Crusade chapter 8 (standard:science fiction, 2540 words) [8/11] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 11 2003	Views/Reads: 2497/1930	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
chapter 8

For three days the fleets remained at Heretic before the first stand to,
this however proved to be a false alarm. The waiting continued, this 
took the inevitable toll on the moral of both the human and Anduril 
personnel, with the exception of the fighter crews. With the ship in 
port and a six hour (actually six hours, 18 minutes 30 seconds, three 
Anduril time units) response order they had the opportunity to fly as 
much as they wanted, this meant that there was no need to wait for the 
simulators to become free; at all hours there were clouds of both human 
and Anduril fighters war-gaming and hot dogging amongst the larger 
ships. 

For another seven days the wait continued before another stand to was
called, as before a hyperspace probe was dispatched, and the fleets 
were mustered six hours later. The probe showed the presence of 
starships but was destroyed before it could reveal class or number. 

The fleets were coursed to intercept the enemy in eight hours.
Throughout Crusader preparations were underway: officers and crew were 
moving swiftly but efficiently wherever Carver went, the officers 
dressed like him in black tunics and cotton ankle coats, the lower 
ranks dressed according to job. In many places he saw Alecto conducting 
business on monitors or where possible in holographic form. Of course 
Carver knew that she was capable of millions of simultaneous 
conversations but he never really lost the feeling that when she spoke 
to him she was giving him her undivided attention, no doubt  that was 
the effect she wanted. 

He had just finished the tactical briefing with the gunnery officers and
the squadron commander, the briefing had been in sector six and he 
could have taken the shuttle but he preferred when possible to walk. By 
this way he came to the quarterdeck, below was a large open plan 
expanse of deck two, this was the main navigational hub (called simply 
‘the hub'). As on the marine ships of old, the quarterdeck was used, 
amongst other things, to address the ship. Carver told Alecto to 
activate the camera mounted on the ceiling of the hub for just this 
purpose and immediately on all spare monitors his image appeared 
throughout the ship. 

“Attention all hands,” he began, “ this is the Captain. In...,” he
checked his watch, “a little over five hours' we will go into combat. 
This is the first time we have had advanced knowledge of when we will 
be expected to fight. The fleets look to us to lead the fight and we 
will. We are here for many reasons: we're here to defend the border, 
we're here to destroy the enemy, and we're here to defend the smaller 
ships. Then there's the REAL reason were here, we're here because we're 
the best, and we have a reputation to maintain! We're here because of 
one name, a name which strikes fear into the heart of every Megaeran 
crew, a name written in fire within each of us,” He continued, his 
voice raising to a crescendo, “A name written in hundred foot letters 
on the side of this ship, CRUSADER!” From various parts of the ship 
audio feedback brought the sounds of cheers into the hub and throughout 
the ship. Crusader's reputation was an important matter to everyone on 
board. “This ship, and this crew will live up to that name, I know. The 
enemy is throwing their might into this attack, and the strike, when it 
comes will be hard. But we shall prove harder yet, the crusaders shall 
go on, sweeping away all who stand against us. And to those who stand 
against us I say this, ‘Pray your god, if you have one, pray for a 
swift death!' Now I know I don't need to give you an incentive to do 
your part, to do our part, but I shall. Double luxuries for everyone if 
Crusader scores the first kill!” This one raised an even greater cheer, 
everyone had as part of their rations 3 ½ fluid ounces of vodka, 
whisky, rum or gin, this allowance was commonly called luxuries. 

Carver turned and walked from the quarterdeck onto the bridge.
“Interesting move Sir,” said Logan as he entered. “I meant it,” replied 
Carver, “we have a reputation to maintain Paul, not just with the other 
ships of the fleet but with the Andurils as well. They won't admit it 
but they still have their doubts about human starships.” “You think 
so?” “Definitely, haven't you noticed that command has never deployed 
human ships without an Anduril accompaniment? They distrust us.” 

Whether or not Anduril command trusted the stellar navy was up for
debate but what Carver said was true, no entirely human fleet had ever 
gone into battle. “Con, report Crusader battle ready,” said Carver as 
he sat down. On the holoscape he saw the representation of Crusader, 


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