Rust Bucket (28 page)

      I ordered, "You and you! Come over here! Everyone else, remain exactly where you are! Don't you dare move one muscle closer to those lines or I will shoot you!"

      The two officers came over to me and stood at attention. From the looks in their eyes, I felt sure they believed I was a mad man.

      I said, "I want everyone behind me to line up into one formation and I want you to have them run around this field once. Then I want them brought to me to hear some encouraging words. Move out!"

      I watched the two officers organize the men and women into a formation and then start them running around the landing field. I estimated that it was a distance of a little over three kilometers. That would keep them busy for the next fifteen to twenty minutes. I walked over to the first ship.

      I instructed them, saying, "At ease. There's no sense in standing at attention as long as you pay attention. There are certain deficiencies inside this ship that I already know about because I inspected it personally before I rushed you out of the recreational hall. Find them!"

      Then I walked to each of the other nineteen ships and gave the same instructions to the men and women standing beside each ship. I finished giving them something to do with several minutes to spare before the other group finished their run around the field. I went back to where I stood before and waited for them to return. It gave me enough time to smoke a cigarette.

***

The two officers brought the formation back and stopped it in front of me. I stepped forward and then used my loudest and most obnoxious voice to drive home my point.

      "Men and women! If this base had been attacked, you would be dead right now! You would be dead because I would have taken off without you. The back blast would likely have done you in! In the future when I tell the officers to scramble the crews, you will stop whatever you are doing, grab what you can, and run the way you are! I don't care if you arrive on board naked! You'll have plenty of time to get dressed on board! Do I make myself clear on this one point? You are to drop whatever you are doing, grab what you can, and start running for the ships! To make it easier for you in the future, the ships will soon not be in this formation any longer! My name is Oden! Captain Oden! It was pointed out to me that the
Valhalla,
my flagship, is somewhat of a coincidence since Odin was a Viking god! I don't expect you to be anything less than true Vikings when we meet the enemy and destroy him! In fact, I don't expect you to be anything less than the worst of the Vikings and they were called Berserkers! From now on, this is the Berserker Squadron! If you don't know what a Berserker Viking was, I will tell you! They were Viking warriors who went into a frenzy when they went into battle! Their enemies feared the Berserkers the most of all the Viking warriors because the Berserkers would charge into combat regardless of the odds and win! That is what we will soon be doing! We will be winning and we will do it every time! Not just once, but every time! Now get to your ships and help the others find the deficiencies that I've already found! Move out!"

      I left it to them to tell the others how horrible a person I was and about the new squadron name. I gave them a half-hour to find the deficiencies and then went on board my flagship first. I was met by the ship's captain who reported to me with what he and the others had found so far. It wasn't complete, but they found the major deficiencies I had discovered.

      I gave a hint of a smile as I said, "Good! Now get someone out here working on those deficiencies. Have the First Officer start supervising the work. You stick nearby me. I have other ships to review."

      We left the ship after he turned over the ship to the First Officer. We went to the next ship. The captain of the light cruiser met me after one of the crew members spotted me and hollered for him. He gave his report of deficiencies.

      I replied, "That's not good enough, Captain. You missed two. Have your First Officer keep looking for them and coordinate with maintenance to have everything fixed. Meanwhile, you tag along with me for the time being."

      We left for the next light cruiser. Again, there were some deficiencies not found yet and I gave the same instructions. Eventually, I had all twenty ships' captains in tow as I left the last ship.

      I turned to them and said, "Gentlemen, ladies, follow me to the recreation hall where we can discuss some things in private so that you need not be embarrassed in front of your subordinates."

      I led them to the hall where I first saw some of them. I let them stand in a semicircle around me and started on them with everything I expected of them.

      "How many of you know the names of every officer and crew member on your ship?" I looked around and there wasn't a single hand raised. "You will by tonight. You will go to Headquarters and draw every personnel record for every officer and crew member and bring them back here. Then you and I will go over them. If you think it's hard, remember, I have to know all twenty of the ships' officers and crew members. You only have to know them for one ship. Next question, how many of you regularly inspect your ship thoroughly?"

      Again, I looked around. There were a lot of red faces, but no hands. "From now on, you will conduct a thorough inspection of your ship once each week and prior to launch. You will report any deficiencies to me, no matter what the cause or how small. To tell you the truth, I don't care how they came to be. I want them found and fixed. Is that clear?" I looked around to see most of them nodding their heads in agreement. Most of them still looked like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

      "All right. Move out! I will see you here in two hours with every personnel record."

      The ships' captains left in a hurry to get to Headquarters and pick up the records. In the time they were gone, I went out to the ships again and instructed the First Officers to make sure that everyone got supper at the appropriate time, but to keep them working until eight that night.

***

Two hours later, the captains were back. Each carried an armful of personnel records. I assigned each one to a different table inside the recreational hall and started them going over the records of every man and woman. Slowly, we went through the records until supper when I allowed them to take a break. After supper, we returned to the recreational hall to resume our work on the personnel records. I didn't tell them that I wouldn't be able to remember that many names, but I did want to impress upon them that they needed to at least know their own crews and not just their officers. We finished up slightly before midnight when I let them secure the personnel records and retire for the night.

***

The next day, I didn't mention the personnel records until noon when I asked my ships' captains how many of them returned the records they borrowed. I slowly made my point to them about taking the initiative to do things without being told.

      Majel arrived that afternoon and I asked her which light cruiser she wanted to command.

      She exclaimed, "You're kidding? A light cruiser? Oh fabulous! Just whichever one you want me to take."

      I replied, "Fine. You're going to be hampered by a ship's captain who isn't going to like having his ship taken over by you, but he's going to have to put up with it because I want someone who knows how I expect people to do their jobs. Have you seen how the squadron tactics are working out yet?"

      She said, "No, but I've heard of them and read everything I can about them. So, it really works?"

      I answered, "Yes, but it's not perfected. You're the kind of person who can make the difference in getting this system to work right. I'll be leading the Berserker Squadron and you'll be in the center. It's an opportune location for someone with your knowledge of how a single ship can attack. It's simple to envision. You follow the squadron until you see an opportunity develop in the tactical situation that will favor us if someone gets to it. When you see the opportunity, then you ignore the rest of the squadron and lead whoever follows behind you to take advantage of the battle. Did you read about Admiral Nelson at the Battle of the Nile?"

      She answered, "Yes. So, it works just like that?"

      I replied, "Mostly. There might not be anyone following you, but you'll have the knowledge that you're not doing anything wrong when you break formation to give us a better advantage in a battle. If the ships following you do stay with you, then it gives us additional opportunities to try out some other things. For now, we're going to try to keep everything simple. We'll do charges, scrambles from the planet surface, test firings, battle station drills, and so forth. I'm on the
Valhalla.
When you pick the light cruiser you want to work on, send the captain of that ship over to see me. I'll explain what's going on so he or she won't feel threatened."

      Majel kissed me lightly on the cheek before she walked off with her pilots and a few gunners behind her.

***

We went into space the morning of the day after Majel arrived. It just barely gave her time to learn everything she could about her light cruiser and the men and women aboard it. I finished plotting out where I wanted the ships to land when we returned and gave a copy to each ship's captain before launch. The new landing positions would minimize the running distance for everyone when we started scrambling exercises.

***

We arrived in space where I had each ship start running battle stations drills. With twenty ships, it took all morning to finish. Then we spent the afternoon practicing the charge. I made note of which ships were slow to respond.

***

That night about one in the morning, we held our first scramble. The time wasn't as good as I wanted, but the men and women knew one thing for sure. When I said for them to run as they were, they ran as they were. A lot of them forgot to even grab more than their stinger and gun belt. I didn't say a word as long as they were present. When we got into space, we immediately went into formation and went through battle stations drills again before practicing how to charge as a squadron some more.

***

We returned slightly after noon that day. That gave the men and women a chance to grab their clothing and get dressed before we worked on the ships again to locate more deficiencies, now becoming apparent.

***

The next scramble saw a few less people naked on board after we launched. Most of them wisely put a set of clothes on board and didn't worry about trying to find their clothes in the dark. Again, I didn't say a word when almost all of the men and women came running to the ships in only their mesh undies or naked. Their time was significantly better. Each time we went out into space, I made it a habit for every ship to conduct a battle stations drill and test fire their weapons.

***

The next scramble was in the daytime and proved to be just as difficult for them. They expected to be scrambled during the night and fell into it as a routine. Their time wasn't as good as it should have been for getting the ships off during the day.

***

The fourth scramble was for real when an enemy scout managed to get by the border patrol and began checking out the bases on Echo. One crewman was killed when we lifted off to meet and destroy the scout. I didn't have to make my point anymore about what I would do in a real emergency, especially since the crewman was from my ship. I even knew we were short one man when we lifted off. It was the crewman's misfortune to be late and too near the ship's engines when we lifted off and went into our first combat.

      The first combat with the scout wasn't as bad as I feared it would be. The squadron managed to attack immediately although it consisted of only a few ships in position at that moment. Regardless, the rest of the ships' officers and crews were able to observe those of us who were in position move without hesitation towards the enemy to blast him out of space. While we were in space, I still required every ship to go through its battle stations drills and conduct a mock charge before we returned to port.

***

Because of the one death, we moved my ship, which would always try to launch first with or without me, to a location a little farther away so that anyone not on board the other nineteen ships would have some warning to get the hell out of the way. That was our only change because of the loss of the one crewman.

***

A week later, I asked for a patrol sector to take my squadron to for more practice and hopefully the chance to have an actual engagement with the enemy. Headquarters gave us a sector where there was a chance of an engagement, but where there hadn't been much activity during the war. I accepted it and returned to the squadron. I started them off by giving them a morning scramble to the space ships. Then I followed up with a quick battle stations drill and mock charge before we left Echo and went to our sector.

***

It was a complete surprise to everyone that we were actually on patrol for a week. We moved about the sector in formation with complete communications silence. In doing so, we surprised another scout the following day who was trying to slip into the area around Echo to gather information. The enemy scout was surprised to see twenty ships facing him and tried to turn away as he broadcast what he found in a previously unoccupied sector.

      Since our location was known, I broadcast a quick warning to the ships' captains about what might happen in the next two days.

***

Majel's gunners managed to have an impact on the gunners in the rest of the squadron. By the time we went to this sector, nearly every gunner was sleeping near a gun station to lessen his or her reaction time. By then, most of the crew members knew that there were certain things that I didn't care about as long as they were performing their duty. During my inspections of my own cruiser, I even found one woman naked while manning her weapon. I discovered that the only time she even bothered to get dressed was when she left to relieve herself or get a meal. I remembered a moment later that she was originally from Echo, a planet in the Union with legalized public nudity and the same planet we were stationed on. About all I could do was shrug my shoulders and cut her a little slack, especially since she was the second best gunner on board. Compared to her, I was third.