by Chris Hechtl
“Not a problem. I'm sorry to see you had to come out there to save my wrinkled ass,” Horatio said gruffly.
“Well, if you could keep it out of trouble, it'd be nice,” John replied with a brief smile.
“I tried,” Horatio replied dryly, rubbing a cheek and fading bruise.
“I know, Horatio.” Admiral Irons shook his head ruefully. He'd already seen the report and the reports of the assassination attempts and beatings were grim reading. His friend had been through hell. He could just imagine what the other man's implants had put him through.
“I'm sorry I put you into this sort of situation without backup.” He looked away in pain. Horatio was one of his good friends, not just a colleague and subordinate.
“John,” Horatio squeezed his shoulder. The admiral turned back to him. “I'm okay. I knew it could get rough. I didn't expect everyone to fall in behind Childress; that was a mess I was blind to. But I knew that you were in my corner, just pretty damn far back. I didn't expect you to come out here. You took a hell of a risk. Thanks.”
The admiral smiled crockedly. “Thanks for understanding. Now that we're done with the bonding,” he paused as Horatio snorted, “I think we've got some housecleaning to do.”
“Oh, I'm all for that.”
“I thought you'd love that idea. I need a list, one from you, Zek, and the others. Officers we can trust. We can look into those who resigned too.”
“Good,” Horatio replied with a nod. “Zek knows the players here better than I do, but I know a few. I know a couple stayed in to keep the wheels from completely falling off. Their motives might not be as pure as we'd like, but for the moment, we can work with that.”
“Agreed. Someone has to carry the ball until we've got enough warm bodies to fix this mess. And I'm leaving at least one or more A.I. behind to watch your back …”
“We'll need to deal with Childress's supporters soon, sir.” The admiral nodded. “And I'm of two minds of sending you people to help out with the Horathian war and stuff; right now, trustworthy officers are in short supply as you know. Bek B though …”
“Right. We'll get there.”
“For the moment, I think you need to start with Fourth Fleet and Third Fleet. Both have the largest contingent of personnel loyal to you and the Federation, sir—that and the personnel who resigned.”
“I'm not sure about the resignations. I don't like how they abandoned the people under their command, though I can understand the frustration they must have been feeling. I think we'll start with Third and Fourth Fleet, well, Fourth Fleet. I'll send a ship to Bek B to get them on board.”
“Yes, sir.”
“It was pretty close to a full-on civil war here it seems,” Admiral Irons said with a shake of his head.
“Pretty much. I'm glad not many were killed.”
“One is one too many,” Admiral Irons said darkly. Horatio looked at him and then looked away in pain. After a moment, he nodded once in agreement.
@
Once he was on Command One, Admiral Irons dispatched Stormkeeper to Bek B with orders to retrieve Admiral Sharp Reflexes and his command team. The ship would take just under two days to get to the outer edge of the hyper limit before her crew could make the short hop through hyper to the other component.
Captain JG Chen's orders were cut and dried. She was to transit into Bek B, transmit her IFF, and let them know Childress was out of power. That transmission along with the follow-up with fresh orders should go a long way to get them back on board. She would have to dock with a ship and take fresh passengers back to Bek A as soon as they could.
It would take days for the ship to get back to Bek A. Precious time Admiral Irons intended to use turning the Bekian Admiralty inside out.
@
Admiral Irons took the time to have a face-to-face talk with Zek. “On the one hand, I'm not happy that you didn't have the bravery to stand up with Horatio. On the other, I'm glad you didn't, and I'm glad you were brave enough to get me the message about what was going on,” he said.
Zek just stood there, hands behind his back, mute.
The fleet admiral eyed him, then knitted his hands together. “Time to put the cards on the table. I was asked to promote you in Pyrax. I almost did. Two things stopped me, one I didn't know you, and two, your fear of modern technology.”
Zek winced. He'd known his procrastinating and fear would come back to bite him in the ass.
“Obviously, you got over it since you got your implants and you are here. I'm not happy you didn't stand with Horatio like I said, but I understand it. I'll even overlook it. Which is why I brought this with me,” he said almost whimsically. He sent a file to the rear admiral.
Admiral Zek blinked as his implant electronic inbox pinged. “Um …”
“Open it,” Admiral Irons stated.
Zek applied his key and opened the file. He blinked when the header decrypted. “A promotion … sir? To vice admiral? Is this for real?” he asked, staring in stunned disbelief. Right at the top it said he was promoted to lead BUSHIPS. “Sir, after …”
Admiral Irons held up a restraining hand. “Yes. You and Horatio have your work cut out for you here. I can stay a week, maybe two, but then I've got to get back on the road. I suppose I'll have to swing by Nuevo or I'll never hear the end of it,” he said with a grimace. “There is no telling when I'll be back this way. So, we've got a week; you've been promoted to vice admiral,” he said as he rose from his chair. “I want a list on what needs doing and what you need my help with solving now. I've got to visit with the politicians and public but I should be around to help with the industrial keys. Which,” he grimaced again, “reminds me, I've got to give President K'k'R'll his implants and keys. The same for Vice President Nibs I suppose,” he said.
“Yes, sir. Um, I'll need Horatio, I mean Admiral Logan's help. And I'm going to need some good people if we're going to put your original plan back into place,” Zek said, thinking hard and fast. “I'm going to need someone to replace me at the academy …”
“You've got Horatio. He'll be your XO. Get me a list of people you want. If I can, I'll throw them your way. If they are being investigated though, they will have to be cleared first.”
Zek nodded. “What about Admiral Callisto?” he asked.
Admiral Irons grimaced. “She's under investigation and has been relieved of duty. Pending the outcome of the investigation, we'll find out if the investigators recommend charges or not. So, she's off limits.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You'll technically outrank Admiral Sharp Reflexes by time in grade but only by a couple of days. Is that going to be a problem?” the admiral asked, making it clear from his tone that it had better not be.
“No, sir, I can work with him. He's prickly but a good bug.”
“Good. Forget the academy and going home for the moment. Get over to BUSHIPS. I mean today. Let the academy use your TAs and substitute teachers until they can find someone else. BUSHIPS is a real mess, so is every department. I need you to hit the ground running. I don't have a lot of time here, and I need you to do the groundwork so I can use my implant keys while I'm here. We need to have those industrial plants unpacked and up and running and reproducing themselves fast.”
Zek nodded soberly. “Aye aye, sir.”
“Can you do it?” Admiral Irons asked, leaning against the desk he'd appropriated.
“I'll do my damnedest not to let you down again, sir.”
Admiral Irons studied him and then nodded. “Good to know,” he said, extending a hand. “We'll deal with the promotion ceremony later when you can enjoy it.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“But, you can get the oath out of the way,” Admiral Irons said as they shook hands. He let go and turned and picked up a box. “I just so happen to have this here. This should help put some added mass behind you,” he said. “Attention to orders,” he said crisply.
Zek came to attention and raised his right
hand.
“Now, repeat after me …”
@
Admiral Irons had planned one week in the star system to set things straight, but it became apparent that wasn't going to be long enough. For one thing, it would take time to get the personnel from Bek B and to integrate them into his plans, let alone get them implants and up to speed.
That just meant he had to plan accordingly and make adjustments. Sprite wouldn't like the delay, but so be it. Hopefully, they could make up some of the time in the return journey to the Sargasso star system.
He was impressed when he found out Commander Thistle had anticipated his intentions and had already been in the midst of unpacking the industrial replicators before he had docked with Command One. The commander had even arranged space, power, support, and personnel for them. The move surprised Admiral Zekowitz and Admiral Logan when they found out. They were intensely gratified by his initiative and reported the same to Admiral Irons.
Admiral Irons turned the medics from the ships loose with Lieutenants Weiss and Jaroslaw to get the implant situation sorted out. Since there weren't many officers from Pyrax available, he pulled in Commander Thistle to feel him out and to get his read on the officers he'd served under.
To his surprise Commander Thistle went to bat for Admiral Sung. “She's a pain in the ass, and I know she's a politician, sir. I also know her promotion is under a cloud. But she's a good officer, sir. She could have thrown me out or made my life miserable but she backed me. She also looked the other way when I made some moves against Childress. At least, I think she pretended to not see them.”
Admiral Irons nodded sagely. He'd already read the commander's full report. He was impressed that the commander had risked helping the rebels, let alone Horatio. Both Horatio and Zek had only good things to say about the commander. “I'd like to take what you are saying on faith, but I can't. She'll be investigated. If cleared, she'll be reinstated. No promises in regard to her rank.”
“I understand, sir,” Weaver said, wrapping his tail around his left ankle and squeezing gently.
“But mark my words, her career has been tainted with this sordid affair. A lot of careers have. She shouldn't have followed Childress,” Admiral Irons said with a shake of his head. “For the moment, I'm leaving you in charge of Logistics. I hope it won't be for more than a day or so. Can you handle it?”
“I handled it for months on my own before Childress realized it and did something about it, sir,” Weaver replied quietly. “I think I'll survive a couple days. Admiral Bolt did a good job of training me to handle the job.”
Admiral Irons blinked and then shook his head. That the commander had been left in charge of the Republic's entire Logistics establishment boggled his mind. “All the more reason that man has to go. I knew he was pigheaded and stupid, but that is just lax and terminally stupid,” he said in disgust as he shook his head. That explained how the commander had gotten away with helping the rebels he thought.
“Okay, go handle Logistics, but don't get too comfortable there, Commander.”
“Thank you, sir. If I could get back to engineering sometime, I'd appreciate it. I know you need me where I am, but I'd love to do more than push paperwork,” the chimera ventured.
Admiral Irons smiled in sympathy. “No promises, but we'll see,” he said. The chimera came to attention and saluted. Admiral Irons returned the salute.
After the commander had left, he sat back and considered the situation. He had already called in the department heads and shamed them for not doing their jobs and relieving Childress and Draken. Only General Yetmister remained in his good graces. The general had already submitted a report of his activities and hadn't pulled any punches. Protector's time in the navy's network had confirmed some of his actions.
The commander didn't know it, but Admiral Sung and Admiral Callisto had brought their letters of resignation with them. He hadn't opened them yet. He wasn't certain if he wanted to let them off the hook or not.
“Turning out of the guard,” he murmured.
“A new day. The political cockroaches are scrambling out of your blinding light,” Protector said whimsically.
“Cute. Did you get that one from Sprite?”
“She does have a way with teasing you I admit,” Protector stated. “But it is time for a good housecleaning.”
“Yes. Yes, it is.”
Some officers who had resigned prior to his orders to relieve Admiral Childress or during that time period had been reinstated. A few had already requested that they return to their old positions. He was still considering that. He had no intention of letting them loose in the Admiralty until he'd had each and every one of them vetted.
Which was going to take a while. More time than he had unfortunately, so he had to rely on the word of officers he trusted to extend to officers they thought he could trust. They had to get the navy in hand and back in order fast.
@
Lieutenant V'l'r wasn't the only one to practically dance when the commandant was relieved. Just seeing the yeoman and enlisted packing the bug's gear and “I love me” wall was a thing of joy.
He was a bit dubious about being put in charge of the entire navigational department. An overdue promotion to lieutenant commander soothed some ruffled antenna, but not much. He didn't care.
He requested a few of his fellow navigators from Admiral Butley, Winterspell, and Stormkeeper drop by to play guest lecturer. He passed on the request for any officer to do the same while they could. Some of the personnel were on leave or on duty, but Commander Astro promised to do what he could. The Neodog knew how important it was to make an impression with the students and put the proper stamp on them when they were malleable.
He immediately pulled up the syllabus and materials he'd planned to teach and distributed it to the staff and then gave them three days to get sorted out. They had that time to make any adjustments to their lesson plans to get the students up to speed. A new day was dawning, and he intended for his students to be ready for it when it came.
@
Once he had a quorum of flag officers, Admiral Irons held a quick flag conference. Once the meeting was called to order, he took the stage and looked at them balefully. “I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I can't trust many of you since I don't know you and many of you resigned instead of taking Childress and Draken out. That's on you,” he said coldly, looking at them.
He hated that he had to rush through everything, even the general housecleaning. “We're stopping just short of the fire sale I'd intended. Apparently not everyone must go. You can thank Admiral Zekowitz and Admiral Logan for that.”
He paced for a minute, making them uneasy. “I know some of you might think you kept it together because someone had to. That might be admirable to some, not me. I know there were other motives at play as well. I know how it goes though, working under a bastard of a boss. So, I'm willing to cut you some slack, right up until Horatio brought my message in,” he said, surveying the group coldly.
“Some of you were not in uniform when that happened. I get that, so, you get a pass there. The rest of you are on probation. We're going to be making a lot of changes, changes you may not like. I don't care. Instead of whining, I expect rapid compliance. I intend to get it. Any foot dragging will not be tolerated. If you can't handle that, well, most of you already know where the door is,” he growled.
He took a long moment to stare at the group. No one moved so he nodded once.
“So, I can't trust any of you to be in charge obviously. There is too much corruption and patronage crap going on here. That is going to change. But, I don't know the players, so, we're going to hold nominations. I've got a short list. If I have to, we'll hold a fast and dirty flag officer promotions board, and I'll put Horatio in charge of this mess.”
He could sense the resentment over that statement. He didn't care. “I don't want to, and I know he doesn't want it. After what happened, I can't blame him. I am not sure how far I'
d trust you in his shoes either.”
A few of the officers winced. Some had been given their fair share of tongue lashings over their careers, but as flag officers they were used to being on the other end of them. Again, he had no sympathy for them. “So, who do we have for an alternate? Someone we all know and respect,” he said firmly. He turned to the row of senior-most officers.
Admiral Bolt raised a small hand. “Admiral?” Admiral Irons cocked his head at him. “I know an officer who has implants and can bridge the gap in one department.”
“Okay, shoot. Eventually, you'll all need implants too,” Admiral Irons said. “But that's something each of you can sort out later,” he said. “Who is your nominee?”
“Well, for BUSHIPS obviously, Admiral Zekowitz or Admiral Logan.” Admiral Irons' eyes cut to both officers and then returned to the Neodog. “But, you pointed out that we need proper leadership, sir. I agree. I know this isn't about who has seniority anymore. I also agree with that. I also know this isn't a democracy, but for the top slot I'd like to nominate Vice Admiral Champion or Rear Admiral Sharp Reflexes. Both fit the bill and are not tainted by what happened here,” he said as Admiral Irons crossed his arms. “Quite the contrary I admit. Of the two, I trust the bug. Admiral Sharp Reflexes has done wonders in Bek B. I think he can handle it here.”
“Good to know,” Admiral Irons replied with a nod.
“For the record, Admiral Zekowitz has been promoted to vice admiral and is in charge of BUSHIPS already,” Admiral Irons stated. There was a soft rustle of cloth as people adjusted to that news. “Admiral Logan is his number two. They are already shaking up BUSHIPS. Get used to it. Admiral Bolt,” he turned to the Neodog, “you've been recommended for BuLogistics again.”
The Neodog grimaced but then nodded. “JAG has completed its investigation. I've reviewed it. I am putting a reprimand in your permanent record for following Admiral Childress's orders, but I am not going to move forward with charges. Instead, your penance will be to be downgraded on the promotions list for the next two cycles.”