by Chris Hechtl
^
Rear Admiral Sharp Reflexes was gratified that things were going so well. Almost too well, he thought. He'd managed to get the media to keep the changes they were making out of broadcasts. They had even tamped down on broadcasts to Bek A.
The commander had yet to hit her stride in the yard, but there was a glimmer of hope in Commodore Brunswick's reports. Hopefully, they'd see some changes soon. He was curious to see what sort of changes she could do for the carriers and fighters. Oh, to be a young bug again! He waggled his antenna and then turned away from the amusing distraction.
He wasn't certain how long he could play the game against Childress without the other man being the wiser. They were keeping the transmissions brief to Bek A, the situation reports and normal data basic. All of the message traffic had to be filtered carefully however. That alone might tell someone something was up.
If he could keep the ruse up for at least three months and get their hands on a replicator, he was certain they'd be able to hold their own against anything Childress tried. He had to consider if they should stand on the defense though. It was tempting, oh so tempting, to plan a raid. To go in, grab the logistics they needed, capture a starship, then haul ass out.
Or a decapitating strike. Could he do that? Oh, not a direct assault on Command One, he knew that wouldn't work, but if he transferred volunteer personnel back to Bek A, would they be able to infiltrate the facility to take Childress and Draken out? He considered the odds carefully. He put the odds very low, less than 10 percent given that no one in Bek A had managed to take either officer out of play yet.
No, it wasn't worth wasting the personnel for no reward. It would just alert Childress to his intentions early, something he didn't want.
No, he had to play for time. That was his best option out of a slate of bad options.
Chapter 21
Bek A
Captain Clayton was furious about the sudden reassignment of his senior engineering staff. He was even more furious over losing his top engineers during a refit. The refit schedule of his ship's computers fell apart within minutes of their departure. He fell into instant despair over getting the ship fixed. He had also noted that there was no reassignment to another ship for him or others, despite the need for people on some ships. His loyalty to Childress had left him high and dry. It left him bitter over the experience, his patience and loyalty sorely tried.
After a night of thinking, he decided to hang in there for a little while longer. Sometimes things turned out all right in the end; you just needed to have a little faith.
@
Admiral Draken began to worry about what was going on in Bek B and what he could do about it. There was also concern about what was going on outside of the Republic. He was keenly aware that they were completely on the defensive. That was not something he liked to be on. After a restless night of thinking, the following morning he called in a couple of people on his staff and asked pointed questions about ship engineering. He wanted to know if they could turn one of their sublight warships into a starship.
His staff kicked the idea around but had no experience in such things. When they couldn't get an answer with BUSHIPS, Admiral Callisto said she couldn't commit either way; they went back to the admiral with empty hands.
The chimera was not happy with that so he called Admiral Callisto directly. “What you are asking may be impossible, Admiral. We're talking about apples and oranges here.”
“Why? Space is space, right?”
“Space is, but hyperspace is different. Different stresses as I understand it, different frame design needed then. Different uses for hardware. It's not a simple thing. Look, I can go the official route and go through the files we've got, plus the material we got from Caroline and try to find some common ground.”
“How long will that take?”
“Six, maybe seven months if we're lucky. More likely a year or more.”
He growled.
“We'd need a budget too. Admiral look, there is a reason we were ordered to make parts and mothball half of our existing fleet while updating the rest! It is cheaper to build a starship then retrofit; I know that much.”
“Okay. I'll take that under advisement,” he said.
“Thank you, sir. Is there anything else?”
“No,” he replied. When he disconnected the call, he considered what she said and then put a call in to a friend who owed him a favor. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jean; it was just that he wanted independent confirmation.
@
Zek was surprised when a familiar name appeared on his morning schedule. Shanti's name hadn't been there the night before he knew. His yeoman must have slipped her in at the last moment. He didn't mind; Shanti Miller was one of his students from over a decade prior.
He noted that she had just made full commander, which was unseemly but unsurprising. She and her father were both supporters of Admiral Draken. She had rocketed up through the ranks in a very short time though. Zek stamped on any resentment he had; he needed to stay on the good side of the woman if she was reporting back to the brass. Besides, it really wasn't her fault things were as they were; she was just going with the flow.
Still, it bothered him a bit that she had never had a ship or facility command and yet she had just been promoted. Only a week ago, she'd been a lieutenant commander running a repair slip, one of the lowest rated ones in BUSHIPS too. Her father had just made rear admiral too, which might explain the sudden promotion.
“It's good to see you, Shanti,” he said when she smiled at him. “I'm a bit surprised. I'd offer to take you to lunch to celebrate your recent promotion, but I'm afraid I've got a full docket today.”
“That's okay, Professor; I'm good. I had a big breakfast,” she said.
“So, what gives?” he asked, indicating they take a seat.
Once she was seated, she smiled at him again and crossed her legs.
“See, I brought you in since you're the best at this stuff, Professor. I mean, you went to Pyrax and studied starship tech. I tried to get a correspondence course to play catch up but they aren't offering any in the war college,” Shanti said, voice rich with annoyance.
“I'll mention that,” he drawled.
“Please do,” she said in earnest. He snorted slightly as she turned back to the project at hand. “Admiral Draken wants me to figure out how to turn one of our sublight warships into a starship. Apparently, he took it to BUSHIPS, but they said it would take a year to do a design study.” She rolled her eyes. “You and I both know that didn't go over well.”
“Not at all I'm sure,” Zek replied dryly as he considered the problem and how best to answer her. Obviously, they were being recorded. In fact, he knew they were; his implants had identified the recording devices and their locations. They reminded him of their presence every time he entered a room.
He frowned and played with his stylus as he pretended to consider the problem, even going so far as to bring up some blueprints on his terminal screen. But when she started to squirm, he relented.
“I'm afraid they are asking the impossible of you,” he said as he studied the blueprints. He turned the LCD screen slightly so she could see it too.
“Are you sure? I mean, you just started and all …”
“I actually considered the problem beforehand. And I know we brought it up in Pyrax. I tried to do a design study with their computers there, but I ran out of time,” he said with a shake of his head. “Basically, you are talking about completely refitting a warship into a starship.”
“Right.”
“Which means the hull isn't designed for the stresses involved. Plus, we'd have to rip out a lot of gear and somehow redesign it, get it back in, plus the gear for the hyperdrive and sensors.”
She frowned as she considered the problem. “Um …”
“We're talking more than just a hyperdrive. You don't just plug one in, Shanti,” he said patiently. She grimaced. “We're talking about hyperdrive sensors, a complete o
verhaul of the gravity emitters on the hull. Since they are built for sublight work and for shielding, not working with the hyperdrive and the hyperspace collectors, then the ship would need a lot more computer power, plus control runs, new power for the computers, cooling … that would mean duct work, plus you'd need astrogation, sensor system upgrades …”
“Okay, okay,” she said, hands up in surrender. “Write it up, will you? I've got to explain this to the brass. But try to …,” she indicated the blueprint. “Shoehorn something in will you, sir?” she asked.
“You know the drill, Shanti. For everything we put in to a buttoned-up hull, something else has to come out. Compromise. In a warship, that's a bad thing. You could turn a dreadnought into a glorified destroyer by the time all's said and done.” He resented being shunted the project but wasn't surprised. He'd heard she had pulled similar stunts as his student.
“Oh.”
“And besides, for the amount of money this refit would cost, not to mention time and effort, it would be far simpler just to build from scratch. But we can't do that anyway since we do not have any hyperdrives. The only ones we have are the ones in the three starships we already have. We can't make more; we don't have the infrastructure, not to mention the keys.”
She frowned once more. “Oh.”
“There is that oh again,” he teased.
She blinked and then blushed and looked away. He snorted. She wasn't a middie or lieutenant anymore, but she still had a bit to learn it seemed. She hadn't had enough seasoning for her rank; that much was obvious to him.
Zek was glad he had scuttled that plan into oblivion. It was indeed easier to build new around the hyperdrives they had over trying to mount the hyperdrive and systems in an existing hull. He didn't say so out loud however. “So, we can R&D hyperdrives since we know how they work and have the blueprints. But where to find the budget in this climate …,” he shrugged.
The commander grimaced and then nodded.
“We may need your help repairing Ilmarinen's computers …,” she said slowly.
“Oh?”
“We're still assessing things and trying to get parts,” Shanti said as she rolled her eyes. “Obviously, the repair ship isn't a priority with everything going on.”
Zek nodded. “What happened?” he asked, cocking his head.
“Well, it's a case of being cautious. Possibly too cautious, but when it comes to A.I., I guess you can never be too sure, right?”
“Okay, what did they do? And who is they?” he asked carefully.
“Well,” the commander drawled. She looked around as if she was ready to give some juicy scuttlebutt. “I don't think it's a secret, but the powers that be heard about that Xeno virus. I'm talking about cyber security and ONI. They decided to rip the ship's computers out. I don't know what happened to them after that. A shredder?” she shook her head.
“That bad?”
“Yes. They ripped everything out. Every computer. Anything that could rub two bytes together got pulled. They say it all got destroyed too,” she said with a grimace and roll of her eyes. He echoed her grimace. “Then the brass decided they want the ships back in service.” Again, the head shake and rolling eyes. “Admiral Callisto tapped Commander Dreamer of Ships to oversee the project.” She spread her hands apart. “I'm not involved directly since I don't have experience with starships, but I'm keeping my eye on things to learn. Is it really all that different?”
“Yeah. Have you had a tour?”
“No …” she said slowly. “I've been staring at spreadsheets until my eyes bleed and not getting anywhere. Everything keeps changing!” she complained, waving an angry hand.
“That's the nature of the beast I'm afraid,” he said in feigned sympathy. “What I suggest you do is try to get some time to tour one or more of the ships to get a real feel for the systems involved. Just don't jog any elbows,” he warned.
“Sure thing, Professor,” she said with a smile. “I wish you could be up there too,” she said as she got up to leave.
“You and me both,” he muttered as he escorted her out.
@
Rear Admiral Jean Callisto heard that Sherman had gone behind her back to Commander Miller. She wasn't surprised; she was just surprised that she was the best engineer he had on hand.
What had surprised her was that she'd gone to Zek. Zek was an old friend, and when she saw his name attached to the report, she'd nodded in understanding. Melvin was as apolitical as they come, so it was a pity that he'd run afoul of the brass and was a pariah in the navy. She'd half expected him to resign, but he always was a stubborn bastard. It was clear from just a cursory look that the Commander had tried to strip his name out of the report but she'd been sloppy. All you had to do was know where to look to find the original author. Zek had slipped it into a few places and had even watermarked the visual displays. Why he had done it was another question since he clearly outranked her. Had she made a promise to him? Or was his helping her a way to show he was being a good boy? She snorted at that thought and made a note to look him up. “I'd forgotten he is languishing in durance vile. I definitely need to look up.”
“Ma'am?” her chief of staff asked.
“Admiral Zekowitz.” the Veraxin signaled second-degree confusion. “An old friend and someone with a lot of engineering experience. What do you have for me?”
“The latest schedule changes for the starships. I'm afraid Dreamer of Ships has pushed back the repair time.”
“How much this time?” she asked, taking the chip from him.
“Twelve weeks due to lack of parts and coding support.” Jean winced.
“Well! I'll definitely have to look Zek up then. He had a hand in Ilmarinen's design if I remember correctly.”
“That might be of eminent use, ma'am.”
“Okay. What else?”
“Well …”
@
Zek spent a day considering what to do before he decided to act. “What the hell, the most they could do is court-martial me, right?” he murmured under his breath, then winced when he realized he'd said something out loud. He fought the temptation to look around him to see if anyone was watching. A check with his implants told him that the nearest ONI audio pickup was four meters away.
He had a basic plan, a simple one that was essentially the same as Horatio's had been. They needed to get word to Admiral Irons somehow. How was the problem; the starships were laid up.
He'd love to be the one to convey it, but he knew that was out of the question. That remained how and who to trust with such a message. Also, how to get the ships functioning as starships again and the brass to sign off on the mission.
A tall order indeed he thought.
He started by answering emails he'd tried to avoid. Several were from friends or family members of personnel who had gone to B-102c. He came up with a form letter; a basic email saying sorry, he didn't know anything and the only way to get information or get them home was to get the ships back into space.
He then checked into the forums and made some anonymous comments there. He knew that ONI would track him, but he considered the relatively innocuous comments a minor risk. If he got reamed for it, fine.
Sometimes he just added a comment to bump a forum thread up to get people talking about it again. He always gave just a teasing bit of information, enough to let people know he was in the know, but never enough to give them more. He finished up and then went to class.
In the evening, he checked on the progress. His threads and comments had started a whisper campaign as he'd hoped. People began to wonder about what was going on in B-102c. The gauntlet was thrown down when skepticism was broadcast that Childress would never allow a mission. That got tied into the thought that Childress was trying to reforge the Republic into a dictatorship and was going to fight the Federation.
The families of those involved also got in, raising awareness of the threads as they were picked up by social media. When he was pressed for more det
ails, he told people to direct their questions to Captain Prescott's office.
He was unsure if it would work, but he had to try something. Something had to break soon.
@
The ONI tech assigned to keep an eye on the academy noted the traffic with Admiral Zekowitz. He had intended to report it to his chain of command but the admiral came by for a briefing.
Admiral Ss'k'ttthhh listened to the report and conclusion that Zek was up to something. The tip of his tail twitched as he considered the whisper campaign. It was totally unlike Zek.
“What should we do with him, sir, pick him up for an interview?” the tech asked hopefully.
“No,” Admiral Ss'k'ttthhh said slowly. “Leave him be.”
“Sir?” the tech asked, surprised by the order.
“He's not doing anything illegal. He's trying to get us to go back to B-102c. He's right; we did leave people behind. I know there are some who do not like that situation. Getting back there will shut up the people who claim we left them to die. No,” he said with a shake of his head. “We let this one play out as is.”
“Yes, sir,” the tech said dubiously.
“I want Zek's recordings locked down. I don't want this getting to Hill or Onslo or any of the other people around them,” the admiral said.
The tech turned to him in surprise.
“I mean it. Hill will act. She'll go after Zek, and we need him, like it or not. He's not doing anything wrong, so leave him be.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now, what else do you have for me?”
“Well, we're still processing the files from Admiral Childress's home and office. But we do have some of the dump from Childress Industries …”
“Is it as bad as I thought?”
“Most of it is routine. We filtered that out of course. There are some snippets, but most of it was reports to Mrs. Childress about people trying to get into contact with Admiral Childress and failing.”
“Ah. Okay.” The admiral flicked his tail in dismissal.