Steele's Hammer, page 4
part #1 of The Glory Game Series
Rebekka’s confusion was plain to see. “Why are they willing to sell or lease her but not the other ships?”
“Because the HRCN didn’t build her. They captured her, and therefore selling her for any amount would be a net financial gain as opposed to taking a loss on a ship that the Navy had built and for which they had paid the full price. That’s the political reason. The military reason is that HRCN doctrine doesn’t need armed merchant ships, so letting her go wouldn’t leave an unfilled requirement.”
“I see,” said Rebekka, “or at least I think I do. How much would it cost to get that ship?”
Hara nodded as she leaned back. “Ah, that’s the problem. Because of the covert nature of her design, the Navy has decided that they don’t want to lease her out for a relatively small figure due to the risk that she’ll be crippled or destroyed in a battle. So, the lease amount is almost eighty percent of what it would cost to buy her outright, and that amount is 2.5 million credits. That’s just to transfer ownership. Getting the ship ready for operations will require repairs to battle damage that she took before being captured, and the Navy’s preliminary estimate, which was done just in case they decided to use her themselves, is another 3.7 million. The only silver lining to buying her outright is that the price includes all the anti-ship missiles she was carrying when she was captured. Those missiles wouldn’t fit our other ships and therefore can’t be used by us.”
The princess looked worried. “I don’t have anywhere near that much money available to me. The most I could contribute would be a hundred thousand credits.”
“I could come up with the necessary funds if I decide to join this project,” said Hara. “But the terms have to be acceptable. What I mean by that is that I have to see at least the possibility of not only coming out of this project with my initial investment back but also a return on that investment that compensates me for the risk I’d be taking.”
“Well, ah, I don’t even know where to begin negotiating something like that,” said Rebekka.
“In this particular instance, I don’t think negotiations are really necessary,” said Hara. “Please excuse me for being blunt, but you’re not really in any position to refuse an offer now, are you?”
“I suppose not,” said the princess in a low voice. “Does that mean that you’re prepared to make an offer?”
“It does. Here is my take it or leave it offer. I’ll incorporate a privately owned company and lend it seven million credits. It will then buy the Blue Griffin and make whatever repairs are deemed necessary. I’ll also hire her crew. In return for my best efforts to liberate New Troy, I want my company to have salvage rights to any ship that my people capture. Plus, I want ten percent of all transit fees collected from the super-giant that’s nearest New Troy until the cumulative total of that ten percent reaches one hundred million Caledonian credits or its equivalent in Stellar Alliance currency.”
Steele expected the princess to agree immediately and was surprised when she didn’t. She took her time thinking over the offer. He didn’t understand why she was hesitating. Not only was this likely to be the only offer she would get, but also it wasn’t that onerous for her planet. The Admiral could just as easily have demanded 50% of transit fees with no limit. He looked over at the Admiral and saw her look at the princess with a calculating frown.
After what seemed like a long time but couldn’t have been more than a minute, Rebekka sighed and nodded. “I suppose I don’t have much choice, do I? All right, Admiral Hara, I’ll accept your offer. What happens now?”
Now it was Hara’s turn to take her time responding. Steele had a gut feeling that something was going on here that he didn’t understand. Surely the Admiral would have already determined the next move given all the other preparation she’d done. Why hesitate now?
“What happens next is that I’ll have my family’s legal eagle draw up a draft contract for your lawyer to review. When both sides are happy with the document, we both sign it, and then I’ll get the ball rolling.”
“That will be fine,” said Rebekka with an expression that Steele could only describe as a poker face. He would have thought that she’d be happy that some progress was being made, but if she felt that emotion, she was hiding it well and for no reason that he could think of.
When Hara suddenly stood up, Steele felt he should do so as well. “Good. In that case, I think we’re done here for the time being,” said Hara. She turned to Steele. “My limo is waiting outside. I’d be happy to give you a lift, Mac.” Steele had the distinct impression that the offer was actually an order.
“Thank you, Admiral. I accept.”
Turning back to the princess, Hara held out her hand, and Rebekka reluctantly shook it.
“Thank you for coming, Admiral. I’m…pleased that you’ve decided to help liberate my planet.”
Hara smiled as they shook hands. “I like a challenge, and if we pull this off, I’ll be thanking you for the opportunity.”
Steele waited until the two of them were in the elevator before speaking. “Admiral, don’t you think she was—” he stopped when he saw Hara hold her hand up.
“Wait until we get in the limo, Mac.”
Her limo was indeed waiting for her outside the hotel entrance. The Admiral got in first, and Steele took a seat opposite her.
“Where do you want to be dropped off, Mac?” Steele told her the address of his apartment. She activated the limo’s auto-pilot, gave it the destination, then took out a puffer and inhaled a couple of puffs. “It’s a mild stimulant,” she said as she offered it to him.
“Thank you, no, Admiral.”
“So, you started to say something about the princess’s reactions. I found her reactions strange too. It’s almost as if she didn’t want anyone to come up with the money to do something like this, but that doesn’t make any sense. Well, we’ll see how she reacts to the draft contract and whether she’ll sign it or not. I’m going to guess that you’re wondering if I’ll offer you a position in the Blue Griffin crew. Am I right?”
Steele hadn’t expected to be asked that. Everything had happened so fast that he hadn’t gotten around to asking himself if he wanted to be a part of the operation itself instead of just helping to get it off the ground.
“I’m not sure how I feel about joining this project, Admiral. That Q-ship is definitely a step up from the obsolete light cruiser that the princess was hoping would be used, but even that Q-ship would have a tough time going up against a heavy and two light cruisers.”
Hara jumped in before he could say more. “Unless she takes them by surprise. I’m sure there’ll be other merchant ships visiting New Troy after exiting the wormhole. Blue Griffin will be just one more as far as those mercenaries are concerned. But I had a different role in mind for you, Mac, and it involves that light cruiser. It would be a shame to leave it in that shipyard during the action. What I was thinking of is that I’d hire enough extra officers and crew to form a skeleton crew for the cruiser. Then, when Blue Griffin is ready, we’ll take her to Midway first, see if we can get them to release that ship to us. We’ll need some documentation from the Princess of course, and then you’ll take command of her and accompany my Q-ship to the outskirts of the New Troy system where I’ll have a tactical plan ready to use both vessels. Our two ships plus the element of surprise should be enough to neutralize the opposing fleet, don’t you think?”
Steele had to admit to himself that having the armed merchant and the light cruiser made him feel much better about the whole operation. “It does make the operation doable as opposed to being highly risky; I’ll grant you that, Admiral. I am curious, though, as to why you would want me at all. I’m honest enough with myself to admit that I’m not an above-average officer, and your reputation is one where you seem to demand above-average officers.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Mac. What I insist on is that officers under my command have the potential to be above average. Some of them don’t start that way when they’re assigned to me, but that’s how they end up when they leave my command. I’ve become pretty good at sizing up an officer’s potential, and I think you have what it takes to become better than you are. That answers part of your question. The other part is this. With a few exceptions, me being one of them, the Navy used the downsizing program to rid itself of what it deemed to be deadwood. Unfortunately, they also had to let competent officers go because of the quota that the politicians had demanded. You got caught up in that process. In my case, I had made too many enemies in the senior ranks to avoid being given the bum’s rush, and yes, I know that a lot of officers think I’m reckless. I don’t agree with that assessment. I’ve taken carefully calculated risks, but I’ve never made a risky decision impulsively. There aren’t a lot of discharged captains that I’d be comfortable having under my command, but you’re one of them. Does that take care of your self-doubts?”
Steele allowed himself a grin. “Yes, Admiral, it does, and I appreciate your confidence in me.”
“So, are you in or out?” she asked.
“I’m in.”
“Good. You timed that just right. We’re coming up to your apartment. I’ll keep you posted on how things progress. Take advantage of the time to see who else is on half-pay status, and if you can come up with a list of officers and NCOs for the light cruiser, that would be helpful. I reserve the right to reject those recommendations, but I’ll give you the opportunity to convince me not to if it comes to that.”
The limo pulled up to his building and stopped. The door swung open. As Steele thanked the Admiral and started to get out, he felt her tap him on the arm. He turned around.
“By the way, Mac. If we pull this operation off, and if the company can afford to do so, every officer, NCO and specialist will be getting bonuses commensurate with their rank. Just in case you were wondering.”
“That’s great to hear, Admiral. Can I pass that on to others if I talk to them about the project?”
“Yes, you can. We’ll talk again soon, Mac.”
“I’m looking forward to it, Admiral.” He nodded to her and exited the limo, which pulled away before the door had finished closing.
Chapter Four
The Admiral wasted no time in having the draft contract drawn up and presented to Princess Rebekka. She then surprised everyone with her lack of response. Steele learned later that after waiting a week for some feedback, the Admiral had been ready to walk away from the project when word finally arrived from Major Sugaro that the contract was acceptable, and the princess had signed it. With that taken care of, Hara moved quickly, asking Steele to accompany her on an inspection of the Blue Griffin once her new company had offered to buy the ship. That involved taking a shuttle to Caledonia’s moon where the Reserve Fleet and captured ships were orbiting. Steele and the Admiral were wearing spacesuits since the ship was powered down and life support turned off but had their helmets off as the shuttle slowly approached the vessel.
“Range is now thirteen klicks,” said the shuttle pilot. “Rate of approach is one hundred meters per second.”
“I’d like to see the entire hull,” said Hara. “And not too fast either. Can you do that, Lieutenant?”
“Can do, Admiral. I’m reducing our speed. I’ll swing this bird around the ship’s stern first, then up the far side.”
As they got closer, Steele’s eyes widened in awe. “God, she’s big,” he said in a low voice.
“She’s 2.1 million metric tons,” said Hara. “If she were a warship, she’d be a dreadnought. As it stands, she’s really just a big, empty hollow tube. It seems a shame not to make use somehow of all that cargo space.”
“Range is now less than a klick,” intoned the pilot. “Velocity is now ten meters per second. Is that slow enough, Admiral?”
“It’ll do,” said Hara. “This shuttle has external lights, correct?”
“Ah, yeah, she does. I’ll turn them on for you, Admiral.”
The lights helped distinguish hull damage, and Steele was dismayed by how much there was. He turned to look at the Admiral.
“It’ll take months to fix all that hull damage.” To his surprise, she shook her head.
“I’ll admit it’s not pretty, but for our purposes, the integrity of the cargo holds is not important. We’ll have to fix some of the external damage but only if it’s necessary to protect vital equipment that may be on the inside of the hull. Unless there’s a reason why the cargo holds have to be airtight that we haven’t thought of yet, I see no reason why we need to bother with most of those holes.”
“We may at least want to make cosmetic changes so that the hull appears to be airtight in case the pirates get a close look at her,” offered Steele.
“Good point, Mac. It should be relatively easy to weld a thin plate over each hole.” They watched in silence as the shuttle approached the mid-section of the hull where the FTL vanes were located.
“Bring us to zero forward velocity, Lieutenant,” ordered Hara. “I want to get a close look at the vane ring.”
“Decelerating to zero forward velocity,” said the pilot. Both Hara and Steele leaned forward as best they could to get a better look. The vanes that generated gravitic energy, which pushed against the ether in front of or behind the ship, were vital in giving any starship the ability to reach faster-than-light velocities. Almost all starships had vanes inside a ring set in the middle of the ship. When the ship wanted to reach super-luminal speeds, the vanes were deployed, and when they weren’t needed, they were retracted inside the hull just as these ones were now. Hara and Steele were looking to see if there was any combat damage to the circular assembly that held the FTL vanes.
“Let’s circle the hull here so that we can check for vane damage,” said Hara.
“Initiating orbital maneuver. This could get tricky, Admiral,” said the pilot.
“Understood, Lieutenant. Just do the best you can.”
In order for the Admiral and Captain to see the entire ring assembly through the shuttle’s cockpit windows, the pilot has to use thrusters not only to move the shuttle around the circular hull but also to keep the front of the shuttle constantly pointed at the hull. That meant changing the shuttle’s vector and orientation at the same time. Tricky didn’t even begin to describe the challenge. Steele was impressed by how well the pilot managed to do it. A less experienced pilot could easily have let the shuttle move too far away for the visual inspection to be any good or could have caused the shuttle to collide with the hull. When they had finished a complete 360-degree sweep of the vane ring, the pilot brought the shuttle to a stop.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” said Hara, “That was a nice piece of flying.”
“Thank you, Admiral. Did you want to continue the inspection along this side?”
“Yes. Let’s finish what we started. When we get to the bow, we’ll swing around, then come back along the other side.” When that order had been acknowledged, she turned to look at Steele.
“I didn’t see any damage to the vane ring, did you?”
“No, Admiral. I think we lucked out there, but the vanes themselves should be inspected just to make sure. That’ll have to be done internally.”
Hara nodded but did not reply. The external visual inspection took almost an hour. Steele could tell that a couple of the large cargo hatches had been damaged enough that simply welding a metal plate over them would not fool anyone and real repairs would have to be made, but the rest of the hull didn’t look too bad from the outside. Now it was time to dock with the ship and conduct an internal inspection. It would have to be a preliminary one because checking every square meter of the interior would take days for two people. By prior agreement, the major sections that Hara wanted checked had been divvied up between them. Once inside, they would split up and rendezvous at the shuttle dock at a predetermined time. The pilot made the docking maneuver look easy.
“We’re securely docked, Admiral,” said the pilot with a grin.
Hara grinned back. “Very good. You can relax now, Lieutenant. The Captain and I are going to be a while poking around inside that hull, so I don’t even mind if you have a nap, as long as you don’t undock the shuttle by mistake in your sleep.”
The pilot chuckled. “Message received loud and clear, Admiral. When should I start to worry that something might have happened to both of you?”
“If we’re not back in three hours, then you can start to worry. Let’s go, Mac.”
