An Endless Voyage chapter 61:
Though one would not know it in the inky black of space, The clocks on their instrument panels read 06:11 hours Fleet Time, when the last of the VIP shuttles landed aboard the C.S.S. Buckner.
"Another half dozen cargo shuttles and we're done." Hank remarked.
"Another half dozen." Maverick said.... Might as well be a million. When I said I wanted to fly with you guys I didn't mean till I was having to bite my lip to stay awake."
"Bloody hell mate, I'd love to be asleep in in bed too but we have to finish this. Kelly remarked.
"Unfortunately I still can't go to bed." Karen said. "Have to visit the Louisiana II and meet with captain Leroy first." Karen said. "If I'm lucky I might just be able to squeeze in a few hours shut-eye after that. I'll set my alarm for 12:00 hours so I'll be up and alert and looking my best by 1300 though."
"We will all sleep easier once the fleet is back in hyperspace, Admeral." Yuri added.
"What ship has the best food in the fleet, Admiral?" Maverick said. "I mean since you visited all but one already today."
"The new J.D.S. Amaterasu was probably the strangest, and It took a few seconds as the UT had to calibrate itself for their language as it does any language." Karen said. "The same happened on the Canadian ship, but thankfully their captain spoke Confederate well enough it wasn't very noticeable. Karen added.
"As to which was the best, Well I can't be certain until I visit the Louisiana II, but discounting Excalibur's Canid food as that's my native culture, I would have to say it was a close tie between the feast I had with Dimitri on the Suvorov this morning, and the delectable, mouth searing spicy savory Cajun food I had on the C.S.S. J.E.B. Stuart."
"English you mean, Admiral" Hank said. "The primary language of the Confederacy is called English, not 'Confederate"
"We call it "Confederate english" as it is a bit different from British English spoken in my home country." Kelly said.
"True" Maverick agreed. "Admiral, you don't like Japanese food?"
They made conversation like this to help keep eachother awake and alert.
"I liked most of it, it was just strange." Karen said. "A learning experience, things I had never tried before."
"I remember I used to think Russian food was strange." Hank said. "But the first time I tried it, I changed my mind. what was that again, Yuri. Those dumpling things?"
"Plemeni" Yuri said. "And Vladimir's Plemeni are some of the best I have ever had."
"I love those." Karen said.
"Yeah that's the one." Hank said.
"I used to think Confederate food was strange, but your mashed potatoes is very similar to a very old dish from the Motherland." Yuri said. "You just to need to add a bit of sour cream." Yuri actually said it as 'smetana' but the U.T. translated it to Sour Cream (for the english speakers) and the Canid equivalent for Karen.
"Only Russian food I have tried is Blini." Kelly said. "As for Asian food, I like kimchi, and real Japanese ramen, not the grocery store instant kind."
"I don't see how anyone could not like kimchi." Karen agreed. "What about Canid food?"
"I like Meat-o's and cheese poppers." Kelly said. "Your 'prime Beef Fillet" and a lot of other things are a little too 'rare' for my tastes . I like my meat cooked."
"And Confederate food?" Maverick asked.
"Chicken tenders are good, and I like potatoes and eggs, but most Confederate food is too spicy." Kelly said.
"Only Asian food I ever tried was whatever that vegetable and rice dish Meilin cooked back on that planet in the Expanse." Yuri said. "I like Canid food though, you just need a bit of vodka and a good sour pickle after the raw foods. And sour cream."
"Thats something our two cultures have in common." Karen said. "My people love sour cream and most of us love to drink too."
"Only Canid food I've tried is Blood Soup, and that has alcohol in it." Maverick said. "Never tried Asian or British food, but I did have some Borscht once. We were doing slingshot runs around mars. High G training, and I miscalculated my fuel burn, and had to land aboard the Vassilev. Just so happens it was time for Mess Call, so the captain invited me to join the other pilots in the mess hall for breakfast while my bird was being refueled."
"Captain Poloniev?" Yuri asked, curious.
"No, Captain Alexandr Markov." Maverick said. "This was just after Captain Poloniev was given command of the Suvorov. I never got the chance to meet Captain Poloniev, unless you count seeing him on TV, in the big "Victory over The Xians Day" broadcast."
"I still have that photo on my desk." Karen said. "All the surviving captains of the fleet, Me, and Then-Admiral, Maya standing in front of the war monument in Richmond. A lot of people came to shake our hands... and sniff our butts once Maya and I demonstrated that was the proper greeting."
"What is your vice admiral, Ashley like?" Maverick asked next.
"She's a redneck like Maya but nowhere near as crude." Karen said. "She has a bit of an odd way of doing things, and can be pretty creative with things, but she's no 'yes man'. There have been many times where our opinion differed greatly and she would either convince me a valid reason her solution was better, or carry out my orders, under protest."
"If she disagrees she takes it to you in private, yes?" Yuri said. "Not in front of the crew?"
"Yes." Karen said.
"Then she behaves as a vice-admiral should." Maverick said.
A sensor blip cut the conversation short however.
"Single contact, coming in hot." Yuri informed.
"Hull design matces that of a Reptillian Marauder." Kelly added.
"Excalibur, Actual, Lovegoddess, Set Condition yellow (Canid red) throughhout the fleet."
"WIlco Lovegoddess." Actual Out." Ashley replied.
"Alright, thumbs out of your asses people, let's light 'em up." Karen said.
"Whats the big alert, that ship looks too small to do anything." Maverick said, but nonetheless following Karen's lead.
"They dont have to." Karen said. They zoom in close, 'kiss' shields with a target, and beam cargo away and sometimes people to use as mining slaves."
"Two more contacts, Admeral." Yuri said, as the Raven II's brought their stealthed engines to full afterburner, momentarily registering a faint heat blip."
"Wait, I'm getting IFF, they're ours." Hank said. "Raven II's from the Suvorov."
"Alright." Karen said. "That evens the odds a bit. Yuri, on 3, You, Me, Hank, and Novovich are going right down the middle, Kelly, you take Kaminski and Maverick, You're going to break left and circle wide for a shot at their hyperdrive. Keep your throttles wide open until you take the shot, full afterburner, they've been known to snatch people out of their cockpits but their transporters can't lock on if you keep moving. By the numbers people." She said it for Maverick's benefit, as the rest of them had dealt with Reptillian marauders before.
a round of acknowledgements, then, "One, two, three, Break!" they all slammed the throttles wide open at that exact instant, and the two groups split off in different directions.accelerating to hyper-mach speeds in no time as they raced toward the target.
As good as the Inertial dampers were, it still felt like a sumo wrestler was sitting on their chests, crushing them back into their seats. The simple act of breathing suddenly became a struggle. All in a day's work for a fighter pilot. And in that instant, the seasoned veterans were ''in the zone''.
Maverick had to learn by their examples, but nonetheless his training took over, and instinct did the rest. Still, watching those veterans maneuver like they did, lining up shots, hitting their marks, and evading retaliatory shots, it was like watching a machine.
Fortunately the strategy worked like clockwork. Kelly's group took out the marauder's hyperdrive, at the same moment Karen's group opened up on the bridge.
Moments later the reptillian vessel was left floating dead in space.
Karen's group met up with Kelly's group after that as they circled back for another run, and with a few well placed shots to the engineering section, the marauder exploded in a cloud of atomic fusion as Karen and her pilots jetted clear of the blast radius.
For the briefest moment, a new star was born. a tiny artificial sun that burned itself out in but a brief moment but nobody in the fleet could have missed that flash."
"That's how we do it in Dixie" Maverick crowed triumphantly as the explosion died out.
As all but Maverick knew however, Reptillian marauders travel in packs.
"Excalibur Actual, Lovegoddess, Where the hell are those Alert Fighters?" Karen asked.
"They're on their way, ETA two mikes." Ashley replied.
"Godsdamnit Ashley this will all be over in two minutes." Karen replied.
"Admiral Karen this is Captain Haruka Shinsuke of the J.D.S. Anateras, we are on the edge of the fleet, our cannons have a clear shot. Get your people out of there and let us clean up this mess."
"Wilco Amateras, and thank you." Karen said. "Lovegoddess out." a pause then, "Alright boys and girls, you heard the lady, punch it for home."
a round of acknowledgements resounded as they proceeded to do just that.
Karen figures being new to the fleet, Captain Haruka wanted to have a little fun and show off that new ship, but to say she was grateful to not have to take on another 5 or 6 marauders all at once with just her 7 sleep deprived pilots was an understatement.
True to her word, Karen watched the Amaterasu open up on the marauders as she and the other pilots touched down on their respective ships. Those Titan-Class main cannons, and plasma beam weapons swatted the Reptillian ships like flies.
Once the Amaterasu informed her the targeets were eliminated, Karen put the fleet back to condition green, and took off again, with full fuel and weapons. Her goal however wasn't to join the next shift CAP, but rather to complete her tour of the fleet, with the last ship, the Louisiana II, and go to bed.
Unfortunatelly that tour lasted longer than expected, both due to the number of things Leroy wanted to show her, and multiple bathroom trips due to Leroy's Alligator Jambalaya. It was 08:00 by the time she was back on Excalibur, and in her bed.
The Buckner had departed moments ago, and the last thing Karen did was recall the CAP, and order the fleet into hyperspace before turning in for the night...err day, whatever. she only had four hours to sleep, at any rate.