (6foot) guy, broad rough brawler. with a cobra tattoo on his head, hood out, fangs bared. Cobra tattoo goes down back of head, wraps around throat, then down left arm. Alpha dog of the brig.
Clancy: Guard who had hostages. Surrendered and prisoner. KIA
Ensign Wilks Derrick: engineer. senior officer in brig. Chunky man.
Lt commander Alverez: commander of corvette and commander of relief force.
Captain San: Captain of collier 2
Colonel Wizenbeck: Horathian soldier in charge of taking and holding Hidoshi's World.
Rear Admiral Javier Rico: in charge of the force in Beta101a1. Handsome, married. KIA
Lt commander Gerald: tactical officer on BC Queen Adrienne
Ensign Ibex: communications officer
Captain Bluefield: captain of the Arrow KIA
Lt commander Trevash: exec.
Manuel: communications rating
Lt commander Trevor Halsey: CAG and squadron commander. Pilot of the Executor. KIA
Ensign Fred Rogers: Rooky pilot of Raptor. KIA
