Convoy (The Shelby Logan Chronicles Book 1)

by Chris Hechtl

  “Put me down you overgrown buffoon!” she laughed as he whirled her about.

  “You started it,” he teased. He set her on the bed with a bounce, then pinned her down. Their fingers entwined by her head. “Gotcha,” he teased.

  He felt her short but powerful legs wrap around his hips as she kissed him. “Gotcha back,” she murmured. They kissed again.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Ayumu heard the giggles and guffaws on the other side of the wall and rolled his eyes. He didn't know how his father had scored the separate room, but he appreciated it even if he had a roommate. The Veraxin was out and about on the ship most of the time however.

  It was a pity he couldn't use the room to score his own chick; there weren't any chimps of the opposite sex on board in his age group. “They're at it again,” he muttered as he put his earphones in and then turned on the music. He knew the routine; they'd play for a bit then the ooks, moans, and then groans would start. They'd probably be late for dinner. You'd think the way the duo fracked that he wouldn't be an only child, but apparently, his mother practiced birth control religiously.

  He pulled his tablet out and set it in his lap as he sat Indian style on the bed. He had gotten over part of his burning resentment over being uprooted. At least they hadn't been able to follow through with sending him to a special boarding school on Antigua. He had been tempted to put in for that, or for one somewhere else, but the ones his parents had in mind were single gender only. He didn't want to be trapped in one until he reached sixteen and was declared an adult.

  His schooling was now up in the air though as was his own career plans … such as they were. He wasn't certain what he wanted anymore. He was sorely tempted to sign up with the military … as long as he didn't worry about getting shot. Come to think of it, the discipline crap he'd heard about really sucked too. He shook his head. He got enough of that crap from his parents telling him what to eat, when to go to bed, sit up straight, clean his room … he grimaced.

  His parents would be horrified if he chose the military though he thought with a brief smile. His mother would be terrified her darling boy would get shot at; his dad would be pissed at being thwarted in his own planning of his son's future. Just for the hell of it he pulled up the various branches and then went through their online brochures. What the heck, he didn't have much else to do to kill the time, he thought.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Phoebe felt her husband's head on her right breast and gently stroked his fur. He was out; that usually happened when they got a bit carried away and missed a meal. His breathing was even and gentle, almost matching her own. His lips brushed her nipple, and his breath tickled it which was why she was still awake. It sent tingles through her from time to time. What was it with men and nipples, she wondered? A mommy thing? She smiled slightly as her fingertip traced around his ear drowsily. They'd screwed like they were teens; something she had only recently grown to appreciate. She was a bit sore in some odd places but felt very good.

  Fred bothered her though; he lacked vision. He lacked the will power to see what was in front of him and grab it. She'd been the one to push him into the small but growing State Department. She liked the power of being a mayor's wife on Antigua, but State had been a big opportunity and getting in on the ground floor meant big things.

  She'd been disappointed that he'd been passed over for promotion. He hadn't applied himself she knew. If he'd tried a bit more, been a bit more public, he might have scored a deputy slot. That would have paved his way eventually to the secretary post. And dare she even think it, she asked herself, fingers pausing. The presidency was there, close if he gamed it right.

  But no, he'd instead gone for this post. It was maddening … so she wanted to make the most of it. He was right though, a native had more of a right and quite naturally more of a chance at scoring a sector governorship than he did.

  But that didn't mean they couldn't make the most of it. If they worked together, if she pushed him just right, she'd maneuver him to get some political points for his career. And who knows? She might score a few herself. She was still young; with anti-geriatric treatments, she could easily be in her prime for a century or more.

  She frowned slightly at that thought. For years, she'd been focused on his career. Now, with that option open to her … could she take the plunge herself? Be more than a king maker? The power behind the throne? There was temptation there; she had the ambition if he didn't … she frowned thoughtfully.

  She didn't like to admit it, but her being monogamous was not out of some archaic thing. It was so she wouldn't have any competition for him. It allowed her to control and guide him. Having Ayumu when she did had cemented her control and had given them the right image. She loved the child, but he was getting willful, possibly more than she could handle. She didn't like his burning resentment over her machinations, which was why she'd quietly suggested the boarding school and taken steps to make the boy think it wasn't her idea and that she wasn't trying to plan his future for him.

  Her frown deepened slightly. She could find something in Pyrax or on the road to Tau, even a place in Tau if necessary to drop him off at if he pushed too hard and embarrassed her or his father. She wasn't certain if she should take the gloves off and quietly put that threat out there … no, it was best not to come out into the open. She didn't want him to resent her as much as he seemed to resent Fred.

  Could his resentment be an Oedipus complex in nature? The whole maturing male coveting the female and in competition with another male thing? The female which happened to be his mother and someone he'd loved … and the father who stood over him as an alpha male? She grimaced. She needed to find the right female for him, someone she could interface with, someone amiable to her and her plans. Unfortunately, like a lot of things that was up in the air. She'd started the process while squelching his fumbling approaches on Antigua but now there were a dearth of suitable choices.

  She reminded herself to look into it in Pyrax as she let her mind drift with the possibilities of the future.

  Chapter 10

  Commander Janice Yu was received on board; however, there was a bit of confusion since she was not joining the ship's company. “I'm just here to pay my respects and to pick the captain's brain on what she needs me to do,” the commander said as Shelby came around the corner.

  “Janice?” she said, stopping dead to stare.

  The commander turned and then smiled to Shelby. “Hi. Sorry I didn't call ahead for the visit but, since I was in the neighborhood …,” she shrugged.

  “Janice!” Shelby said, coming over to the woman. She was ready to embrace the other woman but Janice braced to attention. “Come on,” Shelby said.

  “Okay,” the other woman said softly as she followed along.

  “And what are you currently doing here??” Shelby demanded as the lift doors closed. She moved in and gave Janice a hug, surprising the other woman. “Damn good to see you. What have you been up to? And what's this about you being here?”

  “Well, I'm dealing with a new ship about to launch. I wanted to see if you could attend,” Janice said. “I had Dunatis for the past several years. We ran convoy escorts so I should say I'm something of an expert there. Dunatis was due for a refit so they just upgraded me to the Admiral Zlanka when I got back from my leave. She's a North Hampton,” Janice said proudly.

  Shelby's eyes flared in appreciation at the other woman's good fortune. She'd kept in touch with Janice but not as well as she'd liked. She knew the other woman had done a stint as a navigational professor at the academy for a while, and she'd known about Dunatis and Janice's promotion to full commander, but she hadn't known Dunatis was about to put in for rest and refit, nor that her old friend and shipmate was due for a new command. “Ah. You are a plank owner, good for you! But you've got teething issues to handle,” Shelby probed with a nod as she stepped back.

  They exited the lift and the conversation entered a lull with the additional curious personnel
around them. Shelby led the way to her office and then she waved for her guest in to her office.

  “Only a thousand or so every fracking day,” Janice sighed as she followed behind Shelby into the office and then shut the door. “I had to fight tooth and nail to get an hour off to come here in person. I was half afraid I'd have to comm you instead,” Janice admitted as they each took a seat. Shelby noted the woman had matured, taken on greater strength and confidence since she'd last seen her.

  “So, how has life been treating you otherwise?” Shelby asked. “I got your last batch of letters, but the last one was several months ago,” she said.

  “When I stopped getting your letters I sort of let it slide,” Janice admitted.

  “Coffee?” Bernard asked from his pantry. Both women looked up but then Shelby looked to her guest.

  Janice shook her head and flicked her hand in dismissal. “Nothing for me.”

  “We're good, Bernard,” Shelby said as her eyes cut from her guest to her steward.

  “Very well,” the steward said as he shut the pantry door.

  They engaged in small talk for a few minutes to catch up. Both women were still unattached, though apparently Janice had been actively looking in some of the dating sites. “Well, I was,” Janice said with a grimace. “It is hard to date when you are a captain, even harder when your ship is moving. Ever since I got to Pyrax, I was trying to set up something but well, with the new ship and all …,” she grimaced.

  “I know the feeling,” Shelby said. “I haven't tried the dating circuit myself, but my XO is dating someone in the service. I don't envy her.”

  “I see.”

  “So, you got Admiral Zlanka. I take it you are here to touch base with me? Since you are going with us to Tau? Unless your orders have changed … I know that's been happening,” she said.

  “I'm still going. I was offered a couple commands actually. Admiral Zlanka seemed the right choice, though I'm not sure about some of the missions a light cruiser performs. I can handle exploring; I'm actually looking forward to that part. It's the picket duty I'm a bit less happy about.”

  “True. You've got to take the good with the bad I suppose,” Shelby said.

  “I know.”

  There was a brief lull then Janice shook herself. “Well, my hour is nearly up,” she said regretfully as she rose. Shelby hastily followed suit. “And I know you have your hands full with Prometheus as well as planning the mission. I won't keep you. I need to make sure my own team is finishing up the prep for the commissioning ceremony later this week,” Janice said.

  “Next time you are on board I'll arrange a tour,” Shelby said with a smile as they shook hands. “For the record, I'm glad to have you on the mission, Janice. And I'd love to be there for the ceremony. Let me know exactly when and where.”

  “Okay. The ceremonies are pretty short now. There are two or three a day it seems,” Janice warned.

  “I see. Well, we should still give the girl her due,” the captain said with a nod.

  “Thank you,” Janice said with a smile as she departed.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  As the departure date ticked ever closer, BUPERS started to shake the manning tree and more personnel arrived to sign on to the various ships in the task force. Shelby and Cynthia found out some of their old friends and colleagues had been assigned to some of the ships during the process.

  When Daimyo came into port, Cynthia's boyfriend, Commander Contenov, was abruptly transferred and given command of Knife Dancer, an Arboth class destroyer fresh from the yard. Commander Brower, Knife Dancer's plank owner captain, had been given unexpected leave due to a crippling injury to his wife.

  Cynthia grinned at Vlad's good fortune when she heard the news, though she wished it hadn't come at the expense of Commander Brower's wife. She already knew the ship had been assigned to the Tau mission.

  “I knew I was going to get a tin can eventually, though I'd hoped they'd skip me direct to a cruiser,” Vlad said.

  “Show's what you know. They are making you work for that,” Cynthia teased.

  “Too true,” he said with a shake of his head. He had warned her he would be busy handling the crop of teething issues with the new ship. She'd been okay with it and had even managed to get time off to attend its brief launching ceremony … and spend the evening with the captain off the ship.

  Since Cynthia had represented Prometheus for Knife Dancer's ceremony, Shelby had attended Zeb's ship Zeng He's launching ceremony as well as that of Captain Zlanka for Janice Yu. It had been something of a rush getting from one to the other, but she'd managed it. She'd then spent part of her evening treating both officers at a fancy restaurant on Anvil to celebrate before duty had called them away to their respective ships.

  Cynthia had been all smiles when she'd returned to Prometheus the following afternoon. Shelby had merely made a scolding motion with her index fingers but let her off without further comment. Her XO's wine dark blush and giggle in passing was tonic though. At least one of them was getting some regularly, she thought with a pang.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  While both senior officers had been gone, there had been something of a conference with the doctors. The doctors from the Dora class hospital ship, the Mary Eliza Mahoney, had reported aboard to meet Lieutenant Taylor. Since the ship was new and cramped, her medical facilities as well as her staff were limited. She had a junior doctor, a Lieutenant JG Gusterson, as her CMO. The Neogreyhound had graduated from medical college a year prior and had finished his internship on board Kerala, a Resolution class HC before his recent transfer. By rights he should have received a promotion, but apparently BUPERS was lagging behind in that department.

  Lieutenant Taylor did some digging since the quiet Neogreyhound seemed familiar. He checked the Neodog's record and found that he had been a navy corpsman assigned to the Marines when the Marines had first started out. He'd been on the first Agnosta expeditionary force … he paused. That was where he recognized the dog! He'd served there and had a brief stint in combat before he'd put in to get his medical doctorate. He'd seen some of the press clippings when he'd woken up. He nodded slowly. Well, if he'd been in combat, the lean quiet dog should do well with trauma incidents … as long as he didn't have any lingering PTSD from it he thought.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Shelby checked on some of her old crew. Lieutenant Silverfish, her former Neocat navigator, had been promoted to lieutenant commander and given an XO slot on Enterprise 1701, flagship of CruRon 1. The Enterprise, with the rest of its squadron mates were earmarked to be in TF3.2. She wished him the best of luck.

  She would have appreciated Doctor V'brno's services, but the female Veraxin had apparently put in for an extended leave after finding a mate. She was now on maternity leave for at least a year. It was a pity; she was certain the Veraxin would have been a better fit than Lieutenant Gusterson or Lieutenant Taylor when it came time to deal with the various civilians and families on the transports. Not that either officer would have time to work on their pediatric skills since they were on different ships, but she knew V'brno would have made the rounds regularly, not called the officer to her and her ship.

  Things were looking up. She had a good crew; they were performing close to the 4.0 mark, though she knew engineering still had a few teething issues. Most of the personality quirks were now known, so nothing would hopefully crop up in the future to cause rifts. They were all professionals; they'd better act like it.

  Still, she had to be prepared to swap personnel between ships if necessary. She made a note to get permission from Lieutenant Strongbirth before she forgot.

  “Ma'am, the latest convoy has arrived from Agnosta,” Prometheus reported from the overhead. She looked up. “ETA three days to port.”

  “Good. Keep me posted. Do we have the manifests?” she asked.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good. Make sure our quartermaster keeps tabs on the cargo and personnel. We don't want anything going
astray this close to our departure date, now do we?”

  “No, ma’am. We're not quite there yet though; we have two months to go,” he warned.

  “I know. I still don't want to lose anything. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Good,” she said, making a hand motion for him to move on. Her inbox pinged. She checked; it was the log plus an alert for new personnel. There was also a hydroponics inspection report from Cynthia. She grimaced and scanned that one first to get it out of the way. She signed off on it and then moved on to the other files, her momentary distraction forgotten.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Lieutenant Talon was on hand when the ships came into port to unload. He knew exactly what was on which ships. He also noted a T'clock commander from TF3.2 also on deck, most likely to play games with the shipment. “I'm here to sign for everything. Do not release anything designated to my command to anyone without my say so,” he told the Veraxin Chief PO.

  “You are going to have a long day ahead of you then, sir,” the Veraxin warned.

  “So be it. It's all part of the job,” the chimera replied with a shrug as he took the first proffered tablet and then turned to check the contents of a shipping crate.

  “You are making my work harder too you know,” the Veraxin replied, signaling second-level aggrievement mixed with first-degree resignation and indignation.

  “Can't be helped,” the lieutenant said as he inspected the goods. “The last two shipments had cargo go astray,” he said as he scanned the bar codes. “If you have a problem, tell the supervisor.”

  “I am the supervisor,” the Veraxin said as he scuttled off.

  Lieutenant Talon looked up to see the bug depart. He shrugged and then went back to work.

  ]][#]]]{OO}===}==>

  Commander Chi'th checked with his colleagues at the other ports. Apparently, the other docks had representatives from the other commands as well. The cargo and personnel manifests had been sent over the ansible; everyone was going over it rather carefully. He bobbed his antenna a few times, then put a call in. He wasn't going to like how it played out and he knew the commodore wouldn't either, but it had to be done.