Battleship Destroyer (36 page)

"I have just received some highlighted records
you had the Ensign send over of what Mr. Turner was looking at, with notes of what it may mean. I am forwarding it to everyone but I don't think it will do any good. I am sure we have already gone over everything he has done and looked at about that stupid anomaly already. Including the drive coils he was looking at. There is nothing wrong with the damn drive coils. They are our most efficient most powerful coils ever made. Hell, I just can’t believe that could be the culprit.  But we have not been able to find anything wrong in the equations or the equipment but the simulation keeps blowing up and even the computer does not know why. It highlights a section of calculations dealing with the interface fields between the existing propulsion coils and the added grav-coils where the explosion originates but can't tell us what the problem is and so far all the alterations we have done to the calculations only makes things worse or the engine does not work at all." Looking around the Control room.  "I don’t' think anyone really understands half the calculations anyway, let alone the principles behind them. I just hope Mr. Turner does since he is the one that started all this. Where the hell is he Captain?"

The Captain looked at the Chief and
frowned. "Sleeping it off Chief."

"What
? Sleeping off a hang over? When the hell did he have time to get drunk?"

The Captain smiled as
she shook her head. "No. not drunk. Though that is what he was acting like this morning, come to think of it." Trying to think if that was truly possible. "I just think he was tired from running a marathon yesterday Chief."

"
What marathon? What the hell are you talking about Captain? He hardly got out of his chair."

"Nothing.
Never mind. Carry on Chief."

The Chief looked at the Captain for a few seconds.
"I am setting up a test stand on a boat with another engine we can test. It will be ready in about an hour. Though I have a few physics professors you sent us that insist that no matter what the Sims say, there is no possibility that an engine will create a black hole and destroy itself or suck up a ship. But then they also say the engine is theoretically impossible anyway."

"Well that sound
s familiar." The Captain turned to go and stopped. "Ah Chief, a shuttle from the Yellow Dwarf on the other side of the fleet will be docking in another hour with the Republic's head of the Research and Development Directorate and his team. They have been provided with everything we have and should be up to speed when they arrive. Hopefully they can get the engine going."

"Oh God Captain. You have got to be kidding.
”  The Chief Engineer sneered.  “I have worked with that ass hole before and I just as soon kick him out the air lock."

"Enough of that Chief
, I have heard the rumors too, but if he can get this engine going I will kiss his butt."

Three
hours later one of the largest shuttles in the fleet big enough to carry a full sized battleship engine left the Red Dwarf. A half hour later it lit off the battleship engine and started accelerating away from the Red Dwarf and the Carrier/ Tanker running next to it.

The Captain of the Red Dwarf and her Chief Engineer watch
ed as the little transport boat at 10% thrust with a pin point light at the back end of the engine reached 10 thousand miles ahead in only seconds.

"Kill it now!" Shouted the Chief
. "It is going to explode! The reading are getting more erratic by the second."

"Don't be stupid Chief
." The head of the Republic's Directorate of Research and Development said. He had taken over the research effort after arriving on the transport an hour and a half before.  "I am the Director and I will decide when the test is terminated and not a lowlife Chief Engineer."

"Director." Captain Halsey turned to the Director. "Shut it down until we can take a look at what is going on."

"No Captain. I am in charge here and I will decide…"

The telemetry read outs suddenly cut out and a fraction of a second later a blinding fireball a hundred miles across appeared as the video of the boats bridge crew cut out right after they reported a huge anomaly with the engine that was obvious on the telemetry now that it was frozen on a side screen since it was the last readings.

Turning to the Director of Research and Development
Directorate, the Captain stared at him. "You said you had the problem solved? What happened?"

"I will tell you when we have had time to go over the records Captain.
Prepare another boat for testing. We will have a possible solution ready to test in a couple of hours."

"There won't be a next time unless you can tell me what happened and what you are doing that is different than what we have already tried. And don't even try that crap about me not having the security clearance or the need to know as long as you provide a working engine.
You lost that right with the deaths of that crew."

"How dare you Captain. I am the Director of the R and D
, Directorate authorized and commissioned by congress. I will tell you when and what I decide. Besides now that we know the calculations are accurate and the engine actually works, kind of, we can get to work." He turned around and walked toward the other side of the Engineering control deck and the few consoles that his group had brought with them.

The Chief Engineer turned to the Captain. His face growing red. "Captain! That son of a bitch just killed the shuttle crew and one of my engine room crews just to prove the calculations were
accurate? He did not even try to fix the problem. I am going to kill him Captain."

"No Chief
, but you have my permission to dump them in one of the refugee compartments with only their terminals to work.  I will press charges later after we get the engine working."  Unless that ass hole is the one that gets it running. The Captain thought to herself shaking her head. "Turner, you damn well better come through with a fix when you wake up."

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

Jack walked into Central Engineering Control and stopped as the Ensign continued to walk a few seconds before stopping and turning around looking at Jack. He looked around at the packed compartment for a few seconds. Nothing was familiar around the strange open space full of desks and tables with holographic engines over half of them in various stages of assembly, while others took turns blowing up. He decided there were too many people to count and decided to leave. The Ensign came back for him and as he realizing no one seemed to have noticed him, so he let her drag him forward.  "Ok sleeping beauty, it is time to do your thing." A console had been set up like the development console he had used on the Red Dwarf at the center of the compartment next to the ring of control consoles. The Ensign stopped beside it telling the Lieutenant in it to get lost. Captain's orders. Then turned to Jack. "Sit down Turner and make yourself at home." Several people turned to look at Jack, recognizing the name.

Nothing about this remo
tely reminded Jack of anything in The Game. It did look all too much like a typical trade commission or meeting his father always dragged him to only to let his brother go out of the way belittling him at every opportunity. With not even his mother in sight to hide behind for protection. Anything he said or did would only cost him pain or ridicule. All he could do was hide, keep quiet and just endure.

Jack s
at down trying to ignore the lieutenant standing a few feet away staring at him. The man tapped the lieutenant next to him on the shoulder. As the man turned around the lieutenant spoke to the Ensign, his voice carrying across the compartment. "What the hell Ensign, that is just a stupid frigging 1st Class enlisted puke. What the hell could he possibly know about any engine this advanced? Get his low life morons ass out of that seat. We don't need the table cleaned or polished. I have important work to do that this pea brain could not possibly understand."

"You find someplace else to do your important work lieutenant.
As I said, Captain's orders. This is the inventor of the damn upgrade. Now get lost or you may learn something." Her raised voice carried in the now much reduced noise of the compartment as more people tried to get a look at what was going on.

Jack looked around at everyone
now looking at him and scrunched down in the seat bringing his hands up to hide behind.

The Ensign squatted
down next to Jack. "Ok Jack, it is time to shine. Get busy. I know you know what the problem is."

Jack looked around at a hundred
pairs of eyes staring at him and slunk down farther in the big chair until his knees hit something under the table, his armpits on the chair’s arms, his hands tented over his face. Hiding.

"Jack! Sit up and get to work."
Getting a strange look on her face, pleading for lack of anything better. Feeling embarrassed she pulled Jack up into the chair as terror suddenly filled his eyes until he turned to look at her and his terror slowly subsiding as he stared at her. Then at a noise his eyes darted around the room as he again started to slink down.

"Come on Jack. Look at me. I know you can do it babe. You can fix the engine."
She pulled him back up strait in the chair and pushed it closer to the desk.

Jack
reached forward and tapped the desk top, clearing the single screen of what the lieutenant was working on without saving it. With his eyes on the Ensign he straightened up in his seat and started building the series of interface boards and screen wrap a rounds, he had been using the night before.

"Hey! I spent an hour working on that." The
Lieutenant exclaimed.

Jack starte
d hitting icons in midair. Bringing up reports. "Sorry... Ah...  But. Ah, it was all useless crap, we already tried that line not to mention you were working linearly instead of dimensionally and not to mention it was sloppy and childish using information years out of date. Go back to junior college and start over again and apologize to your parents for wasting their…" He glanced around at the lieutenant and caught sight of others staring at him again. Jerking his eyes back to the screen he froze in the middle of hitting icons for a few seconds and then started again slowly. Hitting the wrong Icon he had to start over while hesitating between taps as he started sliding back down into the chair.

"How dare you little
puke? I have degrees in propulsion engineering and drive physics and…"

Jack continued
to slowly slide down into the chair bringing his hands up with his elbows on the chairs arms to hide behind again as he glanced around the compartment peeking out from around his hands. Uncertain panic growing in his face but snuck a smile as he said. "You wasted your parents’ money and your instructor’s time. Though I bet you enjoyed all the parties screwing the gals and smoking your brains out." Then Jack leaned as far away from the lieutenant as he could. Cringing as he expected retaliation.

The
Ensign knew the lieutenant was not about to physically do anything but realized that Jack didn't know that and stepped between the lieutenant and Jack so he would not completely break down. She looked around at all the eyes and then Jack's look of returning panic. Jerking her jacket off, throwing it down at her feet. She unzipped her blouse down over her mountains, looked down at the bra holding her boobs pressed in tight to her chest and slipped the bra straps off her shoulders and undid the top fasteners on the front. Her breasts popped almost completely out of the bra with her nipples barely under cover of her blouse. A canyon of cleavage for all to see with a blouse hanging open almost to her belly button simply because her boobs protruded out so fare her blouse could no longer contain them.

She
zipped her blouse back up as far as it would go under her breasts and stood up as tall as she could, her breasts jutting out a good foot in front of her and started screaming. "You fucking perverts! Quit starring at my boobs. I will have you all in the brig for harassment. Now get the hell out of here or get back to work. The next guy that even glances at my boobs gets court-martialed for sexual harassment. Got that you freaks! Out everyone out Now! Or get to work!"

Every
male looked at the almost topless Ensign. Their eyes suddenly bugging out at the maniac Ensign, then they started turning away. Some slower than others. Some just started smiling. She held up her wrist comm and started taking pictures of guys looking her way and suddenly no eyes could even be seen as everyone got very busy. Turning to the Lieutenant. "That includes you pervert. Now get lost and go back to school and pay attention this time and while you are at it, learn how to properly us a control console."

As everyone suddenly got busy again she bent down next to Jack. "That should end that Jack. That is what I like about you Jack. You don't stare at my boobs every chance you have."
She turned his gaze to point back at the screen. "Do you think the problem is in the original propulsion coils?"

Jack's eyes got big as he
stared out the corners of his eyes at the bare cleavage of her breasts exposed between zipper halves running down her parted blouse and the canyon. His eyes darting back and forth between the almost exposed nipples just hidden by the blouse only a few inches from him.