We passed Rockmonster again. She ignored us.
“So you fought the Darkness War?”
“I wouldn’t say I fought it. Yorktown was there almost at the beginning, or at least the new behemoth version of her was. I was supervising all the deck officers by that stage.”
I looked at his insignia.
“They put a Lieutenant in charge of all deck officers on a ship that big? I’d have thought at least a Lieutenant Commander.”
“Well yes, you’d have thought so, but the medical people washed me out for the rank advancement as well, almost took the job away from me, and it took Admiral Hallington himself to get them to leave me alone.”
“Ah, I think I see where this is going.”
“The last thing I wanted was to be beached, and in the war to end all wars. I mean, what the fuck was I going to do? Be a lawyer? No-one needed a lawyer in the middle of a war for survival. Hallington earned my loyalty that day. When he jumped ship instead of going to Gaia, I was one of a small group who went with him, even though it meant we were all unemployed.”
“So how did you end up on Orion?”
“Same way you did. The admiral pointed me to the Haven simulator as soon as it went live, and I was using a rookie callsign when you logged in the first time.”
“Why go through the simulator?”
“Honestly? I didn’t think I’d pass the physical. I still limped pretty badly at that stage, and the foot pedals in fighters were beyond me. I thought Hallington was just trying to be nice when he told me about the simulator, but in hindsight, he was giving me the chance to learn to fly with the new controls which don’t require feet to operate, and get me back in the saddle and want to re-up.”
“So you did?”
“Hell no. I had a visit from Admiral Jane, who took me straight to a Doc Carter, and between them they fixed my leg up enough to pass a physical.”
I laughed. It was so close to my own story it had to be real.
“When was this?”
“I arrived on Orion about three days before you did. The admiral restored my Flight Lieutenant rank, and offered me a flight, but I told him I’d been out of the saddle too long, and needed time flying a wing for a while.”
“You must have done alright in the simulator to get 266.”
“I was above you on the kill board the morning you arrived, and below you that evening. Although not far below you. The CAG still wanted to give me a flight, and when I refused, he asked if I could protect one of the cadets.”
“And how’s that going?”
I grinned at him. He smiled back, but there was a strain behind it.
“All in all, just fine. Until yesterday. I’m bruised in all sorts of places, but I’m alive. And I’ll get the cadet to Pilot Officer if it kills me.”
“Let’s not say that, shall we? Tempting fate?”
He ignored me.
“She isn’t going to be flying today is she?”
“Not a chance.”
“Good. I wish someone would ride her to get her studies done. It’s the only downside to her flying. Had she had some decent training first, she’d never have tried to land yesterday. And we’d both be running today.”
“What does she need?”
“Someone needs to fast track her through the essential parts of all the officer training.”
“Someone would be if we had someone.”
“We do,” said Jane in my ear. “Me. It will be done.”
“Was that Admiral Jane in my ear?”
“It was.”
“Oh. I didn’t realize she could hear conversations.”
I tapped my nose, and sped up, leaving him wondering.
Twenty Two
It sounded like the whole ship heard Rockmonster get a right royal bollicking.
Well, maybe not. Maybe only I heard it, courtesy of Jane. She’d taken it like a rock would, but unlike a rock, was in tears after, where only Jane could see her. Jane imposed herself, helped her get her composure again, and convinced her to study. Vulture hadn't formally grounded her, but I could see he’d been thinking about it. It was his call, and I didn’t intervene. In any case, she wasn’t fit for flying, and probably wouldn’t be for several days.
I was more interested in what Jane was doing out in space. Unassailable and Blossom had arrived while I was still in the assault courses, and Jane had builder droids swarming over all four ships. Within an hour, both battleships were connected to each side of Unassailable, with all three rear ends together. Another half hour, and Blossom was connected in front of Unassailable the same way. Blossom was in effect the command module for a super-dreadnaught sized ship now, while Unassailable was the main engine module.
It was going to take much longer to properly connect up the four ships for effective shielding and engines, but the work would be done while on the move. Unassailable was still able to fire her main guns, and the connecters were wide enough to allow very slow launches from her side hangars, and normal launches of mosquitos. Launching anything on her sides would have been impossible without AI control.
Three really big ships had become five, and then two. Jane arrived back at her seat, and I looked at her as she sat.
“It that big monster out there going to fly?”
“Yes. But not up to our standards of maneuverability.”
“Just make sure it doesn’t ram Claymore up the arse after we go through the jump.”
Claymore lifted herself off her chair a tad, and sat again on her hands.
Jane cracked up, and so did I a few seconds later.
“Do we know where we’re going yet?” I asked both of them, when we had it back together.
“The recons are still on this side of the system sun in there,” answered Jane, “so no, not yet. The odds suggest the next jump point is on the other side of the system, so if we move as if it is, we can’t be too wrong.”
“Well, crack on then.”
“Cracking on,” said Claymore, and a few minutes later, we jumped.
The monster behind us jumped through with plenty of room to spare, and Claymore took the use of her hands back. Not that she needed them. Both ships moved in-system, directly for the sun, since as yet we didn’t know which way around was better.
With nothing of interest in sight, I moved to my ready room. There I had a long hollo chat with John Slice. He wasn’t happy with the current setup, but admitted it would keep his people safer this way. Some of them had already moved over to both battleships, and were trying to determine what ship systems could be brought back online, with the help of the repair droids already working there. His aim was to get enough turrets working on both ships, operable from Blossom, so he and Jane could fight if need be. The initial assessment seemed to indicate a lot of the guns were not working only because the control lines were severed somewhere. Which was promising at least.
Vulture came in next.
“I heard the bollicking you gave Rockmonster,” I said, as he was sitting.
“Jane?”
“Yes Jane,” said Jane, through room coms.
He grinned.
“She took it pretty well I thought.”
“Probably because I told her to expect one from you.”
“Oh? When did you do that?”
“Last night. We had a long conversation.”
“So she was seen coming out of your quarters.”
He was grinning now.
“She used my spa to soak her bruises. Nothing more. I took the opportunity to ask her what happened. And then tell her what she should have done.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“No reason you should have, and the bollicking was yours to give.”
“Should I have grounded her?”
“Your call as well. But effectively I think she’s off the flight line for at least two days. The way she was walking the running track more or less is a dead giveaway she won’t be able to fly for a few days. After that you can put her in the simulato
r and see how she does. Although I’d be happier if we had an actual doctor on board to check her out.”
“She wasn’t in the care unit very long considering the crash. Testament to the suits I think, as both of them should have been killed.”
“You did point that out very succinctly I thought.”
“Yeah, had to. Everyone is allowed to screw the pooch at least once, but if they survive it, they get a bollicking.”
“I got mine in cadet training.”
“Me too.”
Neither of us spoke for a full minute.
“I’m glad she didn’t kill herself,” he said. “I quite like her spunk, even if she hasn’t got any team spirit.” I flinched. “Yeah. She missed all that. It’s a pity we can’t give her what she needs here.”
“The Imperator will never allow it,” said Jane.
“I figured as much. How much can you do?”
“Nothing in that department, but she’s going to have a couple of very full on and potentially boring days. And they’ve already started.”
“Thanks Jane,” he said. “Appreciated you taking her under your wing, so to speak.”
“I’ll see how this goes with her. We might need to make sure the current batch of cadets are not fast tracked like she was. If so, I’ll make sure the report is put in the right hands.”
“Thanks Jane,” I said.
Vulture still looked troubled.
“How’s Watershed?” I asked him. “He looked a little slow on the track as well.”
“He’s in the simulator now. Looks like he’s fine in the cockpit.”
“So what’s bothering you?”
“He’s wasted babysitting a cadet. If it wasn’t for keeping bark off her six, he’d have a much higher kill score than he has.”
I waited for the rest.
“And his callsign is just wrong.”
“I can’t say I disagree. If you have a better one, you’re the CAG, give it to him.”
“I think I will. Thanks.”
“266 is down a pilot for a couple of days, so can you rotate assignments so he gets a flight for the next fight or two?”
“I can do that. I looked at his record, and while he has led a flight before, there’s nothing to suggest if he was a good flight leader or not. The simulator time before Orion deployed didn’t show much either. I would like to see what he’s made of.”
“Your call CAG.”
I could see he wasn’t too comfortable being called that. He’d get over it. Probably about the time I’d get over being called Commander.
“Lunch time?” I asked him.
“What for? Oh. Yes, lunch time is fine. If you don’t mind sir, I’ve flight rosters to look at before then.”
I waived him to the door, and he left.
Claymore suggested a course change to go around the star, and I authorized it. The rest of the morning, mercifully short now, I spent on my own course work.
The CAG was by the bar when I went in for lunch, and no-one was sitting at tables yet. Everyone appeared to have a drink, and Kat put a glass in my hand as I was walking over. It tasted like ginger ale, so presumably the alcohol sign was off. Since we could still end up fighting today, it was a good call on the CAGs part.
“It’s come to my attention a pilot has an inappropriate callsign,” he called out loudly. “Watershed. Front and center.”
He looked startled, but came forward. Kat relieved him of his glass, and he braced in front of the CAG and I. Vulture looked around the pilots.
“Do we let flight deck staff label a pilot?”
“NO!”
“Do we correct this sort of injustice when we find it?”
“YES!”
“Watershed.”
“Sir?”
“Your new call sign is Hammer. Love it, live it, and hammer those trees when you’re out there.”
“Aye sir!”
He was grinning now.
“Dismissed.”
Hammer saluted the pair of us, we saluted back, and he retrieved his drink from Kat.
Lunch was a rowdy affair.
When I checked, I found a long line of Hammers in the American sector fleet records, going back over six hundred years to some sort of entertainment vid.
A good proportion of them were named Harmon.
Twenty Three
It turned out we did go the wrong way around.
Too late to change course, a three found an inhabited planet in the fourth orbital slot, on the other side of the sun from where we were. It had ships in orbit, but Blossom had kept on the edge of sensor range to avoid being detected, so we didn’t know what they were beyond being tree shaped.
The afternoon simulator session was cut short, and everyone was advised to get some rest. I rested in my command chair on the bridge, impatiently waiting for us to swing around the sun and find out what we faced. Rockmonster joined me, since even she admitted she was in no condition to fly, and sat in the chair immediately behind where our mage usually sat.
Two hours out, pilots rested, and me not showing just how badly I was climbing the walls inside, we finally had sensor resolution enough to determine the ships were all transports. Not long after, they began moving out of orbit, towards the other side of a moon, as if trying to hide from us.
Too late they figured out they’d been seen, and tried to run. I pushed Claymore up to combat speed, and we overtook them fairly quickly. By then, the pilots were in their ships ready to launch, but as things turned out, no-one had to.
Shenaid joined us just before the fun started, looking surprised to find a cadet pilot on the bridge with us. I made introductions, since they hadn't met before. At the last minute, I made a show of buckling up, and the ladies followed suit.
“This is Dreamwalker to destroyer and corvette pilots. No-one launches. We’ll take these plants as a single ship. All turrets are released to independent fire, and as I fight the ship, feel free to fire as you bear with your front armaments. Fighters, stand by.”
I deliberately didn’t listen to the grumbles on the all squadron channel, but Rockmonster obviously was, as she was grinning madly. I ignored her too.
Just out of titan range, I stepped up to combat mode, and looked the ships over. They had minimal defenses, no real offensive capability, and would be no real challenge if I sent Rockmonster out on her own. But the thing which did interest me was they were troop transports rather than freighters, and had a similar design to what I’d said we ought to have, if on a smaller scale. They were cruiser size, theirs not ours, and had six large launch tubes on each side, which I realized would take the size of ship I’d seen down on the planet when I’d dropped with team one that time. I stepped down again, and looked at Jane.
“Should we try and get them to surrender?”
“No point.”
“Why not?”
“They normally don’t answer. Jon keeps trying though.”
“And when they do answer?”
“They more or less ask why they should surrender to their food.”
“And then ignore you?”
“Yes.”
“How hard would it be to capture them?”
“How many?”
“All of them?”
“Why?”
I sighed.
“To send one of them back to our shipyard as an example of what could be built to move a division of troops around in.”
“True. Why the rest?”
“Redundancy?”
Rockmonster laughed.
I sighed again, went back to combat mode, and a couple of minutes later, there was but a single ship left. Back in bridge mode, I turned to Jane again.
“If you would do the honours please.”
“Confirmed.”
This time she stayed put, but Monty lifted immediately, and headed over to the remaining transport. I turned Claymore back towards the planet. In the distance, our oversized support ship was heading towards the debris.
“You want
a comnavsat in orbit?” asked Claymore.
“Please.”
The HUD showed one deploying, first doing a rapid orbit around the planet at Lightning speed.
“New design?”
“Rapid planetary survey model,” said Jane. “It’ll find the biggest city and take up a geostationary orbit above it.”
“Unless they shoot at it,” added Claymore, “in which case it’ll keep moving fast enough to avoid whatever they throw at it.”
“Unless it can’t.”
“What happens if it can’t?” asked Rockmonster.
“We send another one down to replace it in stealth mode.”
As it happened, no-one fired at it. Instead, as we came into orbit ourselves over the biggest city, a voice channel opened.
“About bloody time you got here,” shouted a voice which sounded suspiciously Scottish. “Get your furry arses down here immediately, and get weeding before we get overrun.”
There was no sign of the normal Scottish tendency to mangle words, so I somehow doubted it was Scotsmen down there. Of course it was just the translator choosing how to present the words. But a Scottish accent?
“Is there a visual available?” I asked Claymore.
The screen popped up. On it was something vaguely like a Lufafluf, except the head was feline. It seemed as taken aback as we were.
“You’re not Keerah. What the hell are you? Do you even understand me?”
“No,” I answered. “Well, yes, we’re not Keerah. We’re Human. We have a cease fire in place with the Keerah. Why did you think we might be?”
“The Keerah are our overlords. They’re supposed to be protecting us. And yet we get attacked anyway, and they do nothing. What are you doing here then?”
“Exploring a previously unknown arm of jump points out of our space. We came across a Trixone fleet a few systems ago, and another one in the last system.”
“Trixone? Never heard of them. Are they a large walking plant thing with a vicious stinger?”
“That’s them. You’ve come across them?”
“You might say that laddie. There are more than a few thousand of them down here. They flattened a lot of our cities from orbit first, and are now storming our walls. The only reason we’re still here is our walls are high, and they’re not all that bright having come down outside them. Still, they are a nuisance. Can you help?”
Legend of Dreamwalker (The Hunter Imperium Book 5) Page 11
