“Not what I wanted to hear, but what I expected. Is there anything we can do for you today?”
“No. I just wanted to check in, and see what all the battle prep was about.”
“Now you know as much as I do. Nearly nothing at all.”
“Is there anything in particular you need us to do, when these ships arrive?”
“Refrain from maneuvering, if you can. It’s likely that my ships will be all over the place, and if your ship is someplace predictable, that will help a great deal.”
“I can’t guarantee that, Commodore. If my ship is attacked, I will do whatever I think best, to protect her.”
“I would expect nothing less, Captain. We hope to protect you well enough so that doesn’t become an issue, but I can’t guarantee anything, either.”
“Hopefully, our best will be good enough. I’ve bothered you enough, you no doubt have things to take care of. Goodbye, Commodore.”
“Goodbye, Captain.” Nikki came onto the bridge. She said, “I brought you a cup of coffee, Caveman. Thought you could probably use it.”
“Thanks. What I could really use is a way to get rid of this feeling that I’m missing something.”
She sat down at a console, and checked the state of the fleet. When she finished, she said, “Caveman, the only thing I can see that I might have done differently, is to send Natti down to the planet, and I’m not sure that’s the best idea, anyway.”
“Either way, it’s too late to risk him, with the chance they will show up at any time.”
“You’re right there, Bob. I think you’ve got it set up as well as you can.”
“So all we have left is the hard part?”
“Hard part?”
“Waiting.”
“Yep.” We all sat around shooting the breeze for a couple of hours. Then a strange thing happened. Snitz came running onto the bridge for all he was worth, and jumped in my lap, like he did when I did simulator training. I wasn’t sure it meant anything, but I called out, “Look sharp! I think they’re on their way in.” Nikki gave me a heck of a look, but she found a seat and strapped in. Saucy answered, “Commodore Sloan reports five contacts, inbound.”
“Ask him to hold position, in case they have friends.”
Sue said, “I have them now, Boss. Looks like they’re homing on the beacon from the Squirrel flagship.”
“Mr. Topper, I would like destroyers between their exit points and that ship.”
“Orders sent, Boss.”
“Arrange the carriers to hit them from behind.”
“On it, Boss.”
Tex asked, “What weapons, Boss?”
“Drive killers and stunners, unless and until they fire lethal weapons. Attempt to disable, but do NOT put the Squirrel flagship in peril doing so. Clear?”
“Be nice unless they aren’t. Don’t kill anybody unless they are about to damage the Squirrel flagship.”
“Good. Send that to all carrier weapons officers. The folks on the destroyers are going to have to use their own judgment.”
Saucy said, “Orders sent and acknowledged, Boss.”
Sue said, “Five seconds.” I felt us jump, and saw the flagship ahead of us, with destroyers around it.
Sue said, “Three…, Two…, One.” The mutineers jumped in, weapons hot. The destroyers chewed up their weapon emplacements. The only shots they got off were toward the carriers. Every turret that fired, ceased to be soon after. When the shooting stopped, I asked, “Report.”
Topper said, “We took minor damage, Boss. The Shepherd reports a compartment open to vacuum, but there were no humans in it, and bots have already started repairs. The Aldrin reports no damage.”
“I’ll have to find out what John’s secret is.”
Topper replied, “Mostly, the way the Squirrels came out of FTL. The Aldrin only had to face one of them, while the other two carriers had two to deal with.”
Saucy said, “Commodore Sloan reports five more ships inbound.”
“Ruth, bounce.”
Ruth said, “Bouncing, Boss. I sent the order to the other carriers.”
“Good work. Jump us into weapons range when they come out. Sue, did we get good stunner hits on our two targets?”
“We did, but both of them had large contingents of stunner resistant individuals. It looked like they weren’t part of the regular crew, though. They weren’t at crew stations.”
“Saucy, tell the Marines aboard the Squirrel flagship that they may be facing boarders.”
“Their Lieutenant says, ‘No shit, Boss. They’re coming across now. Expect contact soonest.’.”
“Mr. Topper, do we have anyone we could send to help out?”
“No, Boss. We already sent everyone we could spare.”
“What about the Puller?”
“Already maneuvering to the aid of the Squirrels, Boss.”
“I would have to think we have very little to worry about, then.”
Saucy said, “The Lieutenant aboard the Squirrel ship says the Marines from the Puller captured all of the boarding parties except one, and his people were able to deal with them easily.”
“Tell him excellent work, and stand ready for more.”
“He acknowledges.” The second wave jumped in, facing outward, hoping to catch us unawares. Ruth and the other two pilots jumped our carriers in, but not where the Squirrels expected. All of their ships were missing the mains they had charged, in short order. As I had expected, these ships had boarding parties as well. Chesty’s boys saw to it that it wasn’t one of their better days. Saucy put Shorty on the speaker. “Boss, we just saw a couple of ships go by that looked an awful lot like ours. Heavy stealth, not much of anything in the way of emissions. I sent the tracks to Sue.”
“Thanks, Shorty. Let us know if you see anything else.”
“Will do, Boss.”
“Topper, are all the destroyers busy guarding the Ambassador’s ship?”
“No, Boss, there are a couple that don’t fit into the formation
