Trampship Wars 2

by L. D. Roberts

  With the screwed plug seating down tight, the bot came back to life . The head turned t o look at Sgt. Pearce and said. “Module sealed and pressurized. Are you my controller? ”

  The Sargent looked at the bot perplexed as he took a step back. “Aaa. I don’t think…”

  “Sgt . Pearce.” Mark interrupted the marine. “ You are now the bots controller . Say yes. ”

  The Sargent looked at Mark and then back at the bot and swallowed. “Aaa. Yes .” Still looking baffled.

  “Sgt. Pearce. I have programmed the bot to answer only to your commands . It is the only way I can keep the AI we are going to visit from taking over the Company’s bots like he has already done to the English bots . T he English troops lost theirs when they tried to turn off the A I in the basement of the tower we will be headed for shortly. From now on this bot is going to be your shadow. Your buddy so to s peak. He will do everything you do or you tell him to do while he helps protects you from har m if that is possible. Just treat him like one of your squad member s. Like your own private second man of your private section. The rest of the Company will be getting their own bots shortly.

  The Sargent’s mouth dropped open. “My personal bot?”

  Mark smiled at the Sarge nt . “This may not work but give it a chance Sgt. Pearce. Bots are cheap and expendable as long as we can recover the bots brain module and put it in a new bot. You are not. You can even see what the bot sees when you send him into a building or compartment ahead of you using your helmets head up d isplay and he will follow your orders though you cannot control him directly. He has been programmed with all marine operation manual s including the ship’s marine’s company practices , procedures and your bios and preferences. Though it will take time for you to figure the best wa y to use it. Just give it a chance and see how it does training around here and we will see about taking it into combat in a few hours.”

  Mickey interrupted speaking into his ears. "Mark, Captain Summers is over in the truck shipping bay looking for you now. And yes she may very well be upset with you."

  Shaking his head Mark turned to the Sargent Major. “Sargent Major, You have 15 minutes to g et the bots unpacked paired with the troops and these brains into them and et these distributed to all your bots and back out training. Every marine gets a bot. No exceptions. ” The Sgt. Major started fuming. “ Including you. We have an English Captain headed this way and I don’t want her seeing what we are putting in the bots. As far as she is concerned all we have are the average stupid remote controlled bots. ” The Sargent Major stared at Mark as his lip curled to say something but Mark cut him off. “Just through them in and don’t worry about being nice and testing the damn receptacles . That includes the damn tanks. Don’t bother testing the receptacles we are in a hurry here. Just get the damn brains switch.” Mark climbed onto the platform he had arrived on and as the Sargent Major started to open his mouth again. “Just get it done Sgt. Major. If the bo ts don’t work out we will include them in what we give back to the English when this is all over to mak e what we need easier to keep. ”

  Mark turned the platform around and quickly slipped out of the transport boat shipping bay and across the warehouse into the truck shipping bay .

  ------------------------

  Mark and spotted the Captain walking away from the back loading hatch of the APCC Mark and the marines had arrived in. Looking beyond the Captain down the cargo handling bay he was happy to see that the other APCC’s were gone already. Stopping the platform, Mark watched the Captain for a few minutes as the Captain walked around checking the cargo going into the APCC with the APCC’s crewman standing to one side. With nothing better to do for the moment while in no hurry to confront the Captain. Mark started g oing over his p lans to infiltrate the basement of the tower to get to the AI. His mind coming up with all kinds of things that could go wrong as memories of almost getting killed down in the damn Priestess Cavern a couple da ys before intrude d more and more into his thoughts.

  When the Captain started to ask questions of the crewman and getting upset at their answer. Mark finally dropped down landing next to Captain Summers. "Oh nice to see you are here Captain. How can I help you?"

  "I have checked out a shuttle large enough to hold your oversized Platoon of marines Commander. When will you be ready to leave?"

  Mark le a d her away from the APCC. "Soon Captain. I am hoping in a couple of hours as soon as the marines have had time to do a little training with the new equipment and weapons. ” Smiling at the Captain. “Oh and but we will be taking our own shuttles."

  "Your own shuttles?” The Captain cought caught up with Mark. “Those pieces of junk? I have seen your shuttles. I think you should let an English shuttle transport your men. At least then I know you will get there." At Mark's smile, she just shook her head. "I have had to pull our troops back another mile and out of range of most of the short range snipping. But the damn heavy weapons the AI captured is still ta king a toll and we don’t dare pull any farther back. "

  "Well then I had better get busy Captain so we can get in the air as soon as possible." Mark took her hand shaking it as he patted her solder smiling. As he had seen his father do a hundred times when he was done negotiating with a client. "I will see you there in a couple of hours Captain."

  "See me there. I think I need to take a look at your troops new armored suits. Just to make sure you have the right ones and know how to use them. I may even have some advice, some pointers on your choices of equipment Commander."

  Mark had spent an hour the day before listening to her comments about his choices for the list she then threw into the trash. The last thing he needed was the troops having to listen to that crap even if most of what she said was spot on and of great help. That is what she didn’t veto outright w hat they were getting . No . He didn’t need to waste time arguing with the bitch. Besides t T he last thing he needed was for her to see him putting expensive AI’s in the equipment. Mark knew in spite of his orders. It would probably take a good half hour, if not an hour, to get all the AI’s installed. No, the last thing he wanted was for the Captain to stick her butt into the Queen’s business right then. "No!" Mark's voice broke on the last syllable getting a little high pitched as his heart tried to climb out of his mouth. Then getting control of himself. "That is all right Captain, we can manage on our own. You look like you need a rest."

  The Captain’s eyes narrowed as Mark finished his sentence. "No. I do not need to rest. I need to see your troops Commander."

  "Aah. Sure Captain." Mark looked around trying to think. Kicking himself for not figuring out the obvious. That the Captain would want to see the troops and having an alibi ready ahead of time. But then he had ordered the Sargent Major to get the AI’s installed faster than it was humanly possible to do so. Kicking himself now for not coming up with a plan to stall the Captain while he was sitting watching her from a distance. Seeing the conveyor system delivering the pods to the lone remaining APCC, Mark smiled with relief. "Captain I really need to check out these liferaft pods we are loading first and then I will take you over to see the ships marines. If that meets with your approval sir." Mark started walking back toward the loading dock and the airtruck. Not giving the Captain time to answer he continued. "I understand we need these to pass inspection for heading into the outback sir. Are there any other requirements we do not know about Captain?"

  "Well Commander. You are already upgrading your drive engines and modernizing most of your crew support equipment. I think these lifeboats are the main item left. Though only having 2 five inch 38cal turrets even if they are heavily armored cruiser turrets, is well below the acceptable line. Though the Fighter Squadron may be taken into account raising you above the line but no Tramp has ever had such a squadron before and the one that had a half dozen well armed shuttles was not approved until they had the required ship ’s firepower. So I wouldn’t hold your breath Commander."

  Smiling at Mark as she walked beside him. "Oh and just one more it
em that the board may not care about maybe . You will be landing on some very run down star ports or even none pit ports on planets that have gone through protracted wars since losing their reliable trade status. Your ship could use some outriggers with enlarged landing pads all the way around. You may not have 30 foot thick carbon reinforced concrete in pits to land on most of all the time. You definitely need them especially now that you have increased your gross weight. But it is too late for that now if you plan on launching in a few days. ”

  The Captain smiled at Mark. “ Too bad you don’t want to take a squadron of the transport boats that can land planet side without having to worry about the space port s still being intact. Loosing Losing one of the Transport boats is a lot cheaper than losing your ship." Chuckling to herself she added as she shook her head . “Like we would really allow you yokels to actually take 4 of the 3,000 ton transports.”

  She held up her com unit and tapped it stopping the conveyor bot from putting the next pod into the back of the Armored Airtruck. "Besides I hear your ship is flat broke. I even hear that y ou are having problems upgrading your engines to your new de sign. " She checked the label on the outside of the pod and frowned . "Seems you are getting our newest pods Commander instead of used ones off our mothballed or scrapped ships." Frowning. "These are inflata ble life boats and not rafts. These are powered and long range, (instead of just being basic rafts with thrusters) and carry better and more survival supplies than the rafts." Looking back up at Mark with a sad smile. "The problem is that these only carry half the people the rafts do, requiring twice as many pods Commander. I doubt you have enough room on this truck for more than a fraction of what you need. But don't worry. As according to our contract , as soon as you finish helping us with our little AI problem , I will make sure you get enough of the old life rafts from our third moon. Though where you plan on putting them maybe another issue." She chuckled. "Stacked in the corner of a hold is not going to cut it."

  Turning around she headed for the platform Mark had arrived on. "Now that you have wasted enough time inspecting what you should not even be getting until after you finish helping us. Let's go Commander. I want to see your troops. Now!" She made it sound like an order that could not be refused. "And if I don't like what I see . Y y ou are not even going to get a chance at that AI and the deal will be off."

  Mark turned away from the pod. A little ashamed that he had not noticed the difference between boats and rafts let alone that their seating capacity between lifeboat pods and life raft pods, thinking that if it was a pod it was a life raft pod. And now worried that they would not even get a chance to finish the job while hopping a little that she would refuse to let him try to commit suicide. The thought of going down into another hole to confront an AI was sounding worse the more he thought about it. As he stepped on the platform it raised into the air and started toward the middle of the warehouse.

  Then i n his ear, Mark heard Mickey. “ Do not worry Mark. The other APCC ’s all have liferafts on them. The warehouse ran out of the liferafts we are interested in so I st arted grabbing lifeboats for this APCC.”

  Mark took a breath of relief though the thought of what Captain Summers would do once they reached the rest of the troops had his stomach knotted up.

  It only took them a few minutes to get to the armored suit section of the warehouse with the Captain finding hundreds of the old suits lined up along the side of the wall. “My god, there must be a couple hundred of the pieces of junk.” Looking around and finding no one running around in armored suits. “Ok, Mr. Collins, where are your marines?”

  Mark thought of leading her on a wild goose chase around the warehouse but decided that the last thing he needed was for her to find Captain Cook and a hundred crewmen preparing the damn shuttles.

  Taking a deep breath as he frowned at the Captain. “They are in the boat dock shipping area on the other side of the warehouse running drills learning to use the new armor.”

  “You wouldn’t be trying to lead me by my nose around this warehouse to buy you time to steal more weapons would you Commander?” Staring at Mark for a good minute as he stared back at her. “Very well Commander. They had better be there. Though I should probably make a run around the warehouse just to see what you are trying to steal for your ship like that 8 inch turret you had on the list and I wouldn’t be surprised if you tried taking four of the damn hundred ton shuttles to replace the junk you now have.”

  Mark smiled at the Captain with some relief as he knew she couldn’t see the 250 ton shuttles he was taking from the line of 100 ton shuttles as well as being glad the Captain had vetoed taking the 8 inch turrets or he probably would have had a crew working on taking two of them at that moment. His smile turned into a chuckle. “No Captain I am not trying to steal your 8 inch turrets or the 100 ton shuttles though it was tempting. But the contract says we can only take what is needed for taking the AI down without damaging the building and that is all we are taking. Though I have to admit it is more than you probably think we need . B b ut you can will see that for yourself when you decide to go to the transport boat loading docks. Though if you want, we can go over and look at some turrets since you say we need better guns on the Queen. After all you said you would provide us with what we needed to get off your beautiful little planet.”

  “Well, you haven’t taken care of both Ai’s yet and the commission has not made any rulings about your ship even needing any additional weapons. Even Until then you aren’t getting anything besides the lifera fts on the contract if I have anything to say about it what your marines need .” The Captain turned toward the loading docks and smiled at Mark. “And if I have my way. It could take months before you get the official ruling on why you can’t launch even if they only have hours to give you a yes or no for launching. Then it will take months for them to decide just what additional weapons you do need if that is what the problem is and not the fact that your ship is falling apart around your crew. The fact that you have few automated systems could be just as much a handicap as lack of weapons.” The Captain sneered at Mark for a second then turned away and ignored him. “I think I will take a look at the turret section just to make sure they are all there. You are too eager to get to the cargo docks. ”

  As they got closer Mark grabbed onto the rail as he looked down onto the slowly passing containers below them. The Captain taking her time looking for any signs of anyone from the Star Queen being out running around the Warehouse taking anything they shouldn’t. Concentrating with long looks at things Mark had placed on his lists. Counting containers and checking lists on her screen.

  Mark’s jaw tightening up as the fact hit him that the Queen may never launch again if they were not back in orbit within the week. Then his mother’s soothing voice came to his ears saying, “Tak ing e it one step at a time makes and any problem is small no matter how big it looks never too big . Solve and take care of the problems you can and the impossible will solve itself.”

  Taking a deep breath, Mark turned to face the Captain suddenly picturing her hitting the roof when she saw that he had 4 times as many troops and that he had taken a thousand bots to have replacements for the ones knocked out as well as the AI's he had stuffed into the tanks and bots if they were still installing them when they got there . Mark was suddenly glad the Captain was insisting on checking some of the things on his list. Every second delay could help.

  But still Yes , shit was going to hit the fan bigtime in just a few minutes and there did not seem to be anything he could do about it.

  The Captain counted 8 inch turrets and found that none were missing while Mark went out of his way not to look at the missing 8 inch SP trucks several hundred yards away. His heart feeling like it was going to jump out of his chest as they flew over the empty slots without the Captain noticing. With Mickey showing Mark other missing containers and equipment as they slid down the warehouse Mark soon had a headache from the tension.

  Closing his eyes so he could not see all the missi
ng equipment. Mark he finely resigned himself to the pending storm and bad news and simply waited trying to calm his heart and breathing . Feeling the platform suddenly turn around Mark heard the Cap tain explain with some disappointment. “Well, all the damn hundred ton shuttles are still here.” Mark finally relaxed.

  Opening his eyes them again just as the platform skimmed over the top of the last row of containers to enter the Transport boat shipping area , Mark was resigned to the Captain finally finding out about all his secrets including putting the AI’s into the bots , since they had to still be installing them. Even though it had now been almost an hour since he had meet the Captain. to enter the Transport boat shipping area after the Captain had flown close enough to count the hundred ton shuttle boats still far from the 250- ton shuttle boats Mark was taking before turning around and finally going to the docks Mark got a surprise .

  Stretching out before them across the thousand yards long and five hundred yard width of the shipping warehouse, where small integrated squads of some 9 marines split into 3, 3 man fire team sections with an accompanying trooper bot alongside each marine. A tank with flanking trooper bots making each team look li ke a small squad . A pair of gorilla's carrying huge weapons with their own trooper bot s mounting heavy weapons and several smaller hard to see trooper bots flitting around a few meters ahead of the group, scouting. The squads more the size of a heavy reinforced platoon now running a huge obstacle course with approximately 100 50 yards between each squad/platoon. The make shift obstacle course was made up of cargo containers, trash containers, carts, various pieces of equipment and trash piles marked with painted lines on the deck.

  With the bots and the light tank of each squad/platoon floating above the deck. It was not a physical fitness course but a course thrown up to teach each squad and it's new bots to work together as well as giving the marines practice using their new suits which turned out not to be all that different than their old suits though faster and more maneuverable with better sensors and com units and hopefully protection. Jack’s worry that the reserves let alone the new recruits were going to be far below the regular marines abilities turned out to be groundless as he watched the marines going through the obstacle coarse course . “Mickey.” Mark whispered to himself. “What is with the recruits? I figured the reserves would be at least adequate but the damn recruits seem to be doing just fine as well. They are keeping up with the others.”