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Greetings and welcome back to outer space. In this chapter Kyle learns that not all Space Fleet admirals are easy to deal with.
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CHAPTER 29
RESCUE SHIP
By Douglas DD
Assisted by Zarek Dragon
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6
<SS Heinlein bridge>
1530 hours
Kyle was sitting in the command chair on the bridge. The Heinlein had been ordered by Space Fleet to head for Star Base 7 at maximum speed where they would pick up a new generator for the Liberty. The Liberty had lost all but emergency power and even that wasn’t reliable.
“What is our astrogator’s ETA for Star Base 7?” Kyle asked Brett Gardener, who was the astrogator on duty for the watch. Brett was filling in for Danny who was wrapping up the meetings and paperwork connected to the completed drills.
“Expected arrival time is 0700 on Monday the ninth, Sir,” Brett said precisely. The eleven-year old’s high pitched tween voice sounded authoritative despite his age.
“Thank you, Mr. Gardner.” Kyle felt that departures, arrivals, and the first half hour or so of shift changes on the bridge should be formal. It kept them aware of how to conduct a formal protocol on the bridge. It was a procedure all of the crew understood and appreciated.
Kyle stood up. “You have the conn, Commander Hayes,” he said. Lucias rose from his jump seat and sat at the conn. Steve Boyer was normally scheduled for this watch, but Lucias was going to cover for him while Steve sat in a meeting of the ship’s senior officers. Kyle then left the bridge and headed for his ready room.
When Kyle entered the ready room, he saw Steve sitting at the meeting table. “Sorry to take you off of the start of your watch,” Kyle said with a serious look on his face.
“Well, if Devin would do a better job of scheduling, I would have been able to stand my entire watch,” Steve said. The first officer was responsible for making the watch schedules.
“How does 0200 sound for our next meeting?” Kyle smirked.
“It sounds like shit.”
“How about I signal Brad and Devin that I’m ready to meet. I’m certain they will hustle their asses over here to make sure you can cover every possible second of your watch.”
“Especially Brad. Since he’s my husband he knows he has to serve me to the best of his ability.”
“Or what? He’ll be deprived of your love tool?”
“Oh no, never that. If I deprive him, I end up depriving myself as well.”
Before their silliness could continue to greater depths Devin French entered the ready room. He had been in his ready room yawning his way through his latest stack of Space Fleet paperwork.
Shasho Boyer, who was the captain’s yeoman, entered from the back office carrying his tablet and all the materials he needed for this meeting.
Thirty seconds later Brad, who had been working in his office in Information Services, arrived and sat at the table with the other three officers. “What, no cookies to snack on?” he asked.
“The Dining Room will be opening for dinner soon. They’re making sure we come with a big appetite, so no snacks for us,” Steve said.
“Kyle, can’t you do something about this?”
“Didn’t you have cookies in your office?" Kyle responded.
“I thought you’d have cookies for the meeting. You usually do.”
“Since I don’t want a fat husband who ate too many cookies, I think everything worked out the way it was supposed to work out,” Steve said.
“And I think the quicker we get this meeting started and over with, the quicker we’ll end up in the Dining Room enjoying dinner,” Kyle said. He rapped the tabletop with his right knuckles. “This senior officer meeting of the SS Robert Heinlein is now in session.” He read off the date and time and said that since this this was an extraordinary session they would dispense with the reading of the minutes of their previous session.
“As you all know, we’re now on an entirely different mission than the one we were preparing for,” Kyle said. “The SS Liberty appears to be in a world of hurt and needs us to transport a new generator in order to get their systems operational. To do that we need to warp to Star Base 7 to pick it up and transport it.
“From what I’ve gathered, this is a life-or-death mission. Their life support is failing because of the lack of power. According to Captain St. Pierre they’ve had two temporary shutdowns over the last couple of days. We need to get that generator to the Liberty ASAP or their crew may not survive.”
“What about using the life support of their shuttles?” Steve asked. “In fact, why don’t they simply abandon ship? From what I’ve gathered in researching it, the Liberty is the oldest ship in the fleet and was on its last mission anyway.”
“Sounds to me like it was given one mission too many,” Devin said.
“And to answer Steve’s question, I’m not sure of the answers,” Kyle said. “All I know is the basics of the Liberty’s emergency. I am scheduled to have a video conference with Admiral Ivanovich at 2000. He is the commander of Star Base 7.”
“Why the long delay until the meeting?” Steve asked.
“To give us time to get organized and start our voyage to the star base and to give him time to have all of his facts together. Devin has been working with Captain Andrew Porter, who is the chief assistant on Star Base 7,” Kyle responded. “Also, it gives us time to enjoy dinner and meet on full stomachs.
“As you know, we’re about the same distance from the star base as the cargo ship Alpha Gallant. But we can make the journey in less than half the time it would take her to do it. And the same would be true regarding the trip from the star base to the Liberty. We are their best chance of completing a successful rescue.”
“Kyle and I met for about an hour this morning during drills working on the outline. After exchanging ideas with Captain Porter we realize we have some work to do before leaving the star base to assist the Liberty. Since we will be carrying a new generator to the Liberty, it looks like our drills were timed perfectly,” Devin said.
“The credit for that goes to Danny, who should be here at any moment to give us his plan for dealing with transloading the generator to the Heinlein.”
As if on cue, Danny entered the meeting room. He went to the video projector and inserted a memory stick. A still picture of the Heinlein’s two cargo shuttles, Bubba Saur and the Bubba Lou, showed up on the screen. “The pictures and the video were taken by our chief photographer, Riker Street of operations. He took them from the Beaver.” The Beaver was one of the two maintenance shuttles carried by the Heinlein.
Danny pressed an icon on the projector lens and the video started. The Bubba Saur was carrying a replica of a Universal Electric generator created by the ship’s replicator. He explained that the Bubba Lou would be playing the role of the Liberty while the Bubba Saur was playing the role of the cargo shuttle the Heinlein would be using to transload the generator to the starship.
The senior officers already knew that the drill had been a big success, yet they were still amazed at the precision displayed by the two cargo shuttles. “Your pilots are amazing,” Devin said. “I know that those bubbas are not easy to maneuver.”
“It comes from a lot of work by my pilots. We spent a lot of time on the simulators, me included,” Danny said.
“I wonder how close that drill was to the real work?” Steve said.
“Very close. You guys have to remember, we’ll have two different maneuvers to master. One is getting the generator from the space station onto the bubba and a few days later, getting the generator from the bubba to the Liberty. They’ll be almost identical to what our drill was like, but there will be a few differences, mostly because of differences in the equipment. There will be minor differences between the two maneuvers. The bubba pilots will be working at the simulators to get everything right.”
“One of the things I’ll be asking the admiral when we speak is what their plan is for transloading the generator to the Heinlein”, Kyle said. “Danny and I agree that they probably will use their own shuttle to carry the generator to us and transload it onto a bubba. The station commanders feel that the generator should remain attached to their shuttle and the shuttle should be attached to the Heinlein.”
“I’ve been looking as to how something like the generator would be attached to their shuttle and how the shuttle would be attached to us. That ship is almost three times the size of one of our bubbas,” Danny said. “I haven’t had much time to study it in detail, but I’ve got a general idea of how it would function. From what I’ve seen their plan isn’t going to work. Their shuttle is simply too big to be attached to the Heinlein.”
“Don’t they have smaller shuttles?” Brad asked.
“They have two of them, but they’re the size of one of our maintenance shuttles, which makes them too small to carry a generator. Plus, their crews aren’t trained on the transloading process,” Danny answered.
“Any more questions?” Kyle asked.
The officers shook their heads. Devin glanced at Kyle, who nodded, and then closed the meeting. It was time for dinner.
<Officers’ Dining Room>
1710.
Kyle, Danny, Koji, and Duskin sat together in the Executive Dining Room. Steve, Brad, and Shasho sat at the table next to them, and Logan Wilson along with his nine-year-old twin brothers Mark and Matthew were seated together at the back table. Kyle thought it was great to see those three families eating together in the Executive Dining Room. He had also seen Kage Enzan and his son Akage seated together in the Main Dining Room. As far as he was concerned, that family togetherness showed a responsibility beyond just being crew members of the Heinlein.
Because of a variety of responsibilities, along with scheduling issues, all of those families didn’t always eat together. In this case there was a member of the Robinson family missing and that was Ronnie Robinson, who was asked by Kyle not to join them for this dinner. Ronnie knew what the reason was and agreed it was valid one and cooperated with Kyle’s request, although he wished he could be sitting with his family. He kept his mouth shut if anybody asked him why he was eating in the Main Dining Room with members of the engineering staff instead of with his family in the Executive Dining Room.
Ronnie and Kyle both prayed that Kyle’s plan would work as planned. They remembered what Greg Robinson, who was Kyle’s birth father and Ronnie’s adoptive father, loved to say: “Man plans and God laughs.” Ronnie hoped that God was looking the other way this time.
“Why isn’t Uncle Ronnie sitting with us?” Koji asked Kyle. “Duskin misses him and so do I.”
“He probably wanted to have a dinner meeting with some of his staff,” Kyle answered. He stood up and walked to the entryway to the Executive Dining Room where he could get a look at the Main Dining Room. He searched for Ronnie’s table and was able to find it when he saw Scott Franklin, an engineering officer, taking a seat at the table. He saw that Ronnie was at the table. Ronnie had his back to Kyle, but he still recognized him. He not only was one of the biggest members of the crew, he was also one of the few Black crewmembers.
Kyle returned to his table and sat in his seat. “I was right. He’s sitting a table with some of his engineers.”
“He could come and have dessert with us,” Duskin said. Duskin rarely raised a fuss, but he was quite fond of his Uncle Ronnie. Kyle understood Duskin’s frustration.
“Because we’re now officially on a rescue mission your iosta Ronnie and his engineering crew have a lot to deal with in a short amount of time,” Kyle said, using the Draconic word for uncle.
After the group finished their meal, Koji asked Kyle if he and Duskin could go to the Main Dining Room to talk to their iosta. “You can go with Opsola Danny to tell him you miss him.”
“And then you’ll go with me to student recreation time at the holodeck.”
The boys reluctantly agreed and went with Danny to Ronnie’s table. Before the boys could say anything, Ronnie told him he missed them and hoped to sit and play and eat with them soon. ”We love you and miss you and we hope we will eat and play with you like you said real soon,” Koji blurted out.
“Me too,” Duskin added.
The boys then followed Danny to the Holodeck.
While this was going on, Kyle went to his ready room where he met Devin. The two of them put the finishing touches on the outline for their upcoming meeting with Admiral Ivanovich. They double checked their outline to make sure they had answers for all of the admiral’s questions and proposals.
1845
<Chief Engineer’s Ready Room>
Kyle headed to Engineering with a furious look on his face. He trudged through the Engineering Office where Barney Werney and Reggie Boland were checking that everything was working as required. They both noted the look on the captain’s face as he stomped into the Chief Engineer’s Ready Room where Ronnie was sitting at his desk. Kyle shut the door as hard as he could.
Barney and Reggie looked at each other and smirked. They both were members of the Guardians; Barney for over two weeks and Reggie for just the past two days. Barney knew that whatever had caused Kyle to lose his cool was good news since that was exactly what the Guardians wanted to happen.
Barney looked straight at Reggie to make sure he understood the significance of what he had just witnessed. Reggie’s smirk and accompanying nod said that he knew exactly what Kyle’s action meant. Since the Guardians had nothing planned that day it was likely that some other factor had sent their emotional captain into a fit of temper. The two engineering officers moved closer to the door hoping they could overhear what was being said in the ready room.
“Hey, bro, welcome to the guts of the ship,” Ronnie grinned.
“Don’t HEY BRO me!” Kyle shouted. “I’m the captain of this ship and you will address me as such! I don’t care if you are my brother on this ship you will address me as your captain!”
Barney and Reggie looked at each other after Kyle’s rage appeared to have ended. “I wonder what that was about?” Reggie asked quietly. Barney put a finger to his lips and the engineers went back to listening.
“To what do I owe this visit, sir?” Ronnie asked stiffly.
“One of the demands sent to us demanded we redline our warp drive from where we are to Star Base 7. I want you to prepare your engineering crew to be ready to make that happen,” Kyle said.
“With all due respect sir, but that is impossible.”
“I don’t want to hear about impossible. I want to hear that you will do as ordered. And what I said is an order.” Kyle texted something on his communicator and sent it off to Ronnie.
“You can order whatever you want, SIR! But it’s not going to happen!”
“The Sooloo did it more than once when I served on it. Apparently that task is beyond you. Maybe I should promote Kai to chief engineer since he served on the Sooloo.” Kai was now the Heinlein’s assistant chief engineer.
“Do whatever you want. The Sooloo is an Explorer Class starship and can do limited redline runs of up to two hours. The Heinlein is an Earhart Class starship. It was not built for prolonged redlining. Going past the redline is for emergency acceleration only. Its higher speed warp drive is sensitive to long periods of running above the redline and can shake itself apart if pushed too hard.”
“And long periods of running means what, an hour? Two hours?”
“No more than thirty minutes,” Ronnie said.
“Okay, so we slow down, let the engines recover for a few minutes, and then go over again. Too bad I can come up with a simple solution before my chief engineer does.”
“That’s not how it works, captain. Earhart Class ships can go for thirty minutes over the red line but then need at least an hour to cool down. Remember, even without going over the line they are faster than any known ship, including Darastixian ships.”
“Then how about getting off your lazy ass and finding a way for our engines to perform at that level safely for long periods of time.”
“I’ll respond to that stupid request by saying I can’t change the laws of physics---SIR!”
“I’m meeting with Admiral What’s His Name, the star base commander, in less than an hour. I order you to give me a better answer than that before my meeting time commences.”
Kyle sent off a quick text message, turned, and opened the office door. Barney and Reggie quickly sat at their desks as the door opened. Kyle was able to catch the tail end of the movement. He smiled to himself and stopped at the engineers’ desk. “Make it a great day guys. Thanks for keeping the Heinlein operating smoothly.”
“Thanks captain,” the engineers said insincerely as they wondered where Kyle’s seeming good mood came from. They had no doubt after overhearing what went on in the chief’s office that the good mood was fake. There was no doubt they had something special to report to Don Nixon. As soon as Kyle left the office, they agreed that Barney would contact Don and meet with him as soon as possible and report on what they had just overheard.
<Heinlein, Captain’s Ready Room>
1900
Devin and Kyle sat in the captain’s ready room looking over the discussion outline Devin and Captain Porter had completed. They couldn’t see how the Heinlein could travel at high warp with a large space craft attached to it. In fact, looking at the measurements of the shuttle, they weren’t even sure if the Heinlein could carry it at sub warp speed. They also noted that it could not maintain a speed past the red line.
Steve entered the ready room at 1924. It had been agreed that only Kyle, Admiral Ivanovich, and their first officers would sit at the meeting. Other officers could watch the meeting in another room but could not directly participate.
Steve had studied the outline as it grew. His job was to present possible objections to Kyle’s proposals and to give Admiral Ivanovich’s possible replies to Kyle’s objections. Steve was good at being a contrarian, which was the big reason Kyle had picked him for the role. At 1957 Kyle thanked Steve for his help and hard work and Steve left to observe the conclave from the viewscreen in the chief officers’ ready room.
Ship’s communications connected Admiral Nikita Ivanovich to Kyle as soon as the admiral’s signal arrived. Kyle was sitting at his desk with Devin sitting on his right. When the visage of the Star Base commander appeared on the room’s viewscreen Kyle immediately greeted the admiral.
“Greetings, Admiral Ivanovich. I am Captain Kyle Robinson. Welcome to the Robert Heinlein.” Space Fleet communication protocol considered a video visit to be the same as a physical visit as far as greetings were concerned. “My first officer, Commander Devon French, is with me in my ready room.”
Nikita cringed when he heard Kyle’s high-pitched voice and saw the smooth-faced little boy who looked like he should be sitting in a grade school classroom. He saw instantly that Captain St. Pierre of the Liberty was correct. Having that creature at the desk in command of a starship was a sham.
“I am a space fleet admiral and will show the snotnosed little brat on my screen how an officer and a gentleman behave,” he told his assistant commander, Captain Porter. “Captain Robinson does not realize that he will likely be relieved of duty within the next twenty-four hours.” Captain Porter nodded obediently.
Nikita flicked a switch and his communicator was now live, “Good day, Captain Robinson and Commander French. It is a pleasure to be welcomed aboard your command.” He almost said that it was an honor to be welcomed aboard, but that would have been too big of a lie for him to utter.
“And a warm welcome to Star Base 7 for the two of you. Commander French has already met Captain Porter, my first officer.” Captain Porter nodded. As had been the case when he was a starship captain, Porter was amused as to how Space Fleet couldn’t figure out whether the number two person on a star base was the assistant commander (as he would be on a land base) or a first officer (as he would be on a spaceship). They finally settled on assistant commander.
The meeting got off to a smooth start as Nikita and Kyle went through the basic protocols and agreed on how to fulfill them. This included boilerplate language on such items as the closest distance the Heinlein could be to the star base during their stay, the fastest it could travel once it closed to within 1500 kilometers of the star base, as well as other basic “housekeeping” items. Then things started to get interesting.
“I see you read and answered my request that you push your ship into the red zone between your current position and Star Base 7,” Nikita said. “Your answer is not acceptable, Captain Robinson. We need you to get to the Star Base in the fastest possible time. My engineering officer tells me there is no reason your ship shouldn’t be able to push itself past the redline for two hours at a time like an Explorer Class ship can.”
“With all due respect, sir, but Chief Engineer Robinson says that the Earhart ships are not able to do that. Thirty minutes is their max and even then they need an hour or so to cool down. My understanding is that Space Fleet is working with the Darastixians to get a longer operating time for the Earhart class ships when over the red line. Obviously, they have been unsuccessful so far.”
“When I attended the academy, I learned that making excuses was not a good way to explain failure. This is a results oriented business which even a child like you should be able to understand.”
“Yes, sir—I understand, sir,” Kyle said meekly in an attempt to get the crotchety admiral off his case.
“Good. Then you surely understand that you will be arriving here, at Star Base 7, earlier than scheduled. Much earlier. Your ship is close to brand new and should stand up to being pushed hard.”
“Yes, sir,” Kyle said, although he had no intention of pushing his ship beyond the limits set by Space Fleet.
Admiral Ivanovich shook his thick white mane and then looked at his outline. “We had one more disagreement on our outlines,” he said.
“Yes, sir. I know sir.”
The difference was Admiral Ivanovich’s insistence that the generator remain attached to the star base’s shuttle, with the shuttle being attached to the Heinlein. The Heinlein’s officers did not like that alternative. First, the shuttle simply would not fit into the ship’s shuttle bay, which the admiral had to concede.
Although the numbers did not violate any Space Fleet protocols, the Heinlein officers—especially Devin, Steve, and Ronnie—believed attaching the shuttle to the Heinlein would place too much strain on both its structure and engines.
“And you are seeing this my way, correct,” the admiral asked. Kyle answered him with a silent stare. “I didn’t think you would. Only in the Explorer Program does one find a child who hasn’t even reached puberty yet, disagreeing with an experienced admiral in the fleet. You understand that this is a life-or-death mission you’re now involved in, correct?”
“Yes, sir, I do.”
“How do you plan to load the generator onto you ship?”
“As I stated in my outline, my crew would handle most of the process.”
“You truly think a group of untrained boys can handle a job that big? Surely you jest. This isn’t the same as loading a couple of crates of supplies.”
“I am aware of that, Admiral. I take it you have watched the video of our handling a model generator without a mistake.”
“I elected not to waste my time on childish nonsense. We will be handling the generator as true Space Fleet professionals. End of story.”
“And I will do my best to see to it that the Heinlein handles the generator in the most efficient and safe way possible,” Kyle said confidently.
“You still dare to defy the officer in charge of this mission even though you have absolutely no reason to do so.”
Kyle paused for a moment to ensure he didn’t fly into a rage. “I have every reason to disagree with you sir,” he said with firm conviction. “As I stated you are wrong regarding flying in the red zone and you are wrong about us taking on the extra weight of the Star Base shuttle. You say you want us to go faster while at the same time you want us to carry a dangerous load that is going to slow us down.”
Devin listened raptly to his captain and friend. He felt that even with his high pitched pubescent voice Kyle sounded mature beyond his years. He knew what he was talking about and presented his point of view in a calm, respectful manner.
What Admiral Ivanovich heard, however, was a whiney, high-strung adolescent who was a disgrace to Space Fleet and needed to be replaced. “I heard from Admiral Harley Benson, a good friend of mine that you are a narcissistic little brat who is full of himself and has shown himself to be an incompetent commander. The only reason you are sitting where you are is because of who your father is.
“You need to be prepared for the fact that when you arrive at Star Base 7 you will be replaced by someone he highly recommended to command the crew, while I will take over as the captain of the ship. Benson feels he was the best candidate for your job, but obviously didn’t have your connections. And since the lacky who pretends to be your first officer is as incompetent as you, he will not be your replacement. Nor will the two idiots you appointed to be your second and third officers.”
After hearing Harley Benson’s name mentioned, Kyle knew exactly whose name Ivanovich was going to come up with as did Devin. Kyle thought of all kinds of things he could say to the admiral but managed to keep his mouth shut. Devin admired Kyle’s self-control. He was on the verge of screaming which wouldn’t help Kyle’s position at all.
“I will see you at 0700 on the ninth Admiral Ivanovich. Be advised that my crew will be prepared to place the generator on board the Heinlein on their own. I’m positive that once you view the video my communications department sent, you will agree with me.” Kyle stated with authority. He then disconnected his communication before the admiral. It was an act he knew was disrespectful, but he didn’t care.
Devin shook his head after the admiral’s visage disappeared off the screen. “Damn. I’m not looking forward to that asshole boarding our ship on Monday. We’ve got him working against us and we’ve got Benson working against us. It’s like you’ve gotta be an asshole to become an admiral.”
“Not even close,” Kyle said. I’ve met a lot admirals and while some are better than others, the number who are assholes is pretty small. I mean, my dad is an admiral and my godfather is an admiral. Two of my crewmates from the Sooloo are the youngest two admirals in the fleet and are doing amazing work. You’ve seen the Admirals on the ad hoc Explorer Committee at work. Even when you don’t agree with them, you have to admit they know their stuff and are good guys to work with. Harley Benson excepted, of course.”
“I guess I kind of went overboard with my emotions.”
“Probably because the guy we have to deal with is an asshole. But I know some admirals with a lot of clout and I plan on chatting with them. If nothing else, we’ve got a little over two days to get some advice on how to handle this situation. One thing Nicky is right about—this is a life-or-death situation and everybody has to help us get this done right.”
“I love how you call the admiral, Nicky,” Devin grinned. “He talks about us acting like kids, hell, he REALLY acts like one. You’re way more grown up than he is. Do you think he will actually look at the video of our shuttles transloading the model generator?”
“My guess is he will toss it into the recycling bin,” Kyle said. “I know one person who would be happy if Nicky is able to follow through on this threat to take over the Heinlein.”
“Donald Nixon.”
“Yep, Mr. Guardian himself being mentioned as the captain of the Heinlein for the biggest mission in its short life.”
“It ain’t gonna happen.”
The conversation was interrupted by Ronnie, Steve, Danny, and Brad entering the ready room. “Well, the good admiral is a bit of an asshole, I would say,” Steve said.
“Ya think?” Kyle grinned.
“We’re running at the speed that will get us to the Star Base at our ETA,” Ronnie told everyone.
“Unless we stop off at a drive-thru for burgers,” Kyle said.
“Then you’re on your own.”
“The big question is, how are we going to handle the transfer of the generator when we reach SB7?” Kyle asked.
“Well, we know that the crew of Bubba Saur has successfully completed the training mission and is fully capable of picking up the generator at the star base and transferring it to the Heinlein from the star base and to the Liberty once we reach her,” Danny said. “And if we get into a pinch for some reason, we have backup. The crew members of the Bubba Lou can fill in to help complete the mission if needed.”
“Thanks to your well-planned training missions.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Okay, great. We know we’re capable of fulfilling the mission. But how do we convince Nicki. He’s convinced I’m a dumb little kid who doesn’t know shit about commanding a star ship and because of that my crew doesn’t know shit.”
“Hey, we have two days to figure something out. And since we’re a hell of a lot smarter than the dumbshits at the star base, we sure as hell should be able to come up with a solution,” Steve said.
Before anyone could respond, Devin’s communicator buzzed. “This better be important. Everyone knows we’re in a crucial meeting.” He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the screen. “Hmm, this is interesting.”
“Who is…” Kyle started to say, but stopped when Devin held up his hand.
“Commander French, here. Greetings Captain Porter. To what do we owe this honor?”
Devin nodded his head and uttered a few quick phrases. “I understand, Sir.” A nod of the head. “He is sitting right next to me.” Another nod of the head. “I will let him know. I’m sure he will be available.” A pause, “Out.”
“That sounded interesting,” Steve said.
“It was very interesting. As you know, Captain Porter is the assistant commander of SB7. He says he wants to talk with Kyle tomorrow at 1000 and that he has some subject to discuss that should be of interest to him and to our crew.”
“Maybe things are starting to look up,” Kyle said.
“Or maybe Captain Porter is Nicki’s puppet and will see if he can get us to dance to the admiral’s tune,” Steve said.
“You can be quite the pessimist at times,” Brad told him.
“Or maybe I’m just being a realist.”
“Either way, tomorrow we are all going to meet at 0800 and finalize our plan on how to transload the generator on board the Heinlein and transport it to the Liberty; without any outside interference,” Kyle said. “The department heads will be included in this one. We have a lot of ground to cover, and I want to hear from as many officers as possible.”
“This means our meeting is now adjourned?” Steve asked hopefully.
“No, it means we have one more thing to discuss before we adjourn the meeting. And that would be our good friend Lieutenant Donald Nixon and his minions.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Brad said.
“Well, you all heard Nicky tell us how he had someone in mind to assist him command the ship who was recommended by Admiral Benson. And while we’re all but totally sure Nixon and the Guardians are connected to Benson in some way, there’s no doubt we have to watch Nixon and his crew closely between here and Star Base 7.”
“There’s no way they’ll do something totally stupid with us being in an emergency situation is there?” Devin asked. “I mean, even they aren’t that stupid.”
“I think they just might be more than that stupid,” Brad said.
“Devin, how about you and me talking to Kage, like instantly, and have him get some of his security guys on high alert.” Kage Enzan was the head of security.
“I’ll message him to meet us here ASAP,” Devin said.
“So, how about we end this little informal gathering, unwind, so you guys can get a good night’s rest,” Kyle said.
“Sounds like a plan,” Danny said. "All I have to do is head for our quarters and make sure our boys are under control since it looks like Kyle will be busy playing captain. But,I have a feeling that the little rugrats will be either sound asleep or busy doing something naked brothers like to do together when I arrive at our quarters. Either way, they should be behind closed doors.”
“You will be in charge of them since as soon as Devin and I have finished meeting with Kage I am gonna want to meet with Ronnie at the Glory Road for a hot drink and a cookie or two.” The Glory Road was a lounge set up every evening from 1930 to 2345 in the holodeck.
“I’m good with it,” Ronnie said.
“Oh, and Brad, I want you to stick around for our meeting with Kage in case we need some tricky communication system set up.”
And with that, the gathering ended.
SS LIBERTY
1920
<Captain’s Ready Room>
Captain Eric St. Pierre was meeting with his senior officers in his ready room.
“We have our systems stabilized, Eric. Or at least as much as they can be under the circumstances,” Chief Engineer Dennis McDonough said. “Our life support reserves will run out on the eleventh. By then my engineers will have the shuttles connected to the Liberty’s life support. Connecting the shuttles will give us life support to the sixteenth.”
“Which is the day the Heinlein should reach us according to Admiral Ivanovich,” Eric said.
“Fantastic. I will send this information to the admiral,” First Officer Arnie Baylor said.
Captain St. Pierre held up his right hand. “Don’t send him anything yet. I want to get the perspective of the Heinlein’s captain.”
“I thought you had no use for him because he’s no more than a young child,” Chief of Operations Patricia Kennedy said.
“I don’t and he is. But, thanks to the great work of our engineering crew we are far ahead of where we thought we’d be at this time when our generator quit just over two days ago. They’ve managed to perform some true miracles.”
“Then why wait to contact Admiral Ivanovich?”
“Because when push comes to shove, I want to be able to show that I have found out everything I can about every avenue of rescue. This is a life-or-death situation for our crew. They are working their asses off to ensure that we survive, as are Admiral Ivanovich and Captain Porter at Star Base 7. But the Heinlein will be our actual rescuer, and I want to know what they have planned before I approve of our final plan and inform Ivanovich.”
Arnie nodded with satisfaction. He knew there was more to his captain than the close-minded, stubborn coot, he’d been since the generator problems struck them. ‘Captain Robinson may be everything Eric said he was, but at least he’s going to give the kid a chance before coming to a final verdict regarding Robinson’s capabilities,’ he thought.
2145
“Captain, Admiral Ivanovich is on the ship’s communicator,” Ensign Mary Fitzhue, the Captain’s assistant, announced.
“Tell him I will return his communication in just a moment,” Eric said.
Eric grabbed his own communicator off his desk and sent a communication to the admiral. “Ivanovich here,” Nikita said gruffly. “Where is the video?”
“Sorry, sir, but it takes up less of the ship’s backup power if we use our personal communicators whenever possible. Recharging them takes less power than using the ship’s system for an entire video call.”
“Keep in mind that I am an admiral and deserve the best service available,” Nikita said. ‘Why is it that ship’s captains seem to believe they have the run of the galaxy?’ he thought.
“I will keep that in mind, admiral.” ‘I wonder who stuck a hair up his butt?’ Eric thought.
“Please note that the Heinlein’s arrival will be much sooner than you may have estimated. I will be taking control of the ship as soon as she reaches SB7 and will be overriding the ridiculous cautions thrown at me by the incompetent little boy put in command of a starship because of who his father is. I doubt he will attempt to contact you, but if he does, I order you to ignore him and cut him off.”
“Yes, sir,” Eric said as he wondered what had sent off the admiral’s rant.
“Very good. I will be contacting you as soon as I have more information. Most likely as soon as the Heinlein reaches the star base on the ninth. It would be sooner than that if I had anything to say about it. Oh, and when we speak again, I expect you to use your ship’s communicator. The way I have things scheduled out means the Heinlein will be reaching you as much as four days ahead of what we originally discussed, but it will happen only if I take command of it.”
“Yes, sir. I will do as requested. St. Pierre, out.”
“What the hell was that all about?” First Officer Arnie Baylor asked.
“I’m not sure. But it does appear that there is a reason Admiral Ivanovich was assigned to an out-of-the-way post. He doesn’t appear to be an effective commander.”
“How does he plan to cut so much time off of the Heinlein’s travel ETA?”
“I don’t know. But I have a bad feeling about it. I’m wondering if I should talk to the Heinlein’s captain about it.”
“I suggest you wait a day or two and see if he contacts you. What I do think you should do is see if Chief McDonough can come up with a way that one of the fastest ships in the fleet can be programmed to go even faster than its specs.”
“Good idea. It looks like I have a couple of things to take care of in the morning.”
SS HEINLEIN
<Holodeck. Glory Road Lounge>
2130
Ronnie and Kyle sat at Table 4, which Ronnie had reserved, and perused the menu. The lounge was the brainchild of Perry Fox, who was the holodeck manager. It had seating for 40 and was staffed by members of the food service waitstaff. Andy Stovey, one of the two waiters working the lounge that evening, was their waiter. The lounge was almost full and was surprisingly quiet for a room full of adolescents.
“Wow, we are honored to have the captain and the chief engineer enjoying the lounge tonight. What can I get for you?” Andy asked.
“I’ll have one of your big oatmeal raisin cookies and a hot chocolate,” Ronnie said.
“I’ll have the same, except make my cookie a chocolate chip,” Kyle said.
“I’ll have them in a jiffy.” Andy left to fill their order and Perry walked over to the table and greeted the officers.
“Good to have you visiting our lounge” Perry said.
“Another of your great ideas,” Kyle grinned.
“It was actually a little idea. Most starships have a lounge of some kind, but ours is the first to use the holodeck. The others use the dining room.”
“Well, the Heinlein is one of the first starships to have a holodeck.”
“True,” Perry said. “So, we might as well take advantage of it. We can open the lounge earlier because we don’t have to wait for the dining room to be cleared out. I didn’t expect it to be so popular and had to set up the reservation system. I’m working on creating a larger lounge. It would be an easy job if I could shut down the gym and use that space, but that wouldn’t go over well.”
“Nope. The crew needs a place to work off the extra donuts and cookies,” Ronnie said.
Andy returned with Ronnie and Kyle’s order and then left to serve Table 7.
“I’ll leave you guys to enjoy your snacks. Thanks for stopping by,” Perry said. He then left for the holodeck control room.
The topic Kyle wanted to discuss with Ronnie was how to deal with Admiral Ivanovich and his insistence on speeding over the red line. This was slated as a serious conversation, not as a show like their earlier one had been. Ronnie flipped a switch that created a field of white noise around their table, allowing their conversation to be private. The visitors to the lounge would know they were in serious discussions but not know what was being said. Of course, they enjoyed the same privilege at their tables.
“What we need to do is give the admiral a set ETA for our meet with the Liberty,” Kyle said.
“And give him one that has the blessing of the engineering gurus at HQ.”
“I want to know what YOU can do, bro. It’s going to be important for more than the obvious reasons.”
“But we have another arrival time to deal with, first, and that is our arrival time at Star Base 7,” Ronnie said.
“Right now, it’s set for 0700 on Tuesday. Which leads me to this question—how much earlier can you get us there?”
Ronnie pondered the question for a moment and then got out his communicator and opened up the calculator. After punching in some numbers, he said, “I can get us there sometime between five and six without violating any protocols or chewing up excessive fuel.”
“Perfect,” Kyle grinned. “As you know, Nicki wants his shuttle to carry the generator rather than transload to a bubba and then to the Heinlein. Captain Porter wants to meet with me and the senior officers tomorrow. I’m pretty sure he wants to discuss that plan. I have a suspicion Nicki’s number two might be on our side regarding this issue.”
“I have a feeling you have a plan and getting to the star base earlier than our estimated arrival time is part of it.”
“You know me all too well, bro. Would you like to hear my plan?”
“Absolutely.”
Kyle proceeded to tell him.
Next: Star Base 7