Jack turned and headed through the gate without looking back. He did not see the two half naked women start straggling across the bay toward the Compound. Fear plastered across their faces as they came, one not walking very well even with the other’s help. By the time Jack and the Chief entered the bow of the ship, the two women had turned into a flood and the black suits on the other side of the Bay had started to notice.
Chapter 11; Yet another mutiny
Someone had fastened a 5 foot square cargo crate outside the hatch into the bow section that made it easier to walk through the hatch from the Zero Gee of the Engine shaft. A ramp had been fixed to the inside of the Engine shaft hull hatch allowing Jack to walk down the 2 ½ foot drop from the hatch to the deck of the cabin that had its end cut off at an angle and then make a 30 some degree turn to go out the cabin’s hatch. Jack turned right to head for the elevator shaft with the Chief behind him. An Ensign was outside the cabin taking names and directing the ex-prisoners to work details cleaning up sections of the bow according to a list on a hand screen.
Jack came through the hatch just in time to hear the Ensign telling the rating ahead of them his assignment. “Aren’t you the lucky one First Class Hardwigg? You are now in charge of cleaning up the bodies on the bridge. Just count your blessings you are not on Ward Room duty. It is really a mess. You will find the protocols and what to do with the bodies on your PDA. Just be sure to record everything.” The Ensign suddenly came to attention when he saw Jack and the Chief. “Welcome aboard Captain Turner, Chief Nimitz. How can I help you?”
Jack returned the salute. “Where is Commander Glenn?”
“He is down at the bottom of the elevator shaft with a work crew trying to build an airlock so we can cut through the deck sir.”
“Thank you Ensign.” Jack started down the passageway until he heard the Chief talking to the Ensign. Then stopped and turned around.
“Ensign, have you been on the bridge or are you just assigning tasks from the bow plan?”
“Yes Chief. I took a quick tour of the important sections of the bow leaving most of the cabins for later. Sir. I still cannot believe how little damage there is to most of the decks with the engines rammed down through the hull. Some compartments and sections are cut off but except for all the bodies and a few pieces of equipment, everything looks normal.” The Ensign frowned shaking his head in disbelief.
Jack looked at the Chief baffled. He could feel sudden hope welling up from him but that was all.
“Are the suit Comms working down here?”
“Yes Chief, I can contact the Captain if I need to and I am getting work detail and scouting reports.”
“Very well Ensign, I want every maintenance tech sent to the bridge immediately no matter what they are doing unless they are already working at the bottom of the elevator shaft for the Captain. Carry on.” Turning to Jack the Chief smiled. “Come on Captain we have work to do.” Then tapping his comm. “Commander Glenn, Chief Nimitz here, I need you immediately on the bridge.”
“Aaa Chief. Glad to hear you joining us but I am a bit busy right now.”
“Too busy to talk to the lower half of the ship. If the bridge Comms to engineering don’t work now, it should only take a few minutes to get them working.”
“On my way up now Chief. You sure you can get them working? There is nothing intact at all coming up from or going down to the rest of the ship. Every line and pipe was cut when the upper refugee decks collapsed into the Command section. The Refugee decks were not as well supported as the Command and personnel decks in the bow are.”
“Yes Commander I am sure. Out.”
Jack followed the Chief up half a dozen ladders without slowing down passing work crews cleaning up some very gruesome mangled bodies. Entering the bridge Jack was shocked to see the mummified bodies of the crew on duty at the time of the collision, thrown all over the compartment. Some sticking out of the overhead with the lower half of one sticking out of the middle of the main forward screen. Most were sitting or lying around the deck like rag dolls in strange positions. Only one had been strapped into her seat and almost looked normal but for her head sitting at a strange angle with her neck broken.
The Chief went straight to the engineering console and started working on it. Finding out it still had power to it made the Chief relax considerable. “Well. That is half of it. Now let’s see what we can do with the hull nodes.”
Jack had spent time in The Game, working in just about every department and at every console on a bridge as he worked his way up the chain of Command including as a Comm Tech and even Comm Officer as well as an Engineering Chief which he had loved and tried to stay at but he was baffled at what the Chief was up too. Sure the Comm hull nodes used sections of the hull as antennas but how could that allow them to get into contact with the lower... Suddenly Jack wanted to kick himself in his own butt. It was simple physics to use the hull come nodes to broadcast and receive from the rest of the ship including the lower 9/10ths of the ship they couldn’t get too. Hell, he should be able to talk to any of his rescue boats as well when they got there. Jack went over to the Comm board and sat down. The board still had power and a quick check of the logs found their attempts to contact the ship from the Bomber/Transport. “Chief, I have receiver logs of my transmissions when I found the ships but I can’t find the emergency beacon I followed here. It is no longer transmitting. Can we transmit?”
“That doesn’t make sense. The boards they got away with included backups and I know we have not been able to get anyone down there.” Frowning as he looked back at the board. I see no reason why Captain. Most of the hull nodes are fine. I am routing a signal down into the ships internal systems through the stern hull nodes now that should put us in contact with the ISC in Engineering. An emergency distress signal won’t interfere with that.”
“Very well, I am initiating an emergency distress signal now that half the parsec in the Nebula should hear if we have enough working transmitting nodes. If my guys are anywhere close they should be able to answer.” Jack started the broadcast adding a briefing on what had happened to the ships and the situation aboard them.”
Jack finished and with a satisfying sigh and turned around from the console not expecting an immediate reply as Commander Glenn walked rapidly through the main hatch.
“Can you get in touch with the lower half or not Chief?” The Commander headed for the Chief at the Engineering console, ignoring Jack.
“Give me a minute Commander. I am working on it. That also depends on someone being in Main Engineering Control to answer the ISC. (Internal Ship’s Comm).” The ISC was a hard wired system that was supposed to work when everything else didn’t during battle insuring that the bridge could always contact the various main compartments in the ship. The Chief was simply replacing the hard wires from the bow to the stern using the ship’s hull.
“Can I give you a hand there Chief?” Jack asked.
A voice suddenly came from the speakers in Jack’s console. “What was that? Is someone there? How the hell do you work this damn box anyway?”
Surprised Jack turned back to the Comm Console. “This is Captain Turner of the USS Red Pepper. Who is this?”
“Weaver, Machinist Mate 3rd. How the hell are you talking on the One SC?”
“Where are you Weaver?”
“I am on the Parsley. Where are you?”
“Where on the Parsley are you?”
“Engineering Control. I have the watch. Don’t got no engines but the core and auxiliaries still need tending.”
Commander Glenn came up leaning over Jack’s shoulder. “This is Commander Glenn. Get me Mr. Groom Asap.”
“Yes sir. I will go get the Captain… I mean Commander immediately Captain. Glad to hear you aren’t dead after all sir.” Then they could hear footsteps running away and a hatch opening.
Jack slid out of the chair letting Commander Glenn take it. Walking over to the Engineering console he watched the Chief going through
ship’s equipment stats. Then turning to the three Tech’s that had just come through the hatch the Chief started issuing assignments. “You go to deck 12’s ARC compartment (Air Recycling and Conditioning).” Pointing to one of the techs. “You head for the ARC on deck 20. We are going to have a house full and they need maintenance.” Then to the last Tech. “Get over to the Comm Compartment and start reconfiguring the Emergency Transponder lines to the external antenna nodes that are still transmitting. We need to punch through this cloud. Oh, and if you find someone there already, kill him or her. Don’t even bother asking or reporting until he or she is dead. IF they are in the Comm compartment already, it is to sabotage it and if you hesitate they will probably kill you so don’t. If I don’t hear from you in five minutes I will come in firing. Then lock the damn hatch. I don’t want any more sabotage. I will Comm you when I send you help.” Turning to Jack. “I need a trusted guard put outside the Comm compartment with orders to kill anyone that even starts down the passageway not already authorized by me or Captain Glenn.”
Jack’s eye brows raised. “Aaa sure Chief. You really think that one of the prisoners would sabotage the emergency beacon?”
“All I know is someone on Commander Glenn’s crew has been helping the Commodore and even told him about the raid to get the comm boards to repair their emergency transmitter in time to capture the Captain even if the rest managed to escape with the needed boards. Not to mention that some of the prisoners have been in custody for quite a while now.” Turning to Jack. “You said you have a boat? Where is it Captain?”
“Docked to the bow Chief. We used the Torpedo room hatch to get in.”
“Good then the Commodore probably won’t find it since he hasn’t yet. Now get me that guard Captain. Preferably one of the marines.”
“Sorry Chief but the marines are busy up stairs and I don’t know who to trust on either crews. Captain Glenn is going to have to appoint the guards.” Jack suddenly realized that was not exactly true. He did have kind of a lie detector now. That is if he could figure out how to use it properly when he talked or looked at people. “You sure that tech would not damage the Comm?”
The Chief looked at Jack and frowned. “Yes I have worked with the man enough to know he hates the Commodore and is loyal to his ship. He rebuilt the emergency Transponder twice when they were damaged in raids when the Commodore lied and even managed to throw the needed parts to repair it again down a hatch to his compatriots before he was captured a couple months ago when it had been sabotaged. No I don’t believe we need to worry about him.”
“Who the hell is this?” A voice said from the console in front of Commander Glenn. “I was assured that Warmongering Ass hole Glenn would never be heard from again.
The Captain’s mouth actually dropped open for a few seconds and then. “What the hell are you talking about Commander? You were assured?”
“It is you! Where is the Commodore? Get off the line. I want to speak with the Commodore. He promised to kill you.”
“Oh and why would you want to do that Commander Groom?”
“That is Captain Groom now Commander. With you and your damn warmongering out of the way, the Commodore and I have come to an understanding. He stays up there and has his orgies and leaves us alone as long as we don’t try transmitting any more stupid Emergency beacons.”
“Are you crazy? That ass hole has broken every promise he has made. Every peace treaty and agreement. Killing crewmen each time and taking equipment and prisoners.”
“That was your Antagonistic fault. You were the one that demanded that we keep men armed, allowed the aliens to build a habitat on our hull and kept that stupid Beacon going trying to call the Spiders down on us. You and your militant patriotic crap trying to get back to that fucking Rock. I told you all we had to do was deal with him in good faith and as a civilized man, he would respond in kind.”
“Oh and what about all the prisoners he has made into slaves including raping the women.”
“Easy. So what, it does not affect me and my people. Most of the ones taken were your militants and uneducated hicks that do not matter. We can live very comfortably until the enemy leaves without them. I have moved the aliens up to the upper end of the cargo holds to form a buffer between us and we are now in the process of arranging a trade agreement to trade our excess food for some of their better educated women and security. They have no reason to even threaten us you Militaristic moron. So just go back to your cell Commander and leave us alone.”
“I am your superior officer Groom.”
“The hell you are! I have twice as many Doctorates than you and just because you have a commissioning date before mine and was appointed as the ships First Officer does not mean you are even qualified. I am better than you ever will be and that was proven over and over again the incredibly moronic way you have handled such a reasonable man as the Commodore. Ever since the first time you disobeyed his orders.”
“I disobeyed his order to execute half of my male crewmen and assign the females to harems you egotistical bastard.”
“That order was needed to adjust the ships population to the reality of our new circumstances and very appropriate Commander. Any Politically Correct Academic Professor with any brains knows that.”
“Just because you were a professor for 40 years you think you are better than the rest of the population? What if you were amongst the half I decided to execute?”
“Don’t be ridiculous Commander. That would be a waste of my great education that will be needed when we return to civilization. Getting rid of the uneducated riff raff is just a matter of the consensus of the most educated on the ship for the good of controlling the masses.”
“The fewer the masses the better right. And of course anyone that disagrees with you or are not members of the most educated on the ship should be the first to go out the lock right Professor.”
“Of course. It would not be a consensus if the Commodore and I allowed dissenting opinions to survive.”
“Even if your consensus is based on half-truths and outright lies Professor?”
“A few lies to back up politically correct consensuses is sometimes unavoidable. After all the result out ways the means no matter what we have to lie about or do. Now get Commodore King for me and go back to your cell. I must talk to him about you being allowed to run around free. You are much too popular with the crew down here to risk you returning. At least until I have had time to prove to them that you are responsible for all their problems and not me and the Commodore. The stupid masses are so easy to manipulate if given time with the proper propaganda and no dissenting voices.” The Professor smiled. “Fact is, it would be something if you were still around by then and I could hang you in the middle of the Gundeck in front of everyone to prove to them who is superior around here.”
The Professor smiled. “But that is going to take a while with the proper incentives. Like taking away everything they have including rations until they are half starved to death and freezing in their bunks and blaming you so I can give it all back to become their savior.” The Professor was smiling ear to ear. “That is what comes from studying dictators and kings that have ruled humanity for thousands of years and knowing the flaws of all Democracies and why they all failed. You promise them everything while giving them nothing and taking everything from them blaming others. Then when they are half dead and hating an enemy I have made up, then I will give them that enemy and enough scraps to keep them alive and the brain washed morons will worship me.”
The Lt. Commander smiled at Commander Glenn’s and Jack’s shocked disbelieving faces. Taking a deep breath he stated chuckling. “The road maps are in the history books which is why you must control the schools to keep the morons from finding out. First you let them vote in everything they could ever want, inventing reasons why they should make their great government bigger, restricting freedoms for the masses and robbing the rich to pay for it. Even if you have to higher thugs to make the populace demand the g
overnment protect the masses and disarm themselves. Though robbing the rich just puts people out of work making the masses poorer who demand more from the government who take it from the rich which costs more jobs. Finely with most of the population out of work, supported by the government robbing the rich to pay for it, until there are no more rich to pay for things and when it all starts disappearing and falling apart it is not the Governments fault with a ready minority like the aliens to blame.”
“Yes with the other ship to blame for shortages after the aliens are dead I can keep most of the crew half-starved while I and the officers that I have decided to keep alive, live in the luxury we deserve.”
“Don’t you see Commander that the masses are incredibly stupid and deserve to be ruled by kings? So why wait. I can have my own little kingdom here like the Commodore King promised. And the Congressional Academic Communist Democrats are doing on Earth. And all you have to do is die. Oh and just because you are alive don’t expect your crew to come to your rescue. I have confiscated all the weapons from them while arming my loyal men to the teeth. If they try anything I will cull half of them finishing what the Commodore King ordered 6 months ago instead of waiting. After all that just leaves more women for me.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 51