Connor's Gambit

by Z Gottlieb

  Shinny’s mouth dropped open. “And he believed you?”

  “Not at first, but I showed him pictures of World War II bombers tricked out with nose art and explained how that helped the morale of the allied forces. And I gave him the statistics from the war showing how the improved morale led to more successful bombing runs from those aircraft.”

  Shinny rolled her eyes. “You misled him. If he ever finds out, you are going to have a mess to deal with.”

  “It wasn’t a deception; it was more of a creative interpretation of Earth’s history on my part. Truthfully, I think because it wasn’t in the regulations, he was persuaded it must be acceptable. It’s crazy how you regulate everything, even brushing your teeth. I’m surprised this hasn’t come up yet.” Brad continued leading her toward his vehicle. “This hasn’t hurt anyone and it’s been a morale booster for our squadron. We stand out from the other squadrons now, although it won’t be long before the other squadrons follow our example.”

  “It hasn’t been an issue before because no one considered it, like bicycles. I think you were having fun with Deznoic. It’s your career. I’m not going to say anything. Enjoy it while you can. It won’t take long before some desk bureaucrat comes up with a policy to ban it for ‘safety reasons.’” Shinny slowly shook her head in amazement and wondered what else Brad was going to pull. He definitely did amuse her with his creativity. Connor had said it wouldn’t take much for someone from Earth to start shaking things up in the Fleet. She hadn’t been sure if Brad would do much of the shaking because he could also, at times, be a stickler for rules and regulations. On the other hand, looking at the vehicles, she laughed to herself and admired her husband’s playful ingenuity as they continued to walk toward the vehicles lined up at the front of the platform.

  “My career—do you mean my one mission career? This hasn’t been all fun. I have been working my ass off and I’ve missed both you and Dane. I’ll admit, I’m having some fun living my own ‘Star Wars’ moment. But I realize it’s not fantasy land when it comes to dealing with the Aneplé. I’m scared about Earth’s future. I want to be part of the solution, but I also want to get back home.” He walked towards a vehicle in the front row and slowed down allowing Shinny to catch up to him. Stopping in front of his vehicle, he watched her staring at her picture on the fuselage. “Well, what do you think?” He watched her face nervously.

  Taking a deep breath, she looked at her head that had been photo shopped onto a stylized fairy with wings in a Fleet-like uniform with a wand spreading pixie dust. She decided to jerk his chain, giving him a stern look while trying desperately to hold back her laughter. “Be grateful the Fleet’s psychiatrists don’t understand the background to this. They would have a heyday with this and would put you under close observation.” After a suitable period of silence, she added, “I personally believe it could use a little more pixie dust.”

  “Your wish is my command. More pixie dust will be added.” He smiled with a look of relief. “I realize this is over the top but, if you remember, it was a fairy that led a lost boy to Never Never Land, where he never grew up. Like the story, you are my own good luck fairy-steadfastly devoted, loyal and in love.” At the time he programmed the illustration he remembered him laughing to himself at the private joke, but he wasn’t sure how Shinny was going to react. Even after knowing each other for thirteen years, they still had their moments of miscommunications. He now understood it was due to their very different backgrounds. Continuing, he added, “This seems to fit the situation here, especially since very few people on this ship look grown up, at least physically. I look around and ninety-seven percent of the crew does not look any older than eighteen. I don’t know about you, but at times I feel like I’m a Boy Scout leader even though most of the crew is at least a century older than me. It’s a little disconcerting that I can no longer look at someone and estimate their age and experience. I have to keep reminding myself they’re not kids.”

  “Brad, use your tablet and chip. It will help you learn more about the people you work with faster.”

  “I’m still learning. The chip still isn’t automatic with me, and I’m still getting my fair share of beeps.”

  Shinny walked around the vehicle, and noticed how well he and his copilot took care of their vehicle. While Connor was focused on fulfilling his role as the Fleet Admiral, he was also watching Brad’s progress closely. Although Connor was proud of Brad as his son, he was also concerned whether Brad, Earth’s first Fleet member, would perform well enough to permit inviting others to join. She wasn’t going to mention that to Brad. He was aware he was the planet’s sole representative on the Zuonopy and didn’t need any more pressure on him by letting him know Connor was getting daily reports on his activities. “It’ll come one day. I’m impressed; you’ve done an excellent job of maintaining the vehicle.” Watching him restlessly shift his weight from side to side, she knew he had something else he wanted to tell her, but was hesitant. As far as she was concerned, nothing could be as bad as the past weeks while they were separated. She was determined not to let that happen again. Walking with Brad and looking at his vehicle had reminded her how good it felt to share her life with him. She was ready to leave the Transportation Room, but she recognized that slightly worried look on his face. Tilting her head, with a small smile, she asked, “Is there something else you wanted to say? If you wish, we can continue the discussion in my room.”

  Brad avoided looking at her. He pulled his tablet off his waist and looked at it. “I’m looking at orders to commence a joint exercise between a Fleet Vehicle, Swarm Defender and a Special Combat Officer.” Brad saw Shinny’s startled expression and added nonchalantly, “I’m surprised there aren’t more joint exercises planned between the two different military organizations.”

  “Brad, what are you talking about?” Shinny pulled out her tablet and looked at an alert message that had just appeared:

  Major Shin N’Klaftin you are hereby ordered to commence joint maneuvers with Pilot Johnson on Operation P’Nic. Pilot Johnson will transport you to an exercise field where you will initiate reconnaissance of the area to determine suitability for further Special Combat troop training and exercises.

  “Brad what the hell is this? And what the hell is Operation P’Nic?” Shinny was upset he had managed to volunteer her for a mission she had no background on. Searching through her chip and the ship’s databases yielded no information on this operation. The combination of no specific information and her husband’s lack of experience did not sit well with her. Her mood flipped a hundred and eighty degrees.

  Brad gestured toward his vehicle. “All will be revealed in time. I just need to verify we are fully equipped for a successful mission.” Watching the wings lower on both sides of his Defender, he walked over and inspected the cargo behind the seats. Looking back at Shinny, ignoring her glare, he motioned toward a seat. “Major, your battle armor and shield are loaded, along with additional equipment and supplies. This vehicle is ready for embarkation. If you would please, take the seat on the right and I will complete the vehicle’s preflight check.”

  Stunned, Shinny proceeded to sit in the right co-pilot seat. In reality, she didn’t have a choice. Her orders clearly stated she was to accompany Brad someplace. Pressing her lips together in a stern line, she stared at her tablet. The orders had the correct authorization codes and they were indeed very real. She was vexed by the lack of details on Operation P’Nic along with the mystery as to why her armor lay folded behind her seat. “Do I need to dress in my battle armor before take-off?” she snapped. People had been placed in the brig for losing their armor. This was supposed to be a makeup between them, but she found herself fuming. Brad had managed to not only secure operational orders, but convinced a nitwit to break into her locker and move her armor. That individual will answer to her when they return, she promised herself.

  Brad gave his “I don’t know” shrug as he began programming the flight details on the dashboard. “Up to you i
f you want to put your armor on. Preflight check complete. Ensure harness is correctly attached.” He continued to gesture with the engine igniting and wings expanding into a sleek delta format. “Control Tower, hatches down, engine hot, exhaust shielded, and path cleared. Squadron 262, Swarm Defender Vehicle 769, ready for takeoff; waiting for clearance.”

  Shinny decided she would hold off putting her armor on until she had a better idea of what was going on, since Brad wasn’t wearing anything additional. There weren’t even any planets nearby for her to determine if armor was even needed. Once she had a better idea of the operational parameters, she would make the decision. She watched Brad’s intense expression, nodding as he listened to Control Tower’s instructions. The instructions were relayed directly to him on a private line, so she had no idea what they were discussing. “Pilot Johnson, patch me in.” If he wanted play some sort of Fleet game, she was going to pull her major card.

  Brad glanced at Shinny’s angry face He couldn’t blame her. Granted this expedition was his idea, but he had no control over how the orders had been issued to her. “Yes, ma’am,” he replied as he opened the channel to her. “Tower, clearance received for flight initiation. Commencing additional shielding of the exhaust and elevation lift now,” he reported to the tower. Looking at Shinny triggered the memory of how nervous he was the first few times he took off from the Zuonopy fearing he wouldn’t be able to shield the heated exhaust from his vehicle. However, it didn’t take long for him to relax since the computer controlled most of the shielding during takeoff. Once the vehicle was outside the battle cruiser, the shielding on the exhaust system would transfer to the shield to protect the vehicle. He wasn’t quite as nervous as he was on the earlier flights, but knowing how important this flight was on so many levels worried him. He pushed those thoughts to the rear and concentrated his attention on the flight.

  The two-seater vehicle rose slowly and hovered over the transportation platform. Brad gradually re-angled his vehicle, facing an open flight channel leading to a designated lane to exit the battle cruiser. Although the vehicles could enter and exit the Transportation Room at any point, the narrow channels provided the pilots with organized lanes to control the flow of the vehicle traffic in and out of the Transportation Room. “Control Tower, authorization for flight received.” Turning toward Shinny with a quirky smile, “Major, prepare for zero to five thousand LSUs in twenty seconds.” Brad focused on moving his vehicle forward to the flight channel directly in front of them. It had been rammed into him that take-off and landing on the battle cruisers were the most dangerous and sensitive maneuvers for a pilot. It was no different than on Earth’s aircraft carriers, except pilots did not take off and land with people two feet away. An accident in the Transportation Room would not only destroy his vehicle but also kill crewmembers on his platform as well as crewmembers on the adjacent platforms in the immediate area and destroy all vehicles docked nearby. As far as he knew, there had never been any Transportation Room accidents, and he didn’t intend to be the first. Fortunately, he was situated close to an exit channel, so the maneuver he needed to perform today was fairly simple. He accelerated his vehicle as he exited the battle cruiser. Brad smiled over the perfect exit as they zoomed out into space away from the ship. Physically the acceleration felt no more than what he would feel on a roller coaster’s downward dip on Earth. He was amazed how much stress the little vehicle could take while keeping the passengers relatively comfortable. One day, for the hell of it, he might just push the vehicle to test its limits through the channel. The risk averse nature of the Fleet had led to regulations emphasizing safety to the point of ludicrousness and ignoring the purpose for these vehicles and crew. One could take precautions to try to keep personnel safe, but when it adversely affected the performance of the Fleet vehicles in combat…well, that was one of the reasons he suggested this exercise.

  Shinny faced forward, maintaining her silence. She was not happy being forced into Brad’s scheme without warning, but he had just executed a perfect take off and she was conflicted between the pride she felt and the irritation boiling inside her. She closed her eyes momentarily to gain emotional balance. For now, she was going to keep her observations to herself and fix her attention on listening to the chatter being relayed over her chip on the encrypted Fleet channel. Hearing the discussion of a flight demonstration, she opened her eyes and leaned forward to see if she could observe it, since she apparently had a front row view. It appeared a number of the squadrons were taking advantage of the Battle Cruiser’s temporary layover in this empty area of space between the nexus of the three gates and were most curious about the demonstration. There didn’t seem to be any special activity at the moment, although looking ahead, another Swarm Defender approached their vehicle head on. It was highly unusual, but with Brad increasing his acceleration, she wondered if he was participating in the demonstration or if something had gone wrong. This wasn’t a typical fleet maneuver. Shinny’s body tensed as they continued to head straight toward the oncoming vehicle. She began speculating they were going to be ejected if Brad didn’t change directions soon, since the vehicles were designed to eject without manual intervention in these situations. She wondered if something had gone horribly wrong when ejection failed to occur despite the rapidly closing distance. Brad would never intentionally endanger either one of them, but she was confused with what she was observing. The ejection would be the fastest way to end his short Fleet career and she couldn’t understand why he would suddenly risk everything. She watched as they continued to close the distance to the other vehicle and made her decision. She leaned forward more and moved toward the manual override ejection button on her side, questioning if they had enough time.

  “Don’t.” Brad commanded as he continued gesturing over the console dashboard.

  As the other vehicle closed in on them, the five-point harness straps tightened on her. She leaned back and braced herself for ejection or impact if there was a system failure. As the distance to the other vehicle decreased, an unfamiliar feeling of fear rippled through her. The thirteen years on Earth had changed her. Normally, she was fearless, even in ground combat. But now as she sat there staring ahead in disbelief, she was afraid that she would never see Dane again. If there were an impact, what an impact it would be, with their molecules spread across an area larger than Earth. CIG would use her chip if it survived and clone her. But would it be her, she asked herself. Would Dane notice a difference? She didn’t have time to dwell on that as she watched Brad furiously gesturing across the dashboard. A sense of hopelessness and discomfort arose with whatever was going on. Brad was completely immersed in commanding the vehicle’s performance. She didn’t feel this was the end, but she did feel that now was the time to trust him completely. She pressed herself further into her seat.

  Chapter 19

  Shinny stared ahead, as their vehicle rapidly turned into a barrel roll with the other vehicle spiraling around them. As their vehicle flattened out, Shinny let out the breath she had been holding. “Nice. Could you warn me next time you decide to go top gun on me?” She watched him continue to program the flight plan in the dashboard. “The chatter I’m hearing in my chip is interesting. What’s next on the agenda? Because I’ve had enough and am ready to return to the ship,” she snapped.

  “Can’t go back; we have our orders. I need to do a flyby of the bridge and then we can proceed to our destination,” Brad turned the vehicle toward the battle cruiser and followed the other Swarm Defender toward the bridge.

  Shinny pursed her lips in annoyance, “I’m definitely unhappy with whatever you have in mind at the moment. Who is flying the Defender in the lead position?”

  That’s my Commanding Officer, Commander Deznoic, flying with my Team Lead, Lenes Palscom. When I proposed testing this maneuver, they insisted it was too dangerous to allow anyone else but them to partner against me in the opposing vehicle. I was confident once the safety parameters were reprogrammed to reduce the margin of error n
eeded before ejection, the two vehicles could fly in a closer formation avoiding physical contact. I know it looked like an insane exercise but I had the computers run about six thousand simulations with a number of variances. Success rates were as high as 99.5% when two variables were consistent.” Brad glanced at Shinny’s stiff posture, her face barely concealing seething anger. He hoped that as the shift progressed it did not end up with her giving him the silent treatment just when they were beginning to talk to each other and enjoying each other’s company. He still anticipated there would be a happy ending for them, although chances were not looking good at the moment.

  “Okay, I’ll bite. Why don’t you share with me the variables and what the hell this is about?”

  “The first variable was that I would program both vehicles as the maneuver was being performed. Most of the programing was preinstalled, but there still needed to be minor but critical calibrations for the variances that may not have been identified during the simulations. It was like playing chess with myself, where I knew the next move and avoided losing pieces as the game proceeded. The simulations provided success scenarios minus the analysis. I’m finding it strange your computer simulations do not include analysis and feedback of results. The lack of analysis on the computer simulations is endemic throughout the battle cruiser. I’m beginning to believe it’s cultural or perhaps from the Fleet’s over reliance on the implanted chips. Nevertheless, without assistance from the computers, I’m making an educated guess I was less likely to panic and hesitate on the programming.” Shinny’s face changed slightly, showing her surprise at learning he had control over both vehicles. “The second variable was that success was dependent upon either Connor or you sitting in the copilot seat. That surprised me, but I believe the reasoning was that Deznoic and Palscom wouldn’t panic knowing either your father or you were sitting next to me. They would lose face since ejection would require manual override from them. Success was higher if Connor rode with me, because the simulations showed you were more likely to manually override the ejection seat. Connor needed to observe the demo, which left you to join me. I had faith you wouldn’t eject when I asked you not to, which was information the computer simulations did not have to measure. Now that I’ve been able to prove close proximity maneuvers are possible without the vehicle ejecting the pilots, there might be more demonstrations that incorporate the maneuver into tactics.”