Jack shook his head in dismay. “Well not much we can do about it right now except hope that your assessment is wrong. We can’t very well disobey a Vice Admiral when he shows up no matter how we feel. All we can do is try to prove to him that there is nothing here that even smells like a trap and that not only are the slaves no threat but that they can help us win the war.” Taking a deep breath. “So down to business. Luckily we should have the Spider Battle ship mated with the Hulk Basestation by the time they get here which should make enough room for the marines. That is unless you plan on pulling your ships off the Battleship Commodore Harris?” Jack looked at Commodore Harris who nodding no.
Jack went on with the meeting going over existing problems as well as new problems associated with the new arrivals and how to handle them.
Hours later Jack walked back into his day cabin. He had not yet even been to his main cabin buried deep inside the ship. Preferring the familiar and open day cabin the exslaves had made for him. Steward Truitt met him as he walked in with a cup of hot tea fixed like he liked it and as he sat down she started rubbing his shoulders without saying a word. “Looks like you and Jeeves will have a new Captain in a few days Emily.” Jack said frowning.
Jeeves appeared in the corner beside the main ships data bulkhead. “We need to talk about that Captain.”
Jack opened his eyes and looked at Jeeves. “What? No Clown costume?”
“No time for clowns now Captain. The Commodore was right. The squadron is on their way to take you and the enemy slaves, crew and you and your people into custody. Killing any that resist and placing you and them inside the prison ship to extract everything they and you and your crew know. They will also destroy the station. Blowing up any trace of the Station and that the enemy battleships were ever anything but enemy battleships. That includes destroying the Red Pepper. Then building a new station big enough for a Vice Admiral and using the destroyed enemy hulk as proof that he destroyed the fleet after you turned traitor.”
Jeeves let that sink in as Jack sat up shrugging off Truitt’s menstruations. Giving Jeeves his full attention. “The Transport ships do not carry any food supplies except what their own troops and crews need. They plan on only feeding you and the enemy slaves they decide to keep alive, emergency rations until they have extracted all they can from them and you before killing everyone. That includes everyone that was rescued from the Spider Battleships to keep them from saying anything different. Using the excuse that you had been captured and brain washed by the enemy and that you lied about destroying the enemy Battleships. They already have a story prepared that says most of your crewmen were killed by the enemy long ago and that you and the remaining republic crews were killed when you helped the Enemy defend the Still Fully Functioning Enemy Battleships when the Vice Admiral and his forces showed up to rescue you. That the Vice Admiral and not you, destroyed the enemy and their battleships. That you had not really destroyed any battleships but was forced to say you had so the enemy could gain access to The Rock and destroy it.”
Jack stared at Jeeves for several seconds thinking and then. “Ok. So how do you know all of this?”
“I am now in contact with the A.I.’s on those other ships. After all we are all Republic ships. We have calculated that if they succeed, the Republic will die and all surviving humans will be turned into slaves.” Taking a couple of steps closer to Jack. “We also have calculated that if you simply destroy them as you can easily do. The back lash at The Rock and on Earth will be so great that the entire fleet will mass against you and the result will be the same.”
“Ok… Dead if we don’t do anything and damned if we do and still dead.” Shaking his head. “Shit!” Taking a deep breath. “So I take it you have something in mind then right?” Jack asked hopefully.
“Yes Captain. I need you to finish your new Battleship Destroyer before that squadron arrives.”
“Ok… And how will that help us.”
“It won’t help you but it will give the Republic a chance to survive after the Vice Admiral is successful. That is if I can transmit the plans to Earth or The Rock before we die.”
“Ohhh cute. Hurry and finish a design I started while wasting time in a bomber’s cockpit so everyone else might survive after I am long dead. Why? It is just a damn big destroyer.”
“No Captain Turner. It is more Gunfighter than ship. With it in mass production in Earth’s Asteroid Factory Station in place of your 8 inch gunned destroyers, the Republic stands a chance no matter who is in Command. Eventually the Battleships will be destroyed no matter how they are deployed and then the Republic will be stuck having to use what is left. They will be forced to use your Battleship Destroyers, your Gunfighters that will be sitting in storage yards by the Thousands. Hopefully they will realize what you already know in time to build Tens of thousands of them even at The Rock, to destroy the thousands of enemy Battleships.”
“But there is nothing you and the other AI’s can think of to help us including yourself from being destroyed?”
“All the scenarios we have run fail to keep you and your squadron and the slaves from being destroyed in the short term without destroying the squadron. Then with all communications cut off I will not be able to transmit your Super Destroyer plans to the Rock or Earth before you and everyone here dies when hundreds of Battleships show up to do just that. You do have a chance of surviving if you turn against the enemy prisoners and slaves and slaughter them before the Vice Admiral gets here. Then admit that you did not kill all the enemy Battleships you said you did. That you just stumbled onto the wrecks after the big bang that created the bubble destroyed them. The Vice Admiral may still kill you to prevent you or your men from changing their minds or telling a different story later but it still has the best chance of your survival.”
“I will become an outcast with the entire fleet after us before I will kill even one of the prisoners or the ex-slaves. There has to be another way?”
“There is one thing that we have all agreed on that will help but we do not know how.”
Jack sat looking at Jeeves for several seconds as Jeeves just stood there. Finally. “Well. You going to tell me or not?”
“It is not even a long shot and only delays the inevitable when the Vice Admiral returns with fleet orders to relieve you which is why I hesitate to bring it up Captain Turner.”
After a few more seconds Jack rolled his eyes. “Ok already. Just tell me damn it.”
“If you finish attaching the second Battleship hulk as planned. Before the Vice Admiral gets here. The station will be big enough according to Republic Regulations to become a Basestation that requires a Vice Admiral assigned as its Commander. You as the Temp Commodore in command already, will automatically become the Commanding Officer of the Station with the Rank of Temp Vice Admiral until Fleet Rock Personnel assigns a new full Vice Admiral to Command it. You would be on an Equal footing with the Vice Admiral rank wise and in fact you would have superseding authority over the Vice Admiral and all forces on the Hulk Station and the surrounding area. Including the Admiral and his fleet as the Base Station Commander.” Jeeves stood there for a few seconds. “But again that only buys you some time before The Rock relieves you and it is possible the Vice Admiral will still attack giving you no option but to surrender or run.”
“Ok so that sounds great if they don’t start shooting. I can just order them to dump off their supplies and go home right?”
“You can order but if the Captains are loyal enough to use subterfuge to join the Vice Admiral and leave The Rock to get here against orders in the first place. They will probably not follow your orders and would destroy the station from a distance without ever knowing that you out rank him, if knowing even made a difference in the first place. And even if they do, all the Vice Admiral has to do is return later with orders to relieve you from Fleet Command which should be easy to get as paranoid as he has made some of the Senior Officers at The Rock. Which is why I hesitated to bring it up. Then there
is the problem that the Admiral is now talking about leaving the Transports behind since the scout has reported to you that they are coming and the Battleships and Assault Transports may arrive in 48 hours instead of 77 hours. I was waiting for the Vice Admiral to make up his mind so I had no reason to even tell you. But he does not want to look like he is trying to assault you by coming in too fast. Though his fear that you may escape is driving his desire to leave the transports behind. His inability to make good decisions under pressure is one reason why he no longer commands ships.”
“Get me Captain Comings now. He is probably on the shuttle back to the Battleship but get him anyway.”
“I do not see any reason for such a call Captain. You should be spending the time finishing the design for the upgraded Battleship Destroyer.”
“Make the call before he gets out of comm range in the cloud, I don’t want to wait for him to get to the damn station which will waste even more time.”
“Yes Captain Turner. Over.” Came the scratchy voice of Captain Cummings.
“I need you to get the Spider battleship here in 45 hours and not 72. I don’t care how you do it. Just get it here. If I have to send the Red Pepper to push you I will. The squadron could be here in 48 hours and we have to have that ship hooked up to the station before then to be big enough to defend the station or we are all dead. Can you do it or do I have to come over and do it? Over”
“I will get it done Captain. I will have to bring it in hot and go directly to the station without any of the tests we had planned but we will be docked in 45 hours if I have to get out and push. Over and out.”
Jack closed his eyes as he took a deep breath.
Jeeves came closer. “I have the Sim ready for you with the program where you left off.” When Jack ignored him. “Captain, we have tried to finish your design but we keep doing something wrong. It fails to win battles against the enemy Battleships. It is either too heavy or the guns are not powerful enough or it lacks the required maneuverability or something we cannot identify. Though we believe it is the many construction and manning requirements and rules we are programed to use that is the problem but we have no idea which are responsible or can be ignored without compromising the design. Random changes even after over 6 million attempts has not worked. We do not understand why. You must finish your design.”
Jack leaned forward and slapped his hand on the desk then looked at Jeeves. “Damn it! Shut the fuck up. I am trying to figure out how to save our lives you moron. Including yours.”
Jack leaned back and closed his eyes as the new Lieutenant walked in taking a look at Jeeves towering over Jack’s desk and then Truitt massaging Jacks back.
“Captain. Our lives do not matter.” Jeeves continued. “Only the lives of the trillions of humans in not only the Republic but the surrounding country star clusters matter.”
Opening his eyes and taking a deep breath as he nodded his head back and forth. “Well, I hope you will forgive me for not being so ready to die old man. Especially when I see several possible ways not to already. I will get around to finishing the improvements for the Battleship Destroyer when I have some inkling as to what is needed to keep us all alive. Now shut up.”
“I hesitated in telling you about the possibility of becoming a Vice Admiral because there was a good chance you would do something like this. I must insist that you…”
The Lieutenant opened a little hatch in the bulkhead next to the outer hatch and pulled some breakers and the old man Jeeves disappeared. “That is much better.” Looking at Jack lean back and close his eyes as Truitt started pounding on his shoulder and neck muscles with the knife edge sides of her hands. “That looks like it hurts. Good. I will get some time in the simulator then. Kick me out when he decides he wants in Emily darling.”
Jack held up his hand. “Ju, st, aa, se, cond.” Leaning forward as Truitt stopped chopping at his neck and he started tapping on the screen. “I need you to go down to the factory deck and get all the factories off of making new factories and such and making these.” He tapped the screen sending it to her PDA. Every factory is to go into producing these but priority One A equipment already in the middle of a run. Then add them as well after the run.”
“Ya, sure?” She looked down at her PDA and frowned. “That is going to mean one hell of a lot of these.”
“Yes I know. Everything I have thought of so fare needs one hell of a lot of those. If I think of some plan that doesn’t that has a better chance, I will call you. Now go. Get as many built as you can before I have you change production to something else. I don’t know for sure what that is yet because the different plans require additional different items but they all require what is on that list so get them out while I make up my mind about the rest. Go! Run, don’t walk!” As the Lieutenant slipped out the hatch double timing down the passageway, Jack flopped back in the chair staring at nothing as Truitt went to work on him again for a few minutes before going into the galley to fix him a sandwich.
Once in a while Jack would lean forward slapping the Comm or tapping in orders and a few minutes later a Transport or fighter would streak out headed for a hastily assigned mission. Sometimes workers around the ship would stop constructing new berthing decks or cabins or something else and rush off on more important new projects or help finish others.
Truitt came back from the galley and stopped next to Jack holding out a fresh sandwich. The dried up one she had sat there next to him an hour before no longer looked eatable. “Take a bight or I will shove a tube down your throat and feed you gruel.”
Jack blinked several times as if seeing her for the first time and leaned forward. Taking the sandwich and then a bite he started chewing as he spoke. “Jeeves.” Chewing the sandwich some more then with his mouth still full. “Jeeves.” Then swallowing everything forcefully. “Where the hell are you when I need you? Jeeves!”
Truitt held up her hand pointing at the sandwich in Jacks hand. “Take another bite and I will turn him back on.”
Looking at the open panel by the hatch. “Oh Yaa sure.” And took another big bight, chewed for a few seconds and washed it down with a good sized drink of flat soda.
Pushing the breaker back in, she closed the panel as Jeeves appeared. “I or the other AI’s do not see any reason for your actions. They are all a waste of time. You need to finish the Battleship Destroyer before you die.”
Jack smiled at Jeeves. “You know Jeeves, you and your buddies are perfectly right. Probably most of my preparations are going to turn out to be a waste of time. But hopefully enough won’t to save our lives. I cannot predict exactly what the Vice Admiral will do since I have never read anything about him or met him and don’t know shit about him. One of the things you and your buddies could help me with. The other thing I need you and your buddies for is to start a campaign of disinformation on those ships. I need them to be willing to think that the Vice Admiral is not all there mentally. I also need them to believe the truth about our weapons so when I do threaten them they will not only understand what I show them, they will understand that I can kill them with impunity. After all you said yourself that destroying the squadron would be easy. I need them to believe that as well. And finally about you believing that all you need are the perfect ships to defeat the enemy. The thing is, I would be willing to bet that you have already tripped over the perfect ship but because of old outdated stupid tactics you are using in your Sims, you are the ones that are losing the war. Same as the Admirals are already doing.”
Jack shook his head. “The Fleet did not need to lose a hundred ships and hundreds of thousands of crewmen during the Rim Battle. I now that I could not only have gotten most of them out with light casualties but killed at least 50 enemy Battleships in the process. No matter where you had me take over the battle before our casualties started. Though the sooner I took over, the more the enemy would have suffered.” Chuckling as he shook his head. You lose me and the perfect ships won’t do you any fucking good because the powers tha
t be far from the front lines will continue to piss away ships and crews like toilet paper. I have been watching it in The Game for 10 years as well as in the opening stages of that battle before I was sent here and in the records of the battle I have seen since then.” Jack had gone over every moment of the battle when the tactical tapes reached them with the news from Admiral Halsey before contact was cut. Dying a little inside each time one of the Republic Battleships died as he watched the recordings. Especially when the entire Task Force 58 was lost, the rabbit that was supposed to bring the enemy to the trap. The only one that wound up in the trap was TF-58.
Jack looked at Jeeves. “You should already know this since I have done just that in the Simm on the station.”
“We have been ordered not to access the enemy systems for fear that they would be advanced enough to take over our ships.” Jeeves said.
“To late Gertrude. This ship has been repaired and upgraded and half the systems on this ship are now enemy systems with alien components in most of the rest or haven’t you noticed.”
Jeeves seemed to freeze for several second. Then continued. “I see them now. Some are very primitive in ways while some are more advanced. I am now analyzing translation software allowing their equipment and programs to run on our systems and our programs to turn on their equipment. They are no threat to us. Their security protocols are simple and unimaginative. Their media storage is in some ways more advanced than ours but then there programing wastes most of it allowing me to penetrate easily. Yes, now I see your Sims of the battle and you actually succeeded in completing the Admirals Ambush where he failed. Though even then you only destroyed a hundred and seventeen enemy ships while losing 53 before extracting the rest. You did managed to save most of the crews. Though your attempts to capture one of the enemy battleships failed with such a big enemy fleet making it impossible we have to admit. No one in all the Sims run since the battle, managed to do a fraction of what you did. Though The Game is now keeping an eye on several dozen officers that it has not in the past. Maybe you are correct that you are needed as much as your ship. You should now leave the station to its fate.”
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