Sixteen hours later the last of the transports pulled away from both the Red Pepper as well as the Tanker Chevron Gulf not far away (that had come with Jack’s little squadron) finishing up the rapidly paced shuffle to give each transport just enough reaction mass to make it to New Home. That process was now completed as the marines they were leaving behind with the Battle Fleet for their slow delicate task of finding beacons that did not want to be found took the last of their equipment off the Red Pepper.
“I will be leaving in another 15 minutes Admiral Spencer, General Meyers. How is the operation going so far?”
General Meyers shook his head. “We have found a half dozen transmitters from what looks like mostly dud torpedoes and missile warheads and I am glad to report the Black Dwarf is now clean but we have one on a Battleship that was made into a Battletransport that simply refuses to be found after 10 hours of searching. I am kicking it to the side as we evacuate the crew so we can destroy the ship instead of wasting more time on it. Admiral Spencer will have the crew off in an hour. So far I have 23 clean Battletransports ready to go with you Admiral Turner.”
Admiral Spencer turned to Jack. “Do you want your Destroyers to do the honors? It was a good ship and I hate to put it down with my crews but…”
“Hey now. Just slow down. General, Admiral, have you tried using our new PDA sensors to find it. I was told the ones we have made aboard ship are a little more sensitive than the Apes suit sensors.”
“Yes Admiral and even the R-bot sensors are not finding anything.”
“R-bot sensors? I thought you were not going to use the R-bots on this.”
“I wasn’t until I found out that they have the signal trackers built right into them since they are originally Spider ex-slave designed. They are a little more sensitivity than the ship built PDA modules and average crew techs can operate them adding to the search crews. The problem is that we have been over that ship three times and we can’t seem to localize the signal.”
“Shit General, have you checked the hull for holes? If the transmitter is in the hulls armor it could use the whole hull as an antenna so you would not be able to localize it.”
“Don’t be insulting Turner. Yes we have. The only thing left is to destroy the ship.”
“No. Find that damn signal’s source General.” Jack demanded. “The Spiders have a small tracking torpedo the size of a missile they use to track damaged ships back to their planets and basses. Evidentially they fired and got at least one through if not more.” Jack said tight lipped.
Taking a deep breath as the Admiral started to open his mouth Jack continued. “General Sherman and his Division will be arriving in 5 or 6 days with the Factory built PDA sensor pods that are supposed to be twice as sensitive as anything else we have not mounted on a ship that should find it. But it does not matter if they arrive or not. You have to find the source so you know what to look for and find any others that are on delay timers or set to respond to inquiries instead of simply transmitting. Destroying the ship is the last resort. If you do have to destroy the ship without finding it, you condemn whole crews to death when the next ship starts transmitting and we have to destroy it before the crew can be evacuated to keep the whole damn Spider fleet from attacking to destroy everything at and around that location before we are ready for them. If it turns out to be at The Rock it could cost us the whole war. Is that understood General Meyers?” Turning to Admiral Spencer. “Is that understood Admiral Spencer?”
Taking another quick breath as two shocked defiant faces looked back at him. And by the way. Once you find out what and where the source is and how it is hiding, you will have to reexamine all the hulls again. Which is why I am not taking any of the Battletransports that were with you under enemy guns and missiles. They will have to stay until you can make sure none are compromised and then send them along to New Home.” Shaking his head in disappointment. He was making plans to use them at Q-19 but know that made it impossible to get them freed up and on the way to Q-19 in time to use them. Let alone trying to get them to New Home were they could be upgraded first.
Jack sat back taking a deep breath. “Well. Enough of that. The last of the transports have enough fuel to reach New Home where they will be outfitted with the mass scoops, hull racks for cargo containers a few other upgrades and then we will head for Q-19 to go shopping. Thanks for the crews Admiral. The Assault Transports that left yesterday will not have any scoops for your fleet. They did not have any more ready before it left so don’t let any of your Captains go pigging out on reaction mass or you will be here for another week and you don’t want to do that. Do you have any need to talk to Admiral Halsey again before we leave Admiral? I have already made arrangements to add the new Comm to the Black Dwarf when you get to New Home which has one as well that you can use until yours is installed. Something else that was not ready when the AST’s left yesterday.”
“I want to know what your crew is trying to do to the Black Dwarfs main 48 inch guns. Why are they plugging them?” The Admiral was none too happy about losing his main guns.
“Sorry but I guess I took it for granted when I said upgrades I would have had more time to clue you in. They are plugging your guns to be able to pump a carbon matrix gas into them at extreme high pressure and temperatures to grow a Crystal coating around the inside of the barrel tubes. This will reduce the diameter from 48inches to something like 32 in the next month or two, increasing the guns concentrated power and firing life. I am told that your guns will be able to easily slice through 4 armored decks of a Spider Battleship and deep into the ship behind them. Since most of the Enemy Battleships have 4 decks or fewer, you will be more of a battleship than the whole rest of your fleet. Which is why the rest of your fleet will be converted into Battletransports with the addition of the new engine kits upgrading them to the virtually massless Ion Engines now that we can use the deck grav-coils in storage and strip the grav-coils from your tanks until we can replace them. Which brings up another question. Why didn’t you just convert your battleships to the ion engines in the first place now even if not before? With the coils from your tanks you could have converted your entire fleet.”
“We were not given the choice. The High Fleet Admiral did not want the new engines falling into enemy hands with the bait. Us. We never got the plans or kits. Not even the Black Dwarf since unlike the other Dwarfs, it were assigned to stay with and as part of TF-58. Fact is before I talked to Admiral Halsey, I did not even now what the upgrade was, just that some of the other Task Force’s Battleships were upgraded to be faster to be able to close the pinchers around the outside of the enemy to attack from the fleet faster from the rear.” Rolling his eyes. “And we saw how that went. The only thing they used their speed for was to run.”
“Damn. Well, I am going to need half your battleship Engines for the Destroyers eventually. Fifty of them as soon as possible. As well as a couple hundred of your big 16inch guns to arm the Tramp Transports once we return from Q-19. The more hulls we have with weapons that can harm the Spider Battleships the better. Even a transport ducking out of the cloud behind a Spider battleship can do tremendous damage. Then ducking into the cloud again before it could be fired upon. As for your big guns. Eventually all of your fleet’s guns will be upgraded but it will take longer with your big guns as I have said. As long as a month to grow them down to the 32inches that seems to be the smallest we can do for now until the Exslaves have had time to upgrade the power supplies and beam initiation coils, so they are getting a head start. Not that I ever expect the Dwarf to go up against a Spider Battleship.” Jack smiled at the Admiral as he watched his face change to defiance.
“No, you are not getting my engines or my guns. And my ships are staying Battleships.”
Jack’s ego suddenly deflated with the Admiral not understanding that his battleships were worthless in open space battles and being stubborn about it. Jack looked down at the table and rubbed his eyes and temples for a few seconds. Several hundred 16 inch
barrels striped from hulks were already on the transports for storage at New Home so Jack did not need to push it right then. “Very well Admiral, I need to get going. Without the supplies it is a moot point anyway. Anything else?”
“Did I understand the Halsey right and there is a billion tons of supplies at Q-19 and that this will be the last time we can gets supplies? Possible for years?”
“Yes Admiral. The Cabal at The Rock wants us and you dead. So what can I say?”
“You only have enough transports to grab onto 15 or 20 million tons. I know that sounds like a lot but it isn’t when you have almost a quarter million mouths to feed and no access to replacement parts. Not to mention the million refugees Admiral Halsey was talking about sending our way.”
“Well Admiral, we do have a way to manufacture most equipment thanks to factories on the Spider ships we captured. So we aren’t desperate as all that to get everything. Though there is still a lot we can’t manufacture such as growing food right now and very high tech electronics the Spiders have never seen before so their factories are not equipped or have the tech to produce them. But still you are right. I would feel better if we had a couple hundred ships like the Battletransports you have already created and I hope are freed up in time. But we simply do not have the time to even convert more of your ships even if they were already clean. Hopefully what we have will be enough with a few tricks we recently learned evacuating Gama 13. I expect to leave with at least 50 million tons of supplies if everything goes well.” Jack took a deep breath as he thought of all the problems that could stop them cold and the Admiral’s words hit him. “You said ours Admiral. Does that mean you and Admiral Halsey have made up your minds what you are doing with TF-58?”
“Fifty million tons? I don’t see how but then I have been hearing about you pulling off miracles for 6 months now over the video net.” Smiling as he thought for a few seconds before continuing. “Yes Turner]. I am taking over New Home. I am sorry if that is putting you out of a job.” Expecting Jack to get upset as he wondered just what kind of a tantrum or show the boy Admiral would put on.
Jack smiled from ear to ear. “Hell no Admiral. I have been trying to give this job away since I got it but no one wanted it. No, it is all yours.” Jack saluted the Admiral. “Welcome aboard Admiral. Can I go back to just being a Captain now…” Jacks face fell. “But you haven’t even left this fucking bubble yet or reached New Home and a lot can happen in the meantime.” Taking a breath. “Does the Admiral want to replace me for this mission?”
Surprised at Jack readily accepting his loss of Command after seeing the recordings of Jack taking it away from Vice Admiral Ditzen only a week or so before with so much violence and death. The Admiral found himself finally agreeing with Halsey’s insistence that the mission be left in the young Admirals hands.
“No Admiral Turner. You are still technically still a Vice Admiral even if it is temporary which is what this mission requires and as you said I still have not reached New Home or the Gama station yet so technically you still out rank me. You are the one that has planned this mission from the beginning and are in the middle of carrying it out. Replacing you now would be ludicrous but I will send some of my staff along to help and advise you. They have the experience you lack and will go over some of your choices of supplies and routings and point out the advantages of reducing the size of the transport fleet into squadrons to make them easier to handle at the other end and a few other things. They will even be able to make a few suggestions to speed and smooth things over as you go as well as problems and dangers to look out for but the mission to get us a few million tons of food is still yours and your responsibility.”
Jack was disappointed that the mission was still on his shoulders but realized that he really didn’t trust anyone else to complete it properly and get everything New Home needed. Especially if Admiral Halsey was still thinking of sending a million Refugee to New Home.
“Thank you Admiral Spencer. Anything else?”
The Admiral leaned forward. “It would be great if you could grab 50 million tons of supplies but don’t get carried away and try for too much and lose them all.” Taking a breath as he studied Jack. “I don’t know how you plan on grabbing that much cargo but you cannot highjack any transports that happen to be there or you run across on the way. That is piracy even in the Navy. Is that understood Admiral? You can only use what is assigned to you even if it is on a thin twisted thread which most of the ships in your fleet are on at the moment.”
Jack smiled. “Yes Admiral I understand.” Jack thought about being a shit and arguing about semantics when borrowing ships just for the fun of it to release some of the tension he felt but decided now was not a good time or the right Admiral to play games with. “Sorry Admiral but I was not planning on borrowing any transports. Got a much easier solution that may even bag us more than the 50 million tons. I was using as a conservative number. I plan on building my own bulk container ships when we get there. We can build a million ton container ship in just a few hours. With a couple dozen of them, we can leave Q-19 with enough food to feed millions for years that include steaks on the huff, not to mention everything else that is listed at Q-19 to pick from. But as Admiral Halsey said, there is a lot of cloud between here and there.”
The Admiral’s jaw dropped as his mouth opened and closed several times before he said. “Very well Admiral. Carry on and good luck. Admiral Spencer out.” As the screen went blank Admiral Spencer sat back and shook his head. “Now that I have got to see.” As an idea started spinning around in his head. The Admiral turned and started making plans and giving orders to make sure everything happened that needed to happen.
His stomach growling at even the thought of Admiral Turner grabbing enough food for everyone including steaks. Taking a deep breath the Admiral took a nutrition pill knowing if he waited until later after his stomach had really started to tumble, the produced acid would make him sick wasting the pill when it came back up. He washed it down with a large glass of water just as he was supposed to but damn, he was getting sick and tired of doing that. He was starting to look at drinking water as a chore. The last MRE’s had been eaten a month ago and that had been in sickbay with it split between two other patients. Most of the crews had been on nutrition pills for months before that but according to experts the human body could survive for years. If you didn’t run out that is. The problem with emergency nutrition pills was that you had to take one every 6 hours, 24 hours a day. If you skipped one or two your body would simply and suddenly shut down when the pills wore off but unlike most addicts that suffered long and painful withdrawals, the body simply and suddenly ran out of energy and just shut down. Dying in a matter of minutes unless medical help got to you in time. While that was the official story for the growing number of deaths around the fleet and technically true in a twisted sort of way, the Admiral knew better. His crew was dying at an increasing rate for other reasons the doctors were not sure of or could agree on.
Only thing was, the Admiral could not remember the last time he took a pill before this one. You could skip a pill once in a while but too much skipping every other pill and then taking two on schedule was just as hard on the body as taking two pills to close together. An overdose could kill you just as easy as too few pills. Closing his eyes and taking a breath. They had lost over a thousand crewmen to forgetting how many or when they last took the pill keeping them alive before he instituted handing out the pills at mess call across the fleet. Which was why medics were handing them out at the chow hall and checking off lists every 6 hours just to make sure everyone got their pill on time. The last thing he needed to worry about right then was missing the damn pill or taking too many but he was an Admiral after all and he could damn well take care of his own pills. He just wished he could remember the last time he took the pill.
But crewmen still continued to die. Even when the list showed they had all their pills at the proper times. Their bodies seamed to just fall apart from the inside
out.
Chapter 22; Eye’s turned vacant
Jack walked into the Conference room next to the Captains day cabin/sweat, waved the officers to remain seated and sat down himself at the inside center of the half-moon table facing the new Staff arrivals from Admiral Spencer arched around him. The bleached out pale faces on a couple of them along with all the bling on their chests was enough to blind him that early in the morning. But still did not hide the fact that the uniforms hung on them like they were several sizes too big with way to much bone and little padding on the emaciated officers. Except for what the Woman Captain at the center was wearing. Frowning. She had way too much padding compared to the other women and in all the right places. While she looked like she had missed a few meals as well, she was not in half as bad of shape as the rest. “Well gentlemen, I hear you have a few suggestions and issues with my plan. Shall we get started?” Jack’s eyes centered on the Captain that was in command of the little group and wondered again why she looked so much more fit than the rest.
Immediately a voice popped into his head. ‘This little baby cretonne is Admiral Turner? How the hell did you kill even one fucking Spider Battleship? You look like you are barely out of high school and more like a janitor that couldn’t clean a head let alone wipe himself.’
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