Chapter 6 – The Joker in the Deck.

Perez ran on down to supply and grabbed the duty storekeeper (SK), from his bunk, who was sputtering from being rudely awakened, “Where’s the damn fire!”

“Pat, I need the AuxCon Backup power plant. The whole thing. Now. An hour ago. Yesterday, ” said Perez, “and I really don’t have time to explain the whole thing, but I’m trying to build a station decoy that will make the bad guys think nothing have changed so they don’t blow us to hell for the next month.”

“Chief, I can’t let you have that, it’s 3 million bucks,” said SK1 Pat Chu, "and what baddies?"

“Get the Chop on the comm, or whomever. I need it. And I need it in Docking Bay 2, like 5 minutes ago.” said Perez.

“You can’t sign for that!” said Chu, "I need paperwork, signatures, packages, all that stuff or I go to jail."

“Who can?” asked Perez.

“CO, XO, Chop.” said Chu.

“Any one of them,” asked Perez.

“No.. All of them,” said Chu.

“Hang on a sec.”

He leaned over Chu’s desk and slotted his PIM.

“Sally, call the CO in the Wardroom conference room.”

Sally blinked twice, and the PIM flashed an icon of a flashing receiver. The display cleared and the CO’s face popped into view, “What is it, Randy?”

Something murmured out of the field of view. The Captain looked down, looked back up and said, “Chu?”

“Yessir,” said Chu. Thank the helpful PIM.

“Give Perez whatever he needs and send me whatever paperwork you need checked off to make it happen.”

“Sir, the law requires that we get formal packages and ….”

“Chu. I am using the Emergency Authorization. Anything Perez needs, I'm authorizing in advance.”

“Yessir,” said Chu

“Do you like your life, ” said the Captain.

“... Yes, Sir,” said Chu.

“Perez is trying to keep the Unknown baddies that are interdicting some of your supply shipments from coming and killing us all. Give him the damned backup donkey generator, and anything else you think he might need or might help,” said Cohen, "I don't want another one of these calls till we're all reasonably safe. The ship goes to Battlestations in 2 hours."

“Aye, sir,” said Chu as Cohen cut off.

He looked up and said, “I get it, Chief, what can I do?”

Perez said, “Let’s go get it, and bring it down to Dock 2. I’m gonna need a gravitic generator, and some steel. We’re gonna build us a space station. I’ve got a couple hours before I go on watch, and I can get everything started before then.”

“I don’t know shit about electronics or fabricating, but I got parts,” said Chu.

Perez and Chu found the backup generator and grabbed a grav sled to move it. It weighed some 2 and half tons and was about 6 meters square. Perez called some of the Engineering crew to help and they moved it right down the central shaft to Dock 2. Perez and a couple of mechanics (Machinist Mates) MM2 Dusty Rhodes and MM1 Rusty Jones planned out a big cross about 100 meters long, with the fusion generator, a gravity generator and a couple of subspace radios. The scam was to put a couple of EVA modules and put a spin on it, in order to simulate the electronic and gravitic signature of the ring. Getting the exact electronic read was the trick. The general plan was to record 12 hours of every band of output, including neutrinos, and build, steal or buy an emitter for all the frequencies that they could power. The four of them were joined by a team of ET’s on the off going watch section. It might even work for a while. It had a much better chance of working just long enough to transition the station to ship mode and move it somewhere less exposed.

There was a lot of blaming and name calling over the slight bump to the level 2 transfer station. Dusty said, “It looks fixable to me.”

Rusty said, “That’s what you said about your Trans Am.”

Dusty said “It is fixable.”

Rusty said “When? When the sun burns down to a coal?”

Perez said, “Come on, guys, we gotta move this thing.”

Perez called over to the Rhodes, “I got to go on watch now, but I can work on some of the designs. I’m Fusion Two Engineering Watch Supervisor tonight. Sally, upload the plans for the thingie to their PIMs.”

Sally blinked twice.

“Okay, Randy, we got this. Oscar and Perry know what you want, and they have some cool ideas, and we are fabbing the sections right now. When you get off, we should be ready to put it outside,” said Jones, "You can let your genius twin rest for a while."

“It needs a name, “ said Perez.

Dusty said, “How about the Rube Goldberg?”

Perez chuckled. “Sure. The Goldberg it is. Put it on somewhere. It sure beats the Floating Pile or Black Wreck or whatever.”

Perez called the Galley directly, “Cookie, I’m coming out there for some chow, and I’ll give you the five-minute rundown.”

He bolted for the galley.

* * *

Muschivk and Wamamere were discussing the manpower allocations for the next shift. “Listen here, you old fart, I still got a ship to run, I can’t give you everybody,” said the COB.

“Ken, we don’t get all this done, your ship is going to be a floating pile of twisted wreckage,” said Muschivk.

“Joe, I gotta keep at least a duty section aboard, otherwise we can’t move this beastie. That’s around 50 people, but it’s gotta be the right 50 people.”

“You’re right Ken, but that Lieutenant of yours made this a lot more difficult. When the ship’s log AI sends that extra burst, from a ship that supposedly has a power problem, it might make the stupidest bad guy pay a little attention.”

“I know, I know, but I gotta have a crew. How else can I lord it over them,” said Ken.

“Ha, I knew that’s what this was all about.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Of course,” said Ken.

“We’ve already combined Fusion One and Two, we can do the with the Ops sections as well. Nobody needs rest when they’re dead.”

“Yeah, but what about DC teams?”

“Dead people don’t need damage control”

“You keep harping on that point,” said Ken, “Assuming we can get this turkey out of the way, what’s next.”

“I thought that was obvious. The baddies, whomever they are, are depending on this station making its regular report. Why, I’m not sure, but the chain of events that results from that puts most of the OutSystem fleet in this sector in about two weeks. They don’t want that,” said Joe.

“So why don’t we just stop transmitting,” said Ken

“Because they will come to kill us, and my guess is replace us with body snatchers,” said Joe

“You’re full of shit,” said Ken.

“Of course I am. They will come to kill us and replace the station with a transmitter, which will send out badly imitated periodic transmissions, until they are ready to do what they think they have planned,” said Joe.

“So you and Perez doped this out, and decided to do it first,” said Ken.

“Nah. Joint Intelligence, of which I am part, doped this out, came to me and said ‘any suggestions on how to keep this bad thing from happening’ and I pointed them at Perez,” said Joe.

“Does Perez know you set him up,” said Ken.

“Yep. I do it to him regularly every five years or so. He almost always lives,” said Joe complacently.

“What are we gonna do about that boy,” said Ken, “ he’s got a problem.”

“Which problem? The too smart for his own good? The smart ass? The huge inferiority complex? The avoiding authority and responsibility one? His carrying a torch for the XO, which predates her commission I might add?”

“Umm… I was talking about the avoiding any authority, but they might all be of a piece,” said Ken.

“I think you right,” said Joe, his face looking back into the past.

Ken whacked him on the head with his folder of paper.

“Stop that, dumbass, this is not the time for a bedtime story. You can tell me what happened to him later. I happen to think that giving him Reagan to fix is a good first step, maybe even a stroke of genius,” said Ken.

“I didn’t tell you to do that, can’t blame me for that, why the hell do you carry paper around anyway” said Joe.

“I know. Came to me right then and there. Stroke of genius, like I said,” said Ken.

“Don’t break your arm,” said Joe sourly.

“You were really set on telling me that story, weren’t you,” said Ken.

“Oh, shut up. Let’s get this crew list worked out,” said Joe.

* * *

In the wardroom conference room Cohen stood up after talking to SK1 Chu.

“Why do you think Muschivk and Perez are on this ship at this particular time,” said Sevrinofsky. "and for that matter, you and me, and Tunney, and Takeashi, and how in the heck did Reagan get assigned OutSystem. All people who have trained under Muschivk, except Reagan."

“Pure fate, “ said Cohen.

“Crap,” said Koznar.

"Don't look at me, I don't have the kind of pull to make all this happen, " said Cohen.

"But I know someone who does," said the XO.

"Who," said Koznar.

"Muschivk, " said the XO.

"There's no point in telling tales now, because however we got here, we are in deep doodoo," said the CO.

"Why, what are you talking about. Randy will fix it," said the XO with a southern belle accent, "he always does. Even when it ain't broken," waving her hand like a fan.

"What's that about, " said Koznar.

“Nothing, “ said Sevrinofsky shortly.

“Okay, boys and girls, our job here is to figure out what we’re gonna do next. I aspire to be a good officer and not look blankly and shrug at my crew. That’s the implied contract… They run the ship so we can look intelligent and say cool stuff on the camera. So far Perez and Muschivk have been effectively calling the shots because we’ve been behind the curve. Their job is to run and fight the ship as effectively as they can. Our job is to plan. So let’s plan,” repeated Cohen.

“What do we know,” said the XO.

“Joe Muschivk uploaded all the data we have into my PIM, it will replicate it to yours,“ said Cohen.

“Don’t get excited if you can’t keep up with those two. They plan entire extraction missions with a ‘let’s go get them’ and they don’t seem to even need to talk about it, “ said Sevrinofsky, “used to drive me crazy. I like details. Shoot this one, save that one.”

“How long have you known them,” asked Koznar, "Exactly?".

All right, we can play gossip girls some other day,” said the CO, “slot your PIM’s and let’s get to work, we need options.”

Nine of the thirteen officers were still in the room, the Supply Officer left to run down and help the decoy team get everything they need when Perez left for watch. The COB and the SEEA were attempting to scare up enough crew for 2 recon modules, a wing of combat modules, and two long range combat modules, just for starters. Additionally they needed enough guys to attach the drive and the freight containers when they moved the ship.

“What do we do if the drive doesn’t come in at 0600 as scheduled,” said Koznar.

“We die a lot, I think,” said the WEAPS, “We need that drive. One, we can’t jump the ship without it, and two, it would take months to move the ship a significant distance on the station keeping system. It was never designed to move on a whim. We are supposed to have more notice for disasters.

“Funny,” said the CO, “ha, ha.”

“Everything depends on the drive getting here, I don’t think even Perez can figure his way out of that one,” said the Eng.

“They haven’t messed with any shipments to the station so far,“ said the Weapons Officer.

"How many of those recon modules can we turn out in 6 hours," said Cohen.

"Perez said about 1 an hour, but I think we can do better. That EVA module isn't really that complex," said Koznar.

"We print them in two pieces, install the equipment, weld them together and install the hatches. Perez's updated modules are actually simpler. They don't have manipulators, mag locks, laser welders, that's all really complicated forms," said the Machinist Division officer, Lt. Jg Nimesh Goyal.

"Are you saying Perez was wrong about something," said the XO, "I like that. I think he's wrong most of the time."

"He's very conservative, Ma'am," said Goyal, "I'm not. Besides, we can print another 3D printer in about a day."

"We are still at step one, boyo," said the CO, "We gotta get the ship moving and decoy built. Focus. Goyal, get me 1 recon ship and try to get 1 interdiction ship. It's 4 modules, right?"

"Looks that way, although, if we redesign the center... might be able to do it with 3 and a 1/2 modules, which means I can get you 2 of them a lot faster."

"Not before 0600 when we need it. I have a really bad feeling. XO did you try and confirm those comms," asked Cohen.

"Yes, we did, but no reply, but comms are iffy in subspace." said Sevrinofsky, "It's not really a concern till they get alot closer."

"Mmmmm. Tell Perez, I don't care how he does it, I want hard points on every craft from now on. No more unarmed ship, modules whatever. And we need a new name for the Recon modules. I feel stupid saying it," said Cohen, "Recon Modules. Nope."

Glasgow nodded and type a note into his PIM.

"You know... we could grow nano-shielding around a regular EVA module in about an hour, and then rip the innards out of another, relocate the batteries and then we would have an ugly as sin version of his mini-recon vehicle," said the ENG.

"Drives?" asked the RC Division officer, Ensign Runs with Eagles. Everyone called her Eagles, because the potential for humor was too high the other way.a

"Shit." said Koznar.

"Don't give up on it yet. I got some ideas now that you said that," said the M Division officer, Steven Smith.

"Okay," said the CO, "What if the drive ship doesn't arrive. What can we do."

"In six weeks? Nothing. In a about 3 months we could build a subspace drive that big. Not much can speed that up. The cores have to grow. If you speed up the grow rate you get channel errors and that's very bad," said the ENG.

"Wanderers," said the Weapons Officer, Andrew Glasgow, a huge black Irishman.

"How bad, " asked the CO.

"Don't even go there," said ENG.

"What, " asked the CO looking at Glasgow.

"Wanderers. Name for the 3 section modules. Seekers for the 2 sections."

"Oh... is that science fiction? Perez will love that," said Cohen.

"I have no clue what you're talking about, but Perez will probably ID it instantly. I just love the way he makes me feel inferior even when he's not here, " said Sevrinofsky, sourly.

"There are three basic options coming up," said Morgan, "One, the drive ship doesn't arrive and we are pretty much at the mercy of the baddies; Two, it does arrive but it's damaged or incapacitated in some way, and that delays us enough to seriously upset the whole timetable; Three, it arrives and it's fine and everything goes like clockwork."

"This is the Navy. That ain't gonna happen," said Eagles.

"Yep, I agree. So we really only have one thing to plan in the next couple of hours. Option 2," said Glasgow in his sincere Bronx accent.

"So, it gets here and it's broken, how do we move it. We really only need the subspace drive, right?" said Sevrinofsky.

"SAR's, " said Goyal, "They are tugs, and can jump small ships. They can pull them into position for transit. It might be a little slower than the drive units, but not much slower."

"So, let's say the drive comes in but is in a bad orbit, or stationary, or rams the jump bouy or whatever. What about the crew of the control section, how do we help them," asked the NAV.

"Can we remotely control it," asked Eagles.

"Yes, we can. As long as we can set up double ended laser control links, we can issue commands from the panels here in Control. There will be lightspeed lag of course," said the XO.

"So, do we have one of those passenger ferry containers around here somewhere, like the cruise ships use, InSystem," asked Cohen.

"Yeah, have to ask the Chop, but I think we do, it's on the SOP for Evac." said the WEAPS.

"All right, I detect the beginnings of a plan, and like all good plans it needs a name, " said the CO."

"Option Titanic, " said the NAV, instantly.

"You are being sent to bed without any supper," said the CO.

"Entebbe," said the XO.

"Hmmm, " said Cohen, " I like it. Entebbe it is."