Attack Butterfly (Rust Bucket Universe) Page 2

  Sylvia reached the board and looked for her score. She was twentieth. Not bad, she thought, but she could have and should have done better. Sylvia knew she should have been in the top ten with her background, but she was fighting burnout and knew it. She knew she had deliberately coasted during her last month. Twenty straight years of schooling was enough to get to most people. It was getting to her. Sylvia knew that she would still be learning when she got to her assignment. However, Sylvia felt she would have real work to break it into something more rewarding and challenging.

  ***

  The two officers looked at the new ensigns arriving from the academy.

  "Looks like a new batch of Oden's Warriors. They look pretty good, considering."

  "Seems like the admiral keeps trying each year to put out a better and tougher bunch than the year before. Wonder what new innovations in the training he put them through?"

  "I don't know, but it seems to work. I wouldn't trade the ensign I got last year from the academy for two officers from my graduation year."

  "I wonder if we'll get any of them?"

  "Sure hope so, especially if they're better than what I've already got. I won't mind putting my ensign in for promotion and maybe losing him then since he deserves it."

  "You weren't going to put him in for promotion?"

  "Yes, I'm putting him in regardless, but I don't like the idea of possibly losing him."

  "Oh, I understand you now."

  ***

  Lieutenant Junior Grade Thompson strode up to the fighter that would be hers on board the Fighter Carrier Terra. She had already stopped in at personnel and read everything she could about her mechanics and crew. It wasn't at all hard for her to recognize them from the images in the records. She also had a copy of their records in her travel computer. At long last, the Navy was allowing officers to carry personnel records with them on board their ships. She thought that was a wise decision on their part. At the same time, she wondered who was responsible for getting the policy changed after decades of it being the other way. She still couldn't believe that the Navy kept paper records as well as computer records. It seemed like such a waste of resources, but that was perhaps a battle to be waged some other day, she decided. Maybe she would make Admiral of the Navy and be the one to change it.

  Her crew and maintenance personnel gathered around her. Susan said, "Good afternoon, I suppose you were expecting me tomorrow, but I wanted to meet with you and let you get to know me so that we can start out on a good footing. I'm Lieutenant jg Thompson. I have only one request to make of you today other than conducting my inspection of the fighter. I want an emblem placed on the nose of the fighter. Here's a drawing of what I want."

  She handed over a sheet of paper, not thinking that she was doing things just like the Navy. On it was a drawing of a butterfly with a laser weapon in its grip and two words below it reading "Attack Butterfly."

  She said, "If any of you have any doubts about this, you're welcome, of course, to check with my wing leader. You'll find that I have this cleared all the way up. If you're interested, I'll tell you the story behind this and explain why I think this is appropriate." She looked at the men and one woman who made up her fighter crew and maintenance personnel. "Fine, I'll expect to see this on the nose tomorrow morning."

  "Lieutenant, which side of the nose or would you rather have it on both sides?"

  Susan replied, "That's a good question. Can you make it in reverse for the other side of the nose? If so, I'd like to see it on both sides then."

  The man answered, "I think we can. Sure, we can do that."

  Susan responded, "Excellent! We're going to be a fine team."

  "Lieutenant? I'd like to hear the story behind it," the only woman crew member stated.

  Susan went into the brief story of the attack butterfly. She saw the flight crew and maintenance personnel laugh at first and then almost come to tears just as the cadet ensigns had at graduation. She gave them a moment to recover before she began her inspection.

  ***

  Ensign Everette Dixon reported for duty aboard the Dreadnought America. It was one of the very newest and he was looking forward to serving in her. The short leave granted to each of the cadet ensigns after graduation had been useful to him. He and Celia married and took their honeymoon. That had been the one thing driving him to get into the top five positions. He wanted to be on a ship big and powerful enough that Celia wouldn't worry about him while he was in space on patrol. His personal preference had been a destroyer, but he was willing to compromise on that one issue. He, otherwise, made it totally clear to Celia that he was in the Navy for a career when he first met her.

  ***

  Ensign Mike Chalver looked at the destroyer he was assigned to in the 16th Squadron. It wasn't one of the newer models, but it was a place to start putting his career back together. He reported in and met with the skipper.

  Mike said, "Sir, before we go any further. I had an alcohol problem during the last year at the Space Academy. I thought you should know. I limit myself to a single drink at formal dinners and toasts on Union Day. I don't want you to think that I'm a snob or trying to make some sort of a political statement if I don't take a drink to toast something at regular dinners or such."

  "You entered their program voluntarily?" Captain Kyle Kruler asked.

  Mike replied, "Yes sir. I've brought along a transcript of everything with me. You're welcome to look through them at your leisure."

  Kyle replied, "I already know. Regardless, I'm happy to have you aboard, Mr. Chalver. This is one of the older destroyers, but she's still serviceable and performing at her peak. You do half the job I expect of you and we'll get along. You do all the job I expect out of you and I'll see that you're promoted real soon. That ought to be fair warning that I intend to load you down with extra work to start out until I'm sure you know every inch and bolt of this tub. That sound fair enough to you?"

  "Yes sir," replied Mike. "Give me an order and I'll start right now."

  Kyle replied, "Tomorrow. I've already had you watched since you arrived on base. I'm pleased with what you've done so far. Now give it a rest and leave the people at personnel alone for awhile. They're getting to hate this time of the year when the new graduates start learning about who's on their ships. Yes, I know about the tour you made of the maintenance shed, too. Now give it a rest until the morning."

  Mike said, "Yes sir."

  Captain Kruler said, "By the way, I expect to see you at my table for dinner this evening. Regular work clothes are sufficient. If I'm not there, start eating without me. Understood?"

  "Yes sir."

  Kyle stated, "Fine, now get out."

  Mike saluted sharply and received a salute that was no less sharp before he left the Captain's quarters and went about putting his own in order. He wasn't surprised that his captain was sharp. He expected it after he saw the condition of the maintenance shed that served the destroyer. Also, his checking of personnel records indicated that Captain Kruler once served with Admiral Oden on board a destroyer class ship. Mike was only surprised that he hadn't picked up on someone following or otherwise keeping tabs on him earlier.

  ***

  Ensign Barter almost cried when she learned that she was assigned to a planetary defense satellite. It wasn't fair, she thought, being assigned to something that only went around a planet. It was Beulah, at that, which it went around. The same world that the Space Academy was on. She appeared to be going nowhere. She could see herself remaining an ensign for longer than her classmates and not getting to lieutenant jg for possibly as long as three years.

  Even worse, Jack broke off their relationship only days before their graduation for what seemed like the silliest of all reasons to her. She still didn't understand why he felt he had to. Now she was upset with herself for not trying harder and with Jack for what he did. Still, she went about doing what every officer was expected to do and had gone about learning about her assignment fully before she was tran
sported up to the satellite, Beulah Station.

  Now things were even worse as she found herself assigned to recycling of all things. It was the worst of all jobs to have, even though the satellite could have disposed of its refuse on Beulah's surface. She left the Captain's office feeling that she made the biggest mistake in her life when she entered the Space Academy. She should have been assigned on graduation from the academy to command a fighter. After all, Sylvia had been ranked fourth overall in skill at handling one of them.

  Sergeant Rendall reported on board. Sylvia paused and looked at him in astonishment as he left the corridor leading to the ground shuttle. He had a chest full of medals and he was an enlisted man. She couldn't help but see that he easily had half as many as Admiral Oden. She could see that he had been through more than just a bit of combat action. At the same time, she wondered why he was here, if only because he had a puzzled look on his face. He made his way directly to Captain Sorenson's office to report in. In his hand, he carried sealed orders. Clearly, something was up, Sylvia thought to herself. As he passed by, she noticed his insignia identified him as a pilot.

  A pilot? Of his stature? On a satellite? Something was definitely going on, Sylvia knew then. Pilots were hardly ever assigned to a satellite. Even then it didn't take one as good as he obviously was. Sylvia hurried to the administration office to find out more about this new member whom she hadn't known about when she was assigned.

  ***

  George said, "Sylvia must be just about ready to cry, Dave."

  Dave replied, "I know, but she's needed there if our intelligence reports are right. We're in for a tough fight if our newest neighbors turn out to be like the Ape-oids."

  "They will," said George as he poured himself a drink. "You personally assigned all ninety-nine cadets as usual?"

  "All one hundred of them. Val is undercover."

  George exclaimed, "Val's not dead? Nice move, you fooled me!"

  "It was obvious that he was going to graduate. There was no stopping him and with his background, he was a natural to go undercover. Who the hell do you think has been providing our intelligence?" asked Dave.

  "I try not to know those things. Keeps me from divulging something to the wrong people," replied George.

  "Well, now you know. As well, he has to be extracted. Guess who's elected to go after him?" asked Dave.

  George asked, "Me?"

  Dave exclaimed, "Give the man a cigar! Now who's going to be our best for handling ground combat defense of Beulah? Delgado?"

  George stated, "Absolutely. Give her a stick and she'll make a weapon out of it. Give her soldiers and equipment, she'll accomplish even more."

  Dave said, "Okay, then bring her in on this tomorrow by bringing her to our next meeting. I want the two of you to present me with a draft plan at that time for the ground defense of Beulah. I can't guarantee that we can keep them all from landing when they come in. Indications are that they've been building up their forces and they outnumber us badly. It won't be like the Ape-oids War where we had both the numerical and technological advantages to give us time to retrain officers."

  "Yes, but this time we won't have to retrain officers," said George. "By the way, why aren't you going to be in charge? You're the senior officer on Beulah."

  Dave said, "Wish I could tell you, but trust me on this, okay? I need the best person available to take that responsibility. If Delgado is the person, then she's going to have to shoulder the load. Pennyweight is loaning you the Rust Bucket for your mission."

  George said, "I get the Rust Bucket? Wait 'til I get my hands on Penny for not letting me in on any of this."

  "She only got brought into the loop this morning. She didn't have any choice, either. We drafted the ship from the company because it's present on Beulah right now and not escorting a company convoy. We can't afford to use a military ship until war breaks out," replied Dave.

  George sighed, "Oh …"

  Dave said, "Here's your sealed orders. Based on what you and everyone else are saying, you could be opening these in as little as two days."

  George exclaimed, "Two days! You expect an attack then?"

  Dave replied, "That's the earliest possible date for them to strike. So you can see that you and Delgado don't have much time to come up with a ground defense plan. Now on to more pleasant business. Are you and Penny coming over for dinner tonight?"

  Chapter 3

  Susan looked at the art work on the nose of her fighter. It was everything she wanted it to be. She took pride in her fighter and rechecked everything to make sure that it was ready to go. She always envisioned herself being in a fighter, but for some reason, she couldn't quite visualize herself doing anything beyond that point in the Navy. Susan wondered if her never revealed intuition was failing her. Why couldn't she see herself in some other position as maybe a destroyer captain? Her intuition had only failed her a very few times before, the last time being when she was surprised in the simulator and sim-killed because of a stupid blinking red light only a few months ago.

  ***

  Sylvia still wondered why a pilot like Rendall was on a satellite. He was the kind of pilot who could name his assignment. He even piloted Admiral Oden around during the Ape-oids War a decade ago. Was there something he had done wrong, even though his records didn't reflect anything like that? Had he lost his edge? Maybe the Navy was getting ready to retire him? No, she thought. That couldn't be. He was still over a full decade away from a minimum retirement. Only a medical retirement could put him out anytime soon and he looked as healthy as a horse.

  ***

  Admiral Dave Oden waited patiently to see the plans that Sergeants Clark and Delgado brought in. Sergeant Delgado set down her portable computer and pressed a few switches to link it into the overhead presentation display. Dave's face first grew red when he looked at the plan and saw a unit stationed near his home for no other apparent reason other than to protect his family to the exclusion of the other people and installations on the planet Beulah.

  Maria caught George's shocked face in time to turn and catch sight of the Admiral starting to stand up with anger in his eyes. She quickly hit another switch. The map showing the positions was quickly replaced by another.

  Dave was half out of his chair when the display changed and presented a more logical posture for the cadets to be in. Seeing that his home wasn't surrounded as before, he settled back down.

  Maria started talking, "This is where we placed the units. The first year cadets are nearest more military support. The fourth year cadets are farthest away and almost completely on their own. The fourth year cadets are in smaller groups since they're more experienced. You'll also notice that they're in good positions to assist the underclass cadets in short order as well."

  George stated, "We considered keeping the ships in space as our first priority. Therefore, most of our efforts are near the naval maintenance areas. Second priority is resupply. The only real difference being that the ships don't really need the missiles or torpedoes. They just complete the complement of the ships' arsenals. I don't think many ships use missiles or torpedoes now except for target practice. Almost all the ships rely on their Mark II to Mark VII charged-particle weapons. I guess the only things that are still of any real importance in the resupply area are the space mines. We considered those to still be essential."

  Dave said, "Not forgetting that there are projectile weapons on board our ships that also need resupply unlike the charged-particle weapons that are fed from their own internal power sources and recharged from star light."

  Maria continued, "We've put one contingent of first year cadets near the city mostly to keep the civilians from leaving and getting shot. Of course, if the enemy goes into the city, the cadets will let the people out and go in after the enemy." She noticed that the Admiral was taking everything in and nodding in agreement. George had been right when he told her not to put any troops near the Admiral's home. The Admiral neither gave nor accepted special favors. He wo
uld deliberately level the playing field on occasion when he thought he saw an injustice happening. Sometimes he would even turn his back to let justice be performed where it would otherwise be impossible to obtain. "Instructors will be with each group and act as their combat leaders…"

  Dave interrupted by asking, "How many cadets not in leadership positions already are ready to act as leaders in actual combat?"

  Maria glanced at George for a moment before giving all of her attention to the Admiral. "Three or four are probably ready."

  "Does that three or four include Ensign Nape?" he asked.

  "No sir. You want him included?"

  "I think you should give him careful consideration. He strikes me as being several years ahead in maturity and leadership ability. I want you to consider having the instructors let the cadets handle themselves when possible. The instructors can always step in with some advice or take over in case of casualties. You might find that gives you a few more instructors to utilize since you're already going to be short-handed by both Sergeant Clark and myself being absent."

  "Sir?" Maria asked, "What do you think of Ensign Emily Tall being put in a leadership position?"