WoWS3 Chpt 47

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==Weapons of War Saga: The Final March- Chapter 47 - ==
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===A Fleet with No name===
Wardroom 8
Port Lazarus Station
New Lazarus System, Star League in Exile
22nd January, 3145
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The ships arrived at Port Lazarus in groups of five.
Five cruisers, each with an armed Corvette, all new designs…well, at least, designs newer than 3060.
"Now, madame Director-General, we've got real work to do." Amanda Roberts said as the last of the parade arrived. "We have to put crew and officers on them."
“Then train them in how to work with the rest of the fleet.” Director-General Helena Cameron nodded.
"That, as Dave would say, is assumed in training them at all." Amanda agreed, "The support group arrives in two days."
"Support group?"
"Logistical support ships." she said, "Tenders, underway replenishment birds, cargo haulers. We'll need to crew those, too."
“Good thing I’ve been building up training academies and have a few extra systems contributing resources and manpower.” Helena commented
"Indeed." Amanda nodded. "However, now, you've got the basis of a short cruiser division-once we've got them trained up and assigned."
“We’ll need doctrine too, these ships do present new capabilities to incorporate.” Helena furled her brow.
"Listing is as follows…" she told Helena
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======================================================================================================
CA-001
CA-002
CA-003
CA-004
CA-005
KX-101
KX-102
KX-103
KX-104
KX-105
KX-201
KX-202
KX-203
KX-204
KX-205
KX-301
KX-302
KX-303
KX-304
KX-305
KX-401
KX-402
KX-403
KX-404
KX-405
======================================================================================================
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"No names?" Helena asked.
"None assigned." Amanda allowed, "I don't think Kolossus put an intelligence on any of them, so they didn't name themselves…notice that Amusing Anecdote's hull number isn't in the same series, and while the Corvettes look like Tiny Armature, they're not in sequence with HIS number either."
“I guess it’s up to us to name them then. Rivers for the Corvettes and cities feel boring for the cruisers. Hmmm…”
"Boaty McBoatface?" Amanda giggled.
“Oh god no.” Helena laughed.
"You're right, we need to save that if we get a Dreadnought-Carrier hybrid." Amanda wasn't just giggling, she was outright laughing at the idea.
“We’re terrible.” Helena kept laughing.
“Whew. Okay. I think I’m better.” Amanda composed herself.
“Mythological creatures. That’ll work for the cruisers.” Helena straightened up too.
"Hm. Gorgon, Gargoyle...what else with a 'g'?"
“Griffon, Golem, and Grendel.” Helena frowned. “Hmmm, would those be too confusing since they’re already so well known for other units?”
"Maybe 'Gremlin' instead?" Amanda paused, "Nope, my idea sucks."
“I don’t know, ‘Gremlin’ has a certain charm to it.” Helena thought for a moment. And maybe ‘Ghoul’ too.”
"Gremlin, Ghost, Ghoul, Ghast?" Amanda suggested, "All undead faerie types per the comparative mythology texts at Hoodman Academy?"
“Would make for a nice theme indeed. Just need a fifth to round it out.”
“Goblin? Also a faerie in origin, not specifically undead but given their penchant for contracts in the stories, seems a good name for the formation leader.” Amanda said after a moment.
“I’d say we have our names then.” Helena nodded.
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===The Lost Fleet===
Armington system, Federated Suns
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"Is that…?"
The bulk of an Avalon class cruiser slid from behind a cluster of asteroids. The hull numbers weren't the Lucien, nor the Melissa, nor did they match the third known survivor of the Jihad, destroyed over [New Avalon I think is what we’re aiming for but that requires research to confirm].
thumb|Avalon Class Missile Cruiser
"Oh my god…it's the Andrew Davion!!"
“So it is.” Duke Kevin Armington let himself smile slightly.
As they crossed into full view, three more shapes lurked in the darkness. Familiar shapes.
Fox-class.
A group… "Julian knew where to find them when he sent us, he must have known what was waiting! Somehow, he DID it!!"
“A mutual friend probably gave him the information.” Kevin nodded.
“That’s right sir, you served in the War of Plunder didn’t you?”
“I did. Once again as Duke of Armington, it seems I am to do my duty for the First Prince in his time of need.”
Boarding teams were dispatched to get a look at the ships.
Their reports were…enlightening.
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The corpses were where they were left, white robes stained red, bodies torn apart by blades and weapons and left behind…but the ships were otherwise in good shape, and there was no indicator of what had done the deed beyond a few tracks and traces. 
But the stolen property of the Federated Suns had been returned, via a First Prince returning from foreign lands.
"Get this cleaned up and top-to-bottom examination for sabotage devices and dangerous…things." Duke Armington ordered, "We have a fleet again,and it's not one the Dracs or the Cappies know about. GET it ship-shape!!"
Kevin watched his men tend to their duties. The message he had received from the mutual friend did provide him the courtesy to get enough people together for this. Hhe was glad he had the connections from his Grandmother’s side of the family to get the kind of help he needed.
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Lieutenant Mary Knight forced herself not to vomit as a dry part of her mind noted that the blood was long dried, and the corpses long dead and mummified in the dry presence of neutral gasses filling the decks-a fill courtesy of whomever parked these abbotoirs in the space of Armington's outer system.
"How long?" she asked Medical Lieutenant Harry Duquesne. "How long were they left here?"
"Based on the condition of the bodies? The age of the blood stains, how nothing is wet? I'd say years to decades. Hell, these might be the original Word of Blake Thieves."
It felt right…and it felt horrifying and wrong too. Shake it off! You're a Cambiano Girl!! And these are Federated Suns ships!! her grandfather, that nasty toned spacer, grated in her conscience.
She steeled herself and motioned to a Sergeant, "Swallow it and move the body, Francois, there's a war on."
"Yes, Ma'am!" Sergeant Francois responded promplly. 
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===Trying Free Friends===
Engineering Lab, Port Lazarus Station 
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
19th January, 3145
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"Begin test zero seven, module eighteen." Esmerelda Gomez was bone tired.
“Got it, I can handle this if you want to take a quick nap.” Forrest offered. “Won’t do anyone any good if you let exhaustion get the better of you.”
"Right…keep an eye on system resources, if it starts peaking here- she gestured at a grease-painted line on one of the monitors, "shut the test down, okay? Before we lose the module?"
“No problem.”
She almost made it to the hatch before she was floating in null-gee, too wiped out to remain awake.
Zulu moved to catch her before her momentum caused her to hit anything.
“Time to put you to bed.” Zulu said softly.
“I’ll take her.” Tartar’s remote showed up at the hatch. “I’m heading that direction anyway to see Olivia.”
“Thanks, Tartar.” Zulu handed Esme off.
Tartar began singing gentle lullabies as she carried Esme down the corridor.
“How are you doing, Erin?” Zulu asked.
"Better. How's the test going?"
“We’re still within parameters.” Forrest answered.
"Thank god. If you would pass on to Vendetta, Esme's been overusing stims and not eating. She needs to be dried out and supervised, I haven't seen her in this kind of shape since we re-established contact after the incident."
“Sure Erin. I even have Tartar on babysitting duty.” Zulu nodded.
“So you really think an organic remote like Victoria has will help Olivia?” Forrest asked.
“Not permanently, no but if we’re careful about it she’ll at least be functional. Mostly human but functional.” Zulu answered.
“Better than nothing. At least Truk firewalled the data in time as he seems to still be fine and passing every check I can think of to run on him.” Forrest nodded.
“Yeah but with that much memory and processing power blocked off the station’s still mostly on manual.” Zulu said as she checked the growth rate of the body for Olivia.
“Taking it slow?” Forrest asked.
“Yes and no. No idea how long her Nirasaki core will be like this, but neither do we know for sure how long we can leave her like this.” Zulu floated over to another set of monitors.
“Anything else we can do for you, Erin? This test is mostly just going to be monitoring the feeds. I can line up something else if you need some work done too.” Forrest offered.
“No. Thank you Forrest. You’re sweet to offer. But I should be fine for now. How is the Trinh core?”
“Stable enough, but she’s still silent. Honestly I’m kind of worried that since we quarantined her, she’s gone into recursive simulation and I’m not sure how to get her back out.” Forrest answered.
“Next shipment of memory modules will be here in about an hour.” Zulu said.
“Good. I think we’ll finally have Truk sorted by the end of the week then.” Forrest nodded.
“Olivia’s body should be ready then too, I hope. I’m following Kolossus’ instructions, but I still worry I may be growing it too fast or it’ll still wind up a bit under developed.” Zulu tapped at the keyboard of the station she was at.
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===First steps into a new world===
Zulu’s lab, Port Lazarus Station 
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
19th January, 3145
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Olivia felt cold.
“Wow. Brr.. I didn’t think it would be quite like this.” Olivia said as she stood out of the tank.
“Here. How’s the head?” Zulu handed Olivia some fuzzy slippers.
“Better. It’s still there. Whatever was driving me to the white boards but somehow. I don’t know, I feel like I do understand it now and I’m in control of myself for it.”
“We’ll see. This body is largely human. Kolossus thinks that the semi-organic brain you have now is helping process that data, but your Nirasaki core…”
“I know. Even if you guys get the memory modules and processor boards installed, it’s always going to be suspect now. Maybe that will change once we study this data more but that could take lifetimes.” Olivia nodded.
“Well you’re largely human now. So what’s the first new experience you want to try?”
“The brisket at the Barbecue Truck at the academy. I hear it is fantastic and now I can actually enjoy it.”
“First proper clothes.” Zulu handed Olivia a neatly folded stack of clothes.
“Thanks, Zulu.” discarded the medical gown and began putting on the offered clothes.
“Second you need to pass the evals.” Zulu handed Olivia a belt. “In related news it seems whether we were ready for it or not the data in Erin’s cores is working out in a way to make the AI baby of you and Trinh that was supposed to be the next step. It’ll be a while still before we really know what that means though.”
“Trinh?”
“Her core is stable, but she’s still quiet.”
“Damn.” Olivia looked at herself in a mirror. “Not to be ungrateful but?”
“Yeah sorry about that. We cut the accelerated aging a little short. Don’t worry, by human standards you’re still in the age range to be considered a teenager.” Zulu chuckled.
“Well at least the midshipmen will probably consider me too young to be comfortable to hit on.”
“I wouldn’t bet on it.” Zulu chuckled.
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===Day After a night no one remembered clearly===
Professor Makarov’s Hyperspace Navigation and Theory Class
New Lazarus, Star League in Exile
20th January, 3145
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"...proportional, which is why computers are pretty useful for working it out." Cadet-Lieutenant Anh Lee Cu'ong was on the Futbol field with a group of Froshies. "This model isn't fully to scale, because you needed to be able to see the planets, and most people have a hard time handling abstractions that intense."
"Space is big. Right?"
"No, Navigation must be precise." she countered. "Every object in this model? It's in motion, and while the movements are predictable. When you plot a jump point closer than the proximity limit, you're doing a three-body problem made of calculus and geometry to establish the location. Then you're doing it in five to eight dimensions, accounting for motion in that three body problem."
"That's impossible!!", The professor decried.
"Tell it to the original Terran Survey Corps pathfinders who had to figure it out in order to write the programs your shipboard nav-comm uses." she shot back, "See, computers fail, in use, even in combat, they can go down, and you can still need to plot a jump."
“Sure but there’s a difference between knowing how to do the math, being able to program it into the computer, and the result actually being usable. If it is a Zenith or Nadir point, you’re golden. But without a computer no human has ever actually successfully been able to do the calculations fast enough AND accurately enough to actually complete a jump to a non-standard point thanks to the Second Hyperspace Uncertainty Principle. Even the original Pathfinders were jumping to zenith or nadir. Any other point and even the best Pathfinder is using computer assistance.” Midshipman Wewewala countered.
“Good, there’s at least one of you who knows the material at a high level.” She nodded, "That doesn't mean you're going to get to skip out on learning how to program a calculator from base OS. Enemy action especially makes your Nav Com system a target, and it's a critical single point of failure. Jump controllers are a key vulnerability and one of the first angles of attack a Bandit or Pirate who knows his business is going to go after. The second point of failure, is the coordinates in your digital charts themselves."
"What?"
"Up until Gray Monday, how did every commercial and most military JumpShips in common use, calibrate their drives?" she asked, "I'll give you a minute, it's in your high school history books, but no guarantee anyone bothered to include it on a lecture."
"Comstar."
"Bingo. A Sole-source supplier from a foreign government. You guys want to surf the top of the wave, you need to be able to do it without asking Comstar to update your charts."
“Or like I said, zenith nadir are fine if you have a good telescope and lots of time to spare.” Midshipman Wewewala nodded.
"Anywhere outside the prox limit that's relatively clear is like that-the zenith and nadir points are the closest clear zones where gravity's down far enough, not the only-the areas you CAN'T approach in a jump outnumber the areas you can…because?" she gestured at the field they were standing in, "Space, is Big. The major boon for shippers is that zenith and nadir represent the easiest approaches in terms of fuel, food and air for the least amount of calculation and prep. That's why most of your shipping companies use them and nearly every military in existence. They're the closest reliable approach."
“That and even with a computer helping there is risk of damaging the core using non-standard points.”
"I was ten when I saw a Monolith take a shit at the Mandoaaru Nadir point, what we do is always risky...just, some risks are higher and more difficult than others. That one killed a few hundred colonists and spread their remains across a five dimensional space as highly charged particles…while leaving the bow section burned and twisted in local space. We learn the math, so we can check the goddam math, so we can patch it if there's a voltage fluctuation in the controller, or so we can get out of a bad situation before the air runs out. The crew of the Phillips-Lehigh Pillar didn't check their math, they also didn't do their maintenance, so they and five hundred forty one civilians died."
"Okay, so…we're going to go over KF Theory now, right here." she said, "In this lovely wet, grassy field, at the bottom of the well, thousands of kilometers from anything that can translate a charge into a jump event."
Professor Makarov watched from the side as his new TA presented this material.
"Is she any good?" Fleet Admiral David Foster asked.
"She's good…well…better than I anticipated even." the Professor noted, "She's managing to translate a lifetime as a belter-derivative spacer into terms these planet-borns are grasping…and she's doing it faster than I did with first six years of classes on 'repeat'. She ties the historical to the physical to get the point across, and makes it concrete instead of abstract. That's making it easier for the freshmen to grasp the theory in tests."
"You mentioned that in your report." David noted.
"Report hell, I could hand her the damn department!" Markarov remarked harshly.
"Please don't." Foster said.
Anh was unfolding a whiteboard from her carry case, it massively dwarfed the 'model' of New Lazarus (a child's marble painted up with cloud swirls) and worked as she spoke, outlining the basic equations for predicting where the system bodies would be.
"You're taking notes?" Foster asked his subordinate.
"Damned right I am. That woman's going to be taking a ship to fight, I'll need it to keep sending replacements after she's gone."
"So you think she'll make the final cut." Foster asked.
"That's on my letter of recommendation. Cu'ong's got chops as a trainer, and she's got some charisma as a field leader." Professor Makarov clarified, "No matter how hard we train them, how well we train them, most of the non-AI crews in the fleet will be effectively green, especially on those Cruisers Her Majesty picked up. You and I know what that leads to and with the vast majority of our candidates coming from a planet and not having seen space until we put them on their first training cruise it’s almost a guarantee something will go wrong otherwise."
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===Leading by Example===
Training Crew 01/45
M5.4 Class Casper Destroyer, SLS Cossack
New Lazarus System, Star League in Exile
22nd January, 3145
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Becca Fleer reacted to the breach alarm immediately by going for her pressure suit, shedding her standard uniform Right there in the Marine Infantry's bay.
As she closed the helmet and checked the alerts, she saw the oxygen levels plummet to the yellow zone, and most of her fellow cadets passing out.
The alarm stopped and the yellow indicator shifted slowly to green, as the ventral hatch opened, and Cossack came striding in on magnetized feet.
"Look around you, those of you fortunate enough to still be awake." Cossack's voice came over Becca's helmet feed. "If this had been a real emergency, most of you would be really dead, and not just trying to fight off a brief moment of anoxia…good job, Fleer, McKnight, Eamont, and Cortales-you got suited up. Less good on Brottle, Thorne and Covens over in the beach-ball…corpsman, check our casualties. Make sure nobody banged a hole in their head or suffered a real injury in this drill…"
Becca found herself eye to eye with the Ship's AI. "Explain this, Cadet Corporal…why are most of your fireteam trying to shake off that little air-pressure trick, instead of being suited up and standing like you are?"
"I cannot answer the question accurately ma'am!" Becca responded.
"Can't…answer…Okay, speculate, there were a full five minutes where your fellow trainees had the luxurious time needed to get suited up-well beyond the normal timeframe for a hull breach that leaves the compartment intact. Why? Your eyes, Fleer, use them."
Becca looked around at the 'fireteam' she'd been assigned to at the docks.
Most were still in their standard uniforms, a few in PTs. They hadn't gotten OUT of those uniforms.
"Hurry up, Fleer."
"Uh…embarrassment, ma'am?"
"Yes, this is, in fact, very embarrassing." Cossack agreed, "This performance is dreadfully embarrassing for a crew of would be officers…now, clarify what you mean."
“Modesty. ma’am. They hesitated to get out of their uniforms in mixed company.”
"Fleer, McKnight, Eamon, Cortales, for the next seventy two hours you have your choice of uniform aboard ship. For the rest of you, the uniform when not in pressure suits, will be sky-clad." Cossack ordered, "Not a stitch unless it's your suit. Nude. Space does not care about your modesty, or your dignity, you will report to all duties wearing nothing, except when practicing EVA and Damage Control tasks for the next three days. And if you think the lack of privacy is bad on this ship, pray you do not get assigned a corvette. People will see you naked or in your skivvies here. On a corvette you better hope your bunkmate is someone you like seeing nude. This should get you used to that. Dismissed."
The trainees that were already to their feet saluted. The others were still lagging behind a little before the medics got them to their feet.
"Can..can she do that?" Polsen asked, blushing madly.
"Yeah. Captain can set the uniform and mandate it. It's in the regs." Fleer said, "which means drop the boxers, Polsen, you're sky-clad for three days."
“Only reason we didn’t before now was because she had children on board and that’d get, well weird doesn’t begin to cover it but I’ll leave it at that.” Eamon added.
Fleer started taking off her suit, carefully re-packing it for easy extraction, until she, like her fireteam, was naked. "What are you doing?" Eamon demanded.
"Leading by example, my guys didn't get suited, they're being punished, I take the punishment too. Polsen, Steinmetz, Iguaro, Reyes, check your suit bags and use the strap, We're probably going to get more vacuum breach drills."
The three boys and her Commo specialist nodded and got to work readying their suits for easy carry aboard ship.
“Good on you, Fleer.” Cossack nodded approvingly. “Captain to all hands. I’ve set some special uniform rules for some of the trainees. I still expect you all to conduct yourselves as members of the Star League Navy. Translation I’m not going to bust you for looking but anyone who tries to take advantage or touching without permission is going to have hell to pay.”
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===Living in an age of wonders===
WarShip, Amusing Anecdote
.5 AU from New Lazarus System, Star League in Exile
22nd January, 3145
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Rear Admiral Amanda Roberts sat on the bow of Amusing Anecdote, with just her suit between her and hard vacuum.
"What are we looking at, ma'am?" one of the Lazarus transfer/training officers asked.
"The stars, Major." she told him over the common channel. "Every once in a while, it's worth it to come out and actually have a look."
“I suppose it is, Ma’am.” The young man nodded.
"Nothing to suppose, unless your catheter's malfunctioning. Look to your left, and down. Do you see it?"
He rose and gripped the safety rail, looking in the direction she indicated.
"I…"
"Wait for it…"
A drive plume appeared, far in the distance. "That's.."
"Cossack." she told him, "Everything looks a little different with your eyes, than through a charting report from the telescope array, doesn't it?"
“Yeah. I actually used to go out into the wilderness, camping with my father and mother. We’d build a nice fire and just sit staring at the night sky for hours. Dammit, now I want a s’more.”
"For the next eight hours, you're going to sit up here, and log everything that catches your eye." She told him, "That's your duty assignment for today. You're going to spot with your near-naked eye and just absorb it all."
“Yes, ma’am.”
She shifted her lanyard, "Now, while you're doing that, I have a mountain of paperwork inside. Remember, we are living in an age of wonders, it's important."
“Absolutely, ma’am.”
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