Under Siege, page 2
“Have a seat. I think it’s time we went over a few things,” he said.
“I hope it’s not about the fighters again, sir,” Derek said as he sat. “I promise I’ll never do anything like that again.”
“I’m confident that Amanda has torn you up enough about it that I can just let things sit where they are,” he said with a grin. “No, this is about something else. Now that I’ve split the ship into operational and staff sections, there are a few holes that still need plugging, and that’s where you come in.”
The two young people frowned. “How so, sir?” Amanda asked.
“First, I need someone to assume the role of executive officer now that India McKennon has her own ship. Derek, you’re the most experienced and competent person at running a fight. Amanda, you’re a close second.”
To his credit, Derek didn’t look nearly as terrified as when Jack had promoted him to captain. Or to lieutenant, for that matter. That wasn’t to say that he didn’t look uncomfortable. Both of them did.
“This is where I should probably mention that we have a number of very competent captains that might be better for the role,” Derek said. “While I might have fought aboard this ship for the last year and a half, I don’t have the kind of experience that Vice Admiral Toth or Captain Walker would bring to the table.”
Jack nodded. “Either one of them would be excellent candidates, but they don’t have the experience you have with battleship warfare. They don’t know what the Novarites might do under certain circumstances, and if we ran into another group of Locusts, they wouldn’t know how to react and use this battleship effectively. They certainly wouldn’t understand how our skip drive works to the point that they could use it as naturally as you could.”
Now the two of them had the deer in the headlights look. That made him smile.
“No,” he continued, “I don’t believe they’re the right choices, but this won’t cut them off from the promotions they deserve. There are a lot of cruisers, and I would be astounded if they weren’t both bumped up to vice admiral in a hurry. Maybe even full admiral. The grand admiral has them under his wing, and it’s up to us to take care of our own.”
“I see,” Derek said. “Would this entail another promotion? I’m not sure if my heart can stand it.”
That made Jack chuckle. “Since our chief engineer is a rear admiral, you need to at least be a vice admiral. I’m confident you’ll be the youngest vice admiral ever in the Confederation Navy, and it would position you well to assume command of the next battleship to come off the refurbishment list. This time, we’ll let the folks at Argent continue building her up until more of her weapons are online before we take possession of her. India can take care of that angle, so you’re not in immediate danger of being shipped off to your first command. And you’re not going to be promoted alone. Amanda would also make a fine commanding officer, so she’ll get bumped at the same time.”
Derek used his good hand to rub his face. “Sometimes it’s like I’m dreaming. Of course, then come the nightmares we’re all living through. If that’s what you need me to do, sir, I’m here for you.”
“As am I, sir,” Amanda added. She was steadier than her boyfriend under this kind of pressure. Jack wondered how they’d handle being shipped off to separate commands when the time came. Their romantic relationship might not survive, and that would be a shame, but the needs of the Confederation came first.
“Good.” Jack opened the top drawer in his desk and pulled out two sets of vice admiral rank tabs. He then walked around to stand behind his young protégés and swapped them out for their old ones. “Congratulations, Vice Admiral Calvo, Vice Admiral Harris. Derek, you are now officially the executive officer of the battleship Delta Orionis, and Amanda is your assistant executive officer.”
“I’m glad I got my time in on the fighter because now I’d never be allowed to get out and have any fun,” Derek said as he stood with Amanda a beat behind.
Jack shook the young man’s hand firmly. “You’re damn right. We can’t risk our senior officers on crazy stunts like that. Whoever you feel best suits the position needs to be bumped up to chief helmsman. We’ll tag them with a promotion. The same will happen in the tactical department, Amanda. We’ll make them commodores and bump the other department heads up to the same rank for consistency. Engineering is a special case, and Kelly will just be different.”
“Is this as crazy for you as it is for me, sir?” Derek asked. “I feel like I’m in a fugue state where I really don’t have any control over anything.”
“You have control over the things that matter,” Jack said firmly. “We’ll win this war and set the Confederation back on its feet. Look at it this way. By the time the fighting is done, you’ll both be some of the most senior officers in the Confederation Navy. I doubt that many flag officers will get out of the Confederation proper. Hell, a bunch of them probably work for the Poseidon Group now. With the antiaging drugs that Patrick provided for us, you two have extremely long careers to look forward to.”
“Behind a desk,” Amanda muttered.
That made Jack laugh. “I think things can probably be arranged so that you both get fleet commands. The universe is a dangerous place, and we won’t let things go back to the way they were before. The Confederation Navy will continue to expand rapidly, and we’ll build bigger ships. Don’t fear the desks just yet.”
Amanda smiled slyly and bumped Derek’s shoulder with hers. “I’m a month younger than you, so I’ll be the youngest vice admiral in Confederation history. You’re going to have to bust your ass to get the bump to full admiral before me, or I’ll hog all the glory.”
Derek laughed. “You’re welcome to it. Maybe we should get married and make history a different way.”
The young woman blinked, her mouth moving without words coming out.
“If you decide that is the right course of action for you both—and I don’t advise rushing down that path unless you’re sure—come talk to me, and I’ll make it happen. Now get out of my office and start getting your departments in order.”
The young people departed. Jack was sure this would work out well. With as many people as they had aboard Hunter, having an executive officer and an assistant executive officer made sense.
He’d tough bases with Kelly Danek after lunch to see that she wasn’t blindsided. He also needed to get adjunct command chairs and consoles put onto the bridge for his new executive officers. He wouldn’t need a console, but they would to keep track of everything happening during a battle.
He rose and headed toward the operations center. He could have lunch with Sara while Derek shepherded Hunter out to pick up the Novarite warships. Then they’d head back to Argent and see what the situation was like there before they headed for Vesuvius.
2
David Chen stood on the bridge of the battleship Scorpius, directly next to its commanding officer’s seat. Vice Admiral India McKennon was watching her crew work as they prepared to go through a test of the new detection system that Professor Prescott had devised to track any vessels using anti-sensor hull material. The aged scientist was standing on the other side of the admiral’s seat, smiling as if he knew something the rest of them didn’t.
Honestly, that was probably true. The man was very intelligent and had a bit of a sneaky streak when it came to technological innovation. He’d started out as the director of the museum overseeing Delta Orionis and had been an expert in Locust technology. Since then, he’d definitely expanded his repertoire with all the tricks and gimmicks that the Novarites, Tardans, and even the kingdom could bring to play.
Whatever he’d come up with would probably surprise them. David just hoped it worked.
The hatch at the back of the bridge slid open, and David turned as Scorpius’s executive officer strode onto the bridge. The newly promoted Rear Admiral Ann Walker came to stand beside him. Her left arm was in a sling and had been since she’d arrived in the system, but at least the bandage on the left side of her face had been removed, though she still had an eye patch over her ruined left eye. It made her look somewhat piratical.
He wondered how she’d get along with Captain Mark Connor, the smuggler from Port Royale. Probably poorly. She was a by-the-book kind of person, and Connor wasn’t. Not even close.
“Everything is set up in the operations center, Admiral,” Walker said.
India smiled at the woman. “You’re an admiral now, too. Why don’t we just stick with titles rather than ranks? Otherwise, things will get confusing fast. Right, XO?”
Walker smiled a bit wryly. “That they will, Captain. I’m still not sure this feels real. After the injuries I sustained, I expected to be shown the door. Being promoted to flag rank and installed as the executive officer on a ship like this wasn’t on my bingo card.”
“You’ll have to take a lot more damage if you expect to get away from serving the Confederation in times like these. I’m glad to see you’re looking somewhat better. When does the sling come off?”
“Another couple of days. Then I’ll be cleared for light activities.”
“Very good. I believe you’ve met Professor Prescott and David Chen.”
The Navy officer inclined her head. “I’ve spoken with the professor a few times, and I know who you are, Mister Chen, but I don’t believe we’ve ever been formally introduced. I’m Ann Walker.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said. “This must be quite the change for you. A battleship is a lot bigger than a cruiser, and the technology is somewhat different.”
“That it is,” she agreed. “It’s more difficult getting used to the uniform, though. How can you stand to wear this thing, ma’am? I feel like I’m playing dress-up.”
“You get used to it,” India said with a grin. “It certainly does make an impact when viewed next to a regular Navy uniform, doesn’t it?”
“That goes without saying. It’s also strange being armed. Is that really necessary?”
“There have been times during the last year and a half that we’ve been glad we had sidearms. Trust me when I say that it’s worth the extra weight. Since we’re ready, maybe you can tell us what we’re doing, Professor.”
The older man nodded. “We’ve installed additional sensor modules all along the hull that will watch the stars. That means you’ll have a better grasp of what ships are moving around you and where they are when they don’t show up on the sensors.”
“Details, man. Give me details.”
“The way we intend to detect any ships using anti-sensor hull material is that they will occlude stars as they pass between us and them. That will give the new computers that track every star the ability to determine if there’s a pattern to such behavior. It’s always possible that an asteroid or something will temporarily block the starlight from something, but that won’t be the same as if a ship were moving near us. That will block more stars, and there will be a direct course it is following. Your tactical officer should now be able to keep track of that sort of thing.”
India frowned a little and leaned toward him. “That’s useful, but how effective will it be? If they’re armed with some of the things we’ve seen tossed around the battlefield, I want to know about those hidden ships as soon as possible. What about that fighter Jack took with him? How far out could this setup detect it?”
“We’d have to test, but I believe we might be able to detect something like that at a moderate distance. Perhaps not far enough out to preclude being attacked, but at least you’d know what’s coming. When they get back from Leaping Deer and Vesuvius, we’ll have to give that a test.”
“Or we can wait until the first of the new fighters comes off the assembly lines,” David added. “We should be ready to start producing the basic components for new fighters sometime in the next few days. It’ll take longer to get a finished product, but we’re building enough of them to at least learn how the process works. Grand Admiral Romanoff decided that we needed to have two separate facilities for this: one for the regular fighters and one for the stealth fighters. The latter is much smaller and hidden away in a very secure location. The former is under the control of Ringwald Engineering at Port Royale.”
“I’ll want some of those fighters with the anti-sensor hull material,” India said. “After watching Derek Calvo make a high-speed pass around Hunter, it’s obvious those little things are extremely dangerous, and I like dangerous things.”
He inclined his head. “I’m not in charge of who gets what, but I’d imagine you can arm wrestle Vice Admiral Tobin for some.”
“Rest assured that I’ll do that. I’ll also want some of the regular fighters, but I don’t imagine that will be difficult. I’ve been talking with Charlie Ferraro about making some modifications to one of the small craft bays to more effectively allow for the launch and retrieval of fighters. It will require some remodeling and reconstruction, but he believes we can make it work.”
“I’m picking something up on the new sensors, Admiral,” the tactical officer said.
“What do we have, Ahmed?” India said, focusing her attention on the man. “Is it close or far?”
“Somewhere between those two options, ma’am. The calculations we have are a bit fuzzy because we can only determine distance by the number of stars being occluded and the speed at which the vessel is moving laterally, and those variables are somewhat subjective. My best guess is that it’s a few thousand kilometers out and closing with us at a relatively low speed. It’s not coming directly at us, which makes it easier to detect, I think.”
“Actually, I think that it’s easier to detect something coming directly toward you, as those stars will be occluded continuously,” the professor said. “It’s just a matter of two different kinds of thinking. Being able to figure out information about something coming at you would be a lot harder than something moving at right angles. Is it a small ship that’s close or a large ship that’s further away? There’s no way to judge that if you can’t detect the vessel itself, but at least you’ll know something is there.”
India smiled at that. “It’s better to know something is there than not. Communications, challenge that ship.”
A few seconds later, the screen at the front of the compartment changed from a view of the planet they were orbiting to the control area of Lisa’s little cutter. The hacker grinned at them. “I expected to get closer before you found me. That’s good for the Confederation but bad for me.”
David laughed. “I think you’re safe from being detected inside the Confederation proper for a while. They don’t even know this technology exists, and by the time they figure it out, they’ll be in a very bad position.”
“I agree with Mister Chen,” Walker said. “This technology will be useful in picking up regular fighters as well as hidden ships. Neither one of those things is used by the Confederation at this time, so the Poseidon Group will get a very ugly surprise and have difficulty adjusting in time to make a difference. That’s why we have to be ruthless when we start bringing them down.”
“Agreed,” Lisa said. “Now that you’ve detected me, what comes next?”
“We call this test a success and start having satellites put around Argent to scan the entirety of the sky so we know if anyone is coming from any angle,” India said. “I think Ringwald Engineering has been working on building satellite platforms, but if they haven’t, I think we can upgrade some of the asteroid-based weapons platforms coming from Port Royale to do the same thing. We obviously have to be careful about what we tell them this is for because we don’t want anyone to know exactly what we’re looking for.”
“If you could come pick me up, Lisa, I’d be in your debt,” David said. “There are a few things we need to talk about, and I’d like to drag Professor Prescott along to toss in his thoughts as well. I’m sure you’ve got a lot on your plate, but this shouldn’t take too long.”
Lisa nodded. “I have some things for you, too. I’ll head to small craft bay number four. If you could have most of the people clear out, Admiral, that would keep news of what I’m doing down to a minimum.”
India nodded. “I’ll send the order now. You’ll have the place to yourself until you’re ready to depart. Contact flight control and work that out. Scorpius out.”
She turned her attention to him. “David, I wanted to talk with you briefly before you left, about having an intelligence officer aboard my ship. Honestly, I think all the battleships need them to help collate information and provide intelligence briefings. There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes, and we need someone to help us make sense of them.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I’m not sure that will happen in the short term. The best way to make that a reality is to train some Navy officers to fill that role. They’re not spies, but they’ll be analysts and presenters. That takes a bit of specialized training. I can use the sleep learning machines to train them on some of the basics, but what we do in Confederation Intelligence isn’t necessarily what you need in the Navy. Perhaps I can get my hands on a retired officer with the appropriate skills. I’ll look into it and get back to you.”
“Thank you. If you come up with anything else you need to tell me, my door is always open. If there’s anything I or mine can provide, the same applies.”
“There are a few things in the works that might apply to you,” he said with a grin. “As soon as they become relevant, I’ll let you know.”
He gestured with his chin toward the hatch, and Alan Prescott fell in beside him as they made their way toward small craft bay number four. The older man actually seemed a bit more spry than he’d been the last time David had seen him.
“You’re looking good, Alan. I take it the shot is having an effect?”
He nodded. “The antiaging drugs are definitely having a positive effect. I’m getting a little more color in my hair, and there are some places that were thinning that seem to be firming up. It’s far too early to say what will happen, but the doctors tell me that there’s a bit of regression in my physical age, so I’m not going to complain.”
