Address criticisms to [xazqrten@cox.net]
******************************
Susan looked at the display. “When are you going to make your presentation,
Stephen?”
“Tomorrow morning. CJCS has me scheduled for 0800 hours his time at
Earthforce headquarters. Will you be there?”
“I’m sort of responsible for this mess; so, yes, I’ll be there.”
******************************
At Earthforce Headquarters:
Susan’s secret service escort had accompanied her on her shuttle, but they
were not allowed into the conference room.
She walked into the room and looked around for an empty chair. “Hello,
Stephen; gentlemen.”
“Susan, please explain to everyone how you came to be involved in this
scenario,” said Leftcourt.
She spent the next fifteen minutes recounting what had caused the
situation, which resulted in the present meeting.
Finally, she took a seat and Stephen Franklin took over the briefing.
“As Susan has already explained, our experience with the Markab
annihilation brought us into our first contact with a virus that targets the
chemicals which stimulate the messages between individual neurons. We
discovered a cure, but it was too late to save the Markab race.”
During his explanations, Stephen had sequenced amongst several pictures
that visually demonstrated his points.
“Any questions up to this point?” he asked.
“This is how the Markab became extinct?” asked a young doctor.
“Not entirely, Lester. Their denial up to the point of no return could be
blamed as much as the virus itself. If they had been honest with me when the
mysterious deaths started to be noticed by us, we would probably have had
enough time to vaccinate enough of them to keep a viable gene pool alive. They
were for the most part victims of their own cultural beliefs; beliefs that
taught them that only the damned or sinners were victims of the mysterious
death. This isn’t the case today.”
“Any more questions?” asked Stephen.
The next picture was a block diagram of an amplifier. “If you will observe
this block diagram shows a generic analog amplifier. Properly biased, it takes
in a given signal and outputs a signal of slightly larger dimensions, but
essentially an otherwise exact replica of the input.”
Bringing up another diagram, this one showed a distorted output signal. “In
this example you note the distorted output. That’s because the amplifier isn’t
properly biased.”
The third diagram showed an output signal that in no way resembled the
input. “This is what happens when there is no corrective bias at all. This is
essentially what happened to the brain of First Lt. Gordon Ellers.”
At this point, Stephen ran a series of short videos. “As you can see, these
mice are in various stages of being stoned. Using the level of the drugs found
in Lt. Ellers systems as a starting point,. we fed the mice the equivalent
dosages of these drugs and then various combinations of them. These videos
show the results. As I said, stoned mice. They were none the worse for wear
after the effects of the drugs wore off, except for wanting more drugs, which
is a junkie’s typical reaction.
General Leftcourt, I’d like to give the remainder of this briefing to only
you the other JCS members and Susan. I’d rather not make what I’m about to say
available until you have a chance to evaluate it first.”
“Everyone in this room holds at least a top secret cosmic level two SBI
clearance, Doctor Franklin.”
“I know, sir, but this is need to know, and I think you need to see it
first, then decide who needs to know.”
“Very well. Everyone, except the JCS members and Susan, please leave and
wait in conference room two. After we hear what Doctor Franklin has to say,
we’ll call those of you who need to know this material back for a separate
briefing.”
After the others had departed the room, Stephen ran a separate series of
videos. “These mice, gentlemen, are not stoned. They are in their death
throes.”
The videos showed mice kicking and thrashing about, quivering, and then
being still in death.
“What did we just see, Stephen?” asked Susan.
“A sane man’s worst nightmare, Susan.”
“Please elaborate, Doctor Franklin,” requested Leftcourt.
“When we couldn’t reproduce the effects found in Lt. Ellers body and the
actions described by Susan, my people started looking at what he had in his
possession at the time. Gentlemen, we were grasping at straws, because we were
up against a wall.”
“Where’s this going, Stephen?” inquired Susan.
In response, Stephen set a small vial of eye drops on the conference
table. “Here.”
“Give it to us, Doctor Franklin,” ordered General Gorsky.
“We did further tests on Lt. Ellers’ body and found traces of the active
ingredient in these eye drops.
When we added that chemical to the stoned mice, we got the results that you
just saw in the videos. With that as a starting point, we ran a series of
tests with various concentrations of the three chemicals. What we found is
terrifying, gentlemen.
We reduced the levels until we reached a point that would be the equivalent
of a stoned mouse after three weeks without exposure to the first two drugs;
about three parts per billion. When we introduced the third drug, it only took
two parts per billion to trigger the effect.”
Stephen displayed several pictures of dissected mouse brains. “The first
picture is a perfectly healthy mouse brain. The others are mouse brains that
were exposed to various levels of the three chemicals in various combinations.
You will pay particular attention to photograph number twelve. That is what
happens at the lowest trigger level. Any Questions?”
The JCS sat quietly, stunned, as the ramifications of what they had just
seen and heard settled into their minds.
“My god,” said General Mendleson.
“Do you understand my reluctance to make this material available to just
anyone, General Leftcourt?”
“Most certainly, Doctor Franklin,” replied Leftcourt.
“Stephen, is there any way to screen for these chemicals that won’t
bankrupt Earthforce?” asked Susan.
“Unfortunately not; at least not at the present time. At the moment, a
routine toxicological screen series will find the first two. A simple pee in
the bottle test will do it. The chemical from the eye drops is another matter.
You have to be looking for it and the tox screen is time consuming and
hideously expensive, about two thousand credits. I have my best people working
on trying to design a simple test aimed at that specific chemical. I’m sure in
time we’ll come up with something, but until then…” Here, he shrugged his
shoulders.
“I’m afraid, Doctor Franklin, I’m going to have to insist that we bring
back those other folks and tell them the good news.”
“Yes, sir. I just wanted you to know first.”
“Gentlemen, if you don’t need me, I’d like to get back to work.”
“Not so fast, Susan. You are the only person on the planet with any first
hand knowledge of exactly what this stuff does to a living person. I want you
to stick around just in case any of the others have any questions on that
topic,” said Leftcourt.
******************************
Stephen had finished his presentation and was holding a question and answer
session.
“Do we know exactly what happens to someone suffering from the effects of
this chemical cocktail?” asked a doctor from the infectious diseases part of
the public health department.
Stephen looked at Susan, “You’re on, Susan.”
Susan stepped to the front of the group and said, “There is no way to
describe to you the effects of these drugs in words. Even pictures like those
Stephen showed you can’t really get the full impact across.”
“Then how are you going to do it?” interrupted the public health
representative.
“If all of you will relax and close your eyes, I’ll demonstrate.”
Susan thought of a beautiful deep red sweet smelling rose and projected it
to the members of the meeting. A minute later, she asked, “Is there anyone
here who didn’t see and smell a red rose?”
The same doctor asked, “What the hell was that?”
“A demonstration,” replied Susan. “If you’ll close your eyes again, I’ll
show you what happened to Lt. Ellers.”
Susan looked at the people seated at the table and concentrated. A minute
later, she stopped. The expressions of the members of the meeting spoke
volumes. “That is what was happening in Lt. Ellers mind when I encountered him
in the ‘O’ club in Stockton. That’s a horrible way to die.”
Before she sat down, Susan looked over the group one more time. She noted
three individuals and their thoughts. Without any fanfare, she proceeded to
put blocks into their minds. They would never be able to reveal what they had
witnessed during the briefing they had just received. Because of the blocks,
they wouldn’t be able to even remember any of the specifics of the
presentation. All she had to do now was to identify them to JCS; so, they
could be stripped of their security clearances.
Susan hugged Stephen and departed the room. As she walked down the hallway,
Leftcourt caught up to her.
“You are too damned familiar with Doctor Franklin, Susan.”
“We’ve been close friends for almost ten years, general. He no longer
functions as a member of Earthforce; so, I don’t see a problem.”
“He may not be, but you are. He kept referring to you as Susan.”
“So do you.”
“What was the idea of that hug?”
“General Leftcourt, are you jealous?”
“Okay. Let’s drop it. What else did you want to see me about?”
“You have three people in that meeting that should have their security
clearances pulled and reinvestigated.”
“What makes you think so?”
Susan gave him a rolling eyes look. “I’m a telepath. Remember?”
“What do we do about what they learned today?”
“I already have. They know, but I buried it so deep that they won’t ever be
able to share the information – not even with a psi cop.”
Leftcourt looked her. “What in hell gives you the authority to do something
like that?”
Susan stopped walking and faced Leftcourt. The expression on her face left
no doubts at all about what she thought of his question. Through clenched
teeth, she hissed, “The same damned thing that gave me the authority to
destroy Clark’s vaunted advanced destroyer squadron. The same thing that
authorized me to destroy a Drakh space station, the same thing that authorized
me to take you, the President, and a snootful of politicians into battle at
Mars, my oath to protect the EA constitution and its citizens, no matter the
cost to my personal career. I didn’t harm them; I just blocked theirs and
anyone else’s access to their memories of today’s briefing – something neither
you nor anyone else in Earthforce can do without killing them. Sir.”
Leftcourt was furious at her attitude, but he admitted to himself that she
was right. She was only thinking of the best interests of the service and the
alliance. He looked back down the hallway in the direction from which they had
just come. There were people looking at them. Fortunately, they couldn’t hear
the exchange.
He started walking again and she walked with him. The observers would
always wonder what had transpired, but suspicions would be all they ever got
from the scenario.
Just before Susan boarded her shuttle, Leftcourt said, “You are correct. We
can’t let this become known until we figure out some way of counteracting it.
I’ll personally see to the security issues.”
“Thank you, general.”
******************************
During the flight back to Stockton, Janis Baar asked, “What were you two
fighting about? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were about to
physically assault the CJCS.”
“Appearances can be deceiving, Agent Baar. We had a simple misunderstanding
about the best way to solve a problem, but we came to an agreement.”
Baar was watching Susan and decided that the general was being somewhat
less that truthful. She was impressed though that Susan had stood her ground
and appeared to win whatever the difference of opinion was.
******************************
Susan sat behind her desk and read parts of the spreadsheet again. There
was something about it that didn’t seem to fit. She wasn’t an accountant; so,
she was limited in what she could glean from the file. She attached it to an e-
mail and sent it, thinking that maybe her information specialists could find
whatever it was that didn’t exactly click.
Her ringing phone interrupted her thought processes. It was Colonel Stout.
“What can I do for you, colonel?”
“Do you have any free time this week?”
“How much free time?”
“Enough to fly down to the TGS again. My chief instructor wants you to fly
down and give his latest class a wake-up call. It won’t be a graded exercise;
just a simply ass-kicking in one-on-one situations.”
“When will be convenient?”
“How about Thursday?”
“Consider it done.”
“Can one of my AFB-328B students go along for the ride?”
“Sure. Make sure they know how to use a barf-bag.”
Stout hung up. Susan thought about it for a minute then buzzed her
secretary.
******************************
“It’s your show, Lieutenant Lang,” said Susan over the aircraft’s
interphone.
“Sir?”
“Taxi us out and prepare for takeoff, lieutenant.”
Lang taxied out and held short of the runway. “Tower control, I’m holding
short of the runway. Request permission to takeoff,” said Lang.
“You are cleared for takeoff, Ice Queen.”
“Do it to it, lieutenant. Climb out to ten thousand and head south. Today
you learn how to fly this airplane.”
“Yes sir.” Lang turned onto the runway and increased engine power to one
hundred percent. “Beginning rollout, tower control.”
******************************
“That didn’t sound like General Wayne,” said the assistant chief controller.
“It wasn’t. It’s one of the AFB-328B students. The young lady is about to
learn things they don’t teach at the school.”
“How so?”
“I used to work for the general when she was a division officer. She
believes in learning everything you can about yourself, your equipment and
your enemy and his equipment. The student is going to learn things that have
never been taught in any formal flight school.”
“Oh.”
******************************
At ten kilometers over central California:
“Are you ready to start learning, Lieutenant Lang?”
“What am I going to learn, General Wayne?”
“How to get the most out of this aircraft. You will note that I’ve turned
off the navcompcon. It’s time you learned how to make really sharp turns.”
Lang was scared. She held the control stick so firmly her knuckles were
turning white.
“Ease up, lieutenant. Don’t crush the control stick. Just keep a light
pressure on the stick. The aircraft will go exactly where you point it. Just
be aware that the stick is extremely responsive in this configuration. I won’t
let you crash.”
******************************
In the AFB-328B classroom:
“Where is Lieutenant Lang, Captain Heigl?” asked Second Lieutenant Hearns.
“She’s flying down to take on the TGS class with General Wayne.”
“She never said anything to any of us.”
“Maybe she didn’t want any of you to feel jealous.”
“What would make anyone think we would want to fly with General Wayne?”
“Today, Lang is going to learn from the very best; she is going to get to
fly against those TGS pilots.”
“Oh boy. You’re right. I’m jealous.”
******************************
They were almost to the exercise area. “We have to refuel before we enter
the exercise area, Lieutenant Lang. If you check your scope, you’ll see a
rather large blip about thirty klicks ahead and slightly to our right side.
That’s Pit Stop One, our aerial tanker. You get to make the approach and do
the honors. Contact him on channel two; then follow his instructions. Make
sure you tell him this your first in-flight refueling.”
******************************
When the refueling connection thunked shut, Susan could feel Lang’s pride
at getting it right the first time. “Beginner’s luck, lieutenant,” said Susan
with humor in her voice.
A few minutes later, Lang made a clean breakaway and turned slightly to
move away from the larger aircraft.
“Now it’s time to go play, Jean.”
Lang didn’t miss the use of her first name. Up until now, she had always
been addressed as Lang, Lieutenant Lang or just plain lieutenant, but never by
her first name.
******************************
LtCol. Pelt looked at the half-dozen students in the present class. “This
morning’s exercise is going to be relatively simply. The guest aggressor is
coming down from Stockton to assist in your training. There will be two sets
of one-on-one scenarios. Remember, these exercises are not graded. They are to
give you a feeling for where you stand as compared to your contemporaries.
This aggressor completely destroyed the last class and that was their final
exam; it counted. Because of that, we no longer use her as the final exam. TGS
pilots can’t seem to handle defeat very well.”
“Are you trying to psych us out, col.?”
“That attitude cost four of the last class’s pilots their status as fighter
jocks and sent them to flying tankers and other support aircraft.”
“Oh.”
“Remember, this is just a training flight. It’s not graded. Now mount up
and go do it.”
******************************
In the training control communication center:
Major Lucas asked, “Did you tell them that the first exercise was actually
going to be against a pilot in training?”
“No. I want them to get very froggy. It’ll make their destruction at
General Wayne’s hand that much more devastating.”
“You’re a piece of work, col.”
“I want them thoroughly shamed. After that, they’ll be paying close
attention to everything we say.”
“I sure hope so.”
“If it helps keep them alive for a few more fights, it’s worth it. I think
attitude is why our losses have been so high in the past. Have you reviewed
how few pilots General Wayne has lost over the years?”
“No, sir.”
“I highly recommend that you do so. It can teach you a great deal.”
******************************
Susan gave Lieutenant Lang suggestions during her dogfights with the TGS
students. She was killed three times, fought to two draws and killed one of
her antagonists.
“Very good, Jean. By all rights, you should have lost all six fights. With
further training, you’ll easily be able to win them.”
“Thank you for the chance, General Wayne. It was a good learning
experience.”
“We have one more set of exercises. I’m going to show you how a
professional does it.”
“Yes, sir.”
******************************
In the exercise control center:
“I’ll be damned, col. She killed one of them and damaged two more so badly
they would have to run for their lives.”
“Our students should really be pumped. Now they get taken down hard.
General Wayne’ll shred them.”
******************************
“Here we go, Jean,” said Susan.
Susan kicked in all the power her aircraft could muster and accelerated
like a top-fuel dragster to mach 1.1 on a course that took her straight at the
TGS students.
At a distance of twenty kilometers, she engaged the active ECM and making
sharp course changes; knowing it would delay their weapons systems attaining a
full lock-on. At ten kilometers, they had not yet achieved lock-on; she began
deploying chaff and infrared decoys. The student pilots had spread out and in
doing so had lined up in and a horizontal line at two different altitudes,
spread out over a distance of eight kilometers. She was seven kilometers away
when she stopped the sharp maneuvers and started a shallow right turn that
allowed her to trigger bursts at four of the enemy pilots. An extreme pitch-up
maneuver followed by a hard bank to the left allowed her to sweep the two
remaining enemy planes and trigger bursts at them.
“Well, that’s that, Jean. Take us back to the tanker and top us off. I want
to get back in time for lunch,” said Susan.
“Yes, sir,” responded Lang.
******************************
In the exercise control center:
“Tell me, colonel, that she didn’t just take out all six of our students in
less than two minutes,” requested Major Lucas.
“Actually, one minute fifty seconds, if my watch is correct. Get them back
down here and let’s critique this mornings exercises.”
******************************
In the TGS classroom:
“Any comments before we critique your performances this morning?” asked
Major Lucas.
“What in hell happened up there, major?” asked Captain Kyle Rober. “We
seemed to take care of this ‘Ice Queen’ rather well for the most part during
the first exercise. Then, in the second exercise, she hands us our asses,
thoroughly shredded, if I may say so. It’s like we faced a completely
different pilot that second time. Between the ECM false targets and the chaff
and infrared decoy she deployed, we couldn’t get a radar lock-on, much less a
missile lock.”
“You are entirely correct, Mr. Rober.” The first pilot you faced was a
beginner student from the AFB-328B school. The second pilot was the ‘Ice
Queen’. I am pleased that you noticed the difference between a student and a
master.”
“Do we have to face her again?” asked Major Logan Jones.
“Do you want to?”
“Well it’s a fact you learn more from your mistakes than you do from your
successes. Sure, why not? I’d rather get my ass kicked here and learn how to
stay alive longer, than learn at the expense of my or my wingman’s life.”
“We’ll have to see, major. Even if she can’t come down, I’m sure one or two
of their instructors can make the time,” said Major Lucas. “Now, if you’ll
just follow me into the analysis/projection room, we’ll get busy on the
critiques.”
******************************
In Stockton:
Susan took Lieutenant Lang back to class. Standing in front of the class,
she said, “Later on in your training, you may get the chance to go one-on-one
with some of the pilots at TGS. Be sharp and learn everything you can. The
more you know, the more likely you’ll live long enough to spin yarns about it.
No, I don’t spin yarns. I’ve killed too damned many enemy pilots.”
After Susan left, Heigl looked at the class. “Remember, your missing
classmate really believed the general is on an ego trip.”
“Not hardly,” said First Lieutenant Lang.
******************************
Susan’s office:
“I’ve finished reading the contract and reviewing the budget and
expenditures for the SF-400 project, Mark. I need to meet with the people
responsible for the project oversight. I want to meet them here no later than
Wednesday morning. They should be ready to give me in depth briefings.”
“That’s short notice, General Wayne.”
“I believe they work for me. Am I mistaken?”
“No, sir.”
“Wednesday morning, 0800 hours local, in our main conference room.”
“Yes, sir.”
******************************
In a plush office at Playton Aviation Industries headquarters:
“Let me make sure I understand you correctly Colonel Pearson; General Wayne
wants a meeting Wednesday morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I can’t make it on such short notice.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll pass your response on to her.”
Major General Oliver Cone looked at the blank display screen and wondered,
[What in hell can she want? Why such short notice? I’d better start getting
ready. Next time she calls, I’ll be ready.]
******************************
Susan looked at Pearson. “He says he can’t make it, huh? I guess he has
more important things to do. After all, he is the military project manager.
Were you able to contact the other parties?”
“Yes, sir. They all said they would be here.”
“Thank you, Mark.”
******************************
Susan’s largest conference room; Wednesday morning, 0800 hours local:
Susan looked at the people assembled around the conference
table. “Gentlemen and women, we’re going to do this a bit differently than
what you are accustomed to. I’ll receive a short, not to exceed thirty
minutes, briefing from each of you. After all the individual briefings are
concluded, I’ll ask questions of all of you in a group meeting. Any questions?”
“Sir. Where is Major General Cone? Shouldn’t he be here?”
“He couldn’t make it, Mister…?”
“Long, General Wayne, Jerry Long.”
“The truth is, Jerry, he apparently has more important things to do. You
can be first up.”
******************************
It took just over three hours for the briefings Susan wanted. It was almost
time to go to lunch.
“It’s almost time for lunch. I’d like to hold the question and answer
period right after lunch. The galley has outstanding food. I eat there every
chance I get. One word of warning though, the pastries chef is a young Greek
man named Effemien. His pies and cakes are devastating to the waistline. He
makes the best pastries I’ve ever eaten. What’s worse, you’re allowed as many
servings as you can eat. So, don’t complain that you weren’t warned if your
wardrobe seems a bit tighter after your visit here.”
******************************
In the conference room, after lunch:
Susan marked on her data pad and highlighted portion of the image displayed
in the wall-sized display unit at the other end of the conference room.
“Ms. Ellison, correct me if I’m in error, but this paragraph seems to say
that the contractor is required to make detailed progress reports at least
once a month. These reports are supposed to include illustrations to ensure
clarity of the reports’ details.”
After a minute’s silence, Gail Ellison said, “You’re interpretation is
correct, General Wayne.”
“Then why am I not able to find these reports? If they are classified, they
should at least have an unclassified title page indicating that the report
itself is classified. I’m pretty savvy in how to use computers, but I can’t
seem to even find any references to these reports. Perhaps you could enlighten
me.”
“In truth, General Wayne, these reports go to the military project manager.
All I ever get is an e-mail from him stating that the report has been received
and reviewed.”
“In other words, you can’t really testify to these reports being delivered,
anything about their contents, or to their very existence?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you, Ms. Ellison.”
Susan looked around the room. There were no longer any smiles on the faces
of the people present. She wasn’t surprised.
“By the way, Ms. Ellison. Have you ever notified anyone about the situation
with the progress reports?”
“No, sir.”
“Why not?”
“When I brought it up at a progress meeting, I was told to forget it.”
“By whom?”
“General Cone.”
“How long has he been the project manager?”
“He was there when Clark came to power and he’s remained ever since.”
“Interesting. It’s your turn, Jerry. Look at the display.”
The remainder of the afternoon followed the same scenario as Susan’s
questioning of Gail Ellison.
******************************
0800 hours local the next morning in the conference room:
Susan looked at the people seated around the table. “I’m pleased that all
of you could be here this morning. I know this was short notice, but I think
you may have information that may help me in the near future, as I evaluate
our R&D and acquisition expenditures.”
“What do you want from us?” asked Leroy Morales, a reporter for the San
Francisco Chronicle.
“Look around you gentlemen and women. What do all of you have in common?”
The assembly studied one another for a full tow minutes.
“Well?” asked Susan.
A major general named Edward Foose replied, “I think we all have been
identified as opposing the SF-400 program for one. I’m not sure what else we
might have in common, except we’re pretty vocal about fraud, waste, and abuse
in the Earthforce budget.”
“Give the man a cigar. You are very correct, General Foose. All of you have
been raving about budget busting waste.”
Editor of the Stockton Daily Gazette financial section, Helen Kroft,
asked, “So, why are we here, General Wayne.
“My job, or at least one part of it, is to cut costs associated with R&D
and acquisitions programs in Earthforce that means programs will be scaled
back, cancelled, or never see the light of day. Commands associated with a
variety of programs will be eliminated, downsized, merged or whatever else
presents itself as a means to accomplish my assigned mission. In short, you
now have the ear of someone who can make your dreams happen, if, and only if,
you can present me with information – not fairy tales, not innuendo, but hard
facts – in the form of records, files, visual data, and what not that will
support your positions.”
Ten faces looked back at her; all expressing confusion and disbelief.
“I can’t believe that none of you has at least a comment.”
Silence was their answer.
“I’m going to get a cup of coffee. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes. I
expect some kind of response.”
******************************
“Is she for real?” asked Leroy Morales.
“As a heart attack, Mr. Morales. You should watch the speeches made during
her change of command ceremony. Senator Mathers and President Luchenko
actually outlined her job missions,” replied General Foose. “We have a golden
opportunity here, if we don’t try to be too damned smart for our own good.
Just make sure of everything you tell her or give her is the honest-to-gods-
truth. Don’t even attempt to be too cute. Remember, General Wayne is a
telepath.”
“Oh, crap!”
“What’s wrong, Jess? Telling the truth too difficult?” asked Helen Kroft.
“No. it’s just that I’ve never had any dealings with a telepath before,”
answered, Jess Dare, a renowned financial consultant and very vocal opponent
to military spending.
“Shall we tell her we’re ready to communicate?” asked Morales.
“You get the honors, Leroy.”
******************************
Susan’s meeting with the defense spending opponents was enlightening. They
all agreed on the SF-400 program, but they all had individual axes to grind.
Susan decided that she had enough information to justify some quiet
investigations, starting with the SF-400 program. She had already decided to
fire General Cone, if for no other reason than he was too big for his
britches; however, with what she knew now, firing would only be the beginning
of what she was going to do to him. He was a Clark supporter from the very
beginning. Keeping his job during the Clark administration was something that
would normally catch even a blind man’s attention. Clark’s people had
systematically removed anyone in any position of power and replaced him with
their own people, but they hadn’t removed him.
Susan took another sip of coffee and made a phone call.
******************************
In the conference room adjacent to Major General Oliver Cone’s office:
“All of you attended a meeting yesterday with General Wayne?”
“Yes, general, we did. She notified us that she wanted to meet with us. We
asked where you were, and she said you were too busy to attend. Didn’t she
notify you?” asked Jerry Long.
Cone was seething and doing a very poor job of concealing it. “Just what
did you tell her?”
“We each briefed her on the SF-400 program, then she asked us some
questions about each of our areas of knowledge.”
“What kinds of questions?”
“She was interested in particular parts of the contract and some of the
accounting procedures used to keep tabs of the monies we spend.”
Cone looked like he would like to throttle the whole lot of them.
“For what it’s worth, General Cone, she knows enough about contracts to be
a contracting officer, and she seems to know a hell of a lot about various
accounting procedures and standards,” said Gail Ellison.
“Do the lot of you know what her primary job is, in addition to being our
commanding officer? Her primary function is to cut the fat out of this
department’s budget. With all that you have read in the news and heard on the
news programs, who do you think one of her primary targets is going to be…us?”
“She can’t really do that, can she?” asked Ellison.
“President Luchenko and the Joint Chiefs of Staff have given her carte
blanche to do whatever she thinks is necessary to get our budget under
control. If she succeeds here, the entire Earthforce budget will be next;
unless she finds some way to chop it up as she slices and dices us.”
“You make her sound like fiscal Armageddon,” commented Long.
“Hell of a way to put it, Jerry, but essentially correct.”
“What do we do?” asked Ellison.
“I’m not sure there is anything we can do, Helen; except keep on doing our
jobs.”
******************************
Susan looked across her desk at Alex Collins. “I appreciate you coming,
Alex. I’d’ve met you somewhere for a latte and scone, but I have a security
detail that busts my chops every time I just get up and go some place. Someone
has made at least one serious attempt on my life.”
“You feel okay talking here? I notice there are all kinds of monitoring
devices around this office and there are several of them in here.”
“I want some investigating done. I have some leads that were furnished to
me by some interested parties. A couple of the leads, I developed using my own
sources. As usual, I want everything your people do to be above reproach.
Anything you develop is useless, if there is any tinge of illegality about its
origins.”
“Is there anything in particular that you want special attention attached
to?”
“No. I’m not sure it won’t be a total waste of time and resources, but I do
seem to have a good nose for things that aren’t exactly what they seem. It’s
kept me alive over the years.”
Susan handed Collins a data crystal. “You’ll find the particulars on this
crystal. I need to know something as soon as you get it. There is an expensive
project that may have to be put to bed once and for all. I want to make sure
that I’m doing the right thing.’
Collins thought about it for a minute and took several sips of his
coffee. “I don’t mind meeting here, general; but next time, I’d appreciate a
good scone to go with this excellent coffee. It’s a crime to serve it without
one.”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Alex.”
******************************
Susan sat thinking about her conversation with Collins. She was asking a
lot and what she was asking was costing a great deal of money. She wondered
when the invoice would be presented.
She needn’t have worried. Michael Garibaldi and a group of his friends were
picking up the tab. Michael was a citizen of Mars and his associates were also
citizens and top business leaders there. From their perspective, anything she
asked for would never be enough to compensate for what she had done for them
when she destroyed the Drakh invasion fleet. From where they stood, they all
owed her for their and their families continued existence.
Susan would not learn about this little bit of information until long after
her military career was over.
******************************
Susan had spent the last week poring over contracts and was ready to
scream. Reading and highlighting contract sections and subsections was almost
as exciting as eating a sawdust sandwich with out any condiments or bread.
The message was from the office of the Secretary of Defense. The secretary
wanted to ride the second seat the next time Susan flew against the Top Gun
School students. That would be tomorrow, as Susan reckoned it.
From her perspective, things were definitely getting out of hand. She
looked at the message again and mentally made note to notify all concerned
that she wasn’t running a tour service for highly placed government lackeys
who had too much free time on their hands.
******************************
Susan looked up to see who had knocked on her door. “Secretary Egan, I’ve
been expecting you. The flight isn’t until tomorrow morning; so, what can I do
for you?”
“Why do I get the feeling that I’m about as welcome around here as a bad
case of the mumps?”
“I haven’t even said anything to you yet. So why do you feel like that?”
“It’s just a feeling I’ve had ever since your driver picked me up at the
airport.”
“I doubt it’s anything directed at you personally. I’ve had a steady stream
of politicians and what not passing through my office for the last few weeks.
I suppose some of my people, particularly my driver, are sick and tired of the
egos and ego displays attached to those visitors. My driver has complained to
his supervisor quite a few times about it. After meeting them, on the whole, I
sympathize with him. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I flew in early, because I want to spend some time with you.”
Susan raised an eyebrow. “You do know that my husband used to be a psi cop?”
“There’s nothing to worry about there, general. I want to talk business,
after a fashion.”
“I’m listening.”
“It’s suppertime and I’m hungry. Will you accompany me to the galley? I’ve
heard some good things about the food they serve.”
“I’ll lead the way.”
******************************
Susan looked across the table at Egan. “What do you want to talk about?”
“It has been noted that last week you had meetings with some personnel from
the SF-400 program and the next day you met with some folks who have been
rather vocal about military expenditures.”
“And this is important, how?”
“I don’t know that it is, but seeing as to how you are commissioned to cut
the budget of your department, it garners attention.”
“Considering the politicians that have been traipsing through my office,
I’m surprised that anyone has noticed anything.”
“Some could scream conflict of interest.”
Susan smiled. “I really don’t care what they scream. I have a job to do and
I’m going to collect all the data I can. With any luck, it may help me
understand what can be done and what can’t. Surely, you don’t expect me to
make decisions in a vacuum. I’m not naïve enough to not question information
that originates from questionable sources; questionable sources are anyone,
but myself. I take it as a given that everyone has an agenda.”
“It’s good that you’re so skeptical, because some of the people you met
have longstanding axes to grind.”
“Is there anything else bothering you?”
“Not really. What time do we leave in the morning?”
“I suit up about 0615 hours and take off about 0700. I refuel just before I
enter the operations area. The exercises don’t usually take more than an hour
or so. None of the TGS pilots can last more than a few minutes against me.
Lately, I’ve been sending and instructor and student down to play with them.
It gives the TGS students more of a chance.”
“Oh.”
“How would you like to take a side trip and visit a weapons test facility?”
“How long will it take?”
“It’s about two hundred kilometers northwest of Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s
only a short hop from there to Stockton.”
“Why would I want to do that?
“There are some dog and pony shows that I think you’ll find very
enlightening.”
“What time should I expect to get back here?”
“With any luck, we might make it back in time for lunch. If not, my CoS can
have something sent over from the galley.”
Thinking about how good the food was that he was eating, he said, “Okay.
You got a deal. Just make sure the meal includes an extra dessert. I don’t
have to watch my figure.”
“Where are you staying?”
“I got the VIP suite in the ‘Q’. We’re going to be starting early tomorrow;
so, I want to get all the sleep I can tonight.”
“I’ll have my driver pick you up at 0600 hours.”
“What do you do around here for entertainment in the evening?”
“Personally, I spend some time reading contracts, resumes, and after that I
practice my music playing and sometimes, I even write some new music. My
husband is on Minbar at Anla’shok headquarters; so, I don’t get out much.
Occasionally, I practice with my band and play in the ‘O’ club.”
“I’ve heard some of your music. The last meeting I had with JCS, General
Leftcourt played music from a crystal he had. After it was finished, he told
us it was you. I’m impressed.”
“I find it’s a great stress reliever.”
Susan finished her dessert. “It’ll take me twenty minutes of hard workout
to burn off the extra calories.”
Looking Susan over thoughtfully, Egan commented, “You have been very
successful, so far.”
******************************
The flight to the TGS exercise area was routine, including the in-flight
refueling. Egan had questioned the need for in-flight refueling since it was
such a short flight and they would be finished before lunch. After Susan told
him about her first flight, he understood.
The exercises were routine and Susan gave the students extra time to
attempt some out-of-the-box maneuvers. None of the new attempts worked much
better than those tried in the past.
“Now that we’re finished playing with the TGS students, mister secretary,
we can drop in on the weapons testing facility. This won’t take long, and it’s
on the way home, sort of.”
“You’re the tour director, General Wayne.”
Susan smiled to herself. Egan was all business again. She had overheard
some of his surface thoughts since he arrived, and she was a bit embarrassed
that he seemed to have a crush on her. In his case, he realized that a crush
is all he would have. She was definitely hands-off.
******************************
Susan hadn’t visited the test facility before, but an invitation from the
head of the facility wasn’t something to ignore. He was one of the people who
thought the SF-400 program was a waste of money. He hadn’t attended her
meeting, but one of his staff had. What he had told Susan got her undivided
attention.
Susan and Egan sans flight suits were sitting in comfortable chairs in the
small projection room.
“General Wayne, after the videos, I want to show you several live test
firings. They will be limited to short range tests, but I think you will find
them especially enlightening,” said Colonel Larry Farms.
“Mr. Egan and I are ready, colonel.”
“The first video is from tests of the new weapons system that is designed
especially for the SF-400.”
The video started. The first images showed a pulse of energy similar to a
PPG pulse, except hundreds to thousands of times more powerful, being fired at
an invisible target twenty kilometers away. The next images were of the pulse
impacting a plate of lightweight armor like that used on a fighter airplane.
The energy of the pulse was dissipated with only minor damage.
“Not very impressive, colonel.”
“That’s not surprising, General Wayne, considering the range involved. We
still haven’t been able to compensate for the dispersion caused by the
atmosphere. The next sets of tests are at decreasing ranges. You will note the
short effective range of the weapon.”
Twenty minutes later, Susan asked, “This’s to be the main armament on the
SF-400 platform?”
“Yes, sir, general,” replied Farms.
“What other weapons can it carry?”
“Twenty-millimeter pods, air to air missiles, and ground attack weapons –
smart bombs, cluster weapons, bunker busters - essentially, the same weapons
that you can load onto an AFB-328B. The funny part is that the AFB-328B can
carry a heavier weapons load. However, the SF-400 is almost half again as fast
a F-350.”
“Interesting. What else do you want us to see?”
The videos started again. The weapon in the video looked like a single
barrel from a thirty-millimeter cannon like the one mounted in the AFB-328B.
The weapon was shown firing, but the muzzle blast wasn’t like anything Susan
had seen before. The video showed the same type of target that had been shown
in the first set of videos. This time when the projectile hit the armor it
tore a hole the size of a Human fist through the plate.
“That was at twenty kilometers, General Wayne. You do note that this is
about four times the normal range of a typical thirty-millimeter round.”
“How long was the projectile flight time?”
“Just under two and a half seconds. It had an average speed of eight
thousand meters per second.”
Egan whistled. “What project is this?”
“It isn’t, Mr. Secretary,” commented Farms. “It’s a little something we
cooked up when we saw what was happening with the SF-400 weapons program.”
“Compared to this, the SF-400 is a giant leap backwards, colonel.”
“That’s the point, General Wayne. I could argue until I’m blue in the face.
This saves me a great deal of time.”
“I don’t suppose you are going to give me a copy of these tests are you?”
“I thought you’d never ask, general. There are a few more of them, then I
want to show you a couple of live shots.”
******************************
Susan and Egan were enjoying a cup of good coffee and discussing what they
had seen.
“What do you think, Mr. Secretary?”
“I think we’ve wasted one hell of a lot of money, general.”
“I want one mounted in my plane,” commented Susan.
“If you can leave your plane, general, we have a completely tested unit
that can be bolted into the mounting used by your present system. We even have
a software patch that will allow your onboard weapons management system to
handle it properly. I’ll send an engineer and tech out to Stockton to get you
plane crew and weapons personnel up to speed. I know you do training, but I’m
hoping I can get you to fly back here and help us do live testing.”
“You have a deal, colonel. Now, how do I get back to Stockton?
“I have an AFB-328B that needs to be flown to Stockton; so, it can be run
through its three thousand hour maintenance. I send our aircraft to them and
they do the maintenance and use them as training aids for new technicians. It
saves both of our commands quite a bit of money.”
******************************
Susan stopped to talk to her plane captain. “This is a loaner. Colonel
Farms said it needed to be put into maintenance for its three thousand hour
checkup. My plane will be returned later this week. It’ll have some
modifications. There will be people sent out here to bring you up to speed on
the mods.”
“Yes, sir, General Wayne. May I ask what the mods include?”
“Weapons system software and a new cannon.”
******************************
After a late lunch in her office, Susan bade Egan goodbye. She watched a
new convert to the ‘Kill the SF-400’ club depart.
She looked at the box of data/video crystals in her hand and wondered how
the shortcomings of the SF-400 program had been so effectively hidden. If
things were what they appeared, she had a real problem on her hands.
Susan made a phone call and added the Playton Aviation Industries to the
list of things of which she wanted a complete financial analysis.
******************************
END PART 36
Part 37.
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