Admiral's Challenge (A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book 8) Read online

  Admiral’s Challenge - A Spineward Sectors Novel: Book Eight

  by

  Luke Sky Wachter

  Copyright © 2015 by Joshua Wachter

  All rights reserved.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. All resemblance to persons living or dead is coincidental. Respect my electronic rights because the money you save today will be the book I can't afford to write for you tomorrow.

  Thanks to all the beta readers who worked on this with me at www.pacificcrestpublishing.com. This book wouldn’t be what it is without you, and I look forward to working with you in the future!

  Enjoy!

  Other Books by Joshua Wachter, aka Luke Sky Wachter

  As of 05-19-2015

  SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVEL SERIES

  Admiral Who?

  Admiral’s Gambit

  Admiral’s Tribulation

  Admiral’s Trial

  Admiral’s Revenge

  Admiral’s Spine

  Admiral Invincible

  Admiral’s Challenge

  RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVEL SERIES

  The Blooding

  The Painting

  RISE OF THE WITCH GUARD NOVELLAS

  The Boar Knife

  Books by my brother, Caleb Wachter

  SPINEWARD SECTORS: MIDDLETON’S PRIDE

  No Middle Ground

  Up The Middle

  Against The Middle

  SPHEREWORLD NOVEL SERIES

  Joined at the Hilt: Union

  SPHEREWORLD NOVELLAS

  Between White and Grey

  SPINEWARD SECTORS: A TRACTO TALE

  The Forge of Men

  SEEDS OF HUMANITY: THE COBALT HERESY SERIES

  Revelation

  Reunion

  COLLABORATIVE WORKS BY LUKE SKY WACHTER & CALEB WACHTER

  SPINEWARD SECTORS NOVELLAS

  Admiral’s Lady: Eyes of Ice, Heart of Fire

  Admiral’s Lady: Ashes for Ashes, Blood for Blood

  Join www.PacificCrestPublishing.com to gain early access to future books!

  Table of Contents

  MSP Expeditionary Fleet Status Report – Post ‘Battle for Elysium’

  Chapter One: Thanks and Appreciation are overrated

  Chapter Two: Caught in the Middle

  Chapter Three: Elysium: Profit and Loss

  Chapter Four: Hunger Pangs

  Chapter Five: Engineering Solutions

  Chapter Six: The Time Has Come

  Chapter Seven: Ready to Depart

  Chapter Eight: Motherly Love

  Chapter Nine: Surprise Visitors

  Chapter Ten: Border Meeting

  Chapter Eleven: Pit Stop

  Chapter Twelve: Some Rest and Reorganization

  Chapter Thirteen: New Men, New Ships, Old Spalding

  Chapter Fourteen: Nikomedes in Thebes

  Chapter Fifteen: The Prodigal Survivors return

  Chapter Sixteen: Sword Practice

  Chapter Seventeen: A Spot of Trouble

  Chapter Eighteen: The Reward for Good Work is More Work

  Chapter Nineteen: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

  Chapter Twenty: The Gambit Yards

  Chapter Twenty-one: A Midnight Surprise

  Chapter Twenty-two: The Sword from the Stone

  Chapter Twenty-three: Imperial Entanglements

  Chapter Twenty-four: Admiral in an Uproar

  Chapter Twenty-five: Unacceptable Situations

  Chapter Twenty-six: Basic Truths

  Chapter Twenty-seven: Updates and new business

  Chapter Twenty-eight: A Routine Arrival

  Chapter Twenty-nine: Receiving Reports and issuing orders

  Chapter Thirty: Imperials of Tau Ceti

  Chapter Thirty-one: A Knock

  Chapter Thirty-two: Surveying the Clover

  Chapter Thirty-three: Tiberius Revoked

  Chapter Thirty-four: Pulling the Wool

  Chapter Thirty-five: A little exercise is good for the soul

  Chapter Thirty-six: There’s trouble, Mr. President

  Chapter Thirty-seven: Imperial Recon and the Raiding Force

  Chapter Thirty-eight: Return of Tiberius; partings are such sweet sorrow

  Chapter Thirty-nine: Medically-Induced Outrage

  Chapter Forty: Unwanted News

  Chapter Forty-one: Spalding on a Rampage

  Chapter Forty-two: Jason and Gants

  Chapter Forty-three: Demanding Answers

  Chapter Forty-four: Jason Challenged

  Chapter Forty-five: A Legendary Duel

  Chapter Forty-six: Let her rip!

  Chapter Forty-seven: Finishing the Job

  Chapter Forty-eight: Medical Mistakes and Malpractice

  Chapter Forty-nine: Spalding’s Departmental Plan

  Chapter Fifty: Critical Skills

  Chapter Fifty-one: Putting Out the Fires

  Chapter Fifty-two: Spalding Vents his Rage

  Chapter Fifty-three: The Investigation

  Chapter Fifty-four: Hot on the Promethean Border

  Chapter Fifty-five: Transferring the Locker

  Chapter Fifty-six: On Patrol

  Chapter Fifty-seven: On the Move

  Chapter Fifty-eight: Imperial Sweep

  Chapter Fifty-nine: Blown to Hades

  Chapter Sixty: These Rustics are so Inept

  Chapter Sixty-one: Peaceful times and taking tally of the Fleet

  Chapter Sixty-two: Prometheus Burns

  Chapter Sixty-three: Disaster

  Chapter Sixty-four: Urgent Arrivals

  Chapter Sixty-five: Panic in the Sector Government House

  Chapter Sixty-six: Panic on the Home Front

  Chapter Sixty-seven: Wolf-9

  Chapter Sixty-eight: Reinforcements

  Chapter Sixty-nine: The Grand Departure

  MSP Expeditionary Fleet Status Report – Post ‘Battle for Elysium’

  CC: Vice Admiral Jason Montagne

  (Note to the Admiral: The first numbers in parenthesis are totals for the MSP-flagged ships involved in the Battle for Elysium, while the second numbers are the number of vessels in the class likely to return to duty. Ships not participating in this latest battle are not listed, and these are preliminary projections based on best available information.)

  Battleships: (5/3)

  MSP Battleship Parliamentary Power — Heavily Damaged — Needs Space Yard

  Captured Battleship #1 — Heavily Damaged — Needs Space Yard

  Captured Battleship #2 — Heavily Damaged — Needs Space Yard

  Captured Battleship #3 — Severely Damaged; No hyper drive — Needs Space Yard to repair, but considering available resources, recommend ship is scrapped and new battleship built instead. All fusion generators currently non-functional — Decommission

  Captured Battleship #4 — Critical Damage — Hyper drive considered unsafe by engineering staff; no functioning normal space drives; environmental systems compromised; x3 fusion reactors without cores — Not considered repairable by engineering staff. — Decommission

  Cruisers: (3/2)

  Captured Heavy Cruiser #1 — Internal Damage considered Heavy — environmental systems will only support skeleton crew stationed in specific areas — Needs Space Yard

  MSP Strike Cruiser Furious Phoenix — Severe Damage — Heavy Damage to both internal and external systems; hyper drive non-operational; main engines not considered repairable outside of shipyard; environmental systems compromised; hydroponics at critically low levels — Needs Space Yard

  MSP Light Cruiser The Gift — Critical Damage — Not C
onsidered Repairable by Engineering Staff. Recommend ship be scrapped or abandoned in place due to structural damage — Decommission

  Destroyers: (2/1)

  MSP Destroyer – (Destroyed) - Engineering Staff endorses field report, ship officially considered lost due to fusion core meltdown and resulting explosion

  Captured Destroyer — Medium Damage — Ship is repairable with current engineering capabilities. Recommend requesting use of Allied Droid Constructor facilities to expedite repairs

  Corvettes: (12/7)

  MSP Sundered Corvette — Light Damage — Engineering Staff will endorse report when it arrives.

  MSP Sundered Corvette — Medium Damage — Engineering Staff will endorse report when it arrives.

  MSP Sundered Corvette — Destroyed — Engineering Staff endorses minimal field report. Engineering Staff also recommends an away party dispatched to surviving Sundered Corvettes for training purposes; critical supplies to include auto-wrenches, plasma torches, and recording devices. We know what the problem is and are prepared to fix it.

  MSP Corvette Swift Drake — Destroyed — Engineering Staff endorses field report; ship is considered lost with all hands.

  MSP Corvette — Destroyed — Engineering Staff endorses field report.

  MSP Corvette — Destroyed — Engineering Staff endorses field report.

  MSP Corvette — Destroyed — Engineering Staff endorses field report.

  MSP Corvette — Medium Damage — Engineering Staff endorses field report; recommend requesting use of Allied Droid Constructor facilities to expedite repairs.

  MSP Corvette — Heavy Damage — Engineering Staff endorses field report; Recommend requesting use of Allied Droid Constructor facilities to expedite repairs. If unable to utilize constructor facilities, engineering staff recommends ship be readied for tow by larger ship with all hands removed from ship until such a time as the ship can be safely manned for extended period.

  MSP Corvette — Light Damage — Engineering Staff does not endorse field report and recommends Bu-Ships sends over inspection team. There’s no way fusion reactor could be safely stabilized in the manner reported. Engineering Staff recommends all ships in the fleet be kept outside the core-overload damage blast range of this corvette until after full outside safety inspection completed.

  Captured Corvette — Medium Damage — Ship considered repairable with current engineering capabilities. Recommend requesting use of Allied Droid Constructor facilities to expedite repairs. Would recommend spacing her former crew, except they’re droids and they’d likely survive it.

  Captured Corvette — Critical Damage — Ship considered un-repairable with current engineering capabilities. Recommend taking her home to the breakers and using her for spare parts and base materials.

  Cutters: (3/1)

  MSP Cutter — Critical Damage — Decommission

  MSP Cutter — Critical Damage — Decommission

  MSP Cutter — Light Damage — Repair work can be done at either Tracto or Gambit.

  Sundered Gunboats:

  Gunboats x10 — Destroyed — Engineering Staff will endorse report on eight of the ten, if and when it arrives. Secondary reports from other ships in the fleet are endorsed regarding the other two.

  Other Captured Ships:

  Captured Harmony Cruiser — Severe Damage — Ship considered repairable by Engineering Staff. Recommend return to Gambit Yards for major refit and advanced tech and research purposes.

  Captured Harmony Destroyer — Critical Damage — Ship considered un-repairable by Engineering Staff. Recommend return to Gambit Yards and disassembled for research of potentially valuable new tech.

  Captured Harmony Destroyer — Critical Damage — Engineering Staff recommends ship return to Gambit Yards for feasibility study of repairing and converting ship for use by human crews.

  Captured Harmony Fighters x3 — Critical Damage — Break down and research craft’s capabilities in a safe setting.

  Captured Conformity Motherships x12 — Critical Damage — Engineering Staff considers x4 Captured ships un-repairable and recommends stripping all antimatter technology off of any ships unable to return to Gambit with the Fleet before scuttling. Feasibility tests for conversion to use by human crews by remaining x8 ships must be conducted in a Space Yard.

  Captured Gunboats x389 — Varying Levels of Damage — Most of these boats can be repaired but the level of technology is low. Transportation is an issue. Engineering Staff recommends taking home at least a few samples of this technology for catalog and possible integration.

  Commander Terrance P. Spalding

  Engineering Officer

  Confederation Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet

  Chapter One: Thanks and Appreciation are overrated

  “I’d just like to ask one more time, for the record—” started the man standing in front of my desk.

  “Hypocrites,” I said, faking an explosive cough into my hand to partially garble the word.

  The Sector Representative stopped, a long-suffering expression settling on his face as he waited for me to continue.

  “I’m sorry; you were saying, Judge Kong?” I asked the Sector Judge with a politely innocent expression.

  “I’m not entirely sure why I try anymore,” the Sector Judge said with a sigh.

  “Then, by all means, let us discuss something more pleasant,” I said, my face brightening, “for instance: in addition to learning how to make a mean curry courtesy of your countrymen, my Chef has just perfected a remarkably edible dish native to my wife’s home world. Perhaps you’d be interested in trying it and giving me your opinion?” Thanks to my training back home both at court and at home with my mother the professional chef, I was able to converse for hours on the most banal of subjects, with food being one of the prime examples. “I mean, I honestly don’t mind the barley bread dipped in wine with a garnish of olives on the side for an appetizer, but as they say ‘variety being the spice of life,’ and all, you really must try his latest creation—”

  “Tempting as it sounds, I’m afraid I am here on other business, Admiral Montagne,” Kong Pao said politely.

  “You don’t know what you’re missing until you’ve tried tagenites smothered in fermented Irk-Berries. It’s really similar to a pancake made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk, but with the irk-berries that start out sweet to the taste and finish with a bite like a hot pepper as it goes down. There’s also a faint aftertaste of spirits on the back of the tongue, which is really something you need to experience at least once in this lifetime.”

  “I’ll really have to decline the breakfast menu,” Kong Pao said abruptly, “however, regarding the rumors of droids operating with impunity inside your fleet…”

  “Droids again is it, my esteemed Representative?” I drawled in my most superior, aristocratic sounding voice. “I thought we put those rumors to rest the last time I spoke with Grand Admiral Manning.”

  “And yet there are intercepted transmissions which the Grand Admiral is assured are in standard machine code—droid code, Admiral,” the Representative replied stoically.

  “Intercepted droid transmissions…from within my Fleet?” I asked, miming concern and then forcing a scowl. “Preposterous, Representative!” I exclaimed with mock indignation, “I am sure there is some other explanation other than droids hostile to the survival of humanity running unchecked throughout my fleet.”

  “The broadcasts are in the clear!” Pao barked irritably, and then he regained control of himself and his face once again smoothed back into a stoic, Asian mask, “at least, that is what the Elysium’s top technicians are telling me.”

  “Well, there you have it,” I sniffed, “you said it yourself. So I really don’t know what more needs saying on the subject.”

  “What?” Pao looked temporarily disconcerted, “I’m afraid I don’t follow. What exactly is it that I said?”

  “We have captured or incorporated more former droid or droid converted vessels than any o
ther sub-organization within the Grand Fleet. These ‘intercepted’,” I threw in an emphatic eye-roll, “are probably nothing more than legitimate MSP officers and crew using captured droid equipment. As for why you’ve been sent on this wild-goose-chase—and while I would hesitate to say so in a public forum for giving offence—I am sure that this witch hunt is nothing more than sour grapes over our attempted relief of the Forge mines during the droid attack. The Commandant of the area was quite put out with our questioning of his ability to defend the Forge. No doubt this is nothing more than a political witch hunt instigated by an irate, yet connected, mid-ranking officer.”

  I smiled after laying out this convoluted mix of inference, innuendo and outright fabrications as if it were fact.

  For his part, the Sector Judge looked so taken aback and out of step with what I was saying that he didn’t seem to have anything to say in return. Not willing to let a temporary stunned silence go to waste, I leapt once again into the breach.

  “Mr. Pao,” I continued quite seriously, “let me assure you, in my capacity as a Fleet Officer: all the dangerous droids inside this system were defeated during the Battle for Elysium. That the survivors of the Harmony and Conformity fleets fled the system, not to somewhere within the Multi-Sector Patrol Fleet, cannot possibly be in doubt,” I shook my head at the possibility before driving the nail in. “Honestly, I don’t know where all this sudden concern is coming from—unless it’s just like I said: a witch hunt contrived by mid-rank officer and bureaucratic functionaries eager to sully the reputation of the MSP!” I finished with an angry flair that I thought nicely rounded out the presentation.