Scout Force (17 page)

      
“Just at that time Admiral Haddock-Halloway stuck his head out the general’s door and told us we were all excused and there would be no charges pressed here today.”

      
We went back to the hangar deck and saw evidence tape securing my cockpit and a Marine standing guard.
 
LTC Matthews called all of us into his office.”

      
“He remarked that the episode we’d just witnessed was interesting and that she was obviously overruled.
 
He told me not to let my guard down and that the little drill in her office was personal.
 
She sealed my ship, so no one could check out my story.
 
She probably had every tech in the fleet pouring over my ship with a fine tooth comb.”

      
Kelly paused for a moment before continuing on.
 
“Well, I wasn’t charged with anything.
 
The fighter's record of the exercise and combat matched my story exactly.
 
That didn’t stop General Bugarov from drumming me out of Fighter Force and sending me here.
 
Of course, Admiral Haddock-Halloway’s parting shot at her was when he presented me with the Space Medal for my action against the K’Rang ships.
 
After the ceremony, he called me into his office for a talk.”

      
“He told me that he couldn’t stop her from reassigning me out of the Force.
 
It wasn’t right, but it was within her authority and he couldn’t overrule her on that.
 
He told me he’d take me on his staff, but thought that would cause him more trouble than he needed right then.
 
He did thank me for saving his ship.
 
If those corvettes had gotten through, they could have done serious damage to us.
 
He told me that once General Bugarov leaves and if I wanted it, I could have a place on his staff.
 
I was just to let him know and he’d arrange it.
 
No matter where she sent me, he’d get me out.”

      
Kelly looked in Tammy’s eyes, “The rest of the story you know.”

      
Tammy uncoiled out of Kelly’s arms and said, “It’s a wonder that someone like her rose to such a high position.
 
Is she still there?”

      
“As far as I know.
 
That’s enough about me.
 
Shouldn’t we be heading back now?
 
The sun is getting pretty low in the sky.”

      
“Yes, help me with the cooler.
 
I’ll carry the cooker.
 
Take the blanket and towels.
 
If you’ll get the anchor from up the beach, I’ll get the skimmer started.”

      
Kelly stowed everything, pulled up the bow anchor, and coiled the line.
 
He climbed onboard, secured the bow anchor and line, and pulled them away from shore with the stern anchor line.
 
They got dressed as they made the run back to base.

Chapter Six

      
The post-refit re-launching ceremony was not much of a ceremony.
 
Admiral Craddock made a short speech.
 
The crew, standing out in the hot sun in their dress uniforms, appreciated the brevity.
 
Then the crew boarded, lifted the ship, and moved it from the dry dock a quarter mile to the spaceport.
 
From start to finish, the ceremony lasted 35 minutes.

      
It took the crew another two weeks to sort out all the things the yard crew had gotten wrong.
 
The crew moved all their gear on board and stocked the ship for a patrol.
 
Kelly spent much of the time crawling through every space onboard the ship, following cable raceways and piping.
 
If there was a problem with the ship he wanted to be able to track down the source.

      
He also spent time learning the crew.
 
Chief Blankenship, from the simulator, was the head of the sensor section.
 
Chief Miller ran engineering.
 
Chief Pennypacker ran the gunnery section.
 
Chief Billings, the Quartermaster, ran the bridge crew.
 
Chief Mess Management Specialist “Cookie” Austin ran the galley.
 
Corpsman “Doc” Kumar ran sickbay.
 
Yeoman First Class Benitez was the admin specialist.
 
Kelly watched the crew work together and looked for tensions or problems that might come up during the patrol.
 
With the exception of some normal ribbing for the new crewmembers (including Kelly), the crew was harmonious and worked very well together.
 
The chiefs were firm, but fair in the real sense of the term.
 
They looked out for their people and made sure each knew his own job and the job of the person next up in the chain of command.
 
It was a good crew.

      
The chiefs took great pleasure teaching Kelly their jobs.
 
Gunnery was a cinch after his performance in the simulator.
 
Sensors took a little bit longer.
 
Each sensor package required a different technique.
 
With ten different sensor arrays, it took him a while to gain a sense of how they worked.
 
He’d never be a techie, but he thought he understood what the sensors were doing.
 
Engineering was made easier by how much automation had been worked into the system.
 
Simulator time had taught him all the positions on the bridge.

      
His attempts in the galley were his only failure.
 
He was just not meant to be a cook.
 
His soufflé fell.
 
He burned the roast.
 
His baked potatoes came out crispy.
 
The only thing he prepared properly was coffee.
 
If anything good came from his stint in the galley, it was a healthy respect for the cooks and their work.

      
During the shakedown flights, things went smoothly.
 
A few glitches came up, but the crew resolved them quickly and efficiently.
 
The captain put them through drills and still the crew came through brilliantly.
 
True to his word, the captain gave him (and all the helmsmen) the controls and let them have their way.
 
To his credit, he didn’t spill a drop of food in the galley, while he got the feel of the ship.
 
The artificial gravity and stabilizers really did their job.
 
He missed the feel of G-forces pushing him down in his seat, but he would get used to this.

      
At the end of three weeks, the captain got called one morning to meet with the admiral.
 
When he came back, he called Kelly and Chief Watson into his cabin’s conference room.

      
“We got our orders.
 
We have been ordered to the K’Rang frontier.
 
We are to patrol along the buffer zone adjacent to the Aquila and Sagittarius sectors.
 
The K’Rangs are supposed to have developed a new remote reconnaissance drone and we are to see if we can gain any information on this drone.
 
There are indications that the K’Rang have been running it across the frontier into Galactic Republic space.
 
As you know, that sector of space is almost completely dark space.
 
There are only five or six solar systems in that area.
 
Only one of them, 6664, has a habitable planet.
 
We are to try and find out what the K’Rang are so interested in.”

      
Chief Watson spoke up.
 
“Captain, maybe that’s just how they conduct operational testing of their systems.”

      
“No, Chief, if they were going to do operational testing, they have plenty of their own space to do that.
 
Fleet Intel think they are after something in that sector, but they haven’t a clue what that might be.
 
They haven’t gotten a track on one of these, but they did intercept some strange signals in the Scutum sector, right here in the middle of our patrol area.
 
The habitable solar system is in there.”

      
Kelly asked, “So when do we leave, Captain?”

      
“We leave in three days and will be gone for a month.
 
I won’t tell the crew what our mission is until we are underway.
 
No talking about this, except among us three.
 
Chief, plot our fastest course to Sagittarius Sector.
 
Exec, study the patrol sector so you know your way around with your eyes closed.
 
Look for any stellar objects that may not be connected with the planetary systems.
 
I want you to know everything we can use to hide near or behind, if we need to.
 
That is all for now.
 
Let’s see what Cookie has cooked up for us.”

      
Lunch was magnificent.
 
Even though patrol ships of this size didn’t normally run their galleys when in port, Cookie had new galley equipment he was training his team on and had a training exemption.
 
The main new addition to the galley was a synthesizer.
 
It was supposed to be able to take trash and turn it into edible copies of common food items.
 
Cookie wasn’t ready to try to create an entree with it, but he found it made excellent soups, stews, drinks, and snacks.
 
Cookie had made a soup using fresh ingredients and one in the synthesizer.
 
Neither the two officers nor Chief Watson could tell the difference.
 
Coffee made in the pot and made in the synthesizer tasted the same.
 
When Cookie served them beer, the captain pulled the plug until they could figure out how to lock that output and any other alcoholic spirit without using the captain’s password.

      
“Kelly, do you have our requisitions into base supply yet?

      
“No, Captain.
 
I was about to send them off when you came back from seeing the admiral.”

      
“I left a list back in my cabin.
 
When we finish here, see me for the list and add it to our requisitions.
 
They might come in handy on this mission.”

      
“Aye aye, Captain.”

* * * * *

      
The third morning arrived.
 
Kelly rolled over and kissed Tammy on her bare back.
 
She squirmed contentedly.
 
By the time he loaded his gear bag, Tammy had made coffee and handed him a cup.
 
She looked beautiful in her blue silk robe, and a little sad.

      
“You haven’t said how long you’ll be gone.”

      
“No, Tammy, I haven’t.
 
I’ll get back when I get back.
 
That’s all I can tell you.
 
I don’t even know how long this patrol will be.”

      
“You take care of yourself out there.
 
There are no strings between us, but I would like to see you when you come back.”

      
“I’ll be back.
 
Don’t get too lonely while I’m gone.”

      
“Oh, I won’t, but I’ll always make time for you.”

      
Kelly kissed her goodbye, picked up his bag, and went out to find a shuttle.
 
He got to the ship before LCDR Timmons and stowed his gear.
 
He walked through the ship, checking that everything was ready for patrol.
 
Cookie handed him a cup of coffee as he passed the galley.
 
Chief Pennypacker verified that the turrets were bore sighted so they would fire forward, aligned with the forward-firing cannons.
 
Kelly had suggested to the captain that as nimble as the Vigilant was, having all nine barrels firing forward could make for a lot of firepower.
 
It could come in handy in the right situation.
 
Kelly had Chief Pennypacker put a computer program in to slew all turrets forward on command from the bridge.

      
As he proceeded to the stern, he checked sensor diagnostics with Chief Blankenship.
 
They were all operating at full efficiency.
 
He looked into the crews’ quarters.
 
Petty Officer third class Stinson was recovering from a bout of food poisoning, acquired on leave in the southern hemisphere.
 
Corpsman Kumar was tending to him.
 
All the rest of the crew was on watch or at breakfast.
 
As he completed his inspection, he found that engineering was immaculate, as usual.
 
Chief Miller fretted over Kelly’s coffee mug, in fear that he might spill coffee on something.
 
The captain, Kelly, and Chief Watson were the only people allowed to bring coffee into Engineering.
 
Kelly complimented Chief Miller on the state of Engineering and thanked him for keeping watch on the refit crew.