Battleship Destroyer (43 page)

"Mr. Turner."  The Captain
blared out at him.

Jack suddenly stuffed the washcloth down out of sight as he turned to the screen. "Yes C
aptain?"

"Mr. Turner I found your report interesting. I find your take
on the three laser upgrade groups baffling though. Do you have a favorite one that you think will work best?"

Jack looked around a little baffled. "Sorry Captain but I thought I made th
at clear. It will take all three of them to get our Battleship lasers even close to being hot enough to take on the enemy. The group I think that has the best possibility long term though Captain, is not even working on a laser, the Plasma Ball guys numbers are damn good. I think they can create a ball a hundred times hotter than the hottest laser gun and maybe even as a new warhead on our torpedoes. I think it would be able to penetrate most of the armored decks on those monster ships like butter whereas the black hole warhead may have a problem maintaining cohesion with any penetration. The stresses of impact along with the black hole itself can combine to make maintaining power for the coils almost impossible with more than a few feet of penetration but then you get one hell of an explosion.” Sat back and frowned. “There may be a little problem though. It just downed on me that the enemy ships may have shields already that may be effective against torpedoes and highly magnetic plasma balls. Is that why we have not seen any torpedoes from them. Are they worthless with the shields deflecting them so they don't even carry torpedoes so we have to figure a way through or are their magazines simply empty? Could also mean they just have not had a reason to launch any yet since we have shown no real weapons that can hurt them. And then how good are the shields against lasers? Captain we are so far out gunned and stupid about so many things I just can't see how we can catch up in anything less than a year sir. There is just so much work that has to be done Captain."

"Good to hear that Turner
but quit stressing. With so many weapons coming down the road something has got to work. Report to the shuttle bay after breakfast."

"Ah. Captain. I am sorry but I
really don't have the time to waste training in the simulator sir. We need something like the ion engine for a weapon. Something they don't have."  Standing up his blanket fell to the floor as he started walking back and forth across the cabin in his underwear with his pole sticking out stretching his short's fabric still but no longer painful. Though the washrag he had dropped was hanging off of the tip of the bulge.  "Something that makes their blue white hot beams look like pea shooters. Though we do have a group that thinks they can create our own black hole shields that can block their lasers from even hitting our ships but then how do you get rid of the energy build up when you cut power and collapse the black hole? The explosion could be worse than the laser beam." Stopping in the middle of the cabin Jack turned to the Captain. "I need to go straight to the development board in Engineering Central Control sir."

"Turner! You need to follow orders Ensign. The Shuttle bay at 0900 hours
and get a cold shower. Captain Out."

As the screen went blank Jack frowned
starring at the screen for a few seconds then picked up his blanket and made his bunk without thinking about it. Picking up the wash cloth after it fell to the deck he looked at it and then at his flagging member, took a deep breath and smiled still trying to figure out the Ensign, then hung it back on the rack over the sink. Grabbing up his shower kit and towel he headed out the hatch and met the Ensign coming back from the showers. 

She squeezed past Jack pre
ssing her boobs into him as he froze having no place to go to get out of her way. "Excuse me please Jack." She smiled as Jack moved his towel to cover his front as she noticed something starting to grow again. "Wow. So soon afterwards. Maybe you still like me after all." She watched Jack hurry down the passageway then closed the hatch smiling from ear to ear until she spotted the washcloth hanging on the rack above the sink. Frowning she grabbed the cloth off the rack and felt it before throwing it across the cabin and sat down on her bunk. "That explains that. Does he hate me that much now? I don't blame him after beating him up. After all I was trying to hate and kill him at the time. Thank Godstar I forgot my Taser at the time. Damn it, I am a fucking psychologist and should know how to talk him into forgiving me without stooping to childish behavior like flashing by boobs and talking nasty.  Shit. I can't believe I did that. Thank Godstar I didn't just give him a blowjob as soon as he turned over." Tears came streaming to her eyes as she buried her head. "Well. It would be one way to ask him to forgive me and show him how I feel." Slapping her leg.  "No! Goddamn it, I hate him." Then went back to crying while trying to figure out why.

A few minu
tes later she straightened up wiping her eyes and started dressing. She picked up the strap to bind her breasts out of habit and looked at it for several second. Finally taking a deep breath she threw it across the cabin with the wash cloth and finished dressing and then pulled down her terminal and by the time Jack returned she acted like nothing had happened. Ignoring him as he ignored her until he was ready to go and then she just followed him out the hatch. She found herself doing just what she said without thinking. Using him as a shield from the stares of everyone as they proceeded down the passageways and into the officers’ mess. Not touching him but just putting him between herself and prying eyes. She appreciated Jack finding a corner away from people where she could sit in relative anonymity but then she had to tell herself that it was just habit for him.

Half way
through breakfast Jack finally started talking. "The Captain called shortly after you left for your shower. I am supposed to report to the Shuttle bay at 0900." Jack took a bight of eggs. "Not that I do not appreciate the pilot training but I just have too much to do with all the research projects going on to waste the time. I think I can make a real contribution to the war there and I feel guilty not working on the weapons as much as possible." Taking another bite of hash browns.  "I can't believe how stupid most of these guys are even if they are coming up with some great ideas. They are supposed to be the best and brightest of the Republic?" Taking a drink of milk he thought for a second. "God's star, is this how Pop felt around me?"

The Ensign smiled at that. "How did you feel around your grandfather?"

Jack thought as he eat. "Well, you have a point. Thank God I have been keeping my mouth shut most of the time and not saying what I have been thinking. Now I feel guilty for even thinking it. But it is just so hard sometimes to look at something they are struggling with and not yell out what morons I think they are for not seeing the obvious. Well at least obvious to me but what if I am wrong? Hell it took me days to see the obvious with the engines and I just don't want to cost anymore lives."

The Ensign smiled. "
No one is right all the time. You can suggest things without yelling at them or telling them they are stupid Jack. Suggestions are never taken as stupid in a research environment or for planning Combat for that matter."

"Ya but what if I am wrong. They will think I am really stupid."

"Didn't you just listen to me? Most suggestions are supposed to be wrong. That is how you eliminate the bad ideas and find the good ones."

"Ya but it is embarrassing."

"Only to a child. So what do you do? Go off and do everything yourself not saying anything to them until you have solved all the problems correctly by yourself and then telling everyone how smart you are." She looked at Jack smiling. "That only works a few times and then people stop talking to you and showing you their work." Shaking her head and frowning as she ate.

"I don’t tell everyone how smart I am
or how stupid they are. I will just show them that I fixed the problem."

"
Same frigging thing Jack. How did that make you feel when you grandfather did that to you."

"He didn't." Jack said around a
piece of toast and jam.  "He always asked me some stupid questions that made me see what I had done wrong unless I was really stupid or refused to see his point and then he would look into the overhead and ask god to give me some smarts or walk off shaking his head telling me to try again and to use my brain this time or tell me to leave until I found my brain again or one of a dozen other insults." Jack looked at the table and smile.

"Oh yes I am sorry. I remember now.  It was your brother that would take something you said
or did and run to your father taking credit for your work. How did that make you feel?"

"I hated him for it and stopped telling or talking to him about things unless I had to
most of the time. Well some of the time but that was different."

"Oh you really think so?"

"I guess not but we just don’t have the time for me to play teacher to a hundred guys in a dozen projects when I can do the work faster."

"A dozen? I thought it was up to 18 already but then you are superman and can do 20 at the same time right? Or thirty if you include the needed
research progress will undoubtedly uncover as the programs mature. That is great. Until no one talks to you anymore or you make a mistake. Just remember; One (Ah Shit!), wipes out a whole lot of (Ataboys) when you are stepping on toes. Tell me what happened after you tried to dock with a hatch yesterday?"

Jack looked at her with a frown. "We went back to basics after the instructor chewed me out for
not telling the Captain to; "Frack Off", while we were docking.  His words exactly." Jack smiled at that. "That I was the Captain of the ship while Docking or in any other dangerous situation, unless the Captain or a superior officer is actually there, aware of the situation and gives me, the pilot, a direct order. And yes the Captain has the authority to crash his ship or even blow it up. At least that is what the instructor said. I think I am going to look that one up. I have had enough of ships blowing up around me." Jack thought for a moment. "Anyway he said that the pilot is responsible for piloting the ship and the pilot had better damn well pilot the ship and not take phone calls or play with himself while doing it." Jack shook his head. "I made a half dozen perfect dockings but he still kept harping on the one bad one."

"Yes Jack. Ata boys are fleeting while Ah shits have a life of their own and last almost forever."
The Ensign chuckled. "I am also sure you made all those perfect dockings all by yourself didn't you."

"Well the instructor did help a little.
Gave me a few pointers but I would have done fine without them."

She raised her eyes and
stared at Jack.

He finished up his plate glancing at her a few time
s as she stared at him frowning. "Ok he gave me quite a few good pointers to make things easier especially handling these new shuttles. I already knew the basics. What is the point? I have been docking shuttles in air locks since I could reach the controls."

"The point Jack is that the instructor was w
asting his time teaching you the finer points of docking the new shuttles wasn't he. After all he is very good at his job and I am sure he can fly a dozen or 18 shuttles by himself at the same time and dock all of them better than you ever can. All at the same time."  She placed her elbows on the table with her hands clasped under her chin smiling at Jack and starring.

"Now that is
ludicrous!  One guy docking multiple shuttles at once. You can't be serious about thinking that…? You are not making any sense."

The Ensign sighed and got up from the table
wiping her mouth with the cloth napkin looking up into the overhead. "Pop; you wasted your time too evidentially." And headed for the exit shaking her head.

------------------------

Jack and the Ensign walked into the Shuttle Bay. It was full of crewmen getting a shuttle ready
and the engineers and scientists from the engine upgrade project standing around with their bags, wondering what was going on. Most of them talking in small groups. Jack was starting to get used to everyone staring at the Ensigns breasts and ignoring him with some relief. Using her to hide behind forgetting that she was trying to use him to hide behind. But still he stopped after coming through the hatch out of habit, still apprehensive about walking out into the middle of any compartment where people could not help seeing him. He turned and walked a ways down the side of the compartment and sat on a cargo crate. One amongst several and half hidden. The Ensign plopping down next to him squeezing in between him and the stacked crate to the side of him and slid as far back as possible out of sight against the bulkhead, crossing her arms in front of her trying to make her breasts less noticeable while Jack fidgeted looking around down at the deck without looking at anyone possibly looking at them. The few that had noticed them had long before gone back to what they were doing or talking to. Noticing the pair for only a few seconds at most if at all.

A
fter a few minutes a man entered the lock walking around talking to the various little groups until he spotted Jack. Collecting a group that came in behind him he wondered over to the crates. Jack recognized him as soon as he saw the lab coat wearing man. This time he had a bunch of expensive looking identification tags with his name, multiple directorate positions with a bunch of medals across his lab coat. The old man leading the small group smiled at Jack holding out his hand. "So you are Professor Turner's grandson. Glad to meet you." Jack refused the man's hand. "I am very impressed with this Ion engine upgrade for the battleship engines." The man finally dropped his hand as the Ensign frowned at Jack. "Is this Ion engine something your grandfather came up with? It is isn't it? I bet he was working on it before he left the research directorate."