“Very much so. Nice to meet you, Gus. One question, before I let you go. How is your weapon status?”
“Approximately fifty percent, Boss. I have my mains, but most of my turrets are out of order.”
“Thanks, Gus. It’s good to have you in the fleet. We’ll get your turrets going as soon as we can.”
“Thank you, Boss. It’s lonely out here. Good to have a purpose again. Talk to you later.”
“Later, Gus.” When I walked onto the bridge, Topper asked, “You spoke with Gus?”
I replied, “I did.”
“Do you want him fitted out with some less lethal things to go along with the stuff he already has?”
“When Engineering has time, yes, of course. We can handle that sort of thing till they get around to working on Gus.” I hung out on the bridge, mostly just talking to the new ships and handing out names. Sally had found bots with enough training and experience to handle captaining the other destroyers for now. I was about to go get some supper, when Sue spoke up. “Commodore, the comparison of all the sensor data has run. We have three more suspicious anomalies. Do you want me to forward them to Ruth?”
“Hold off on that, if you don’t mind. Topper, what’s the current status on your brother and Willum?”
“They’ve checked as far out as it is reasonable to assume a bot could have drifted, and half again as much. They are ready to return to base, if you are satisfied.”
“Are you satisfied, Topper?”
“I am, Boss. We have recovered all the bots that there are to recover.”
“Have them investigate these three sensor anomalies, with an abundance of caution, and then they can recover.”
“Understood, Boss.”
Sue asked, “Boss, I know it isn’t my place to question your orders, but could you explain why you did that?”
“We know that jumping in bright with the Gene will set off the charge, and we get very little data. It could be that jumping in quietly, or jumping in a distance away and closing in normal space, would let us get close enough to get the data we want. But our best chance of getting you a cool new sensor array to play with, is to use our most stealthy ship, with our best trained crew, to sneak in and get the data. Your boyfriend can wipe them out from half-way across the system, so we don’t need to close on them to destroy them. Does that answer your question?”
“That answers my question and three or four others I hadn’t thought to ask yet. Thanks, Boss.”
We sat around for a bit, waiting for a report from Black Beauty. Finally, Saucy said, “Comm for you, Boss.”
“Commodore Wilson.”
Willum said, “Bob, it’s like you thought, there are listening posts at each of the anomalies. I’ll send you all the data we got.”
“Were you able to get enough to figure out how their sensors work?”
“We didn’t read the data plates, but we got everything else.”
“Good work. Come home and take a break, you two have had a long day.”
“On our way.” The connection dropped. I said, “Sue, let us know when Black Beauty is far enough away to make it safe to deal with those spies. Tex, service those targets as soon as it is safe to do so.”
Sue said, “Boss, they just jumped in next to us. They are coming aboard, and most definitely out of the way.”
Tex said, “As soon as they are aboard, I’ll be able to maneuver the ship to aim the mains.”
Topper said, “Black Beauty reports that they are docked.” I felt the ship sling around, and then settle back into its previous position. Tex said, “Three away, Boss. From this range, I couldn’t aim for maximum fireworks, but I think it will be impressive, all the same.”
I said, “Sue, make sure you don’t have anyone reporting the blast, after the platforms are destroyed.”
“Watch for emissions, yes, Boss.” Everyone but Sue sat back to enjoy the show. Tex was getting tricky. He had managed to get all three detonations to go at the same time, so that none of the platforms would be able to report the demise of the other two. The rest of the day was slow. I had to talk to a few more ships that Scotti had woken up, but not much happened. Then Saucy said, “Scotti for you, Boss.”
“Yes, Scotti, what can I do for you?”
“Boss, you need to come out and convince this recalcitrant old rust-bucket that you’re for real.”
“Send the coordinates to Ozzie’s Toy. I’ll be there in a few.”
“Thanks, Boss.” I said, “Your ship, Topper. Be back as soon as I can.” On the way to the launch bay, I said, “Gene, can you have Andre send a couple of his boys, just in case I need some backup on this little adventure?”
“Nope. They’re already on their way. Topper sent them.”
“What next? Are you going to tell me he pulled Ace off whatever he was doing to pilot me?”
“No, Boss. Ace volunteered.”
“Thanks, Gene.” I got off the transit, and there stood Nunya, with a cart. She said, “Boss, you weren’t going to come by and get this, so I brought it to you.” I switched out my trusty Ruger for the replacement Nunya had built, then I said, “Take all the rest of this by my cabin and give it to Jeeves. He’ll figure out what to do with it.”
“If he loses anything, I’ll take it out of his tin butt.”
“Tell him, not me.” Nunya smiled and headed out. A couple of
