I was filled with shame and pride. Standing in the large docking bay, I compared my little Grinder with the ships of 4th Fleet. Right next to my ship was the Cobra Gunship, Strike. She was easily twice the length of Grinder, and round, unlike my flat ship. She proudly displayed 16 large universal gun turrets, and four missile turrets. A pair of Winnow launchers flanked her, towards the aft. Strike’s mightiest weapon was the huge cannon fixed forward, right on her nose. Around this monster cannon was an array of fixed exotic weapons, for use on an enemy thinking himself well prepared.
On the other side of Strike was the Asp-class Foray. The Asp-class ships are MSS-types, like the Grinder. My ship was built with economy in mind. The Asp-class ships had the best of everything: better shields, better weapons, better armor, better sensors. Even the modules for this class were far and away better and more numerous than the Liberator-class ships. Foray had two massive weapons modules. Where the Grinder had two small plasma guns and a particle cannon, this ship had four universal turrets and a pair of 4-port missile launchers.
The Asp-class ships were wide with golden-colored armor. They were designed with stream-lined, graceful curves that made them look as if they could swim or glide through an atmosphere. The Liberator-class, though, was as graceful as a gray brick.
But I grinned to myself, because the Grinder was no typical Liberator-class ship. She wore a black mother-of-pearl suit of armor made of triadiam. She was also faster than any ship at HB 442, in both real space and faster-than-light. And, true, she didn’t have any anti-personnel defenses. But the two automated drones squatting under her belly more than compensated for that. And with Aardwolf’s help, she was smarter than Strike or Foray.
My shame was not of the Grinder, or her crew. It was of myself. Shepherd Moody, Fleet Commander of 4th, had grown his fleet beyond the two ships in the bay. He had a Diamond Delivery Carrier, another Cobra Gunship, and an Excalibur Gunship docked outside the orbital spaceport. He had enlisted a great crew, with 12 Marines, two Master Chief Engineers, and nine worthy pilots.
I made my way to a local dive of a bar on the spaceport, near HB 442's bays, and met up with Captain Moody and his command staff. I had Aardwolf with me, because I wanted Marie to finish a few things before joining us.
I compared notes with Moody, and found out that he had participated in 9 full-scale battles. His fleet took out two Pichamk bases, liberated a planet under Viatece control, and even defeated a Viatece battleship. On the other side of killing and blowing stuff up, Moody’s fleet also brought 3 alien species to Earth’s side of the war.
I was shocked when Moody told me how jealous of me he felt. It was probably the beer and bourbon speaking, but he was impressed with the work I had done on Cyprus Colony, at HB 2112, and the Catalian rescue effort. He had heard that I had something to do with Irarians pledging to help Earth and other human interests during the conflict. I found that a little amazing myself, but I’m not sure how I pulled that one off. Making a mental note to find out later (which was difficult because I had a really good buzz going), I excused myself and promised to catch up with Fleet Commander Moody on the morrow. In the mean time, I left Aardwolf in the bar and relieved Marie. She quickly dressed in her semi-formals and rushed to the bar.
I had a light snack and reviewed incoming infopaks. Bad news all over. Really bad.
Next Chapter >> 19: Humanity and the Fleets
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