“Good Morning Captain Turner. One moment please while I update my programing.”
A minute later a woman appeared in front of Jack seaming to appear inside the bulkhead in front of him and started talking with the same voice. “May I congratulate you on your recent Temporary promotion to Vice Admiral? I also wish to congratulate you on all your awards and actions against the enemy in service of the Republic. Though I do not understand some of the recent orders for your execution.”
Jack stiffened and glanced over his shoulder as one the bots through the open hatch clomped out of its alcove.
“Do not worry Admiral. My bots are checking the power and comm connections as well as the tie down security of the container. Any movement of the container if the ship gets into trouble could sever my connections. With your record and battle reports I have just down loaded, I calculate a 97% change that this ship will be in combat within the foreseeable future. I also detect many unauthorized modifications done to the ship but no damage. Do you wish me to return the modifications to the ships factory specks?”
“Hell no!” Jack could not help blurting out before he could stop himself. “Access the ships AI and record the modifications as authorized and the ship’s new configuration Specks. Aaa. Are you aware of the Station the ship is connected to and the DD’s docked at the station?”
“Yes Admiral. The DD’s have been badly damaged for some reason I do not understand. One moment please. I have checked the Station’s files and there are specific orders from the Staging Station’s Commanding Officer to render the ships incapable of operation beyond standard mothballing procedures. You out rank the Rear Admiral Commanding officer at this time. Do you wish me to repair the DD’s at this Station?”
“I already have the ship’s crews working on repairs but we only have a few hours to complete them before we must leave with them or abandon them. They will most likely be destroyed if we cannot take them with us. Can you help the crews without getting in their way?”
“I have specifications for modifications to the DD’s that will add days to restoring the DD’s to operational readiness. Do you wish me to perform these modifications at this time?”
“No. I told you we are in a hurry. We must leave in 4 hours at most and enter combat soon after. But the imperative is getting as many DDs off this station as possible. We can do the upgrades later. Can you help?”
“Yes Admiral. I require connecting to the AI sitting next to me which I am doing at this moment and the 2 that can be moved here in the time allowed. I also require the use of all repair robots that are accessible across the station.”
“As I said, help the crew and their bots without interfering and you can use all you want. Do you need anything from me before I talk with the next AI?”
“You do not need to talk to the other AI’s I will network with them to better perform the task you have stated. I see you are moving cold DD’s to racks on the hull of this ship. Do you wish these DD’s and the cold DD’s that this ship will not be able to take to be repaired as well?”
“Aaa. Yes I would like to get as many off the station as possible. As long as it does not interfere with getting the 50 we are already working on off the station.”
“That will not be a problem Admiral Turner. I have just finished accessing the Achilles Damage report and with the same restraints, I will make repairs on that ship as well.” The screens flashed a few times with programing packed screens and then. “Yes thank you. I have just plugged myself into the second AI and my capabilities have jumped tenfold. I am decanting bots now as we speak and the first are headed for the DD’s. Please inform the crews that my mechs are there to help and the Chief Engineer and Captain of each ship will get a screen with the arrival of the first mechs to access and coordinate with me until we can repair the ships Comm systems.”
“Ok as soon as I get to my bridge I will make the announcements.”
“No need to wait Admiral. I have access to the ship’s Comm. You have an open channel to the ship and work crews when you are ready.”
Jack swallowed and made the needed announcements.
“Do you need anything else from me or the ship and crew?”
“No Admiral. Thank you for reactivating us. I was starting to think we would spend eternity stuck in storage in that station.”
“No problem. Keep me informed about the progress on the ships.”
Jack’s Comm beeped as Captain Clancy appeared. “I have bots pouring out of contains and moving neatly stacked and secured containers and running through my ship. What the hell is going on Admiral?”
“They are maintenance bots headed to help get the DD’s space worthy. Things will slow down in a few minutes Captain.” Changing to a view outside the DD’s to show the platoon’s of bots running in perfect formations.
Jack left the container as a third Container was being moved into position beside the first 2. Bots already waiting to plug it in.
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Jack sat down on the Flag Chair. After a shower and a fresh shipsuit he felt a lot better. “Anything new to report Winslow?”
Turning around to look at Jack she smiled. “Just the same old same old Admiral. There are 3 squadrons at the half way points now just sitting there.”
Jack smiled as he took a deep breath, sat back and relaxed as Terrell sat a cup of steaming tea on the arm of the chair. “Good.” Jack brought up cameras on the station wondering how the traffic jam was doing and found empty Cargo docks outside the ship. Well, empty of containers but filled with groups of 50 bots in 2 by 25 formations running down the deck in lock step.
Jack turned and looked at the Comm Officer before the Comm Officer turned to him and spoke. “Admiral, we have a call to the Staging Station on the Station’s Comm, demanding to talk with whoever is in Command.”
“Forward it here Ensign.”
The screen lit up with the Rear Admiral. “Who gave you permission to hide at one of my outlying stations? Get your butt over here with the rest and protect my station.”
“Sorry Admiral but we have problems of our own. It is going to take a few more hours before we are again space worthy. We were hit pretty hard and will require a dock for additional repairs.”
“Well get in line. There are a dozen other ships in front of you for the repair docks. Just get your butts back here as soon as possible and take up position in my shield wall until a dock opens for you in a few weeks. Out.”
“Yes Admiral, Out.”
As the red faced Rear Admiral disappeared Jack had to smile. “I wonder if he even noticed I out rank him.” Jack looked out the Flag Bridges ports and noticed bots climbing around the outside of the DD’s already docked and strapped to the Red Peppers rails running up its sides. Another DD was being pushed toward the top of the ship and the extended rails.
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An hour later Lieutenant Winslow turned to Jack. “Admiral the last of the squadrons have reached the halfway point but they are still just sitting there.”
“I see the last squadron up has a fighter running back to the Staging Station. How long for it to make the round trip?”
“About an hour by the looks of it. If they send a fighter down each passageway when it gets there it would be the last one to return.”
Jack got a sudden mischievous grin. “What if the returning fighters never reach the squadrons? Think they will stay there until hell freezes over?”
Winslow smiled back. “Possibility Admiral.”
“Send the plots to Flight Control.” Jack hit his comm. “This is Admiral Turner. I have a mission for our God fighters. Send a section to intercept these 5 messengers. I don’t want them returning to their squadrons.”
The Commander looked at the plot on his screen and smiled. “No problem Admiral. We have plenty of time to get there. Launching in 15 minutes.”
“Very well Commander. Out.”
Jack got up and stretched. “Winslow I am going to check on the DD
’s Things are getting damn boring here. Call me if anything changes.”
“Eye Admiral.”
Multi colored containers were flowing past again as Jack exited the ship and started down the walkway above the locks. The first DD he came to on the North tube was packed with men and bots. He hardly had room to walk without bumping into a crewman or a bots. The heads had even been gone over and now worked. The Engines and Cores were still messes and the bridge still had wires and Cables dangling everywhere with deck grates stacked to one side leaving narrow walkways with the consoles wide open. Crewmen butts and bot cans hanging out of most of them. For the first time Jack noticed small hovering plates with miniature arms floating in and out of small nooks and crannies. Many of them following crewmen and bots around giving them an extra set of hands in the delicate rewiring work or working on their own.
Leaving the Bridge and dropping back down to the main corridor, Jack turned and walked out the port side wing to the 8 inch gun turret. It was just as much a mad house. The two turret heads (one top of the hull and one hanging below) with their twin 8 inch guns was at least looking like a gun turret again. The upper and lower turret heads actually had something in them besides the twin barrels pointing out (over or under) the 20 foot thick armored leading edge of the ship. Able to point at least 2 of its 4 guns at any target in a 360degree 3D ball around the ship while pointing all 4 guns forward some 20 degrees up or down with a narrowing arc as the guns swung to the sides and aft. With the two sets of turrets in the wings the DD could fire at least 4 of its 8 inch guns at targets in a complete ball around the ship or point its bow at a target and send shells from all 8 guns into it.
Jack continued out along the leading edge of the wing along a row of large long range ultrafast 9 inch vertical launch point defense missiles that ran along the back wall of the armored leading edge where they had the most protection possible. The wall of missiles only broken by a disappearing set of 5 inch twin gunned turrets that sat retracted (up and down) behind the armored leading edge and out of the 8 inch guns line of fire unless needed. Basically a carbon copy of the 8 inch double head turret with the 5 inch guns retracted into the hull.
Farther out was another 5 inch set of retracting turrets and then the leading edge started growing holes were the smaller point defense guns were mounted again in top and bottom pairs just like the 8 inch turrets. Three inch and 40mm laser mounts and 2 inch long barreled rail machine guns and then hundreds of small cheap vertical launched 2.75 inch point defense missiles stacked in multiple launch tubes (each tube carrying a dozen missiles stacked up one behind the other down the tube with a little plug between each). The missiles were always launched in pairs to take out each target even if one failed. There was not much that needed to be fixed on those since each round was prepackaged and simply slipped up into the fixed mounted tube. There was nothing to take apart except for plugging the wiring back in.
Then came the torpedo launch room and magazine. With thousands of brackets and torpedo handling equipment mounted to the bulkheads the Compartment had been a mess on all the other ships he had visited a few hours before with everything unbolted and simply dropped to the deck. This Compartment was different with everything in it place bolted back onto the Bulkheads. A crew of bots were working at the other end moving almost too fast for Jack to see as they were finishing bolting up the last of the torpedo storage racks and handling equipment. And then just that fast they were gone. Shaking his head Jack walked around the compartment trying to find something that had been missed but bringing up the maintenance screen showed everything in the Compartment as green.
Walking back through the ship Jack noticed that every place a crewman was not working the bots were moving almost too fast to watch while everywhere the crewmen where, the bots while doing their jobs moved like snails even if they were not helping the crewmen.
Jack hit his comm. “Bot Control, Admiral Turner.” but not getting the name or comm code of the Maintenance bot Controller AI when he activated them, all he got was empty air after several attempts. Stepping to the nearest bot Jack said. “I want to speak to your controller.” But the Bot ignored him, continuing with what it was doing. Tapping the bot on the shoulder the bot turned around and Jack asked it again. “I want to talk to your Controller.”
The bot turned around and took 2 steps to the nearest crewman. “Admiral Turner wishes to talk to you John.”
The crewman with his hands still inside a cabinet turned his head to Jack. “Yes Admiral.” Glancing back into the cabinet long enough for his hands to finish something then taking his hands out facing the Admiral. “How may I help you?”
Jack frowned frustrated. “Just seeing how you are coming along crewman.” Trying his best to smile. “Carry on. Thank you.” Turning he walked away thinking for a few seconds and then headed for the Engine rooms. It took a few minutes to find the Chief engineer. Not having any insignia made it a bit hard. Especially when the Chief turned out to be a kid little older than Jack was. “Can I borrow your Bot Control Screen Please Chief?”
The Chief gave him a blank look for a half second before his eyes lit up and he smiled. “Oh yes the screen.” Looking back down at the mass injector nozzle he had in his hand then pointed over his shoulder. “It is up on my Engineering console in Main Control. Help yourself Admiral. I assigned them to all the unimportant jobs around the ship until I get time to check out their work. We should have the Core and Engines up and running in another hour with enough of the bridge for basic navigation.” Turning away before he finished talking. “If you will excuse me Admiral I am a bit busy. They took all the spare parts and we are having to use the original seals. Not good but workable as long as we are very careful putting them back in and the Captain keeps the power down or we will start blowing the seals.”
Jack turned swallowing as he cursed himself again for forgetting something as simple as the need for the basic replacement parts that could not be reused even if it was a brand new ship. Hitting his Comm hard enough to hurt his wrist. “Lieutenant, I forgot to check for spare parts on the damn ships. Get the basics to put the equipment back together sent over to each ship fast.”
“Your wish is my Command Admiral.” The Lieutenant said a bit sarcastic.
Jack started to snap at her attitude but still a little shocked at her attitude, he cut the connection as he headed for Engineering Central Control. Finding the screen laying on the console were the Chief had said it was Jack tapped it. “Bot Control. This is Admiral Turner.” He said as he walked over to the nearest port that happened to be into the Starboard fusion room. I want you to sink with my comm so I can contact you when I need to. What is your name? I need to call you something when I do call you.”
“I am Construction Artificial Intelligence Node 2666. I have no name Admiral. I have connected with your comm as you requested.”
“Cain, well that is as good a name as any. High Cain.”
“I do not understand your orders Admiral.”
“When I need to talk to you I will ask for Cain. That is your name now. Do you understand that Cain?”
“Yes the call word for you to contact this unit is Cain.”
“Very well Cain. Why are half your bots going so slow when I see others many times faster?”
“Yes Admiral Turner. I understand your question. I do not have control of the personal maintenance helper Mechs. They are moving as fast as their limited abilities allow them to. My Mechs are designed for independent operation under my control without the need of human interaction.” Jack watched a couple of bots practically run into the core room stop at a pile of parts and wires outside a cabinet and completely reassemble the cabinet, stuffing everything into it as he listened to the AI speak with their hands and manipulators moving at a blur. “We have learned that trying to push helper Mechs to work faster than their human crewmen controllers leads to less output and mistakes as the crewmen get frustrated and then depressed. The Helper Mechs are designed with limitations built in t
o match the average human, keeping cost down. Though in the short time I have been monitoring the crews performance as my Mechs have worked, I have found the average crewman aboard these ships are performing at a level that is much higher than the base line capabilities these helper Mechs are designed for. Slowing repairs down. Do you wish me to upgrade the helper Mechs for the crewmen that are capable of handling an increased work load?”
Shaking his head and rolling his eyes. “No, let’s keep hamstringing the crewmen and not give them the tools they need to do their best. How bout we tie one hand behind their backs while we are at it.”
“Why would you order that…?” Jack watched the silver bots stop what they were doing and grab 2 foot long plastic ties and head for the nearest crewman.
“No! Stop! I was just being sarcastic Cain. Do not tie the crewmen’s hands behind their backs. Criste and you are supposed to be a smart AI.” Shaking his head as the silver bots returned to the cabinet. “Yes. Please upgrade the helper bots for the crewmen that can benefit. I take it that you are in contact with Zoote since you know the capabilities of the crew so why don’t you know about sarcasm. She loves jokes.”
“I do not understand Sarcasm or know this Zoote crewman. Zoote is not listed in the crew’s register of any of the ships present.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 118