Dust Bunny (Rust Bucket Universe) Read online

  ***

  Admiral Oden prepared to return to his home for the evening, confident in the abilities of his forces to finish off the last few surviving enemy robots. Besides, none of the landings were anywhere near his home or the naval base where he operated from most of the time. As usual, he was accompanied by two armed guards while the hover was handled by an expert driver. None of them had any reason to suspect the walking figure they were approaching to be anything other than some person out minding his own business. The other two armed hovers that normally accompanied Oden were in use on what Admiral Oden considered more important tasks. The figure turned suddenly as the hover got well within range and displayed a weapon that it fired at the oncoming hover.

  Abruptly, the driver yanked the wheel of the hover, putting the hover into evasive action while both guards did their jobs. One guard shoved the admiral down to the floorboards and sat on him with his own weapon at the ready. The other guard returned fire immediately at the figure, ignoring the fire the figure was sending his way.

  Both the guard and the figure scored hits on each other. The guard fell from the hover to the ground. Aware of his responsibility for the admiral, the driver didn't stop for the fallen guard. The driver continued to take evasive action until another round from the figure hit and killed him. Without anyone to drive, the hover slowed to a stop.

  The remaining guard reached over to shove the hover into autodrive when he was hit. Immediately, he returned fire at the oncoming robot, hitting its weapon and disabling it. Again, the guard reached for the autodrive when the attacker suddenly exploded. The explosion rocked the hover. Shrapnel flew from the robot as it self-destructed within maximum range for causing more potential harm. The guard was thrown out of the vehicle with more wounds to his body. Inside the vehicle, Admiral Oden was getting up to help, his hand weapons both clutched at the ready, when the explosion occurred. Admiral Oden suddenly fell, his weapons falling from his hands.

  Minutes later, the wounded guard managed to crawl to the hover and felt first of the admiral's pulse. Satisfied that the admiral was alive, he crawled weakly over the edge of the hover and allowed himself to fall inside it. He grasped at the radio and caught hold of the transmitter. Remembering his training, he pressed a hidden switch. Then he turned his attention back to the admiral as he struggled to get Admiral Oden off the back of the front seat and into a sitting position in the back. After several efforts, he succeeded. Then he worked at getting himself and the first aid kit over into the back seat so that he could administer to Admiral Oden's wounds.

  ***

  A chill fell over the naval headquarters communications room when the emergency signal, the signal they never wanted activated for anything other than a test, came alive indicating that Admiral Oden's hover was under attack. Immediately, action teams were deployed while communications personnel tried to establish contact with the hover.

  ***

  Sergeant Ohm's artytank raced over the countryside at full speed to reach the admiral's hover. His wasn't the only team deployed, but his team could secure the area where some others could only observe from above. He watched as a fighter streaked overhead to reach the source of the signal before his team would. Not far behind him, another unit with a medical team followed at the same breakneck speed. The men and women manning the outrigger drones were doing their very best to get the outriggers to the scene as quickly as possible to establish the actual defensive perimeter.

  "This is Ensign Valerie Bell. The admiral's hover isn't moving. There's a crater not far from it. One of the guards is moving. The admiral is in the back seat being tended to, so he must be alive. I'll stay on patrol above and keep watch for any enemy threats."

  Sergeant Ohm replied, "How bad does the admiral appear to be?"

  "I don't see him moving any. He's probably unconscious. I can see an artytank not far now from the hover."

  "That's probably us, Ensign. How far do you estimate us to be?"

  Valerie replied, "You're about three kilometers away. Maybe a minute of travel."

  "Very well, then. Continue to provide overhead cover."

  Sergeant Ohm could easily figure out that it wouldn't do much good for the fighter to land and try to carry out the admiral if they were already so close themselves with medical personnel not far behind. By the time that the ensign's crew could transfer the admiral, the medical personnel would be there anyway and begin treatment. It wasn't a good idea to move the admiral unless there was more enemy activity about. With her fighter's speed and firepower, not to mention her range of vision, she was more important providing overhead cover until the medical personnel made some sort of determination.

  They pulled up sharply and deployed the outriggers around the damaged hover. Sergeant Ohm bailed out of the hatch of the artytank and ran over to assist the wounded guard tending the admiral.

  "I think he's hurt bad," the guard gasped out.

  "You don't look so good yourself," replied Sergeant Ohm.

  "Forget me. See to him," the guard said.

  Sergeant Ohm checked the admiral's pulse and found it to be weak. Looking at the admiral, he could see the nasty head wound on the admiral that the guard was bandaging. Sergeant Ohm took over and worked to finish the job, accomplishing little before the arriving medical personnel ran up and took over from him.

  A few minutes later, Sergeant Ohm helped them lift the admiral out of the hover and onto a stretcher. The guard had already been helped over to the medical hover by other medical personnel.

  "How serious is it?" asked the sergeant.

  "Very. Call that fighter down. We need speed more than anything else right now."

  "Right," the sergeant called as he ran for his artytank and dived inside to get to his communications. "Ensign Bell, land at once to carry the admiral back for medical treatment."

  Seconds later, the fighter settled near the various hover vehicles. Then the admiral was carried into the fighter. Moments after that, the fighter took off and raced back to the naval base and its hospital.

  Inside of two minutes, the fighter landed next to the hospital. The medical personnel who travelled with the wounded admiral carried him out and placed him on a waiting hover gurney before more medical personnel rushed him inside the hospital. Already, Admiral Oden was receiving transfusions and his wound had been rebandaged to prevent infection. He was rushed into scanning where the severity was determined.

  ***

  Sergeant Ohm watched the medical team hover turn and race back to the hospital with the wounded guard. Ohm still had a task to do and didn't look forward to it at all. He wished that this had happened on someone else's shift to be the quick reaction team. Yet he was glad at the same time that it was himself doing the rescue job since he knew he would do the job as best he could. However, in light of the admiral's wounds, he wasn't looking forward to his task of notifying the admiral's family. Had it been peacetime, an officer would have done the task. However, he was closest. He not only had to notify them, but give them protection at their home and to the hospital if they wanted to be with the admiral. An officer would still be detailed to the task, but Sergeant Ohm knew that he would have to break the news first. Such was part of the price he now paid for being one of the very few to even know that the Admiral was married and had a family.

  Ohm said, "Okay, everyone. Move out to the admiral's home and step on it. I want to be there already."

  ***

  Annie watched in alarm as the military hover artytank suddenly crossed the lake and came directly up to the house. There was only one reason why they would be arriving at her home instead of Dave. Something was wrong. She ran to the door. "Something's happened to Dave? Is he?"

  "He's wounded and at the hospital. We're here to provide protection for you and his children. If you want to visit him, we'll also take you there," said Sergeant Ohm, as he kept his mind on his duty and not on Annie's nude young body. She was obviously younger than the admiral and quite beautiful.

  "
Yes, I do. Let me round up the kids first," she said.

  "If you like, I can help," Sergeant Ohm said.

  "Just wait there a moment. We'll be with you shortly," she replied.

  Two minutes later, Annie, wearing shoes and a shoulder harness with a gun in its holster, was back at the artytank. Three similarly attired and armed children were beside her and impatient to get inside a real artytank.

  Sergeant Ohm ignored their nudity and asked, "Are those real weapons they're carrying?"

  Annie answered, "Yes, but they'll only shoot to defend themselves. Usually they don't go about armed. Under the circumstances, they will in deference to my husband's wishes for their safety. Come along, kids. Time to take a ride in a real artytank."

  Within a minute, the family was seated inside the safe, armored shell of the hover artytank. Sergeant Ohm gave instructions for the vehicle to head at near top speed for the hospital. Because of their armor, they didn't have to follow the marked roadways. They cut across ponds, scrub brush, and light vegetation in a more direct line of travel.

  ***

  Annie arrived as the doctors began placing Admiral Oden into stasis. She looked on as the procedure continued. She hadn't even a chance to hold or touch his hand. Annie turned to one of the doctors. "How is my husband?"

  "You're . . . his wife?" the doctor asked.

  "I am. How serious is his condition?"

  The doctor answered, "It's serious enough that we're using stasis to keep him alive. That's all we can do here. None of our doctors have the necessary skills to treat his wounds. The surgeons we need were pulled back deliberately after the first Malakin attack to preserve them and their skills. The admiral is going to have to travel to them."

  "Where are they?" she asked.

  "The nearest is on Glade," he answered.

  "Admiral Oden can't go there. That's deep into Union territory and they'll arrest him there," she said.

  "He'll die if he doesn't go there," the doctor answered.

  ***

  The news of Admiral Oden's injuries travelled fast among the seceding planets and even faster among the military. Though prayers were said in many corners for his recovery, everyone knew that the rebellion would be without his talents either way, considering the severity of his wounds. If he didn't travel for surgery, he would die. If he did travel and survived, the Union would arrest him.

  It didn't take long for news of his condition to reach the Union, either. In Congress, a jubilant Representative Lordsman jumped up for recognition and then spoke. "I propose that we forbid his travel into the Union that he has scorned. He made his bed, now let him die in it. It would give all the others in the mutiny reason to think seriously about what he's led them into."

  Ethel tapped her gavel once almost quietly. "Mr. Lordsman, would you please remember that you do not run this Congress. Furthermore, the Union has never refused humanitarian aid or hospital treatment to anyone, including its enemies. What you are speaking of doing is in direct contradiction to the very core of the Universal Rights Bill. Do not cause me to call a vote for another censure on you. Now unless you have something to propose that is in accordance with our rules, please sit down and shut up."

  "Madame Chairman, I simply cannot understand how you would even consider giving aid to the enemy. Are you in league with the rebellion? Are you here only because your planet is so far removed from the secessionists that they dare not join them?" Lordsman demanded as he performed another minor inquisition.

  "Mr. Lordsman, I will see you in court on charges of defamation and slander. You know perfectly well that representatives are not immune to ordinary laws. They might not be arrested, but they are still fully accountable. In light of the fact that I now have a personal issue of contention with you, I will not call for a censure on you. I will leave that up to someone who hasn't been slandered or defamed in your last remark. The Chair will recognize anyone who wishes to make such a motion."

  Several hands eagerly went up for recognition.

  ***

  Upon leaving the Congress for the day, Representative Lordsman contacted the Seraphan fleet that had been brought back to Union worlds for repairs. Two of the ships were already repaired. Upon completion of his discussion with Representative Lordsman, Admiral Cain transferred his flag to the larger of the two. There was no particular rush to get to Glade other than that which Representative Lordsman instilled within him. As the situation stood, Cain knew that one warship would be enough on this trip to successfully bring in Admiral Oden.

  ***

  Admiral Oden was placed on a hospital ship and taken immediately into Union territory to Glade. There was no escort past the line patrolled by the Grim Reapers. The Union's Congress had already offered and guaranteed safe passage to Glade. Consequently, there were no escorting rebel warships to check the other side of Glade and discover two Seraphan warships lurking about, ready to land shortly afterwards and seize the admiral.

  The hospital ship landed using its powerful engines to reach the surface as gently as possible. It was a long procedure. One of the best pilots, after Sergeant Rendall, was at the controls. She brought the ship down almost as lightly as a feather, possible lighter. Her touch at the controls was so skillful, it was said of her, that if eggs could support the weight of the hospital ship, she could land on them, with one of them under each leg of the ship, and without cracking them despite the ship's weight.

  Admiral Oden was rushed into the hospital and into surgery. While that took place, the two Seraphan ships came from behind the planet. One landed near the hospital ship while the other remained in orbit to provide cover and prevent an escape.

  ***

  Admiral Cain stared momentarily inside the operating room where Admiral Oden was lying on an operating table. He had no doubt that the injured man was indeed Admiral Oden. Several surgeons were busy saving the admiral's life. Cain then looked at the doctor who stood in front of the operating door.

  Cain said, "It's all right, doctor. We're not going to take him away just yet. I just wanted to be sure that it was really Admiral Oden in there. You go ahead and do your best to save him. He deserves that much. I'll have some of my men perform security so that nothing further happens to the admiral."

  As Fleet Admiral Cain left, he was beginning to think that he could now defeat the rebellion since its military was now leaderless. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became. It never occurred to him that a mere commodore with fewer warships had been fully responsible for defeating him already.

  ***

  Captain George Clark received the news with calmness. Knowing Dave so well for so long, he knew that Dave probably had a special record on file somewhere giving instructions on what should be done in case he was unavailable to command.

  ***

  Following her instructions, Admiral Oden's aide-de-camp opened a special file and ran its contents on the terminal in the company of several other officers from the headquarters staff.

  "If you are operating this file, then I am unavailable for some reason and you are faced with an emergency. Obviously, it has to do with the secession, the Union, and the Malakins. Assuming that the Malakin threat has not been neutralized, you need a tactician and strategist to lead you. I recommend Captain Kyle Kruler as the best you have, assuming he is still available. However, if the Malakins are out of the picture and only the civil war is threatening to blow up, then you need someone with both political and military skills. You cannot get a better officer than Captain Shirley Sorenson, also assuming that she is available. I am well aware that there are numerous admirals and commodores who are skilled in these areas, but I am recommending only the best by virtue of ability and how they stand politically, not rank. I apologize to some of my peers for this, but if the situation is really grave, I know that they are all mature enough to understand that sometimes personal ambitions and feelings have to be put aside for the greater good. Both the officers I have recommended have dedicated their lives to the servic
e and the good of the Union, not to forget the secessionist worlds."

  "There is one person who is better than Captain Kruler, but he is unfortunately a lit fuse who will cause greater harm because of who he is. That man is Admiral Benz Wund. Admiral Wund is possibly even better than myself, but cannot be allowed to lead without causing harm to any chances of reconciliation."

  "Doubtless, I am asking some of you to consider the infrequently used precedent of promoting one of those officers ahead of many other people to a rank where he or she can perform without having someone rubber stamp their decisions. If I am wounded, doubtless you all are probably doing much more for me than I am for you right now. Whatever happens, I wish you all well and hope that you can restore the Universal Rights Bill and the Union without shedding too much blood. The Union of Planets and the Federated Planets need each other and need to be one organization again. That is the only way we can continue to stand proudly, let alone survive. We were blessed with over a century of peace in space. Only now do we argue among ourselves as we continue to strive for better lives, freedom, and the resumption of peace. We must somehow regain that state of grace. Good luck to you all. I wish you success."

  ***

  Captain Kruler was surprised when he was ordered to report to Beulah on an urgent matter. Before he even left his ship, another order came in appointing his first officer as captain of the ship.

  Kyle left his ship, wondering if he was going to be placed under arrest as a willing conspirator in the Navy-wide mutiny. He already knew that Admiral Oden was on his way to Glade for life-saving surgery. Were the other officers throwing in the towel and surrendering? If they were, he would go along with them. Without Admiral Oden, things did look fairly bleak. Still, it would have been courteous of them to inform him of that in the message he received so he could prepare himself. He wouldn't have attempted to run away from what he knew he would surely have to face someday.