by Chris Hechtl
-~~~///^\~~~-
Captain Sprite checked on the status of Kittyhawk. The salvage ship had managed to make sufficient repairs to allow the escort carrier to return to B-95a3. Most of the personnel had been taken off by Danford earlier.
Many of the personnel were receiving counseling and liberty on Protodon or elsewhere. Admiral Irons had made a special inquiry on them. Everyone on the ship had received a promotion. At least three of the officers were considering early retirement.
That would be a shame and a loss to the Admiralty. She wrote an email to BUPERS to get them to suggest that the personnel be offered training positions or reservist postings before accepting retirement. At least that way they could still pass on their valuable hard earned knowledge base.
She was amused when the email was kicked back by Admiral Hill's A.I. within minutes. Thanks but mind your own business was the basic tone of the short email. She realized she should have known better than to try.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Captain Broken Antenna scanned the reports and then set them aside. So far so good. She had been working with Professor Tyler in education and Captain Herschel in transportation to push for a standardized Maritime Marine School system—specifically, one in Antigua, Senka, and Epsilon Triangula for civilian and government shipping.
Bek had one and had been trying to hold onto the idea of being the only one. The obstruction had ended abruptly with the scandal. She'd managed a minor coup by working with the delegations of the three worlds and the other cabinet departments to get the Maritime bill through.
She had to admit Bek had the right idea in theory. Their maritime schools were geared to sublight ships though; they had only fielded a few commercial or transport ships. That was going to change though.
Her plan would take into account the reservists. That had taken a bit of doing to get the Admiralty on board. Eventually they would phase in using reservists and even civilians to run some of the support ships in the fleet allowing naval sailors to serve on the warships.
Her real coup had come from an unlikely source, Admiral Irons. His addition to her plan was to allow civilians from the merchant training program who sailed convoys and in dangerous missions get a share of ownership of a ship. Sailors would get the same treatment but would get a larger share. The system was all point based. Sailors would also get a chance at the historical preservation buyout program that was on the books but not implemented.
The plan was that at the end of the war the civilian and military sailors would have the opportunity to trade in their shares for partial ownership of the ship and buy it out from the government. Those who bought war bonds could do the same. The idea was to build commerce and the economy after the war. She liked and approved of the fact that they were taking the long view.
-~~~///^\~~~-
"How can one little man cause so much headaches in such a short amount of time?" Nadine asked as she sailed into her boss's open office.
Moira snorted from her seat at her desk as she swiveled her chair. "I believe you are talking about a certain dwarven captain?" she asked, turning to her chief of staff. They'd had plenty of missives about one Captain Vestri Sindri as of late. He was causing something of a diplomatic ruckus.
"The very one," Nadine said sourly.
The secretary of state raised an eyebrow. "What has he been doing this time? Or dare I ask?"
"Other than pulling out of Tir na Nog and throwing them into an uproar? Plenty. He might be slight on stature but he's got a big foot. Two of them and he's determined to cram them into his mouth."
Moira snorted. "I'm not sure if I'd like to see it."
"I would. I'd sell tickets too," Nadine growled. "But we've got another issue with Pi, the election."
Moira blinked. "I thought we settled that?"
"Apparently Tir na Nog and several other prospective worlds want to push it back again. And Tir na Nog would like one or more of the candidates to tour Pi too." Nadine shook her head and held up her hands in surrender as Moira scowled. "And yes, I know that is a nonstarter. I'm wondering what they really want."
"Me too," Moira stated. "They've been … upset ever since they didn't get the naval base and sector capital. There are a lot of bruised egos there."
"Yes, ma’am. Any ideas?"
"Other than no, we're not moving the election back, no, not at the moment," Moira said with a shake of her head. She was supposed to leave for her first visit to Protodon and Kathy's World. She'd chosen that path over the Triang route since it would avoid following in the footsteps of Governor Randall's campaign.
"How do you want to handle this?" Nadine asked, setting herself up with her tablet.
"Well, I've had my hand slapped repeatedly by the admiral for our office making promises without consulting the navy," she said, pursing her lips. She knitted her fingers together on her desk. "We can't promise them or anyone more naval support. They can request it on their own but no promises or even hints," she said.
Nadine grimaced.
Moira shrugged. "He's right. And a certain diminutive captain is also right. Tir na Nog is not a good place for a major naval base let alone the sector capital. Part of our job is to let them down easy if possible. We can't please everyone."
Nadine nodded.
"Where are they with the medical thing?"
"The investments? I think they were pushing it but then the whole naval pull out sort of sidelined it. You think we could move it to the front burner?"
"If possible. Let me call Doctor Kraft and run it past him. Tir na Nog had a reputation as a medical world before the Xeno war; we can use that. And look into where some of the medical funding is going for Pi, the emergency assist program. And see if they've got a vaccination program going."
Nadine nodded. "It won't heal the bruised egos, but something is better than nothing I suppose."
"Exactly," Moira said as she rose and went to her coat rack. She was in a space station so she didn't need a coat or scarf but it was a part of her ensemble so she put them on. Besides, they fended off some of the blowers in some of the gangways. A few were arctically cold. "I'm going to my nine o'clock. Anything I need to know?"
"It's all in your implant brief. Nothing has changed," Nadine stated.
Moira nodded. The meeting was with a group of senators she hoped to win over so her department could get a bit more funding. She wanted to impress on them that the additional staff and couriers she wanted would be useful for years to come.
"Good luck!" Nadine called out as she left the office.
"You too," Moira said as her security entourage fell into place around her for the trip.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Admiral Irons signed off on BUPERS latest draft to send a massive amount of officers, enlisted, engineers, techs, and gear to Pi. He'd had to push the order through twice to get them to figure out that he was serious.
The moment he shot the signed document off Protector informed him Vice Admiral Gloriana Hill, the chimera head of BUPERS, was calling. He sighed and took the call.
He really should have canned her for her stunt with Lemans and others. But he'd held off for the moment. The scandal hadn't missed Yorgi. He'd finally accepted Yorgi's resignation. The man had seemed broken over his part in the scandal. He'd pushed Matilda to tap Yorgi to teach at the ONI college rather than let him return home in disgrace.
The image of Admiral Hill appeared on his HUD. "Admiral, sorry to bother you. Quick problem … about this draft … Aren't you sending that in the wrong direction? Shouldn't they be going to the front?"
"No," he stated flatly.
"Why?"
"Classified."
She blinked, clearly confused by that answer. "Sir?"
"You heard me."
Her brow wrinkled in confusion. "Sir, this isn't a tit for tat because I just slapped Captain Sprite's hand is it?"
"No. It is classified Ultra Black," he said in a controlled voice.
Admiral Hill was drawn up short by
the classification instantly. Her impulse was to repeat that dumbly, but her implants stopped her cold. Her A.I. shook her head on her HUD. "Yes, sir," she said very carefully, and decided to let the matter drop. Even if it felt like the admiral was getting rid of bothersome Bekians now instead of sending them to the war front.
"Anything else?"
"No, sir. I guess that's it."
"Very good," Admiral Irons stated, cutting the connection.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Enki was amused when she downloaded the market report. As expected, Federal Ansible Reception & Transmission Inc had gone public. They didn't have any techs or engineers, just a sales staff, but they were offering a public offering of shares on the market to raise funds to build a private ansible network. She sometimes wondered about organics; the shares were skyrocketing without any sign that the people offering the product could deliver.
Oh well.
Mnemosyne had apparently landed on her feet. Her fellow A.I. had followed through with her resignation of her cabinet post. Her replacement Clio was still being hotly debated in the senate. The Bekians were offering bitter opposition to the cabinet posting, which was no surprise given how much grief her species had given them. They were right in complaining that no other species had their own cabinet posting. Of course there were other reasons involved in it.
They couldn't attack Clio's credentials directly of course. Clio had been a historian and researcher before the Xeno war on Anvil Prime. She had been one of the few A.I. to survive the dark time. She'd even taken over the running of engineering for a time until the organics and other A.I. could step in.
She'd then gone on to teach at Anvil college and even acted as a guest lecturer at several of Antigua's colleges before Admiral Irons had tapped her for the position.
The posting required someone in the local net, not through the ansible. She had been surprised when some of the media had floated Justica and even herself as replacements. She hadn't been interested. In fact in a conversation she'd had with the other A.I., Captain Fletcher had floated the possibility that some partisans were trying to push her and or Justica out of their postings.
Which was most likely why Admiral Irons had tapped Clio. Clio was quiet but she was scrappy. She could hold her own with the senate hearings that were coming up.
-~~~///^\~~~-
When Admiral Irons had a free moment, he did something unusual; he visited his family's ancestral home on Mars via VR. The original brick vault structure had been destroyed by Mars quakes long before he'd visited the place in his youth. There had been enough VR copies in historical teaching courses in the galaxy though that it had survived destruction of Sol system.
The same for some other legendary places that had been destroyed in the First A.I. War or by natural events that had occurred.
His eyes roved the mural painted on the ceiling, then to the walls. At some point someone had used cement to sculpt trees and other things into the walls. He remembered seeing a plaque in the reconstructed museum detailing the fight. He'd remembered it because they'd emphasized the fight over other things like how they'd done it and so on. He shook his head but then stilled himself when his vision shifted wildly.
He realized he'd picked up on the idea of going to his ancestral home after speaking with Clio. Something in the conversation must have sparked some sort of need in his subconsciousness to revisit his past.
He made a mental note to ask if the recording was being used by the schools and colleges, possibly even the history museums just as his implants pinged to let him know his free time was about used up. He clicked closed and watched the scene dissolve and reality return.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Senator Russell smiled as he listened to the debate rage. Everyone was being very careful about how they structured their argument; none of them wanted to come off as soft on crime. Adding the Star Marshal service to New Texas was a coup for him and a natural fit. They might gnash their teeth or whatever but they couldn't come out and oppose it. Not that he expected many to do so.
Antigua would naturally have an office, but the central training facilities would be home in New Texas. His people were already lining up for it. The very idea of becoming a star marshal had kids and adults seeing stars once more.
He was going to have to find a way to get the Avalonians on board though. They wanted a piece of his pie, and he wasn't sure the military would put another army base next door to his homeworld. They were already balking at letting Avalon build their armor. He frowned thoughtfully. If he found a way for them to supply parts, maybe get their toe in the door, would they back off of their horning in on the army and Star Marshals? He made a note to his staff to send some feelers to find out.
Chapter 32
Horath
Theo was on hand as the force they were dispatching to Finagle to take and hold the star system got underway. Contrary to what they'd shot for it wasn't very much bigger than Quartermain's force. Two elderly battle cruisers, six newly constructed heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, two of the new CEVs, four destroyers, two couriers, and a single support ship. The emperor had insisted that Finagle would have to support the picket out of its own pocket.
Since many of the lords of Finagle had disappeared, some said they'd kept right on going past their home and into Sigma, the ships also carried orders to that effect. The support ship had parts to hopefully repair one or more of the four freighters in orbit of the planet.
The convoy had been turned around a week ahead of them. The undamaged ships and cruiser had been sent back to Finagle to strip the damaged ships of their cargo and then carry it to Horath. Hopefully once they were sorted out, the damaged freighters would be sorted out enough to make the long journey back to El Dorado.
The delay and lost ships were going to cost them though, both in time and in the amount of cargo they could haul. Admiral Post was supposed to find a way to make up the difference with ships from the boneyard, but unfortunately, too many were not suitable for such a long journey.
He sighed. As usual Elvira had been right. They needed to find a better balance between the defenses, warships, and the neglected support ships and infrastructure. He took a sip of his drink as he stared out the window. A bright flash of something going off made him turn in surprise.
"Sir, something just happened," a voice said over the intercom.
He turned and hit the transmit key as he set his drink down. "Define something," he stated.
"A shuttle just blew up. Scuttlebutt said it was the emperor's!"
"Oh, boy."
"Um, sir, the emperor is calling to talk to you," the voice said in a more subdued tone of voice.
"Ah. Okay," Theo said with a frown. That answered the question about if they'd gotten Piotr or not.
The answer was a decidedly hard no.
Pity about that.
-~~~///^\~~~-
With everything going on, the emperor's security team kept his movements secret. Whenever possible they employed decoys, both physical beings as well as shuttles and air cars. They also had dummy schedules out there along with the known but very vague public schedule.
So, a shuttle in the livery of the empire palace exploding was not what any of them considered a good thing. Fortunately, the pilot had recognized something was wrong and had distanced himself from the real shuttle in time to keep the debris from affecting them. The pilot's sacrifice wasn't even acknowledged by the emperor however.
He was more concerned with how his people had let that happen. It had been entirely too close to call for his comfort. Once he checked in with Malwin and Sakura, he spent hours screaming at his security people as they tried to get to the bottom of it.
-~~~///^\~~~-
"No, at this time we believe it was a reactor malfunction. Number two shuttle, which is used to carry staff and support personnel and is a backup, was destroyed with all hands. Regrettably, thirty people lost their lives," Sakura stated in a press conference.
She
waited a beat. "At this time the authorities are investigating so I can't comment on an active and open investigation. I assure you the emperor is safe as is the royal family. All are accounted for."
"Turn it off," Evin growled in disgust. He shook his head as his brother shut the vid screen off. "I didn't think it'd work."
"Then why didn't you say something?"
"Because you were pushing it so far. And you got further and closer than anyone else. And there was a slim chance that it would have worked and might have even taken out Catherine on the same bullseye." Evin shrugged.
"Yeah, I know. The only thing better is to get the entire clan in one fell sweep, but they only gather at the palace or during special family events. Security is a nightmare then," James stated.
"I've cleaned up my loose ends. You?" Evin asked meaningfully.
"Done. I had the cutouts done before the final phase."
"Good for you. Now we get to hunker down, smile, and ride it out with everyone else," Evin stated.
James snorted. "Yeah, I wonder how many will be gnashing their teeth and wishing we hadn't missed right along beside us?"
Evin shook his head. "Probably more than we'd like."
"Come again?"
"The more the merrier means more competition," Evin said by way of a parting shot as he left.
-~~~///^\~~~-
Catherine wasn't the only one who saw no chance of a win. There were none, not the way things were going. Even if they martialed the entire home fleet, they'd only push the enemy back. There was no way to get at the enemy's vitals to end the fight.
She had decided to do something about the situation before, but the Finagle situation and her father's paranoia over the latest assassination attempt was pushing her to move faster than she'd like.