by Chris Hechtl
“One we can fix,” the captain rumbled, looking at her partner.
“You think the admiral will help us?” Vanessa asked. “He is rather busy,” she said doubtfully.
“And I don't see what we could offer in trade for his services,” Alice said with a moue. I mean, we can do a barter for services for the navy but then it gets complicated.”
“What about these licenses?” Io asked, interjecting herself into the conversation.
“Licenses?”
“A shipwright's license. A shipfitter's license is a different thing, so don't get them confused. With a shipwright's license you can apply to the Antigua industrial board and the governor to get one. Then your people will be able to build civilian ships. Every component including the hyperdrives. You'll be limited on the number of key uses per year and other factors, but it is doable now.”
“An interesting thought,” the captain said mildly as she looked down at the hands in her lap. She shrugged her trademark shawl slightly then nodded. “A good idea I believe,” she said, looking at Alice once more.
“I will see what I can do,” Alice said with a nod. She was already working out how they could get access to Antigua Prime's replicators once they had the keys needed. She made a mental note to look into making their own replicators that could make the hyperdrives and other parts if possible.
“Molly will bring back supplies we pick up in Senka. That should serve as another payment. I'll also have Io 11 make components in Senka to ship back before we leave.”
“You're going to have her stay in Senka?” Alice asked in surprise.
“There isn't enough trade on our route if we go at the same time young lady,” the captain said with a grating voice but an endearing smile. “So we'll find work for her and Faith elsewhere for now.”
Alice nodded. “Yes, ma'am. It is your company.”
“Good, good,” the old woman said, flexing her gnarled fingers slightly. “Which brings us to the matter of the crew. We picked up a few hands from Kiev's unfortunate destruction as well as from New Andres. Do you know of any other bodies we can pick up here?”
Vanessa looked at her partner and then to Alice.
“I can put in a few good words with the local sources, ma'am,” Alice replied with a nod.
“Good. Excellent,” the old woman cackled as they shook hands. “It's always hard to find good help these days. I prefer them young so I can train them up right,” she said.
“I'll keep that in mind, ma'am,” Alice replied.
...*...*...*...*...
Once the New Andres relief expedition was underway Sprite reminded him there was an Intel officer in the system, a rather overworked and underappreciated Lieutenant Lake.
“And the reason for bringing her up … Wait, is this a nefarious back door attempt to revisit the staff issue again?”
“Perish the thought, Admiral,” Sprite murmured. “Well, okay, maybe,” she admitted. “Since Defender isn't thrilled about his role as G-2 and wants to go back to playing body guard,” she teased.
“Oh?”
Defender glared at the commander but didn't rise to the bait.
“Sprite ...” the admiral sighed.
“What? Captain Vargess is doing fine as in OPS. Fuentes is doing fine as G-8 logistics with backing from Lobsterman. Commander Sindri is doing an outstanding job in Buships. I'm holding down the fort in the other staff positions but it'd be nice to have someone else take up the slack. We seriously need better coverage for Bupersonnel. I know someone else can do a better job there. And back to Intel, you know it is vital to get that shop running right, Admiral.”
“Fletcher ...”
“Is a hybrid AI Admiral. He's also an ensign. Lieutenant JG Lake outranks him. Besides, she didn't call because of that. She called because she has some intelligence you need to see. In my opinion as your chief of staff I agree with her assessment sir.”
The admiral pursed his lips thoughtfully and then nodded. “Fine, let's see it then.”
They had turned over the Horathian prisoners they had captured from Collier 9 and the survivors from the battle of Triang over to Lieutenant Lake's custody. There hadn't been many survivors from the battle, most had ended up in stasis until the medics could get around to treating them. Since they were prisoners, they could and would wait. Besides, keeping them in stasis made securing them much easier.
Apparently someone had finally gotten around to thawing them out and patching up their worst hurts then shipping them down to the prison camp. He shook his head. He wasn't sure about the wisdom of it, but it was a done deal now, though from the report two SBA's had been injured by the prisoners.
“She's connected a lot of the dots, gotten confirmation on a few important things from the latest batch of prisoners. A few of the ships for instance,” Sprite reported. She scrolled a list of names. Argus was there, but scratched out since Firefly had destroyed the ship. According to her dispatch they hadn't been able to pull a lot from her wreckage either. He shook his head. Several of the names were highlighted in various colors. “Yellow is for only one or more source. Green is multiple sources from different people without prior contact with each other,” she said.
“So the dreadnaught, SD, battleship, and at least battlecruisers are confirmed. Joy.” Apparently Intel had been on the fence about the sketchy Intel on Shen Long. They had gotten independent confirmation yesterday though. An old enlisted Horathian had been a part of the crew that had captured the ship in Hinata and then flew her back to the yard in Horath for refit over a decade ago. The old sweat had griped about the agonizing journey during his interview enough for the Intel shop and Sprite to take him seriously. He still refused to tell them the class of the battleship so that was a problem.
That meant the enemy had a minimum of eight capital ships concentrated in Horath to his one each in Antigua and Pyrax. “And not much on their status I see ...”
“No, but I believe they will work hard to get them sorted out now that they know you are here,” Sprite said. “There are also ten other cruisers, six known destroyers, and two carriers on the list. All various classes. Frigates and corvettes numbers are in flux. Plus fortresses at the Horath jump points in their inner perimeter.”
“It keeps getting better and better. That's it?”
“She's taking the soft approach Admiral. Getting to know her targets, building trust, working them for low level information. Stuff they don't consider important like where they went to school, neighbors, towns and such.”
“I don't need the breakdown on the process Commander, just results,” the admiral said tartly.
“Aye sir. The young woman is having a hard time getting support since she is on the planet and is only an ensign," Sprite told him. “Lieutenant Fuentes knows she needs support but he believes she is a low priority.”
“Which she is. But her rank?”
“She was a midshipman when Firefly made her attack on Antigua. She did well with the prisoners and has marks for high initiative in her record. Most likely that is why Captain Mayweather left her behind to mind the prisoners.”
“And bumped her to ensign.”
“Yes sir. But many of her class are already rising up the ranks to jigs now that the navy is expanding again. We need her grit. And as I said, she needs the rank.”
“Well, we can do something about that,” he checked his schedule. “I've got a few minutes, put a call in for her.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Sprite said, putting the call in to the planet. “There will be a time lag. About a second or two.”
“I know,” the admiral said with a nod, settling himself.
He finally found the time to put in a vid call and talked with the Intel officer left behind by Captain Mayweather. He had thought the officer wanted relief from her onerous duty but it turned out she had some critical Intel. “Admiral, sir!” Lieutenant Lake said, eyes wide when she accepted the call. She straightened instinctively.
“I'm kicking myself for not int
roducing myself and going over what you had earlier, Lieutenant. Good work,” the admiral said. “Commander Sprite will go over it in more depth. I've scanned your abstract. Good work on the ships. Any Intel on them, location, crew, details however small are important.”
“Aye sir,” the lieutenant replied with a nod. “I also picked up a few tidbits on their shipyard. I'm working on it now,” she said.
“Understood. Upload what you have,” the admiral ordered.
He skimmed the abstract quickly as Sprite ran it through her own filters and presented it to him. The Intel officer was good but not very organized. She also didn't like to commit to anything until she had multiple confirmations, in a way that was good, but also annoying. She did pick up on a few more tidbits including Horathian ship names and the shipyard Intel not listed in her report.
“I want you to do confirmation interviews on this,” Admiral Irons grimly ordered. She nodded.
“Unfortunately sir if we press to hard the pirates clam up and refuse to give us more than name and rank,” she said, shaking her head. “Which is why I'm going the softball approach.”
“Understood.”
“I did get some interesting bits. Apparently it's linked to Antigua.”
“Oh?”
“Apparently they picked up an inventor here. Leonardo Vinatelli. I don't have the whole story. I have confirmed it from this end, his family is quite prominent here in engineering circles and apparently he is very famous. But unfortunately I only got the confirmation this morning. I'm afraid I haven't gone too deep into it since it wasn't a priority.”
“I see.”
“At least not at first, sir. What I found out from him this morning is interesting. He was an inventor, but a genius. He could take something apart and not only figure out how to copy it, but how to do all the steps involved in building it. Even inventing or reinventing processes as needed. All without using a replicator.”
The admiral blinked. He slowly nodded. That explained a lot. It explained the parts he had seen in the ships, the new construction. They had been crude, stamped, built from mills and other processes, not built by nanites. But he'd also seen some parts that had been cut out and ground smooth by robots. “I think Commander Sprite mentioned him. I don't remember though. That connects with their recent uptick in new ships,” he said.
The lieutenant nodded. “He was apparently very important in their restoration of their fleet. In actually building new ships, sir,” the lieutenant said.
“You keep saying was. I take it he is dead?” Sprite asked.
“Yes, ma'am. I got that confirmation as well. He died in some sort of shootout. I again don't have the details, and since I want to be thorough ...”
“It is okay, Lieutenant. Good work,” Sprite said soothingly.
The admiral cleared his throat. “Lieutenant Junior Grade Lake, attention to orders,” he said. She stiffened. “I normally don't do this over video, but I've found myself rather busy. Too busy to do this in person at the moment unfortunately. So, Lieutenant I am hereby promoting you to first lieutenant. Get your rank sorted out ASAP. I'll have Commander Sprite and a yeoman forward you the paperwork.”
“Sir?!” She said, wide eyed in disbelief at her good fortune.
“Don't let the promotion go to your head, Lieutenant,” Sprite said with a grin.
Lieutenant Lake nodded dumbly. She was shocked speechless by the jump from Jig She hadn't been in that grade more than a year.
The admiral smiled in amusement. The young woman seemed to regain her composure quickly. He nodded mentally. Good.
“You've earned it. You've done a hell of a job, Lieutenant. You're going to be stuck doing the job for the time being however,” Commander Sprite said. “At least until we can get Commander Montgomery to send someone else from your shop out here to relieve you,” she said.
“I'm okay here, ma'am. It sucks to be in the prison camp though, especially in winter. I hate that. I nearly lost a toe last winter,” she said in disgust.
“Don't let your feet get wet or stay wet,” the AI said after accessing notes on frostbite injuries. “I haven't toured the camps virtually since there are so few cameras and the time delay is too much for me. That bad?”
“Well, they were just tents. We're up to log huts and some structures ma'am,” Lake explained with a shrug. "The more they help us the more comfort they get."
“We'll look into it when we have time,” the admiral said. He didn't give a damn about the enemy's comfort. Not after what a lot of them did to their victims. “I want to see you up here for a face to face sometime,” he said. “Commander Sprite will help you arrange it,” he said.
“Aye aye, sir,” the newly minted lieutenant said with a curt nod.
When the channel cleared the admiral sat back. “Leonardo huh?”
“Yes. It explains a lot. I am wondering how they got him. I'll have to look into that,” Sprite said.
“It hardly matters, Sprite,” the admiral said, waving a dismissive hand.
“It might. I don't like holes in a story.”
“Stories are messy. They always have holes and issues. If it was too pat I'd be suspicious. No, this fits,” the admiral said. “And weren't you the one complaining about being overworked? If you have to be nosy, delegate it to Lake or someone else,” he ordered.
“Aye aye, sir,” Sprite replied. “I'll contact a historian. I'm also sending a memo to the lieutenant to see if she can get any building rate info.”
“Definitely,” the admiral murmured.
Chapter 27
In between meetings and time at the replicators admiral Irons took a brief turn as a guest lecturer at Antigua Prime's growing university. Most of the time he could only attend virtually, usually when he was stuck jacked in to a replicator on the station for an extended period. His physical presence on the college campus awed the young ROTC recruits as well as the Veraxin ROTC sergeant in charge of them.
“Admiral, I know you like to teach but do you really have time for this right now?” Sprite asked carefully when he had her rearrange his schedule for the second time.
“They are the future, Commander. Please try to block out a period of time to guest lecture yourself.”
“To pass on what we know to the next generation?” Sprite asked.
“Not just pass on, but inspire. Lead by example. And,” Irons paused and smiled. “To get a feel for the new sailors. I bet you'll run across one or two that will perk your interest. Keep a running file on them.”
“Nepotism, Admiral? You?” Sprite asked with an arched brow.
“Nepotism to a degree. I never liked the political games in fleet, but I did understand to find and nurture special cases from time to time. Or at least make certain they get a fair shake.”
“Understood, sir.”
“Most of them will still end up cycling through the Pyrax academy within a year. Some will make it back here.”
Sprite nodded. “I'll make sure the ones you note are some of those people, Admiral,” she said.
“Not all,” he sighed. “I know that we need good people everywhere, not just here.”
“Understood, Admiral.”
“Besides,” he said with a half-smile. “I was hoping we'd find someone with an interest in the military that would take over Buschools,” he said. “Like Matilda.”
“We could have her ship someone from Pyrax Admiral,” Sprite reminded him.
“Yes, and we no doubt will. But I want a functional staff here before we leave. People who can carry on in our absence.”
“They need someone to crack the whip. Captain Vargess is torn between his duty to his ship and its day to day operations as well as moonlighting as your OPS officer Admiral,” Sprite said.
“Is that a broad hint that a man can't have two masters Commander?” The admiral asked as he looked about the quad. He nodded to a group of students. The girls fell to giggling. Sprite rolled her eyes on his HUD as he kept moving purposely to the lecture hall.
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“No but it is a reminder that one can only multitask so far Admiral. Buships has the best staff, minus Commander Woods.”
“Don't even think about sicking him on Vargess in OPS. He's enough trouble where he is,” the admiral growled.
“You should fire him.”
“We need everybody. He does serve a purpose, we just need to find it.”
“Bupersonnel?” Sprite asked hopefully.
The admiral frowned thoughtfully, then shook his head. “He can do too much damage there. No, we'll have to figure something else out for him.”
“Well, Commander Sindri has had to cut him down twice. The last time was reportedly not pretty. I have another complaint from Commander Woods complaining about the commander's high handed ability to undercut his authority. It's attached to his second request for relief.”
“Denied. Tell Sindri to play nice. Tell Woods to get with the program,” Irons growled as he came to the door. He could hear the chatter of people in the room. His sensors told him it was standing room only again. When he brushed past a couple of students the room immediately broke into cheers. He raised his hands. “Hi folks. We don't have a lot of time so let's all grab a seat or wall and get started ...”
Sprite noted a couple of interesting faces in the group. One was a historian, a woman who had recently moved to the station. She made a note to look into the woman later.
...*...*...*...*...
“Lieutenant Lake? Pleasure to see you again,” the admiral said, rising out of his chair. He returned the young woman's salute with his own, then shook her hand. “Thank you for coming,” he said. “Long trip?”
“Not that bad sir now that there is a space port in the islands. I just had to hop over to it and then catch a shuttle flight up,” she explained. “When a superior officer asks you to come at your earliest convenience I've learned to hustle sir,” she said with a slight smile.
He chuckled and waved her to sit. She nodded and they both sat down. “You've been doing a good job young lady. Renee dropped you in the deep end.”