Hawk Flight (Flight of the Hawk Book 3)

by Robert Little

  As a result of the increased anti-federal activity, the Navy was once again expanding its’ patrols in the system, and re-activating a number of light combat vessels, principally destroyers.

  This class of warship was large enough to be able to perform nearly all the basic tasks required of a naval warship. It had the ability to detect and identify spacecraft at reasonably long ranges, could target them with energy weapons and/or missiles, and held two shuttles and a very small component of Marines.

  During the late, unlamented civil war, the Navy had built over one thousand destroyers, the single largest component of the fleet; today, less than one hundred were in space, most of those were old to very old. The larger classes of warships were now almost totally nonexistent, with the one exception of the carriers, and even here, only two types remained in service. One was a hybrid carrier/cargo ship that performed patrol and surveillance duties and shuttled goods between the far-flung naval bases. The other class – fleet carriers - operated in a handful of systems that were able to afford the relatively large crews and their fighters, and required their ability to project power. In the latter case, the ships rarely left their own systems and were in a number of instances, more Potemkin than powerful.

  Warships were in some ways shockingly low-tech. They were designed to operate in a normally hostile environment of hard vacuum, extremes of temperature and high radiation. They had to be sophisticated enough to be able to navigate not only inside immense solar systems but between them as well. At the same time, after centuries of progress in digital intelligence, even the smallest scrap of radiation could allow an enemy to hack inside the ship’s systems. Gravity drive ships were visible from millions of kilometers, and their active sensors, such as radar, were as well. These systems, as well as all their passive sensors, were potential weak links, and the Navy had long ago discovered that no matter how intelligent they made them, eventually someone developed an even more intelligent digital key.

  As a result the Navy had been forced to create ships that were in some ways, about as sophisticated as a rock. Any faint trace of an electronic link into the ship’s inner workings was potentially fatal, allowing an enemy the means of taking over one or more of the ship’s systems. Therefore the digital backbone of naval warships was hardwired, largely immune to electrical, magnetic and physical shocks, highly redundant and relatively stupid. They possessed powerful active sensors and sensitive passive sensors, a distributed array of computers that could withstand multiple losses and continue to function, a mildly armored power room that was capable, at least when new, of generating enough energy to run multiple immense freighters, and a crew large enough to sustain fifty-percent losses and still perform its task of killing other ships.

  Most of the destroyers currently in operation were old to very old, were unpleasant places to spend your time, and since the Navy couldn’t afford to pay its crews a decent salary, the people who entered the service were frequently mainly interested in gaining enough education and skills to be able to get a job with a commercial company.

  Since it’s conclusion the civil war had progressed from being a catastrophic social upheaval to something largely confined to history books. Unfortunately, the society that emerged from that war had not fully recovered its cohesion. Former rebel worlds were to a greater or lesser extent integrated back into the federation, but that integration didn’t include a commensurate sea change in attitudes, including those that brought about the war in the first place. On a few worlds there still existed a fairly significant percentage of people who wanted to reenact the war, but this time, with a new ending. One of those worlds was Nasser.

  Unfortunately, Nasser was not the only system to be experiencing renewed seditious sentiments, but it was by far the largest, and was most probably the source of the at least partially-purchased discontent that was emerging in three additional systems.

  In response, the Navy had put together a flotilla consisting of two carriers, a newly commissioned cruiser and seven mostly ancient destroyers. It sent the six destroyers that had been in the Nasser system to cover the other three systems.

  Over the previous six months the two carriers, cruiser and four destroyers had been actively patrolling the huge outer system while the final three destroyers remained in the vicinity of Nasser.

  Most everyone believed in the dictum ‘follow the money’, and Nasser was where both the discontent and the money originated.

  Those three destroyers, the Tillotson, Fisk and Défiance had sustained an almost uninterrupted schedule of patrols, and the constant demands on the three ships were beginning to take their toll.

  The Fisk had lost one of its fusion plants and was currently limping toward the primary Naval base, the only one in the system that possessed the resources to replace the bottle. Replacement had become necessary after a major failure nearly caused containment loss. The bottle was beyond repair out of ship resources, thus the slow progress. The Tillotson was escorting the Fisk.

  Lt. Lee received a ship comm, telling him to report to Engineering, one of the generic names for the collection of spaces that generated, stored and distributed power throughout the ship.

  He took a deep gulp of coffee and ran aft. Lt. Singh was standing at the console and after quickly verifying that Shin Ho was up to speed, said, “Lt., I need you to relieve me; the captain seems to think that we might want to have weapons, and at the moment, there is a problem with the missile queue. I’ll be at least a couple of hours, so unless you’re luckier than you look, comm mess deck and have them send you down some food. Good?”

  Shin Ho formally said, “I have the watch”, and settled into the worn but comfortable seat. The lieutenant grumbled as he removed his coveralls, “I swear, the day I get married, I’ll show up wearing these stinking coveralls.” Shin Ho said, “Sir, that statement represents two unwarranted assumptions: first, that you’ll ever find time to get off this fine example of medieval engineering; and, second, that if you ever do, a woman would not run away at the first hint that you serve in this aforementioned fine example of medieval engineering.”

  The full lieutenant, by now hanging his suit in a locker, barked a semblance of a laugh, “Lt., you take far too many chances: for instance, I have already found a suitable companion and if I thought you knew how to behave yourself in respectable company, I would consider introducing you to her best friend.” Shin Ho replied, “Sir, I am quite comfortable in respectable company – unfortunately, of late I rarely ever get the opportunity.”

  Lt. Singh paused in the open hatch, “Lt., the port bottle is running a couple of degrees hot, so keep an eye on it, especially as it’s the only one we have. Um, I was serious about the introduction. After the yard dogs get through with us we’re due for a two week visit to Elyse for some critical upgrades.”

  Shin Ho looked over his left shoulder, “Anything for Engineering?” Lt. Singh shook his head, “Lucky you, we’re getting some repair kits.” Shin Ho sighed dramatically, “What we really need are some shovels.” Lt. Singh laughed in delight, waved and disappeared.

  A moment later his head appeared in the hatch, “She’s in the Navy, so you’ll have something to talk about.” Shin Ho asked to the once again empty hatch, “Who’s in the Navy?”

  He spent the next ten minutes bringing himself up to date on the systems. The port bottle had been running at near capacity for over forty hours and was beginning to show the strain. In addition to providing a modest three G acceleration, it was powering environment. This was something well within the original design capacity of the system, but the ship was tired, and clearly showing her age. The bottle temp went up another degree and Shin Ho commed the bridge, “Sir, we’re running well above the recommended bottle temp, I request that we cut our acceleration to two G’s.”

  Under normal circumstances, at least for the Fisk, running a little hot was not unusual, but they had already lost the starboard bottle, and the OoD didn’t want to have to comm the ship captain to tell him he was
in charge of a derelict. He sighed, “We’re reducing power now.”

  Over the course of the next thirty minutes the bottle temp slowly lowered back into the orange zone. Shin Ho had ordered one of his snipes to look at the cooling system to see if there was a problem with it, and she returned ten minutes later, “Sir, we lost a pump.” Shin Ho quickly looked at a schematic of the system and told her, “Pull a pump from the Starboard bottle and swap with the defective pump. Get someone to help you, and before you pull the defective unit, have the chief check everything. Questions?” She shook her head and hustled out of the space.

  There were four pumps on each bottle, which when new, could run flat out with just two. Now, the radiators and connecting piping were restricted, pressure was up and coolant flow down.

  Five minutes later the Bridge commed. The captain asked, “What’s happening?” Shin Ho said, “Sir, we lost a coolant pump. We’re swapping one out and replacing it with one from the starboard bottle – there are no replacements. It shouldn’t take longer than thirty minutes. I’ll comm the bridge when we are able to make more power.” The captain grunted and said, “Make certain your chief is involved.” Shin Ho said, “Yes sir.”

  The captain was a Mustang, meaning he’d come up through the ranks, also meaning he was a nearly perfect fit for the ancient ship. He didn’t suffer fools, but he also didn’t abuse people in public. He had a ferocious temper when one or more of his people did something to lower or eliminate his ship’s ability to operate as designed. The loss of one of the two fusion plants was not due to incompetence and he knew it, but he also knew that the Navy didn’t care for excuses. Pirates, or, as some were calling them, “Freebies” would just love to put a missile into his ship, and even with the escort, he was worried. He hated having to depend on anyone, and right this minute he didn’t have enough acceleration to flee from a comet, his energy weapons were limited to the charge held in his leaky capacitors, and now his missile system was down.

  At twenty-five minutes Shin Ho commed the chief, but before he could speak was told, “Sir, we’re putting the old starboard pump into the very old port system. One minute to finish, two for a pressure test, and if all goes according to our most ardent hopes, we’ll be able to up the power.”

  Shin Ho lowered his voice a notch and said, “This is the captain, who am I speaking to?” The chief laughed, “Lieutenant Junior Grade Lee, this is Power Production Chief Bork.” Shin Ho laughed, “Get the lead out, Lt. Singh has told me that he has a prospective date with a possible female.”

  The chief laughed, “Sir, the lead you seem to be complaining about is the only thing protecting Lt. Singh’s ability to reproduce, given that this woman he claims is waiting for him is, in fact, both waiting for him, and a woman.”

  Shin Ho replied, “Those are way too many assumptions; on the other hand, we both know that the captain really does have someone waiting for him – the admiral.”

  The chief said, “Hold one.” After a moment he said, “It’s holding pressure. Since we didn’t touch anything else in the system, I recommend that you raise power up to forty percent. I’ll remain here just in case the plumbing doesn’t hold, improbable as that might be.”

  Shin Ho raised the power level up to forty percent and listened on an open comm as the chief watched the pump for any signs of leaks. At five minutes Shin Ho said, “Go back to your poker game. Thanks chief.”

  He commed the bridge and got the captain. He said, “Lt. Lee sir. We’ve got a replacement pump online and I’ve upped the power level to forty percent. We have enough power to make three G’s.”

  The captain knew the ship’s guts as well as most engineering officers, and simply replied, “Acknowledged.” Five seconds later the ship mildly increased its’ lethargic acceleration. The captain’s failure to ask even one single sharp question was as good as praise to Shin Ho.

  He had almost ten minutes before another “Warning” message appeared on his console.

  Chapter 8

  The Fisk, or “fish” as the crew called it – possibly for the way it’s scrubbers failed to remove various odors - eased into position in an immense dock designed for carriers. Since the Navy presently operated far fewer carriers than in the decades following the war, the huge docks would often perform work on the miniscule destroyers which were returning to service, even if badly.

  As soon as the ship was locked into position and station power was delivered, the ship’s sole remaining bottle was shut down.

  Over the next two days Navy engineers crawled through virtually every corner of the ship. The captain’s long list of required repairs was amended to include new radar emitters and antennas, upgraded computer blocks and most of a new propulsion system. The two weeks downtime turned into three months.

  The yard opened up a gaping hole in the side of the ship and Shin Ho spent a week working like mad to begin the task of stripping the ship of it’s capacitors, magnetic fusion bottles and their related cooling systems, all of the ancient power cables, which had measurably reduced the ship’s power while adding to its’ internal heat, plus all of the related controls.

  On the eighth day he received orders transferring him to another ship, the cruiser Los Angeles. It was TDD, or Temporary, Detached Duty, meaning he was still a part of the Fisk crew, but it also seemed to mean that someone thought that three months was either a very shortsighted guess, or the Navy was suffering temporary growing pains.

  Or both.

  Shin Ho loved the challenges associated with bringing a dead ship back to life, and had greatly looked forward to the literal regeneration of the Fisk, but he was also intrigued with the possibility of serving in something that wasn’t older than his grandfather.

  He caught a ride with a destroyer heading to the outer system. It was a 3rd gen ship, and was ‘only’ fifteen years old. En route Shin Ho visited Engineering and spoke to the JG who was on duty. The ship looked tired, and poorly maintained. He didn’t say anything, but thought that at the time the Fisk went into dry dock, it actually looked better. He asked a few questions, and concluded that the ship was being run ragged.

  The Navy had not been able to replace the aged 2nd gen ships with sufficient numbers of 3rd generation destroyers, which in turn were already nearing their design life. There were a couple of 4th generation destroyers in Earth system, and they could run rings around any military ship in space, but there was no money for more, and in any event, they weren’t finding any enemies in the Earth system.

  Shin Ho stepped aboard the cruiser, which massed nearly ten times that of the Fisk. It smelled better too. He saluted the flag and the Officer on Duty, handed over his chip and waited while someone was rousted to guide him to the captain’s quarters.

  Captain Adamczyk stood with a small smile to greet Shin Ho and returned his salute with a crisp, military version of the usually informal almost wave of the hand. He then surprised the Lt. JG by reaching out to shake his hand. He gestured to the single chair and took his seat. Shin Ho settled a little uncomfortably in the hard chair.

  The captain reached out his hand and Shin Ho stood to hand over the tiny chip containing the details of his military life. The captain set it on the desk and said, “I understand that the Fisk will be in the yards for at least three months. What can you tell me about the ship?”

  Shin Ho was a little surprised by the direction the meeting was taking, but after a moment’s thought said, “Sir, the ship managed a 99% performance rating. Unfortunately, the Zerohm cabling is breaking down, and during this cruise, system inefficiencies rose appreciably, causing the plant to have to run harder to overcome losses. Additionally, it has become difficult to impossible to obtain repair kits and parts to keep the fusion plants and capacitors operational. That led to the loss of the Starboard plant. As a result the yard has authorized a virtually complete replacement of the entire plant, including bottles, capacitors, associated controls and control runs, and the power cables.”

  His answer very carefully skirted a
ny implied criticism of the Navy’s need to have to meet too many commitments with too few ships and personnel.

  Captain Adamczyk casually asked, “What about the Captain?” Shin Ho tensed slightly. He didn’t know the man sitting across from him, although his reputation as a ship handler was excellent. He answered, “Sir, Captain Zil knows the ship better than his crew, he knows the first name of every sailor on his ship and he demands and receives their total dedication.”

  The captain cocked his head and with a faint smile asked, “Total dedication?” Shin Ho promptly answered, “Sir, it is not uncommon to serve port and starboard shifts, and double shifts are common, but morale remains very high and Captain’s Masts are extremely rare.” Long and seemingly endless hours on duty usually meant increased disciplinary issues.

  Captain Adamczyk asked, “So, you look forward to returning?” Shin Ho knew that he was being interrogated, knew it was being done rather well, and thought that this question was crucial to his immediate future. He said, again without hesitation, “Sir, I had looked forward to the next three months; however, the opportunity to serve in a new class of ship is exceptionally rare, so I admit to being torn.”