“Yes, I was bumped. As the shuttle took off, it emitted a loud whine followed by a screech. It then exploded. Most likely it was the external pressure blow out valve that made the whine as it tried to vent the steam from the anti-matter tank. On those new engine’s the valve vents, just before full power initiates. Something must have been blocking the vent. That’s near impossible because of the placement of the valve cover and the new stop-gap preventer. That screech was the cover trying to move. But that’s just my opinion.”

  Captain Daniels had a funny look on his face.

  He turned to the Admiral and said, “Can I have her, Admiral? She just said what took my engineers three hours to come up with and we have the wreckage to study.”

  “Due to political reasons, the Lieutenant is on her way out to the EOH Empire training ship to learn her way in our Navy.”

  She gave me a menacing stare “Lieutenant Lee, and I will be discussing her knowledge of our newest shuttle craft engine. Captain Reynolds, you look like you have something to tell me?”

  “Yes, Admiral, surveillance of the shuttle bay before the event shows some suspicious activity. A maintenance worker is seen working on the shuttle in question just moments before it began loading. We are truth-scanning all the maintenance staff now for sabotage.”

  “Thank you, Captain. OK, folks get to work if this is sabotage I want to know: Who they are and how they did this. So get to work. Lieutenant, my office please.”

  That was a bit unpleasant.

  I did not have to spill the beans about Wilson, but she was not happy about my having secret tech manuals before I was officially in her Navy.

  At least I know that my job prospects are growing broader.

  I spent the night in the BOQ (Bachelor Officers Quarters) and prepared to try again with the shuttle. As I was about to leave my link signaled a call.

  It was the intelligence Captain “Lieutenant, glad I caught you. We identified the saboteur, it was an assassin. He was paid to cause that explosion. The fee he charged was paid through third-party sources, so we can’t prove anything. Watch your back! It looks like it may be the Buckley family behind it.”

  Great, just great. I caught the shuttle no problem and transferred to a destroyer, the Tokyo Bay, on the station. Several other transfers and I along with a hold full of cargo was soon outbound for sector 25 and my new posting.

  Chapter 6

  According to Encyclopedia Galactic, sector 25 is a lonely place.

  “One of the last sectors to be explored before the war, it has little to no economic value. The asteroid belt and planets hold no rare or hard to find minerals. There are very little commerce and few settlements. What is most visited in the area, is the Navy resupply depot with its comprehensive general store. It features a wide selection of essential amenities including those hard to get items, such as cigars or nail clippers.”

  To the Navy, this was the perfect place to put a ship full of cadets and trainees. Nothing to break or to destroy, other than the station they were on.

  If I hear “are we there yet?” one more time I will just scream You would think that an ‘all knowing’ super smart computer could find something to do, but no, he’s like a small child that way.

  This ship, unlike the carrier, is a closed system for Wilson. No fleet communications to investigate, no networks to play in, no real trouble to cause.

  I did try to keep him occupied, I let him tell me some stories. Toys that talk? And something about a red shoe? Such a weirdo.

  I was happy.

  I now have unrestricted access to most of the tech manuals and the occasional visit to ship’s engineering. I tried to not be a pest but, it was a long voyage.

  So far so good, no assassins no unexplained deaths. It’s difficult to keep one eye open while sleeping.

  My new assignment is to be an engineering third, basically, a gopher. Other duties to be determined sounds ominous. Hopefully, it’s not too bad.

  Most days on this ship I sit in the mess hall, reading up on the 15 years of tech that I missed, trying to stay out of the crew’s way. That, of course, doesn’t stop crew members from talking to me. Seems I’m famous, more infamous really. It’s that whole enemy thing, that and building my own space station.

  The trip out to the school was pretty long, about two weeks. This destroyer is a Delta class B, which means it was old when the war began. At 40 years old it’s ancient for a warship. The engines have at least been upgraded so, I guess, that makes it a B2 model. I would have to ask the chief. Regardless, it is mega-slow compared to the new Empire class ships.

  It was the ship’s alarm that roused me from my sleep. My first thought was “not again!”

  I threw on my uniform and went to my assigned emergency station. Although passengers were considered cargo for trips like these, we were still Navy officers and crew. In theory, we had the basic training to help fight the ship.

  The CIC was my station for whatever this was. On a destroyer, the CIC is one of the most protected spots on the ship. If something happens to the bridge, the CIC can take over and still fight. Since I was an engineer, I was put in with the emergency repair backup crew.

  As I entered, the Lt. Commander in charge gave me our ships status. Three ships had been detected hiding in the nearby asteroid field. When we had hailed them, those ships attacked us. The attack vessels looked to be some sort of pirate or raider ships. Very unusual for them to take on a Navy destroyer, even one old as this one. Our captain, a decorated war veteran, fought his ship with great skill and navigation.

  The first pirate ship, an old AA Stuka IV, was quickly destroyed using the ships main guns. After that, the other two pirates kept their distance.

  Pirate number two got a little too close on a torpedo run, and our point defense system took him out. Unfortunately for us, the torpedoes that the pirate had launched hit us damaging our engines.

  At half speed, we were now unable to outrun the last raider ship. That pirate began strafing our ship looking for weak spots in our armor. Damage reports from across the ship began filtering into CIC. The repair crew was sent out, including me. Engineering and life support had been hit the hardest. Our team was split up.

  I proceeded to life support with my part of the team. The ship was shuddering with the pounding it was taking. The Life support area was in an older part of the ship. The bulkheads here were starting to screech and groan with the strain of the ship’s maneuvers. The life support panel had broken loose from one such bulkhead. Fortunately, we were able to shore it up and repair the damaged circuits.

  Soon the battle was over, the captain suckered the last pirate with a couple of fire and forget missiles and easily destroyed him. Engineering was a mess. Half our engines were out, and the ship had several large holes to deal with. Repairs started immediately.

  The crew got the ship repaired just in time for help to arrive. It was the training ship Empire. Her rookie flight school patrolled the area, while we docked, using the aft docking ring. The wounded went aboard first. Not very many were injured in the attack.

  My first impression of the Empire as I stepped off the destroyer was ... BIG. This was a big ship.

  Dreadnought sized it was the largest non-carrier ship I had ever been on. I knew, from my reading, that although it was a school, it was still an active naval vessel.

  Flight school, officers’ academy, and intensive technical training were taught here. You got your basic training in the Navy on a planet in sector 6. Here, this ship was the vocational school. Standing at the end of the walkway was a commander that looked as though he wanted my attention. I approached him, coming to attention.

  “Sir?”

  “Ah, Lieutenant Lee I presume? The captain and I had a very long communication from the Admiralty concerning you. We are looking forward to seeing what you can do. Follow me please.”

  As ordered, I walked with Commander Wang, he told me his name as we discussed my trip.

  He agreed with me that the pirate attack was unusual, in that they don’t normally go after Navy ships. The Captain was found on the bridge. She was a short, stout woman with gray hair.

  Captain Michaels signaled the navigation officer to take command of the ship. She turned in our direction, “Commander, in my ready room, please. You too Lieutenant.”

  The ready room was located just off the bridge for easy access.

  “You may be seated. Lieutenant, the Admiralty sent a very long message concerning you. I am aware of the political issues that your recent imprisonment may have caused. It appears that none of it was your fault. It is the assassination attempt that is the main issue. Naval Intelligence believes that the pirate attack against the Tokyo Bay was another attempt on your life.”

  My jaw just dropped open with surprise. “What Captain? Why? Have they discovered who it is that’s trying to kill me?”

  “It appears that there is a $30 million credit bounty on your head. Intelligence thinks that the Buckley family is fronting the attacks. But they can’t prove it. Just so you know, the former governor has been released. His political connections have kept him out of jail, but he has lost his government position. We think these attempts are all very personal.”

  “Why was he released? He had them torture and try to kill me!”

  Nodding her head, the Captain looked at me. “He was very careful to not have any written or vid records of him giving those orders. All the orders appear to be given by his staff. None ever came directly from him. All the evidence is circumstantial and to arrest a politician that is not enough to convict.”

  What kind of crazy galaxy have I come home to? I should have stayed on my station I thought.

  Catching my attention, the Captain said “ What we plan to do with you is move you around on the ship to see what skills you have. Based on your prior Navy experience and your actions aboard the destroyer, we know that you have engineering skills. I understand that that is your chosen career. However, you are in the Navy, and there are other skills that you should know. Flight training is one of them. You can fix ships, now learn how to fly them. Contact my office if there are issues. Try to pay close attention to your surroundings. Security will be increased on this ship while you are here, but watch yourself. Commander Wang will show you to your quarters and get you set up with locations and orders.”

  The next morning, a ‘bouncy’ midshipman gave me a tour of the ship ending in the flight bay.

  Time to start my new job.

  I never dreamed that I would be flying the ships that I wanted to build.

  Flight instructor Macdonald greeted me as I entered the room. “Welcome, Lieutenant, to your first day of flight training. We fly two different fighters here along with shuttles and assault craft. You, get to learn all of them.”

  At my grimace, he chuckled. “Don’t worry, we are not making you into an expert fighter pilot. But we do want you to be able to at least solo in all of the spacecraft. Think of the performance details that you will learn. You can’t say that knowing first hand, how a ship operates won’t help when you repair it?”

  “Yes, sir. You are right. Being able the see a problem or malfunction will make repairing it easier.”

  It is time to hit the books. I had ahead of me several weeks of the class tutorial to catch up on and then on to the basic flight.

  Chapter 7

  It took about a month of class tutorials and cram sessions, but I was ready for my first solo.

  The instructors chose the Mark 30 shuttle craft for my first ship. Hard to damage, it was an easy to fly model.

  Each Mark 30 was unarmed but equipped with emergency escape pods.

  This was just a solo flight, not a combat mission. A small navigation course was laid in to go up and around the ‘school’ and then back again. Easy. I did my pre-flight, walking around the ship checking off the list as I went.

  Powering up the shuttle was super easy as the flight controls were very simple.

  In my head, I heard Wilson say “Atomic batteries to power, Turbines to speed... Ready to move out!.” Such a weirdo for an AI.

  Soloing was easy. Why had I not done this before?

  As I finished up my course and headed back to the ship, the proximity beacon started to sound.

  Trouble.

  Switching on the communicator I heard “...not a Drill, This is not a drill!. Battle stations! .... Battl ....” then a loud buzzing.

  Something was jamming the communication system. It is like déjà vu all over again. The school was in a battle of some kind, and I’m trapped in an unarmed shuttle.

  Unable to get to the docking bay, I hid my shuttle.

  What looked to me like a couple of pirate fighters flew past my position. They had not spotted me yet. I was parked in the shadow of the ship real close to the hull. I was hoping that these were regular pirates, not the bounty hunter kind.

  The school training squadron launched fighters to assist the CAP (Constant Air Patrol), that was always out there.

  Lots of dog fights I was worried about my fellow students some of them were very young to be in combat.

  A pair of Stuka IV fighters came into view, alarms filled the air, I had been spotted! I quickly turned on the ship’s power. My hand came down of the controls, and the shuttle lurched into full speed. My ship careened from side to side barely in control. I zigzagged, trying to confuse them and gain some time. My ship was one big unarmed target!

  Or was it? I have a tractor beam and two escape pods on board. Time to use some engineering skill.

  I engaged the autopilot, telling Wilson to take over flying and keep the ship moving. If we survived this, I might have to admit to his presence at the school.

  Making my way to the rear of the shuttle, I adjusted the tractor controls. Changing the beam to a widespread, I maxed out the power.

  This had better work, or we were dead!

  Returning to the controls, I ejected an empty escape pod. Grabbing the pod with the tractor beam. I yelled at Wilson, “draw one of those fighters in closer.”

  The Stuka IV had shielding on its sides, the top and the bottom of the fighter. The only unshielded place on the fighters hull was the cockpit. To kill it with one shot, I needed to hit it dead center in the front.

  Lining up the ships and crossing my fingers, I reversed the tractor beam and ‘threw’ the pod at the fighter. It struck dead on the Stuka exploded in a ball of fire. Now if I could get that to work twice.

  The other pirate seeing the explosion turned tail and ran for it. I guess he thought this shuttle was armed. Communications had returned as the student fighters gained the upper hand over the pirates. Flight control noticing that I was still out here ordered me back in.

  Explanation time was at hand.

  Chapter 8

  Lots of work to be done, in the aftermath of a battle.

  Prisoners to take control of, damage to assess, and the wounded to care for.

  Battle (AAR’s) after action reports are a part of this too. Mine was almost not seen in all of this turmoil, notice, I said almost.

  My arms and most of my upper body were inside one of the fighter engines trying to repair the exhaust manifold when one of the captains aides came looking for me.

  “Lieutenant, your presence is requested in conference room 10.”

  “OK, let me get changed and...”

  “The captain said now, go as you are.”

  Oh, boy here it comes.

  Work coveralls covered in propulsion fluid and grease, I made my way to the conference room. It was a full house, standing room only.

  With a pensive look on my face, I saluted and came to attention when Captain Michaels saw me come in.

  She spoke to me. “Have a seat lieutenant,” eying my clothing “better yet, remain standing. Do you have any idea why you are here today?”

  “Would it involve my after action report, Captain?”

  Calmly the captain answered me. “Yes, your report. We almost missed it, it was lumped in with the other pilot’s reports. I had assumed that when the alert sounded your ship had returned to the hanger bay. Imagine my surprise to learn that an unarmed shuttle destroyed a fighter using an escape pod as a cannon. In watching the record of your flight, I understand why you did it. What you did was amazing. The problem that we, the command staff has is, HOW did you do it? You are, of course, an engineer. The tractor beam adjustment should have been extremely easy for you. The autopilot, however, does not have an evade and elude configuration. None of the shuttles do. Explain yourself please.”

  The whole room full of officers seemed to be peering at me. It made be extremely nervous.

  “Is the Captain familiar with my previous record, sir?”

  Looking down at her tablet the Captain replied: “I have the record here, Admiral Kane sent it along.”

  “Did you read the part about the station that I built?”

  Cocking her head, the captain said, “Yes, that was why she sent you to us.”

  Bracing myself, I continued. “In the wreckage of one of the frigates was a prototype AI named Wilson.”

  “What! Hold on, Lieutenant! Do you mean to tell me that there is a rogue AI loose on MY SHIP!”

  “No SIR! Not your ship. He has embedded himself into my link and well, I guess, he could be on your ship. But I’m pretty sure he’s here in my head.” I pointed at my head.

  “Lieutenant, you told the Admiral that this AI stayed behind and was running Firefly station. That is what this report says.” She gestured to the screen in front of her.

  “Oh, he did, sir. He left a clone of himself there and tagged along with me. You have to remember, at the time I was not under anyone’s orders. I was considered a P.O.W.” I paused. “He saved my life, sir. It was him that sent all of those incriminating records to the Senate and to the ESS. As far as I can tell, he has been keeping out of trouble so far on your ship. I will say that if you attempt to purge him, he might cause a great deal of trouble.”

  “So you are saying that we are stuck with him? Is that it Lieutenant?”

 

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