Interregnum (Children of Steel Book 2) Page 4

  "Why did I win that fight?" I asked and flagged one of the medics over to look at my wrist.

  "Because you're better trained," one of the students answered.

  "And because you refused to lose," the tiger said looking at me.

  I smiled, "And also because I'm a crazy insane maniac with no fear or a lick of sense. I have been shot, I've been stabbed, I've been set on fire, blown up, and burned, broken bones, "I shrugged, "but I never once let that thought enter into my mind when I had to fight the next time. You will get hurt, you may even die, but if you do not believe in yourself, if you are not committed, if you don't love every single moment of it, it doesn't matter how good you are, you're going to lose."

  "It's broken," the medic who was examining my wrist, told me.

  I looked at him, "I know it's broken. Tape it up. I'm not done here."

  "You need to go to the sick bay, it needs to be fixed," He insisted.

  I stared at him.

  He taped it up.

  "Okay, everyone, we're going to start with the basics, and I don't care if you hate it. But speed is one of those things that count in a fight, and speed comes from repetition, and we are now going to do a lot of that!"

  I had them line up on the deck and I showed them each of the exercises I wanted them to do. And I made them do each of them a hundred times as I walked around, well limped around, and checked their form and criticized them.

  The ones I'd beaten weren't in too bad a shape, and I made them exercise as well, though I did cut them some slack.

  After they got through all of the simple exercises I paired them up, and ran then through all of the standard unarmed combat drills, including some of the not so standard ones that I practiced. Again I made them do each exercise a hundred times.

  When they had finished that, I had them start from the beginning and do it all over again.

  "Why?" One of them asked.

  "Because from now on you're going to be doing these everyday, and I want to be sure you're doing them right."

  A few people grumbled, but no one was about to raise any issues.

  "Okay," I said when they were all finished. "Every morning when you get up, do twenty reps of each of those. And every night before you hit the showers, do them again. Next session we're going to start on the hard stuff. Dismissed."

  I watched as they left, and then went down to the medical bays to get my wrist fixed, and the rest of me patched up as well.

  "So I hear you put a smack down on some of my troops today," Colonel Johnson said sitting down next to me as I ate dinner that night with Cassandra.

  I shrugged, "After all the stories they've no doubt heard, I had to do something over the top to get their attention. They expected it, I'm sure."

  Colonel Johnson nodded, "Still, I've ordered all of them not to challenge you again, nor test your patience. I know you have a different group tomorrow, and I don't want them getting any wise ideas."

  "Oh, I don't know, it was kinda fun," I said and then "ooofed" as Cassandra elbowed me hard in the ribs.

  "Behave," she growled and I laughed.

  "I'll try," I said and she just rolled her eyes in her head with a snort. "But they're still going to need to see something to make them," I searched for the right word, "umm, to make them understand?" I shrugged, "I need to make the point to them that the stuff they always thought were just stories, aren't. That they can do those things if they bust their asses and work hard. Everyone in Falcon block knew that, if I had tried that stunt I did today on them, I'd have gotten my ass handed to me."

  Colonel Johnson nodded, "Yes, but they were front line shock troops, special forces types who knew they'd have to do a lot of close in work and trained hard for it. These guys are just heavy infantry. They've got the combat experience, and they're decent fighters from what I've seen in their files, but they've always worked at a company level, with large numbers and artillery to back them up.

  "Now they have to learn to fight in smaller groups, and in close quarters. I don't expect you to turn them into another you, Raj," Colonel Johnson smiled, "or even Falcon block. But I do want them to have the confidence that they're going to need when they find themselves fighting at the squad or half-squad level when we come to that takeover on the next trip. I'm going to need a few teams I can send into mines or buildings to clear them."

  "So squad and half-squad drills?" I asked thinking about the way we used to deal with choke points.

  Colonel Johnson nodded, "Once they're ready for it, yes."

  "So, Colonel," Cassandra asked, "why Raj?"

  "Excuse me?"

  "You know what they need to learn, why do you need Raj to train them?"

  I looked over at Colonel Johnson who looked embarrassed. "Because some of the things I will need them to do are almost suicidal, they'll get you wounded and maybe killed. But Raj here," Colonel Johnson nodded to me. "He did them so many times, we all lost count and he survived every one.

  "I don't know if it's the way he did it, or if he's just lucky, but in either case, I need my soldiers to believe that they can do these things and live through them, because then they won't hesitate." He nodded towards me again, "Raj is proof of that. And if it turns out he can teach them to survive like he managed to, then I definitely want him training them."

  "Just understand," Cassandra said and looking up at Colonel Johnson she put on her sweet smile, the one that I knew always meant trouble, "if you try to get him to go back into combat, I will murder you in your sleep."

  I just sighed and shook my head as he nodded and smiled, "And that's why we don't allow married people in the assault groups."

  Colonel Johnson finished his dinner and stood, "Cassandra, Raj," he nodded to each of us and left.

  I didn't say anything, just waited.

  "Aren't you going to say anything about me threatening to kill your former commander?" Cassandra said after a couple of minutes.

  "I didn't want to be next," I quipped and then gave a little grunt as she elbowed me again.

  "Better to lay down the rules now, so there are no misunderstandings later on," she purred.

  I smiled and got up as she did, "Well, after everything they've seen from me, they already know that you must be pretty nasty yourself to keep me in line!" I said and laughed.

  "And don't you forget it!" She growled, but I could see that at least she was smiling as she did.

  4

  The second class that I taught the next day was much better behaved, I found out later that the colonel had not only read the first group the riot act for not respecting me as their instructor, but had made all of them read all of my combat citations, as well as the many reports that Aruba had written about me.

  Then they'd shown some of the combat camera footage they had of me in action. While my own footage never seemed to survive for some reason, like say my deleting it, several of the squadies had saved some of the 'better' stuff. I'd seen some of it back when I was still on the Falcon, and it wasn't very pretty, but looking at it now I could see that it made me look like the Devil's own son, straight out of Hell.

  I know it made everyone wonder just how I had ever survived, and when Cassandra got a hold of it she came after me with a mop handle and threatened complete mayhem if I ever so much thought about doing such insanities again.

  "Well, that's just what happens when you aren't in my life to make me behave," I told her once she'd calmed down.

  "I could beat up your colonel friend for passing those around. Do you have any idea what the people on the ship will think if they see them?"

  I thought about that, "It was war, Cassy, and a rather nasty one. I think they'd understand."

  "Yeah well, you need to understand that you have to work twice as hard to keep your nose clean now, Raj. Everyone always worries about combat vets going crazy, and you do have a history, remember."

  I nodded. Yes, I had a history. But to be honest, I really wasn't worried about any of it. I'd lost my rage about halfway
through the war. I was however starting to get worried about Cassandra. Getting hit with the mop handle hadn't hurt all that much, it broke before she could really work me over too long. But she'd never really had a temper before, and while I didn't mind if she used it on me, I was starting to worry if she'd turn it on someone else.

  Maybe I needed to have a chat with Sharazad. I'd have to think about that.

  Breakout, when it came, was nicely anti-climatic. Dave and I were sitting number two on the rack, but nothing showed up at all. The Astra had broken out well above the plane of the ecliptic, with a decent amount of momentum. We'd learned in the pre-breakout brief that while we had the system location and a notation on which planet the base was at, we had no information on the system at all beyond that.

  So we needed to survey the system to find out how many planets there were, and where those planets were, so we could plot an intercept and enter orbit.

  When I finished with my alert shift I headed to the bridge, with us in normal space my shift schedule had changed again, I was no longer teaching the advanced hand-to-hand class, but I was now on the watch-stander list for the bridge, as part of my helmsman training courses.

  The bridge itself was an interesting place. It was the control center for everything onboard the Astra, so it was a pretty large room. It also was buried deep inside the Astra, making it the most protected space in the ship.

  I walked up to the door and checked in with the guard, and was admitted after being identified, the bridge being one of the few actively guarded spaces. There were two entrances; one on either side, port or starboard, the captain's seat was about ten feet back of dead center, with the helm station directly in front of him exactly at dead center. Engineering was to the left of the helm station, and the communications station was to the right.

  The other stations were all on a second level beneath the bridge. To get there from the bridge there were two access ways, metal ladders through open holes in the floor. There were two additional openings in the deck to either side of the captain's chair; those were situated so that when seated in the captain's chair you could see the offense weapon's officer station on the left, and the defense weapon's officer station on the right.

  Those stations could be raised up to sit flush with the main bridge floor during combat, giving their operators access to the bridge screen, and allowing the bridge team to communicate with them directly by voice.

  Also on the bridge sub-deck, you had all of the other stations that reported to the captain. Ship security had a console there, there was also a second engineering console for life support and internal systems, as well as consoles for intelligence, signals intelligence, shuttle control, damage control, cargo master, two console stations for ships sensors, two more communications stations, and an auxiliary helm station.

  The reason for everything being on the sub-deck, and the main deck being so clear was the main deck display, which was breathtaking, and to cut down on chatter on the main deck. The bridge sat in a sphere, and all of the walls were set up as a large display. It was like sitting out in space with nothing around you, but the chair you were sitting on, even the floor beneath you was also a display, with the perspective set to make it look like it was farther away than it really was.

  Walking on the main bridge was an acquired skill, as it was quite easy to lose your perspective. Everyone on the bridge wore headsets of course, to allow them to communicate individually without disturbing other communications taking place there. When on the bridge there were often several hushed conversations going between the console stations and either other station controllers, or even other persons in the ship.

  The captain however did talk out loud when giving orders, and responses to him were also aloud as well as over the com circuits. That was not only traditional, but it made sure that everyone on the bridge knew just what the captain was doing, who he was talking to, and what he was expecting.

  The captain was not on the bridge when I entered; the first officer had the duty and was looking over reports on one of the screens at his station. I went to the helmsman station and reported in.

  "Reporting for duty, Ma'am," I said softly to the Jeri, she was a senior helmsman aboard the Astra and my primary instructor aboard ship. She was an otter, and had over twenty years of duty as helmsman on ships in the same class as the Astra.

  "Ah good, I see you brought your helmet," she nodded towards my helmet bag.

  I nodded, "Yes, Ma'am."

  "Take the aux helm station. Use com channel seven."

  I nodded again, "Yes, Ma'am." and climbed down the starboard side ladder, to the auxiliary helmsman station.

  The lower deck was much different than the upper deck, you couldn't see the main display from here, and the lighting was subdued. The ceiling was low, I barely had room to stand up, and it was covered in displays around each station, which lined the outskirts of the deck, the center of which was where the secondary engineering station was located, as it was the biggest station on the sub-deck.

  The auxiliary helmsmen station was all the way to the front of the area, the only displays around it, were informational ones, which was why I had to bring my helmet. The same system that was used in the cockpit of the assault shuttles was used down here. There was a ring of laser projectors that would display on my helmet a duplicate of the main screen, so I could see what they were seeing on the main deck.

  There were also a full set of flight controls here as well, however those were normally kept locked out. There was a third helmsman station back in engineering as well, but normally it was only manned during combat operations.

  I sat down and strapped in after nodding "hello" to the other people working down here that I knew or recognized, then put on my helmet, coded in my identity, and fired up the station. Selecting channel seven, I checked all the instruments and updated myself on the ship's flight status.

  "Helm, aux helm is online," I said.

  "Okay, Raj, here's our current status. Sensors have identified seven planets in system, four planetoids, no asteroid belt. We believe that the fifth planet out is our target." I watched as the different planets and other items highlighted on my system schematic display as she pointed them out.

  "The captain is waiting for signals intelligence to confirm that there is a station there, before having communications try to raise them. As it stands right now, we have a course correction maneuver scheduled to take place in sixty-eight minutes," I looked at the course command repeater, and saw the counter that was counting down to the burn, along with the maneuver data. "Which is to put us on a course for Tualatin Five. Unless of course we get data changing our assumptions."

  "Copy that, Jeri. Anything else?" I didn't "ma'am" her now that I was plugged in, the only sir or madam here was the captain, or whoever had the con when he was off the bridge. Everyone else was either by name or by station.

  "Not right now. Feel free to look around the system, just remember to un-slave your display when you do."

  I felt my facial fur bush out in a blush. Last week I'd forgotten to un-slave the main display, and everyone got to watch me do one of my course exercises.

  "Roger, Jeri. Are there any exercises for me today?"

  "Negative on that, Raj, our main concern right now is the mission. Oh there is one thing you can do."

  "Sure, Jeri, what's that?"

  "Orient the ship for the burn. I've unlocked your controls. Remember, she's got a lot of mass, so take your time. Have fun!"

  I swore, softly, at that. I quickly checked the ship's auto-vector controls, but those were locked out.

  I had the computer put the vector display on my helmet, and took a moment to consider my options. I could roll the ship first, to put the vector change in line with a simple yaw command, but that would force the intel and sensor people to re-orientate their antennas. Well, they'd probably have to do that anyway, but it might force them to do it twice.

  As a shuttle pilot I would have just moved directly to th
e new heading, but as a shuttle pilot I could have flicked it there in a second. The Astra's mass was close to a hundred thousand tons, and while the maneuvering thrusters could shove it around with quite a bit of speed, not only was that wasteful, but even with artificial gravity, people would feel it.

  I decided on a direct move to the new heading, it was a forty-six degree change from our current one. I would use one percent thrust, and keep applying it until I had a degree a minute rate of change. I wasn't in a rush, and I could time how long the burn took and compute my stopping force when I was done.

  I switched my mike to the command circuit. "This is Aux Helm. Re-orientating ship's heading to one five two, azimuth two nine three. Maneuvering will start in ten seconds."

  I watched the clock tick down to ten as I typed in the thrust limit I wanted for the thrusters, then moved the stick to where I wanted it to be, and just held it there.

  After a minute I could see the heading change as the ship slowly began to move, it took another two minutes for the rate of change to get to what I was looking for.

  I checked my display, and I had burned for two hundred and one seconds. I looked at the maneuver clock; I had sixty-four minutes left. I set an alarm for sixty-one minutes and then just kept an eye on the track to make sure that the nose didn't stray from where I wanted it too.

  It did of course, but I used the steering jets to nose it back into line, I had to be careful with those of course, because I had to counter all those actions with opposite ones and it was all too easy to get into a PIO situation. I only did it twice, I was pretty sure I had it straightened out by then, I'd deal with whatever was left when I stopped the ship's heading change.

  The worse part of it was the waiting. I could have moved the ship a lot faster, and no one would probably have noticed, but on shuttle's fuel is your biggest worry, so conserving it is always important.

  When my alarm went off, I checked to be sure we were where I thought we should be, and then I applied the flight control in the opposite direction as before and just waited until the timer ran down to zero. Once there I centered the stick, made a light tap to correct a slight drift that the instruments seemed to indicate, and then keyed the com again,