“You’re going after the Chamdar!” Someone else shouted.
“Only to stop this pointless bickering between your people.” Zed growled. “We have bigger fish to fry.”
“The Creednax!” The whisper flew across the room like fire, and Zed smiled.
“At this particular time I only need nine hundred or so crewmembers. Of the nine hundred, one hundred will remain in this space, stationed on the frigate Bonhomme Richard and on the fast combat support ship named Jeanne d'Arc. The support ship will begin dissecting your fleet and using the salvaged material to construct a fast battle-cruiser. The project will probably take months, but the battle-cruiser Formidable will be a warship like you have never seen before.” He gave the men and women standing before him a hard look. “Don’t ever forget, Lola or her sister Cybele see and control everything. Don’t even think about attempting a mutiny and taking a ship, or one of the computers will simply evacuate the hull. Remember this morning. You can only breathe space for a very short amount of time. If I would execute an Imperial Princess, I would surely execute you, if I had to. Think about it. If you still want to join my crew, I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning. In the meantime, all of you, get your personal effects out of the ships. They will all be dumped with the rest of the garbage before we leave. That is all.” Lola sparkled and disappeared, and with Kat on his arm, Zed turned and left.
“That was Lola?” Katherine sounded more interested than angry or jealous.
“Yeah.” Zed muttered in a resigned voice. “I told her that I was tired of talking to thin air, and that’s what she came up with.” He gave a wry chuckle. “You should have seen her first outfit. All sheer blue fluff and sparkles. I couldn’t tell if she had clothes on or not.”
“I’m sure.” Kat’s voice dropped several degrees.
“Ahhh, yeah. Anyway, I told her to put on clothes. This is what she came up with, and I was too tired to argue.”
“I’d better not see her in your bedroom in THAT outfit, or we’ll have words.” She said it softly, but there was steel hidden beneath her words.
“Did you hear that, Lola?”
“Yes Zed. I’ll make sure the First Officer doesn’t SEE me in your bedroom, that is.” The red haired First Officer scowled.
“Thank you Lola.” Zed gave the distant ceiling a sour look. “You’ve just gotten me into trouble again.”
“Any time… Captain.” There was a trace of laughter in the computer’s voice.
Zed chuckled and then broke out onto a full deep laugh. “Thank you Lola. I needed that.”
“No charge, Zed. You haven’t smiled in hours. I thought I should do something.”
“You’re very perceptive, Lola.” Kat’s voice was a soft murmur. “You’re a good friend to us both.”
“Why thank you, Katherine.” The computer sounded vaguely surprised. “You certainly set the fox among the chickens back there, Captain. They have a small riot going on. Everyone, it seems, wants to volunteer to be on the winning side. I’ll finally have a full crew.” Lola sounded pleased. “By the way, Admiral Bentax would like to speak with you.”
Zed glanced at his slim wristwatch/communicator. “He can meet me in two hours in my quarters.”
“It’s already done, Zed.”
Zed’s stomach let out a low growl. “I believe that I’ll get something to eat now. Is the Dining Hall still open, Lola?”
“It is for YOU, Captain. Would you like breakfast or lunch?”
Zed chuckled as they turned into the almost empty dining hall. “Lunch please.”
“Very good, Captain. Today we’re serving…” His stomach rumbled again.
Zed stood as the door to his quarters slid open and Admiral Bentax entered. The older man gave Zed a weary grin. “We finally got the riot settled. Even the people in the hospital want to join your fleet.” He chuckled grimly. “The only ones who don’t want to join are the ones in the morgue. You make quite a salesman. The problem is; you asked for nine hundred volunteers and I have eighteen hundred.”
Zed waved the admiral to the couch just as Katherine entered the room. “Admiral Bentax, I’d like to introduce you to my First Officer, Katherine Johansen.”
Kat winced. “Just Kat, please.”
Bentax grinned. “You can call me Jer. Short for Jerlan.” He looked at the young woman curiously. “Aren’t you a little young for such an important and highly technical position?”
Zed smiled. “Katherine has an advanced degree in Astrophysics, and interrupted her studies in Exobiology to come with us. We are… I am lucky to have her with us.” Kat was staring at Zed, two small spots of color on her fair cheeks. “Lola, you might as well sit in on this.” The shimmering form appeared to his left, and he was pleased to note that his high spirited computer had modified her outfit, somewhat, in favor of decorum. The cutouts showed significantly less sparkling skin.
“Good afternoon, Admiral.” Lola gave the admiral a dazzling smile.
“How fast can we get a message to Cybele?” Zed was beginning to see a plan shaping itself in his mind.
“A supra-light message capsule can reach Cybele in three or four days.” Zed grinned.
“Before we left, Cybele mentioned that she was going to construct a transport for colonists. If she launched that ship to Dramul, it would arrive at about the same time as us, wouldn’t it?”
“Very good, Zed.” Lola was turning the hundred megawatt smile on him now, and Kat was frowning. “We can transfer surplus crew to the colonizer, and it will return them to Thal’ark Station. They will still be woefully undermanned, by about three thousand crewmembers, but it is better than nothing. We can recruit more from Earth, once we get back there. That will leave the Rose three hundred short, and each of the frigates a hundred short. The combat support ship will be fully manned, but that is because all the crew will be needed in the construction of the battle-cruiser.”
“That’s about what I’d figured.” Zed replied, nodding. He turned to Jer and raised an eyebrow. “How about the officers?”
Bentax was absolutely stone faced. “They all volunteered too.” Zed blinked.
“All?”
“All.” The admiral relented, letting a small smile pull the corner of his mouth. “I didn’t make it as far as I did by not being able to tell from which quarter the wind was blowing.” The older man sighed. “The Dramul Empire is dead. It has been dying for years, and now you finally killed it. Our only hope for survival as a species lies in this fleet you’re putting together. I don’t particularly like to let other people fight my battles so…”
Zed shot a quick wink to his First Officer. “You realize that there can only be one commander of the fleet?” Bentax gave him a flat, ugly look. “All right, I had to ask. You’ll have to be demoted to Captain.” The Dramul officer nodded.
Lola was chuckling, and Zed turned to look at her. “You realize that you will have to be promoted, now. I DID warn you about this.”
“I really don’t want to be an Admiral, Lola.”
“How about Fleet Captain Yates?”
Zed grimaced. “I suppose I could live with it.”
“It’s no more than you deserve.” Kat remarked lightly, laughing.
“You are quite right, Captain Johansen.”
“But…” Kat was flushing to the roots of her hair. “I don’t want to be a Captain.”
“You don’t have any more to say about it than Zed did, young lady.” Lola’s voice was softer now. “Welcome aboard the 7651 Rose of the Dawn, Captain Bentax.”
Jer Bentax cleared his throat. “What job do have for me, Fleet Captain Yates?”
Zed groaned. “If you call me that one more time I’m going to bust you to Lieutenant. My name is Zed.”
Bentax was chuckling now. “I might actually enjoy that, Zed. Nobody trusts mere lieutenants. I’ll have no more responsibility.”
“Do you remember the frigate I was commanding during our little battle?”
“Intimately.” Jer grow
led.
“Her name is the Chesapeake, and you’ll be the Captain.” Bentax blinked in surprise and pleasure. “Pick your own crew, up to a hundred people, from the volunteers. You’ll still be a hundred short. Then help me sort out people for the other positions that need filling. We’ll pick the cream of the crop for us, and send the rest to Cybele. I’m sure she can deal with them.”
“And when, exactly, do you plan on departing for Dramul?” The former admiral still had a slightly stunned look on his hard face.
“Four or five days.”
“Four days!!’ Bentax jumped to his feet. “I’ll start arranging things with the troops, Fleet Captain.” There was no joking in his voice now. “And then I think I’d like to look over my new command.”
“Lola, what is the status of the Chesapeake?”
“Eighty percent operational, Fleet Captain. The remaining repairs can be completed while underway. Life support, berthing, crew mess, weapons and shields are fully operational, as is navigation and propulsion.”
“Very good, considering the pounding she received. Please give Captain Bentax full access to the ship, save fire control. Give him fire control access when he has completed his training. Key the supra-light drive to his key, mine and Kat’s only. We can add his First Officer later.”
“Yes Zed.”
Jer’s eyes were beginning to glaze. “Is there anything else you want to tell me?”
Kat was smiling now as she turned to Zed. “You might want to tell him about Ralph.”
Zed chuckled. “Ralph is the ship’s mascot, I guess you’d say. She used to belong to the Princess, but she adopted us.”
“She?” Bentax looked confused.
“Ahhh, it would be easier if I showed you.”
“She is on her way.” There was laughter in Lola’s voice. “She was in Hydroponics with Francois.” The door slid open and a smoky gray missile streaked in, launched herself three meters away and knocked Zed backwards over the couch. Cat and man rolled on the floor for a while, Zed cursing and the cat purring like a motorboat. Finally he scrambled awkwardly back on the couch and sat down, with Ralph’s head in his lap while he scratched behind her ears. The cat’s eyes were shut and a deep rumbling filled the room.
“This is Ralph.” Zed said simply. “She is called a CatTrace, but don’t ever consider her an animal. She’s at least as intelligent as a human, and naturally telepathic, although she seems to ‘hear’ me better than I ‘hear’ her.” He ran a hand down her sleek shiny side, and over her bulging tummy. “You seem to be putting on some weight there, Ralph. We may have to put you on a diet.” The cat opened one blue eye, licked his hand and closed the eye again. The purring never faltered.
“I don’t think a diet would be advisable at this time, Fleet Captain.”
Zed frowned, used to Lola’s little games. “What aren’t you telling me, Lola?”
“Ralph is pregnant, Fleet Captain. In a few short months she will give birth to a half dozen kittens, three male and three female that are engineered to breed true with each other.”
“How did THAT ever happen?” Zed gave the cat a surprised look.
“She must have been pregnant before the princess left Dramul to go on vacation. The animal handler never found out about it.”
Zed tried to feel anger at the cat, but it just didn’t work. “Congratulations Ralph.” He smiled at the grinning Bentax. “We’ll give you a kitten for your ship, Captain.”
The grin faded. “You realize.” Bentax rumbled in a deep gravelly voice. “That those creatures are the reason there are no more dogs on Dramul, don’t you? No dogs, and no large predators. They’re pack hunters, Fleet Captain. Just be warned.”
“I stand warned, Captain Bentax.” He stroked Ralph’s smooth head.
Lola’s thought was more than surprised. “If you have nothing more, Captain Bentax.” Lola’s voice was crisp now, and totally professional. “I’ll show you to your room. It will be keyed only to you, unless you wish otherwise.”
“Key it to Zed and Kat also. They may need to get in for some reason.”
“As you wish, please follow the marker.” Bentax followed the bobbing blue ball out of the room and the door slid shut.
“One last thing Lola.” Zed’s voice was tired as he watched Ralph stroll out of the room. “Please tell Alina DeThomaso that I’d like to see her.”
“As you wish.”
A few minutes later the door hissed open. “You wished to see me?” Alina’s voice was filled with questions.
“I am reassigning you off the Rose, effective as soon as you can pack your bags.” Zed watched the hurt creep into the woman’s eyes for exactly five long seconds. “I’m making you Captain of the Frigate Bonhomme Richard, and Senior Captain in charge of the Formidable construction. When the battle-cruiser has been completed, you will take command of her, reassign the frigate to an experienced officer and together join me as we go after the Creednax. The Fast Combat Support Ship Jeanne d'Arc and her crew can be returned to Thal’ark Station. Former Admiral Bentax and I will be selecting crews tomorrow and the next day. We’ll try to find folks who are mechanically experienced for the support ship. It’s a tough assignment, but our very asses may depend on you, and the prompt arrival of the battle-cruiser.”
Alina looked like she had been struck by a log. After a while she blinked, and her face glowed with pride. “It will be as you say, Captain Yates.”
“That’s Fleet Captain Yates, and Captain Katherine Johansen.” Lola corrected gently.
The former NASA Mission Commander gave them a small bow. “It will be as you say, Fleet Captain Yates.” The woman looked at the deck and Zed would swear that she blushed. “I would like to request Michael Flaherty as my First Officer. He is more than capable and…” Alina swallowed. “Thank you for the confidence you have placed in…”
“Major DeThomaso.” Zed said flatly, cutting her off. “You have more space piloting experience than anyone else on this barge, except perhaps Jer Bentax. If I learned anything as Flight Engineer, it was to use the right tool for the right job. You, Major, are the right tool for the job. You can have Mike Flaherty as First Officer on one condition.” Alina looked at him curiously. “Pick me two good replacements for Weapons Operators here on the Rose. I think we’ll need them.”
Alina gave him a wide smile before she turned and left.
It felt strange not to sit in his command chair. Kat looked over her right shoulder and gave him a slow wink. She was more than a little nervous herself, but her voice was steady. There had been a few growls of displeasure when Zed announced her promotion to Captain. He spent an hour pointing out her obvious command qualities and education, but finally it came down to the fact that he wanted HER there, guarding his back. The two new Weapons Systems Operators, Thomas Covati and Amelia Davies, both former NASA astronauts, had just watched the proceedings, mystified that the Fleet Captain would take the time to explain his decisions.
“Has the Dramul fleet been moved to a safe distance, Lola?”
“Yes Captain. The main hangar has been cleared, and refitted for the excess crew berthing during our flight.”
“Thank you. Departure angle on viewer.” The screen lit to show the floating forms of the frigate and support ship, already pushing and shoving the remains of the Dramul fleet into suitable position for disassembly. Kat turned her green eyes to Zed. “Do you think Alina and Mike will be all right? They’ll be all by themselves, you know.”
Zed chuckled, watching the careful maneuvering of the frigate against the dark stars. “I suspect so. When Bentax and I selected crews I made sure that there were several experienced officers aboard who, if they weren’t NASA or military could have fooled me, t
o be part of their crew. All were qualified pilots. And then they have each other. ”
“You’re a born busybody.” Kat commented dryly. Zed laughed out loud.
“I’m sorry, Captain, but that suggestion was mine.” Lola’s soft voice held only a hint of embarrassment.
Kat shook her head. “It figures. Take us to Dramul, Lola.”
“Engaging sub-light drive in four, three, two, one…” The two ships with their floating junkyard dwindled to specks in a matter of seconds, and were gone.
“View forward, please.” Just in front and to their port they could see the blocky shape of the Frigate Chesapeake, fog gray name on her bow glinting in the soft starlight.
“Engaging supra-light drive in four, three, two, one…”
CHAPTER 9
Dramul:
“Are you sure that there are only two dozen defensive batteries defending Dramul?”
“Yes Fleet Captain Yates.” Jer Bentax sounded exasperated. “I’ve already told you seven times. Two dozen fixed positions, a few odd small ships and one small unarmed forward operating base on each of the two moons.”
“Sorry, I’m nervous.” Zed was staring at the flowing stars in the bridge screen. Although he knew that the air was fresh and had the slight scent of pine today, to him, it held the rancid taint of fear and death. Kat reached over and patted his arm. The fleet captain frowned, but noted that Thomas Covati, as Primary Weapons System Operator was looking nervous too. He wished, silently, that Alina hadn’t stolen Mike Flaherty from him, but then she had much more to offer.
“Arrival at Dramul imminent.” Lola didn’t sound nervous at all, but then she never did.
“Raise defensive shields. Charge all weapons systems. Prepare supra-light missiles.” Katherine was staring at the screen too, her green eyes bright.
“Arrival at Dramul in four, three, two, one…” The forward screen blinked to reveal a glowing blue and white planet. For a second it looked like Earth. “Engaging sub-light engines. New IFF signal transmitted; no response. Defensive batteries powering up!” Kat nodded, once. “Supra-light missiles away. All targets destroyed.”
... and they are us Page 13
