by Chris Hechtl
"Smart cookie," Irons murmured after she left.
"If you ignore her missing the obvious," Sprite said. "And she's a tad over eager. You'd think she would have taken this to her command chain to discuss. Jumping the chain is normally frowned upon."
"You mean she didn't?" Irons asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not that I'm aware of. There is nothing in the files that she talked with Lieutenant Turner or Captain Vargess about this. I'm curious as to why," Sprite admitted.
"Thought she'd be shot down?" Irons asked, rubbing his jaw.
"Or thought someone would run it to you to curry favor and leave her out in the cold?" Sprite asked, playing the game.
He frowned, eyes narrowing. He rocked for a moment, looking at the map. "Did she do that herself?" he finally asked.
"No, I accessed her files, it's all her work," Sprite replied. “Fairly good for an organic with minimum training.”
"Good to know. Keep an eye on her if you've got a free moment. Just poke in, see if she's blocked and give her a pointer or two," he said.
"Me?"
"You," Irons replied firmly. "She did have a point about B95a3, but it's premature, we just don't have the resources to go into a cold system like that."
"At least not yet," Sprite said. "We don't even have enough in Antigua yet."
"True," the Admiral replied wryly.”Yet.”
Chapter 30
The first gunship was completed in record time, nine weeks from the start of the yard's construction, five from when the keel of the gunship had been laid. Now that they had the process down additional keels were being laid in succession. The first corvette would be finished within a week Irons noted. Now that the work crews were ironing out the bugs and had the experience they were going to pick up the pace. They'd hit their stride soon. Hopefully the teams would act as a well oiled machine.
They held a launch ceremony broadcast throughout the system. The governor and major political and industrial leaders were on hand for the festivities. Commander Sindri wasn't thrilled about having to dress up in his formal uniform to attend, but did so grudgingly. He spent the entire time tugging on his stiff collar with a finger much to the admiral's not so secret amusement.
“How you put up with this shit I'll never know. Don't tell me I've got to do this for every bloody ship!” Sindri growled, eying the admiral.
The admiral smiled slightly. “Okay I won't,” he said.
The squat man stared at him with a petulant expression then shook his broad head. “That's it. I'm going to go get rip roaring drunk then,” he said.
“Now's the time,” the admiral said in amusement. “The speeches start soon. Don't be smashed when you have to give yours,” he said.
“Oh bloody hell and brimstone,” the dwarf muttered, stomping off.
Sprite grinned on the admiral's HUD. “Think I should help him with his speech?”
“Only if he's too drunk to stand,” the admiral said, watching the small man down a shot then take the bottle from a mech waiter. He wrestled it out of the robot's grip and then stalked off to a corner. “On second thought, you may want to cover for him,” he said.
“Oh. Now wait, that's not ...” the admiral raised an eyebrow. “Hoisted on my own petard again I see,” the AI sighed. “Aye aye, sir,” she said. He snorted as the governor took the podium.
“This is just the start ladies and gentle-beings. But it is an important start, one to secure our future,” the governor said in a speech to the system. He raised a fluted glass to the admiral. “To the man who made it possible and to the men and women, and AI who are also making it possible. Our eternal gratitude is with you. Safe sailing,” he said and then took a sip.
“Safe sailing indeed,” Sprite murmured as the room broke into applause.
...*...*...*...*...
April ran into the admiral during the reception. He had to admit, she was stunning in a flowing red silk gown, like a rose he thought. He bowed and kissed her on her hand. “For such a lovely woman I am doubly indebted at the sight of you. I am very sorry I haven't been around to see you more often,” he murmured as he rose.
“Why thank you kind sir,” she preened. She smiled, delighted by his reaction. She could see he genuinely cared just from his longing gaze. They danced briefly, it felt lovely she thought, but all too short. They had to separate though when another reporter cut in to take her off. She shot the admiral a moue of disappointment. He shrugged helplessly but he already had a woman tapping on his shoulder to dance.
“Stop pouting,” he teased her over an IM chat. She blinked and then shook her head slightly. She still couldn't walk and text with her implants like he apparently could, let alone dance!
When the song ended she was a bit breathless. She smiled to her partner then broke off, melting into the crowd. When she felt another arm snake around her waist she wanted to hit the guy, right up until she noted the gold hash lines on his sleeve. She looked up in surprise and delight to the admiral's smiling face. Quickly she grabbed it with both hands and kissed him long and thoroughly. A few people near chuckled politely. When the kiss broke she cupped his chin with her thumb and forefinger and kissed him again. It was more of a play kiss to test him. He smiled broader.
“You're impossible you know that?” She murmured to him as her arms wrapped around his broad shoulders.
“Me? You're the bell of the ball with that gown you know. And those legs!” he protested.
“What, these?” She asked, flashing a big of her right gam. He groaned. She giggled softly. When he reached down to touch it she slapped his hand playfully away. “Naughty naughty, she teased with a wicked smile. He groaned again.
“I don't want to be separated hon,” he said, amused but with a hungry expression. “I thought I could handle it but ...”
Her amusement ended as she nodded in perfect agreement. She leaned in and nuzzled him, curling her fingers into his dress uniform. “It's hard I know.”
“Damn right it is,” he rumbled softly as another dance number started up. “Are we going to hit the floor or find a nice quiet nook to make out?” he asked, turning the tables on her teasing.
“You're impossible you know that?” She chuckled again, rubbing his back. “I like the nook idea,” she whispered.
“Me too,” he texted back.
“You unfortunately need to work ma'am,” a soft voice warned her at her elbow. She turned with a scowl to see Miza there. The woman smiled apologetically. “Admiral,” she nodded.
“Damn it,” the reporter muttered, glancing up to the hovering camera remote nearby.
“It's nearly time for the evening news ma'am,” Miza reminded her gently.
“I know I know,” April sighed. She'd gotten in with her reporter credentials. So she had to do a series of reports covering the ball. That sucked. She turned a searching look on John. “John I'm ...”
“It's work; I get it,” he said with a patient smile. “Now you know what I've been going through,” he said.
“Still doesn't make it right. Or fair.”
“Who said the universe has to be either?” the admiral said with a shake of his head.
“I know. It still sucks,” she said apologetically, stroking his chest. He nodded.
When they separated Sprite teased the admiral about lipstick on his cheek and collar. Amused, he directed Proteus to remove them. “Organic females tend to mark their mates that way I read,” the AI said to him wickedly.
“Don't start,” he growled, feeling the nanites remove the lipstick marks. “Done?” he asked.
“All better,” Sprite replied. “Ship shape in other words. You still have an hour before you have to be back for the next key sequence,” she warned.
“Once more into the fray then,” he sighed, moving back into the party to socialize.
...*...*...*...*...
Once Sprite had a functional staff the admiral took to weekly meetings with them. Everyone was over worked especially Sindri, so he tried to keep it light and short. Un
fortunately sometimes that didn't happen. The more they became comfortable with their roles the more they started to dig into them, to knock down the list of what needed to be done to turn the system into a smooth running machine.
"Marines, ground forces, they are the ones that need ground force training. Seals too. But regular naval officers ... I really don't see the need for them to have hand-to-hand training in such depth," Ensign Raynor said, making a face.
"There are a lot of valuable lessons you’re overlooking," Captain Vargess said. Captain Gustov nodded in grim agreement.
"I don't think so. They can pick a lot of that up in the simulators. We need officers in position quickly or we're going to run short staffed again,” the ensign said. She shot a look at Lieutenant Lake. The young woman grimaced but didn't signal any sort of agreement or disagreement.
"Yes ... and no," the Admiral said, getting into the debate. All eyes turned to him. "I admit, some do take the ground force training to the extreme. We can't do that, we don't have the luxury. Nor do we have the need, right now we need warm bodies."
"Sir, they need to be trained, to have an espirite de corps, a unifying bond ..." Captain Gustov said.
"Which they will pick up. I'm not saying we need to write it all out, just tone it down. Make it an elective for staff, a requirement for command or tactical track possibly," the admiral said. “And slim it down a bit. Show proficiency in the fields and then move on.”
"Groundside or zero G?" Lieutenant Qr'll'ck asked, clacking her mandibles. Her true arms signaled first level discomfort. The lieutenant was clearly not a believer in naval officers mixing it up in hand-to-hand or rolling in the dirt the admiral mused. True it was a grunt's roll, but there was an important lesson to be learned from that too. Sometimes you had to do it, had to dance. Get dirty, get up close and personal. To sometimes get hurt, sometimes beaten to learn from the experience. To rise up, and keep fighting even when you knew you were going to get taken down. But it also let people learn to not only practice strategy with real world consequences, but also think out of the box.
They needed to learn that half ass brilliant ideas had consequences, see their friends go down, get hurt themselves, loose in a controlled environment. To learn that going off half cocked or freezing up had consequences as well. Learn the need to soldier on even when your friends are dropping around you. There were dozens of lessons big and small here.
Which was why Irons was on the fence about the whole idea. How much was too much? Where to draw the line?
Though it did give the cadets team building exercises and a chance to shine .... damn it, he thought with a pang as he dragged his wandering thoughts to the meeting at hand.
"Oh, I'd say a little of both," Irons said leaning back and moving his chair from left to right as he played with the stylus. "A couple weeks to get the general feel on the ground, let them learn that there are consequences to a battle, let them feel pain of a stun dart or sprain or whatever. But the primary focus for naval cadets should be in 3D."
"Battle school," Vargess said with a sniff.
"Oh ye gads, don't get me started on that!" Irons replied with a laugh as he tossed the stylus down."
"You lost me?" Ensign Raynor said, looking from the captain to the admiral in confusion. She wasn't the only one.
"Colonel Von Graff's Military school for the gifted. Battle school. I had a couple of friends in the advanced courses of the academy who went to it. Catherine gave me the low down on how it went."
"Really? Can you elaborate sir?" the ensign asked intently. He wondered why briefly, thought at first it was because she wanted to hear a war story then remembered her role as a historian. He checked the clock and then decided to indulge her.
"Heard about the myth and not sure what is real and not?" Irons asked amused.
"I'd love to hear your version, sir. If that's all right with you."
"Sure, Lieutenant," the admiral replied, clearly still amused. "Some of this I read about, some I heard from Catherine. She was a year out of that place when the meltdown occurred by the way."
"Meltdown?"
"The shut down. I'm skipping ahead a bit," the Admiral replied. "Let's start with a bit of background. The school was started by a reserve marine colonel. One who was supposedly a gifted Commander but who had never seen combat." Vargess nodded in disgust. He crossed his arms and dropped his chin a little.
The Admiral wrinkled his nose over that idea. "Another Clausewitz. Not that there was ..." he waved a hand. "Side topic. Anyway, Graff's school was an asteroid outside the Sol system. It was classified because a lot of kids from famous military families attended."
"True," Sprite replied.
"I'm glad you agree, Commander," Irons replied with a half smile and nod to her avatar. He returned his attention to his organic audience. "Graff wanted the best and the brightest. The screening process was extreme, though some people got through if their families greased the wheels right."
"Lovely," Vargess murmured.
"Yes, well one of Graff's pet projects was to create the greatest military minds of that generation, and he took some short cuts."
"Short cuts, sir?"
"Yes. Ynari short cuts. He conspired with a few families to violate some of the genetic laws and came up with a crop of super intelligent humans. That's another quirk of Graff, he trained only humans."
"Oh?" the Veraxin lieutenant asked.
Irons shrugged, eying the three Veraxins. "He had it in his head that there was a bug war coming. A touch of eccentric Xenophobia they said in the write up, making it sound gentile and interesting," he replied, mouth souring a little.
"Oh."
"Yeah. Catherine said the main focus of the battle school was the battle room, a series of chambers of varying size. The gravity was off in each, and the rooms were filled with various obstacles."
"Like a 3D obstacle course?"
"Yes. The idea was basic, capture the flag, or in this case the enemy's door. Two teams attacked from opposite sides. They then shot it out with stun lasers and the victor went through the door."
"Oh."
"A variation of what we put marines through for 3D combat training actually," the Admiral said. Captain Gustov frowned thoughtfully.
"If you say so sir, I'm not a jarhead."
"Be glad you're not," Captain Vargess joked, poking Rory.
"True,” Ensign Raynor said with a smile and wink to the marine in their midst.
“Hey! I resemble that remark!” Rory grumbled. That sparked a chuckle.
"Anyway, it's actually not a bad idea. You have lights which are stars, and objects that serve as moons. I've seen a virtual recreation of something similar. Apparently Graff sold the game to help supplement the cost of the school."
"The meltdown, sir?" Lieutenant Fuentes prompted.
"Ah yes, I was getting there. So, Graff's super kids, kids with super intelligence but lacking in moral ethics raised in environments where the parents sometimes thought of others as beneath them ... you can imagine all the things going on in these kid's heads. Graff tossed them all together and let them duke it out."
"Ouch."
"Yeah. But he had an eye on one particular kid, and when the kid rose to become the alpha dog Graff started to stack the game against the kid and started playing mind games with him. Unfortunately some of the other students started to try to tear the kid down. He killed two of them."
Lieutenant Lakes’ eyes went wide. "Oh …"
"The AI assigned to watch and train the kids reported everything despite the attempt at a cover up by the senior staff. There was a big investigation. The school was shut down and Graff was arrested. The super kids were put through therapy. I don't know if any got into the military, I doubt it. Catherine told me they put her through the wringer when the story broke, she had to go through repeated psych exams because of her association with the school."
"Ouch."
"But one interesting thing out of all of that is that battle room.
I wonder if I've got a copy of that software." Irons asked, pitching the question to Sprite.
"Are you asking me Admiral? If so no, but I could probably whip something up in a few minutes. The idea isn't that complex."
"No, but we can start there and oh, toss in some wrinkles if we want to get creative," the Admiral replied, rubbing his jaw as his eyes twinkled.
"Something tells me the kids aren't going to appreciate your efforts sir," Veraxin lieutenant said, picking up on Iron's evil look. It gave her the willies. “I know a few get space sick. It isn't pretty.”
"Maybe, oh definitely not now, but down the road the extra effort in training them will do them good."
"But you said we need bodies now?"
"Which is why we will have to break the system up. At least for the interim. Three or more tracks, fast track and longer tracks for people who need the extra seasoning or who are young or who are interested in a career."
"Ah."
"Abbreviated courses for the fast track, and make up courses if they want a promotion. Stuff to attend to while doing their duties as well."
"Ouch," Lieutenant Lake said, catching on.
"Just realized you are one of those fast track crowds, Lieutenant?" Sprite teased. The lieutenant nodded.
"Don't worry, we have the people in Pyrax doing the same thing," Captain Vargess said. “And most people have survived from exhaustion and lack of sleep.”
“Gee thanks, sir,” she said, shaking her head.
"Sir, what about sending more of the recruits to Pyrax? Or Agnosta?" Ensign Raynor asked.
"I think we can do that again once or twice for the first year or so while we get our feet up and the facilities set up. No sense leaving the people around twiddling their thumbs. Horatio and I worked out a basic college class load. I'll have him get Matilda to ship in trainers for you Ensign," the admiral said with a nod to the G-3. She nodded back.
"But for the younger generation just starting?" Sprite asked.
"Right. That's going to need a full academy experience. But for now we can tap Pyrax and also set up some additional ROTC courses here, maybe pull in some people from Pyrax to man the courses on each campus. On a rotational basis of course since they have other duties. We can also do more canned lectures, and more virtual ones," he said, eying the G-3.