Ep.#15 - "That Which Other Men Cannot Do" (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown Read Free Book Online Page B

Roselle, how goes the work on the Jar-Benakh?”
    “We started installing the antimatter cores recovered from the engagement with the Eridani forces this morning. Those should all be online in about four days, at which time we will be back to full operating power,” Captain Roselle reported. “Repairs of the decks damaged by Scout Three’s escape jump and the subsequent Ghatazhak boarding will be completed tomorrow, after which we’ll start repairs on the outer hull in that area. Also, we’re starting the process of converting all the controls and displays on board from Jung into English. Most of the control consoles are touch screen and are easily reconfigurable. An operator will be able to choose either language, in fact. Anything that is hard-labeled will get secondary labels in English. As far as our combat readiness, we can fight as we are, but we’d be hard pressed to do anything other than basic maneuvers and firing our weapons. We simply don’t have the crew. When we begin switching out our big rail guns for big plasma cannons next week, we will do so one at a time, as requested, so that we will be able to respond to defend the Tau Ceti system if need be.”
    “How long until you have more adequate staffing?” the admiral asked.
    “Well, we have the same problem as Mister Aberdin,” Captain Roselle explained. “A lot of the qualified Cetians volunteering for service have unusually high concentrations of Jung nanites, so we have to turn them away. It’ll be a lot easier once we find a way to remove those little bastards. Regardless, I expect we’ll have at least one full shift manned and trained by the time we are ready to leave the shipyards, so, as long as you don’t send us on any long-duration missions, we should be okay.”
    “Admiral,” Mister Aberdin interrupted, “if I may, once the Jar-Benakh is completed, many of the technicians currently working on her might be available to serve as crew, at least until such time as additional crew can be secured.”
    “We’ll keep that in mind, thank you,” Admiral Dumar replied, as his gaze shifted to the next man after Roselle. “Ensign Tillardi?”
    “We managed to correct the code that caused the Aurora’s jump KKVs to miss their target. It wasn’t so much an error as it was a couple of unnecessary subroutines designed to double-check course and speed prior to committing to the final jump to the engagement point. The additional code caused just enough of a delay so as to put the weapons far to the edge of the impact envelope. When the battleship dropped out of FTL and initiated a turn toward the incoming weapons, the weapons missed. The closest one missed by only a few meters at the most. However, the code has been altered, and subsequent tests simulating the exact same conditions have resulted in strikes in every simulation run. We did manage to receive confirmation that all four weapons self-destructed as designed, once they had determined that they missed their targets. It took a while to pick up their signals, but we eventually found them. Future versions will release a marker buoy just before detonation that will not only record the weapon’s destruction for verification purposes, but will also transmit a signal to enable us to retrieve verification more quickly.”
    “Good idea, Ensign,” the admiral agreed. “I have to say, that was possibly the longest ten days of my life.”
    “All of ours, sir,” Tilly agreed.
    “Then you are ready to begin production?”
    “Yes, sir. Once the assembly line is up and running, we should be able to push each conversion through in ten days, with two days at each station. So ten days after production begins, we will be rolling jump KKVs out the door at a rate of one every other day.”
    “And how soon will the production facility be ready?” Dumar asked President Scott.
    “Barring any problems or delays, it should be ready to begin production in just under two weeks.”
    “Very well.” The