by Chris Hechtl
“You have to have the fuel to power one,” Horatio reminded him. Weaver nodded. “And we have to have the right raw material. But some parts are easier to have in a storage hold. That saves the time to replicate them.”
“I see, sir. So a replicator isn't the magical tool everyone is making it out to be,” Commander Koba stated from behind him.
Horatio snorted as he turned away from Weaver's image to address the XO. “Hardly. It is a tool in the engineer's tool box. It is great to have, but in a rush it is better to have the tools and gear on hand so you can plug it in. You can't arrange a time out to make parts sometimes. And you have to have the power and materials to do it,” he explained.
“Ah,” she replied with a nod.
“Safe sailing, sir,” Weaver said.
Horatio turned back to him. “Thank you. We're not gone yet. We've got a couple of quick working-up exercises to make sure the ship and crew can handle the job. I want to land on the factory side with Baxter and Bailey,” Horatio said. He shook his head as a sudden thought occurred to him. “B and B, what a combo!” He saw Weaver's thin smile at his wit. “I'll be paying attention to that. I know the commander here has the rest covered,” he said with a look over his shoulder to the XO.
“And I'll be handling the rest of the ship for my sins as you said, sir,” the XO said. “Well, me, the skipper, and the chief engineer. And well, everyone else,” she said. “But we've got to get her basic systems 100 percent. Can I have my office back, sir?” she asked plaintively.
Horatio chuckled. “Stay safe, Weaver.”
“You too, sir,” Weaver replied, and then cut the channel.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Captain Clayton was nervous about his inexperience in hyperspace and the distance his ship was expected to travel. The rest of the mission were well after those two hurdles.
Once he'd heard about the mission, he, his XO, and chief engineer had insisted on a rigorous series of tests, retests, and training during the ship's working-up exercises. He wanted the ship broken in, not broken. He was quite adamant about that requirement and made it clear through a paper trail that he wouldn't be pressured into jumping the ship until they were ready.
Their second day of working-up uncovered a problem with her starboard sublight drive pod. The pod had a sluggish response time and tended to misfire in a direction they didn't want. The thruster was sticky as well. That forced them to return to port for repairs.
Ilmarinen went out for renewed working-up exercises the following Monday. Horatio stepped in to help since he was one of the few officers on the starship with experience. Captain Clayton initially resented interference, so Horatio toned his helping attitude down and made himself available if needed.
Since Captain Clayton was so prickly, Horatio quietly got as many of the officers and civilians from Pyrax reassigned to Ilmarinen to lend a hand with the ship. Commander Koba realized what he was doing and quietly backed his play with BuPers. They needed all the experienced help that they could get.
In that end, they hung onto Bailey and his wife. They couldn't justify taking on more than one of the industrial managers; Baxter had managed to wriggle out of his contract and was raring to go. But they couldn't take on the medics, engineering commanders, or government delegates. But they could and did hang onto Lieutenant Olson.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once loading had begun, Horatio checked on Ilmarinen's A.I. The A.I. was a dumb A.I., grown from one of the two hundred templates Caroline had brought with her. With her installed, the ship's electronics and software had started to look after itself. Things were moving more efficiently and smoothly due to the quiet actions of the A.I.
But he hadn't expected resistance from Captain Clayton and his senior officers. All of the Bekians were leery about having an A.I. on board. Apparently during their initial trials, the captain had insisted the A.I. be reduced to the lowest levels and keep to the background.
“You don't have to be in competition with her, Captain. She's here to help. You can treat her as one of your officers, one assigned to Ops,” Horatio tried to explain.
“I don't like a talking ship. I don't want a construct interfering with my command. I give the orders on my ship. End of discussion, sir.”
Horatio eyed him, then nodded slowly. He knew when to pick and choose his battles. This was one of those occasions. “Understood, Captain,” he said with a nod, letting the matter drop.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Ilmarinen's mission priorities were finally outlined and set by the Admiralty. Horatio was called in for a briefing to make certain he understood them. He noted that the briefing was recorded but didn't comment on it.
“According to Caroline's last survey, there are no warships in B-102c. The derelicts are freighters, liners, colony ships, and the like,” Admiral Draken said.
“Pity about that,” Admiral Creator of Things commented.
“Yes, I agree, sir,” Horatio said. He noted they were talking about possibly salvaging a ship. Funny, he hadn't mentioned that through channels, he thought with a brief internal smile. Now he knew two of the people who had been listening in on him and Zek.
“Any chance of rescuing more personnel?” Admiral N'r'm'll asked, clearly curious about his answer.
Horatio grimaced and thought for a bit before he replied. “It is possible but doubtful. The power cells most likely have run out by now. Remember, most of the ships are civilian, so by extension we can infer that they would have only civilian grade hardware.” Heads nodded or signaled assent around the table. “Then there is the likely possibility that the debris field chewed them up. We won't know of course until we do a detailed inspection of every wreck and the entire star system.”
“Which is in your orders,” Admiral Draken stated.
“Yes, sir. That will take time,” Horatio warned.
“Feel free to take as much time as you need,” Admiral N'r'm'll said cheerfully.
“Right,” Horatio drawled, eyeing the Veraxin. “We'll try to make as much efficient use of our sensors and personnel as possible,” he said as Admiral Draken's eyes narrowed. “Caroline didn't find any active distress signals each time she passed through the star system.”
“That doesn't mean anything. They could be off to conserve power,” Admiral Creator of Things retorted, playing devil's advocate.
Horatio nodded. “Yes, sir, so we'll make a thorough survey. I'm also going to make damn sure we check everything. I don't want us stumbling over anything.”
“Or missing someone,” Admiral N'r'm'll said.
“I was more concerned with finding something we don't want to encounter actually,” the commodore replied as he glanced at the Veraxin then the others. Admiral Draken sat back and cocked his head. “Like a Xeno trap,” Horatio amplified. The Chimera's golden eyes widened briefly. Then his brows knit with speculation over that possible scenario. Slowly he nodded. “I don't want to open Pandora's Box if I can help it, sir,” Horatio stated. “Once is one time too many if you catch my drift.”
Admiral Draken nodded. “I … think we need to work that into your orders then,” he said. He licked his lips nervously and looked at his fellow flag officers. “Yes, most definitely.”
Admiral N'r'm'll gave a human-style nod and signaled first-degree emphatic agreement. “Definitely,” he buzzed, feather antenna back in distress.
“I know. I bet there are spooks in ONI and R&D who would love to get their hands on active samples, but I don't believe it is worth the risk,” Horatio said.
“No, definitely not,” Admiral Creator of Things said, shivering in atavistic fear.
“Thank you for understanding, sir,” Horatio replied with a nod.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Once the meeting concluded, Horatio realized they were assigning him what they thought were impossible goals. Impossible for one of them, he thought, but he had other ideas.
They also hadn't thought far ahead in case he did accomplish them. He fully intended to do as much
as possible with the tools and personnel they gave him. He was aware that showing them up would hinder his case, but he refused to deliberately fail in order to appease them. Childress and his followers were dinosaurs; they were standing in the way of progress. They didn't know it yet, but John was the glacier bearing down on them. No, he shook his head at the analogy. It didn't fit. John was the asteroid coming to rock their world. They were going to have to adapt fast or go the way of the dinosaurs for real.
He continued on his way to his office, nodding politely to those he encountered.
~<><{<^>}><>~
One thing he and the powers that be hadn't counted on came up when the accountants started to notice all the LOGCOM activity and cried foul. The mission to B-102c was not in the budget and accounting was not pleased to have to cover for it.
Horatio was distantly aware of the discussion but kept mostly out of the loop as the brass worked on figuring out a solution. They should have started with a budget the moment the mission had been started Horatio knew.
He heard scuttlebutt that Childress had considered opening discussions with President K'k'R'll and the senate in order to get an emergency bill passed to get the funding.
It was clear that Admiral Childress was not happy about the budget problems. His insistence that they no longer answered to the president's authority had turned into a long-term problem, Horatio estimated. He knew K'k'R'll was most likely nursing a grudge over it and was sulking. He was also aware that the president and his supporters were doing a lot of foot dragging and stalling whenever they thought they could get away with it. And he was caught in the middle this time, Horatio thought.
The president was still on the hook for stalling the last naval budget. The follow-on was still in a downward spiral in the naval budget up in committee. The president indicated he wanted to work Ilmarinen's mission into that budget. That was a problem.
Unfortunately, Admiral Childress had no intentions of mending fences with the president. At least, not by accepting the bug's authority. Not when freedom tasted so good Horatio thought acidly.
On the third day of trouble brewing with the budget, it hit the media that something was up. Horatio wasn't certain who fired first, but it soon became apparent that Childress and his pet senators and lobbyists were calling in favors to ram the mission through as an emergency appropriation bill.
Hopefully, they'd come up with a compromise soon he thought.
~<><{<^>}><>~
“All right, we need to get this done. What does it take to get this mission off and running?” Admiral Childress demanded in a rare face-to-face meeting with President K'k'R'll.
“You are certainly living up to your reputation of blunt and to the point,” the Veraxin replied dryly.
“I know we both have schedules to keep,” the admiral said coldly. “And I know neither one of us want to be here. So, what. Do. You. Want,” he asked.
“I'm surprised you are ready to play ball, Admiral,” the president said slowly, turning over the insistence and offer in his head. It was unexpected. He'd been prepared for the admiral to come in blustering and possibly even threatening him.
“Tell me about this plan that you are so in favor of. It seems rather odd. If you knew it was coming, why didn't you work into last year's budget in the first place?” the president asked.
“Okay, if you want to play it that way,” the admiral sighed. “For one, I wasn't at all certain the ship would work. In fact, I thought it wouldn't.”
“And yet you let it out of the yard?”
“Yes. I took it on faith from the experts that they had the situation under control. To my surprise they actually did.”
“I see. So, you wish to send them where exactly? I'm aware that it isn't to Bek B. I'm surprised you didn't squeeze some of the credits out of supplying the fleet component there.”
“I had considered that,” Admiral Childress said slowly as he thought that issue over. He'd already raided that fund twice. It was cut to the bone, but he wasn't willing to admit it.
“And the settlement from the contractors who overcharged for their services and hardware? What about that?” the president asked.
The admiral scowled. “We didn't go for damages. We took the settlement as banked credits for future work actually,” he explained, clearly put out over being called on the spot about the sore point.
“Ah, I see.”
“So …?”
“So, you still haven't answered my question. Where is the ship going?” the president asked.
“I don't see ….” When the Veraxin didn't respond to his bluster, the admiral cut himself off. He inhaled then exhaled deeply. “Fine. Have it your way. They are going to B-102C, the Sargasso system, the one on this side of the rapids,” he said.
“To do …?”
“If you really must know, they are going to build a space station there. It is something Admiral Irons wants done,” he said, throwing that last out there. It was indeed something the fleet admiral wanted, but Omar wasn't certain it was needed.
“Okay, I see the problem now. I think we can work with that,” the Veraxin stated.
The admiral blinked in surprise. “You can?” he asked in surprise. He was wary of getting off so cheaply however. There was something to be said about a situation that was too good to be true and he knew it.
Not that he was going to look a gift bug in the mouth if that was what the bug was going to do.
“Of course. If it is a part of Admiral Irons’ plan to tie our nexus to the outer Federation, I am all for it. I am not certain about the investment involved, but I believe we can write it off as a part of our taxes,” the bug said.
The admiral pursed his lips thoughtfully. Finally, he shrugged. “That's up to the accountants and lawyers I suppose.”
“Who is going to be in charge? My understanding is that Commodore Logan has been involved.”
“He is. And before you ask, he is going to be in charge of the mission,” Admiral Childress said, flexing his jaw.
“And you are certain this mission is worthwhile? And why him? He just got here. He is supposed to be our liaison.”
“I assure you, Mister President, we are sending the best person for the job,” Admiral Childress replied.
“Okay. So, that leaves the question of how to effect the change in the government's budget. After all, credits do not grow on plants, nor can they be drawn out of fecal orifices on a whim. So,” the Veraxin paused and swiveled all of his eyestalks to the admiral. “How do you suggest I handle that in congress? I am going to need to give something as an incentive. Do you have any ideas?”
The admiral grimaced. So K’k’R’ll was going to play it that way, turning the cost back on him. He wasn't going to get off so cheaply he thought.
“Well, I'm not certain what you are asking of me. The money will go to pay for replacement material that LOGCOM is using to stock the ship for her mission. Those replacements will come from our contractors, and since they employ people, the money ultimately returns to the economy as a form of stimulus ….”
~<><{<^>}><>~
Ilmarinen's crew were kept rather busy as were the LOGCOM and yard dog personnel tasked with supporting them. None of the personnel were sworn to secrecy but initially no one talked about the mission. Word got around to the families of course, and when the final crew assignments were made, those who were tasked put their final affairs in order and made their good byes to their loved ones. It became an open secret in the naval community. That something was up started to percolate in the media. Ilmarinen's intended destination was kept under wraps however. Most assumed erroneously that they were going to bring a large load of cargo to Bek B. The navy didn't confirm or deny the mission.
Near the time of departure word got out to the public about Ilmarinen's true mission. The navy's insistence on keeping it quiet only fueled speculation and curiosity. The media did their best to ferret out the information using sources within the yard.
When they latched
onto Commodore Logan's involvement and “unnamed sources” reported that he was involved, they took even more interest. They also started to report the discontent going on in the navy, including holding up forum posts from various members of the navy.
In order to curtail their curiosity, Admiral Childress relented and had the navy's public affairs department write and release a series of press releases about the ship's mission. That sparked a fire within the public. He was surprised by the keen interest and sudden support by many, but he was nettled by the comments about it was “about time.”
The media outreach caused all eyes to be on the navy once more, something Admiral Childress learned he didn't want. Despite the support for the mission, he started to field calls from his civilian supporters who didn't like the attention, nor the awkward questions that had started to be raised all over again. The attention also seemed to rile up the political establishment; Admiral Childress fumed over some of the veiled hints the commodore had left with the media during his interviews.
“Someone put a muzzle on him. Inform the commodore that I don't want him talking to the media again. If he is asked, he is to reply with a no comment and refer them to the navy's public affairs department from now on. If he gives any other answer, I want his ass up on charges,” the admiral snarled.
“Yes, sir. Charging him will give us a bigger black eye,” Admiral N'r'm'll warned.
“If it does, it does,” the admiral stated. Slowly a vicious gleam formed in his eye. “In fact, get Hill to talk with some of our friends in JAG. Keep it low key, I don't want Soar and Strike involved.”
“About, sir?”
“I want them to build a case against the uptight bastard. I want it on hand in case I need it,” he snarled.
“You're the boss, sir,” the Veraxin replied.
“And I'm not going to let anyone forget it,” the human admiral replied firmly.
~<><{<^>}><>~
Lieutenant Commander Si heard about the quiet investigation through a classmate at JAG. She wondered briefly if Admirals Soar and Strike were involved. She made certain to drop by Command 1 for a bit of paperwork when her former boss was up doing the same. She waited until he finished making the rounds in BuShips before she sprang her encounter.