Totality's End, page 2
“What doesn’t your sister do these days?” asked Jack.
I couldn’t stop myself chuckling.
Three
After dinner, I waded through something Angie wanted me to consider.
It had arrived not long after Mira’s broadcast. The station and shipyard were generating money for me which was all sitting there doing nothing. Angie wanted me to start my own freight company using a ship she called a Camel. It was a corvette hull with several versions now, one of which was military.
The one she wanted me looking at was a civilian model designed to move freight around while still being able to protect itself quite well. They were being used to move colonists and their possessions from the small stations in orbit, which were linked to the magic freight network, and the ground. They could land anywhere, and offload everything being taken there. They were also capable of dealing with pirates, or claim jumpers, so were a multi-role ship that small crews could live on.
So in theory, colonists could load up a container, have it picked up by a freight shuttle and taken to the space port, sent through the magic freight network to the colony station, and then loaded onto a Camel to be put on their claim where they wanted it. The colonists themselves walked there, and then went down with the Camel and their container. A single ship could load up a number of these for each trip down.
The ships weren’t cheap. Actually, my initial reaction was one of horror, but Angie claimed they were very reasonable. The other thing they could do was dock with a jump freighter bringing a lot of colonists, and do round trips to the ground until they were all moved. Apparently all of her jump freighters doing colonist runs carried around the Camel as well.
Of course, she wanted me to invest in the freighters too, but until we had the diplomacy in place, they couldn’t get the jump drives. However, Angie could, so she wanted me to buy the ships, and she’d operate them until I was licenced for the tech, when they’d be transferred to my own freight company.
It was all a bit much for me, but with colonies being opened up, someone needed to supply the means of people getting to them. And it was not as if I had any use for all the money pouring into my account now. In actual fact, I was ignoring that. Angie wasn’t. The family knew what I was being paid, because they ran the station and the shipyard.
I put it all aside, and went to bed.
Actual camels pulling containers around on alien worlds were replaced by me standing on top of an elaborate sand castle. It was a recreation of a medieval Earth citadel, in sand, and I was standing on the top tower, with it handling my weight.
The tide was coming in.
Soon the water was lapping at the walls, and then the waves got bigger and bigger, and the entire castle started crumbling and collapsing, before finally dumping me on my face into the water. I started to drown.
And woke up covered in sweat, with my heart pounding.
The camels were new. The rest of it was now a recurring nightmare, and it didn’t change much from night to night. After the first one, I’d left the lights off, since that invariably attracted Katy from her bed, and I didn’t want her knowing this was happening most nights now. I still didn’t know how she knew I was awake, but she always did when the light went on. Part of the mystic behind the stewards, I guess.
Once my heart was beating normally again, I’d lain back down, and gone back to sleep again. This time, which wasn’t always the case, I slept right through. Maybe the camels had changed getting the second reel this time.
When I woke at my normal time, I was mostly rested, but remembered the dream vividly. It made sense, though. Over the last three weeks I’d been taking out the Intrepids on gun or missile hit and runs, honing the tactics we’d used today, and progressively destroyed a lot of the heavier ships heading our way. Today was the first time we’d gone for total destruction of a fleet, but the Surtee were worth making an exception for, since they were the ring leaders.
If what we had to face when they came for us was mainly cruisers and destroyers, we’d be in a lot better position to repel the attacks. What made it to the armadas was now way too risky to even jump attack, so I’d been targeting fleets on their way.
It was only a matter of time now before someone deemed their armadas big enough to break through us. They didn’t know we’d had even more ships come back from Arthur’s shipyard, but I was sure they were going for overkill this time. Hence my sub-conscious being worried about drowning.
After showering and dressing, I checked the scan properly. This had become a morning ritual, checking on how many ships and what kind had joined each of the seven jump points in the three buffer systems. Only one of them had a scan range for what was coming for several days away, with the rest having no warning at all, or just five hours where we’d been able to put a scan device in. Each day saw more everywhere. But it was the totals for a system that were weighing heavily on me now.
Jack, Peng, and Adams were already sitting there when I went into the dining room, and breakfast was put in front of us as soon as I was seated. Both of my senior pilots had settled into their new roles really well, and pilots were now mobile between ships at different jump points. Carriers were still building Mustangs, though, although that would soon be completed.
Magicians had sped up the conversion of maintenance decks, so the standard Battle class could handle four hundred now, but only launch a hundred at a time. Most of them didn’t have anywhere near that many pilots, as the newly upgraded carriers had received the best of them from across the fleet. The Intrepids could handle four fifty now, but only launch a hundred and fifty at a time.
One of the things I’d found interesting was that all the pilots from the Round Tables were on one of the eight upgraded carriers, so considered among the best. Even better, a few of the third year cadets that had been made operational way too early out of need, had also made it to those ships. They didn’t have the combat experience, but they’d done the work in the simulators, and beaten out experienced pilots. They were all JG’s now.
The media was showing the two colony planets from orbit, and also several places on the ground. And they did look like worlds worth living on. An offhand thought, which I dismissed really quickly, was wondering if I could put in a claim on both of them to establish the first space ports. But in spite of not wanting to think about that, the thought kept persisting, and finally I pulled my phone out, and sent the suggestion to Angie.
‘Now you’re getting it,’ she sent back.
By seven thirty I was in my office, civilian stuff forgotten, and wading through the fleet reports. Trouble with captains was a thing of the past now, and after a few more wing commanders had been replaced because they refused to launch with their wings, or do simulator training, there’d been no further trouble there either.
Fleet training to maximize point defences was ongoing, and we were even experimenting with moving defences, with the fleet constantly moving in defined ways to minimize the ability of the enemy to fire and forget from outside fuel ranges, and have a likelihood of hitting something.
Ops was training the other Fleet Ops at the same time, and the pilots were in the simulators for hours at a time each shift, practicing using fighter missiles to kill ship missiles. That allocation software was evolving as well, so as to minimize the same enemy missile being launched at multiple times.
I also had Ops working on other defence options, but as yet, they were just proposals still being refined. We needed a way to cope with overkill when it got here, and without losing too many ships in the process. It was think out of the box time, and Ops was proving to be good at that. The irony is, if he’d been on carriers, one day he’d have made a damned good carrier captain out on patrol. Instead, he’d found himself on a cruiser, and never likely to have found out what he was good at.
But one day now, he probably would make it to carrier captain.
Four
Ida came in as the shift was changing over, and sat opposite me.
“Resolution is coming out of the shipyard around lunch time,” she said.
“Resolution?”
“The first new Intrepid mark four.”
“You mean four T.”
T for Terra, as some of the tech in the mark four we couldn’t get yet.
“No, it’s a mark four. The next one will be a mark four T, but this one is designated as your ship, and the Imperator himself authorised the full version.”
“My ship?” That had been suggested before, but I’d thought people were joking. “What happens if I don’t want it?”
“The Imperium tech gets removed, and she comes out tomorrow instead.”
“Does she have a jump drive?”
“No. But the one on this ship can be moved.”
“What happens to Solace if we move again?”
“Solace goes back to Arthur, as a trade off for the Imperium tech, and because you’re only authorised for one Imperium level ship. A bridge crew is waiting to take over here, who apparently have been flying for the League on smaller ships, and are now deemed ready.”
“What do we do for crew?”
“We only need the same as we have now. The ship is largely automated, where the four T version expects to use a full crew. The only real increase in people between here and Resolution is doubling the number of pilots.”
“How many?”
“Nine hundred in total. The three levels of decks in each flight pod can launch seventy five each, with the same ten seconds later.”
“The mosquito system?”
“Installed.”
She was grinning at me.
“And I’m getting Imperium tech, why?”
“You’re seen as a good bet. Angie is trusted, and proved reliable, and you are by extension, and your record to date on this ship. Also, you’re seen as the one decent command officer Terra has now, and no-one wants to lose you because we jump into a meat grinder by accident, and can’t get out fast enough.”
That mouth tick of mine went off, because that sort of talk disturbed me. I was not more essential than anyone else in the fleet. Having worked with Thorgasson a lot lately, I could see a lot of potential in him, and I was leaving most of the day to day running of the fleet in his hands.
Mickon was also trying out training courses on all the other admirals, trying to get them advancing their skills. Two of the ground based ones were actually making an effort with them, as part of them trying to get ship command back. Some of the captains were as well, but they still had a lot of attitude adjustment needed before they’d ever be considered for ship duty again.
“Mustangs?”
“The shipyard’s fighter bay came online two days ago, and has been building them constantly since. Resolution will launch with a thousand on board. They’ll all need acceptance testing, though.”
I sighed.
“So we’re moving again?”
“Yep.”
She seemed to find my reluctance funny.
“Ask Jack to come in then.”
It wasn’t often I called him in, so he entered with speculation about why on his face. I waved him to one of the chairs.
“Problem?” he asked, once seated.
“We’re moving again.”
“Really? Where to?”
“Resolution. She’s an Intrepid mark four apparently, with all the bells and whistles, and coming out around lunch time.”
“You mean…”
“Yes. ALL the bells and whistles. Tell the crew we’re moving again, and to pack when they can, for transfer sometime this afternoon. Have Helm take the prime shift seconds, and Eng and whoever she wants to take, there straight away, and as soon as the ship is ready, do the acceptance testing for it. We’ll transfer when they finish, assuming the ship doesn’t go back into the shipyard again straight away to fix stuff, and however we do that is in place. Before you announce it, ask Coms to put Peng on my screen, so I can warn her first.”
“What happens to Solace now?”
“Going back to Arthur. We’re keeping the jump drive though.”
“I’ll move it over as soon as Resolution is out of the bay,” said Ida. “At that point, this ship will need a sled to jump around again. The station mages will be moving the rifts from here once the move is about to start, and will put in the rifts between the two ships, same as was done last time. Once we’re gone, the new bridge crew will jump in with a new jump drive, and as soon as it’s installed, they’ll jump out.”
“I guess this was inevitable,” said Jack, “but it seems we never stay on a ship for very long these days. I’ll be sorry to leave here.”
“Intrepid class, Jack. You’re beating all those captains out there to the top of the class range.”
He snorted, and then chuckled.
“I guess so.” He jumped up. “Is there anything we need to do for the next hour or so?”
“Not that I know about, but anything could develop at any time. You know that. Why?”
“We need to get third shift packed before they go to sleep, and second can pack as they wake up. Best time for third is now, and if we’re not going anywhere, prime can pack now as well.”
“Fine with me.”
He nodded, and strode out. Ida followed him, and I pondered yet another ship move until Peng appeared on my screen.
“Ma’am?”
“We’re moving again, probably some time this afternoon. So get your pilots here packing.”
“Where are we going?”
“Resolution. She’s Intrepid mark four class, and launches nine hundred.” Her mouth fell open. “So work out which wings you want to transfer from other ships, and get them packing as well. We don’t need to move birds, just pilots, but all the new birds will need to be tested as soon as the ship is ready for that. I’m sending Helm over with some people to test the ship, so if you can also send seventy five pilots over to test the catapults on each deck, that can be done before the rest of us get there.”
“When?”
“She’s coming out of the bay around lunch time is all I have now, but I’m sending Helm there now. The pilots can go at the same time, and get birds ready to go into the tubes once the ship is out of the bay.”
“Do you mind if I send all of ours now?”
“If you want to. Apparently there’s a thousand birds on that ship, or will be by the time it launches.”
Her mouth fell open again.
“I’ll get our people moving. How do we get over there?”
“Ask Ida to get the pilot magic door put in by the time you’re all packed. But also check the ship is ready for people first too.”
“It is,” said Ida, through the desk speaker. “Mostly what’s happening now is final checks by the repair droids that everything works. Before your maintenance crews go over, those ones will be withdrawn.”
“So we need maintenance crews for the extra wings as well?” asked Peng.
“You don’t need them at all, actually. But we’ve got half of them now, unless you want to send them to…”
“No, we’re good. Ma’am, I’ll get us moving. As soon as we get a doorway in pilot country, we’ll start going through.”
“Good,” I told her. “Let Ida know where the other doorways need to be put for the extra wings.”
“Will do.”
She nodded, grinned suddenly, and then vanished.
“Now hear this,” said Jack’s voice. “Sometime this afternoon, we’re moving to an Intrepid class ship. All personnel not currently asleep or on essential duty should pack now, ready to move at a moment’s notice. Swap with someone who can’t so they can. Pilots are moving first, as soon as the magic door for them goes in. Helm and Eng are taking crews there immediately to begin acceptance testing the ship. Take everything with you, as once we leave, no-one is coming back. That is all.”
The not coming back thing sounded a bit ominous, but that was probably my paranoia influencing my thinking. These three stars I had on were heavy.
An image of Helm’s face appeared on my screen, and I chuckled. He looked a combination of shocked and elated. My eyes went to his shoulders. He was the only lieutenant on the bridge from our original crew, and while most of the shift support crew were JGs or ensigns, there were a few lieutenants among them, notably Second and Third.
I sent Aide a message to do something about that.
Five
About an hour later, I had a horrible thought.
Helm and Eng were already over there, along with most of our pilots, including Peng, Adams, and Flight. My guess was, Eng hadn’t even packed. Getting over there to see brand new mark four Intrepid engines and power generators would have been her only thought from the moment she heard the announcement.
The thought that stopped me cold in the middle of a report was personal. Ida provided me with the specifications for the new ship, and I checked on the flag section. Everything was there that we had now, only bigger. But it was my office that I was interested in, and when I centred on it, I breathed a sigh of relief.
My den was on it. Slightly larger again, like everything else, but there, and looking how I wanted it. The main office was palatial, and my simulator was shown as being there. The screens were sufficient to show every captain in the fleet at all the jump points and the reserve all at once.
But there was a chair sitting in the middle of an empty area.
“Ida?”
“Yes?”
“What’s that chair in the middle of nowhere for?”
“That’s a new feature on command ships now. It’s designed to provide holographic screens all around you, so everything you might want to look at is there at your finger tips. Of course, it’s designed for someone with League level tech to use it, but I can display anything you want there. All you need is to ask for it.”
“Why would I want to?”
“A lot of those reports you spend time on could be displayed as large screens, and rotated around you, so instead of reading them, you can get instant recognition displays. Fleet statuses, for example.”
