The Gathering Storm (The New Federation Book 4)

by Chris Hechtl

  She opened her mouth and then glowered at him, hands on her virtual hips. “Just a bit.”

  “Believe it or not, I missed being here too. I love being on a ship, but being a passenger and being an engineer are unfortunately two different things. I only got to tinker a little bit.

  “Well, at least you got your fix in. And good, you are back. I've needed someone to dump the petabytes of data from your inbox on,” she said mildly right back to him. He groaned.

  Her avatar grinned maliciously at him. “Serves you right for playing hookey for so long,” she scolded.

  “Gee thanks,” he drawled at her with a mournful shake of his head. He hadn't seen his itinerary yet but he knew she had all sorts of social events planned.

  “You can have all the decisions that go with all that reading back to me in a day or so, right?”

  “Don't push it,” he grumbled, shooting her a glare.

  “You've got to play for you pleasures, Admiral.”

  “You call that a pleasure jaunt?” he demanded, eyeing her.

  Her avatar eyed him as she crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrow skyward. “Uh huh,” she said, tapping a foot. “Don't tell me you didn't play while you were gone. By the way, Cookie is annoyed with you. So is someone else. I won't mention any names.”

  “I don't know what you are talking about,” he said innocently.

  “Sure,” she drawled. “Play that game and see how far it gets you with her and a certain red head.” His innocent mask dropped slightly. “And I noticed you complained about data I sent, but not the gigs data and files you uploaded on the ride each time you stopped? All addressed to certain engineers in BUSHIPS?” Sprite demanded.

  “Oh, that,” he said, waving a hand. “I admit I did a bit of tinkering with Proteus in my free time and then later with Creator of Things as well. I had to do some hands-on to help the crew as you know. And I had a lot of time to think when things were running smoothly.”

  “Oh boy. I guess your revenge is coming sooner than expected then, at least for the engineering review boards,” she said with a shake of her head. “Okay, I'm braced, lay it on me, Admiral.”

  “I did some minor engineering changes with Proteus. Call them tweaks and upgrades. I sent the gist of them through the ansible as you know.”

  “I saw those.”

  “Everything will have to be run through BUSHIPS of course.”

  “Of course,” she replied dryly. “They'll need to experiment and field test everything you know.”

  He shook his head. The design review process was normally ten times longer than the actual design phase. He had to admit there were good reasons for that. They had to know how well something would function and where its points of failure were. “I know. I remember how the process works.” He uploaded the files to her. Her eyes scanned left and right as she downloaded the files and absorbed them. After a moment of processing, she nodded.

  “They look good. Did you pick up anything in Bek to help you along with this?”

  He shook his head. “No. Unfortunately, I didn't get a lot of time to be with their R&D people.”

  “Oh? Not any of their BUSHIPS people?”

  “You mean like Horatio or Zek?” Admiral Irons asked. She grimaced. “Yeah, that's what I thought,” he said with a shrug. “I passed on keys, handled meetings, politics, and did my best to kick their ass into gear.”

  “Well, judging from the two recent ships that arrived in B101a1, I believe you succeeded there,” Sprite replied.

  He nodded. He'd picked up the news that the two heavy cruisers had survived their trip through the ansible as well. “Good. Excellent.”

  “So, I got your updates obviously. You dumped a lot of raw data on me. I know you gave Protector and me a hard time about filtering, but you could have done it as well. I'm guessing you did it on purpose because you were left behind.”

  “No comment.”

  “Or because I left in the first place,” the admiral mused, looking at the ceiling.

  “Again, no comment.”

  “Cute,” he drawled. “I seem to recall someone starting this conversation off with a mention of petabytes of data and penance for hooky,” he said, eyeing her avatar. She looked anywhere but at his eyes. He snorted. “What you didn't get into was how some things were going. For instance, did Yorgi throw his weight around while I was gone? Any problems there?”

  “Things were remarkably quiet on almost all fronts. That includes the political one.”

  “Sure. Everything goes smooth while I'm gone. What am I missing? Other than the fact that maybe I should have stayed out longer?”

  “Perish the thought,” Sprite replied dryly.

  “I missed you too, Captain. So?”

  “As it happens, the war front north is a stalemate at the moment. As you know, Second Fleet is on the war path. We're ramping up numbers to reinforce them so they'll have a big enough hammer for the next step, but the Horathians are doing the same thing. It's a race, and the Horathians have a shorter logistics tale and more toys in their toy chest. Big ones.”

  “That just means we'll need equalizers to level the playing field,” Admiral Irons growled, thinking of the antimatter torpedoes he'd had sent to the front. Amadeus didn't have a lot, but they could make a difference if employed properly.

  “Right. That will be fun. We are working on the invasion of Nuevo Madrid. Or, I should say, the Marines are working on it. The last reports said they were getting stiff resistance on the main continent. On an aside note, there was another assassination attempt on Warrant McClintock. This time at his home on Kathy's World."

  Admiral Irons stilled. After a moment, his expression changed slightly. "Oh?"

  "Apparently someone didn't get your message or the people who tried didn't. There were no friendly casualties."

  "Tried?" He shook himself. "I'm glad there were no friendly casualties, but … tried? Damn it, they shouldn't have tried at all!" his scowl blackened.

  "Tried and failed. You can read about it later I suppose. In more important news …"

  "I think I need to make that message clearer. I don't want to burn her, but damn it …"

  "More on that later. I can tell you ONI has tracked another guild member to the residence. They don't have hard evidence yet; you know how hard it is to get that. But they can't clear her either. That is a problem. Commodore Montgomery wants to brief you personally on it."

  "I'm afraid to ask."

  "Protector has the file. For the moment though, back to the overview, Miss Sema is ready to step-down as acting president. I think she's of two minds about doing so. I know she was considering a tour of Rho but has since reconsidered it after your trip took you out of circulation for so long.”

  “I wasn't gone that long. And I kept in touch with you the whole way there and back.”

  “But, you were out of touch for the time you left B-102c until you returned each time. I think the Nuevo side trip was a bit much.”

  He shrugged. “It's over and done with now. We can discuss it later if you want. Do you have my schedule?”

  “As it happens, I do,” Protector interjected. “I received the update from your staff and the secretary of state's schedule, as well as the captain's update. I've finished correlating them with your previous schedule, Admiral.”

  “Oh good. We can demolish my free time in moments then. I think a cabinet meeting should be held soon,” Admiral Irons suggested pointedly.

  “Funny you should mention that, it's this afternoon. You can deal with the transfer of power then and then go from there,” Captain Sprite said.

  “Good.”

  “In the meantime, I can fill you in on what you've missed.”

  “Joy,” the admiral drawled. Sprite paused and raised a virtual eyebrow at him. “Sadist. Okay, lay on McDuff,” he said with an expansive gesture.

  “Just remember, you asked for it,” she said as she started in.

  :::{)(}:::

  Meeting with Moira, Yo
rgi, and the cabinet was only slightly embarrassing. They had a standing ovation when he entered the room, clapping and shaking his hand or patting him on the shoulder when they saw him. It took a few minutes to settle down, but it was time well spent. He looked over to Moira when they settled into their seats around the long conference table. She did indeed look relieved over his return.

  “Okay, believe it or not, Sprite has been filling me in and I've been doing my best to pay attention. I understand this is something of a test, so hopefully I studied enough,” he quipped. That earned a fresh chuckle from the group. “Okay, so, what fires are the biggest and what do we have to put them out with?” he asked mildly. “Let's start the usual merry-go-round around the room,” he said, first pointing to Moira.

  She blinked and then nodded. “Well …”

  :::{)(}:::

  He was a lot less flippant when it came time to settle in for the evening, and he remembered he had one last battle to face. One on the domestic front. He wasn't surprised when he met a toe-tapping April and Cookie in the foyer of the residence.

  “Hi,” he said softly.

  “Hi, yourself,” April said.

  “Okay, I know I'm going to get chewed out, and I suppose I deserve it. But, I want to start by apologizing to you both,” he said, hoping he'd head whatever they had planned off.

  “Look, there was only so much room on that transport. I needed the legal experts. You two, sorry, would have been bored to tears.”

  “So, like that?” April asked.

  “No, but it's one of the reasons I left you behind. I also didn't want to risk you on the voyage, and well, you have your own career to look after.”

  Mrs. Garret just looked down her nose at him and crossed her arms.

  “And okay, yeah, I missed your cooking terribly,” he said with a slight head bow to her. “You wouldn't have been able to do much though; all the state dinners I attended were catered by someone else.”

  The fingers on her right hand tapped gently.

  “And yes, I'm making excuses. Sorry?” he said desperately.

  “It's good to see you,” she said quietly. “And you're late for dinner. Again,” she said. Her right hand rose to shake a finger at him. “Don't do it again.”

  “I'll try not to,” he said dutifully.

  She eyed him for a long moment and then snorted. “At least he's honest about that,” she said in an aside to April. He's all yours. I've got a cake to finish frosting,” she said as she took herself off with her nose in the air.

  “Cake?” he asked, watching her go.

  “I should kick your ass you know. Scream, yell …,” April sighed as he turned back to her. “You left me in a hell of a position.”

  “I can imagine,” he replied softly. “Sorry.”

  “You aren't forgiven but there is something to be said about time healing all wounds.”

  He started to reply that she was the type that held grudges but managed to bite his tongue in time. He was in enough trouble as it was, and if she was holding out an olive branch for the moment, he'd take it.

  “Again, sorry. Dinner? I guess we've got some catching up to do,” he said.

  She nodded. “For the record, I could have handled the trip. And I think I would have enjoyed it, even if I'd been stuck on board a lot. But, we'll talk about that some other time.”

  “Dinner is getting cold!” Mrs. Garret said testily from the hallway. “And if it gets any colder, you aren't getting any of this triple fudge cake!”

  “Okay, I'm not going to let her do that or you,” April said as she caught his hand and gave a tug. “Come on. I've had a serious chocolate craving, and I haven't had her cooking in a while ….” He chuckled but let her lead him on to the dining room.

  :::{)(}:::

  Vestri felt a little nervous when he met with Admiral Creator of Things. He'd heard mixed things about the T'clock. He'd also heard rumors that the bug was not impressed with his progress.

  “Admiral,” he said, saluting the bug. The T'clock returned the salute and then indicated they should take a seat. “I'll be out of the office, your office in another shift, sir,” the dwarf stated.

  “No hurry. Medical hasn't fully cleared me yet. I also have some additional training to do.”

  “Yes, sir,” Vestri said neutrally.

  “Take a seat,” the bug ordered, indicating the chair across from him in the conference room. “I thought we should have a talk. Where are we with the capital ship program? I understand there are problems?”

  Vestri nodded. “We're still dealing with an assortment of teething issues with the Sun Tzu class. The lead ship has had its fair share of problems since she's new. We managed to head some off when we worked on Quirinus but apparently not quite all of them.”

  “When will it reach IOC?” the bug asked.

  “The lead ship's Initial Operational Capability is at least six months out. We've got another round of shock trials to get through. We're still ahead of the original schedule but barely.”

  “Ah.” The bugs antenna and mandibles twitched.

  “The good news is we are taking what we learned and applying it to the production line. The second and third ships are in their builder's trials now.”

  “I see.”

  “Now that we've got our legs under us, I expect we'll start turning out SDs every three to four months baring any hiccups. That is, if we can fund them and man them,” the captain said sourly. “Part of my problem was getting the funding to expand the yard as we'd planned. We had a devil of a time getting the last naval budget past congress!” He shook his head.

  “I know the feeling,” the T'clock buzzed with sympathy and understanding. He now understood why they were lagging behind. It wasn't due to leadership of the small human; it was due to a host of things. Well, it was his job to sort them out.

  He hadn't been initially impressed with the human until Admiral Irons had taken him aside and explained that Sindri had built the entire yard from scratch in six years. It was still expanding as well as building ships so that was an impressive feat.

  “We have three squadrons of SDs in production. That's better than the two squadrons of CFVs in Pyrax,” Vestri said with some smugness in his voice and manner. “They can turn out their carriers twice as fast as we can but then they have to sail them here for final fit out. Or, at least they did until the admiral's recent visit. I understand four of the carriers will be fitted out right there in Pyrax. That'll save them the trip here and back.”

  “It will indeed. It will also cut down on their time to get into service, though I understand it will cut their time to work out any bugs.”

  “They'll make up for it when they sail to the Eastern Front or wherever I suppose,” Vestri replied as he started to get a little more comfortable with his new boss.

  “You have done impressive work. You and those under you. I will hate losing you, Captain,” the T'clock stated honestly.

  “Sir?”

  “You are being promoted to captain senior grade. Congratulations,” the bug said, wiggling his antenna. Vestri's eyes went wide. “And Admiral Irons has decided you needed a new project. He has several in mind, but I'll leave it up to him to discuss them with you.”

  Vestri looked away, then shrugged after a long moment of consideration. “To be honest, I was feeling a bit bored and stale,” he said gruffly.

  “Well, we can't have that,” the T'clock replied.

  “I'm wondering though. He's pitched the Lemnos recovery mission a few times. I hope he doesn't want me to take on the Ptah mission,” Vestri said with a shake of his head.

  “The Ptah mission would be a waste of your talents but would let you stretch a bit. I understand you had trouble with ship command however,” the bug stated. The human turned to him. “That is not a disservice against you. I too had similar misgivings about taking on such things.”

  Vestri nodded slowly. Speculation was written all over his face.

  “I don't know if a final decis
ion has been made. Sorry. Deal with it. It is in the future. For the time being, let us focus on the present and near future. What do I need to know? I see you already prepared a brief and a series of notes …”

  :::{)(}:::

  Sprite hadn't been kidding about the parade in the capital. He'd done his best to endure it but made sure he got a chance to talk with Governor Randall once it was over. The governor had offered the guest suite in the governor's mansion while he was on the ground, and he'd gratefully accepted it.

  After a rather late dinner, Sandra had shooed the yawning kids off to bed so the men folk could catch up in the den. Admiral Irons noted there was a little brittleness in Jeff. “I'm sorry I cut and ran on you like that with little warning,” he said, deciding to take the bull by the horns. “Believe me when I say I was in a hurry.”

  “I see.”

  “We got there just in time. Just,” Admiral Irons said, looking out the night dark window to the guard outside and then beyond. “The jury was still out.”

  “Ah. He is your friend,” Jeff said.

  “Yeah. One of my oldest surviving friends,” the admiral stated. “But it wasn't just that. It had to be me to spike Childress's guns. I hope you understand.”

  “I know; I saw the interviews. I get it,” Jeff said with a restraining hand. “It got me thinking about the position you offered. I think you are right.”

  “Oh?”

  “But we can talk about it some more at a later time,” Jeff said with a shake of his head. “You are certain Bek is fixed though?”

  “Is any system truly fixed?” the admiral asked, looking over to the fireplace and then back. “It's as good as it could be in the time I was there. I've been reading the reports; they are steadily improving. It isn't just the navy; there is a mindset there that needs to be changed. That will take time.”

  “You are going to have your hands full with all of these Bekians,” the governor said with a shake of his head.

  “I'll deal with them. Georgi Pashenkov is quiet. I know he's just out of his element and feeling his way through things. I'm not sure if he's emulating beta behavior or if he's really feeling it out,” Admiral Irons replied with a shrug. “Champion is a real fire eater. I'm looking forward to handing home fleet over to her. She's good.”