Court-Martial (Horatio Logan Chronicles Book 2)

by Chris Hechtl

  “I think she is going to change tactics soon to get his attention, sir. That is what she said.”

  “Understood. His problem. What's next?”

  “Well, moving on …”

  Chapter 22

  “So, I heard you've been talking to my engineers,” a familiar female voice said from the open doorway of Zek's office.

  Zek looked up and smiled. “Well, hello there, Jean, nice to see you too,” he said as he stood. He'd seen someone coming to his door through his implants, but he'd been in the middle of writing a paragraph. Now he was glad he had finished his train of thought. “Come in, come in!” he said, coming around his desk to shake hands with her.

  Rear Admiral Jean Callisto was an old friend. They'd gone through several classes together and worked on many projects for various engineering classes. She'd also served with him in the yard a few times, though in different commands of course. They'd shared a bed, briefly. Technically, he outranked her, even though she was in command of one of the branches of the navy.

  She smiled, amused that he was out of uniform. It made it easier on both; they didn't have to salute. “Jogging?” she asked.

  “Oh,” he looked down at his sweats. “PT. I try to get it in when I can. I was going to change when I got a message that I had to answer here at my terminal,” he said, indicating the machine. The truth was he could have answered it using his implants but ONI and cyber security was sniffing around so he wanted to keep their use low key.

  “Ah,” Admiral Callisto said as she took the proffered seat. The yeoman came in, but she made a brushing motion when she was offered refreshments. “I'm not going to be here too long.”

  “I see. So, what can you do me out of this time?” Zek asked as he sat against the edge of the desk and crossed his arms.

  “Nothing but time and your expertise I'm afraid,” Jean said with a playful grin. “Up for more long nights?” she asked wickedly.

  “Oh?”

  “Commander Dreamer of Ships is working on the repair of the starships, but it is slow going. He's taken some of your ideas to heart. I was quite frankly surprised that he gave you credit, but he's a good bug.”

  “He is indeed,” Zek murmured, wondering if that was a good thing or not for him.

  “The brass laid down a recent edict; they want all three ships functioning again and back in space. Which means, we need to get their computers installed and online.”

  Zek nodded. “I gathered it was a hack job. Hopefully, they didn't just yank the wires out. If they were smart, they just unplugged the hardware. If they chopped it up …,” he shook his head.

  “I know,” Jean replied with a grimace. “It's a mix of both. But some of the fittings are different than expected. The engineering staff from Ilmarinen has been scattered to the wind, and BUPERS isn't in a helpful mood with us. “So, I'd like to borrow you …,” she said slowly.

  “I wouldn't mind,” he said slowly. “But I've got a couple classes …,” he frowned.

  “I know and an entire engineering wing to oversee. I can't get you a transfer back to BUSHIPS; I tried.” She shook her head.

  “Thanks for that,” he murmured.

  “What I can do is borrow you on off time. If we can arrange it, maybe work you three days a week? The weekends—I know it's asking a lot of you …”

  “I'll do it,” Zek said with a nod.

  She blinked. “Well! That was easy,” she said rising to her feet.

  “Conditions,” he said. She looked at his expression and sank back into the chair.

  “I knew it was too easy,” she mock grumbled. “Okay, let's hear them.”

  “Obviously, navy transport and housing. Extra pay I can live without on the condition I get a serious transfer option back to BUSHIPS or a command.”

  “I can't make promises there, Melvin; you know that.”

  “I know, but you can put in a good word. I'll need as many of the original team you can scare up. Timeline?”

  “They want Harmony of Space back up and running in three months. Sooner is better.”

  He frowned thoughtfully as he considered the problem. “Give me, oh, some of the design team, whatever you've got for personnel and resources, Commanders Thistle and Walengrad, Lieutenant V'l'r, and three, no, four industrial replicators and all of the electronic replicators and priority access to the electronics supply and I'll have all three ships back up and running for you in six weeks or less.”

  He knew it was a tall order, quite impossible for some, but showing that they could do the impossible would go a long way to get him back into space. It could also show that Bekians could do things like Horatio. Ilmarinen's whirlwind design and construction wasn't too long ago.

  She blinked at him and then whistled softly. “Doubling down? Tall order. You really think you can pull that off?”

  “With those minimum resources I just listed, yes. It will mean a lot of long nights, but I think we can pull it off. Give me access to Admiral Logan, and I can cut that time in half.”

  Jean's face stilled instantly. “Now that, I can't give you,” she said in a different voice. She played her hands on her knees for a moment. “I'll feel the powers that be out; see what they have to say. Six weeks sounds good. You aren't making promises you can't keep, are you?” she asked, staring at him.

  “Me?” He shook his head. “Perish the thought. I know better if I want to get back where I belong. I figure if I can impress the hell out of you and others, and play nice, maybe they'll spring me from the commandant's clutches.”

  “We'll see,” she said, rising to her feet.

  “Hopefully, you can get an answer soon. The kids have spring break coming up. That means I'll have two weeks off. I can do a lot in that time period if you let me.”

  “Okay. For the moment, try to make yourself available remotely to help Dreamer. I know it's not optimal; you need eyes on. But it's the best we can do.”

  “Understood,” Zek replied, trying to temper his eagerness.

  “Don't sound so disappointed. You're still getting a look,” she teased.

  “I know,” he shrugged. “But you know me. I like being hands-on. And a project like this, it doesn't sit well with me to see those ships just sitting there all tore up.”

  “I know. Okay, I'll get back to you.”

  “Understood,” he said as they shook hands. She smiled and then left.

  He frowned thoughtfully and wondered what he was getting into until his yeoman came in. “Sir, your 1030 is creeping up, and you need to change …”

  He looked down at the sweats. “Is that why she had to leave? I stink that bad?”

  “I wasn't going to say anything,” the yeoman replied delicately.

  “Right,” Zek replied, shaking himself as he got back into his usual routine. It was hard, so hard to be that close, but he had to get back to what he was doing he knew. “Okay, shower …”

  @^@

  Admiral Callisto was run in circles for two frustrating days before she finally got an appointment with Admiral Draken to discuss the project. She laid it out to him and then watched for his response.

  He sat there, behind his desk staring at her for a long moment before he grunted. “I don't know, Jean; he's persona non-grata around here. I'm surprised he's stubborn enough to stay in uniform when so many others have left.”

  “I know. It’s Zek, but he's an engineer at heart. He loves the idea of a project and wants to get back in, sir. He's been wasting away teaching. I know he's passing on some valuable lessons, or he was, but …”

  “I don't know.” Admiral Draken frowned thoughtfully for a long moment before he checked the personnel records. “He can have who you've got available. Commander Thistle is needed where he's at now; we can't spare him. Commander Walengrad is in Bek B and is therefore unavailable.”

  “Damn,” Jean replied softly. She'd looked into the two officers after Zek had mentioned them. Both were engineers who had been shunted away from where they should be by Child
ress.

  “Now, this Lieutenant V'l'r …,” he frowned. “I can ask C'v'll. He's doing basic courses, so I suppose he has free time.”

  That was one spot of good news Jean thought cautiously.

  “You can't have any of the replicators either. They are in high security storage, and they are staying there. It's not my call, so don't even bother wasting time arguing with me,” he said as she opened her mouth to object. “It is what it is. Deal with it.”

  She grimaced but then nodded.

  “I do like the idea of getting those ships back in six weeks. We're starting to catch flack from the media about it. If we can show some progress, it will get them off Captain Prescott's back and give us some good press.”

  “He can't do it without the resources he needs, sir. I know Zek. That is the minimum he needs to pull it off.”

  “Tough for him. He's got six weeks starting now to get Ilmarinen and Harmony of Space back into flight. We'll figure the other ship out later.”

  “And his transfer request, sir?”

  “I'll take it under advisement,” the red chimera said dryly in a tone that told her he would do no such thing. She nodded once. It was to be expected, and she knew deep down Zek knew it was a long shot. She had no intention of telling him he wouldn't get it though. She'd have to find a way to let him down easy later. The important thing was to get those ships back into space.

  “Yes, sir. How is this going to work with his current assignment?”

  “I checked the schedule; spring break is coming up. He can do a lot during that time period. He can then leave the day-to-day operations in Commander Dreamer's hands, correct?”

  “Yes, sir. We'll make it work.”

  “Good. I'll inform Admiral N'r'm'll that we'll need crews for those ships by the end of that six-week period, which starts today,” the admiral stated.

  Jean grimaced but knew better than to argue. “Yes, sir.”

  “Get on it, Admiral,” he said as he turned back to his terminal.

  “Aye aye, sir,” she replied as she left the office.

  After she had departed, he looked up and on after her with a pensive frown, but then banished it when his next scheduled appointment came in.

  @^@

  Jean got out of Admiral Draken's office and then pulled her phone out. Once she was clear of the outer administration area, she looked at the phone and pulled up her contact list. She had Zek on speed dial. She called him but got his voice mail. She checked the time by glancing at the clock nearby and then grimaced. Most likely he was eating. “Hi Melvin, this is you know who.” She couldn't help but smile at that joke as she got to the lift and waited for the next car. “The project is on, but I've got changes. I'll pass them on to you as soon as I get the official orders. But do yourself and me a favor and get moving on things now. Talk to you later, bye,” she said as she cut the channel.

  Now she just hoped he could deliver on his promise. She was glad that he hadn't asked her to promise the reward he wanted though.

  @^@

  Zek was cautiously pleased to find out that he had been tapped to work on Ilmarinen's computers, but he was a bit more than a little dismayed to find out that he wasn't getting any of the support he required to do the job. He was expected to get both Harmony of Space and Ilmarinen back flying in his six-week deadline but without a single replicator. It was a near impossible task, but he decided to try anyway. Hell, it wasn't like he had a lot to lose he thought.

  In order to get the project moving faster, he put a call in to Commander Thistle and sent him the spreadsheet he had generated from Ilmarinen's originals. He wasn't certain what was needed, so he threw caution to the wind and ordered everything.

  Weaver was more than willing to help and even offered to put some off-time in. Zek agreed; he'd take any help he could get his hands on.

  After he got the logistics moving, he contacted Lieutenant V'l'r. The Veraxin navigator was a bit put out initially about being volunteered to undertake the repairs, but a quick text message alerted the bug that something more was afoot and to keep the faith. He signed on reluctantly and did his best to clear his schedule.

  Before they boarded the ship, he found out why Dreamer of Ships and the yard dogs were having so much trouble. The chief engineer and engineering senior officers, Commanders Simmons, Mackenzie, and Fitz, had all been reassigned. No wonder it had caused a headache with the ship he thought with a pang.

  He found out that the skeleton crew had managed to cobble together enough computer support to keep the minimal life support functioning. That was a good thing. He also proposed making some changes to isolate the ship's computers from the communications to keep an infection from happening. He pitched the idea to Captain Clayton and Jean's office on the shuttle ride up to the station.

  He didn't get a response from Jean but hadn't expected one. Her office took time to process such things, and besides, it was Friday. Undoubtedly, her people were on their way home for their weekend. It was unfair. He should have time off too, but no one said anything about life in the navy as being fair or equal. So be it.

  Captain Clayton's response caught up with him when they changed shuttles. His email indicated he happily agreed with the concept right off. It meant some minor design changes, but Zek got them done on the cutter on their way over to the ship. He submitted the proposed design changes to the captain and copied it to Dreamer of Ships and Jean's office for review. He was fairly confident it would be accepted readily. Basically, all he had done was extend the communications computers air gapping to put them completely in their own hardware with no data links to the rest of the ship's computer networks. In order to move a file from the comm net's buffers, the crew would physically have to plug a data line in or copy the file to a chip and transfer it that way.

  Which of course subverted the air gapping, but that wasn't his problem. Besides, some data, like telemetry data, had to be moved. The crew would scan everything anyway.

  When the cutter docked to the darkened ship, they boarded the ship. As senior officer of the party, Zek led them off the ship. He paused in the boat bay to salute the colors and then exchange salutes with the officer of the deck. A quick security check was completed, and he stepped aside to allow the next in line to go through the same process.

  He smiled when he recognized Captain Clayton in the corridor. The captain came in as the rest of the crew was processed, and they shook hands. “I hope you brought more, ah,” the captain said, stopping himself as he saw what the team had with them. Despite it being Friday, Weaver had done the impossible and gotten them the first load of computer parts. Captain Clayton looked at the boxes wrapped in plastic like a Dutchman seeing a tether coming his way.

  “That bad?” Admiral Zekowitz said, noting the emergency lighting the crew had rigged up. He winced at the sight of some of the rushed patch jobs. That they had any light and power was a minor miracle all in itself.

  “Worse,” the captain replied. “This way, Admiral,” he said, waving a hand to indicate the direction. “Mind your feet. Where we are going, it is pretty dark. It will also be cold and rather stuffy.”

  “Computers like cold, but we need to get the air flowing,” Zek said as they made their way through the ship. “We're only supposed to do a survey tonight and get a plan going. Dreamer uploaded his, but there were some big gaping holes in it,” he said.

  “I can imagine. We know where some things go of course, but they took everything out, including nodes built into the hull and structure—sensors, the works,” the captain grumbled.

  Zek nodded.

  “Well!” he said when they got a look at the nearest computer room. It was a darkened cavern of hanging wires. “It looks like we've got our work cut out for us!” he said, looking around the darkened room. A tech shook her head as she noted some of the wiring had been pulled but some had been cut.

  Zek pursed his lips in annoyance. Some of the wiring still had labels thankfully. But those that didn't would have t
o be traced. That was a time-consuming project.

  “First, we'll plug in what we can where we can. This ship was designed to use as much plug and play as possible. I ordered everything on the original build sheets. I am not sure what changes we'll need to make to them.”

  “Some. There were some changes on the fly. We had them in our computers but …,” the captain shook his head.

  “Well, that's okay. We'll deal with it,” Zek replied. “I've got the blueprints. I understand life support is partially functional, which is good. I'd like to focus on the power rooms next if you don't mind, Captain. Lieutenant V'l'r is here to work on your sensors and navigation.”

  “I wasn't certain if I recognized him,” the captain said cautiously to the bug. “Lieutenant,” he said, bobbing a nod to the bug.

  “Sir,” the bug replied. He was ladened down with gear. “I'll just head to the bridge and get to work there,” the bug said.

  “Go to it.”

  “You are going to help with the work, sir?” Captain Clayton asked.

  “I'm an engineer, Captain,” Zek said as he made note of the room and then moved on. “We have a thing about getting our hands dirty. It's a calling.”

  “I see,” the captain replied dubiously. “Well, I'll leave you to it then. I've got some paperwork to process. Funny, they can't fix my computers, but they can hand me a tablet and chips,” he grumbled.

  “Yeah, the fleet is powered by bureaucracy more than slush hydrogen and helium,” Zek replied with a grin. “I'll catch up with you in a bit. I'm going to do my initial survey now,” he said.

  “Be careful, sir,” the captain replied. “Decks that are off limits are marked with reflective tape. Don't try to open a hatch if it is sealed.”

  “Understood,” Zek replied. “I have no interest in breathing vacuum, now or ever,” he said firmly.

  “Good to know, sir,” the captain replied as he departed.

  Zek turned back to the room and poked his head in. “Now that he's gone,” he drawled. The techs looked up in amusement. “You lot got this?”