The Wages of War Read online

  Charlotte stared at Justin and said, “Well, the only telepaths to do that are sitting in this room.”

  “And I’m commanding the fleet and Cami is my Second-in-Command.”

  Charlotte looked at Cami and smiled, “It’s good to see you Cami.”

  Cami returned her smile, “I’ve missed you Charlotte. It’s good to see you as well.”

  Charlotte turned back to Justin, “Sir, under the circumstances, knowing our history, I believe you would be better served picking someone else.”

  Justin stared at Charlotte for a moment in silence and then said, “Captain, if our roles were reversed and you were commanding the fleet. And you needed to pick the best officer to keep your sailors safe, what would you do?”

  Charlotte didn’t respond and Johnny spoke up, “Get real Charlotte. I’m sure there’s many more officers just as qualified as you to do this. He’s pulling your chain.”

  Cami looked up, “Computer, please list the ten most experienced telepaths that have scouted an alien civilization.”

  “The most experienced telepath is Admiral Cami Henricks followed by Admiral Justin Brown. Third is Captain Charlotte Kessler followed by Terry Adams and Gerald Arnold. No other telepaths have experience scouting an alien civilization in a scout ship.”

  Johnny nodded, “See! I told you so!”

  Justin shook his head, “Terry Adams has just been promoted to Major Admiral Tyers’ second-in-command. Gerald Arnold will be commanding the other task force.”

  Charlotte shook her head slightly, “Why are you doing this?”

  “Because you are the most experience officer I have to use to do it! Our history has nothing to do with this decision and quite frankly, I wish there was someone else to choose knowing you wouldn’t want to do this. However, my sailors’ safety is the most important issue for me, and you are the best one available to fill the position,” Justin answered.

  “And what if she decides not to do it!” Johnny countered. Charlotte’s eyes narrowed and she turned to him. “I’m just saying you can say no.”

  Justin shook his head and glanced at Cami. Cami shrugged and then nodded. Charlotte saw them and knew nothing good was about to happen. “When I was sent to New Britannia on a dangerous mission, I tried to get out of it. I was given two options; take the mission or leave the service. I was told that if I wasn’t willing to do my duty to protect humanity, the service didn’t need me. That is your two options as well, Captain Kessler. Either you accept the command or resign from the Navy.”

  Johnny stood up, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS!!”

  Cami sighed, “Charlotte, where did you find this idiot? He can do that and much more, Lieutenant. I’m genuinely surprised he’s put up with your disrespect and I believe he’s only done that out of courtesy to Charlotte. You will sit down and keep your mouth shut; do you understand Lieutenant?! Nod if you do!” Johnny glared at Cami and then nodded.

  Charlotte turned to him and ordered, “Johnny, leave the room and wait for me outside.”

  “But…”

  “That was not a request Lieutenant!” Johnny had an angry expression, but he stood up and left Justin’s office. After the door closed, Charlotte turned to Justin, “Sir, how can I work directly with you knowing you have ill will toward me?”

  “I hold no ill will toward you Charlotte.”

  “How can you not?! I walked out on you!”

  Justin sighed, “I understand why you did; you could never erase Funny Man from your mind.” Charlotte sighed and nodded. “I learned that there are consequences to one’s behavior. Part of my consequences was the price of being who I was when I called myself Funny Man. Those behaviors led to me losing you and I don’t blame you for leaving. That issue is mine alone; you share no part of them.”

  “But how do I know you’re not doing this to try and get me back and make me leave Johnny.”

  “Charlotte, I wouldn’t take you back under any circumstances. I truly wish you and that jackass you’ve chosen long life and happiness.” Justin saw Charlotte’s hurt expression and he sighed, “I don’t intend to hurt you. But I would never go back into a relationship with you.”

  “Care to tell me why.”

  “I already have. There are consequences to the decisions we make. You walked away and I could never, ever, trust you to not do it again. That’s the consequence of your decision to do it. I won’t set myself up again for what I’ve been through. I will treat you professionally and treat you just like any other officer under my command. If you need to look in my mind to prove it, take a look.”

  Charlotte stared into Justin’s eyes and shook her head, “That won’t be necessary. I’ll accept the position.”

  “Good.” Justin turned to Cami, “Contact Fleet Operations and put Charlotte’s promotion to Commodore into the system. Once that’s done, have them promote Gerald Arnold to Commodore.” Justin turned to Charlotte, “Gerald will join you in getting your task force trained so he can use what he learns to train the task force assigned to him. That will also make you senior to Gerald; I want my most experienced officer to have the highest seniority.”

  Charlotte nodded, “What happens now?”

  “You will report to the Advanced Tactics Learning Center to learn fleet tactical maneuvers. The professors have agreed to allow you to look at their minds to absorb all they know, and I suspect you’ll complete that in less than a month; Gerald will be going with you as well. I’m having my computer to send you all the fleet files of the four-thousand sailors in our task force. When you’re not in class, you will be going through your sailor’s files determining the command structure of your task force. There will be fifty wings under your command, and you’ll need to choose your wing commanders for each of them. The forty warships in each wing will be divided into two twenty-ship units, each commanded by a senior captain. If you run into problems, contact me.”

  “How am I going to assimilate all this information?”

  “The computer you’re going to use at the Academy uses one of the new telepath machines and will feed the information directly into your mind. I’m also informing all the sailors in your task force that you have been given permission to look at their minds without their approval. Fortunately for you, you are quite highly thought of by every telepath and that should make it bearable for them. Any questions?”

  “What is Johnny going to do while I’m in training?”

  “He reports to you; do what you want.” Charlotte sighed and nodded. “If you have no other questions, you are free to go Commodore.”

  Charlotte left the office and Justin shook his head. “She didn’t realize what an ass he is.” Justin turned to Cami. “This is the first time he’s acted so macho with her.”

  “I guess I can understand why; he has a right to be jealous; Charlotte and I do have a history.”

  Cami smiled, “What Charlotte doesn’t realize is that ole Johnny Boy thinks he can dictate to Charlotte what to do.”

  Justin chuckled, “That should prove interesting.”

  “You have no idea,” Cami remarked.

  • • •

  Grady and RJ were sitting in Joshua Goldman’s office and Grady commented, “I need to understand the changes you made to the Garrions our telepaths are going to be flying.”

  “They’re pretty much like our new warship. There’s very little difference between them.”

  “How are they different from our old warship, Josh?” RJ asked. “I’ve not been kept in the loop on the changes you’ve made to the new ships.”

  Joshua blew out a breath and began, “Well, first of all, they’re about one quarter the size of the old warship but more powerful.”

  “How did you pull that off?”

  “We discovered a new reactor fuel, Admiral Dunhan. It allowed us to build reactors one tenth the size of the ones being used on the old warships. However, they were twice as powerful. Instead of having to carry ten huge reactors and their cooling systems on the ship, the new ships only need
ed five. We went ahead and installed seven anyway just to give more power to use by the ship’s various systems; they default to the new ships’ blasters.” Joshua paused and continued, “Being so much smaller than the old warships, they are incredibly faster. Andromeda is three days away and the Triangulum Galaxy is only four and a half days to arrive. But you’ve already know about that, don’t you?”

  RJ nodded, “I do. But I’ve not seen one of the new warships in action and I need to know its capabilities.”

  Joshua nodded, “I’ll start with the blasters. There are nine of them that are placed around the ship. Three close to the bow, stern, and middle of the ship. They’re smaller than the regular blasters on the old warships but they’re as powerful as the heavy blaster they carried. Their barrels will extend if they are swiveled above the ships hull. The heavy blaster on the new warship is something you have to see to believe. It has twice the range of the old heavy blaster and is more than twice as hot. It is located in the bow of the new warship.”

  “How is that possible?” Grady inquired.

  “The new reactors account for a lot of it but our barrel technology has improved dramatically over the last two years. They are capable of handling a lot more heat than before.”

  “What else?”

  Joshua turned to RJ, “The old heavy missiles have also been reduced in size due to the new reactor fuel and they are faster and hit with a more powerful punch than the old missiles.”

  “And the Hawks?”

  “They are only about three feet long, but they can change direction faster than one of the old dragon flies that lived on Earth. They are deadly in anti-missile tactics and can also take out a warship if several of them target it.”

  “Are they capable of detecting a stealth missile?” Grady asked interrupting the conversation.”

  “If the missile is using a stealth field instead of the coating used on our ships, yes they can.”

  “So does that mean our ships can now detect the stealth warships being used by our enemies?”

  Josh turned to RJ, “Yes, they can. We’ve completed the stealth scanner and it functions perfectly. However, we really don’t need it.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because the new telepath machine we stole from the civilization in Triangulum will detect the crews on those ships.”

  “But tracking their actual location will be a problem, won’t it?”

  Joshua smiled, “No Grady, we’ve made some improvements on the telepathic machine we’ve developed. It will be able to detect the ships and show their location on our tactical monitors where they can be targeted.”

  “And the Garrions my scouts will be using will have the same capabilities?”

  Joshua shrugged, “The Garrions are ten feet shorter than our new warship.”

  “What does that mean?” RJ inquired.

  “They’ll be slightly faster but carry fewer missiles. That’s the only real differences between the two ships.” Joshua paused and then added, “The Garrions being used by the telepaths will also have an electronic field that will prevent their thoughts from being detected outside the ship. If they turn the field on, they won’t be able to broadcast their thoughts, but they can hear any thoughts in ships close enough for them to detect.”

  “We need that field installed on all our ships, Joshua!”

  “I know that Grady! But getting the scout’s Garrions completed was ordered to be a prime priority. We’ll complete that mission in another eight weeks. Once that’s done, we’ll start installing the system in our other warships. Until that happens, the crews will have to wear their combat helmets.”

  “Why didn’t you just have the telepaths continue to use their helmets?”

  “Because a telepath’s thoughts can be heard over a much longer range than a non-telepath, RJ. They need it more than our other fleets.”

  RJ looked at Grady and he tilted his head, “Cami is going out with the Scout Fleet. That’s why I insisted them get the technology first.”

  RJ nodded, “I figured as much. How is Justin working out?”

  “He’s doing remarkably well. He’s impressed Cami and that’s not easily done.”

  RJ nodded slightly and said, “I’m putting Charlie in Command of Britannia’s fast reaction fleet.”

  “He’s a good choice.” Grady turned to Joshua, “What have you been able to do to improve our old warships?”

  “We’ve installed the new reactors and they’re a lot faster…but not close to the Garrions and the new warship. However, with the space saved by the smaller reactors, they can carry more than triple the number of missiles they once had on board.”

  “Are their blasters updated?”

  “Yes, they are RJ.”

  Grady nodded and turned to RJ, “What about our probes in Andromeda.”

  “The Triangulum warships destroyed the last one six days ago.”

  “Let us pray they’ve gone unnoticed.” RJ could only shrug in reply.

  • • •

  Charlotte threw herself into her work at the Advanced Learning Center and spent the evenings learning everything possible about the sailors assigned to her command. She didn’t have time for Johnny, and he was remarkably patient with her. He realized after the meeting with Admiral Brown that if he played his cards right, Charlotte would make him her second-in-command and he’d be promoted to Senior Captain. He knew that with the performance reviews his former commanders had given him, he stood no chance of ever being promoted. But if he was handed the promotion, he would make sure they paid for their unkind remarks. And if Charlotte messed up, he might take her place and be a commodore. Oh he’d enjoy using that position to get even. So, he sat back and remained patient. He could barely wait for his promotion.

  • • •

  Charlotte finished her training and Johnny saw her putting on a dress uniform one morning, “Where are you going?”

  “I’m attending a meeting with Admiral Brown. He’s going to go over the sailors I promoted in my Task Force.”

  “May I go with you?”

  “No. Just the three of us will be in the meeting.”

  “Who’s the third?”

  “Commodore Arnold.”

  Johnny shrugged, “You know I don’t like you being around Justin without me present.”

  “Get used to it; he’s my commanding officer. I don’t choose when I have to meet him.”

  “Take me anyway!” Charlotte stared at Johnny and he immediately back down. “Ok, ok, I’ll wait for you here.”

  “You act like you don’t trust me!”

  “I don’t trust him Charlotte.”

  “Same thing. I’ll see you this evening!”

  Charlotte stormed out and Johnny knew he had almost crossed a line with Charlotte. He shook his head and kept repeating, “Just be patient…” He had to get a grip on his jealousy.

  • • •

  Charlotte and Arnold arrived in Justin’s office at ten and Justin told them to take a chair. They sat down and Justin smiled, “Well, how did it go?”

  Gerald looked at Charlotte and she shrugged, “I’ve filled all the command positions in my command.”

  Justin waited for more information and finally said, “But…”

  Charlotte sighed, “I could have done a better job of it.”

  Gerald nodded, “I agree.”

  “Tell me what you mean by that?” Justin asked.

  “Well, if I had to do it over, I’d probably have not chosen some of those I promoted. I made the decision on some of them due to the time running out.”

  “If you had to say, what have you learned from this experience?”

  “In the meeting I held with all my crews, I found that quite a few of my units don’t respect the officer commanding them. I don’t know how I could have avoided those mistakes without making the promotion and looking afterwards.”

  Justin turned to Gerald, “She’s right. How can you know how a unit will receive their commander without assigning
someone to the position?”

  Justin nodded, “So, if you had to do it over, you wouldn’t make the same mistakes.”

  Charlotte shrugged, “There is a learning curve in doing this for the first time.”

  Justin glanced at Cami and said, “Gerald, the task force that’s just been completed will be the one you command.” Gerald and Charlotte’s eyes widened at the statement. “Charlotte, you will take command of the other task force and get it formed up.”

  “Why are you doing this?”

  “I knew that the first task force might have issues and planned for it in advance.” Justin turned to Gerald, “Do you know which leaders need to be replaced?”

  “I do Sir.”

  “I’m announcing that you will take command of the task force and you will notify all your sailors that the commanders of your units will be reexamined, and no one should believe they will keep the assigned ranks that Charlotte made.” Justin turned to Charlotte, “If you had to demote the commanders you promoted, you would have a disgusted, disgruntled sailor to deal with. By having Gerald make the changes, they’ll still feel bad but know that you had confidence in them. They can deal with the setback without wanting to resign from the service or become a disciplinary issue.” Justin paused and added, “I suspect that those that lose their positions will request a transfer to Charlotte’s Task Force.”

  “And I will refuse to allow them to transfer,” Gerald replied.

  “On the contrary, you will honor their requests.”

  Gerald’s and Charlotte glanced at each other and Charlotte asked, “Why would you want that?”

  “Because those sailors want to be with a commander that thinks highly of them. We’ll allow them to transfer but make it clear that all the command positions in Charlotte’s Task Force have been filled and they’ll have to work their way up through the ranks. Gerald won’t have to deal with their disgruntled behavior, and they’ll be working hard for a promotion in Charlotte’s command.” Gerald chuckled and smiled. “Now, tell me how you’re going to find the commanders to replace the ones in Gerald’s task force and the new ones in your task force Charlotte,” Justin ordered.