Four
I left the bridge to Serena.
My ready room was bigger than my previous one on Long Water, with both a conference table for six, and the same number of lounge chairs. The desk was bigger, and behind it was a larger display case where my medals and actual insignia were laid out for striking effect.
I sat with my back to the case, and the ship status displays lit up on the wall opposite me. For the first time I pulled up a record screen, and set it running.
“Admiral. The Trixone fighters are safe, as are the traders. The fighters fired on us, but the traders seems to be appreciative of removing a threat they didn’t know about. It seems their communications network in this area is partly compromised, probably due to enemy action.”
“I can report that attacks of less than one second duration were effective, with no return fire reported. We were just too fast, with a capital ship hitting the stern, and a squadron hitting the nose. I’m not sure how long we’ll get away with this, but for now, I suspect it’s probably safe for other ships to use in the short term. You might like to suggest to the fleet admirals that attacks lasting less than a second might work against the Trixone as well, and if they can keep them below half a second, only automated systems can possibly respond. In theory.”
“Shakedown cruise completed. Awaiting further orders, sir. Lieutenant Commander Bud, out.”
I stopped recording, reviewed it, wondered if having your awards behind you while talking to your boss was a good idea or not, and sent it to Admiral Jedburgh anyway. After all, I hadn’t put them there. It was only at that point I realized I could have talked to him in real time, since we were currently a rift away from Haven. But then, I wasn’t game to just request a chat with a four star admiral. If he wanted one, he’d call me.
“Eagle on his way up,” said the voice of Leanne.
“Send him in. And when you get a moment, move the medal case to where it’s not visible in a vid recording, and looks like a decoration instead of an ego wank.”
The ‘Aye’ which came back was more of a laugh.
Eagle strode in about a minute later, and took a seat across the desk from me. I saw his eyes go behind me.
“Nice display,” he grinned.
“Not my choice of where to put them, I assure you.”
“Why not?”
“It’s a little blatant, and way too much like an ego running amok.”
He laughed.
“Glad to hear you say so.”
“Where would you prefer them?” asked Leanne.
“Actually, not in here at all. In the office in my quarters. But not where any vid I record will see them, and not in my line of sight as I sit at the desk.”
“I’ll see to it while you’re at lunch. What would you prefer behind you?”
I thought about it for a moment.
“Three images. An Excalibur five, Long Water, and Judge.”
“Noted.”
“Good choice,” said Eagle, “but are you open to suggestions?”
“Sure.”
“Have two images, the same size. The one on the left is previous ships. The one on the right is your current command. And I’d include a Brawler and an Excalibur four on the left.”
“Noted,” said Leanne, before I could say anything.
I chuckled, and he grinned again.
“Fine. Let’s see how they look. What can I do for you, Squadron Leader?”
“I thought we should go over some ground rules, before someone sends us somewhere else.”
“I was expecting a very boring day today, doing nothing more than formation flying.”
“I was too. And we need to do some after lunch if we get the chance, just to get the new squadrons up to speed.”
“Plan on that then. How are the pilots doing?”
“You mean, are they satisfied with the plan of attack, and how well it went?”
“That bad?”
He chuckled again.
“Not really, but it was only marginally more satisfying than being a mobile weapons platform that sits in one place.”
“Practical reality at this point in time, for where we are. The dinosaurs don’t appear to have fighters, or at least we haven’t seen any yet, and if we take more than a second to jump in and fire, we’re going to lose people, or at least lose ships. And I’d rather we didn’t until the fours are all replaced with fives.”
“That’s what I told them. All the same, fighter pilots never really do want to be bomber pilots. Never have. Bomber pilots were a different breed according to history, and we’ve not needed them in centuries. Anyone with that mindset joined the navy.”
He grinned at me, and I took the joke and grinned back.
The discussion got technical for a while, and we hammered out tactics for different situations, depending on who we were likely to fight now, and what sort of formation they’d be in. It turned out we thought very alike in a tactical sense, but I could tell he was hoping we saw more action against the Trixone than the Rawtenuga.
“Oh, by the way,” he said as he rose to leave, “I authorized trying some of the Ralnor food we’ve had in storage for lunch. Your captains are invited to dine with us, each on their own ship. I thought we needed to get navy and pilots acquainted with each other a bit better, and trying exotic food seemed like a good idea.”
“You want to prove navy and pilots all puke the same way?”
He laughed all the way out.
As it turned out, Ralnor cuisine was different, but not hugely so. Like us, they were omnivores, so they had a mixture of all types of food. Some of it tasted vile, but everyone was different in which did or didn’t. The after dinner Ralnor Port was as lethal as the liquors we’d already sampled, but with the limit being a small glass, no-one was either in need of medical attention nor intoxicated as a result of trying it.
Quite a few of the AIs had sampled a separate buffet designed for single bite taste tests, and all of them tried the port. It was gratifying to see a big eagle spitting out a mouthful of what most had thought was ‘a good drop’. I wasn’t sure port was my thing though. It was a bit heavy and sweet for me. But we had nothing like it at home, so it was something different to try.
Everyone got a half hour for their lunch to settle before we started to do formation training.
Five
I might have known we wouldn’t get the chance to train.
I was no sooner back in my chair on the bridge, having decided I didn’t need more than a freshen up break myself, when Leanne stiffened, and a section of map went up on the main screen.
“Distress call,” announced Leanne.
“Who?”
“The station we saved the other day. Their defense fleet made it back in time to intercept the next Rawtenuga fleet coming at them, but they were destroyed.”
“How much damage did they inflict?”
“It was a thirty two ship formation, and they lost twenty taking out sixty Trixone.”
“The advantage of being all battleships, against mainly destroyers I assume. What’s the situation now?”
“The dinosaurs have started boarding the station. While they have warriors who managed to get barricades up in time for some defense, they’re yelling for help.”