Scout Force (5 page)

      
“She’s having the new twin particle turrets installed in place of the old single plasma turrets.
 
It doubles our firepower and triples our range.
 
I’ve heard from the Valiant’s captain they don’t track on target properly until you tweak the fire control computer some.
 
That is your problem to solve.
 
We don’t use weapons much in our work, but when we need them, I want them working at 100% efficiency.”

      
“Our sensor suite will be upgraded, too.
 
We’ll have ten times the range with our long-range sensors and four times the sensitivity on our short-range sensors.
 
The planetary sensors will be able to reach 1000 meters below the land surface and any depth underwater.
 
We’re supposed to gain a significant increase in sensor capability in plasma-charged space, such as a nebula.
 
Some of the gas clouds used to leave us blind.
 
This upgrade is supposed to take care of that for us.
 
Now, if someone tries to hide in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, we can find them.”

      
“We have a cargo hold along the top dorsal fin.
 
We hardly ever carry cargo.
 
Its main purpose is to hold a launcher for 20 missiles.
 
It loads in as a complete unit and takes up the entire compartment.
 
The guidance system is tied directly into sensors.
 
We won’t see the launcher until wartime, though.”

      
“Sir, how does she handle?
 
How about acceleration, turning radius, and G-forces?”

      
“Relax.
 
Most of the time, we only travel in straight lines.
 
If we have to skedaddle, because we got caught or stumbled into something we shouldn’t have, the computer flies us out.
 
We have artificial gravity and a stabilization system.
 
You don’t feel acceleration and G-factors.
 
It won’t be the same as it was in the cockpit of a fighter.
 
When we do work ups, I’ll give you the controls so you can get a feel for the ship.
 
It is possible to fly the ship, but we don’t do it often.
 
The Vigilant has a crew of 48.
 
We aren’t strapped into acceleration couches as we do our jobs.
 
We can’t jink around in space like a fighter.
 
You’ll also find the mass and momentum is different from a fighter.
 
You’re a smart guy.
 
So I’m sure you will find some tricks the designers never imagined.”

      
Kelly scratched his chin, “I hadn’t thought about the fact the crew isn’t harnessed in.
 
That does make a good bit of difference.
 
I’ll remember and adjust my thinking.”

      
“You’ll figure it out.
 
When we get back, the yeoman will get you all in-processed.
 
Get the quartermaster to outfit you with a proper set of uniforms.
 
That one looks a little big.
 
We tend to wear coveralls on patrol.
 
They are quicker to get into and take up less space on board.
 
I find them more comfortable.
 
There are some additional duties I get to assign to you as the exec.
 
I’ll have Chief Watson see to it you have the ship’s new schematics to use for bedtime reading for a while.”

      
“Now for the crew.
 
The crew consists of two officers, six chiefs, and 40 lower ranks.
 
The ship is divided into five sections–the bridge, gunnery, sensor, engineering, and mess.
 
There is a chief in charge of each section.
 
They manage their sections and assign their people to watches and other duties.
 
The Chief of the Ship, Chief Watson, is a twenty year Fleet veteran.
 
What he doesn’t know about Scout class ships isn’t worth knowing.
 
He could probably disassemble, diagnose, repair, and reassemble any component of the ship.
 
Not only that, but he can teach others how to do it, too.
 
You outrank him, but if you are smart, you won’t argue with him or question him on anything he says.
 
I don’t.
 
He’ll treat you with the respect your rank deserves, but if he makes a suggestion you should give it a good long think before you do it some other way.”

      
“Its okay sir, I’m not your stereotypical ensign.
 
I had a good crew chief on the Bolivar.
 
I learned the value of listening to people who knew more than me.
 
After all, there are so many of them.”

      
This produced another guffaw.
 
“Ensign, I think I’m going to like you.
 
We should do well together.
 
One last bit of guidance, if I ask you something, tell me what you know, not what you think or guess.
 
If I want your opinion or a guess, I’ll ask you for that specifically.
 
Otherwise, stick with the facts.
 
There will be times out there where I won’t have time to work through a hypothesis.
 
If you don’t know, say so.
 
Come on, finish up.
 
I’ll introduce you to the crew.”

      
Kelly looked down and realized LCDR Timmons had cleaned his plate while talking to him, but Kelly’s breakfast was only half eaten.
 
He wasn’t sure how the captain had done that because he had talked almost the entire meal, but never talked with his mouth full.
 
Kelly wolfed down his breakfast, wiped his mouth, and got up with LCDR Timmons to carry their trays to the conveyor.
 
The conveyor led to a replicator that would melt down the trays, plates, utensils, and refuse, and reform them into new serving ware and utensils for the next meal.

      
The two walked out of the mess hall and back to LCDR Timmons’ office.
 
Chief Watson was waiting for them.
 
He looked young to be the Chief of the Ship.
 
He looked to be in his late 30s.
 
He was tall and wiry, six feet and just under 180 pounds.
 
He had the look of someone who knew instinctively exactly what to do in any given situation.

      
“Chief, this is Ensign Kelly Blake, our new Executive Officer.
 
Take him under your wing and take care of him.”

      
Chief Watson gave him a handshake exactly matching the pressure of Kelly’s grip.
 
Kelly took it as a sign the chief didn’t feel the need to compete with him.

      
“Glad to have you aboard sir.
 
Captain, when you are done with the Exec, I have the yeoman and quartermaster standing by to in-process him and get him outfitted.”

      
Chief, I’m done with him for now.
 
Blake, go with the chief.
 
Meet me back here at noon for lunch and then we’ll go over to see what the refit crew is up to.”

      
“Aye aye, sir.
 
Chief, I guess I’m all yours.”

      
“Come with me, sir.
 
If I can have your pocket terminal, we’ll get you officially signed onboard and transfer all your preferences onto the base network and the ship’s computer.”

      
Kelly handed over his pocket terminal, it was scanned into the admin terminal, and handed back.

      
“Sir, once you get on board, your quarters’ control preferences and your personal terminal will all be as they were for you on the Bolivar.
 
Of course, you can modify them once you get on board, if you choose.
 
Yeoman Benitez will make sure all your records are squared away.
 
She’ll make sure General Bugarov didn’t do anything to your records that isn’t exactly according to regulations.
 
The General has a history of leaving time bombs in people’s records that don’t go off until later.
 
Yeoman Benitez here was with the base admin office before coming to us.
 
She has seen it before and knows just what to look for.
 
Now if you’ll follow me, we’ll get you some new, better-fitting uniforms and an issue of shipboard equipment.
 
Sir, seeing your wings, did you bring your flight safety equipment?”

      
I did, Chief, but it will be a few weeks before it arrives.
 
I’m sure it was sent by the slowest means possible.
 
I would be surprised if it wasn’t arriving on a sub-light speed kinetic ore carrier.”

      
Well, sir, we’ll see if we can expedite it so you have it before we start work ups.
 
This way to the Quartermaster.”

      
Kelly and the chief walked down the hall to the Quartermaster’s office in the rear of the building.
 
No one was present.

      
“Billings,” yelled Chief Watson, “Where the hell are you?”

      
A head popped up behind the desk.

      
“No need to yell, I’m right here.
 
I dropped my pocket terminal and was just picking it up.”
 
The Quartermaster, Chief Billings, saw Kelly and came to attention.

      
“I beg your pardon, sir.
 
I didn’t see you.
 
Please come in, sir.
 
Take a seat.
 
Give me a minute to bring up your data on the terminal.
 
This data is a week old.
 
Have there been any major changes since this data was last updated, sir?”

      
“I can’t think of anything that has changed.”

      
“Great, sir, I’ll pull all this together for you and have it delivered to your office or your quarters, whichever you prefer.
 
We won’t be able to store things on the ship until the refit crew is done.
 
In fact, the storage lockers are sitting in the refit bay next to the ship.
 
They probably won’t be installed until the end.”

      
“Could you send the uniforms to my quarters and the rest to my office, Chief?”

      
“Yes sir.
 
I’ll have this done before close of business today.
 
Your new uniforms should be waiting for you when you get back to your quarters this evening.”

      
Sir, if you’ll come with me, I’ll introduce you to some of the crew.
 
Only about half the crew is on hand.
 
We’re trying to use this slack period to give the crew liberty and training.
 
We spend a lot of time out on patrol, so we have to take advantage of these opportunities as they come up.
 
Normally, we’d all be humping on the refit, but seeing as the refit crew is running behind schedule and our pointing out where they were screwing up our ship was slowing them down even further, they kicked us off.
 
It gives us some unexpected slack time to take advantage of.
 
We’ve got half the crew in training and the rest on leave.
 
In a week, we’ll swap the two groups.
 
Ah, here we are.”

      
They had come to a door in the hallway.
 
The chief opened the door and the two walked into a darkened room.

      
“Sir, this is the gunnery trainer.
 
We are training the gunnery section on the new particle turrets.”

      
As Kelly’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see three small cubicles with terminal screens and a series of controls.
 
A person got up from one of the terminals and walked over.

      
“Sir, this is Chief Pennypacker, the Chief Gunner’s Mate.
 
Chief, this is our new Exec, Ensign Blake.”

      
“Glad to meet you sir.
 
Welcome to the particle gun transition trainer.
 
I just finished a training simulation for our gunners and they are on break right now.
 
As we are changing out the old energy turrets for the twin particle turret, we need to train up on the new system.
 
Come over here, sir, and I’ll give you a demo.”

      
They walked over to one of the cubicles and Chief Pennypacker had Kelly sit down.
 
The chair formed to his shape and a diagnostic ran on the terminal in front of him.
 
A message came up, saying the system was online.
 
Indicators for rate of fire and ammunition level were on the bottom of the screen.
 
Across the screen top was a horizontal azimuth indicator.
 
Elevation was indicated along the left side, and on the right was an indicator of range to target.
 
In the center was a red dot and cross hairs.