6
Clement called together his first staff meeting in the tiny officer’s galley on Deck 2 for 1930 hours. There were only six rooms on the deck: the captain’s cabin on the port side, which was the most spacious, obviously; Commander Yan’s across the hall starboard from him; then Mika Ori and Ivan Massif one door down from Yan; then the galley. On Clement’s side of the aisle there was a cabin for Hassan Nobli that he hardly ever used, preferring to bunk with the crew closer to his engine room, and Captain Wilcock got the small room at the end of the hallway, which was really just a guest berth with no bathroom, and across from the officer’s galley. Clement got some small satisfaction knowing that Wilcock would have to use the technician’s shared bathroom two decks down every time he had to use the head.
They gathered quietly after a long day, most looking worn out but shunning coffee. It had been a full day and there was still work to do before their scheduled departure at 1200 hours tomorrow. They shuffled in, Yan sitting next to him, the gangly Massif and the tiny Ori sitting together, then Nobli and finally Wilcock filling out the table. Before he started, Clement flipped through a series of reports on his com pad and frowned. He looked up at Yan.
“This ship is severely under-armed,” he said to her. “Midshipman Telco reports to me that we have only a half dozen cobra rifles on board, a smattering of handguns, and no grenades of any kind.”
“There are only twenty crew,” said Yan calmly. “Are you expecting to fight an army?”
“First of all, there are twenty-four crew with the middies, and no I’m not ‘expecting’ a fight, but this is a military vessel and as such we should be properly armed. I expect a full complement of rifles and pistols loaded aboard before we depart and plenty of extra ammo as well.”
“How much ‘ammo,’ sir?” she replied sarcastically, with a smirk. This time Clement suspected he was being played with by Yan. He decided to double down.
“Two crates worth, of each,” he said.
“But that would be—” started Yan.
“One hundred forty-four packs of each style,” finished Wilcock.
“Thank you, Mr. Wilcock,” said Clement. “And a crate of RPG rounds.”
“Are you serious? That will take up half the cargo hold,” protested Yan.
“Hardly. And may I remind you, Commander, this is a military mission, and I expect everyone to behave accordingly. This is not some show cruise and we are not explorers. So we follow the rules. We may not be expecting any trouble, but if my navy career is any indication, it often finds me,” Clement noted before continuing. “And that reminds me again, this ship has literally no advanced armaments for protection. I want a full complement of missiles, conventional and atomic, brought on board.”
This time it was Wilcock who spoke up. “I’m not sure the Admiral will authorize that,” he said.
Clement looked up at him sharply. “This is a gunship, Captain. A gunship with no weapons is pretty useless. And may I remind you that you’re on this ship as a favor to the Admiral, Mr. Wilcock. If I don’t have a full missile room of sixty conventional missiles in my launch bays with at least a half dozen ten-kiloton nuke warheads on board by the time we head out, I’m leaving you on the loading dock.”
“Is that all, sir?” said Wilcock, perturbed. “We don’t even have a weapons tech on board.” He had a soft, high voice, the kind that would annoy any crew, and it was annoying Clement already.
“We have Middie Telco. He’ll have to do for now and I expect to have him properly trained on all types of missiles and warheads, by you.”
“Do you think you’ll need more missiles than just the nukes?” asked Yan, feigning surprise.
Clement looked at her, very seriously. “Commander Yan, the solution to almost any problem in space is more missiles,” he deadpanned.
Yan sighed. “Boys and their toys,” she said.
Clement ignored her and looked down the table. “Mr. Nobli, a report on the LEAP drive if you please,” he said.
“Well,” started Nobli, adjusting his glasses. He looked for all the world like a misplaced university professor, not a spaceship engineer, as he scanned his hand-pad readouts. “I’ve got her humming pretty good, Captain. The nuclear accelerator seems to run as smoothly as promised, and I’ve no doubt once we release the hold on the two chambers of the LEAP reactor that everything will work smoothly and we can start annihilating antimatter universes.”
Clement nodded. “That’s . . . that’s good, I guess?” he said. “What about the conventional drive?”
“Well, we’ve got a state of the art Xenon thruster system and an Ion plasma drive that will push us along at a clip we would have loved to have had during the war, but just like the LEAP system, they’re both untested with humans on board,” said Nobli.
“What about acceleration?”
“We can easily achieve six gs of acceleration inside two minutes. Enough speed to get us out of any pickle, I’d say.”
“Thank you, Nobli. Fleet Admiral DeVore expects us to be half an AU from the station before we light up the LEAP reactor. Let’s make sure we give the Ion plasma drive a good test on that run. It will be our primary means of travel inside the Trinity system,” said Clement.
“Aye, sir.”
Next Clement looked down the table to Mika Ori and Ivan Massif, his pilot and navigator. “I regret we won’t be able to give you a chance to bust the seams on this baby before first flight, Mika,” he said.
She nodded. “I understand the circumstances, sir. I’m looking forward to getting her under power.” She’d been his pilot, and a damn good one, for three years on the original incarnation of the Beauregard.
“How’s your station checking out?” asked Clement.
Ori shrugged. “It’s state of the art, but I’ve spent most of the last decade on similar systems in the private sector, in fact, some of them I like better than this one. But I should be able to fly her, sir, if the Admiral ever lets us leave the dock.”
“Oh, she will,” smiled Clement. “Ivan?” he continued, pronouncing it the navigator’s preferred way, E-vaan. Massif was a tall and lanky man, and a great navigator, but the LEAP drive would make him less relevant on this mission.
“I’m also familiar with this type of navigation system from our years running luxury yachts and the like. It’s different though, in that it’s really a ‘point and shoot’ system. Since we’ll be traveling at FTL speeds in a quantum-fluid bubble the normal types of flight plans don’t really come into the equation, as long as there aren’t any uncharted rogue planets on our path that I don’t know about,” he said.
Clement smiled. “Sorry if you’ll be bored, Ivan. We’ll take the same path as the last LEAP probe, which should be clear of potential hazards. Once we’re in the Trinity system though, we’ll need you to be full up and ready to chart our path inwards toward the three habitable planets. I guess you’ll just have to wait a couple of weeks to become important.”
“Aye, sir, I’ll be ready. I’ve already plotted us to follow the LEAP probe’s course, sir. You just have to say the word.”
“Good enough,” said Clement, turning back to Yan. “Do we have a medical officer aboard, Commander?” he asked. She scanned her own pad for personnel profiles.
“Lieutenant Pomeroy is the dedicated medic. She also doubles as a science tech,” said Yan.
Clement nodded. “Good enough. Have her run you through the med bay equipment as a pre-req, and I want her to have a backup. Let’s give Mr. Daniel a shot at that.”
“Yes, sir,” said Yan.
Clement looked around the room. “Anything else?” Everyone stayed silent. “Good. I want you all in bed by 2400 hours but I want my ordnance and equipment aboard and stored before 0800 tomorrow, so that duty falls to you, Mr. Wilcock.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Then I’ll leave you all to it,” he said as the meeting broke up. Before they could all exit though, he added, “We’re all clear for departure at 1200 hours tomorrow. I want us to be ready two hours prior to that.” There were groans and acknowledgements as the command crew shuffled out. Clement reached out to Yan indicating she should stay.
“Do you think we’ll be ready in time for the launch?” he asked when they were alone.
“I don’t know, sir. You’re a much different commander than this crew is used to, excepting your friends, of course. The 5 Suns Alliance Navy is a different kind of animal; they’re more used to formality and protocol. They may fall in line with your style, or they may resist. It’s up to you to find the right combination,” she said.
“As long as I have your loyalty, Yan,” he stated.
She looked at him, hesitating before answering. “You do, Captain. For now,” she said, and then went down the hall to her cabin.
Yan was surprised when she got a knock on her cabin door fifteen minutes later. She hit her visual monitor and found it was Captain Wilcock standing in the hallway. She could see over Wilcock’s shoulder that Captain Clement’s door was closed. She buzzed Wilcock in and he came in quickly and quietly. Yan looked at him. “What can I do for you, Mr. Wilcock?”
He quickly went over to her desk com system and started it up. “Message incoming from Fleet Admiral DeVore,” he said.
“Shouldn’t Clement—” Yan started.
“It’s just for us, Commander,” he replied as Admiral DeVore’s image came up on the screen.
“Hello, Yan,” she said.
“Hello, Admiral.”
DeVore looked dead serious.
“Look, I want to make this quick and I want us all to be on the same page, is that clear?” Yan looked to Wilcock, who said nothing, and then back to the Admiral.
“Clear, Admiral.”
“Good. I’m going to approve Clement’s request for the conventional missiles and the small arms. The way I know him, he’s looking to pick a fight and if I say no to his request he’ll just sit on the dock until I give in. I want this mission off on time tomorrow—in fact, timing is critical for the Beauregard to reach Trinity.”
This intrigued Yan, as to why timing was so critical, but she decided to say nothing for the moment.
DeVore continued. “But this request for atomic warheads, that’s different. I can see no reason why he might need them, but I’m going to give him six warheads anyway, under certain conditions. The most important of these conditions, Yan, is that you and Wilcock have to be in agreement that use of the warheads is justified. To safeguard this condition, you’re both going to have to wear security keys around your necks for the duration of the mission. You will both have to be in agreement to unlock the safe to access the warheads and you’ll both have to agree the situation is dire enough to use them. The keys must be used simultaneously to both unlock the safe and release the missile controls for Clement to launch them. Do you understand, Yan?”
“I do, Admiral,” she said. At that Wilcock handed her a small clear case with a nuclear key inside. Yan broke the seal and placed it around her neck, slipping it under her uniform tunic, then zipped back up. All command-level officers had taken atomic level protocol classes as a condition of their promotion, but this was the first time Yan had ever been issued one of the keys. When that was done DeVore looked to Wilcock.
“Your shipment of atomic warheads will arrive in a case at the loading dock in fifteen minutes. I expect you to be there and to secure the warheads personally. Understood, Captain Wilcock?”
“Understood, sir,” he replied.
“Good. Then that’s that. The rest of the conventional missiles and small arms will be aboard by 0600. Who’s going to be in charge of loading them into the launch bays?”
“Middie Telco, ma’am,” said Yan.
DeVore nodded. “Oversee his work, Yan. I don’t want a middie blowing up my prototype in the dry dock.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
“Then off with the two of you,” she said with a wave of her hand. “And good luck.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” said Yan as Wilcock mumbled some other reply. Yan found she didn’t care much for his speaking voice, too soft and indistinguishable. She found she didn’t trust him much either.
With that the com to DeVore’s office severed and Wilcock made for the door. With his hand on the door control he stopped and looked back at her. “I appreciate your support on this, Yan,” he said. She merely nodded in reply. A few seconds later and she watched him on her monitor as he went down the deck ladder and out of sight, heading toward the loading dock, there to presumably await the arrival of the atomic warheads. She waited a few moments more before heading across the hallway to Clement’s cabin. She buzzed in. The door slid open silently.
Clement was at his office desk, rifling through various pads as he checked to see if his orders were being complied with and if the ship was ready for her manned maiden voyage.
“Can I help you, Yan?” he said, not looking up from his pile of pads and floating monitor displays.
“I just wanted you to know that your atomic warheads are coming on board presently, sir,” she said.
“I assume that’s what Captain Wilcock wanted from you in your quarters?” Clement replied.
It bothered Yan that her cabin was being monitored by him, but, “Yes, sir,” she said without hesitation.
Clement continued to work, seeming to ignore her. “You realize not having the warheads already loaded onto a ship-to-ship missile will slow our response time, possibly to a very dangerous level?” he said.
“That’s Captain Wilcock’s purview, sir, not mine,” she defended.
Now Clement looked up. “I don’t trust Wilcock,” he said.
“Neither do I, sir.”
“Really? That’s good to hear. But then I’m not entirely sure I trust you either, Yan.”
She bristled inside at that, but she didn’t back down from Clement’s steel gaze on her. He had a way of making her feel like he could see right through her. “I hope I can change that opinion with time, sir,” she said.
Clement leaned back from his displays. “Do you, Yan? I hope that’s true,” he said, then he got out of his chair and paced the cabin while Yan watched him. “Admiral DeVore—” he started. She cut him off before he could finish the thought.
“She’s my primary report, sir. But you’re my commanding officer on this mission,” she offered, unsolicited. Clement took that in stride.
“Please understand, Yan, I have a long history with Mika, Ivan, and even Nobli. I don’t have much history with you. I may make decisions you disagree with. I just need to know I won’t find a cobra pistol round in my back if I do.”
Now Yan got very serious. “Captain Clement, please don’t question my loyalty to you or this mission.”
“But you undoubtedly have private orders from Admiral DeVore, don’t you?” he accused.
She nodded once. “I do, sir. But they are to protect the ship, protect the mission, and protect the crew. She wanted you for this command very badly, and I’ll admit I don’t know why. But beyond those general protocols, sir, you are my commanding officer, and I want you to know you can trust me,” she said.
“Even with that atomic key hanging around your neck?”
Suddenly Yan became conscious of the cold metal between her breasts, set against her skin. Despite Clement pushing her to her limits, Yan didn’t waver. “Yes, Captain, even with the key.”
Now it was his turn to nod once, then he returned to his desk. “When will the missiles be loaded?” he asked.
“0600, sir.”
“Make sure Middie Telco has a full set them packed and ready for the launch tubes well before we leave.”
“I was just on my way to take care of that, sir.”
“Good. And Yan, thank you.”
“Aye, sir,” she said, then turned on her heels and made her way out of his cabin. She went down toward the cargo hold, there to make sure the middie got his instructions as early as possible.
“Do you understand your orders, Middie?” said Yan to the strapping young middie Telco.
“Aye, ma’am,” he said, bright-eyed and eager to please despite the ever-later hour.
“Good,” she said. “Make sure you validate that the ordnance in those missiles is primed and ready to go. We don’t want any surprises in the middle of a battle.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
“What about all the small arms?”
He stiffened. “As requested, ma’am. I’ve already tested the cobra rifles and pistols. The kinetic rounds work just fine, and the burner rounds have passed all the test marks. I haven’t tested the RPGs for obvious reasons, but I have to say these are some of the finest guns I’ve ever seen. The workmanship is fantastic.”
She smiled again at his youthful enthusiasm. “I imagine what you used in the academy weren’t top-of-the-line materiel. The navy doesn’t skimp on the real thing.” Yan gestured to a bunk and Telco hopped up to the top of one of them. “Set your alarm early, Middie. The captain will want those missiles stored and ready to go as soon as they get here. In fact, I imagine he’ll be checking in with you every few minutes after 0600. You shouldn’t disappoint him. Now get some sleep, and when you see your friends tell them the same. Today has been a big day; tomorrow will be bigger,” she said, then turned down the light in the middie’s tiny berth, feeling all the world like a mother putting one of her children to bed. A very handsome young child at that.
“Do you think we’ll see battle, ma’am?” said Telco with way too much enthusiasm.
Despite herself, Yan smiled at him. “I highly doubt it, Middie, but you never know,” she said. “Now go lights out. We have a lot to do yet to get this bucket rolling.”
He nodded. “Goodnight, ma’am,” he said.
“Good night, Middie,” she said, then shut the door behind her.