Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer)

by Larry Roberts

  “Well technically Gutner.” Jack said back in the same language. “I am no longer an Admiral since Pan moved the hulk from the other station lowering its mass.”

  “Actually Admiral.” Pan smiled surprised he was speaking the language as a shocked Gutner looked on. “I have read the regulations you speak of now and the only requirement is total mass as you said but the regulations do not say what that mass has to consist of. The remaining part of the Battleship hulk still acting as the Gama 13 Station is attached solidly to the carbon bubble that is providing most of both station’s food supply until we get enough domes set up to produce crops here. The Carbon Bubble makes the Gama 13 Station far above the minimum needed for a Vice Admiral. Fact is, as you like to say, it would put you in the next rating mass wise though other requirements are not fulfilled for a higher rank than Vice Admiral.”

  “So I did not need to panic and risk crashing the damn hulk into the Station before Ditzen got here. Why didn’t I think of that?” Jack shook his head.

  “Admiral.” Gutner continued talking in the dialect. “How do you want to handle this? Can I kick her off the edge of the deck next to the Red Pepper now without her shipsuit or use her for live target practice? Shooting a running armed enemy is much more Honorable Sir.”

  “Yes shooting her would be a lot more fun Gutner.”

  “Admiral.” Pan got Jack’s attention. “We are running out of basic H2O. We need a major reliable source and after a quick look over your recording of your trip to Delta 7, I noticed that you passed a rough Ice planet with many large Ice moons. We need to set up a mining base on one of the moons for processing H2O. Luckily Admiral Ditzen did not know aaa… what you call shit, about what mining equipment we needed here and sent a ship load of deep moon mining equipment perfect for an Ice moon along with the rest. Once set up it should be able to produce a transport load of water every day to start with and in time enough to keep several Bulk Tankers busy. We need all we can get to expand the dome habitats over the next year for both oxygen to create the air inside the domes and water. We have plenty of Nitrogen trapped in many of the smaller domes. Nitrogen did not have the expansion coefficient many of the other gasses including oxygen has, leaving most of the domes formed with nitrogen ice still intact.”

  “Ok. I did not realize you even had a need as rich as the bubble is in metals. But that makes sense. All the lighter elements like Hydrogen and Oxygen was sloughed off without sticking to the bubble during its formation. Do we even have mining crews? I thought all your crews were out scattered around the bubble. Not to mention that we are damn short on habitats for crews let alone mining crews.”

  “No we do not have any mining engineers that are not committed. But Ice Mining is not that hard or dangerous unlike metals that require careful highly trained engineers, tough equipment to scrape up the raw rock and metal with Giga-watts of power to process the material in specific calculated procedures while handling the product at thousands of degrees. No, Ice mining is simple low tech and unskilled labor intensive as long as you have a good mining engineer to design the installation for the mine’s location and available equipment, overcome the hundred and one problems that crop up when any mine is started. Then practically anyone can supervise and run things. All they need to do is melt ice.” Looking around toward the right of the station and pointing at several long cylinders in the distance miles from the Station. “We have several habitats that were meant for the Station but with the Hulk able to handle several hundred thousand crewmen in cabins and barracks until we can build the dome habitats on the bubble, we do not need them. One can be transported there in about a day with the mining equipment. I have crews working to make one ready to transport already even though we had no mining engineers available.”

  Pan smiled at Jack. “But as it so happens your new Captain Leslie has just such a mining degree. Though her minor was in Political science, her major was in mining with several years of experience in mines before going to work as a Congressional Aid some 10 years ago. She is perfect for the job until someone better comes along. Admiral Spenser agrees and has left it up to you to decide since you assigned her to be the Red Peppers Captain which he also approved of. While she was a political appointment to his staff she at least has an engineering degree and qualifies to Command a ship according to her Congressional records and has been a very loyal Aid according to the Admiral. Though he is a little upset by the mess the transport convoys turned into. He will let you find out what went wrong and deal with the problem but is certain that it was a simple misunderstanding on her part. She has always carried out the General’s orders very enthusiastically.”

  “You want me to trust that bitch not to poison our water supply? I will do the job myself after I kill her.”

  “No Admiral, we need you for more important things like getting all the other supplies and equipment we need to survive here and a few million tons of food for Task Force 58, the humans here and your crew do not starve to death.”

  Putting her hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Admiral, as I said we need her for our Ice Mine. I believe we can use her their without risk.”

  “She already knows where New Home is. We cannot afford to let her escape to tell our Congressional Enemy’s New Home’s location. I will not risk it.”

  “No risk Captain. She only found out about the location a couple days ago. The memory is still fresh and not technically in long term storage. While we cannot erase the specific memories. We can excise or mix up the specific details including the coordinates and location of New Home. Even if she returns to what you call The Rock and tries to report, the exact coordinates will not be accurate or even close. The fact that she does not know about the bubble’s existence even after reviewing the ships records that have had all details of the bubble changed to that of an atypical planet should insure that she has nothing valid to report. Especially since the Ice Moon I have picked is orbiting an Ice planet. We need only to let her convince herself that New Home is only a short distance from the moon.”

  “And how are we supposed to do that? It will take a day just to get transports there. She is going to know it is that far away. Besides I can’t dedicate a transport to house them. I need all the transports I can get my hands on including the transport with the Mining equipment for a quick run to grab the supplies we are going to need. Especially after losing 4 Transports. Not to mention she would be in a perfect place to insure we never got a drop of water or liquid oxygen out of the mine.”

  “Admiral, we have been slaves for thousands of years. We know how to make slaves into enthusiastic workers. By the time she wakes from my medical exam she will not only not remember exactly where we are, she won’t be able to do anything without us knowing about it with one of our new slave rings around her neck with the threat of death if she tries to escape or harms anyone. We could even mix up and cover over much of her memories as a killing spy over the last few years if you want us to go that deep.”

  “I am not going to allow brain washing or the use of death as an incentive while the collar could easily be taken off. Speaking of which I am not going to turn any of my crewmen or exslaves over for her to abuse. Not to mention they know about the bubble and New Home which means she would learn from them.”

  “Don’t worry Admiral, any attempt to take it off would kill her. As for a crew. You have some 600 survivors from that Congressional Battleship you destroyed Admiral.” Pan said thoughtfully. “They would be the perfect Ice mining crewman complete with all the needed trades to run an independent operation and community including a medical staff. You may even find a few experienced minors amongst them. It would also serve as a ruse. By picking them up first, she would have no reason not to believe the Planet is not near New Home.”

  “Come now Pan. The fact that the tankers picking up the water take almost a week to make a round trip would give it away rather quickly.”

  Gutner coughed to get their attention. “Place a separate staging station around the back si
de of the planet from the Ice Mining Moon with small tankers shuttling back and forth between the two. Even if she finds out that some of the water is going out of the system she could not be sure how much. And eventually a small metal mining operation could be placed on the planet, further confusing her. She would not know the water was coming up instead of going down if she managed to visit the transfer way station. If you included the way station as a normal stop for ships headed for New Home with the excuse of having to Mass up she would believe they were actually operating from the Transfer station supplying New Home instead of just passing through and never know.”

  Jack stared at Gutner for a half minute trying to punch holes in his idea but finally he smiled. “Damn Gutner, you amaze me sometimes. That damn near salves most of our problems for hiding its location. I still don’t like using a murdering spy though.” Taking a deep breath and grimacing. “Damn! Now we just have to figure out how to motivate her to do the best she can instead of sabotaging everything. Especially after finding out she is never going to be the Captain of the Red Pepper or any other ship. Oh and I do not approve of using the threat of death for motivating. No one should live under that.” Looking at Pan. “Well, you did say you were an expert on motivating slaves. Hopefully you have other incentives.”

  “Without death as a motivator or raising a family, we need something she wants desperately. I believe the Red Pepper fits that requirement Admiral. You just need to come up with a reason not to give it to her at this time. With the successful completion of establishing the Ice Mining operation as one of the requirements of becoming the Captain of the Red Pepper. Once the Ice Mining Moon is operational there is no need to keep her on once she finds out she will never command a ship. A general manager will only be required with an engineer needed only when problems crop up. If we have no one by then, one of the mining engineers from one of the other mines can visit to salve any occasional problems. She would be free then to be tortured to find out what she knows and has done and then executed.”

  “Ok? Why are you so suddenly so willing to execute someone? Aren’t you a Pacifist?”

  “I am a Realistic Pacifist, I do not ignore real life and those that wish to kill around me. I feel your pain for all the lost lives on those transports and your certainty that she had murdered innocent people and of just how evil she is deep down inside. I understand your desire not to let her kill again or destroy New Home. I do not know what the evidence is but I can feel in you that it is not simply circumstantial or 3rd degree like ordering a ship to go someplace and it is accidentally destroyed. No I feel that you know down deep that she has actually physically and with forethought easily ended many lives. I do not need to see the evidence I know your deepest emotions could not feel this way unless you witnessed her acts or confession. If left alive she would eventually figure out a way to not only end more lives even if it is inside a prison, possible just for entertainment, as well as in escape attempts, but would definitely kill many more and possibly destroy New Home if she managed to get out. My Reality Passivism says that if I do anything that lets her remain alive and sometime in the future she kills again, I would be personally responsible for each and every one of those deaths. Any Pacifist that says they would not be responsible for the deaths of others after freeing a proven murderer are self-centered delusional hypocrites”.

  Pan started turning purple, telling Jack she was getting very upset even if he could not have felt her minds emotions washing over him like a tide. “I am sorry Admiral but before we became Slaves, Our law was based on the principle that imprisoning one innocent being is worth the many lives one murderer would take that was not imprisoned. But then we had two degrees of guilt. First Degree Guilty was certain without question and could get the death penalty if the crime warranted and the case was closed. While Second Degree Guilty carried a slight doubt that includes one juror thinking they are innocent, allowing a second degree guilty verdict with the case remaining open for further evidence later while the convicted served a lesser penalty. Further evidence at a later date in a short easy to request hearing could result in freedom or a First Degree Conviction. Your earth law’s principle is to let a dozen murderers run free to murder hundreds of victims to make sure every possible innocent man never spends a day in prison. With a simple verdict system that demands the impossibility of the absolute, either innocent or guilty in all cases. I am sorry but my freedom is not worth letting murderers out to kill again because one juror liked the looks or smile or was biased for the accused. Allowing 11 out of 12 jurors to bring a second degree verdict that can be easily changed later keeps the majority of the Criminals where they belong. May this Captain come back in another life a better person when we are done with her Admiral? For that reason we also need to include a strong marine presence if you will not allow me to go deeper into her mind while we have her hooked up.”

  “Whoa here. I am not talking about a damn trial we don’t have time for nor am I going to just kick her out the air lock no matter how much I want to do just that. But you are right I don’t have any physical evidence unless those encrypted recordings result in some. But I do know what she did, with as you say, no uncertainty. I heard her aaaa confession.” Taking a deep breath as he turned around and took a couple steps away. “But I can’t just throw her in a cell. We need her help to damn much it turns out.”

  Jack heard Gutner talking guttural gibberish behind him without understanding a word of it. Or for that matter, even if there were any words in the confusing sounds he heard. Turning back around the guttural gibberish solidified into words as soon as he looked at Gutner. “…won’t know what hit her.”

  Jack suddenly realized that he was actually hearing the meaning of Gutner’s words in his mind. If he was not looking at Gutner then he could not hear him talking in his mind as he spoke the Gronk language.” Jack grimaced. “So how the hell was he making Gutner and Pan understand him in Gutner’s language? Was he talking in Gutner’s language or simple speaking English and they were hearing what he said in Gutner’s guttural gibberish. Shit if he was speaking English when he thought he was speaking Gutner’s gibberish, everyone standing there including the Captain’s bug heard every word his said.

  Turning to the nearest Officer. “Could you understand anything of what I have been saying over the last few minutes?”

  “I am sorry Admiral but I cannot speak or understand that Gibberish God Speak. Do you wish me to take the God speak language course?”

  “Probably a good idea.” Jack went down the line without even asking the others as they either blurted out the same answer or he listened to them wondering in their minds what the Admiral and the exslaves were talking about and why the Admiral could even understand it. One dreading having to learn that god forsaken gibberish even if the new exslave teaching machines implanted the knowledge while they slept. They still had to practice it for the lessons to seat and he did not think he could even form the words.

  Taking a breath Jack tried again. This time he concentrated on what sounds his lips were making. “I really cannot believe you are understanding what I am saying. I sound terrible to my ears and my mouth and throat are getting sore.”

  “Yes Admiral you have a strange accent that takes time to get used to. You even started out using many of the wrong words with what sounded like a very simple basic vocabulary but you have greatly expanded your vocabulary with fewer wrong or twisted words the longer we talked. I am very impressed that you would bother learning our Ape language in the Sim teaching machine.”

  Looking at Pan. “Must have thought it would come in handy someday. I will have to try a few more when I get time.” Pan looked away up at the overhead that was being used to land and service the DD’s that just came in with the transport squadron as Jack continued. “But for now let’s go up and see if I can pull the wool over the eyes of a trained spy and assassin.”

  Gutner started speaking again. “Just remember Admiral. Just to keep it simple…Though why you humans would
add ‘Stupid’, to the end of such a true statement is beyond me.” Gutner looked baffled. “You Humans can be very baffling some times. Anyway, keeping it down to only 2 or 3 important points. It will look less like a fabrication and more like actual reasons. You have no reason to go into great detail just giving a Captain orders. Nor should you care if she does not like them. State the simple facts and leave it at that.”

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  After stopping several times on the way to go over more of the details. Jack followed his staff into the conference room on the Red Pepper’s main Command deck inside the ship’s armored Core above the engines and not the flying bridge in the cooling/landing fin. Captain Leslie was standing at the center of the table’s outer ring of chairs with a tablet laying in front of her. A smile running from ear to ear as she started talking to herself. ‘I was told I would never command a ship. The Congressional moron told me I don’t have powerful enough backers to ever get me a ship even though they gave me the rank of Captain to get me close to the career Admirals. This ship will jump me up at least three class grades, from peon to actual Command. I will have the most powerful Congressmen begging me to join them with what this ship can do. I will even be powerful enough to tell them to go fuck themselves if they ask me to go back to killing again.’

  Jack walked straight ahead to the only chair at the middle of the inner circle where he could see everyone on the other side of the horseshoe shaped table. Each and every one of them were at the same distance from the Admiral facing him. Not able to hide behind the person sitting next to them like at most long narrow conference tables. Jack took the central seat and said. “Please be seated.” The formalities having already been taken care of upon meeting on the cargo handling deck in front of the Red Pepper. Jack faced Captain Lesley not understanding her hate that suddenly seemed to be directed at someone else but him.