"So when do I come into this?" Harris asked quietly as he watched Mayweather work.
"The third sim. You are welcome to take an opposing command in each sim if you'd like," Firefly replied.
Harris frowned then shrugged. "Why not, I don't have anything else to do right now." He sat back onto the couch. "Hit me." He held his hands out. The couch controls morphed into a stick and simple fighter commands.
"You'll be given a short time to orient yourself and get used to controls," Firefly warned.
"How are they doing?" Irons asked looking from one couch to the other.
"Both washed out of the fighter sim, no surprise there. Harris has a little more aptitude, he's more aggressive, I think he's had more experience with fighter sims. Mayweather was tentative at first but she started to blossom near the end."
Irons nodded. "Are they in the second sim?" he asked. Dan was looking from one to the other.
"Yes sir," Dan frowned. "Can I get in on the action?" Dan asked, sounding plaintive.
Irons chuckled. "Be my guest." He waved to the empty sensor couch.
"Right. You don't have to tell me twice!" Dan said eagerly, jumping onto the couch. In a moment it reconfigured to a hunter killer sim.
"They surprised me, They have potential," Firefly said softly. Irons turned, eyebrow raised. "I mean real potential Admiral, they are doing much better in this sim, Harris started out overconfident but Mayweather pinned his ears back. They are going for best two out of three." The AI shrugged.
Irons chuckled. "An HK is closer to her old ship's command deck so she's probably more comfortable with it," he replied, cocking his head at the holo.
The AI avatar nodded. "Exactly. I'm curious to see how she handles cruiser command."
"Me too, let me know how it goes." Irons turned his attention to the electronics he had been working on.
"How the hell did she do that?" Harris said climbing out of his chair. Irons looked up.
"She pulled an Kulbit maneuver. An old fighter trick. I'd have thought you'd have experienced it before," Firefly said. Irons chuckled softly.
"It's not a pilots favorite move, even with an inertial dampener. Seat of the pants flying is something that can freak some out," he shrugged. Mayweather looked smug.
"I got him!" her smile turned into a grin.
"I heard, good work," Irons said.
She stretched. "Can I get a drink and a break before we do the last one?" she asked. Irons nodded. She rushed off.
"Looks like she's enjoying it," Irons said.
"I think I'm in love," Harris mumbled. Irons gave him a sharp look. Harris looked down sheepish.
"Replay that," Irons ordered.
"I assume you mean the kill shot, not Lieutenant Harris's gaff," Firefly said, then the plot shifted to the replay. The two ships were going head to head, pounding at each other. Then Mayweather's missiles detonated in a wave half way between the two ships. Under the cover of the explosions her ship pitched up, then cut her engines and pitched over and rolled. Her engines reignited and she came down onto Harris.
"So that's how she did it. Sneaky," Harris said, rubbing his jaw. “Wait shouldn't she have sucked some of the debris into her intakes?” he accused.
“No, she closed her scoops before the explosion.”
“Damn. She's good. She thinks ahead,” Harris said nodding.
"Yeah, she got me when she used an asteroid for cover. I thought she'd go around, but she sat in a crater and popped me when I flew by." Dan came over rubbing the back of his neck looking sheepish.
"Looks like you both had your heads handed to you. Some experts." Irons smiled, trying to take the sting out of that while giving them incentive in the next match to get even.
"Oh, she's good I'll give her that. But I'm better," Harris smiled. "What say we do a variant of vodka niner?" he looked over to Dan who started to grin.
"Now now, boys, let’s keep it fair.."
Irons was cut off as Mayweather came back onto the bridge. "Okay, I'm ready. Time to show this computer how to fly and fight." She sat down looking over to Irons. "I thought this would be hard!" She sat back.
Irons looked at the boys. "Enjoy." He waved. They nodded grimly.
"Think they'll be okay?" Sprite asked.
"Well, they're sufficiently motivated. And they are finally taking her seriously," Irons replied watching the plot. All three of them were shaking down quickly. Harris and Dan had separated and were circling Mayweather's cruiser. Mayweather seemed to be struggling with her controls. Harris's ship pitched down.
"Looks like they have her in a pincer. He's trying to pin her against the gas gian,." Firefly observed.
"Think it will work?" Irons asked.
"I doubt it Admiral," Janice replied. He looked over to her. "She's not as mixed up as she is making out," she grinned. He turned to the plot.
"What is she..." His eyes narrowed as he recognized her random movements for something more. "There is a pattern there."
"Exactly. It looks like random helm flutter, but she's never coming back to repeat herself. Real randomness involves the occasional repeat," Sprite reported. "Want to know what she's doing?" she asked.
Irons chuckled. "Show me," he ordered. A sparkle of objects were highlighted on the plot. A series of missiles were also highlighted. "She left them there?" Irons asked.
"Right. Powered down. When they come up it will be nasty... if she has her timing right," Firefly observed.
"See? She's sneaky," Janice said smugly, crossing her arms.
"Right." Irons watched as Dan came in on her flank. "He's the beater, will she turn the way they want?" he asked. She turned, but pitched up and away. "Nope doesn't look like it. He's trying to cut her angle," Irons shook his head. "Neither one has it. He should have come in above and behind on her starboard flank. That would have driven her in the direction they wanted."
They watched as Mayweather's ship pitched up, then back down. Harris's ship tried to compensate. They must be talking to each other. In the real world they would be reduced to laser or tachyon pulse. Since the ships were about 2 AU apart and moving at different speeds... He smiled.
"Are they talking to each other?" Irons asked.
"Yes," Firefly responded.
"Let us get some realism into this. Give them a real world time delay. Let’s see how they react," he smiled nastily. He watched as Sprite brought up a window of Harris. He started to sweat.
"I assumed you wanted a time delay on their sensors and passive remotes so I added that as well," Firefly reported. Irons chuckled. Dan started to swear softly.
Mayweather's ship pitched down, and then made a burn for the gas giant. She swung around a moon and a sparkle of missiles sprang out. Some ripped into the moon, sending chunks flying, other missiles pitched out, then back in and then shut down.
"Improvised minefield. Nasty," Firefly nodded. "I used that trick a time or two myself."
"Shush. We're getting to the good part," Janice scolded. Irons chuckled.
Mayweather had pitched down, then grabbed a nearby asteroid moon with her tractors and pitched it up. "She's covering both the x and y planes, but if he cuts in on the z?" Irons asked.
"Or stays out. If he's smart he'll pick his own battlefield. He should know better than to go in if she's courting battle," Firefly responded. "Oops, doesn't look it. He's impatient. That will cost him." Firefly sounded disappointed as Dan rushed in. He pitched up over the debris field and the missiles seeded into the mix detonated when he got close. The debris scattered in all directions.
"He's blind but he dodged the rock," Firefly reported.
"Not exactly," Irons smiled. The rock rotated and a mine attached to the back caught sight of the ship and detonated. It flashed and his shields went down.
"Oh, nasty," Irons chuckled as the gravity mine stripped away Dan's shields while peppering him with rocks. "That did some damage."
"Woke him up at least," Firefly agreed.
"Here she comes," Ja
nice said, sounding elated. The crowd had grown. Irons watched as Mayweather turned and fired a broadside, then rolled and added a second.
"Not bright, that's flashy and over rated. Her missile tubes cycle time is only twelve seconds," Firefly said. Irons grunted.
"Time on target. He's toast." The first and second broadside boxed his ship then hammered it into debris. "He's done," Firefly said.
"She forgot Harris," Irons observed, nodding to the plot. The AI turned. Harris's ship had arrived and was peppering her with fire.
"She's out of missiles. He's not," Firefly observed. They passed one another and Harris came around.
"She's making a run, crap," Janice said softly as the mines Harris had dropped in his wake suddenly sparkled. They went off in a wave slapping her shields down. After a moment her ship was adrift.
"She's dead," Janice said sadly.
"Not exactly," Irons smiled. As Harris came close to administer the coup de grâce.
Mayweather's ship ignited, pitching over and then straight at him. There was no time to dodge as the ships hit each other.
"Didn't expect that," Janice said rearing back.
"Neither did Harris I bet," Irons chuckled.
"I had you!" Harris said getting up. Mayweather got up and stretched.
"You mean that was you?" she asked in disbelief. She looked over to the Admiral who shrugged then looked back to Harris. "You mean you thought you had me," she grinned. Harris growled. Dan looked a bit sheepish.
"She got me, I didn't expect that," he shook his head. "Come on give over. It was an unfair fight but she did a good job." Dan shrugged then held out his hand to Mayweather. After a moment of studying it she accepted it.
"But next time, it’s my turn," he said.
"Keep dreaming," she replied, grinning again. Irons recognized the predator grin. Harris nodded.
"Next time. You're good, I'll give you that. Where did you learn all that?" he asked.
"Weeell, I don't mean to brag, but I did a lot of these sims when I was a kid. In fact I've done the entire academy entrance exam sim pack." She shrugged then looked over to the Admiral. “Which was why I recognized it and was able to handle it. I am a bit rusty though.”
"Did I pass Admiral?" she asked. The rest of the bridge turned to him expectantly.
"Unorthodox but effective. Non linear thinking. Definitely an out of the box thinker. She plans ahead but is adaptive and flexible," Firefly said. Irons nodded.
"That she is. You fell through with your first minefield and missile field. You didn't try to reinforce failure but adapted. Way to improvise and think on your feet though." He bowed to her. Her cheeks flushed.
"Okay, you’re in first lieutenant. You've got the exec's position on whatever ship we salvage. IF we can salvage her in time." He shrugged. Several people in the room clapped and murmured appreciations.
"And you’re up for implants. You three did good. Go get a couple hours sack time, we're leaving soon," Irons waved.
He watched as they left. "Remind me to give them a task force or convoy escort sim, maybe a fleet exercise later." He looked over to Jesse who blushed. "You ready as second chair?" he asked. Sergio was going to be one of the first bridge crew to get implants. Janice was still recovering from her surgery. She was still getting used to the implants and most were locked down until she trained on them.
The doctor had called off the other surgeries until she got her people better organized, rested, and prepared. Hopefully she would have her act together by the next shift.
She nodded. "Seems simple enough," she said cautiously. Irons smiled. "I'll just get some rest, just in case." She rushed off. Irons chuckled.
Irons was studying a report in the wardroom when Harris, Dan, and Mayweather trooped in the next morning.
"Feeling better?" he asked setting the tablet down. He didn't need it, he could access the data through his implants, but sometimes he preferred an old school method. Much to Sprite's ire and amusement.
"A little." Harris stretched and went over to order coffee. He handed a cup to each. Mayweather took a sip then grimaced and went over to get cream and sugar.
"She's a latte kind of person." Irons said as he watched Harris watching Mayweather strut to the food replicator.
"My kind of woman," Harris sighed under his breath then blushed.
"Admiral, we were wondering, how come we had our communications problems?" he looked over to Dan who nodded. The Admiral raised an eyebrow as he fingered his temple and chin.
"You're telling me you don't know?" he asked patiently. Dan flushed. Mayweather smiled as she sat down.
“I know, they were too far apart right?" she looked over to the Admiral who nodded.
"That's exactly right. See, you two have a lot of sim time, but in the real world you can't coordinate two divergent forces like that. Not at that distance. At least not as easily as you think," he shrugged. Dan nodded.
"Time lag. I get it. That's why I was getting those orders near the end," he grimaced then looked to Harris. Harris frowned.
"But I thought we had real time broadcast?" he asked. Irons shook his head.
"No, oh, you can talk with a tachyon beam, or set some Morse code thing up with neutrinos or grav pulses, but they all have a limited range. You two went too far apart, about twelve light hours apart. That means it takes a time to get information back and forth even with the compression ratio built into the sim."
"Which invited defeat in detail," Harris sighed sitting down into his chair at last.
"Right. I get it now."
Irons gave Mayweather a look. "Though that didn't get you off the hook either. You fired off all your missiles and mines."
She flushed. "Did you have a plan to lure Harris to them?" Irons asked patiently. She nodded then met his gaze. "Didn't work did it?" he asked. She shook her head.
"That's what happens when you don't have a backup plan. Oh, you did, I saw that with the missile cluster you left, but you didn't set up a contingency if neither were available. And you fired off your missiles at Dan, so you had to let Harris into beam range to fight him."
Harris nodded. "If I'd known she was out of missiles I would have stood off and pounded her outside her range." He rubbed his jaw as Irons nodded.
"Right. You should have picked up on that fact when you came barreling in and she didn't fire anything at you." Harris looked away and mumbled an affirmative.
"Right, Firefly has another series of exercises for you. Since we're underway, you three can take CIC and the backup command deck on deck three," he waved. The trio got up.
"Wait, we're underway already?" Mayweather asked looking stunned.
"What? You wanted an engraved invite? This is the big leagues, we only announce things when we need to. The enemy doesn't wait on ceremony." Harris smiled.
"Right, now git." Irons waved them off. They went.
"Do you want a coordination exercise as well Admiral?" Firefly asked.
"Yeah, I'll take the op force in that one. See how they do" He shrugged. "It's been a few centuries so I may be rusty," he smiled.
"Maybe, but we'll see," Firefly responded. Irons picked up the tablet once more.
"Page me twenty minutes prior. Now I get to go back to the joyous reading of the hydroponics inventory," he sighed. Sprite chuckled.
Chapter 18
Harris turned, strutting back and forth down the hallway. He turned again and felt the sword scabbard at his hip bump into an exposed pipe and get caught. He muttered a curse as he pulled the tip out. "How do you ever get used to wearing this," he muttered. He heard a chuckle and spun.
Mayweather was there behind him, looking amused. Janice stood beside her. The women were dressed in undress uniforms. "A little overdressed are we?" Janice asked. Both women had their hair up in pony tails. They were in basic officer coveralls and turtlenecks.
"I'll say," Dan said frowning as he came up behind Mayweather. He sighed. "Harris, just because it says mess dress doesn't mean you hav
e to wear it when you eat all the time," he shook his head. Mayweather covered her mouth, eyes glittering.
"Oh funny ha ha," Harris muttered. Janice giggled as his sword got caught again. The door opened and a steward came out. "The wardroom is ready now. Doctor Standish and the exec are running late. Commander Shelby will be here momentarily," she nodded to Shelby who came up behind Dan at a trot.
"Sorry, thought I'd be stuck tearing down engine two but its behavior improved at the last minute." She puffed out her cheeks and stared at Harris. "A little over the top don't you think Harris?" she asked shaking her head. “You didn't learn from Slythern?”
"A little over the top," the steward nodded. "This is a working dinner I understand." She turned to the tac officer. "Ah, A word to the wise sir?" Harris came closer.
"Lose the medals. Line officers get really annoyed at seeing people wear medals they didn't earn," she stage whispered. Harris flushed, looking down at his chest.
"I'll be right back," he rushed off, sword bumping into things.
Shelby snickered as she followed the others in. "Thanks he needed that," she leaned over to the steward and patted her arm.
"Anytime Commander. Oh and commander..." She handed the engineer a linen handkerchief. "You've got a smudge on your left cheek."
Shelby flushed as she took the handkerchief and rubbed at her cheek. "Better?" The steward nodded as she took the handkerchief back. The others were milling around. Shelby had her hair up in a simple pony tail like the other ladies, she knew it made it easier. She was still debating on having her hair cut short. She knew many of the women, and some of the men for that matter had been talking about getting trims since they were underway.
The crew was starting to shake down into a proper one. The drills were helping. Everyone was now in uniform. Firefly was giving courses on military protocol and some of that was sinking in. Still it would be a while before they were anywhere within shouting distance of her last crew.
Fool's Gold (The Wandering Engineer) Page 36
