Scout Force. You might fit in pretty well. The boss is always looking for good officers who can think on their feet. Let me see your terminal and I’ll flash in my contact info.”
The captain pulled out his own terminal, aimed it at Kelly’s, and said he hoped he would take him up on his offer.
Kelly moved back over to his seat and pondered his options. He was certain General Bugarov intended to put him into the most miserable job she could find. Kelly didn’t like that option. Ensign Nielsen offered pleasant possibilities. Captain Hasselrode and his admiral offered other possibilities. Of course, the military is one profession where one walks up to a gift horse, pries its mouth open and checks it closely. It is always nicer, however, to have multiple options from which to choose. Kelly pulled out a pillow, wedged it into the space between the seats and caught some sleep before the shuttle landed. As he drifted in and out of sleep, he noted to himself how abysmally slow the shuttle was compared to his fighter.
Ensign Blake awoke shortly before landing and spent the last minutes on the flight to Fleet Base 17 researching assignment options. The base was home to LTJG Dahlen’s refit and repair directorate, a supply directorate, a base services directorate, base headquarters, and the flight detachment to which Ensign Nielsen belonged. It also included the headquarters and three squadrons of the Scout Force. Kelly decided he would check out Admiral Craddock’s history.
Admiral Craddock’s resume looked a little spotty. It suggested that in addition to the Scout Force work, he also had a few tours in Fleet Intelligence. His assignments within the Scout Force were impressive. One of his assignments, as Commander of the Scout Ship Resolute, struck a familiar note.
Further research revealed that then Lieutenant Commander Thomas Craddock was on patrol in the Perseus sector during the Algol Revolt. His mission was to provide early warning to the 17th Battle Fleet of any Algolian Fleet movements out of their planetary system. The Algolians had a long time conflict with the Aldebarans over asteroid mineral rights along the edges of the Pleiades Star field. It had led to interplanetary war a decade prior. The resulting Perseus Act limited the number of major combatants each planet’s Fleet could have off planet at any one time.
Fleet forces were stretched thin, handling several crises in the region. The 17th Battle Fleet would need time to gather forces and bring them to bear against any Algolian incursion. LCDR Craddock was on patrol to sunward of the Algolian main fleet base when their entire fleet lifted off and proceeded to the Aldebaran system. His calls to the 17th Fleet were answered with, “Handle it as best you can, we’re up to our butts in alligators,” or words to that effect.
The Resolute was a long range Scout class ship, designed to provide early warning to a Combat Fleet. It was loaded with long-range sensors, long-range communications, and short-range weaponry. The 40-person crew was enough to maintain 24-hour watches, but not enough for boarding anything more dangerous than an interplanetary cargo shuttle. The Resolute’s shields and armor were effective against a single energy blast, but a concentrated barrage would reduce her to space dust. Its weapons, while effective for allowing the ship to fight its way out of a jam, were not offensive weapons by any measure. Its main advantage was that, at that time, it was the smallest class of ship in the universe capable of mounting a three-power light speed engine.
Left in a situation that was totally impossible and lacking clear guidance, he did what no sane officer would do. LCDR Craddock singlehandedly attacked the entire Algolian Fleet-and won.
The Algolian Fleet was composed of over 300 ships. It had 20 battlecruisers, 40 light cruisers, 45 heavy and medium destroyers, 50 or so lesser combatants, and 100 assault landing ships. The remainders were support ships of various types. What the Algolians had in numbers, they lacked in weapons control, sensor resolution, and speed. They also suffered from poor intelligence on GR Fleet capabilities and lack of recent experience fighting fleet-on- fleet engagements. All of their training had been conducted against their own forces. LCDR Craddock realized this and proceeded to confound the Algolians.
He started by getting just outside of their sensor range and communicating a warning to the Algolian Fleet Commander that his actions were in violation of the Perseus Act and if he did not return to Algol, cloaked fighters within his formation would destroy his Fleet. The Algolian Fleet Commander ignored the warning and kept on.
Sitting at the edge of Algolian sensor range, the Resolute used its superior sensors to develop a precise plot of every Algolian ship in the formation. By watching them for several days, it was able to predict where every Algolian ship would be at any point.
LCDR Craddock executed a carefully orchestrated sequence of precise FTL jumps into the middle of the Algolian Fleet. Each time he dropped out of FTL, his position was to the rear of one of the Algolian major combatants. His energy weapons at close range made short work of the warship’s engines and then he conducted an FTL jump back out of the formation. After twenty jump sequences, all Algolian battlecruisers were adrift in space, venting gases, with not a scratch on the Resolute. Of course, half the Resolute’s crew was puking their guts out from FTL sickness, but the effect had been made. The Algolian Fleet limped back to Algol with the prides of their Fleet in tow, convinced the 17th Battle Fleet had cloaked ships in their midst.
When the 17th Battle Fleet finally called the Resolute to inform them they would be proceeding to her assistance, LCDR Craddock told them their assistance was not needed, as he was escorting the Algolian Fleet back to their home base and the decommissioning of their 20 battle cruisers.
The tactic of sequential FTL hops had been taught at the Star Academy ever since. LCDR Craddock was promoted to Commander Craddock and took over command of a Scout Squadron. As Kelly continued his research, he found other accounts of Admiral Craddock’s brilliance and panache in unusual combat situations. This was a man he could work for.
Two days later, after placing a call to Captain Hasselrode using the contact info the captain had beamed into his terminal, Kelly scheduled an interview with Admiral Craddock. Kelly had been ducking the base assignments officer while considering his alternatives. He’d already found out from a helpful yeoman they planned to assign him to the Base Services Directorate. He had no intention of tracking building repair orders for the next three years. He was going to get himself back into space.
The following morning, he arrived at Admiral Craddock’s office, where Captain Hasselrode introduced him to his boss.
Admiral Craddock was about six feet tall, wearing a regulation duty uniform and not the stylized uniforms some flag officers preferred. He was obviously fit and his posture was erect. Kelly knew from his resume that Craddock was in his late fifties, but he looked ten years younger. There was an earnestness and wisdom in his face and a look of integrity. In addition, he saw what Kelly thought might be a wry sense of humor behind his eyes.
Admiral Craddock came out from behind his desk after they exchanged salutes and gave Kelly a firm handshake.
“Please take a seat, Ensign. Captain Hasselrode pulled your record for me. You were quite impressive until about two weeks ago. Top of your class in all your academic, flight, and combat training, excellent initial rating, and then you had the temerity to prove General Bugarov wrong in a tactical decision. I read her comments in your last rating where she drummed you out of the Fighter Corps. I checked with some buddies of mine in the 15th Fleet. I know what really happened. You showed good tactical sense. Irina embarrassed herself and used you to deflect the heat from that potential fiasco away from her.”
He moved back behind his desk and picked up a pocket terminal.
“She did you a favor, by the way. If she had kept you in the Fighter Force, you never would have been promoted to First Lieutenant. In three months you would have been notified you were not being promoted, given severance pay, and shipped home. By transferring you to the Fleet, she gave you a chance to continue in the service. I’m sure it didn’t feel like she was being your benefactor and I’m sure she didn’t intend to be. That’s just how it is.”
“Ensign, if you come to work for me, I can get you promoted to LTJG in three months. I have a little influence in personnel channels. I might be able to get General Bugarov’s rating misplaced from your file. You can have as long a career in the service as your drive and talents will take you. I think you have qualities that will fit well in the Scout Force. I can get you back out in space. What do you say?”
Kelly stood, came to attention, faced the admiral, and said, “Sir, I would consider it an honor to serve under
