I replied, “Thank you, sir.”
* * *
Hours later, Captain Bleyer came up to me, furious about the fact that he had been threatened with being charged with dereliction of duty. Instantly, I sized him up for the type of action he was prepared to do. I figured that he would probably get himself worked up enough to take a swing at me. I was right.
I explained to him, “Captain Bleyer, you failed as ship’s captain to perform your duties. Then you absented yourself from the bridge without putting a replacement on the bridge. That’s dereliction of duty, no matter how you look at it. I don’t want to see you court-martialed, if only to save you the embarrassment. I know you’re rich enough that it won’t affect you on the outside since you don’t have to go looking for a job. However, I figured that your country club friends might like you a little better if your service career was unblemished. I suggest that you take the opportunity to resign and not disgrace yourself further.”
He yelled, “You lying son-of-a-bitch! What proof do you have of what you said I did? I can get every officer on that bridge to swear that I did no such thing!”
I replied, “You’re wrong. The Thurman is a civilian gunship on loan to the Navy. As such, she has a few features not present on Navy ships, such as a bridge video recorder. Your entire display of behavior is on Tamp-a-pruf video tape. It doesn’t matter how many officers you convince to perjure themselves, you won’t win. You’ll be disgraced and thrown out of the military. You could even possibly be given some jail time.”
He swung his fist then. I was ready to duck. Then I backed off and looked at him for a moment to see if he was going to try to follow up. When he did, I struck back. He hit the ground and smiled back at me.
He sneered, “Striking an officer is a court-martial offense, too. Now we’ll see who’s thrown out of the service!”
I turned on my heels and left him there gloating. If nothing else, I had to report the incident. I did so by going directly to Headquarters where the Fleet Admiral was still in his office.
I said, “Sir, I just had to punch Captain Bleyer when he came at me for the second time. Both times, he missed with his punch. I backed off from him after he threw and missed with his first punch. When he came at me a second time, I reasoned that no amount of backing up would stop him, so I decked him with one punch. I imagine he intends to press charges for striking an officer. I will counter his charges right now by charging him with attempting to strike a superior officer.”
He said, “All right. Seems like we can’t keep you away from courtrooms. No matter. I know how to deal with him. Don’t worry about a court-martial. You should have taken the opportunity to hit him a few more times, though. No more severity in the penalty for that even if you did have to face a court-martial. Go on about your duty. I’ll see Captain Bleyer shortly. He’ll be off base before the day is through. You have my word on that.”
* * *
True to his word, the Fleet Admiral did get Captain Bleyer off the base and out of uniform before the day was through. From what I understand now, the Admiral managed to walk in front of a basketball and get a bruise on his face. Then he met later with the Captain and told him that he was going to be charged with striking a superior officer, namely the Admiral himself. Furthermore, the Admiral’s aide was going to testify that he saw Captain Bleyer punch the Fleet Admiral. In essence, the Fleet Admiral convinced Bleyer that more than one could play at the game. Bleyer would spend a guaranteed ten years in a military prison, where money wouldn’t do him any good, unless he had Bleyer’s resignation of his commission in hand within an hour. The Fleet Admiral had Bleyer’s resignation in hand within ten minutes. Bleyer was off the base within the hour.
Chapter 16
I moved Millie up to become Captain on my ship and had a new officer brought into the squadron to replace her as First Officer. We still had two weeks to practice and plan for what I knew was to happen. No one else in the squadron knew that we were going on that mission in less than two weeks. They still believed that we would be doing routine patrols for quite a while. Regardless of what they knew, the Mad Dogs Squadron was making a name for itself. Our personnel were able to walk about with pride wherever they went. They had met the enemy several times and won. No other squadron in the Navy at that time could boast of winning all their engagements. Even when the extra rations were put on board the squadron ships, I didn’t tell anyone that we would be leaving the next day, not for an extended patrol as they were guessing, but for the home planet of the Ape-oids.
* * *
My squadron captains and I, along with the other officers, had gone over various ancient naval battles and the tactics they used in preparing for the mission we were now on. For a change, we didn’t scramble into space. I handed each officer a sealed envelope before he or she boarded his or her ship with instructions not to open it until I ordered it opened.
Then I led the Mad Dogs Squadron into space where each ship did a test drill of battle stations and fired its weapons. We then set course for what was our usual patrol area, doubtless with every ship’s captain wondering what was in the envelope. When we reached the patrol area, I communicated to the ships to open the envelopes. We continued on past our patrol area and headed at top speed for the Ape-oids home planet to attack and destroy as much of their military as possible. While we moved through space, we maintained strict communications discipline. Not one word was passed over the lightbeam radios from any ship.
* * *
The Mad Dogs Squadron swept into the near space of the enemy home planet and found itself facing only three heavy warships detailed to protect their planet because of my previous successful attacks on them. My squadron drew up into a line formation as we moved toward the enemy home planet. The three heavy warships turned towards us and communicated with the rest of their fleet to come and offer assistance. I yelled, “Charge!” over the lightbeam radio to all the other ships of the squadron now that our presence was known.
With our new Mark IV quads on each ship, we were first to fire. We immediately scored hits on the three enemy ships. It was an easy victory despite the fact that the three alien ships didn’t retreat. They stubbornly tried to resist the unfavorable odds of my ten ships to their three. It was exactly the kind of initial skirmish I anticipated as we destroyed those three ships completely. We swept past their battered hulls to the enemy home world to begin a systematic bombardment of the military installations.
Five ships of the squadron remained on orbital patrol against enemy reinforcements from other areas while five ships went into the atmosphere to destroy each and every military installation we could find. I had all the ships take turns at patrolling and bombarding so that they all got in some practice and gained more confidence. We had almost a full day to bombard the military installations before enemy ships from other locations in space finally showed up to defend the planet from attack.
All ten of my ships regrouped as soon as the patrolling ships picked up the incoming enemy ships on long range sensors. We were fully lined up before they got into range and moved out toward them with every intention of facing them down and destroying them, even though there were twenty of them to our ten. Just before any of their ships got into extreme weapons’ range, I ordered the charge. I was pleased to see all nine other ships abreast of mine as we went into top speed and fired our weapons. It didn’t matter to me that the enemy was just barely out of range. I wanted my ships to score the first hits, even if they only caused minimal damage. We were outnumbered. Any damage we could inflict on the enemy was to our advantage.
Because of our longer range Mark IV quads on each ship, we caused the first heavy damage to the enemy ships before their own weapons could affect us even minimally. By the time we were in range of their weapons and also of our remaining on board weapons, two of the enemy ships were permanently disabled. The odds were turning in our favor. The heavier Mark IV quads only became more effective as the range decreased. We had more impact on the enem
y than his ships were having on us. We were receiving only light damage compared to the heavy damage we inflicted on him.
As two more of the enemy ships were destroyed or disabled, one of my ships was likewise destroyed. Still, we charged at top speed as our shots’ accuracy continued to tear at the heart of the enemy squadron. Then two more of the enemy ships stopped firing as their hulls were penetrated fully by our weapons fire. Some more of my ships were hit, but they all pressed forward. We continued to use whatever weapons were operational against the remaining ships of the enemy squadron.
Then we were suddenly into a melee situation as both squadrons came up to each other. The training I put my squadron through of using individual initiative paid off. I was able to notice that some of the ships of my squadron took advantage of opportunities to slip behind some of the enemy vessels, where the enemy’s guns couldn’t reach, and put massive T-shots on the enemy. Quickly, in the space of less than a minute, three more enemy ships were out of action as the odds continued to improve in our favor. One more of my ships was destroyed, but the remaining enemy ships were already doomed as the rest of my ships ganged up on the enemy. The massive firepower of the Mark IV quads at extreme close range instantly disabled or destroyed any enemy ship hit by them.
It seemed to end almost as suddenly as it began. I realized that none of the enemy ships were returning fire and sent the order to the ships to regroup. After a few moments, the squadron was regrouped. We quickly checked the two ships we lost and found no survivors. The bodies and combat videos were taken off and put in storage. Then to prevent the enemy from using the two ships, we fired a salvo of heavy weapons at them to destroy them so completely that they couldn’t be salvaged and used against us later. Then we did the same for the enemy ships, firing enough salvoes at them that there were only small pieces of metal floating about. We passed the enemy planet once more and fired a parting shot at them before we withdrew to return to our part of space. Then we returned to our home port to turn over the combat videos to Headquarters, so they could analyze how well the training had gone and whether to make the rest of the Navy do things differently.
* * *
The men and women of our ships were jubilant when we touched down and handed over our combat videos to show how much damage we had done to the enemy in one raid. From that moment on, I knew I had a squadron that could perform effectively as a team as well as individually when the situation called for it.
The Fleet Admiral called me to his headquarters office later. I went in to see him smiling and obviously pleased.
“Have a smoke. Care for a drink?” he asked as he took two glasses from the shelf.
I said, “I guess a small one would be fine.”
He smiled and said, “Good. I hate to celebrate alone. I’ve seen some of the videos from the combat your squadron was in. I’m impressed. I’ve had my ears to the ground and found out where you got the idea. Eighteenth century sailing ships and Admiral Nelson. I looked it up. It was good reading. I made it an order for all the other squadron leaders to read it. I don’t think they’ll catch on by themselves. They’re too much into the habit of losing. Now the problem is how to get this old way of fighting back into use throughout the whole Navy. I’m sure you don’t want to go through two months of training just to get nine more ships capable of functioning right. Am I correct?”
I replied, “Yes sir. This is hard work. It might be better to take some of the officers serving on those ships and give them their own commands. Then take the current ships’ captains and make them squadron leaders. That way, you’d get nine squadrons instead of one within the same two month period. They won’t be as successful and I sure wouldn’t send them against the enemy home world until they’re more experienced. But they will be more successful than what we experienced in the past.”
“So, you’re still going to be instructing another nine ships, but you’re giving me a way to get nine, I take it, squadrons reformed?” the Admiral asked.
I said, “Yes sir. I realize you’re leaving me the one experienced crew to show the others how to do everything. I appreciate that.”
He said, “It’s not for that reason. I don’t want to risk losing your services. I may be called selfish for doing that, but right now only you and the people you trained are having any success. It’s the only success we’ve had since winning one battle at the beginning of the war. You had a part in that one, too, as a civilian I remember. Yes, your ship put the naval squadron to shame when you waltzed right between both forces and took out six of the enemy by yourselves with less firepower than the whole squadron had. You managed to embarrass them into attacking and winning that battle. Then they reverted back to how the Navy has been until you took over your ship and showed them how to win. Right now you’re the most important asset this Navy has. Until you create enough leaders to win this war, I’m going to back you to the hilt and let you get away with a lot. Hell, I’d even let you get in bed with my own daughter if I thought it might make you more effective.”
I replied, “I appreciate the compliment, sir.”
He replied, “Compliment, my ass! It’s the damn truth! But, at the same time, I don’t want you to overwork yourself. So take a week off. Give yourself and your crew a rest. Then you’ll have nine more ships while we stay busy with what you’ve given us so far. Get yourself laid and drunk or whatever you do in order to keep from burning out. I want you ready to work in a week. I’m also promoting you to Captain. I’m sorry that it’s still a temporary commission, but it’s the best I can do for now.”
I realized that I had finally caught up completely with my class and passed most of them in the process. Only a few members of my class had made captain yet. The few that had been promoted to captain made it on their own merit, but they weren’t having the impact on the Navy that I was. The only thing lacking in my progress was that my commission was temporary while theirs were regular commissions. I wouldn’t be completely satisfied with my own progress until I achieved a regular commission, the same commission I would have been granted if I hadn’t been dropped from the Academy by the reduction in force. Sergeant Clark’s prophetic words about officers leaving the service came back to me then. That’s when I realized some officer resignations were contributing to my rapid rise in rank. It wasn’t solely attributable to officer losses in battle or my ability.
“Yes sir. Thank you, sir,” I responded.
He said, “Good! Now go give your crew the week off and get yourself some rest and whatever.”
I stood up and saluted sharply, receiving a return salute from the Fleet Admiral that was just as sharp. Then I turned around to leave his office and saw a beautiful woman, dressed very seductively, standing in the doorway.
“That’s my daughter,” the Fleet Admiral said. “Annie, I don’t suppose you’ve met Captain Oden. He’s the young man in charge of the Mad Dogs Squadron that just tore new assholes into the Ape-oids a few days ago. He’s the same Captain who was in command of the Thurman when it did the same thing a few months ago.”
“Hello, Captain Oden,” she sighed in a silken voice so soft and light that it floated on the breeze.
I said, “Hello, Miss Reason. I’m pleased to meet you.”
She walked by me, managing to let her baby-soft body come into full contact where possible with mine, before taking a seat facing her father.
I said, “If you’ll excuse me, Admiral, Miss Reason, I need to see about giving my crew shore leave.” I turned back to the door and exited. I could imagine having her in bed and took a deep breath for a moment as I walked back to my ship’s area and called my crew around.
* * *
I stated with a broad smile, “The Fleet Admiral is pleased with the mission results and you are on shore leave for a week. We’ll be training a new group of ships and crews afterwards. We’ll show them how to use our tactics in practice and in real battles, if we can find some enemy ships willing to be our targets.”
The men and women laughed
at that remark and then waited for me to say something else.
I went on, saying, “In my own opinion, you did an outstanding job. I can only say well done and enjoy your shore leave. Dismissed!”
They cheered suddenly and then dispersed as each went his or her own way to start enjoying the week off.
For myself, I thought about Admiral Reason’s comment concerning his daughter and her sudden appearance, especially considering how seductively she was barely dressed. The tight skirt with a slit up one side that exposed her leg all the way to one hip and the nearly translucent blouse with the plunging neckline was enough to stiffen any young man. Certainly, I had felt something when she brushed by me and it wasn’t just her that I felt moving.
For my own time off, I decided to visit some of my old friends, particularly the Sarge. I hadn’t seen him in months and it was time to visit him socially instead of because of business. I went inside the ship and put on my shoulder pack before I left the base and took a Yellow to the Academy.
Along the way to the Academy, I decided that after visiting him, I would drop in on Pennyweight Shipping Company and visit Penny, Jim, and some of the others. They were among my most supportive friends. I wanted to let them know that they were still my friends. I also decided to drop in on retired Admiral Cunningham. It wasn’t because I needed anything from the surplus store, but he had been supportive of me and a social call seemed appropriate then.
Chapter 17
The Sarge took a break in his work and talked with me. He could see the excitement in my eyes. Before I could tell him about my promotion to Captain this morning, he was telling me.
He said, “So, you’re a full-fledged Captain now. Congratulations, Dave. I know you’ll continue to advance. Of course, the rest of the promotions won’t come quite as fast until you’ve accumulated experience at more jobs. But, I’ve no doubt of your abilities and neither should you by now. I take it that this is merely a social call?”
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