Battleship Destroyer (110 page)

For 20 minutes Jack tried to keep busy between running the ship but the constant decisions only took a few seconds at a time leaving him getting more board and nervous by the minute. Finely his mind left his love of flying and hate of everything that kept him from the cockpit. He started having to fight down demons and things that could go wrong and what ifs and suddenly he was very busy and not even near ready when the Tactical Officer whispered. “
Captain.” Making Jack jump.

"We are 3 light minutes from them now if you want to try a long range shot with them just sitting and not moving sir." The Tactical Officer said starring at his screen.

Jack looked at the main targeting screen with the Spider ship busy shooting up the tunnel. "They seem to be well occupied so let's get a little closer. Weapons, how close do we need to get to cross beams on the target?"

"We may be able to do it at 60
but the closer we get the more likely we are to succeed on the first shot sir. If we have time to do a few practice shots, we may be able to cross beams at 120 light seconds and better Captain."

"Na, let's not advertise to the
universe to soon."  Jack had been expecting to find the Spider ship far down inside the entry point and had timed the turn over point to start slowing down to bring them up behind them slow enough to dodge into the cloud if they were seen too soon. But with the enemy high up the side of the mountain they had no place to hide while coming up close onto them. Looking down the hole and the second enemy Battle cruiser racing after the transport Jack realized the old plan was not going to work. They did not have the time to sneak up on the first ship and then speed up to take on the second. Jack started playing around with the plotting screen and after a few minutes he had a plan.

"Pan
, can we fire the God guns pointing forward instead of aft?"

Pan looked down at her pad and started scratching. "Yes but the
barrel tubes will extend out ahead of the shields where any molecules hitting them will damage them. You should pull up far from the clouds."

"Ah, how long will it t
ake to turn them the 180 degrees?"

"A good minute Captain with only ships power going to them."

"Ok. In other words, me not grabbing the pieces of antiquated steam turbine junk they call power generators for the guns was a big mistake even if we had no place to put the monsters." Jack zoomed the tactical screen onto the Spider Enemy fleet barreling in behind them about 7 hours away.

"Yes Captain, if we had known you planed on powering the Godguns we would have grabbed some newer generators big enough to power them.
My apologies Captain for not thinking ahead."

"Stuff it Pan. Quit apologizing for things you have no control over or could not have known." Jack looked down at the tactical screen. "We will just have to get by on what we do have." Taking a few breaths as he tapped his
fingers on the arm of the chair. "Weapons, we will be leaving the protection of the cloud in about 10 minutes. You will turn the God guns around then to face Bravo ready to fire on my command. Number One, we will not be making turnover. We are going to power down past Bravo and hope we take them out. If we can't we are still going after Charley before it catches the transport and deal with Bravo later. So when I give the order you will have about 2 seconds to point the ship at Bravo so Weapons can fire our guns. Until then you can relax."

The First Officer pulled the ship up over a
bench in the notch’s floor and back down again. Sweat poring off his forehead as he glanced around out of the corner of his eye before whipping back around. "Yes sir. I will relax and take a nap." And hit the side thrusters. "Nothing like a nice drive in the park." He said through clenched teeth.

"Very good Number One." Jack got up and headed for the hatch.  "Exec, you have the con until I return. Don't damage the ship while I am gone."

The Executive Officer was the ships basic book keeper and was not a flag officer. Turning to look at Jack with his mouth wide open, eyes as big as golf balls. "B
... But Captain? I can't. I don't know how or what to do."

Jack turned around at the hatch and walked back to the Exec. "Sure you do. I have seen your record on The Game." Taking him by the arm he escorted the Exec to the command chair. "
Everyone else is doing their job and can't be sparred so you do what The Game says you can do until I get back." Turning, Jack left the bridge. "Come on Pan, I want your lead engineers with us and you too Ensign."

A few minutes later Jack walked into Engineering past the marine guards stationed there to keep the aliens out. "You will no longer be needed here marines. Pass that down the line." Jack said as Pan and a half dozen different breeds of engineers including a
Bigfoot followed him in.

The Chief engineer turned as the big foot crawled
through the hatch and stood up. "What the hell… Oh, Captain. I thought aliens were not…. Well. How can I help you?"

Jack walked up
next to the Chief and started typing on one of the central consoles. "We need more generating power to our God guns. Before I was put in Command of the Red Pepper I was in charge of researching new technology. We need that technology now or a lot of people are going to die." Virtual Screens started growing around him. Finally a large one came alive with the schematic of a fusion reactor and Jack turned to look at everyone clustered around him. "This is the typical fusion reactor that seems to be powering both fleets. The Spiders to some lesser extent from what I can gather. It uses a ball of plasma to keep the fusion process going as fuel is thrown in to fuss in the pressure but mostly billion degree heat. Coils and radiation cells lining the chamber generate the electrical power we use throughout the ships using standard hard mettle and trace ceramic super conducting lines."

Jack looked around the group to make sure he still had their attention after going over the simple ABC everyone already knew. "One of my
research groups had come across the idea of tapping off the plasma ball and sending the plasma down small Gravcoil lines directly to the equipment that needed the power and tapping the line with a complicated but compact set of coils to generate the electrical energy needed. We were talking about powering a black hole shield at the bow of the ship using a simple small garden hose sized plasma line and a generator box the size of a refrigerator. I think we can use that same plasma to power the God guns.  We are only doing 400 Gees so we can shut down one of the engine Generators to tap into their fusion chambers and use your crystal fabrication tech to build the lines if you can figure out how to build the power converter." 

Jack started running
through the calculations and schematics. "The group did not have every problem solved or a design completed when I had to leave weeks ago but as good as you people seem to be I think you can finish up and give me the power I need for the God guns. If we cannot attain a firing rate of 4 times a minute we don't stand a chance against the 16 ship fleet getting ready to pounce." Jack turned to look around the group. "Of course that depends on our surviving the next half hour and the two Spider ships still out there but there is nothing you can do to help that battle but there is a lot you can do to help win the next. I have unlocked all the research I was involved with before coming here for you to glean what you can. Though most of it you probably already have covered." Then started explaining what he knew of the calculations and engineering work already completed.

A few minutes later the screen stopped in mid schematic and Jack turned around. "Well that is all I have and since I have to get back to the battle I will leave i
t in your hands. Just get it done." Jack walked out without looking back.

-----------------------

"Captain we are coming up on 30 light seconds from Target Bravo."

Jack looked around the ship. They were
sailing out into the middle of the trench far from any possible cover so they could get a clean shot at Bravo as it made its slow way down the tunnel. Only thing is the enemy ship Bravo could have already fired at them and it would be another 30 seconds before they knew about it and then it could be too late. They could be dead already and not know it.

T
he targeting screen showed Bravo still firing shots down the tunnel every 15 seconds from one of its four guns while the others recharged. With the recon missiles showing live feeds he knew Bravo was not yet a threat and he wanted it to stay that way. "Sensors, why am I not seeing anything in the tunnel?"

"We have two recon missiles working their way
toward Bravo but they just don't seem to be noticing it yet sir."

"Well get a little more
aggressive about it."

"Finishing our turn Captain. Steady on
course."

"Very good Number One. You can shut down the engines now
but keep them on standby. And line up on Bravo. Weapons, prepare to fire guns on my command. How long until the missiles are in detection range."

"Recon missile being targeted
by Bravo sir. Missile performing evasive maneuvers." Sensors said.

"
Our missiles will be in detection range in another 67seconds sir. They will hit in 82 seconds Captain."

"Very well.
" Jack glanced at the hull temperature as it continued to rise the deeper they dropped into the valley toward the exit hole and the thickening atmosphere keeping the clouds separated.  Turning the ship a little to the side to track the target was not helping. The side shields were not as strong as the bow and stern shields. Weapons, fire guns to hit Bravo when our missiles are just entering detection range. Include the 5(3) inchers, they will be on the fringe of their new range envelope but that Battle cruiser is a big target. Though I don’t expect them to hit anything but the ship, a few thousand hits from them before the missiles enter their point defense range may take out enough point defenses to allow more of our missiles to make good penetrating hits."

Jack watched the targeting screen
. Anxiously waiting for any sign that the Spider Battle cruiser had seen them as he waited for the Weapons Officer to start firing their guns. Each second seemed to get longer as he watched the Spider slowly work its way deeper. Knowing that the enemy had plenty of time to move or turn their shield decks toward them or even shoot back before anything the Red Pepper had already launched and would launch at them, hit.

A message started blinking on his comm screen. Looking down at it suddenly worried that something had gone wrong. It said, "Breath! And quit grinding your teeth and relax your jaw. Your mouth is going to freeze that way and you won't be able to eat for a week. Oh and your chair
's arm is not a drum.   Love you. You look thirsty, Order some hot tea. You ever hear the joke about the chicken in orbit?"

Jack shook
his head and sat back in his chair. He had loosened his belt to peer over his First Officers shoulder in the pilot's seat. Tightening his belt back up. He took a deep breath. "I think I have time for someone to get me a cup of tea." The Spider fired another gun down the tunnel as he turned to face the Ensign. "Ok Ensign, what is this about the chicken in orbit?"

"Well it saw a beautiful farm down on the planet with all the most
lushes’ wonderful food it had ever seen. The Farmer said to come on down. That the Chicken could join them at the table if it hurried for the best meal any chicken had ever been. The chicken immediately jumped, but because it was in such a hurry it forgot its suit and by the time it arrived at the table it was roasted golden brown and quite tasty. The best meal any chicken had ever been."

Jack chuckled. It was the stupidest joke he had ever heard. His tea arrived with sweetener next to the cup on the tray. Jack fixed the tea taking his time as he studied the large tactical showing all the enemy contacts around them including the large enemy fleet catching up to them.
Charley with it shield decks glowing brightly from friction was rapidly winding its way down around the natural voids through the clouds in this area chasing the transport fleet. All Jack had to worry about at the moment was Bravo and with the engines shut down and the ship running silent Bravo would have to actually scan them to see them and its scans were all pointed down the tunnel. But he still found himself tensing up from the strain of waiting. Closing his eyes he went back to tending his tea just for something to do. Taking a sip and trying to enjoy it. "Yes Ensign, roasted Chicken would be a nice change." Most of the food had gotten destroyed with the forward section of the ship and all they had to eat for the last few days were MRE's that tasted like they were a thousand years old and could very well have been. Jack almost preferred the Nutrition Meal Pills but not quite.

"Firing guns in 5,4,3,2, ShooT."

Every gun that could reach Bravo fired. The ship bucked slightly from the recoil. Jack was surprised to see the quad 3(2)s even firing making him smile. It was probably a waste of time but the quads were self-contained and it would have made him feel better shooting if he was a gun crewmen on one of the Quads and just maybe it could help, it definitely did not hurt the Red Pepper. Jack just missed the sound of the guns with most of the ship in vacuum. Hearing the noise of the guns transmitted through the hull from compartment to compartment just added realism to The Game. It was a shame reality was reduced to a slight vibration in the deck as the mass of beams left the ship. Just seemed anticlimactic after all the buildup.