Jethro 3: No Place Like Home (50 page)

Firefly and all of the ships had flown the fourteen point five parsec journey shorthanded; there had been no choice. “Well, so far so good, no one's shooting at us at least,” Purple Thorn said.

“You were so hoping just to have some defensive practice in,” Renee teased the elf, looking over to her.

“We'll never know will we?”

“Well, we could always try a sim...” Renee said. “Later,” she continued, eyes cutting to the plot. The CIC was painting the plot with the latest sensor sweep. Ships and orbital fortresses were beginning to populate the plot. So were shoals of missile pods, weapons platforms and mines.

“Spoilsport,” the tactical officer said, not looking up from her station.

Renee smiled slightly. She'd get the elf later, they both knew that. “Sitrep?”

“So far so good. We've gotten the challenge, and we've sent the agreed upon reply. I think the idea of friendlies coming in behind us has them confused.”

“They may think we're a Trojan Captain,” Firefly warned.

Renee nodded. “It's good to be cautious, but in this case unnecessary. Put me on Com,” she ordered.

The rating looked over his shoulder to her and then nodded.

“You're live ma'am, in three, two...” he finished with his finger and then pointed to her and nodded.

Renee cleared her throat. “This is Captain Renee Mayweather, Captain of the Firefly. We're here, we're fine. We've had quite the adventure. We're looking forward to telling you all about it. Commander Logan, if you are listening to this, the challenge response is Butterfly. I repeat, Butterfly,” she said, reading the name off her HUD. “Now that's over with, we've got some new friends and some old ones to greet. Fleet Admiral Irons sent them along with us,” she said, smiling slightly. She turned to look at the com rating but it was the sensor rating who held a hand up.

“Bismark has been identified. She's hailing us,” he said.

“By all means, put him on,” Renee said, sitting back in her chair and crossing her legs.

“Firefly this is Bismark, Commander Logan speaking. Glad to see you again, you had us worried.”

“Sorry, Captain, the ships that we're escorting are a bit slower than us,” Renee replied as the first ship exited hyper.

Once Firefly was recognized and her surprise sitrep initially processed, the other ships jumped in one by one in one-minute intervals. “Did you say Admiral Irons?” Horatio said. “Wait, Captain...”

Renee smiled wickedly. “Yes indeed. It's a long story. To answer your first question, yes he was in Beta 101a1. No, he's not with us. Yes, there has been a battle, and some promotions. Captain junior grade,” she said with a smile and nod. Janice snorted softly.

There was a few moments as the com laser whispered its message across the six million kilometer void and then back again. “Um, er, very well. I think. I'm looking forward to your report, Captain, definitely looking forward to it I guess you could say,” Horatio replied, sounding amused and incredulous. “Only John could pull off something like...” the signal ended.

“Bismark has cut communication,” Spencer said.

“That's okay, I think we've made our point,” Renee said. “Are you sending them our logs?” she asked. Spencer nodded, as did the ship's AI. “Good.”

They were greeted by a surprised and ecstatic Pyraxian naval force. Fighters launched from the carrier fortress, Kittyhawk, and the other ships to form a welcoming escort for the incoming convoy.

It had been a long grueling trip for them, over two months but they had all made it intact. The skeleton crews were overwhelmed, exhausted, but quite proud of their achievement, and rightfully so Renee judged. They'd earned their accolades, and then some.

During the trip she had realized why Admiral Irons had transferred Shelby out. Commander Logan had transferred to the Arboth destroyer Xavier to serve as her temporary Captain, but there was another reason. That had allowed her to gain more time in the hot seat, though it put a crimp in the normal smooth operations on Firefly. Captain Mayweather wasn't certain she would get her exec or her other officers back, or if she did for how long. Shelby she was certain was gone; it was just a matter of time. The two-month journey had helped put the final polish on the woman; she seemed ready, settled and eager to take on the challenge. She'd still need time to feel comfortable in the spot light, but Renee knew she could handle it.

Chief Chowler was acting Captain of the Clydesdale Colombian Express; he was another she wasn't sure would return. She hoped so; Chowler was quite the miracle worker, which was easy at least for manpower. He had one of the four civilian ships that had been stuffed with civilian refugees. Apparently, he'd put everyone to work who'd wanted to work. The cheater, she thought darkly.

Half a dozen shuttles moved in with relief crews for the overstressed ship's companies once the convoy had settled down into real space once more. A few of her acting Captains seemed resentful, but others like Tr'j'ck expressed relief. Renee knew the other purpose; it was one last paranoid check to make certain it wasn't all some sort of sick Trojan horse. She didn't care; she appreciated the additional warm bodies.

Once the fleet took on the borrowed personnel all but one of their number moved out on a leisurely two-and-a-half-day journey to the Yard. Oasis was diverted to the prison colony.

Once she was certain everyone had settled down, Mayweather decided to have a chat with her two remaining senior officers. She'd thought about it before but hadn't really had the chance to buttonhole the two of them since they'd been working different ships and had been tired. Now she took the time and confronted Janice and Purple Thorn. “Okay, now that it's all over, and we're almost home, I need to know. Why did you stay?” Renee asked pointedly, leaning against the desk behind her. “The two of you could have taken a prize crew. Hell, I'd expected you to throw your hat in the ring,” she said.

“It's been bugging her for months I bet. I'm actually shocked she let it slide this long,” Janice said to the elf with a mischievous smile.

The elf sniffed, waggling her antenna. “Probably.”

“Quit it. Now give,” Renee demanded, crossing her arms.

Janice snorted. She turned to the elf. “As senior to me, do you want the honors of going first?” She bowed ever so politely to the elf.

The elf shrugged and then bobbed her antenna once more, then flicked them back. “Well, from what I understand Janice didn't have a choice. Even with commander Nata'roka you still needed the best here since Firefly was point,” Purple Thorn said. Renee cocked her head but didn't agree or disagree. She had indeed thought of that. Janice's talents would have been wasted in any other position. Renee frowned, scratching her nose, not sure how to respond.

“It was clear to us before we left that you needed at least a couple of us to stay here and man the watches. All the other ships in the convoy take their positions, heading and speed from us. You needed the best helm team you've got, which is Janice, Deja, and Nata'roka,” the elf said, motioning to the now blushing Lieutenant Yu.

“True. And you?” The Captain asked, crossing her arms once more. She raised an eyebrow at the diminutive officer.

The elf shrugged. “I'm a bit small to take the hot seat.” The Captain frowned. The elf shook her head as her Captain started to protest. “That isn't what I meant. I meant that if I take it, my authority would be questioned, and it would be difficult to project my authority. And I wouldn't be able to get into the repairs like someone else can.”

“And you didn't want to stand in the way of someone else? You do know sitting on the sidelines isn't a career-enhancer gun,” Renee warned her.

“Yes I know that. But well...” The elf shrugged.

Janice snorted. Her Captain looked at her. “It's also the fact that we've got the best guns, and she knows it. She loves her department.”

“Right, safe in your own little nook you've carved out for yourself then?” the Captain purred, eyes twinkling.

“Not when you look at me like that I'm not,” the elf replied, flicking her antenna in amusement. “I have a feeling I'm going to be kept on my toes.”

“Tiny toes that they are. And since you are here, you can take more watches here. As senior officer and since we don't have an exec or chief engineer, guess who gets to oversee our stay?” She asked sweetly. The elf rolled her eyes. “And that way, I can deal with the mountain of paperwork, plus play in the simulator,” she said wickedly.

“Gee, lucky me,” the elf said dryly.

“Hey, you wanted to be the homebody,” Janice said with a snort.

---( | ) --- ( | )---

Horatio frowned, not sure he wanted to hear the message but knowing he'd have to do it eventually. He'd had it transferred over by a courier instead of transmitted. He looked at the flash stick, unsure, then sighed and sat down at his desk and plugged it in. The bot within the file accessed his implants so he uploaded his IFF. It took a second to confirm his ID and then an image of the Admiral came up. Horatio studied his friend for a long moment. He looked the same but different. He had a goatee for one, which was different, but the rest of him...it took him a moment to realize the Admiral's old skinsuit had been replaced with one trimmed in the gold of flag rank and the blue of an officer. He snorted.

He hit play and then tried to get comfortable.

“Horatio,” the Admiral said. He paused and then shook his head. “Goddess of space this is hard old friend. You have no idea how much I went through to come to this decision. I know it's bitter to not see me with Firefly, but well, honestly, you and I know Pyrax is too much of a snake pit. I'd spend half my time fending off the snakes and scorpions instead of doing my job. I know from the reports Firefly gave me that you've been doing the same. I'm sorry, but you're stuck with it for the duration,” he said.

“Gee thanks,” Horatio muttered. He'd pretty much resigned himself to that fact by now. He still wasn't comfortable with it, but he'd grown a bit into it. Besides, he knew he was the only one he'd trust with the role right now. Especially like the Admiral said, with all the snakes in the system.

“Firefly passed on the invitation from Governor Randall to return to Antigua. Apparently their close call woke them up. So, I'm headed there. I'm planning on picking up the forces I left behind in Hoshi's World and Richalu and then march on Kathy's World. She's under occupation according to our intel as is Protodon. We'll relieve them on our way to Antigua.” He smiled briefly. “That's why I poached as many Marines and sailors from Firefly as I could get away with. I'll need their experience on the journey ahead.”

“Good luck,” Horatio murmured.

“Which brings me to the next bit. Commander Sprite did some digging and confirmed a few things I hadn't known. She picked up the new reg changes on Bounty. We found confirmation files in some of the other captured ships so it's legit. Apparently during the later stages of the war there was a general firmware update. It allowed a rapid rise through the ranks and refined the security restrictions in the implants. I'm not at all fond of the security restriction changes; it refocused the damn monitoring bots on just watching for treason with the Xenos. That's...stupid.” He shook his head. “Apparently someone thought it would be better to focus on the external enemy only, ignoring any internal ones. I don't know. It's over and done with though.”

“And you can't disregard it,” Horatio murmured.

“The other is something I'm a bit...of two minds about. But it did let me do this. Under my authority and with your proven track record as System Commander and the need for seniority in said post, I'm promoting you to Captain J.G.”

“What?” Horatio asked. He'd heard something to that effect before but it still didn't make any sense. Him? A Captain?

Irons smiled, but Horatio realized the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. “Yes, old friend, that's right. Tough. You need the rank and the implant updates that go with them. Firefly has them. I've promoted Mayweather and Firefly for other reasons as well. Both are also Captain J.G.s. You'll be able to bootstrap a Captain's board now, so you can promote Vargess and one or two others as needed in the future.”

Horatio nodded. He now understood where this was going.

“You'll need to board Firefly and sleep on board so the commodore,” he paused with a wry smile, “can update your implant firmware. As an engineering Captain and system commander you'll have more key codes too. So will each of them as a ship Captain and a ship AI. Use them wisely. You'll be able to build more power plants, weapons and other things. I'll get to priorities in a minute,” he said.

“I've stuffed Firefly and the ships with her with as much as I could replicate in the time we had available. I also preloaded each of her replicators with key coded parts to replicate. Their queues are quite full, so get some ships over to transfer some raw material to them and help them clean out their stores. Most of it is reactors, drives, and hyperdrive components, and some industrial gear I thought you could use. It's mainly for ships up to a tin can, though I threw in what I could for the ships you have now.” He frowned and then shrugged. “Commander Sprite wants me to let you know that she worked with a Lieutenant Ball to create over a hundred dumb AI cores. Use them wisely. They also worked out a template for dumb AIs, but they won't be as smart or stable as the cores Sprite sent along. So again, use them wisely.”