by Chris Hechtl
“Yes I know. I still don't have to like it.”
“Neither do I. Hopefully they catch the son of a bitch soon. I want to see him suck vacuum.”
Yao settled back in his seat and did his best to relax. “Me too,” he said.
“Might as well catch up on our memoirs or paperwork,” Quigon said. The birdman eyed him. He noted the Neogorilla's fingers twitching.
“I thought no work while we're off duty?”
“We're not off duty. We're on desk duty. I had my interview. I'm just catching up on paperwork. In this case the personnel files,” Quigon answered mildly.
“Sure you are,” the lieutenant drawled. He was pretty sure the Neo was up to something. Most likely looking for his own suspects. “Pass me some of that.”
“Aye sir.”
...*...*...*...*...
Admiral Irons checked the clock then put in a call to an old friend. He grinned when Horatio immediately answered.
“I was wondering when you'd call, Admiral,” the familiar gravelly voice replied.
“I've been busy,” the admiral replied.
“I see that. And you can't tell me where you are. The header is blank. It's not Antigua,” Horatio replied.
“No, it's not. We'll be headed back there soon. In the meantime, I've been going over the sitrep.”
“And you are wondering if I am worried about Shelby?”
“I wasn't going to get to that right off but if you insist ...”
“She's a big girl. She can take care of herself,” Horatio said gruffly. “Prometheus may not be at 100 percent but she can still chew some pirate ass,” he said.
The admiral couldn't help but smile. That wasn't just a proud father saying that, it was the professional opinion of an officer. Both of them knew Shelby's abilities. “Good to hear. Hopefully she's hasn't run into trouble. Or if she has, she's taken care of it without getting her ship scratched up.”
“The great thing about flying a factory ship Admiral, you get chewed up you just pound out the dents, slap on a fresh coat of paint, then wade in for more,” Horatio said with a grin in his voice.
“True,” Irons said.
“So, is this a social call?”
“Not completely,” Irons sighed. “We've got a problem. Someone's killing our people here. I don't know who.”
“Damn.”
“Our people meaning sleepers Horatio. From our time. Losing one is painful,” the admiral said, closing his eyes and rubbing at his mouth and chin. “Damn it,” he swore.
“How bad?”
“I don't know if you remember Rear Admiral Jarol Halsey. Good man. He's dead.”
“I ... wait, you found him? And others like him?”
“You're getting slow in your old age old man,” John teased.
“Come here and tell me that, Admiral. I bet I could show you a few moves in the dojo,” he said.
“Age and experience?” The admiral asked whimsically.
“Something like that. Quit changing the subject. So. You found sleepers. Halsey was one of them, now he's dead.”
“Yes.”
“Frack.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
“And you said it was murder.”
“Commander Sprite is certain of it. I'm in her camp. The security team here isn't though. My problem is I want to show faith in them by not stepping on any toes and letting them do their jobs. But ...”
“But you think they aren't taking it seriously and are going through the motions?” Horatio asked.
The admiral exhaled slowly. “In a nutshell yes.”
“Who watches the watchers?” Horatio asked. “Get a report from them, then run it past someone. Hell, send it my way, I'll have Monty and some of the JAG people here have a go at it.”
“Good idea. I'll do that,” the admiral replied with a nod.
“Okay. I heard you are back with April?” Horatio asked. “If you can stand the subject change ...”
“Don't start,” Irons said, shaking his head. “That is a long messy problem. One I'll have to figure out soon.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“Lovely,” Horatio replied when the admiral didn't say anything more. “Are you going to call her?” Irons didn't reply for a long moment. 'John? Are you there?”
“No,” the admiral said, looking away. “No I'm not.”
“Okay.” Horatio cleared his throat. “So, what else?”
“I was working with Halsey and Commodore White and Commodore Subert on the mission objective plan.”
“Commodore ... where the hell ...what rock did you find them under?”
“Cute,” Irons said. “White is a tactician. He's on Xavier now training with the crew I believe.”
“Oh. That'll go over well. Didn't you put Joey in command there?”
“Yes ...”
“You do realize he only got a passing grade in some of the advanced tactical courses right? It is one of his weaknesses we were going to follow up on later. He like a lot of people have been pushed up through the ranks too quickly, Admiral.”
“Tell me something I don't know. White should be forming that opinion himself shortly.”
“Let me know how it goes ...”
...*...*...*...*...
“That was wild,” Lieutenant Tr'j'ck stated, clacking his mandibles. “Fighting the Xenos ... was it really like that, sir?” the Veraxin asked, swiveling a few of his eye stalks to the neochimp.
“Yes. You really need to work on your relativity. Anything above point one C has lens distortion and other issues. And you forgot almost every rule in fighting Xeno's,” the neochimp said, fighting to remain calm. His fur was up; they called it “dander.” He knew he was within a centimeter of a temper tantrum.
“Well, that was our first time fighting Xenos, sir,” Joey admitted. “I'm not trying to make excuses, sir. I know we need to do better.”
“The first time?” Amadeus asked, eyebrows up in surprise. “Are you kidding me?”
“No sir,” Joey replied, shaking his head. “We have simmed against each other or against pirate threats. Specific scenarios to train for and to formulate responses. This was ... interesting,” he said.
“To the extreme,” the XO clacked. “I had seen the recordings but to experience it ...”
“And this was just a sim. I can see we have a lot to learn,” Joey said. He shook himself. “I think we should reset and go again. A different scenario, sir?”
Amadeus blinked. They had been beat but hadn't given up. He nodded. “Okay, I can find an easier one ...”
Joey held up a hand. “Please sir, we're all adults here. Sometimes getting your ass kicked is a good way to learn. I know it, you know it. Don't go soft on us.”
“Okay, but this time I'll um, give you more of an in brief on the scenario's parameters before I throw you in the thick of it,” the commodore said firmly. Joey nodded. “Shall we begin?”
Joey sat back in his chair, resting his arms on the arm rests. “Whenever you are ready sir,” he said simply.
“All right then. Um, let's go with a jump point defense scenario since I'm not familiar with the Intel on the pirates. We'll stick to the Xenos ...”
...*...*...*...*...
When the series of simulations finished, Commodore White tracked down Admiral Irons in the station library. He came in with a pair of beers.
“So? How'd it go? I heard you were having a dust up with Joey,” the admiral said, not looking up from a report he had been reading. He was pretty sure Joey had gotten his clock cleaned.
“Not too bad. They are green though, lords of space are they green,” White said mournfully. “And the whole hero worship shit is crap,” he said with a snort as he offered the admiral a beer.
“Over the yard arm?” Irons asked, taking the bottle and checking the chrono. He'd worked late into the evening again as usual. “I see it is,” he said popping the top. “To absent companions he said.
White nodded an
d tapped his bottle to the admiral's. “Long live the Federation, sir,” he said.
“Amen,” Irons said. He took a pull of beer as the chimp did, then sighed in polite approval.
White burped, making the admiral snort. “Excuse me, sir.”
“Relax Amadeus, we're all officers here,” Irons said with a wave. “So ...”
“I'll get my report to you in the morning. But ... you were right,” he said slowly, looking away. “They aren't ready. They are okay, but not to our level. Not yet. They have a lot to learn.”
“This was the problem during the Xeno war. The needs of having someone, anyone on the front line pushed people up past their abilities, then they died in combat making stupid avoidable mistakes,” Irons said.
“True. The furnace we called it,” White said with a nod. His fur rose then slowly fell. He took another pull of his beer.
“Yes,” Irons said grimly. He looked away, working his jaw. Such a waste he thought. There was a long pause as both men thought along similar lines. He took a pull of his own beer then sighed again.
“I can't go on the offensive with them. At least not yet,” White said, shaking his head again. His nostrils dilated a few times as he got up the nerve to say something that had been eating him. “I can't believe you pushed them up through the ranks that fast! My god! Sampson graduated the academy less than three years ago and he's skippering a tin can??”
“I know. It is like that across the fleet,” Irons said, shaking his head. “But we can't sit on the defense forever. You and Phil are right. We need to take risks. They need to be blooded.”
“I want Firefly,” White said. “Xavier too if you'll let me have her. I also heard some good things about this Captain McGuyver and Captain Vargess. I want them and their ships too.”
Irons snorted. McGuyver and White would get along like a house on fire, both were hard chargers. Ian was good but having two rather ambitious men in the same command might mean they were more likely to stick their necks out too far. Though Vargess might get them to pull them in a bit. “I need Firefly where she is. There are raiders behind our lines. We need to track them down and stamp them out. Hard. She's going to act as a beater to chase them your way,” Irons said. White grimaced but then nodded. “I need you on the front line making sure there aren't any more coming from where they came from.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“Amadeus I know you want to march on Protodon from Antigua. I agree in spirit. But we don't know what's there. We need Intel before making a hasty move.”
“Yes sir. And we need to secure what we've got and close the door on those already inside. I read you sir,” White said.
“Exactly. Once you've consolidated in Kathy's World, you can spring a corvette loose to scout Protodon from a distance. If you see an opportunity, move in and take it. Once you do I'll shift the mobile defenses on the B459c jump point to you. Hell, I'll even ship you the mines and platforms to back you up.”
“Thank you sir,” Amadeus said, looking at the star map. “With Triang and B459c secure you'll only have to worry about an attack coming up from B450a. And once Firefly clears out the area, your rear will be secure.”
“Exactly,” the admiral said with a nod.
“Sir, um, sirs! The ansible link! They reported Pyrax is online sir!” a rating said, rushing up in excitement.
The admiral grinned. “Good.” He no longer had to rely on slow couriers to get his orders to Horatio. That was a major load off his mind. The pace was about to pick up a great deal.
“Starting to come together,” Amadeus said with a nod of approval. He could see the relief etched in the admiral's face and body language.
“Once piece at a time, yes,” Irons said. “Yes it is.”
...*...*...*...*...
The Watcher considered sabotaging the shuttle flight carrying the White organic but decided against it. The destroyer could pick up any transmission to the shuttle, which would risk further exposure. It would have to find another method to deal with the organic.
The AI Sprite was proving a nuisance. The Watcher had to tread carefully more and more, using the puppet AI to cover its tracks.
...*...*...*...*...
Admiral Irons continued to review different weapon project ideas Sprite and the other AI dug up and passed on for his attention. It was the only way to keep from diving in and micromanaging the investigation. He had to delegate, to show them that he trusted them to get the job done.
Getting through the sitreps from Antigua and Agnosta were easy. But then he had little left to do, he couldn't reactivate any more of the station. So, he went back to browsing its catalog.
The current project he was perusing was an energy weapon concept. The idea's concept was to abandon the classic turret that had been around for over twelve centuries in favor of a hemispherical pod on the outer hull. Buried in the hull and through the ship would be the actual energy weapon and its capacitors. It would be linear to the lens on the outside of the hull.
It had been borrowed from a concept dating back over sixteen centuries, back to when direct energy weapons had been first tried by America aboard flying aircraft and sea going vessels. The energy weapon would fire, the lens would then direct it in a 360 degree arc around the ship. It was a potentially beautiful design, giving a ship a massive fire potential with turrets that could respond to targets coming in on multiple threat angles or even split its fire with multiple lenses in the outer turret. The idea had been used by point defense turrets for centuries. But there were problems.
Point defense turrets had the entire laser weapon inside the ball turret. They didn't bend the laser, they just moved the weapon pointing it at whatever it needed to fire on. They had clearly misunderstood that concept, or deliberately squeed the idea to sell the concept.
One of the other problems was the grav lens itself, the one on the very tip, in the actual emitter. He studied the exploded design, then the graphs and finally the 3D firing map. If the weapon fired along its linear axis the lens had no problem and it could fire at its max range and power. But if the lens had to articulate the energy weapon had to be stepped down or it would damage the mirrors and grav lens used to deflect and bend it. That also meant they couldn't fire repeatedly at an angle, the mirrors needed time to cool between shots. The other problem was that when the angle changed the range was altered as well, degrading with the angle. The closer the angle was to 90 degrees the less the range.
The other problem was the weapon being embedded inside the ship's hull. Hull interior was at a premium even before such a concept was considered. Below a turret not only was there motors, access corridors, capacitors, EPS conduits, and other necessary equipment and spaces, but below and around that were other engineering spaces for other equipment. Pulling the energy weapon into the hull filled up that volume, which meant the hardware was displaced and had to go somewhere else. Usually in a ring around the laser, or below it.
Also, with it embedded in the ship it meant the weapon was a major road block, cutting up a deck. EPS conduits, other equipment, people moving through that area ... it all had to be rerouted.
The proponents reasoning that with the laser inside the hull it would make servicing it easier. To a degree he thought in agreement. Day to day maintenance definitely yes. But if they had to yank the instillation to get at a problem, or yank it to upgrade ... he shook his head. It would also lack armor, which they said was a good thing, it saved space and weight. But it was also bad, if anything happened to the weapon, say it over charged or was hit, then it would shatter inside the ship's guts with devastating effect for those also inside and near it. Like the gun crew for instance.
The admiral checked the historical references they had linked to the project and then shook his head. They'd picked a lot of the good ideas, but had ignored all the bad ones. Cherry picking in other words. The problems with the gun ports for instance... he shook his head.
It would only work with lasers and grasers, not force emitter
turrets. Another limitation.
The idea wasn't new either, he was certain of that. He'd walked the decks of an ancient warship that had gun ports and gun decks. She'd been a museum piece, one he'd visited on a date. He smiled slightly in memory.
After a moment of reflection he banished the distracting thought. He did like some of the idea, but they would need to consider it carefully before it was put into real practice. That meant sims to test it out. Also testing out the lasing strip idea that was linked to the project. Apparently the ensign who had done some research on the project had turned up the idea from an old science fiction series. He snorted. It was interesting in theory, but he was pretty sure the lens problem would be its undoing. Interesting that the lad had thought of combining dozens of smaller weapon emitters into a larger beam though ...
...*...*...*...*...
The Watcher judged that a push in the right direction would undermine the Irons organic's authority. It would at least drive a deeper division between the sleepers and the interlopers. It directed its host to push the concept of using the new technology as force equalizers. The admiral would be resistant to try untested and unproven equipment. It should give the Watcher the results it wished.
...*...*...*...*...
“Admiral, we cleared Yao and Chief Quigon,” Commander Howell stated. “We also ruled out suicide. That was our current theory,” he said, shaking his head.
The admiral pursed his lips thoughtfully. Jarol had been depressed certainly but hadn't expressed an interest in suicide. His implants would have flagged something if he'd been going further down that dark path. Besides, he'd been walking, not standing there pulling the trigger.
“I still think we're on a wild goose chase, sir. It could add up to a series of odd coincidences,” he stated.
“I don't like coincidences, Commander. Not when they add up to a good officer losing his life. Nail them down. I want a time line and progress. Also a plan of action.”
“I'll do my best sir.”
...*...*...*...*...