He was sure that that would change back to him rather suddenly. “Captain Leslie, under your Command 4 vitally important Transports and their cargos were lost when you failed to Convoy the Transports. Do you have anything to say to explain your actions and these losses?”
The Captain’s face turned to shock and then talking to herself in her mind. ‘Like they would be missed. You are going to lose a lot more than a couple of transports when the fleet I sent for gets here. But this bozo wants an answer. At least I am ready for your turd question.’
The Captain took a breath and said. “You left orders to get the most Transports to New Home as fast as possible. By cutting them loose, the calculations show the majority of the transports would get to New Home 10% faster than having to slow down for the slowest transport in each squadron.” Smiling. “Just following your orders Admiral. It hurts me deeply that your orders got 4 Transports and their entire innocent crews killed. I can only hope that their families forgive the person responsible for their deaths.”
Jack did his best to hold his face cold and frozen as the Captain spouted garbage trying to put the blame on him while making him feel bad and possible confused. He realized that she needed him to feel guilty to make it easy to manipulate him. His brother had spent most of his life making him feel guilty for things his brother had done so her naive attempts were not working. He had been rendered immune by the best.
The Captain sadly smiled at Jack. Her face looking like she was forgiving him for his terrible orders that got so many people killed as she debated with herself how to plunge the knife in deeper and twist it to hurt the most.
“And what gave you the idea that my orders were not to use the Convoys you suggested to get the Transports to New Home as fast as possible Captain Leslie?”
Her sad smile did not change as she sadly shook her head. “Why your verbal orders Admiral. I remember them very specifically before you rushed out and jumped into that DD and flew away.”
Then Jack smiled as he tapped the pad on the table. “Now that is funny because I remember giving you no such orders.” Turning to the rest of the officers that Admiral Spencer had sent along. “I would ask you all if you heard any such orders but I can see while half of you have fucked the Captain, the other half are afraid of the Captain for some rather nasty shit held over or done to you from what rumors I have heard.” Their own panicked words in their own heads telling Jack all he needed to know as he continued. “I won’t ruin your careers by making you testify at this time.”
Turning back to face the Captain. “Too bad I left written orders in the ship’s log specifically for you in my rush to leave on a mission that must remain secret at this time and none of your business. They mirror the orders I remember giving you the last time we spoke.” Jack had thought about using the recording of their conversations in the Conference room but did not want to dig the whole so deep that she could not wiggle out. Jack punched up the ship’s log and his last entry before walking of the Red Pepper. “As you can see it specifically orders you to gather all Transports into 6 squadrons with a DD or the Red Pepper escorting each grouped according to similar power stats provided by the Transport Captains’ themselves, to make best time for all the squadrons to New Home.”
Smiling. “Tell me Captain why you did not follow these very specific orders?”
Fighting panic her mind raced. ‘Who the hell ever reads the damn ship’s order log.’ And then defiantly. “I did not read the order log Admiral. No one uses it anymore. Especially since I had your verbal orders to proceed as I saw fit to get the Transports to New Home.”
Jack thought about bringing up a few other facts but since she had gotten close to a truthful statement that he could use this time, he decided not to try his luck and dropped the hammer before she could lie again. Besides it was a perfect opening. “Well Captain, how you saw fit got 4 transports destroyed and their crews killed.” Jack growled at her trying to show as much pity as possible. Turning her own tactics back on her even though he doubted that she would care. “The shame is Admiral Spencer had so much confidence in you to ask me to find you a command of your own.” Taking a deep breath not liking the lie. “Well maybe it is partly my fault. Maybe giving you a Staff Captain, Command of a Fleet your first time in Command of a ship was just too much for you. But I can’t very well give you Command of the Red Pepper with this mark against you at this time. No matter how much Captain Spenser wants me to.”
Sitting back in his chair and thinking for a good minute as he took a drink listening to the Captain panicking in her head and then watched in surprised as her boobs start slowly growing in size as she reached up and undid the top of her blouse letting a deep canyon of cleavage burst into existence. Letting his eyes drop to her suddenly ample chest just as she wanted them too. He let a smile come to his lips. “Well maybe. The transports did not have time to transmit the coarse plot to New Home before they were destroyed so it was not as bad as it could have been even if the Battleship had not been destroyed. What I need to do is put you in command of something else that is important and then after say 6 months if you do well and excel as Admiral Spencer believes you will, then moving you into being the Captain of the Red Pepper would be possible. It would also keep Admiral Spencer happy.” Taking a breath. “But what to put you in command of?” Shaking his head Jack looked up and away from her slowly growing cleavage as her blouse slowly unzipped itself down ward as her growing breasts fought to escape.
“Admiral.” Pan said from the end of the table to Jack’s left. “We have that new mine we were talking about putting on the moon on the other side of the planet.” Pan was tapping on her PDA as the Ice moon appeared on the conference screens along with the moon’s specific details and the available mining equipment as well as the habitat that could be landed on the Ice Moon. “The Captain has an engineering degree in mining with several years of experience. I believe she would be a good pick for placing and getting the new mine into operation. It is not a very important post with as many mines as we have scattered across the surrounding systems but it has the possibility of out producing our Ice scoops running through the cloud, if the right engineer is put in charge here. That would give the Captain the needed experience and the awards if she did well and would look good on her record for getting Command of the Red Pepper.”
“I don’t know Pan. We don’t really need it but then The Rock is desperately short on H2O as well so it would be an ace in our hats if we ever get a chance to get back with The Rock. Especially if the Captain could make the mine produce as much as we think it is capable of even if the moon is a bit isolated. Whoever is responsible for production of a million tons of water a day would just about be able to right their own ticket. Especially using the surviving crew from that damn Battleship I had to destroy.”
“Yes we have some 600 crewmen survivors with a few lower ranking flag officers. Though the Chief engineer and most of his maintenance crews managed to survive. The rest are mostly gunners and torpedo mates with about half the medical staff. It is going to be a hard crew to use and train in new Careers. But it is doable and we would not have to worry about the crew escaping though we have no way of knowing how many are hard core Congressional crewmen that may try to sabotage the mine and its equipment.” A fact that they had decided to use to keep a large company of security forces at the mine with tight security procedures that included the ex-slave neck rings that would in turn keep a close eye on the Captain.
Jack looked the Captain in the eyes without a glance at her breasts as shock hit her face that was already racing through her mind at the fact that not only had the transports not transmitted their messages before they were destroyed to take back to The Rock, but the damn Battleship was destroyed as well with crewmen even recovered so there was no possibility of any of her messages getting through to the Rock. She stopped studying the mine and the available equipment as she stared.
Jack continued. “Think you can get it up to a million tons of water and li
quid Oxygen a day Captain? Even in command of the Red Pepper once production was up and going satisfactory, you would still have that feather in your cap when all this damn political shit is done and we get back with The Rock. Hell, they might even give you command of a Battleship with the successful mine under your belt.” Jack was surprised to find out that she was suddenly not that interested in a Battleship Command as her mind turned cold at the mention of a battleship but it made him smile.
Talking to herself again she surprised Jack as she continued. ‘Evidentially the damn Fleet is never going to make it here. Shit if I did get the damn message out and even kill this ass hole, they would just have given me another assignment to spread my legs for some other Admiral or Congressman from the opposing party that don’t see things their way to kill his career. Then send me off to kill someone else that gets in their way and that is all I ever will do. But if I take this stupid mining post and make something out of it, I get a ship at least and even if the fleet eventually shows up and destroys this New Home, they are not about to destroy the best water mine in the whole damn cloud and I still get credit for it and he is right. I could wind up in Command of a battleship and more after I do in a few of my Commanders to advance my career. Probably how this moron made Admiral in the first place. No! The records are perfectly clear he was not around when the damn Red Pepper was hit destroying its bow. Hell if he can do it I can.’ Her face suddenly became baffled mirroring her mind. “But do I really want to. I don’t know shit about commanding a ship let alone a fleet. Do I really care what a bunch of pompous Admirals and Congressmen I will never like think as they drool over my body? But that is the only way I can have the power to keep from ever having to spread my legs and kill people I don’t know or care about again.’ Her mind went blank for a good 15 seconds as she stared at the ice moon. ‘But there may be another way.’
Then out loud as she looked up from studying the ice moon and equipment. “Very well Admiral. I will take you up on your mining job and I will be producing a million tons a day within 6 months.” She smiled from ear to ear as she leaned forward exposing most of her breasts and just letting a part of the larger than normal red circles around her nipples show. “But I have to be in total Command to do it my way. Is that a deal Admiral?” Not caring if the stupid damn males had noticed her adding fluid to make her breast larger or not. They were still weapons she could understand. And use them to help her get what she wanted.
“Bargaining are we Captain.” Jack new he had her with her pulling out all her weapons. “As Long as you do a damn good job. You can wright your won ticket Captain.” Leaning forward as if to get a better look at her boobs though Jackcontinued looking into her eyes. “By the way my bunk mate still has bigger boobs than yours. Get your crap out of my Cabin and start studying up on your new job and preparing your plans so you can hit the ice moon running when you get there as we head over to pick up your crew before returning to dump you off on your Ice Moon. Feel free to name it even. Dismissed Captain.”
As the Captain started to leave the Conference room Jack stopped her. “Oh, by the way Captain. You are still responsible for the accidental destruction of 4 transports and I have to put something in your record. I am restricting you to this ship and your cabin in the new quarters we are giving you and your new crew on refugee deck G until we return to the mining moon. Is that clear? It will be a few hours before we depart. We will be moving the ship to another dock to load supplies and equipment we will need before we depart to retrieve your crew from the transport they were rescued by, which will take another week to get here on its own. Your mining equipment should be there by the time we get back. Don’t try leaving your deck or the ship.”
Trying to turn his frown into a devilish smile. “I don’t want Admiral Ditzen running into you. I don’t want him knowing we are starting a new Ice mine. If he sees you and then you disappear he will know something is up. He would make it impossible for you to succeed. The same reason I don’t want you fraternizing with the Red Peppers crew from now on. Too easy for rumors to get back to big ears after they see you and your crew disappear onto an Ice moon. The less this crew knows the better and easier your job will be and the sooner you can take Command of your own ship so I have one less headache to worry about. And one last thing Captain. Any deaths on your crew will be investigated fully by my security troops and not you and could lead to you not getting a ship but I do not expect that to be a problem. Ice mining is not that dangerous of an occupation when conducted competently, professionally and most importantly safely.”
Chapter 25; Killer Ice Queen
Jack waited for Admiral Spencer and Admiral Halsey to finish watching the recordings of both the destruction of the Transports and Battleship that included the long confessions and pleas of the dying bridge officers and then the detailed analysis and down loaded battle plans of the 137 Battleships (still using standard fleet codes), at the staging Basestation in The Maze to The Rock. The Recordings detailing the planned operations of the fleet getting ready to wipe out the surviving Remnants of Task Force 58 in roughly two weeks as well as who was behind it if you believed the dying Captain and officers of the Battleship Jack had gutted.
Jack had left the conference room shortly after Captain Leslie. Going directly to his day cabin in the fin for the privacy before calling the Admirals. He was glad to find out that the Captain had never entered the fin or the cabin he preferred to use. Expecting to find bugs wherever she had traipsed. The Captain had spent most of her time on the Main Bridge or the Main Captain’s Sweat and had not even seen most of the ship though she had left a few bugs behind on the bridge and the Captain’s main cabin Jack had never used when she left for the lower decks.
It had only taken him a few minutes to set up the conference call using the ships new long range Laser Comm the Gods could not even detect. Then watching what had happened trying to make some sense of it all as the Lieutenant joined him sitting just out of the Comm’s pick up.
Both Admirals sat frozen in their seats thinking for a good 2 minutes after the recordings had stopped before Jack spoke up. “Admiral Spencer. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you need to get your butt out of Dodge City before the bad guys show up. That means you are going to have to leave half your fleet behind. You simply do not have enough reaction mass for all your ships to escape and not enough time for the scoops you have to collect enough or for me to get there with anything that can help. We are in the process of making more mass Scoops as well as starting an ice mine in the biggest Ice system we have found yet in the cloud but none of that will be ready to help you before that fleet gets there. You have no choice. You only have a week before you have to pull out with enough time to hide your trail. Plenty of time to pull the engines and strip the weapons off most of the ships if you simply cut the turrets and their capacitors out of the hulls instead of disassembling them. But you don’t have time to fuck around crying or trying to do the impossible. We can go back later and reclaim the wrecks if you wish. I can’t see them just shooting up abandoned hulks. Especially if you give them a push into the cloud where they will be lucky to even find them.”
“Up yours Turner. I am not about to abandon half my fleet.”
“Damn it Admiral. Half your fleet are already wrecks. The other half will be wrecks by the time that Congressional Fleet gets done. Save the good ships you have to fight with when your crews are not half dead and you have weapons that are better than theirs. Besides if I am going to go to all the trouble to strip a damn supply Depoe, you damn well better be alive to eat the damn food.”
Admiral Halsey shook his head. “Come on James, you know half your ships would be sent strait to the breakers as scrap. Quit trying to save ships that are not worth the lives it will take. Cut your losses and get out of there. The Colony systems are starting to wake up to what Earth’s Congress is trying to pull. Give them time to organize and put Earth in its place and stop Congress from appointing political Captains and Admirals. Take your
butt over to New Home and let Turner upgrade your surviving ships with weapons and engines that can take on the Spiders let alone that battleship that Turner just destroyed in a matter of minutes. Fact is he just may have something with those DD’s of his. But for now get your stubborn old butt out of there. I don’t want to lose you again. This time for good. We lost too many Flags already. You read the orders. They are even going to destroy the life pods with survivors in them. Your men don’t stand a chance in hell if you stay.”
“Fine Frank but we don’t dare head for New Home. They may follow us. Hell they have to follow us. They have no choice.” Turning to Jack. “Can you get us more of that gas and kits for upgrading our guns? We won’t be able to out run them for more than a couple of weeks even in this soup. And that is only if you can get us more scoops.”
Jack buried his face in his hands taken back by the surprise request that really wasn’t a surprise. Jack had already been working on getting what the Admiral was asking for but now their lives depended on them getting the equipment and kits sooner than later. “Admiral, I have the added problem that I am working under a tight time schedule for raiding the damn supply Depot. Frowning as he thought. Rolling plans and time tables over in his head. “If you can get out of there in one week, I can get you a shipment of kits a few days after you leave Delta 7. But I will need 50 engines… No, 100 engines and 400 16 inch guns from you. Then a few days after that I will hit the Q-19 Depoe and in two weeks I will have a hundred Battleship Destroyers like what you just watched destroy the Battleship and another 8 enhanced Battletransports all with new engine kits that are supposed to be waiting for shipment at the Depoe and about 500 bombers and fighters. The fleet chasing you won’t know what hit them from the cloud. If we are lucky we will send most of them back under The Rock they came from and leave us the hell alone.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 96