Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between (8 page)

The ship was secured and ready for space. Kelly called the tower for permission to take off. Permission granted, Kelly ordered the helm to make a standard departure and passed them a course for the local ring. They smoothly climbed into the darkness of space and lined up on the ring.

Kelly ordered Ops to call for transport to Glenn and was told to move off 50km, as traffic was inbound. Kelly gave the necessary orders and watched as three squadrons of A-100's and a squadron of F-53's exited from the ring. Kelly had his display set on navigation, not tactical, so he did not see that his friends were flying by. The control called and said he was cleared for transport to Glenn.

Kelly had the ship line up with the ring again. He sounded collision and ordered the helm to proceed at 0.1
c.
The Orion passed through the ring and appeared above the double-mooned planet Glenn. He sent a new course and speed to the helm and had them execute. The Orion left the system and then sped up to FTL power 4.

Kelly called full stop after thirty minutes, then ordered, “Sensors, call out all targets.”

Sensors acknowledged the order and came back with all clear. Kelly lined the Orion up on the speed course heading, passed the speed course direction and speed changes to the navigator, and ordered the helm to execute.

The Orion moved forward at each FTL Power for five minutes before increasing sequentially up to power 7. Sensors along the course recorded true speed and relayed them to the Orion. Kelly was impressed, felling no change through the acceleration. He called over to his Ops officer to get damage reports. All sections reported back negative.

Kelly called out, “Helm, all stop. Reverse course. Sensors, read out all targets along our reverse course.”

Again, Sensors acknowledged the order and came back with a negative report.

Kelly said, "Let’s do it again.”

He ordered FTL power 5 and the ship smoothly accelerated to the speed, then to FTL Power 7 and the ship sped swiftly through the sector.

Kelly marveled at the Orion's raw power, looked over at the admiral and the contractor’s chief engineer, and said, “I think we can mark the speed run as passed on the checklist.”

He ran down the entire list, testing engines, maneuverability, gunnery, sensors, the galley, sickbay, and CIC functions.

Kelly was most impressed with the disruptor cannons. The nose guns and turret guns were the same caliber. The gunnery test was on an asteroid field, and with the guns set on wide beam, several small to medium asteroids turned into clouds of dust and gas. Narrow beam drilled holes though the asteroids.

That was enough fun for the day.

Kelly ordered, “Set course for the nearest ring and get us back to Leonov.”

The head contractor asked if all sections of the checklist had been satisfactory. Kelly nodded to Admiral Hasselrode and the admiral said they were and he was prepared to sign the acceptance papers.

The manager shouted so all in the CIC could hear, “Then the drinks are on me when we get back. We’ll have a reception after the formal acceptance ceremony tomorrow, but I’m letting the child out tonight.”

Kelly and all in the CIC laughed. The entire crew showed up at the manager’s favorite bar.

* * * * *

Kelly left Leonov two days later to deliver the Orion to Antares Base for his formal assumption of command. He appointed the junior Ops officer as Officer of the Deck, and ordered Lieutenant Handel to make a max speed run for Armstrong without using the rings. It should only take a day at FTL power 7. He sent a message to the Admiral that he would be making a speed run to test the engines over distance and would arrive 12 hours late.

Orion was huge compared to the old Vigilant. It had three decks: The upper deck held the bridge CIC, admin section, officer’s quarters, and wardroom. The main deck had chiefs’ quarters, wardroom, galley, junior enlisted quarters, and weapons. The lower deck had engineering, additional weapons, and supply. This was where the ring lived.

Kelly dropped down ladders to the lower deck to see the ring. He found it in the middle of a central hallway. It was bigger than he thought, about double the size of a man standing. He looked closer and saw it was mounted on a rail system, so it could be moved up and down the hallway. When he looked at the sides of the hallway he saw why.

There were spaces on each hallway wall for inserting three 25-missile pods. In combat, the supply depot would roll correctly oriented offensive or defensive missile pods up to the ring, wait for approval, and push them through. A forklift-like robotic arm would reach out from the sidewall to maneuver the pods into place and lock them in. Expended pods would be disposed of in reverse order. An identical action would take place for the other missile spaces on the opposite wall.

Above the missile racks were bins for storing many of the consumables used during a cruise. Next forward was the main engineering space. He entered and climbed ladders until he found someone; a Machinist’s Mate Petty Officer 1st Class was adjusting a piece of machinery. Kelly walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He got yelled at for standing in his light. The rating nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw whom he’d just cussed out.

Kelly patted him on the shoulder and said, “It's okay. I would have yelled at someone standing in my light, too,” and moved on.

He found the Engineering Officer monitoring an insanely complicated engine control screen. Lieutenant Commander Jake Brown was a 14-year Fleet engineer. This was his first time in Scout Force, but Admiral Craddock brought him in because his team in the Bureau of Ships built the engines. He literally knew the engines inside and out.

Kelly talked to him for a while and learned he lived only to design and run engines. “The Regulus engine is my brainchild, and the Orion’s four can push the Orion faster than any ship in the Fleet. I think with a bit of experimentation and some tinkering, I could get another FTL power…maybe one and a half more out of them.”

Kelly thought to himself it would still take them weeks to get to A’Ngarii space.

He then asked, “At the speed we’re capable of traveling, would the K’Rang even know we were there?”

Brown replied, “At FTL power 7, the K’Rang would know we’re there, but might not be able to do anything about it. The easiest countermeasure would be to salt our path with more debris than our navigation shields could deflect. I don’t recommend maintaining a straight course for too long. Zigzagging would be good.”

Kelly thanked him and went up a ladder to weapons and Lieutenant Stewart, junior weapons officer. He jumped up when he saw Kelly enter the compartment and Kelly motioned him to sit.

“How’s it going, Mr. Stewart?”

“Everything is fine, sir. Is there anything I can help you with?”

“I want you to set up a program that will bore sight and lock the turrets to fire forward on command. I may have need for all that firepower facing front.”

“Will do, sir.”

Kelly walked through the galley and met Chief Samuel Baker.

“How are you, Chief?”

“I’m just fine, sir. Is there anything special I can get you? Coffee? Tea?”

“I wouldn’t turn down a cup of coffee, but I’ll get it myself, if I may.”

Fixing a cup, Kelly sat down with Chief Baker.

“I can run engines. I can shoot weapons. I eventually figured out how to work the sensor suite on my old ship, the Vigilant, but I can’t cook at all. So, I’m not going to ever try to tell you how to do your job. I expect you, however, to provide three hots a day and mid-rats. Always have coffee and tea available. Cookies or snacks out where people can get at them would be nice, but that’s your call. Keep the crew well fed and more than half the morale problems never materialize. Do you have any questions?”

“No, sir, I just hope you never try to tell me how to do my job.”

They both laughed at that. Kelly shook his hand and moved on. He came to chiefs’ country and ran into half his chiefs drinking coffee.

“Is it okay if I come in?”

They all jumped to their feet and Chief Quartermaster Leon pulled out a chair for him.

He spoke for the group, “Of course, sir, it’s your ship after all. You're always an honored guest in our wardroom. What can we do for you, sir?”

“I’m just walking around meeting people. Tell me who all of you are.”

“I’m Roberto Leon, Senior Chief Quartermaster. I run your bridge crew. To my left is Senior Chief Cryptologic Technician, Tommy Davis. He runs your sensor suite. Next to him is Senior Chief Intelligence Specialist Joe Robinson. He runs your intel section in Operations. Would like some fresh coffee, Captain?”

“No, I’m good. As you were, chiefs. I’ll be on my way now. I’m glad to have met all of you. I’m sure we’ll get to know each other better as we go along.”

Kelly walked up to the bridge. Someone called, “Captain’s on the bridge,” as he entered. He looked around, saw Lieutenant Handel, and asked how things were going.

Lieutenant Handel responded, “We’re on course for Antares Base with an Estimated Time of Arrival of six hours, sir.”

A yeoman appeared with a message from Admiral Minacci. It approved his speed run and told him no hurry, as Admiral Craddock was delayed by one day for the ceremony.

Kelly retired to his cabin and checked out his new digs. He thought his quarters on the Vigilant were posh, but these were sweet. It included a separate bedroom, a combined conference room/work room/sitting room/office, and a separate head with shower. He especially liked the workroom with the big table and multiple monitors. He could run the ship from here and never have to get out of his pajamas. That is, if he wore pajamas.

Turning on the monitors, he put one on forward view, one on sensors, and one on rear view. He watched for a few minutes, then returned to CIC to learn more about his ship.

* * * * *

Angie lost her first pilot and ship. She was escorting three heavy attack squadrons against the picket line, but today was a little different. A fourth squadron of A-120's snuck behind the picket line and hit the supply depot on the uninhabited world.

The T’Pok fighters came after the three A-100 squadrons and Angie's squadron put themselves in between the attack ships and the T’Pok. They did fine at first, until the K’Rang launched their missiles. The jammers on the fighters protected them, but one of the missiles locked on one of the attack ships. The pilot, a new second lieutenant, turned to shoot the missile, but a T’Pok ran up on him and killed him. He had no chance to eject.

Angie shot the T’Pok and the rest of the fighting 68th shot down 17 others to avenge their squadron mate’s death. A somber 68th Fighter Squadron flew back to Leonov that day.

* * * * *

Orion entered orbit around Armstrong and requested permission to land at Antares Base. Permission was granted and Kelly ordered a standard approach. The landing was not as smooth as he would have liked, but not bad for a new crew with a new ship. The Orion was directed to a parking spot, where the ground crew hooked up power, sewer, and water. Kelly ordered engineering to shut down the engines. He also ordered a full diagnostic run on the engines, to see if the extended high-speed run had affected them. The report came back negative and Kelly left to meet with Admiral Minacci.

The admiral was in his outer office, saw Kelly, and waved him into his office.

“Well, how is she?”

“She’s fast, sir, and she’s big. I served on the Carrier Bolivar and it didn’t feel as big as the Orion. Of course, some of that may go away when a full crew is aboard. I tried not to strip all of Admiral Hasselrode’s people. Only took 75 from him. Have you received any word on my volunteers, sir?”

“John told me you were gentle, but he’s upset you didn’t kiss him before you left,” Admiral Minacci laughed.

He picked up a data device on his desk and tossed it into Kelly’s hands.

“I think those might be your volunteers. Those just came in. Please tell me I can have the ones you don’t use.”

Kelly flipped through the data on his pocket terminal and said, “These are Scout Force veterans, sir. They’d be insulted if you didn’t take the ones I can’t use. I promised them Scout Force, not just my ship. On another matter, I don’t have an XO. The officers on Leonov were Fleet officers, not Scout Force. I need a second in command that thinks like I do. Are there any lieutenant commanders running around loose? It was the same thing with my Master Chief Petty Officer. Any loose master chiefs needing a job?”

Admiral Minacci fumbled with his terminal, compiled a document, and flashed it to Kelly’s pocket terminal. It was a list of all lieutenant commanders and MCPOs on Armstrong.

“Look at the list and your volunteers. Let me know what you decide. I’ll ask the Command Master Chief to get you his recommendations.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll run down these lists and see who I can use.”

* * * * *

Kelly took off long enough to take Candy out to dinner. They had a wonderful meal together and a great bottle of wine. Candy noticed Kelly acting strangely, uncharacteristically nervous and wondered what was up. When they were through eating, Kelly ordered a bottle of dessert wine. When it was served, they clinked glasses and sipped the sweet wine.

Kelly, a trifle nervous, pulled out a small box, and promptly fumbled it, sending it skittering across the dining room floor. It ended up directly under the chair of a matronly looking woman sitting with a younger couple. He slunk over to the table, apologized, and asked the older woman if he could retrieve the box under her chair.

There was momentary confusion, but eventually the woman understood and stood up, moving aside so he could retrieve the box. The old woman saw the box, recognized it for what it was, and wished him luck. Candy was laughing as he walked back to their table – until he opened the box for her. A shocked look crossed her face as Kelly asked her to be his wife.

Tears of joy spontaneously flowed from her eyes as she said yes. Other diners noticed the proposal and applauded them. Candy leaned over and kissed him and more applause burst out. They finished their wine and Kelly settled the account.