Mickey turned to look after Mark as he disappeared into the engine rooms. "I do not know Captain for certain but the real enemy is Captain Summers. The AI Controller on the other side of the planet is just our leverage."
“In other words , you don’t know shit either.” Captain Cook stuffed the stogy back between her teeth and raised her com. "Bridge! Call out the shuttle crews and get them down here on the double . I i ncluding all the reserves."
The elevator started puking out marines as Mark came out of the engineering core followed by some men and women in mechanics coveralls carrying tool bags and towing tool boxes and equipment. All with MP-3 and MP-4 on their shoulders. Commander Johnson walking next to Mark. Mark walked up to the Captain of marines and said. "Captain make sure everyone has a com on them that works." Seeing the marine reservists that outnumbered the active contingent with even if most of the m not ones not in armor , were wearing ships combat fatigues lining up separate from the company , . Mark turned back to the marine Captain. "Sir; please have the reservists blended into the company units. The old geezers and recruits stick out like sore thumbs off by themselves.” Taking a breath as he thought for a few seconds. “Fact is Captain , we have to look like a whole active platoon in the first APCC if possible with all most of the men in armor." Turning to the ships officers and then back to the marine Captain. “As for the rest, any extra suits you can scrounge up, throw at those guys and hell, include any recruits including anyone you know that ever wanted to enlist while you are at it in the other APCC’s . We need all the bodies we can get right now even if they are not officially marine s as long as they can act like one and follow orders for a few hours.”
The Captain frowned but started issuing orders. Mark started to tell him to break the company up into four platoons to go with the four APCC's but realized that the Captain was already ahead of him as Mark heard him issuing orders .
Mark started pacing back and forth in front of the open exit ramp as he waited for things to get sorted out and the stragglers to arrive. A clip board in his hand he had picked up from the engine room, Glancing and taping it as he walked. A bosom mate came running out of the engine room core loaded down with equipment and a duffle bag . He ran past the two Captains and up to Mark. Dropping the large duffle bag pack on the deck , he pulled out a weapons belt with holster attached, a laser pistol's butt hanging out with the English Empires seal on it. Stopping Mark by grabbing his arm, he fastened the weapon’s belt around Mark's waist without Mark seaming to notice as he tapped on the clip board and started walking again with the bosom following adding things to the belt including extra power packs for the torch he still had in his thigh pocket on his other hip.
The Captain of Marines turned to Captain Cook. "Since when do Lt. Commanders let alone temporary commanders or an Ensign that was a civilian a week ago get a Batman and didn’t you order us not to use batmen outside of officers’ country ?" The Captain of marines eyed the Captain Cook as he smiled. "And why did the Admiral put him in charge of the engine room in the first place? Not to mention Bomber Command now. "
"Yes Saunders Captain , that was my exact question a week ago so I did some checking. Though I did not read or believe half of it until this mess happened at the English base and he came back with all the damn trucks. Have you ever played the game; Tramp Command?"
"Sure Sir. It is a kid’s game about running a ship and making a profit. A fairly simple game. Why?"
"Simple in the lower levels played on a laptop or PDA. Above level 3 , played on a terminal connected to the Tower and the Admiral, it starts getting very realistic. By level 5 you are in the simulator and the player is outfitting ships and loading cargo and trading across the galaxy were and what t he player chooses with a hundred individual characters on the ship. E e ach cr e wman has with their own personality and abilities , interacting or not interacting just like real crews and with all their faults. Just like a real ship ’s crew . Having to give the right crewmen people , the right orders at the right times as you walk around the ship to get the needed actions done when they are required or the ship does not function properly. That includes making good trades choices, the right cargo to the right destinations while operating the , transport the cargo economically, fight off pirates and traps on planets and make sure you get paid and not cheated. Unlike most games. If you screw up above level 6 you can't start that section over to fix your mistake. You have to live with it and all it's consequences including crews that are all to too ready to matinée, kicking you off the ship for failing and you start all over again and not from the last save point."
Captain Cook shook her head chuckling. "The Admiral told me that of all the ships that he has contacted over the years. Only 3 players have reached level 9. Yours truly being one of them. the The average line officer aboard the Star Queen is at approximately level 7 though they don’t play very often anymore. I checked last night yesterday and Mr. Collins routinely plays at level l0 for relaxation and has reached level 12 with enough profit to buy a New ship not just an old junkyard relic even while grabbing every sad sack refugee or space man he ru n s across to add to a crew t hat is now 5 times a normal sized crew . No I dismissed most,,, no all of what the Admiral had said including what I read as simply not believable until last night. " Captain Cook shook her head realizing that now with Mickey’s help, he was going to be one holly terror. “I am still not wholly convinced but we are desperate .”
“But it is only a game Captain.” The Marine Captain could not believe his ears. “At least t he marine sim R epel Boarders game is based on facts and real lif e circumstanced and situations or we wouldn ’t use it to train our marines. The fact that he can make a profit in a game. Big deal. ”
“Yes Frank. Do you remember the Abedolleen 30, mission 2 last year . year s ago ? When you took the company as the escort of the party that went to collect the payment for all the cargo we had delivered on time and ahead of schedule at a planet a dozen light years out in the middle of nowhere . We both suspected some kind of tr d ouble dealing from the company we delivered to so far out in the desert , as ready as they were to settle without arguments and were surprised when we were quickly paid every dime we charged them. One hell of a big po t when we would have settled for half the bonus which we t if I remember right. u sually what we are lucky to get anyway . ”
“Hell yes Captain. The convoy was conveniently ambushed in a tall mountain gorge we had to go through to get back to the Starport , the only and worst place possible that was perfect for for an ambush ing an airtruck convoy , by supposedly Pirates after collecting our payment. Hell we were lucky to survive without half the convoy killed. Luckily the Gunboat Shuttle showed up at the right time and saved our butts. ”
Captain Cook smiled at the Marine Captian Captain . “ You said yourself that you and the rest would have been slaughtered if our gunboat had not shown up right when it did . It was Mr. Collins that had talked the Gunboat Commander into going there and coming in from the only direction that allowed Our Gunboat to take out the ambushers from behind without being seen first. ”
Taking a puff on her stogie. “ Mr. Collins was originally given a bronze star instead of the silver star that he should have been given because of his glasses handicap . E ven then the Officer felt he had to justify it by detailing how Mark while practicing pilot ing the G unboat as a Cadet took the gunboat without permission to the Ambush sight and approached it from the blind side while the officers and the rest of the crew were in the back having lunch before the trap was even sprung. before she took a puff of her stogy , blowing the smoke off to one side past the marine Captain and then . “ The reason the Gunboat was parked only a few miles away there to rescue you when the shit h it the fan with the Ambush , was because Mr. Collins put it there before going back to have lunch with the rest of the crew instead of just landing it in the middle of the desert like he was supposed to do. When asked why he parked the Gunboat there, he simply said that it was the only place that made sense
if the convoy was ambushed in the only place it could be ambushed and that he liked the view better for lunch . ”
The Captain shook her head. “ After talking to his father after the delivery and finding out how shady his father had said the man we were dealing with at the time was and how easily they paid all the bonuses without any arguments or attempts to reduc e the large bonus payment . Mr. Collins decided to park a couple hundred miles from where he was told to park. Though how the boat’s commander managed not to feel Mr. Collins’s fast trip to the canyon’s rim is beyond me. Though I think the crew or at least the copilot that was supposed to be up front with Mr. Collins and not back with the rest, had something to do with that. Then Mr. Collins was credited with shooting down several of the gun airtrucks that ambushed our airtruck convoy with his 50cal quad h atch mount . ”
Shaking her head with a smile as the Marine Captain frowned. “And your hostage rescue last year. The other Gunboat would never have reached that damn asteroid rock if not for Mr. Collins repairing it in time and then he was the one that somehow knew that the Pirates would sneak out the back and where since we had no clue that a back way out of that rock even egsisted existed . Mr. Collins and not only saved the hostages but your butt from an ambush again. ” Looking at Mark walking back and forth across the open truck deck hatch . “ Then there was Saharra Sahara 7 and Randy 55 and that orbital station around Pete’s Planet. All of those could have and almost were disasters but for Mr. Collins managing to be in the right place at the right time sticking his f inger into the crack in the dams long enough to save for you and your marine’s butts . Providing what was needed for you to get out of trouble or accomplish your missions . I won’t go into all the little things he has done ar ound the ship over the years I did not know about until recently as well . while saving a whole bunch of lives. ”
Shaking her head this time. “I am just sorry it took court-martialing him last week to see that all those medals were for him and not a bunch of different guys like I had thought over the years. The fact that all the citations were for lower grade medals that did not require public ceremonies which I should have checked into with several of them but I didn’t after I was told the recipient had disaplin problems. Then when I court-martialed him and found out all the meda ls were his, Which is why I forced him to become an officer instead of kicking his butt off the Queen or in the brig for a year. The thing is he almost took the brig time rather than become an officer as much as he hated ships Officers after being what an officer should be in the game and the Queen for the last 10 years .”
Watching Mark pace back and forth. "In the game he has come to the conclusion even my second in command has not come to yet. That a Captain truly has little control of a ship's destiny with all the headaches having to continually respond and reacting to what is going on around him and the ship and that a wrong decision can cost lives . Mr. Collins and wants no part of it. But he is now starting to realize that it has to be done by someone. What he still does not believe or realize is that he was given a gift with those Glasses wrapped around his head and that he has had little choice in his life the matter since. Nor have I if I want this ship to survive." Captain Cook smiled at the Marine Captain. "Yes ships Command Officers play games. They have been playing that game for training long before I was born."
“Glasses Captain?” The marine Captain asked.
Leaning closer to the marine Captain and whispering. “There is an old Imperial Class 10 AI stuffed in those glasses that magnifies his natural abilities.” Captain Cook held out her hand. "Give me your Tactical Sheet Frank."
The Captain of Marines pulled out a foot long tube from his thigh hip pouch and handed it to Captain Cook. Captain Cook grabbed the tube, pulling a tab with a jerk, unrolling a sheet from it until it stopped fully extended and locked rigid as the sheet turned on. After tapping the edges for a few seconds she handed it back for the Captain of Marines to watch. "That is the record of a conversation Mr. Collins had a half hour ago and what he saw with his glasse ’ s glasses’ . What his AI was able to glean from taping into Captain Summers's (the English Commander's) net. We may be headed for that mess but I don't know. The real objective is to get Captain Summers's approval for acquiring inflatable life boats pods the military has in its scrap yard that we need so we can launch."
"We are going to risk getting our men killed to get a few lifeboats?"
"Yes Captain, which is what you signed on for. The whole ship is depending on you to do what is necessary to earn us the lifeboats we need or the ship does not lift and the whole crew is broken up and sent to the Tramp Camp slums that are little better than prison concentration camps s around this planet. And yes I am sorry I did not believe the few rumors about the Tramp Camps on England Prime before we came here. I still have a hard time believing anyone would care about Tramps living or dying but they do.” Shaking her head. “Anyway the fact is we need those damn liferafts so I am coming along to make sure we don’t get stuck in an assault that will cost us too many casualties if Mr. Collins is wrong about us not having to fight."
The Captain of the ship and the Captain of the Marines stood talking as Mark continued to walk back and forth across the open hatch for several minutes .
A Marine Master Sgt. ran up and saluted. "All present or accounted for sir. Including everyone on the recruit list plus a few extras (52) I have seen playing in the public Marine Assault Simulator Game. Sir."
Finely the Captain of marines walked up to Mark." All present or accounted for Mr. Collins."
"Very well Captain. This is every marine on the ship?"
"Yes Commander. That is except for the marine that decided she had to guard the damn number 3 shuttle lock on her off duty time and refused call up a nd taking personal time to do it ." I wish I could find the fool that ordered a guard on the damn thing. I have already had to brig 2 marines for disobeying orders when they refused to leave the lock until relieved. She is going to join the other 2 marines that are down in the brig now when we get back. "
"That fool is me Captain but not intentionally. Get those marines out of the brig immediately and…" Mark looking around the deck, spotted an old geezer limping out of the elevator with a cane while trying to fasten on his armor without dropping his weapon. Excusing himself, Mark jogged up to the old man and smiled. "It is about time you showed up Pop. I have been holding up the damn parade for an hour."
The old man grumped. "You just point me at those devils and I will take them out like I did in the hold , boy."
"Yes I know you would Pop. But I need you for a special mission. I need you to relieve a marine on guard duty in the number 3 shuttle lock so I can run her butt off for malingering in the lock. You can do what you want after relieving the trooper." Pop looked up at Mark with a twinkle in his eyes as Mark continued. "Can you do that for me Pop ? . "
Pop chuckled and said. "Hell yes you whippersnapper. I can out guard these young pups any day of the week. Just let me get my old bones up there and I will guard that lock for eternity."
"No Pops. I only need you to relieve her him ." Mark chuckled.
"Bullshit I am not about to desert my post." The old man finished fastening his armor then saluted Mark and said. "I will stand with you. I am watch man 132. I will protect our fallen so we never forget." The old man turned smartly and marched with a limp back into the elevator.
Mark's mouth dropped open for a second then jumped after Pop. Stopping the elevator doors from closing. "How the hell… Why? Why are marines allowing themselves to be court-martialed to guard that damn lock?"
Pop smiled back at Mark. "Like your orders said Mark. So no one ever forgets." The old man with surprising strength pushed Mark out of the doors to let them close with a parting shot. “Go give them hell boy. Make me proud.”
Turning around Mark almost bumped into Captain Cook. Stopping and staring at her he said. "I don't understand sir."
"Well I do and you are going to have to start watching your Godstar damn mouth boy
as well as what you show the crew." Turning to the Captain of marines. "Make the damn #3 lock posting official Frank. Looks like we are stuck with it." A few minutes later a marine in dress blues came running out of the elevator dragging a large duffle bag. The weapon over her shoulder shined bright. Seeing the Captain she dragged the duffle over and dropped it in front of him, came to attention, saluted and said. "Sir. Sgt . Rogers Reporting for duty. I will change in the truck sir."
"Very well Sgt. your unit is in the first APCC."
"Thank you sir." Saluting again she started dragging the bag toward the truck stripping off her dress uniform as she went , leaving it lay strewn on the deck behind her. Dragging the duffle bag up the ramp mostly naked.
Two more marines came running out of the elevator trying to dress as they ran. They took a half dozen steps and then noticed the 5 armored trucks lined up in a row and stopped, confused.
"Willings! Shouted the Captain of marines. "You are in the second. Billings you are in the fourth." They both started running for their APCC’s as the Captain turned to Mark. "Well Commander; that is all of them. Shall we go?"
Mark turned to Captain Cook. "By your Command Captain."
Captain Cook looked around and said. "Mount up and let’s fly." It had taken an hour instead of 15 minutes. Mark and the Captain of Marines stepped up onto the first APCC’s ramp and it started forward. Captain Cook waited for the fifth APCCto slide past then stepped up it's ramp as the ship's loud speaker blared "Captain departing." and the 5th APCC left the ship. Quickly taking up formation with the 4 other Armored Personnel Cargo Carriers.
Mark made his way forward pushing through the packed mass of marines. T M ost in t heir battle suits taking up most of the room in the box hold while one practically naked marine was being helped with her armor. With over a hundred marines mostly in big bulky battlesuits and their equipment leaving standing room only packed into the 80 foot long cargo compartment of the APCC , it was crowded as Mark worked his way forward between the packed bodies. Finely stepping through the hatch into the (APCC) 8 foot long weapons compartment. With all the officers, it was crowded but at least he could move without having to step over a mass of equipment everywhere.
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