Battleship Destroyer (107 page)

"Ok." Not knowing what to say Jack looked over at the Ensign's big ear to ear smile. Then looking back at Pan as she continued scratching on her pad.
Her nipples barely peeking out of the blouse and back in with each breath. Jack going out of his way not to look. Feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Ah. Thank you Pan. Ah, you sure you do not want something to eat."

"I am sorry Captain but." Pan looked up at Ja
ck. "We have not had time to complete tests on your food yet for nutritional compatibility and poisons. That will take another couple of weeks but thank you anyway."

"Oh God. I did not even think of that possibility. I just took it for granted you could
, but now that you have said something I really feel stupid. Please forgive me again. I was not trying to poison you."

"No apology needed but accepted. Your
race has not had much dealings with alien races. So far we have been able to confirm that many of our races can eat your food nutritionally but poisons take a little longer to confirm." Smiling over at Jack as she placed her hand on his. "I will take you up on your offer at a later date Captain."

The Ensigns smile started to sour but quickly returned. "Pan
, it has been so great to talk to you like this. I just love finding out about your people. Maybe you could accompany me up into the bow of the ship and go over some of the salvage operations going on up there while we talk. The Captain needs to gets back into The Game so he can figure how best to use the big guns as they now are."

Pan leaned back in her seat smiling
, raising her arms up from her sides. "I would be happy to Ensign Pullver." Stretching her arms she started breathing in, and in, and in. As she finished filling her lungs she stretched her feet out under the table with her arms stretched out as fare as she could and started holding her breath with her mouth wide open. Her bare naked boobs jutting up and out clear across the table the size of long 10 gallon plastic barrels side by side as her body tensed up and started shuddering as if she was trying to move and breath out but couldn't. Jack could not believe her two foot long boobs did not fall plopping down across the table. Wanting to reach out and touch them to see if they were real. He could not stop his hand from reaching out to touch the closest one only a foot in front of his face. He squeezed it and realized it felt like a large balloon and not a breast.

The Ensign
looked on with most everyone else in the mess as she continued what looked like an old fashioned human mouth wide open yawn that continued for several minutes before she finally started letting out her breath as she opened her eyes looking at Jack starring at her boobs with one hand still squeezing the side of the closest one to him as he jerked his hand back and she continued exhaling, and exhaling as her boobs slowly shrunk and exhaling and a good minute later as her body finally relaxed into her seat again looking like her normal almost flat chested self she smiled. "Thank you Captain. Did you think they were going to fall?" Not giving Jack a chance to answer. "I have not been able to relax for over a week and it just caught up to me now I no longer have anything to worry about.

Standing up she was her prim prime self again with her hands clasped in front of her
and only the small mounds on her chest with her nipples peeking out the slits in her blouse where her boobs had protruded only seconds before. Turning to the Ensign. "Shall we go Ensign? I would be most interested in comparing your human mating rituals with my own and others now on the ship. I see know that we must forestall misinterpretations before they arise. I should have warned your Captain Turner. Luckily I choose to forgive his little indiscretion since the look on his face reminded me of my son the first time he saw a candy storeroom."

Jack watched them leave and
finally turned back to the few cold fries still on his plate. Plopping one in his mouth. "I think I was just insulted but then is there any other way I could have screwed up while I was at it. But god those were enormous." Chuckling he got up and left the mess deck heading for the simulator compartment and The Game.

Jack walked down the passageway from the base of the
27 inch God gun turret. He still could not believe how small the energy storage capacitors were on the mounts. He was just not happy with how long it took to recharge them. He was glad to noticing that all the aliens he saw were wearing hard armored battle suits. He still could not believe they had made so many of them so quickly. Even making new armored suits for him and every other human needing one to replace their damaged inferior suits. Even the Greenfoot giants had suits simply because Republic Navy rules said everyone needed a suit with no exceptions. The Greenfoots wearing them like badges of honor. They had never had a suit before and since they were not needed against the elements, they decided to make them with enough armor for a tank along with the augmentation and attachment points for heavy weapons. They were not about to go down without a fight this time.

Jack dropp
ed down the center core of the ship on the open elevator platform. Moving down through the pipe chase he could see through the open tank hatches. The first deck had hundreds of Bigfoots across the tank sitting at huge Greenfoot sized chairs and tables with tall narrow cabins lining the outer bulkheads and hull with what looked like huge gravity bunks in each. The other decks had a few cabins started but were filled with new gravity bunks lined up in rows around the inside of the tanks. People were still running in and out of the tanks completing last minute tasks before everything was locked down around the ship. Pan was next to Jack. Her breasts enlarged in her hard suit. She had opted for using her internal oxygen storage in her breasts along with the suits. She said it made her feel better. Though Jack found her looking down at her large new suit's breasts running her hands over them every time she did not think anyone was looking at her.

Jack dropped into the second mess
, stopping to get a drink before walking out onto the fin as he looked around at the stars, billowing clouds and mountain ridge wall separating them from the entry point the enemy battle cruiser squadron was rapidly approaching on the trail of the Republic Squadron that had disappeared only a few hours before. The problem was that the Spider ships with their shield decks had quickly learned that they could out run the Republic ships in the cloud unless the Republic Captain was very good at running the relatively clear areas winding between the slowly coalescing clouds and very lucky. A little debris was always in the cleared areas that was deadly to transports traveling to fast and not to the spider ships with their thick shield decks.

Shaking his head Jack looked up along the hull of the Red Pepper and the layer of crystal the aliens had grown around the entire ship
covering all the holes blasted into it, using the tracked machine Jack had fallen off of a few weeks before. Jack sighed, sad that the bigfoot woman that had caught him had been killed trying to save her sister after saving everyone that had been trapped on the Spider Battleship by getting the engines running in time.

The 2nd mess deck bubble extended
a good hundred feet from the hull allowing him to see the crystal covering of even the destroyed forward personnel and command section that had made it air tight only the day before allowing repairs to be started in earnest, once they had the time. That was if they survived Jack's idiot attempt to save the wounded transport squadron. He was having second and even 10th thoughts about what he had so confidently planed only days before and if he could figure out a way to run without looking like a chicken shit fool he would now, no matter the cost to the transport squadron. So what if a few hundred crewmen on 3 or 4 transports were killed. Chances were good that at least one would be able to lose the enemy squadron if not all so why risk getting thousands killed and the new technology lost to the Human universe just when they needed it. But then the aliens had said that they had been able to deposit yards thick crystal on the bow and stern that would stop all but the biggest pieces of debris in the cloud and even deflect a glancing hit from the beam of the huge God weapons. But then what if the point defense weapons were still no good for knocking out the big enemy torpedoes? One hit from them and the ship was dead not to mention one good hit from their big guns and he had no way of knowing for sure if their own big guns would even work as advertised.

After all
the Spider Battle cruisers were going after the wounded transports and ignoring him completely. All he had to do was turn the ship around and start its engines and leave. They could work their way to the next entry point in only a couple of days and safety. With the new shields and crystal shell around the hull they could make good time in the clear area between the clouds to easily out run any pursuit and disappear.

But then he knew for certain in his heart
that most of the ships and their crews in the transport Squadron was sure to die if not all and from his many hours and years of war game battles in The Game, he knew he had a good chance of saving them. If everything worked the way they were supposed to. Besides he was already finding it hard to sleep after allowing the young crew of the Admiral's Barge to die simply to take out a half dozen stupid Spider ships, even if it did allow the Red Pepper to escape. He could already hear his Father and brother calling him a coward if he let those 4 ships and their crews die when he could have saved them with little risk to his ship or himself. No he had the weapons now and the tactics and the clouds and no legitimate excuses except that he was scared shitless.

Jack stood looking out the large view ports at the bright beacons shining
through the cloud mountain ridge. The bright beacons of the Spider Battles cruiser's large black hole engines rapidly slowing down while the cooler, dimmer beacons of the transports mini black hole ion engines were running for their lives working their way down into the clouds along a well mapped rout. Jack was surprised to see the little pin point, almost invisible flashes of debris hitting the transports with the power of large bombs as the ships sped down the not quite clear areas much too fast, desperately trying to out run the Spider Battle cruisers in their rush to safety. "God they must be taking a beating." As Jack watched, one transport started dropping behind the others after taking so much damage it could no longer maintain the speed.

Shaking his head Jack looked back at the slowing Spiders.
"Damn, if we just stick our butt out of the back side of this cloud while they are still slowing down with their engines pointed at us, they are not likely to see us with all their engine interference giving us plenty of time to shoot and scoot safely back into the cloud. We should have a good minute to fire and test our guns and if they don't work we can always head to the entry point. At least we tried."

Starring out of the view ports with a cup of tea taking sips Jack shook his head. "Damn, it is a sh
ame they moved the auxiliary emergency bridge from here to bury it deep in the hull. Even if it is better protected, I like being able to see with my own eyes." Turning to Pan standing a few feet away. Looks like the enemy is about where we want them to be. Time to go to work and you should try praying to the one universal true God most humans believe in Pan instead of a race of ego maniacal posers." Jack turned and left the 2nd mess. Suddenly hopping he had not insulted her.

Jack walked into the bridge to the sound of "Captain on the Bridge." and sat down. His chair had been set to fit the normal Republic Navy battle suit forcing Jack to reduce the chairs size to snug around and grip his new smaller suit
Pan had had made for him. Taking a deep breath he looked around the bridge and said. "Very well Number One, call battle stations."

As "Battle Stations" was sounded
throughout the ship, Jack started tapping on his screen.

Less than a minute later
the executive officer spoke from a side console. "All personnel accounted for, all battle stations manned, all guns charged, Torpedo tubes and magazines empty, Missile rails full with 40% magazines. Engines ready for max power and to answer all bells, all Generators on line, Boats manned and ready for launch. Auxiliary Magazine stores are as follows, Active decoy 71%, passive decoys 66%, and sensor missiles 87%.  Shield coils are on line and at stand by power…” The Executive Officer continued to read down the battle stations check list without pausing but then the ship had been working up to battle stations unofficially for an hour and for all practical purposes, had been at for hours before that.

The Exec.
Finally turned to Jack. "Captain, Ship is at battle stations and ready for battle."

"Very well Mr. Comings." Jack hit the ship wide comm. "This is Captain
Turner. We are going to punch through the cloud separating us from the entry point, stick our butt out and try to kick the asses of the approaching Spider squadron. Hopefully it will slow them down enough to give the transport squadron time to escape. Though one of the transports has already suffered damage trying to speed down the entry rout and has fallen behind the squadron. The Red Pepper is as ready as it can be thanks to our new crewmembers and the added technology and if everyone does their job, we will get out of this in one piece and kick some spider butt doing it. Captain Turner out."

The ships Priest came on the ships comm and said a short prayer
reading from Geneses probably for the benefit of the aliens as Jack stared at the tactical tank. With the last words of the priest Jack took a deep breath and said. "Number One, following plotted course, 400 Gees thrust ahead. Shield at maximum. Radiators at full output. Cool this sucker down before we enter the cloud. Shut down all auxiliary heat sources." They had been over the planned attack a dozen times over the last 24 hours and everyone knew what was needed to be done but Jack fell back into The Game and could not help listing the basics to keep everyone on the same page.