by Saxon Andrew
“Yes, Sir.”
“Amy, how do you feel about this?”
“I should have known Tim was suited for this. He was always a protector of the Manatees and that trait is what defines him. He will protect his ship like it is a relative. It will be in good hands.”
“Make it happen, Amy.”
“Yes, Sir.”
• • •
Cam sat in is conference room and didn’t like what was happening. Admiral Hart’s son was promoted and was going to take command of one of the new Prophet Carriers. It wasn’t bad enough that he was a Senior Admiral’s son but he had also made the highest scores in the simulator training, even higher than his own. How was he going to work with this new Admiral? He was senior but he didn’t know how much longer that was going to be the case. And he learned that it was this new Admiral that managed to severely damage the Tombstone in the last exercise. His panel pinged and he pressed the button, “Sir, Admiral Hart is here.”
“Send him in.”
Cam remained seated and a young man with blonde hair entered the conference room, “Good-day, Admiral.”
“Welcome aboard.”
“I suspect you’re not feeling good about my being here in my capacity, are you, Sir.”
Cam sat up straighter, “Why would you say that?”
“Because if I were in your place, I’d be hating life right now.” Cam was silent and Timmy smiled, “A new Admiral shows up that has a direct conduit to the Admiralty and now you’re going to have to watch everything you say and do to make sure you stay out of trouble. No, I wouldn’t like it either.”
“What would you do about it, Admiral?”
Timmy smiled, “If it were me, I’d forget about it and concentrate on just getting the new Admiral up to speed. Soon, you’re going to have three other Admirals commanding Carriers and working with them won’t get easier. I think I’d try to convince the new Admiral to assist me in getting the new Prophets ready for war.”
Cam smiled, “Take a seat.” Timmy sat down in a chair in front of Cam’s console and smiled. “Why did you choose to leave the Essays?”
“I’ve been fighting against you over the last two weeks and I’ve been amazed at the things you’ve been able to accomplish with this vessel. I also know that you’ve allowed us to win a little. It should have been worse than it was. In working on tactics to defeat your ship, I learned just how powerful the Prophets are. I think I can do a better job of kicking the enemy’s asses in a Prophet than an Essay.”
Cam chuckled, “You think?”
“I do. However, the training exercise was stacked in your favor.”
Cam’s eyes narrowed, “Is that so?”
“I’ve been studying the data on the Prophets and I’ve taken a look at the programs the computer running the exercises is using. The force fields on the Essays have been made vulnerable to your main beams and it also lowered the damage an Essay’s Major Beam can do to a Prophet. You can check it out if you want. The result of making those modifications would teach the Essays to not just blindly attack but develop tactics that would allow them to get close to attack. The program actually weakened the real world capabilities of both class of vessels.”
“Why would they do that?”
“There are fifteen hundred Essays and only one Prophet. They had to even the odds so the exercises aren’t over before they really begin. You would know about this if you commanded an Essay before moving to this ship. How can a ship with a beam capable of blasting through a Motherships force field and wrecking huge damage not be able to do the same to a Prophet? Now having said that, the Prophet’s force fields are far more powerful than those on the Motherships, but the Prophets can’t stand up and go toe-to-toe with more than two of them.”
Cam started nodding slightly and realized there was a lot he didn’t know about his new ship. “Admiral, I can use your help. You saw how easily we can be hit if we remain in one place after launching our Attack Fighters.”
“That’s another thing. The Attack Fighters’ beams are capable of penetrating a Mothership’s force field. If you have enough defenders surrounding the ship, you should be able to fight before you’re forced to run. Those Attack Ships that fired on my Essay would have stopped me from getting close enough to fire on your ship during the last exercise. However, the safe strategy would be to jump away and let your fighters take on the enemy ships you set up to be ambushed.” Timmy smiled, “Like they once said, the idea is to stick-and-move.” Cam nodded and Timmy smiled, “Have you thought about what would happen if two Prophets were working together. The possibilities almost brings tears to the eyes.”
Cam laughed out loud, “Should you be in command instead of me?”
“No, you have something I don’t.”
“What is that?”
“Experience.” Timmy continued quickly, “Also, I suspect you wouldn’t want all your carriers working together. If things go bad, we could lose all of them. I think that having two of them working together in two teams with your ship available to support either group would be the best organization.”
Cam put his hand on his chin and thought about it. After a moment he said, “I can see you’ve thought about this. Have you designed any tactics?”
Timmy smiled, “I have.”
“I’m going to call the other officers chose to command a prophet in and let them see what you’ve come up with.”
“I think you should know that one of them and I are in a relationship.”
“Which one?”
“Jenny Johanson.”
“Good choice. Are you wanting her to be the second ship on your team?”
Timmy sighed, “I do but I don’t think that would be a good idea. I might hesitate to use her in a dangerous situation where it’s called for.”
Cam nodded, “I also have a relationship with one of the officers as well but it’s different than yours.”
“How so?”
“I don’t want her near me.”
Timmy shrugged, “Assign her to work with me.”
Cam nodded, “I’m getting to like you better by the minute.”
“Let’s hope we only improve with time.” Cam smiled and nodded as he called the three potential Prophet Commanders into his conference room.
Jenny was the first to arrive and when she saw Timmy, she rushed forward and gave him a hug. “Hey, hey! This is a professional meeting, Jen.”
“I’ll be professional in a moment. I’ve really missed seeing you.” Jenny leaned back and saw Timmy’s uniform. “Since when were you promoted to Admiral?”
“Happened last night. I’m going to command one of the new Carriers.”
“I thought you loved the Essays?”
“I did until I saw what the Carriers can do. I passed the tests and voila, here I am.”
“I’ll be your pilot.”
“We’ll talk about that.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Like I said, give it a break and we’ll discuss it after the meeting.”
Jenny smiled, “Yes, Sir.”
Timmy laughed and said, “You can sit beside me.”
Lyla and Alexandra walked in and Cam said, “This is Admiral Hart and he will be commanding one of our squadrons. He and one of you will be in command of one of four of the new Prophet Class Warships being completed.” Cam looked at Lyla, “You will be in command of the other squadron and Jenny will be commanding the other Prophet.”
Alexandra quickly asked, “Who will I be reporting to, Sir?”
“You will command the second Prophet in Admiral Hart’s squadron.” Cam paused and looked at the three officers, “I’m telling you now about your coming promotions because I know you’re not dumb and have figured out why I’ve been having you command the Tombstone during the maneuvers. All of you have demonstrated a good knowledge of the Carrier’s strengths and limitations and keeping this information from you no longer serves a useful purpose. Admiral Hart has developed some multi-vessel ta
ctics that we are going to examine for the next few hours. After that, you will get together and have a draft of which sailors currently serving on this ship will go with you to your new commands.” Lyla opened her mouth to speak and Cam held up his hand, “I’m keeping one quarter of the crew and the ones remaining on the Tombstone will not be on the draft list. I will assist Admiral Hart with his selections in that he has not been on board to see how the crew has performed.”
Jenny looked at Tim and he could see she wasn’t happy. “After the meeting.” Jenny nodded and looked back at Admiral Holiday.
Alexandra spoke up, “What about the remainder of our crews?”
“They are currently undergoing training and have been the beneficiaries of all that we’ve learned during maneuvers. Each of you will take the ones you draft from this vessel and put them in command positions on your new ships. Since you are going to need officers in every department to run your ship, the draft will be done department by department so that each of you will get officers for all divisions of your crews.”
Timmy said, “Sir, have you thought about the training regimen for the new crews?”
“Do you have a suggestion, Admiral Hart?”
“I would recommend that since there are five of us who are going to have new crews, and our ships won’t be ready for several months, that perhaps we should take the Tombstone back to the Construction Yards where the new Prophets are being built.”
Cam stared at him, “And?”
“Each new crew will have the Tombstone available one day a week to go out and work on launches, recoveries, and tactics. The rest of the week they will work on the simulators perfecting their knowledge on their particular department. Once the first Carrier is completed, it will join in the rotation and double the time the new crews have on a vessel. When the third is completed, it will increase the time again.”
Cam stared at Timmy and it was clear he was reluctant to give up the ship time for his new crew. Timmy smiled, “Sir, you are going to be in a support position to assist either squadron that runs into trouble. The better the two squadrons are prepared, the easier your job will be.”
Cam tilted his head and smiled, “I think you’ve made a good suggestion. That’s what we’ll do. However, the rotation will not stop on Friday; it will continue through the weekends. We don’t have a long time to get ready. Also, once another Carrier is completed, the two squadrons that will be working together will take them out on their assigned days.”
Tim nodded, “That is an excellent idea, Sir. We need that time to learn how both commanders think and respond to different situations.”
“We will start this meeting with seeing what tactics you’ve developed, Admiral. Take my place at the console and I’ll observe from the floor.”
Timmy stood up and took a datacube out of the bag he was carrying. He went to the computer and inserted it into the port. Whatever the new Commanders were thinking prior to the cube being inserted, they quickly forgot as a series of simulations began appearing on the large wall monitor. Even Cam was amazed at the insights Admiral Hart’s tactics revealed. He couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Tim should be in command. He could see that the others also wondered the same thing.
Chapter Seven
Captain Essay Connor sat in the Command Chair and put the helmet hanging off the back of his chair on his head. “I’m ready.”
“Linking now.”
Essay closed his eyes and felt his brain go into overload. He gripped the arms of the chair in a death grip and after a few moments, his mind returned to normal. He shook his head and opened his eyes, “Is it always like this?”
“It affects everyone differently, Essay.”
“Wow! I can see how this ship functions now.”
“Your scanning officer is requesting permission to come aboard.”
Essay blew out a breath and pursed his lips, “I wish it was only you and I doing this, Poul.”
“Your father insists on two, Essay.”
“WHY?”
“To keep you from doing something rash.”
“As if I would. Tell her to come to the bridge.”
Essay remained in his chair and waited until the young woman arrived. She came through the port and Essay sat up straight. She didn’t look as young as her age. She didn’t look as young as her nineteen years; she was very well put together and he would’ve guessed at least 25 years old. She came to attention and said, “Captain Erica Olivia Goldwin reporting as ordered, Sir.”
“At ease. Take your station and go through the linking process.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Essay didn’t like that his scanning officer was the same rank as he was; he wasn’t promoted to captain until he was twenty-two. What had she done that merited being promoted to captain so quickly? His eyes narrowed, this black-haired beauty looked familiar. Where had he seen her? Wait a moment, did she say her last name was Goldwin? He punched her name into the computer and fell back in his chair, Oh my aching back. She was Ali and Gabby Goldwin’s daughter.
She was the spitting image of her mother and she graduated from the Academy when she was twelve years old with the highest scores in Academy history; her mother was number two tied with Admiral Eagle. Fleet had refused to allow her to serve on a warship until she turned eighteen. She had been working with her parents in developing advanced weapon systems since her graduation. She had actually graduated ahead of him. He was twenty-seven and graduated five years earlier. He huffed a breath as Olivia opened her eyes, “That was interesting.”
“Your mother felt the same way when she linked with me years ago.”
Olivia smiled, “My parents fell in love on board your ship, Poul.”
“I know, I’ll share some of the recordings I made with you at a later date.”
Olivia looked at Essay and saw his scowl, “Sorry, Captain, my family and Poul have a connection.”
“As does mine.”
“Your connection goes much further back than Olivia’s, Essay. I’ll share some of your ancestors recordings as well.”
Essay sat and shook his head for a few moments and then looked at Olivia, “I have to confess that I was not happy about having another officer on board. However, it’s not something I have a say in and in order for us to have a pleasant atmosphere, I need to accept it and work to get along with you. We will use our first names on board and professional ranks when an outsider is communicating with us or if we leave the ship to attend various functions. Is that alright with you?”
“It is.”
“Why weren’t you promoted to Captain when you graduated? By all rights, you should be senior to me.”
“Navy protocols say that no one will be promoted to an officer until they’re at least eighteen years old. I chose this assignment and the Navy decided that I would be junior so they delayed my promotion until you received yours.”
“You chose this assignment?”
“I did. I wanted to start my career experience where my mother started hers.” Erica saw Essay’s expression and smiled, “Don’t be intimidated by my history, Essay. I recognize you are in command and I know my duty is to support your decisions the best way possible.”
“I now know that you should be senior to me.”
“But I’m not and I prefer it that way. This is a learning experience for me and I need the time to sit back and learn from what happens. I’m still somewhat young and inexperienced. You are in the right place at the right moment.”
“Thank you for saying so. What do you want to be called, Erica or Olivia?’
“I prefer Erica.” She smiled, “I’ve always been a Daddy’s Girl.”
“I thought your father’s name was Ali?”
“His first name is Eric.”
“Oh. Erica it is.”
“You have a famous name.”
Essay shrugged, “My name is just like my father’s, Steven Alexander. My parents called me SA from birth and now I’ve just accepted Essay as my name, just like
my famous ancestor.”
“Well, I look forward to serving on the Prophet’s Eyes with you. What are we going to do now?”
“I’ve been ordered to take the two of you out for a sort of shakedown cruise for both of you to familiarize yourselves with how my systems function.”
Essay shrugged, “Where are we going?”
“I thought I would let you choose the first location.”
Essay thought for a few minutes and then looked at Erica, “Do you have a suggestion?”
Erica’s smile was immediate, “I’d like to go and visit the Kindred’s Planet.”
“Whoa, whoa, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
Essay looked up and smiled, “Why not, Poul? Aren’t you invisible to the Darkness Forces in the Milky Way? The Kindred’s planet is a long distance from Earth and with a primitive society, they shouldn’t be watched by the Darkness.”
“We should run this by your parents first.”
“Poul, I am in command of this ship and I will not run every decision I make by the Admiralty to get their approval. We are Ghost Warriors and will act accordingly. Take us to the Kindred Planet.”
“Boy are we going to get screamed at.”
Erica shook her head, “Poul, are you going to tell them? I’m not.”
“I’ve entered the coordinates into your panel, Essay. Erica, keep a look out for any Darkness Warships on the way. I will see them first but you need to get comfortable with your panel.”
“I will. I’d actually like to take a look at them if we have the opportunity.”
“I’ll see what I can do about that.”
Essay leaned forward and began pressing buttons on his console, “Activate your armor and scanning systems. Jump in ten seconds.” Erica smiled as her armor enclosed her small frame. Life was finally beginning. Essay’s armor wrapped around him and his helmet activated the tactical program on his visor. He felt like Erica, life was good.
• • •
The young Kindred Female sighed as her parents scolded her, “Why did you turn down Jak’s proposal. It’s time you mated and started a family!” Kamela looked at them and remained silent. Her father shook his head and stood up. He thought over his shoulder, “See if you can talk some sense into her!”