Battleship Destroyer (10 page)

"What? I don't owe you shit. Besides I have finales coming up on 6 classes in the next two weeks and I need to study."

"No you don't. You aren't wasting any more time on useless, worthless collage classes. I told you. Dad signed you over to my maintenance section starting Monday morning." Pulling a slip of paper out of his pocket. "And I have your personal I.O.U. for 5 thousand Credits.  I am taking that out of your monthly pay starting now since you have not bothered to pay me back over the last year."

"What? You
lying sack of shit. I never gave you an IOU. For anything. Why would I. I have nothing to have used the money on anyway." Jack looked around his cabin.

"Not for me to worry
about, but you need to stop gambling on line. You can't prove it is not your IOU." Chuckling. "I have more where this came from. Remember all those work orders I keep having you to sign. Really, why would I need you to sign a fricking work order?" Smiling from ear to ear.  "Dad hates dead beats that don't pay their bills. Including you if I showed them to him. Don't make me have to do that. I don't want him thinking any less of you than he already does so I will just keep this between us little bro. Like I said you are working for me now. Slave." Then left the cabin laughing, headed for the shower.

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Jack finished dressing as he hit the comm on his computer and the screen blared before he could say anything. "What kind of stupid moron Self-destructs his own ship in the middle of a battle when you are winning? You knocked out 3 Battleships and 2 Battlecruisers in one pass." Killer Queen said from the screen on the bulkhead of his cabin. "That was frigging amazing and then you suicide?"

"Ya buddy what is going on.
" Tom said from the half screen. "Your ship just blew up. At least your squadron took out another couple of Battleships before heading back to the Fleet Base." Looking down at the deck of Jack's cabin. "It is a shame your squadron could not help with the cleanup. Even I got another couple of….  Hell!   What happened to your video helmet and game system? It looks like someone stomped on most of it."

Jack picked
up one of the broken halves of his crushed vid helmet in one hand and the destroyed game console in the other and frowned, tears starting to stream down his face.  "Ya, my brother stomped on them after he blew up me and my ship. He even disabled the auto eject killing my crew and me. We are all frigging dead and now I am his slave starting Monday. Hell, starting now or I go hungry."

"
Slave? Ya your brother has always treated you like a slave so what's new.  But Godstar. I have never heard of anyone coming back after they have lost so bad they had to suicide before. Have you tried to get on again?" Tom could not believe what had happened.

"Ya.
Through my computer. Say hi to Ensign Hunter. I can’t even access my squadron command screen." Jack sat down dejectedly on his bunk. "After killing my whole crew no one will ever crew with me again, since they are starting from scratch too. So it does not matter what rank I have."

"Hell, without a Game
Console and working Reality Booth, you are screwed anyway. It took you half a year to save up for them, they were the best you could buy. You want my help killing your brother?"  Killer Queen 222 said from the half screen next to Tom. Hate dripping from every word.

"No
, it is my fault for not being more careful, not reading all the work orders he gave me to sign. But then when was I supposed to read them, with him standing over me holding them while demanding I hurry and sign them. And then I went and talked back to him and he destroyed my game and my… Shit." Jack just sat shaking his head.

"Godstar
, you are such a Putts Turner." The girl said disgustedly. “You don’t have to say anything and your brother still shits all over you, then blames you and you eat his shit like ice cream?

"I heard a guy lost
a battle last year." Tom broke in. "Self-destructing his ship to keep it out of the hands and bounty of an enemy Captain he hated and died when he didn’t get out in time. At least his crew got out.  By the time he got back up to Captain again, the game had given his other ship to its Captain and wouldn't let him have it back.  He didn't even have a ship to command and had to start from scratch and like you said only crewmen no one else wanted would crew with him again." Tom shook his head. "Which is why I was not letting you talk me into selling my Battlecruiser the Starkiller and buying a squadron of Destroyers. It would be just my luck the ejection pods would fail when my Destroyer got destroyed. I have heard about it happening. Forcing me to start over again." He said smiling.  "Oh but…. I have been reading since then. The game will allow you to give or sign away your ships, your squadron, away to keep it in tact. Then you can take it back when you make Captain again. But then you can't force whoever you give it to, to give it back and some guys never make Captain again." Smiling from ear to ear. "Give your squadron to me old man and I will use it to escort and serve as Targeting Scouts for my Battlecruiser so I can really do some long range damage until you make Captain again."

Jack smiled shaking his head. "Using my Destroyers as escorts is a waste. Haven't you been paying a
ttention Damn it. “Jack looked up at the ceiling and rolled his eyes. Looking at Killer Queen on the screen next to Tom, Jack shook his head, his weak smile turning serious. He hated her but after battling her for years as well as killing each other time after time in private duals and battles that did not count in The Game, he knew she had a damn good brain in her head and she would see in time how to properly use his ships. "Killer Queen, you can have my Squadron, my Ships."

"What? You can go to hell Hunter! I don't want your
damn squadron or anything else from you ever. Give them to one of your sycophant moron Captains."

"No. They are good Captains but they are
new and still just learning to be good Captains and lack your understanding of tactics and strategy. You will do fine and even expand the squadron into a fleet eventually with the production facilities I have constructed. And if I am lucky I can at least serve on one of my own ships when I can finally afford to buy a new Game Console and Reality Booth." Jack started typing on his computer board. Attached to the bulkhead as part of the cabin, complete with fire and damage sensors that would record who was responsible, his brother did not dare destroy it.

"You can go to hell Hunter. I don't want your ships or anything to do with you
. You got that? “Looking at Jack smile at her, she frowned turning red. “I will just scrap them Hunter if you give them to me. I swear, I will sell them for scrap to the worst Captains I can find."

"No you won't. You aren't stupid by a long shot
and for someone that does not want anything to do with me you spend a hell of a lot of time chasing me down and trying to kill me. When was the last time you got a clean bounty for killing a Battleship on your own without a bunch of strangers in the fleet taking half of the credit? I bet within a month you sell your two Battleships for a whole fleet of my… No your. No, our Destroyers and a small tanker or two. Hell, I even have a design for building one of my destroyers as a drop tank hauler complete with racks to re-tank a whole squadron at one time. I will help you build it and more Destroyers since I still have my yard equipment."

Jack hit a finale key and looked up. "There, all you have to do is hit
the Accept key in the E-mail I just sent you and my fleet is yours. I know you will take good care of the ships and my crews and a lowly stupid old ensign like me if for no other reason but to be able to torture me and make my life hell as you have in the past. Only now you can do it personally, if you put me on your crew. Besides, you need me to show you around the ships and the new weapons you now have. Though, my help for now is going to have to be by phone or E-mails for a while. My brother has been confiscating most of my pay for the last year by fining me every time I turn around. My own fault for not trying hard enough. At least toward the end of the month he goes easy on the fines so I do have enough for basics. Though my pay was not that much to begin with, since I was only working part time while going to school. Come to think of it, he has not paid me yet for any of the overtime work I have been putting in for most of this last year as well. I bet that will be plenty to pay for a new Game Box and at least a cheap reality booth."

"Don't hold your breath Turner." Killer Queen said from the split screen as she frantically typed. "Yes
, I have your pay records here." Smiling at him. "You need to use a better pass word on your ships personal files. Ahhh. Shit!   Says here that you have been paid all your overtime but that it went to a separate account under a secret name." She frowned shaking her head and continued to type. "You have less than a hundred credits in your main account Jack, after all the fines. Shit! He fined you for Farting and talking and being a minute late to all kinds of places oh and fined you for being early to others and you paid for maintenance supplies and rental on tools you used on the jobs. My Godstar have you really used all these tools?” Looking down the list of equipment. “When the hell were you out on the hull working on the maneuvering thrusters under acceleration?” Glancing at Jack and back down at her screen.  “NO! You only use the blast shields for working outside the ship on a running engine." She looked up at Jack in disbelief and saw in his face that he had done exactly that, before going back to her own screen shaking her head. "And it all goes into the other account Aahhh, yes, aaa, it is being automatically emptied into your brothers account every month just after all your overtime pay is deposited.” Typing again. “This is strange. Your fines are deposited in your brother’s account as well. I thought fines were supposed to go into the ships account. MM. Left you just enough for basics as you said. You need to pay more attention to what you sign moron."

"What? My brother kept saying he was running into problems with my overtime pay
and had me sign a few things a year ago but so what.  I wasn't worried about getting it right away. I figured by the time I got my overtime pay, I would have enough to buy a grav-cycle to run around the planets we drop on." Jack sat for several minutes starring at the broken game electronics scattered around his cabin in disbelief. The little stuffed pink dog with long brown ears next to his bunk’s pillow, missing an eye and a lot of stuffing, with the crude stitches he had put in when he was 6 trying to repair it. Broken models. Broken toys. Ripped or ruined cloths he had crudely stitched back together. The few things he had managed to repair multiple times sitting on shelves on his bulkheads and in his closet of a cabin that was surprisingly clean and uncluttered for an 18 year old. Reminding him that his brother had been destroying everything he had ever loved since he could remember. And Jack was the one that got punished if he complained to his parents.

His sister stopped at his open hatch
not even glancing at the two figures on the bulkhead screen. "I am sorry Jack. Dan said you lost your ship in your game. You really did not need to destroy your Game Console and Booth. They cost you a fortune. I will see about getting you into an anger management group and maybe some pills to calm you down." Smiling at him. "Come on get dressed and clean up the junk before dad sees it. Dinner is in an hour with Steak and Lobster. All you can eat. That should cheer you up." She left, headed on out into the family’s living compartments. Jack started crying as he stared again at the remnants of his Game Booth and slowly started dressing.

Jack
stomped into the mess deck after spending well over an hour working on the ship's number 2 main generator, still pissed at his brother but looking forward to the Steak and Lobster dinner his father had been talking about all week. Then he was headed in to town with his best friend Tom.

No, Jack's mind was on any and everything else but the world around him. That is until he saw all the eyes staring at him. He knew he was late and suddenly realized he had grease and dirt smudges on his face and work coveralls from tuning up the generator. Coveralls which he was not even supposed to be wearing to dinner, but he was so mad at his brother and hungry that he had forgotten. That is until he saw everyone sitting in there good dress uniforms at the Captain's table. Jack stopped and realized that he was way too far into the large mess compartment to leave without looking like even a bigger fool. Besides he did not have time to go back up to his cabin and shower and change. So he lowered his head between his shoulders as much as possible as he stuffed one hand into his pocket, looked at the floor and scratched his head with the other to hide behind and quickly walked to the Captain's table trying to sneak up around his brother hoping his father would not notice.

His brother laughed
and said loud enough for half the mess deck to hear as he walked up. "How you manage to get so dirty playing that stupid Battleship Game all afternoon is beyond me Jack. But at least you finally remembered it was dinner time moron." Smiling as he dropped the empty shell of a giant lobster down to slide off of his over flowing shell bucket with what looked like a good half dozen lobster shells already in it. The big shell fell off and onto the deck beside his chair on top of a pile of steak bones. As Jack headed for the only open seat remaining along the back side of the table.

Dan seeing where he was headed,
quickly stood up almost climbing onto the table knocking the shell bucket onto the deck, as he reached half way down the table to grab the last remaining lobster off a serving platter in front of the vacant chair along with the last steak a good 9 inches in diameter as the officers around him glared at him in disbelief as he straightened up with the lobster in one hand and the steak on a fork in the other. "Well, since you ass holes don't want it!" Sitting back down as Jack took the seat he smiled from ear to ear. "I took pity on you Jack and made sure they saved some food for you pea brain." As he slapped the steak down beside an already half-eaten steak on his plate and dumped the giant lobster on top. He motioned to the steward standing off to the side who left through a side hatch.