Gray Panthers: Dixie

by David Guenther

  “Polarize the hull and raise shields. I don’t care to be shot by a friend any more than by an enemy. Drop the ship,” he ordered.

  Johnson began to chew on his finger, not noticing what he was doing. “Beater, what do you detect?”

  “Captain, a pair of Dixie destroyers five minutes out, heading this direction.”

  “Send a narrow-beam greeting and offer our assistance.”

  The sensor operator aboard the Georgia alerted Woods. “Captain, we have a target five minutes out sending a narrow-beam message. It’s the Arizona Space Ship Beater.”

  “Request they send a shuttle with an engineering officer to the Virginia to see if they have any ideas. Keep their ship targeted with passive targeting only. We don’t want to make our cousins unhappy.”

  Beater informed the captain, “Sir, they are requesting assistance for the Virginia.”

  Johnson thought for a moment. “Commander Poland, I can’t order you to go, but you are the most knowledgeable.” He waited for the answer he expected.

  “I’ll go, sir. With the Major Rogers AI, it will make it much easier.”

  “Sir, I’d like to volunteer to accompany the commander,” Short Blade requested, “both for the experience and in case there is trouble.” He was standing at attention, waiting for his answer.

  “Very good. Get moving. I feel like we’re stopped in the middle of the highway, and I want us to get off the road soon.”

  Poland was enthused about the prospect of seeing Dixie’s engineering. Short Blade checked the modified beamer he carried in his pistol holster and then checked to make sure his sword would slide easily if he needed it.

  “Expecting trouble, Ensign Short Blade?”

  “No, sir, but if I’m wrong, I’m ready.”

  Poland pulled his 10mm automatic and gave it a quick check while still walking toward the bay.

  The shuttle Major Rogers sat ready for departure. As soon as Poland and Short Blade entered the shuttle, the hatch closed behind them and the shuttle launched itself.

  “Commander, with what has happened on Dixie, it would be best if they saw you before they saw me when we exit the shuttle,” Short Blade said.

  “Good suggestion, Ensign. It’s hard to replace good ensigns these days.” Poland laughed softly when he saw that Short Blade was trying to figure out if he was being made fun of or not.

  “Commander Poland, we are entering the Virginia,” the AI announced a few minutes later. “I will open the hatch in a minute. I will send faeries with you in case you have questions about anything you see in engineering.”

  “Thank you, Major Rogers. Let’s hope for the best.”

  The crew of the Virginia was startled initially when Short Blade exited behind Commander Poland.

  “Sir, I’m Chief Dawson. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to engineering.” Dawson looked at Short Blade and his weapons, and realized that he himself was not armed. “Sir, do you vouch for the little alien there?”

  “Chief, that little alien has been awarded medals on numerous occasions for bravery and is an officer in the Gray Panthers. This is the only time I want even a hint of this being an issue. Do you understand me?”

  “Aye, aye, sir. Please accept my apologies for sounding disrespectful.”

  “Chief Dawson, I was a chief,” Short Blade said, smiling. “From one chief to another, water under the bridge. But I will kill the next one who insults me.” Dawson hastened his efforts to get the pair to engineering.

  “I can’t take you anywhere, can I, Ensign?” Poland whispered, controlling his urge to laugh. This will make a good story later, he thought. Was he joking, though?

  The FTL drive was similar to the Flem design except for additional parts used to ensure that the ride was not uncomfortable to humans.

  “What have you determined, Chief Dawson?” Poland was looking at the FTL from the side.

  “Sir, the interface between the FTL and inertial dampeners is not communicating. If we engaged the drive, we would all be splattered against the wall.”

  “You are sure it’s only the interface and that both of the other parts would correctly attach to a new interface?” Both men bent to the underside of the machinery as a new crewman came in and immediately tried to attack Short Blade.

  “We have aliens on board!” the six-foot machinist yelled, running full bore at Short Blade with a heavy wrench in his hand, ready to swing it down on top of the little Jacka. Short Blade stood still and shouted an order at the crewman.

  “Crewman, halt!” Startled, the machinist continued his attack. Poland and Dawson looked on in horror as the wrench came down toward Short Blade’s head. He sidestepped the wrench and grabbed it along with the machinist’s hand, flipping the crewman onto his back.

  “You made three mistakes, crewman. First, you let your own speed and weight be used against you. Second, you didn’t listen to an order from a superior officer. And third, you made the mistake of attacking me. I am Ensign Short Blade of the Gray Panthers, of the Claw Clan. Now I must kill you for your dishonorable ambush upon me.” Short Blade pressed the wrench into the crewman’s throat and looked into his fear-filled eyes.

  “I shall spare your life because I do not want to do the paperwork explaining why I killed an ally.” Short Blade dropped the wrench and winked at Poland as he walked toward him.

  “At ease, Pierce!” Dawson shouted.

  Short Blade turned to see the crewman again holding the wrench. Dawson went over and backhanded the crewman.

  “Report to the brig, you dumb shit!” When Dawson turned around again, he saw that both Poland and Short Blade held their sidearms at their side, pointed down.

  “My apologies, sirs,” Dawson said. “Pierce is a brig monkey under the best of circumstances. His family was taken from Dixie, and we’ve had no word yet.”

  Poland looked over at Short Blade and they both holstered their weapons. The chief let out his breath.

  “Chief, if we took the same part off the Georgia and used our fabricator to make a new one, do you think you could reinstall it by yourself, or would you need assistance?”

  “Sir, I could do it with no trouble if I had the correct part. I have the necessary tools.”

  “Major Rogers, how long would it take to fabricate the part?”

  “The part can be fabricated in two hours.”

  “Chief, we’re leaving now. You can brief your captain about our visit however you want, but time is essential. We need to get out before someone trips over us here.” Poland was already heading back to the bay, with Short Blade and the chief directly behind him.

  “Sir, my report will be complete, including that your ensign showed extreme restraint toward his attacker. The need for speed will obviously be emphasized.” The chief came to the position of attention and saluted the two officers. They returned his salute and boarded the shuttle.

  As the shuttle left the bay, Short Blade broke out in laughter. Poland looked at him for a moment and then laughed along with him, feeling the tension being released.

  “You weren’t really going to kill that crewman, were you, Short Blade?” The look Short Blade gave in reply didn’t exactly reassure the commander. Short Blade realized he was getting better at the human concept of humor.

  Once back on board the Beater, Poland reported the requirements to repair the ship.

  “Sir, if they can coordinate removing the part and getting it to us quickly, we can be done with everything in four hours, best time, from the moment they remove the part from Georgia, deliver it to us, then return parts to both ships and install the part.”

  “Good job, Commander Poland. Any problems while you were over there?”

  “Just some crewman that tried to kill Short Blade, but he kept it low key. I think the faeries with us may have recorded it. Beater, is there a recording of the attack on Ensign Short Blade?”

  “No recordings were made of the attack, Commander.”

  “Well, I’ll take Ensign Short Blade as
my bodyguard anytime.” Poland laughed as Short Blade seemed to accept the unwanted attention.

  New Richmond, planet Dixie

  24 November 2128

  President Davis sat with Admiral Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard in the planet’s main command post. Neither man was happy.

  “The pink bastards managed to kidnap almost thirty thousand of our citizens. We pledged to protect those people. What can we do, Admiral?” Davis took a sip of his whiskey as he waited for an answer.

  “Sir, I propose that after we get our people back we destroy the Libra home world. We take our fleet to their space, find a huge asteroid, slap engines on it, and drive it into their world. It’ll send a message to any other potential enemies at the same time, that to mess with us is deadly.

  “Do we have the technology to do that, Admiral?”

  “Now that Ambassador Scholl has given us our missing materials, not only have we been able to bring our AI back online, but we’ve also salvaged a dozen AIs from the Earth shuttles. We were able to use our AI to reprogram the Earth AIs so they’ll now work for us. The only problem with those AIs is that we weren’t able to extract any information, so we had to reset them with only our information.

  “Admiral, how does that help us with eliminating the Libra threat?”

  “Mr. President, if we install an AI on one of our ships, it can evaluate where and how to attach thrusters to an asteroid. We can then use the AI to navigate the asteroid into the Libra home world.”

  “Have you started on this project yet?” Davis looked the admiral in the eyes while waiting for an answer.

  “Sir, even without the asteroid project, it was still important to see if we could incorporate an AI into a ship. It’s going to be a success. If we get more AIs, we can have smaller crews on our ships, which means we could have a larger fleet.”

  “What will we do with a larger fleet? Rule the galaxy? Find more aliens to go to war with? We will let our cousins from Earth and the League of Planets know that we are strong, but we just want to be left alone. Maybe in time we will open ourselves to commerce and trade.”

  “As you wish, Mr. President. If we do put AIs on our ships, we can also draft fewer citizens into the navy.”

  “Very well. You have the builder create the new AIs, and I’ll talk with the ambassador about getting the material for the AIs from Earth.”

  Arizona Space Ship Beater, in Libra space

  25 November 2128

  Captain Johnson watched the display screen as the shuttles from both destroyers headed for the Beater. He felt good being able to help the allies but was nervous about being a sitting duck if they were discovered. He finally decided that if they were discovered, and if the attackers had superior ships or numbers, he would jump. For the time being, he’d keep that information to himself.

  “Ensign Short Blade, I want you to greet both shuttles and ensure that the part they bring on board is copied and returned to them as soon as possible.” Short Blade acknowledged his orders and left the flight deck for the bay.

  The bay was filled with the Dart crews, who were watching as the shuttles flew through the force field and landed noisily on the deck. Crew jumped out of each shuttle and looked around as Short Blade approached them.

  “Gentlemen, if one of you will follow me with the part, we will get it copied and returned as soon as possible. Our ship is small, so I would appreciate it if the remainder of your party waited here in the bay.” There were seven of the Dixians, and they just stood and looked at Short Blade, many with open contempt.

  “You could also get back into your shuttles and go tell your captains that you failed. You there, with the part—move your ass, either back onto your shuttle or with me!” Short Blade turned toward the exit and started walking, not looking back. Finally he heard the pat-pat-pat of the man running to catch up with him.

  “Is that heavy?” Short Blade eventually asked the chief who was carrying the part.

  “No, sir. I’m fine.”

  When they reached the fabricator, Short Blade instructed the chief to set the part on the table and step back. The part began to glow as different beams measured and evaluated it. Two minutes later, the scanning was done, and the part was no longer illuminated.

  “Beater, is it okay to return this part to the Georgia?”

  “The sample is no longer required. The new part will be ready within one to three hours, Ensign Short Blade.”

  Short Blade removed the part and noted that it must weigh at least a hundred pounds as he set it down on a grav cart.

  “Chief, let’s go back to the bay. Your part is no longer needed here. I’m sure you would prefer for it to be back on your own ship. We’ll use the grav cart to take it back. I’d hate for you to get a sprain or hurt yourself.”

  The walk back was quiet, with only an occasional swishing sound coming from the cart behind the pair.

  In the bay the shuttle pilots were talking with the Dart pilots as they inspected the Darts. The rest of the party was scattered throughout the bay looking at tools and workstations.

  “Gentlemen, here is your original part back. I recommend you head back with it, in case you need to beat feet in a hurry.”

  “We wouldn’t leave the Virginia behind.” The little chief who’d spoken looked at Short Blade to see how he would reply.

  “Will your ship sit still as it absorbs missiles and lasers heroically? I think it will jump around and take the fight back to the enemy, kicking some ass. Chief, your captain needs that part back now.”

  With a sheepish look on his face, the little chief returned to his shuttle with the rest of his party. The last chief stopped and shook Short Blade’s paw.

  “Thank you for all your help, sir.” He then saluted and turned to the shuttle.

  Well, one down, one left, and no one has tried to kill me yet, Short Blade thought happily.

  Commander Poland looked at the captain. They had been monitoring the bay and had seen how Short Blade handled the visiting crew.

  “Sir, I believe Short Blade has both the temperament and the skills to be considered ready to assume the duties and responsibilities of an ensign—not just as frocked, but as a permanent rank.”

  “I agree, Commander Poland. I will enter it into the ship’s records, as well as his service records, that on this date he officially was promoted to the rank of ensign. After the Virginia gets her part and we’re on our way, we’ll inform him of our decision.”

  Chief Dawson walked across the bay to Short Blade and held out his hand. Short Blade took the chief’s hand in his paw and shook it.

  “Ensign Short Blade, I, for one, appreciate your professionalism and would like you to know that it has been my honor to work with you.”

  Short Blade swallowed before replying. “Thank you, Chief Dawson. It’s all part of duty before self. Aren’t you afraid of alienating your comrades by talking with me?”

  “Sir, I’m trying to show them not to be discriminatory based on genus.”

  “Come with me, Chief. We’ll watch the fabricator build the part. Otherwise, I’d be tempted to ask all of the people standing around to sweep the bay.”

  “Spoken like a true chief, sir.” The remark pleased Short Blade as he led the chief to the fabrication room.

  “Captain Johnson, we’re picking up a transmission on one of the primary channels the Dixians use. Let me put it on speaker.”

  “Criminals of Dixie, you will release your Libra hostages, as well as all Jacka contractors, before we will further communicate with you. You will also turn over the criminal responsible for the genocide committed against the peace-loving peoples of the Gas Giant Rewards. This concludes our reply to your demands upon us. The Libra Alliance Grand Council.”

  Poland watched Johnson a moment before speaking. “Well, Captain, that tells me the captives the Libra have taken are already dead. We’ll need to report this. Who knows what the Dixians will do when they hear this.”

  “The Dixians will have their an
swer in five days, when these destroyers return home with it. Our leadership will want to know what’s going on, so we’ll head for the Hades Wormhole and deliver the information to them,” Johnson responded.

  In the fabrication room, Short Blade was impressed at how quickly the new part had been created. “Well, Chief, it looks like the part is complete. It’s so exact you can see a small scratch on it just like the original had. I’ll put it on a grav cart and we can take it to the shuttle.”

  “I sure didn’t like the prospect of taking five days to get to planet Glory in normal space,” Dawson told Short Blade on the walk back. “I just wonder what this means for our mission?”

  “I’d guess they’ll return home, to play it safe, and then evaluate your ship for any other damage as well as areas to reinforce the structural integrity.” Short Blade waited for the chief to climb into his shuttle and then handed him the part. “Good luck, Chief Dawson.”

  Short Blade stepped back as the hatch closed and then headed for the flight deck, wondering what would happen next.

  As Johnson sat waiting in the flight deck, he began to feel overly stressed. Finally, the Virginia sent the news.

  “Repairs have all been completed. Will conduct a test hop of three hours to check the results.”

  “Congratulations, Virginia. With that good news, the Beater will be leaving the area. Bonne chance! Beater out,” Johnson replied.

  “Lieutenant Horton, set course for the Hades Nebula. Commander Poland, you may engage the FTL when you have the coordinates,” he instructed. “I’m going to stretch my legs.”

  Johnson stood and started to leave, but then turned back around. “Virginia, Georgia. Let’s change that test by setting the hop to Dixie. If you only have one hop in you, let’s make it count.”

  Gray Panthers headquarters, Arizona

  25 November 2128

  “Damn, I hate waiting to hear what’s going on,” Dan muttered, his impatience getting the better of him. “It’s such a pain to send out scouts for information to the League or Libra space and have to wait a minimum of twenty days. For all we know, the Libra have destroyed the Jacka home world or have managed to turn them against us. Abby, how’s the minefield and Abby Artillery looking?”