by Chris Hechtl
Admiral Subert hadn't been happy about interrupting his schedule to meet and greet the new arrivals and had opposed it to the point where he'd made himself unavailable. He'd also just received word about what was going on in Bek and wasn't happy. So, he was snubbing the new arrivals.
Saul had been ordered not to put on a reception, which was why they were standing in the entry to the station. He'd exchanged salutes with the senior officers and shook hands, but he realized right off that he hadn't brought enough people. And the Veraxin was the prickly type. Dealing with the annoyed Veraxin rear admiral turned out to be somewhat tricky. Prostrating himself in front of her and the other senior officers was galling, but he had to do it.
“I'm sorry, ma'am, Admiral Subert was inadvisably detained,” he said patiently. “He had to log keys in the yard and is still en route. I am his chief of staff so he detailed getting you settled in and up to speed to me in his absence,” he explained.
“I see. I expected a better turnout, at the very least a formal reception,” the Veraxin buzzed, looking around with her eye stalks. “I am senior officer in the star system now I understand?”
“Yes, in the star system,” Saul said slowly. He glanced at Commodore Ortiz who seemed to be put out at the reception or lack thereof as well. “I am … not sure what sort of command Admiral Irons has in mind for you yet though, ma'am. We need to get you up to speed on current events first,” he said.
The Veraxin clacked her mandibles in annoyance. She signaled second-level resignation mixed with first-level annoyance. “Very well.”
The commander extended his arm. “This way to the BOQ, ma'am,” he offered. “So we can get you settled in. I …,” he frowned as he tried to access her implants. “Ma'am? Is your ID implant encrypted?” he asked carefully.
“I don't have one,” the Veraxin stated. “Is that a problem, Commander?” she asked pointedly.
“Well, some areas can only be accessed with implants for security reasons, ma'am—the same for files. We um …”
“Figure it out,” the Veraxin buzzed, signaling rising anger.
“Yes, ma’am. As I was saying, this way,” the commander stated, leading her and the other officers off.
“I guess that leaves the rest of you with me?” Chief Petty Officer Lafayette asked, eying the others once the senior officers had departed. There were seven noncoms of all three branches standing at parade rest, 24 middies, and what looked like 8 civilians. “I'm sorry, I don't have your implant IDs …”
“We don't have any,” a woman said snippily.
“Okay and judging from your dress you are a civilian, ma'am?” the CPO asked her. She nodded once. He turned to the other four. “And you are as well?”
“My, nothing gets past you,” the woman said nastily.
The chief looked at her briefly, shooting her a low-voltage quelling look before he looked at the enlisted and … middies.
“Okay, Middies, I believe you can report to academy processing. Captain Firefly?” he asked, looking up to the ceiling.
“Who are you …,” the woman looked around them.
“I'm accessing my implants, ma'am,” the chief replied.
“Yes, Chief. I've been monitoring the situation since Barry is busy. I'll direct the middies to processing. They are coming midterm, so that will be fun to deal with. We also do not have their records on file, and obviously they don't have implants or … I'll handle them.”
“Thank you, sir. And the civilians, sir?”
“I think someone from the government should step in. I just received a download from ensign Caroline. She informs me three are from Nuevo, the rest are from Bek. The Nuevo delegation are family or friends of the previous delegation it seems. There is some implied interest about college.”
“You were thrown into the deep end, ma'am,” the chief said, addressing the woman. “The A.I. are consulting now. For the moment I can escort you to a hotel for housing while they sort things out,” he stated.
“Very well,” the woman said, lifting her nose. “I suppose I'll have to send one of your flunkies for my things?” she demanded.
“I … can get with Caroline's bosun to arrange it, ma'am,” the CPO stated. He turned to the 24 middies. “You sirs are destined for the academy. Since you don't have implants, we can't direct you and you can't access parts of the annex without them. We'll have to detail an escort,” he said.
“I'm on that, Chief,” the A.I. stated.
“Captain Firefly just stated he's detailing one now.” He turned to the noncoms. “I suppose the same problem of ID is with you?” he asked.
“Yes, Chief,” a Gashg stated. He had a greenish sash and waistband. They did nothing to cover the scars all over his body. “Nuevo. Army Reserve,” he said helpfully.
“Okay,” the chief said with a nod. “We'll get you temporary billets. Marines and army will most likely be shipped out on the next flight to Agnosta however,” he said with a nod to them. Both groups signaled they understood. He turned as a Veraxin sailor came down the corridor. “R'v'r, you just got tapped for a special assignment. Escort the enlisted here to temporary enlisted housing. I'll take the civilians,” he said.
“I'm, um … yes, Chief,” the Veraxin said, cutting off his protest when he saw the set expression on his senior's face. One of the enlisted chuckle, but sobered before the chief could turn back to look his or her way. “Very well. Let's get this parade on the road then,” he said, nodding to the sailors, and then to the civilians. He extended his hand to them. “If you'll follow me ladies, and gentlemen, I'll show you to the hotel we have on base and get you set up there.”
“Yes let's get going,” the woman said with a sniff.
“What a clusterfisk,” one of the new Marine noncoms muttered just loud enough for those near to hear before the group split up.
:::{)(}:::
Admiral Subert eyed his chief of staff. “Are they all settled in?”
“Yes, sir and already making waves,” the commander replied with a grimace as he entered the office. The admiral waved a hand as he leaned against his desk and crossed his arms. “So?”
“So, the captain we can put to use. The same for some of the others, though two of the officers are on the flag officer's staff.”
“Less we have to supply I suppose.”
“Yes, sir. And the Marine colonel and the enlisted are headed out on the next ship to Agnosta with the army officer and enlisted.” Saul said, checking his notes. “The chief settled the civilians in the annex's hotel. I've passed on a request for help concerning them.”
“You'll be lucky if you get a response in your lifetime,” the admiral said with a sniff. He shook his head and went behind his desk. “What else?”
“Here is where things get dicey. The two flag officers are … raring to go I guess you could say, sir.”
“And no ID implants, I've heard that part.”
“Yes, sir. It hasn't stopped them it seems. Commodore X'll'rr has already been informed that the rear admiral will be taking over Battle Fleet once she is ready. In fact, she wanted to transfer to First Squadron and relieve the commodore last night, but First is out on maneuvers and won't be back for another two days. She did order them back early though.”
“She had no authority to do that,” Admiral Subert growled.
“Apparently she does, sir. She's got you by date of rank,” the commander said. The admiral scowled blackly. Saul nodded slowly. “She's been a flag officer for a decade, sir. Six years as a rear admiral,” he explained.
“So? She has me by date of rank. I'm still the commander of this star system not her!”
“Yes, sir. But she is a senior officer. Last order by a senior officer applies in this case. Commodore X'll'rr requested input but put her command on a course to return anyway since you were asleep at the time,” he said.
“Damn it,” the admiral growled. “She doesn't have implants; she's throwing her weight around … and what about the other one?”
�
�Commodore Ortiz. He stepped up right off to get his ID implants. Oddly, none of the officers, enlisted, or civilians got them on Caroline. I put in an inquiry to Doctor Naroob. He replied that he asked while doing their health checkup, but they all declined. But now that he's here and sees the need, Commodore Ortiz has seen fit to get them.”
“Well good for him I suppose,” the admiral growled.
“Yes, sir. He marched in to the medical admin wing and ordered the implants,” the chief of staff said with a shake of his head.
“Oh, spare me,” the admiral sighed, scrubbing at his face. He glowered at the bulkhead for a moment. “I bet Lieutenant Taylor was thrilled.”
“It wasn't his shift, sir. Commander Fox was about to go off shift. He didn't know the commodore and a stranger in uniform marching in and demanding an implant didn't go over well. Fortunately, Barry stepped in and verified the commodore's identity before the SPs arrived.”
“Lovely,” the admiral growled, now thoroughly disgusted. “But he got the implants?”
“After a full checkup. Commander Fox was adamant about that. And I do mean full, sir; he ran the commodore through the wringer.”
“Good,” the admiral replied with a sniff. “Serves him right. What specialty is he?”
“Also Battle Fleet, but carriers, sir. He's taken an interest in Collective Destiny. I understand he's trying to get on board her now.”
“I bet security is in love with that. It explains the complaints at any rate,” the admiral said, shaking his head.
“Yes it does, sir. I've bucked it up to the Admiralty. For the moment no one in BUPERS has responded other than to have them run through medical, then the academy.”
“And I know they won't listen since those orders are coming from a commander or captain.”
“No, sir.”
“Well, the Veraxin may not want to listen to me, but this is my star system.”
“Yes, sir. Should I call her?”
“No, I'll set the commodore straight. I need to call Admiral Irons and see what I need to do about the Veraxin.”
Saul nodded as he made a note. “Aye aye, sir.”
:::{)(}:::
A few hours later Admiral Subert checked the time and then put an ansible call in to Admiral Irons.
“Phil? You usually pass on discussions. It's unusual for you to be waiting for me,” Admiral Irons said. “Problems?”
“You could say that. Apparently, I'm outranked again,” Admiral Subert said with a grimace.
“So, you've got the latest batch in from Bek. Any standouts? What about V'r'z'll?”
“Admiral V'r'z'll … is prickly.” Admiral Irons snorted. That was a definite case of the pot calling the kettle black. “She's … flexing her muscles politically and starting to give me problems I have to admit. I'm trying to handle it. According to what we've found out about her, she came up through ship command. She has little if any experience in staff, carrier, fortress, medical, or engineering commands. She's Battle Fleet through and through, which is good I suppose. She's going to need to be brought up to speed though. They sent her without implants or any of the training you sent, sir.”
“I wonder why. Not even ID implants?”
“No. I read Doctor Naroob's report. He tried to give her an ID implant when she came on board Caroline. He did the same with all the Bekians and Nuevo people. Some objected but didn't say why.”
“And now you've got me wondering why. We gave them implant ID tech when Caroline arrived the first time. Distributing—it shouldn't be that hard, and you'd think a priority for officers. I'll talk to Yorgi. Maybe he has some answers. In the meantime, sick medical on her, also the academy.”
“Yes, sir. Sir, Commodore X'll'rr has expressed concern about her command …”
“She doesn't even have the mission yet,” the fleet admiral said with a snort. “I'm not willing to turn it over to someone I don't know and definitely not to someone who has no experience or training in hyperspace combat—not when it is going to take time to make certain the new bug is up to speed. We'll see though.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
“And yes, I know you are concerned about her as well, her and the others. We'll work on that,” Admiral Irons stated.
Admiral Subert hesitated then nodded. “Aye aye, sir,” he finally said.
“I'm getting more downloads from Horatio,” Admiral Irons said as Sprite blinked onto his HUD and waved a file. “I'll see what's going on. Antigua out.”
:::{)(}:::
“Are they fracking serious?” Admiral Irons fumed after he read the latest report from Horatio. They'd used the Ansible's break bit to get the B102C download to stop. He had a copy of the report from Horatio courtesy of Caroline. But that was when the next headache had begun. No sooner had the break stopped the download when a fresh one came in, this one from Horatio himself. Apparently he'd been exiled to B102C to build the Harbor station there with a factory tender he'd built, the Ilmarinen. Some of his abrievated sitrep was still coming in. The low bandwidth was agonizing. “Horatio …,” he shook his head.
“It looks that way,” Sprite said. “I don't envy him. We didn't know the snake pit Bek was going to turn into.”
“Yes, Yorgi failed to mention it,” Admiral Irons snarled, clenching and unclenching his fists. “He said it would be tricky, but this is bullshit. They are disobeying my orders and hassling Horatio. Hell, they ran him out of the star system!” he shook his head.
“Stubborn,” Sprite said. “And apparently set in their ways. The question is, what do we do about it?”
“I can't just order them to comply obviously. They haven't been interested in listening to my other orders,” the admiral growled. “And their hardware is set to listen to them, not me.”
“True. Never give an order you know won't be obeyed. So …”
“So, I have to send someone. Yorgi is needed here. Remind me to have a chat with him and Secretary Sema,” he growled.
“We're not getting the full story,” Sprite warned, “Just one side.”
“And I am biased into believing Horatio? Is that what you're doing by playing devil's advocate, Captain?” the admiral demanded.
“It's part of my job,” the A.I. replied.
“Point,” the admiral growled as he paced. “We're going to have to send someone with the rank to deal with this and get them sorted out.”
“You are out. You are needed here. That leaves three candidates. Admiral Sienkov, he knows the players and the field they are on. Secretary Sema, or Admiral Subert. But Admiral Subert is needed where he is at. He also lacks the rank.”
“And I need Yorgi where he is, not burning time getting there and back,” the admiral sighed. “Damn it,” he growled.
“You don't want to send the secretary?”
“I know she's still setting up her command. I realize she's a bit underutilized at the moment but …”
“I think it would be a wise idea. Perhaps with Admiral Subert or another flag officer to help kick start things.”
“Subert …”
“Has been making noises about a new command off and on. Well, we have a couple Bekian flag officers in Pyrax now. We could turn command over to one of them, the senior-most officer. Then he'd be free. The problem is he's a rear admiral, only a step above Commodore Logan. They'd most likely still tell him to pound sand.”
“True. Or I could send the new officers they just shipped us backpacking orders to replace the current administration. Which is tempting, they need a good swift kick in the ass it seems. I want to find out what the hell is going on. Which means we need to sit them down and pick their brains before we go off half-cocked.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I'm glad Horatio is doing something … proactive, but he's sticking his neck out. I can't back him from here, so he damn well better be careful,” the admiral said. “But this changes our models. It throws our estimates of Bek's ability to help us by a year, at least a year. And if this trend continues …�
��
“At this point we're getting officers and enlisted out of them. I'm now wondering why,” Sprite stated carefully.
The admiral paused in his pacing to cock his head at her avatar. “Looking at it politically?” he asked finally.
Sprite nodded. “We'd have to ask, but I now think Admiral Sienkov was about to retire anyway, had no prospects for life after retirement, so chose the risk of coming here. He's building a new life here,” she said. “I'm wondering now about the other officers. We need to do some discrete inquiries. It wouldn't surprise me if they were on the out or were bucking the system in some way,” Sprite said.
The admiral nodded thoughtfully. “Another thing to find out,” he said in disgust as he flopped down into his chair.
“And unfortunately you have a full dance card right now Admiral,” Protector interjected. “So, if your consult is finished for the moment, I need to get you back on track.”
“Right,” the admiral exhaled noisily. He knew Bek wasn't over, but … he shook his head as his door opened. The Yeoman looked at him in apology as the two senators came into the room. He rose from his chair and extended his hand. “Senator Falconi,” a pleasure,” he said as they shook hands.
“For me as well, Mister President,” the senator said smoothly as they shook hands.
:::{)(}:::
“Still pissed, Admiral?” Proteus asked as the A.I. noted the admiral's vital signs.
“Still worked up at least. I need to get a good workout so I can get my mad out. What do you have? A distraction I hope?”
“Something like that,” the A.I. replied, putting his avatar image up on the admiral's desk.
“Okay,” the admiral drawled, drumming his fingers on the desktop. “Okay, I've got a few minutes,” he said when he checked the schedule. Shoot.”
“Thank you,” the A.I. replied. “This should be taken up with Commander Sindri, but as an Engineering A.I., I noted a few things. Shifting priorities,” the A.I. stated.