by Robert Boren
“We’ve found some, but we’ve only gotten through half of our Razor ships so far. We have more than most people think.”
“Care to share the number?” I asked.
“We’ve got sixty-seven,” he said. “They’ve all been hobbled, of course. And by the way, guess who pushed the idea of buying battleships from the Clan?”
JJ snickered. “The Prime Minister, I’ll bet.”
“Yep,” Stuart said. “They’re pretty good ships, but we’ve found a lot of problems. We suspected the problems were introduced on purpose. Now we’re sure of it. We’ve worked through most of them. The list of weak spots was helpful.”
“Good,” I said. “I’d make sure Admiral Boeraton can’t get word out to anybody. The Clan probably thinks you’re still basically on their side.”
Stuart smiled. “Oh, forgot to mention, we got some advice from Kaleb about catching transmissions. We’ve already put that into place. It’s not a hundred percent air-tight, but close. Coupled with the bug hunt, we’ll be in good shape. We’ve got another day or two before that’s completed.”
“I’ve studied those ships,” Nolan said. “We’ve got a prototype drive module that will give you more stealth and better fuel economy, and we’ve also learned a lot about weapons and shields tuning.”
I nodded. “Yes, we’ll help you guys with that. When those enhancements are in place, you’ll be able to beat Clan Razors in a fight, more than likely.”
“That would be excellent,” Stuart said. “We’ll let you go. What are your plans?”
“There’s a small fleet of Clan Razors on the way to Simone’s former position. They’re probably wondering why they can no longer see her ships. When they get to the location and find she’s gone, they’re liable to attack Earth. We’ll be close by just in case.”
“Be careful,” Stuart said. “If we lose you guys and that terror of a ship you have, the Central Authority is done.”
“How many Razors does the Clan have?” JJ asked.
“According to our intel, at least a thousand,” Stuart said. “Most are in their zone and in the Free Zone. They’re starting to take over the Free Zone, you know. Their former planets first, but they won’t stop there.”
“We’ll have to do something about that,” I said.
“Like what?” Stuart asked.
“Attack. Talk to you soon.”
I ended the call, then took a deep breath. “Well, that was good and bad news.”
“I’ll say,” JJ said.
{ 20 }
Light Bombers
T he flight suits got back to the New Jersey first, and we picked them up quickly, all of them positioning themselves into Bay 2 and returning to disk form.
“Captain, the first group of fighters is only five minutes out,” Sondra said.
“Good, bring them in and make sure they all get connected to their charging stations. Send a message to Klemperer too, please.”
She chuckled. “He’s been monitoring the whole time, sir. He’s like a mother hen.”
“He needs to study video of the engagements,” Nolan said. “The Clan obviously has very good fighter weapons and tacktics.”
“We destroyed thirty-six Clan fighters and lost only four doing it,” Sondra said. “Perspective. We out-match them.”
I nodded. “True, but we need to improve. Losing four is a high cost. The Clan has a huge number of space craft. We don’t.”
“I’ve got a suggestion,” Skip said. “We should pick up some Mark IV fighters. We’ve got plenty of those, and with the rear gunner, we’ll take less losses in dogfights. I took some time to study it.”
“Tell Commander Klemperer that,” Sondra said.
“The Chairman might not give us those fighters,” JJ said. “They’re being used to guard manufacturing plants.”
“We need the Mark VI fighters on line,” I said, “but having some Mark IV versions to take on Clan fighters while the newer ships take on bigger targets isn’t a bad idea. I’ll bring it up. Thanks, Skip.”
“The first group of fighters have arrived,” Sondra said. “Bay 3 standing by to receive them.”
“Let’s get them inside as quick as we can. How far out are the rest?”
“Two groups in fifteen minutes, the last in thirty minutes,” Sondra said.
“Butch, where are the Clan Razors? Getting near the Hodge system?”
“Let me know when they change course,” I said.
“Don’t you mean if?” JJ asked.
“Nope. They aren’t hanging around the Hodge system after they find out Simone’s ships are gone.”
“Can we help Simone and Bryce with cloaking technology?” Skip asked.
“That’s a good question,” Nolan said. “We’d have to take a close look.”
“How much data do you have on their ships?” JJ asked. “I can take a look at it. I was involved with that technology, remember?”
“Yes,” Nolan said. “I’ll have Dojo send everything I’ve got to Emerald.”
“Thanks, that’s a good project,” I said. “Let me know if you need any help.”
JJ smiled. “I will, Trey. Thanks.”
We waited for the rest of the fighters to arrive. They made it back into their bay without incident.
“All ships tethered and connected to their charging ports, Captain,” Sondra said. “Shall we leave? Same coordinates we used when we picked up the flight suits?”
“Proceed,” I said.
We felt the dizziness as the New Jersey jumped away.
Nolan made eye contact with me, and nodded towards the door. I got up and left with him, going into the conference room.
“What’s on your mind?” I asked.
“I finally had a chance to look at the deep scans Dojo was running on the corridor through the Free Zone, where there’s been Clan traffic.”
“You’ve found something.”
“They’ve got an installation on a former Clan world in the Free Zone. It’s a big one. They’ve got a lot of fuel there. The readings were off the charts.”
“Is it on the Clan side of the Free Zone or closer to our side?”
“It’s very close to the Central Authority boundary.”
I smiled. “That’s what they’re using to fuel their invasion. If we can take that out, it might make them give up, at least for a while.”
“Yeah, and time is what we need most. The Clan will be easier to deal with if we have a good-sized fleet of New Jersey class ships to take them on.”
“Exactly.”
“We’ll discuss it with the Chairman and Drake after we’re sure Earth is out of danger.”
“Earth won’t be out of danger for some time, Captain. It’s the curse of being the home of the Samson Corporation.”
“True, but I was talking about immediate danger, Nolan.”
“Yes, of course. Shall we go back?”
I nodded. “Keep that brain of yours working, Nolan. That’s one of the edges we have over the Clan.”
He turned towards me. “Thank you, sir. Coming from you, that means a lot.”
We got back on the bridge. I sat in the Captains chair and brought up my screen, going over the Samson Corporation assets, planning strategy.
I glanced at JJ and Nolan, who nodded, having heard the request. “Sondra, you have the bridge. We’re going to the Chairman’s office for a little while.”
“Aye, sir.”
We left the bridge, taking a tin can to Vermillion’s office. He ushered us into his small conference room. Klemperer arrived a moment later.
“Thanks for coming,�
� Vermillion said, sitting in the holographic communicator chair, bringing up the frame. Estes and the robotic face of Drake appeared.
“We’re all ears,” I quipped.
Estes chuckled. “Good. Drake and Chairman Vermillion both have concerns about defending Earth from our two plants here. Given the state of production and testing on the Mark VI LB variants, we think it might be time to move a group of them onto the New Jersey.”
I smiled. “That would give us an edge against Razor ships for sure, assuming they’re ready.”
“It’s probably worth the risk,” Klemperer said. “Can you send us the specs and test results?”
“That’s why we wanted to talk,” Estes said, “but I propose we move the light bombers to the New Jersey and have the Commander do his study at the same time. When those Clan Razors heading for the Hodge system figure out that Simone is no longer there, they might come to Earth in a hurry. I’d like to get a batch of LBs off the planet before they arrive.”
“Since they can cloak, how will the Clan figure out they’re coming from Earth?”
“They’re at the Pacific Research Center,” Vermillion said. “They’ll be invisible once they leave the water, but we have a small window of time where they’ll be visible to Clan ships in orbit.”
“Okay, I get it. Butch, do we have room?”
“I can answer that,” Klemperer said. “We have enough room in Bay 3. No problem there, but it’d be nice to have some pilots who’ve been working with them. Do you have some you can send with them?”
“You can keep the pilots who fly the LBs up to you,” Estes said. “Are you going to the same location where you picked up the Flight Suits?”
“Yes,” I said. “This seems to be a no-brainer. Is there anything I’m missing that would make this a bad idea?”
“I can’t think of anything,” Nolan said.
Commander Klemperer nodded. “I can’t think of anything either, Captain.”
“Mr. Chairman?” I asked.
“I think this is a must,” Vermillion said. “If we launch Mark V fighters from our location, we’ll be seen. Not so with the LBs.”
“What about Mark VI fighters?” Klemperer asked.
“We’ve got more of those than the LB version,” Vermillion said. “They aren’t as far along in the testing, though, and they’re not on Earth. They’re at one of the remote manufacturing plants.”
“So we’re agreed, we’ll take them onboard. Butch, coordinate the arrangement of Bay 3 with Wayne and Commander Klemperer. If we need more room, let me know right away. We still have Bay 4.”
“Don’t infringe on our food production areas,” Vermillion said. “I’d rather see some of them in the Main Bay, and I know we have room there.”
“Understood,” I said. “Can I breach one more subject before we break?”
I chuckled. “Not a problem, Drake. Nolan has been studying the long-range scans done by Dojo before we launched this mission. There’s a large Clan fuel and supply depot in the Free Zone, close to the Central Authority border. It would be a good target for us.”
“What was the tip-off?” Klemperer asked.
“There was a massive reading from their fuel storage containers,” Nolan said. “They should be more careful. After Dojo saw that, he focused on that sector and saw a lot of traffic. Razor ships and support ships.”
“If we destroy that, the Clan might have to back down,” Klemperer said.
“There’s a lot of Boron spread around the Central Authority Zone,” JJ said. “They’re probably using that as well.”
“Let’s plan for that, as soon as we’re heading back to Amberis,” Vermillion said.
I nodded. “Understood. Anything else?”
“I’m good too,” Vermillion said. “Thanks for coming over.”
We left Vermillion’s office. Klemperer looked over at me as we walked to the transit station.
“This is a good call,” he said. “I’ve been studying the video of the incidents where we lost fighters. We wouldn’t have had a problem in a two-seater. Our AIs are better than the fighter AI system, but there’s no substitute for human beings in a rapidly changing situation.”
“Yes,” I said. “We should have some Mark IV fighters available. I’ll talk to Vermillion about that after we get back to Amberis. Skip made the suggestion.”
“That would be perfect,” Klemperer said. “We could use them against fighters, while the Mark Vs and LBs attack the bigger targets. I’ll have to buy Skip a beer.”
JJ shook her head. “Men and their beer. Mind if I go work the cloaking issue?”
“I’d like to join her if it’s okay,” Nolan added.
“Thanks,” JJ said.
I smiled. “No problem, that’s the best use of your time right now.”
JJ and Nolan branched off from us at the next hallway intersection, going to Engineering. Klemperer and I continued to the transit station.
“What’s he doing with cloaking?” Klemperer asked.
“He’s investigating if we can adapt it to Simone and Stuart’s Razors.”
“Stuart? Stuart Cain? What’s that wild-man up to?”
I laughed. “He’s in command of the Central Authority’s Razor fleet. They’ve still got over sixty of them, by the way.”
“Really?”
“Yep,” I said, going on to fill him in on the Central Authority Fleet details.
“That’s a better situation than I thought we were in, assuming we can fix the problems with their Razors. Giving them cloaking ability will help a lot too.”
“That’d be a game changer,” I said. “How come you’re coming back to the bridge? I figured you’d go to Bay 2 and supervise.”
He chuckled. “Wayne’s on that.”
“You want to see Sondra,” I said as we entered our tin can.
“A guy can try. She’s luscious, and I’ve been getting some strong signals from her. Hope I’m not getting them wrong.”
I laughed. “You aren’t.”
“Oh, she’s said something?”
“Yes, but if you tell her I said so, I’ll deny it.”
He flashed me a grin. “Good.”
“I could assign her to help you integrate the new LBs,” I said.
“You’d do that? Isn’t she busy?”
“We’re in the jump for a couple more hours. I’ll need her back on the bridge about fifteen minutes before we get there.”
“Deal,” Klemperer said.
I smiled. “She’ll probably figure this out, but I doubt she’ll mind.”
“Mum’s the word.” We left the tin can, getting to the bridge after a few minutes. I told Sondra to help him. She eyed me, then eyed him, following him to the door, turning to flash me a smile as they left.
“You dog,” Skip said. “Hey, there’s this cute woman down in Engineering.”
“Forget it, I’ll probably regret this one,” I said, both of us laughing.
We came out of the jump without any problems, Sondra getting back to the bridge in time. Skip was itching to make a comment, but I shot him a glance and shook my head no. As soon as we were in the Earth system, Estes contacted us.
“Ready for the LBs?”
“Yep,” Sondra said. “Commander Klemperer and I got the bay re-arranged for them. Standing by.”
“Sending them now,” Est
es said.
Skip and Sondra handled the loading of the LBs perfectly, Klemperer coming on speaker to tell us when they were in place and on the chargers. “These things are wicked,” he quipped.
“Don’t get any ideas on piloting one,” I said. “You’ve become too valuable for that.”
Sondra mouthed thank you at me, Skip shaking his head.
“How long are we hanging around?” Skip asked.
“Until we know where those Clan Razors go after they find out Simone is gone,” I said. “Keep your fingers crossed. Butch, how long until the Clan ships make it to the Hodge system?”
“Back to being precise, I see.”
“Perfect. Now we wait.”
JJ and Nolan came back on the bridge.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“I think it’s doable,” JJ said. “We need the Chairman and Drake to weigh in after some discussion, though. If we’re going to do this for Simone, we might as well get her fully integrated to our team. Same with Stuart and Bryce.”
“No disagreement here.”
“This will have an added benefit,” Nolan said. “We’ll be replacing the Razor shields with our shields. That will insure there’s no back door the Clan can exploit.”
“How long until the Clan ships get to the Hodge system?” JJ asked. “Two hours or so?”
“We’ll synchronize our watches,” Skip said. Nolan looked over at him and laughed.
JJ burst out laughing. “Lawn trout?”
“It’s a technical term,” Skip said, drawing an eye-roll from Sondra.
“Butch, approximately how long will it take the Clan to get from the Hodge system to Earth?”