The Turning Tide (The Federation Reborn Book 5)

by Chris Hechtl

  Admiral Irons shook his head. He wasn't happy with Moira for promising a reinforced picket or the medical centers, but it had worked in the short term. Finding a way to honor that agreement was going to be tricky. Fortunately, she had left him wiggle room on the details. He had thought about it and had ordered a pair of corvettes and a pair of frigates to be dug out of mothballs in Pyrax, refurbished and then sent to Airea 3 as the reinforcements.

  The medical centers were going to have to go through congress. Airea 3's senator had already put a bill in committee, but it had been bogged down since other senators wanted the same facilities in their districts.

  In other words, things were slowly settling down and returning to normal. Or, at least as normal as things got these days he reminded himself in amusement.

  He checked the status boards and then nodded. Vice Admiral Heals Quickly had accepted a recall and had undergone brief medical treatments in Bek. It would take time for the admiral to make his way to the Federation. Until he got to the capital and was up for it Commodore Helen Richards would remain as acting surgeon general, at least, until she left ET.

  He was still of two minds about her assignment. She had it right; she was the best to send to a plague situation. He'd prefer to keep her local, in the capital, or even as far as Pi, but she was rather insistent that she be sent with the next crop of hospital ships to Tau. Hopefully the first mercy flight, as they were calling it, would solve the problem. He shook his head at that wishful thinking. Managing a plague or in this case a series of them was far more than just finding the cause and cure. He'd learned that all over again in ET, and Helen had been one of the instructors there.

  He frowned and then nodded slowly to himself. He knew Helen wouldn't jog Shelby's elbow since Shelby had her by date of rank, and Helen wasn't interested in overall command of the navy mission in the sector anyway. She was a doctor and wanted to help, he could appreciate that.

  Vestri was still an issue. He was sorely tempted to send the captain with Helen to Tau to work on the yard that Shelby was undoubtedly building. But he'd spend a lot of time in transit, time better put to use building ships or overseeing facilities in Rho. And then there was the Lemnos mission to consider. He still didn't have an answer to it. Obviously, sending one ship was out. To make it worthwhile they had to send more than one.

  He frowned slightly but then put the matter aside for the moment.

  Senka was agitating for a stronger picket as well as a repair yard. There were questions about the fleet and even some sentiment to recall Admiral White and put someone else in charge. He wasn't certain if that was strictly coming from the civilians or if a Bekian had started a whisper campaign. Hopefully, Amadeus would get his feet under him soon.

  “Sir,” Protector said, cutting into his woolgathering.

  “Yes?” Admiral Irons asked.

  “Your ten-thirty is here.”

  “Send them in,” he said as he rose. He started to ask for a thumbnail brief but the A.I. had anticipated his request and had put it up on his HUD. He nodded as his secretary opened the door for T'rel'n as the Veraxin scuttled in. “Ah, you are here to discuss things before the meeting tomorrow?”

  “Yes, Admiral. I had a few last-minute items plus a few throwaways you can use if you must …”

  ~~~^~~~

  As things returned to normal, Admiral Irons held a public meeting with a senate group to wrangle over the changes to the budget. It was of course an excuse for a photo op as well as a place to discuss any ideas and come up with a basic framework. Senator Russell joked about how his time on the ranch prepared him for the job.

  “Oh? How so?” Senator Falconi asked, playing straight man.

  “I wrestled the occasional bison down in my youth. Now, granted they were twice as big as me, but they were easy once you get the head tucked just so,” the senator said with a thick drawl as he used his hands to demonstrate. He rocked himself back and forth for a moment, putting on an expression of pain and struggle before letting it smooth. “But sometimes I think that was easier than this!” he said with a despairing shake of his head.

  The group laughed.

  “I know,” Admiral Irons said, chuckling with the group.

  “Admiral, you ever get to New Texas again we'll show you a rodeo like you've never seen!” the senator said, turning to the president and bowing ever so slightly.

  “I've actually thrown a bison calf once. I didn't enjoy the experience, and he didn't either I think,” Admiral Irons replied with a smile. The senator's eyebrows went sky high.

  “He did. It was on Io 11,” Sprite interjected. She put up an image on the holographic projector. It was from Admiral Irons perspective as he wrestled the rampaging animal down before it trampled the captain of the Io 11 and others with her. She froze the playback when the animal was secured, and the admiral got to his feet and then let the image fade slowly.

  “Well, I'll be, y'all wasn't joshin,” the Texan senator said, tipping his hat back. “Ya'll are an honorary Texan,” he said with a grin as others in the room murmured.

  “Senator, I'll gladly leave such things to you and your countrymen. Once is more than enough in my lifetime,” Admiral Irons said brief smile and with a shake of his head. “The fact that you did that over and over again …” he shook his head again and rolled his eyes.

  There was a brief instance of chuckles again.

  “Well, if we needed to handle them, we used a chute and a press. Throwing them was just for show. But I catch your drift,” the senator drawled with a wink.

  “I wouldn't mind that barbecue though, I happen to love a good steak, and your people have some of the best in the galaxy,” Admiral Irons said with a smile.

  “The best,” the senator said, tucking his thumbs in his belt and jutting his chin out proudly. “And I'd be happy to demonstrate at any time. Yon lovely lady helped us out with a few things, I think once shipping gets faster maybe we'll be seein' some steak imports here?” he asked.

  Admiral Irons nodded. “Anything's possible, Senator.”

  “Well then! If we can't bring you to Texas anytime soon, maybe we can bring a slice of Texas here!”

  “I'd appreciate it Senator. And I'm sure we can find a local brewery to help too. And I believe both Triang and Agnosta have excellent potatoes to supply for bake potatoes,” Admiral Irons said, tipping his head slightly to indicate the senators from those worlds.

  “Oh big, real big,” one of the senators said, holding his hands apart in only slight exaggeration of the size of the tubers in question. “I don't mind a good steak, and I'll gladly have a barbecue with you if you have an old-fashioned clam bake too,” he said with a grin.

  Senator Russell chuckled. “All this talk of food is getting my mouth watering. Where's that beer?” he demanded, looking around the room expectantly. The group chuckled again.

  ~~~^~~~

  Later that evening Senator Falconi turned the news on and listened to the media spin on the meeting. He was amused that Admiral Irons' feat of derring-do had taken over the subject matter. “I hate to say he's bragging …”

  “I was a bit. I think they overplayed it a bit. But it was nice of him to say he'd leave it to us. I keep forgetting how well rounded our commander in chief is,” Senator Russell said as he swirled his drink and then knocked it back.

  “He did a good job of tying it back to you,” Senator Falconi murmured.

  “That he did. I think he didn't mean to brag; it just came out. He's not really a politician, though he knows some of the games we play,” the Texan stated.

  ~~~^~~~

  Admiral Irons had some reading time scheduled and enjoyed the quiet time. Every day he had a period, usually thirty minutes or so to read a briefing paper or relax before a meeting. He had learned to take advantage of the off time to relax on the couch, but he didn't read the brief that he'd been assigned to read by Sprite. Oh, he scanned the synopsis, but he didn't get into any of the details. Instead he read a science journal article a
ttached to a recent proposal working its way through congress.

  It was interesting, though he knew it was bullshit. He was curious to know how much of it was cock-and-bull for pork and how much the authors actually believed.

  The proposal was anything but new to him. The science team wanted to create pockets of dimensional space to store things. Essentially, the user could open a portal, store the item, and then close it. Handy and he had to admit naming it as the ultimate woman's purse was amusing.

  It was, however, never going to work outside a lab. There were too many problems with the tech; you couldn't miniaturize it to be small enough to be man portable. Just the power demands alone … though he did appreciate the author's attempts to address that by saying they could put most of the tech inside the pocket. It made him aware that the author was keenly aware of the problems involved.

  It didn't matter. You can't have a micro hyperspace bubble being dragged around in a backpack or someone's pocket.

  But, the senate was pushing for more scientific research and development. They wanted to make their own mark, and something like this would take decades of work and wheelbarrows of cash to get it done.

  Funny how people thought that if you threw enough money at a problem something somewhere would eventually stick. He saw it as a paper study. A pork barrel way to shuffle minds in academia off into crap. They didn't even begin to understand the logistics behind it; the proposals were all glowing pie in the sky sort of things without any GOTH appreciations. It was all marketing.

  But, the remote chance that they'll get it to work, or spur something else was pushing it on. That and the senators involved were obviously seeing some sort of kickback, either from the universities behind the proposal or in getting funding to their star systems.

  He scratched his cheek and then went back to the proposal and checked the technical appendix. Apparently, the authors wanted to combine some of his Lemnos knowledge, information they didn't have access to, so how could they know what's there, with hypothetical advances in pocket hyperdrives and quantum computing to create the necessary warp bubble for the pocket. There was some techno babble and some equations that looked good in theory, but he wondered how much was there for show and how much of it made sense. There were points that they obviously needed to refine their understanding of the physics and such.

  “Just about ready, Admiral?” Protector asked as the holographic emitters on his desk came to life and Sprite's avatar came into being.

  “I should hope so,” Sprite said. “I bet he hasn't been doing the homework he was assigned though.”

  “No,” Protector answered through the overhead speaker. He was clearly curious as to how she knew.

  Admiral Irons straightened up and waved a dismissive hand as he set the tablet down. “Yeah, funny,” he muttered.

  “The Ultimate Pocketbook proposal? Not a manual on how to tear apart a hyperspace shunt? Or routine maintenance on a Stargate?” Sprite teased. He looked at her and then realized she'd either seen the title from one of the cameras or had accessed the tablet.

  He shrugged as he rose off the couch. “Hey, I'm still an engineer at heart you two,” he mock growled as he stretched. “Anything burn down while I was preoccupied?”

  “On the planet probably. Nothing that gets to our level I think,” Protector said as his avatar came into being next to Sprite's. Sprite shook her head as the admiral came around his desk and took his customary seat.

  “Do you think it will work?” Sprite asked, clearly curious about his answer.

  “What?”

  She pointed to the tablet.

  He glanced at it and then shook his head. “Not a chance.”

  “Then why let them push it?”

  “It's a senate deal. I might have to let it go if I want something else, like additional funding. They could attach it as a rider to a budget bill or something.”

  “Oh,” Protector murmured.

  “He's learning,” Sprite accused with a nod of approval to her pupil.

  “I'm trying. It doesn't mean I have to like it,” Admiral Irons replied with a shake of his head. Sprite loved to tease him to get him out of funks. He wasn't in; one he was just coming up from a deep read. He needed a moment to process and switch mental tracks. He didn't want to admit it because he knew she'd needle him about organic thought processes and how slow they sometimes were.

  “So, it's okay?” Sprite prompted when he didn't say anything for a moment.

  “No. But it has our people moving in the right direction. It has them looking ahead, and I admit someone might get something out of it—eventually. When and at what cost I don't know. I'm okay with it as long as they don't get stupid about it.”

  “As in?” Sprite prompted when he didn't elaborate for a moment.

  He sat back and rocked his chair from side to side for a moment. After a moment, he steepled his hands as he finished organizing his thoughts. They all knew that the senators from ET, Antigua, and Pyrax were behind it because all three had solid universities. That meant they were going to pull in support from their friends in congress, but they'd jockey to take the lead once they knew the proposal was going to get approved. That would mean the knives and backbiting teeth would come out then or at least some serious horse trading. “I was going to say deadlines, but that's too easy to undermine. So are goals, but we can work with that. Make them prove or disprove their work in the lab. Maybe match investor funding. Anything they get out of it, the government gets a piece of the pie too.”

  “That's smart. We've always overlooked that. Fund research but don't get a direct return on investment if it pans out.”

  “Exactly. I don't want money to go down a rabbit hole for no results—definitely no corruption crap either. An actual lab built, actual staff, and inspections. Other senators will be involved, plus the GA's office to keep the backers in line. That way they can't just give us pages of gobbledygook repeating what we already know.”

  “You are thinking about some of the lab scandals back during the old Federation,” Sprite said with a nod.

  “Been there, done that. We don't need a repeat thank you.”

  “Yeah, good luck with that,” Protector said dubiously.

  “What's that supposed to mean?” Sprite asked.

  “You and I both know that any system has a work around. People will try to find it. Eventually some will succeed.”

  “True,” Sprite admitted. “But we have access to a wealth of knowledge. We can compare their results to what we know.”

  “If we have that data. A lot of data was lost or deliberately corrupted to keep it out of the wrong hands. I could just imagine someone trying to build a real nuclear bomb from the information in the Encyclopedia Galactica,” Admiral Irons said with a shiver, “or a hyperdrive, or for instance a micro hyperdrive. Can you imagine a failure? Like oh, say, in a populated area?”

  A.I. didn't normally wince. But they both nodded.

  “So, along with all the stuff to make sure things aren't going to be corrupted, we have to impress on them safety measures as well. Fun,” Sprite murmured, making a note in a memo.

  “Exactly. Word dropped in the right media ear will drum up concerns. As long as it doesn't get to the level of hysteria, we'll be okay,” Admiral Irons stated.

  “And you know just the right ear,” Sprite teased with a wicked smile.

  “Maybe,” he replied with a quelling look her way. She snorted. The effort was wasted on her he knew. “So, what's next on the agenda?”

  “Okay, what we have on deck for the rest of today is …”

  ~~~^~~~

  Senator Falconi was amused that the Pocketbook dimensional thingy was actually moving forward in committee unopposed by the administration or his fellow senators. He'd backed it to, yes, get funding for the Metropolis University, though Gotham U was also pushing to be involved. But Powers Inc. and other corporate sponsors were in the background and had to be considered as well.

  But the real thrust
was the Lemnos one. Apparently, someone had thrown that in there to see what was in that database. They wanted to know and so did he in a way. But only if it was safe. He didn't want to open any more Xeno Wraith cans of worms.

  But they might never know what was in the database, or they might just get a firm no. And if they did gain access, it would only be on the research they requested. He shook his head. Not that it mattered.

  Chapter 14

  Antigua

  April was annoyed when she was served with jury duty papers in her email by certified delivery. “What the hell? What is this?” she asked, wrinkling her nose. She was certain she'd seen such things, but the spam filter refused to can the notice. It looked like an official government document. “Irma!”

  Her assistant Irma came over to look over her shoulder at the offending email. “Oh, it's mandatory public service. It's a civil requirement. Yearly I think.”

  “Wait, what?” April turned to stare at her. Irma came over and sat on the edge of her desk.

  “Yeah, it's a thing like voting—a requirement. You have to take the good with the bad. Personally, I think they should get homeless people or people out of work to do it. Keep them busy. But no one listens to me,” she said with a shrug as she adjusted the sleeves of her turtleneck sweater.

  “So, that's what this is about? I thought it was spam. And you are saying everyone has to do this?” April demanded, her eyes going to the email.

  Irma fought not to roll her eyes at her boss's naivety. “Yup. It's no big deal. If you serve on a jury, you are out of the pool for at least two years.”

  “Pool?”

  “We are all on in a pool. If you get tapped, you check in to where you need to report into. If they tell you that you have to go, you go on the date they tell you. They stick you in a room and then when they need people they call for volunteers or choose from a lottery if no one steps up. You sit on a civil or criminal trial. Most are short. I don't envy the long ones though.”