“No, Boss! I like the way you fly!”
Sally said, “They’re all stunned, and the Marines are heading out. Tex’s girlfriend has the stunner resistant ones pointed out to the boarding teams. I think you got the better end of that deal, Boss. She’s good!”
“Glad to hear it, but I really wish I was on a bridge, so I could see what is going on.” Alan heard me, and put all the pictures and data I could ever want up on the walls of the chamber we were in. I said, “Nicely done. Thanks, Alan.”
“All part of the service, Boss.” I saw the faintest little distortion on the display, winding among the captured ships. I asked, “Could I have a comm channel to Black Beauty, please?”
Sally said, “Go ahead, Boss.”
“Willum, you’re showing up just the least little bit in the visual.”
“I’ll have Scotti take a look when we get back aboard. None of these have destruct mechanisms, so at least we have that going for us.”
“I’m glad to hear that, for sure. How many stunner resistant?”
“Seems to average two per ship. That’s quite a bit more than we’ve seen before, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is. We must be getting a better grade of nuisance.”
“Maybe they’ve finally decided to take you seriously, Delicious.”
“I doubt that. I’m just an infamous monkey, don’t you know?”
“They don’t know the half of it. Infamous doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“What, pray tell, would you prefer? Dastardly?”
“From their point of view, that might begin to cover it.”
“Thanks for your support. Talk to you later.”
“Bye, Bob.”
Alan said, “That man did not have much respect for you, Commodore. Should I put him on report?”
“Report to who, exactly? I’m all the Boss we have. He was just having fun, no harm done.”
“My, oh my, this is different from the Navy.”
Sally said, “You’ve got that right, Alan.”
I asked, “Alan, do you have room to load all those ships in a bay somewhere?”
“Yes, Boss. Most of my attack craft were sold for scrap. I have lots of open bays.”
“Sally, have the Marines take the prisoners over to the Gene. Angus and his boys have already handled a lot of these turkeys. I don’t want your folks taking on this big a job, first jump out of the box.”
“Thank you, Boss. They sound like, oh, what did you say, a better grade of nuisance.”
“That they do. The Squirrels seem to have finally decided to take us seriously.”
“Yet they are still headed for the brig on the Gene. Funny how that works, Boss.”
“I had a good teacher.”
Alan said, “I know what you two are saying must make sense, but I am having trouble understanding it.”
Sally said, “Alan, up until now, our adversaries, the Squirrels, have held us in contempt, only sending their poorest ships against us. It seems that this trip, they have sent ships of a slightly higher quality. The Commodore was still able to dispatch them without much trouble. He credits that to the education I have given him in ship handling. Which part are you having trouble with?”
Alan replied, “Captain, I believe the only answer I can give to that is, all of the above.”
I said, “Don’t worry, Alan. Your brain is much faster than an organic like me. You’ll catch up quickly.”
Sally said, “Don’t let him fool you. His processing may be slower, but his kind have developed shortcuts to let them get to the answer without going through all the steps.”
Alan said, “This new world is going to take some getting used to.”
I said, “Gene could probably help you with that, if you asked him.”
Alan asked, “Gene?”
“The AI running the Gene Cernan. He’s had more time to get used to working the way we do.”
“Thanks, Boss. I’ll talk to him about it.” My comm rang. “Commodore Wilson.”
Topper said, “Hi, Boss. Captain Sloan wanted me to inform you that he and Mrs. Branham had formed two interrogation teams, and have started interviewing the prisoners.”
“Teams? Who do they have helping them?”
“Captain Sloan is working with Mrs. Sloan and Haffi Witti. Mrs. Branham is working with Mrs. Cachi and Lakki Witti.”
“I feel for the prisoners. They don’t have a chance. Anything else you need?”
“No, Boss. I suppose I should tell you that Sue is doing a fine job.”
“You all must be doing pretty well. You took down that fleet in nothing flat.”
“Thanks, Boss. Will you be back soon?”
“I should be, I think. You need to go drain some hydraulic fluid?”
“No, Boss. Just curious. See you soon.”
“Later.” Sally asked, “Topper making it alright?”
“Seems to be. He was curious about when I was coming back. I think he may have something cooked up”
“It’s his first day as XO. He probably just isn’t sure what to do next.”
“I don’t see why. It’s a simple job, really. If something is happening, panic. If not, worry. Did I miss anything?”
“I think maybe there’s more to it than that, Boss. I’ve never seen you panic.”
“Just because I look calm on the outside, doesn’t mean I’m calm on the inside.”
“Whatever you do, it works.”
“I better get back.”
Alan said, “Thanks for bringing me back, Boss. I’ll try and make it worth your trouble.”
“You’re welcome. We’ll get your guns back as soon as we can.”
Ace was waiting at the ship. “Ready to go back, Boss?”
“Yep. We finally get some excitement, and I’m out running errands. How about that?”
“Well, Boss, from what I saw on the feed, it didn’t look too exciting. They went down pretty easy.”
“Why do you think that is, Ace? Are they really that poor at fighting their ships?”
“Well, Boss, I don’t know for sure, but I’ve
