13 Degrees of Separation (93 page)

Logan nodded.

“I know you'll catch flack for bringing the system defenses
down. If necessary release some vague news report about construction. Just a
couple of ships, point out how they will be replacing the ships you are sending
out. That should shut the doubters up for a while. Maybe,” the admiral said
wryly. “Though I have my doubts on that.”

Horatio snorted softly. “I do too.”

“See if you can get a courier off to b101a sometime in oh,
say a month or so, have it drop a satellite with an update for me. Use my
encryption, you have the open key.”

“Will, do admiral,” Logan said, making a note to do that.

“That way they don't have to stick around and wait for me.
Hell, I might of already made the jump, it all depends on Epsilon like I said.
I'm curious how it will go there, Sprite had heard some rumors it's
civilization was a bit further up the tech tree than Antigua. They never had
any space based industry, and according to the encyclopedia the belt is too
sparse to really mine economically, but... well, we'll see.”

“Good luck, good sailing. Irons out.”

“To you too admiral,” Horatio said as the admiral's image
faded out. “Stay safe John,” he murmured.

...*...*...*...*...

Logan studied the report one more time. He rubbed his chin,
trying to think of what to say. The gear MM had brought were parts for
Prometheus and other things they needed to get additional hyperdrives and
fusion reactors online. All the components were small, most likely because the
admiral was limited to the replicators he had installed on the ship.

With these components the yard had enough now to finish a
light destroyer, corvette, and six sublight frigates. Also some of the gear he
could use in his planned orbital forts. He had worked out with the historian
orbital forts using asteroids and superconductor rail guns. They were primitive
but hopefully effective. He'd have to test them thoroughly to find out.

“Commander, have you seen the latest news?” Doctor Thornby
asked opening a private link to him.

Horatio frowned. “No... no, I've been going over what the
admiral sent.”

“I think you should take a look. I think the Navy is going
to need a press release soon. Hysterics are already getting involved.”

“Shit, I'm looking,” Logan said, turning in his chair and
keying the remote in his implants to turn on the wall screen. He could of
course watch it through his implant feed but didn't want to do so. He wanted
the ability to close his eyes without it being forced into his brain if he
needed it. He blinked as a familiar red haired newswoman came on.

“...this is April O’Neill, Knox news reporting. According
to unconfirmed reports two of the Navy's largest operational ships, the
Destroyer the Fuentes, and the Frigate the Hecate have been ordered to Agnosta
with orders to travel up chain. Concern is mounting about sending all of our
military assets out of the system. We go now to Charles in the field.”

The red haired woman nodded as her image split and a window
opened with another man, this one balding. A Veraxin was added a moment later.
“Gentlemen, welcome. Charles?”

“Yes April, we have yet to get a confirmation from the
Navy, however it seems a done deal. There's no way to return the ships to their
assigned orbits. They have finished taking on fuel and have been underway for
several hours.”

“I see.”

Horatio listened as each of the reporters bemoaned the
situation, building it up. This Charles seemed to take sadistic pleasure in
describing how horribly vulnerable they now were, and how Logan should be
forced to retire since he was obviously senile. Changing the channel to other
news reports garnered similar commentary.

Various talking heads on each of the news channels appeared
nervous about the 'inexcusable' draw down of fleet. “They should be protecting
here, Pyrax, not off swanning around in other systems!” one reporter said, eyes
flashing.

Right on cue the yeoman knocked and opened the hatch. “Sir
the Governor's on line two,” she said.

“Shit,” Logan sighed. “Not him again. The Governor himself
or a lackey?”

“Lackey sir?”

“Then they can damn well wait. It's a twenty minute
turnaround from the capital anyway. Why call? Why not send an e-mail?”

“I don't know sir. Perhaps you could ask him yourself?” she
asked hopefully.

Logan grunted. “Go. I've got this.” He turned from the wall
screen, sending a signal to mute it. “Yes Governor?” he asked, with just the
barest hint of exasperation in his voice as the signal connected. “Yes, to
answer your question, we are sending a ship. Two ships actually. No, it is a
naval deployment, ordered by admiral Irons. It is non-discretionary,” he said,
giving a little white lie.

“I'll, um, get my intel officer to send you a briefing
shortly. Commander Logan out.” he stabbed the disconnect button and then
frowned at the screen. The reporters were still going at it. He sighed, closed
his eyes and rubbed his temple briefly. Finally he hit the intercom key.

“Lacy, get Knox on the phone... no, you know, wait. Set up
a press release. Brief public statement.”

A male voice answered.“Aye sir. This is Liam, Lacy just
went off shift.”

“Whatever,” Logan replied testily.

“What would you like the message to say sir?” Liam asked.

“Simple. Simple statement, we received a shipment from the
admiral with orders to send ships to another location. The shipment allows us
to reactivate some of our building slips and put additional ships in space.
Point out that sending two ships out of over two dozen isn't a Major draw down
on the fleet and the hysterics can stop.”

“Um, do you want that verbatim or diplomatically put sir?”
Liam asked slowly and cautiously.

“You figure it out,” Logan replied with a growl. “Just make
sure they know we're not putting Pyrax at risk. We'll have more at a later
date. That's all.”

“Aye aye sir. Will there be anything else?”

“No. I'm going to finish up here then call it a day. Set up
a conference tomorrow with the senior staff. I'll lay out what the admiral said
then. It can wait until morning.”

“Aye sir,” the rating replied sounding slightly
disappointed. Logan smiled a little. No doubt the rating, hell all the Navy
crew were waiting with bated breath for what the admiral had had to say. Well,
they could wait one more day, it wouldn't kill them. “Done. Get that taken care
of.”

“Yes sir.”

Logan snorted as he cut the connection and then went over
the admiral's orders once more. Then he turned to the building schedule and
started detailing orders for the morning. With the hoopla going on he'd need to
get those ships out into space doing running up exercises soon.

...*...*...*...*...

Nervously Jane waited in the Anvil naval recruiting
station. It was a small office, clean and in a good part of the station. She
was impressed with the small office when she went in. It had holo projections
of naval officers past and present, images of various ships and slogans, it was
very uplifting and inspiring. She also liked the image of the Federation flag
and motto behind the sharply dressed recruiter's desk. That was a nice touch.
The recruiter was interested in her, but reluctant to sign her on due to her
age.

He did however allow her a carrot, the Navy would sign her
on as an ROTC candidate. They would offer her a scholarship and basic ident
implants as she went into the college. She wanted the Navy reserve, reluctantly
the recruiter agreed. She would spend a year in training before she went active
and either went for officer candidate school or something else. She did put in
for flight duty which amused the recruiter.

“You do realize not everyone gets what they want right?”
the man asked. She nodded. “And that not everyone is cut out for their dream
job?”

“Yes sir,” she said shifting slightly. “Look sir, I'm a
spacer born and bred. I've been a small craft pilot, I sit second chair when we
do drops. I'm good sir. I know I've got an age issue. I can handle it.”

“All right, you'll be given a chance to prove yourself.”

“I brought along my flight quals sir,” she said, passing a
chip over to him. The Lieutenant took it and put it in his machine. He frowned
slightly as he downloaded the information, then passed it back. “And I don't
have a problem with implants. I like to be hands on, but all small craft are
fly by wire anyway,” Jane replied with a shrug. “I'm not a hot dog, though I do
like sims,” she said smiling wolfishly.

Slowly the recruiter smiled. “Well Miss Darling, I'm sure
you will have your shot. We do have the best flight sims, though the full sims
you have to be a pilot to get into right now. They are limited and heavily
scheduled for training purposes.”

“I see.”

“But once you have full implants you can sim through them
as well,” he said, tapping his temple. Her eyes widened slightly in excitement.
“So, I'll need a parent to sign off on this and you are good to go.” He passed
a chip back to her as well as a tablet.

“Yes sir,” she said, a little more hesitantly as that news
dampened her enthusiasm. “I'll get that taken care of,” she murmured, taking
both items.

He studied her. “You do that. And they will need to leave a
fingerprint, image, and DNA trace proving origin. We don't want blow back Miss.
Darling.”

“I'll get it sir, no worries,” she said with a nod. “Is
there any conflict with me working a second job?”

He raised an eyebrow. “ROTC and college usually takes up a
lot of time young lady.”

“I'm looking to keep in practice. I saw the ad for pilots
for Valdez tugs. I'd like to give it a shot.”

The recruiter blinked. “Valdez you say? Interesting. I can
put a call in for you. Do you have a place to stay or were you planning to bunk
in the college? It's tight quarters now. There are so many people applying
there is a waiting list.”

Jane winced. “I hadn't known that sir. I was more
interested in exploring the class selections and lining up financing to attend
sir.”

“Best to get all your bases covered right off,” the
recruiter replied with a slight frown. He cocked his head. “I flagged you for
flight training, I'll put a call in to Lieutenant Sergio Valdez. His family
owns Valdez Tugs. If they are in agreement maybe something could be worked out.”

Jane was all smiles. “Thank you sir,” she said.

“Oh, don't thank me, none of this comes about until you've
got that signed,” he indicated the chip and tablet.

“I'll take care of it sir,” she said getting to her feet.
He nodded.

“You do that,” he murmured, watching the young woman leave.
She had poise and grace, but he could tell she was a scrapper. She'd get it
done, one way or another. “I believe you will,” he murmured. 

...*...*...*...*...

Jane was practically dancing on air as she made her way to
the shuttle that would take her back to the MM's slip. She was trying to dampen
her enthusiasm, dad would let her do it, but mom was still holding out. So she
was shocked when she found not only her father, but also her mother and two
uncles waiting for her at the ferry. “Dad? Mom?” she asked, looking at each of
them. “What's going on?”

“Michael heard about you asking for directions to the
recruiting station,” her father said gruffly. “So? Did you sign up?”

“Not, um, not yet,” she said holding  the tablet to her
chest. “I need a parent's signature to go forward.”

“Like that? Send a kid off to war?”

“No, I have to go through ROTC training and other stuff
here on the station for a year. They won't let me into the military academy
until I'm 16.” she said with a frown. “Which is stupid, I've been flying
shuttles with you, dad.”

Her father nodded. He looked at Wendy. Wendy bit her lip,
trying hard to keep a straight face. She looked so much like her daughter
though, on pins and needles. Blonde hair, slight aging which went along with
being a parent of an exasperating teenager. Finally she nodded.

“You mean it?” Jane asked, eyes wide, bouncing on her
heels.

“If you can handle it,” Wendy said. And I think you can do
anything you put your mind to. But stay safe,” she said.

Her father sighed. “Well, guess, I'm going to have to train
a new copilot,” he said, taking the tablet. Jane looked over his shoulder and
coached him through the signing procedure. He even added a voice print
authorization. Then he passed it to Wendy who hesitantly did so as well. Jane's
eyes sparkled with happy tears.

John came up behind her, rubbing her back and shoulders.
She looked up to him and held his hand. He smiled down to her. “Stretching your
wings,” he murmured. “I'm proud of you Jane.”

“Thanks uncle John,” she said softly. She looked over to
Michael. Her 'other uncle' was smiling a wan smile, though he looked about
ready to ball. She hugged him.

They returned the tablet and chip to the recruiting office.
The Lieutenant smiled and had her raise her hand and gave her the initial oath
of office. Then he shook her hand and handed her another tablet and pinned a
identity badge to her lapel. She looked down at it.