Shaking his heads Jack straightened up from the hatch and walked down the passageway and onto the bridge. The crewman harrumphed but stayed asleep as Jack stopped by the engineering station and turned the lights completely off then took the huge wide Captain’s chair and sat back, letting his eyes get used to the total black as things started lighting up around him. It did not take long before Jack was seeing every energy source and power line across the ship no matter how small. Including crewmen’s bodies as they went about their business or lack thereof. The Captain and his cronies he was sure he remembered from the Captain’s tramp ship still sat around the conference table stuffing their faces.
It bothered Jack at first that he could not see the Battleship and its huge fusion power generators and foot thick power lines but then with its armored hull some 10 feet thick he should have expected it. The Destroyer to both sides of this ship with their main generator and engines at full thrust stood out like beacons. The power lines running up through the ships looked like the blood vessels of living bodies.
Looking back at Captain Tweed’s ship Jack started concentrating on trying to figure out if the Captain really had as much food as Jack had seen in the mess deck. Trying to think of where the hell he could hide hundreds of tons of food that could not be found with a good search. After all the damn Destroyer wasn’t that big. The only Compartments not readily accessible were the fusion core rooms which was impossible to access anyway with the engines at full power and the mass tanks.
Taking a deep breath as he tried to think, his eyes wondered to one of the Destroyers sitting on the Battleship’s hull only feet away and realized that he could see power lines running down into several of the drop mass tanks slung under and over the ship’s hull. “Damn! This old bastard had already figured out how to make the drop tanks into cargo tanks. Jack looked down ignoring the mass of wiring and energy sources cluttering his vision to find several drop tanks mounted below the mess deck packed half full of food. No wonder he wasn’t worried about a search of the ship finding the damn food. He quickly found several more completely packed tanks.
Jack left the ship and headed for the flight deck where he grabbed a fighter and slid out of the ship and back down the stern to look over the ring of Destroyers. Finding only 2 more with the hidden cargo tanks Jack looked up the three Destroyers on his screen to find out that all 4 of them were crewed by officers and men from Captain Tweed’s Tranpship. Jack marveled that the old goat had managed to not only get his officers and crew assigned to 4 Destroyers but keep them together in the same Squadron. He was not at all surprised that the Captain had figured out the one thing that would be worth a fortune out here at this time and stock up on it though he did wonder if he had anything to do with no transports being sent out this way.
A fighter suddenly appeared next to his. “Thought you could sneak out without me did you. Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?” The Ensign looked at Jack across the few feet separating the canopies of the two fighters as more fighters slid up around him. “Where we going this time? I haven’t heard of any enemy activity around here recently or are we just going for a ride?”
“Went for my ride already. I stumbled upon a few thousand tons of food and I was just checking to see exactly where and how much it was.” Jack smiled at the shocked face of the Ensign as she looked at the tank Jack pointed to. “Come we have a lot of planning to do and preparations to make in the next few hours.” Jack deftly slipped his fighter out through the squadron that had appeared around him fully loaded for bear and headed back for the landing bay but then decided to make a detour and slid up to the new huge bay being built between the top two shield decks.
The exslaves were enlarging the diameter of all the Shield armor decks by taking material from the 50 foot thick decks themselves. Hollowing them out and expanding them to over 4,000 feet so far. Jack had decided the empty top deck was plenty big to land destroyers on for repairs and alterations. The Commodores of both DD squadrons had decided to let Jack upgrade the destroyers they were Captain’s on with the latest the aliens had come up with. Then if the upgrades tested out and the Commodores liked what they saw, the rest of the Destroyers of the two squadrons would be upgraded. It had not taken Jack much to convince them after the pitiful performance they had attacking the battleship for several months before Jack took it by storm.
But now he had to not only talk to them about the original problem concerning the Destroyer engineering crews competence on most of their DDs but now this new problem. He could not very well assault 4 ships of one of the squadrons without at least telling the Squadron’s Commanding officer first.
Jack slid his fighter through the air curtain now surrounding the entire open deck with the last and forward most armored deck some hundred feet above and landed between the two Destroyers taking up only a small portion of the 3,000 foot wide deck at its center. Only the Ensign followed Jack onto the deck as the rest of the squadron went out to patrol the area since they had gone to the bother to launch. The Gronks still trying to get used to the human way of training in the actual fighters and not only Simms, taking full advantage of getting every hour they could in the fighters at the least excuse.
Jack dropped off the side of the fighter and walked up to the two squadron Commanders as they were watching a large Buzzard coil tube being attached to the wingtip of one of the Destroyers. They had barely noticed Jack landing behind them. A line running along the thick trailing edge would transfer the compressed mass from the coil tube to the engines on that side of the ship. Walking up to the Destroyer Squadron Commanders, Jack could hardly believe how fast the upgrades were going on the ship. He could see the plugs on the ends of the barrels of the 8 inch main guns as well as all the smaller point defense guns scattered all over the ship. The smaller point defense guns would only take a few days to line the barrels with the diamond crystal using the high pressure growth medium the Aliens had developed while the larger 8 inch guns would take a week. The smaller inside diameter crystal lined barrels would turn the guns into high energy bright blue beams as hot as any of the Godship guns of a similar size. Piles of thick heavy electrical cables were starting to form under each of the ships as crews tore out the old and made room for the much smaller new plasma pipe conduits that would replace them. Greatly increasing the power going to each of the many guns.
Jack had already gone that route with the Red Pepper which was why it had taken so long to get it back in shape after being cooked inside the Bubble before they could get out of the trap. But then the damage had been so great that the added time really did not amount to much construction time. Learning how to operate and maintain the plasma conduit and generators was the time consuming item on the Red Dwarf. Now that most of the bugs had been worked out, it was just a matter of installing the system on the Destroyers. What Jack really had fun at though was the scientific and engineering research needed helping Pan and the Aliens getting the bugs out and improving the systems. The Exslave engineers were damn good at what they did but they had no why of even knowing what thinking out of the box meant let alone doing it.
Jack had left a dozen very promising weapons systems not very fare in development on his last ship when he became Captain of the Red Pepper and while he had a rough idea of what most of them were, he simply did not have the time to get into them deep enough to finish them before he had left in the middle of a battle. Now trying to explain them to Pan and the aliens had wasted too many hours already. Though they continued to surprise Jack with things that had already been developed over the last 10,000 years. They all seemed to be just slight (a few major) upgrades to things already in service on the Godship. The plasma conduit and generator calculations and engineering drawings Jack had shown them where complete enough that they had taken and produced a great working system that exceeded the best Jack could imagine but only because all the basic work was already done and all they had to do was put it into production and then because they did not understand the basic principles
ran into troubles getting it to work at first, almost getting them killed in the Cloud battle months before.
Jack shook his head trying to put things in perspective again. He had other things to worry about right then as he approached the two Squadron Commanders.
Before Jack could say anything Commodore Fletcher turned to Jack and said. “I was just going to call and have a chat with you Captain. I just talked to Captain Tweed and he does not appreciate you sending your engineers into his engine room without asking him first. Especially after offering you a couple of pallets of MRE’s.”
“Well Commodore, it is a bit hard to ask his permission when he is too busy feeding his face in his cabin to come down to his own engine room.” Jack knew he was in trouble. His father had always complained that the Ass Hole was always one step ahead of him. “I have a Battleship to move and his engine’s lack of thrust are slowing us down. Fact is I have sent engineering crews to every Destroyer that is not getting full optimum thrust from their engines. They have all found the same thing on most of them and that is incompetent lack of training. That is except for Captain Tweed’s ship, his crew is simply lazy. I would say subversive but I lack the evidence for that at this time.”
“Don’t be ridiculous Captain Turner, I have known the Captain since the squadron formed 6 months ago. I have attended many of his dinner parties and he is nothing but a gracious host that goes out of his way to help the other Captains of the squadron in any way he can.”
“Yes I can imagine Commodore for a modest fee. I have known Captain Tweed for 10 years that I can remember and my father 30 before that. He used to be a Tramp Captain. His help always comes with a price that leaves him a lot richer and the ship he helps a lot poorer even if it does not look like it at the time. He uses his dinners to manipulate and arrange deals his victims would never agree to in an office. Always using his poor broken down ship and slow sick crew as an excuse for getting just a little bit more that never turns out to be just a little bit. Turning a small heart felt concession into costly surrender without the victim knowing he has been screwed most of the time until long afterwards. Victims that would defend him to the death simply because he fed them, got drunk with them and patted them on the back before kicking them out the lock bankrupt.”
Jack could see he had already lost this fight as Commodore Fletcher turned red coming to the defense of Tweed even after Jack had pointed out that would happen to his face. “Very well Commodore, I must be wrong and Tweed has become a changed man since he joined the Navy. Though I am curious as to why he joined and how he managed to not only get 4 ships for his crew but kept them together in the same squadron?”
“That is none of your business Captain but Admiral Spencer of Destroyer Command specifically recruited Captain Tweed and he would now be First Squadron Commander if Admiral Spencer had not been overruled by The Rock. Now you will pull your crews off my ships. I know they are the scum of the fleet but they are my scum and I am not going to have you harassing them. They are doing the best they can with the junk ships and equipment they have been given. Just because you designed the ships and equipment does not mean you can blame my crews for your incompetence.”
“Yet you are letting me upgrade your ship with more of my incompetence Commodore.”
“I agreed with adding the Buzzard scoops to my ship because Harris vouched for you and I saw those bombers flying through the damn clouds as if they weren’t there. Not having my damn 8 inch turrets jamming every few shots would be nice too and I still think upping the temperature of the guns is just asking for problems but I will take that risk for now. I did not agree to have my entire power system stripped out and replaced by those damn flimsy pipes. Fact is, I want you to stop stripping out the power lines immediately and put them back in just the way you found them.”
Jack took a deep breath as he noticed that Commodore Harris was smiling as he shook his head at Commodore Fletcher so Jack turned to him. “Commodore Harris, what do you think? Do you want me to stop the modifications as well?”
“Me? No. You go right ahead and finish up though I have to admit my trepidation at seeing all the power cables coming out. I saw the Plasma conduits working on the Red Pepper when I was there with a demonstration of the hot high temp guns and yes I want them for my squadron as soon as possible.” Turning to Fletcher. “Buck up Harry. Give the boy a chance. Remember he is a national Hero with some 30 enemy Battleships to his name. We weren’t even able to damage one that was trapped after two months of trying.”
“Captain Tweed is a good officer and I will not have this snot nosed boy insulting him.”
Harris looked at Fletcher with a sick smile. “Ya, whatever you say Harry. But we both know Tweed is an overweight slime bucket. I wouldn’t trust him any farther than I could throw him.”
“No he isn’t Ron. Stop listening to a boy that has it out to get a good man simply because his father hated him. Tweed told me all about him when we were talking a few minutes ago.” Fletcher turned to Jack. “Get your men off my ships immediately. Tweed said he is giving you a few pallets of MRE’s to help your crew and still wants you to come over for dinner tonight in spite of your rude behavior. That is how good a man he is Turner. But in the meantime get your crews off my ships.”
“Well I guess I should kiss his ass as well Commodore. But I can’t force myself to have dinner with a man that stuffs his fat face with steak and lobsters while over five thousands crewmen around him are eating emergency ration bars and committing suicide. Fact is we only have another couple of weeks of ration bars left before we will be eating only pills until they run out. A couple of crates of MRE’s is about as useful as peeing in an airless moon and hoping something green sprouts Commodore. A nice useless gesture to make him look good to the stupid.” Taking a breath as the Commodore turned red again. “As for pulling my crews back. Regulations say that the Commander of all Dock yard Facilities will insure that all ships putting out to space are space worthy and pass all appropriate safety and engineering tests. I think my ship classifies as a Dockyard since we are upgrading your ships Commodore.” Jack waved his hand toward the Commodore’s Destroyer with its open maintenance hatches and stripped equipment littering the deck below it. “And that gives me the right to crawl all over every square inch of the ships docked to it for contraband and in this case food. It also gives me the authority to make sure your crews are properly trained putting them into the Simms 24 hours a day if that is what it takes. It also means I can enforce Navy fitness, safety and stores quantity regulations when the rest of my crews descend upon Tweed’s destroyer docked to my ship this afternoon at 1600 hours. A full 2 hours ahead of Tweed’s schedule when his galley will be packed with food he shouldn’t have.”
“You are invited to come along when I collect Captain Tweed’s generous offering that I am sure will wind up being a lot more than a couple crates of MRE’s. And by the way, I am ordering you not to discuss the coming safety and compliance inspection with any of your crew including Captain Tweed or any of your captains.”
“What gives you the right to demand anything from me you little shit? I don’t care if you are some kind of hero.”
“Glad you asked Commodore Fletcher. As the dully appointed Captain of the Red Pepper as well as the Commodore of the Gama 13 Hulk Station with the acting rank Rear Admiral, who captured this ship in time of war and legally commissioned this ship into the Republic Navy as a Prize ship of war. I, Acting Rear Admiral Turner, am the legally constituted Commander of this ship station and all ships docked to it with lower ranks. So Commodore, I became your superior officer the moment you docked with my ship. Look it up in the regulations but do not even think of disobeying my orders or you are going to be looking for a new job.”
Jack turned to Commodore Harris and stared at him like his father had a habit of doing to someone he knew already knew what needed to be done.
Commodore Harris smiled with a chuckle. “By your Command Vice Admiral, I will go and start going over tr
aining for all my ships and take a closer look at maintenance immediately.” Shaking his head. “If I had known… I will start stripping my ships of MRE’s to send you as well. How long have you guys been eating nutrition bars Captain?”
“Months at half rations. Thank you Commodore. The cooks will be breaking down everything including the MRE’s we get, making mostly stews, goulashes and soups with bread or biscuits to make the food stretch as far as possible.”
“Breaking down the MRE’s Captain?” Shaking his head.
“You can feed two and three people with each MRE broken down into the pot with nutrition pills added for the calories Commodore. Double that if you include the emergency nutrition bars. More at half rations. My cooks and Doctors have been giving me quite an education.” Taking a deep breath. “We would have started breaking down the food bars but with nothing to mix them with, they taste even worse than whole bars.”
Shaking his head Commodore Harris’s face turned serious. “Tell you what Captain, we will strip my ships of everything edible and my crews can eat with your crews. It may be a while before the next transport arrives and we may as well as starve to death together.” The Commodore tapped his wrist Comm and started issuing orders.
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 23