Let's Make a Deal (Bob and Nikki Book 11), стр. 47
“May I try?”
“Sure.” I left the partial mag in the weapon, so just in case it got away from him, he wouldn’t cause as much mayhem. He did better than I expected, all his rounds were close to what he was shooting at. He asked, “Impressive, for sure, but why is this better than what we have?”
“It’s useful when you find yourself outnumbered, or you need to keep the other fellow’s head down while you advance. Most of the time, it’s just a waste of ammo, but not always. Better to have it and not need it, don’t you think?”
“I suppose. Can it fire one round at a time?”
“Sure, just flip this up.” He tried some single shots at the fixed targets on the range. “This doesn’t have much recoil, does it? Is it powerful?”
“Not especially, but it’s enough to do the job.” We fiddled around for a while, and then Topper’s voice came over the speaker. “Boss, Captain Dressi is coming aboard. Playtime is over.”
“Have you already paged Mrs. Wilson?”
“Yes, Boss.”
“Have the Captain meet us at the ready room, please.”
“On it, Boss.”
“Talk to you later, Topper.”
“Later, Boss.” We hit the transit, and when we arrived, Nikki and Snappi were waiting on us. Nikki said, “Where did you sneak off to, Caveman?”
“We were down at the armory. I was showing Natti the carbine Nunya came up with.”
“I should have known you would be on the range. We’ve kept you cooped up too long, haven’t we?”
“I suppose, but it’s my job, isn’t it?”
“Grandpa does a pretty good job at it. You could take some time off.”
“I would like to get back to Earth, at least for a bit. That’s a problem for another day, though. We need to negotiate with these fellows some more right now.” We got started, and I guess I was beginning to get into it, because I was surprised when Stella came in with lunch. After we ate, we got back to work. I was just beginning to get hungry again, when Topper came over the speaker, “Commodore Wilson to the bridge, please. Commodore Wilson, please come to the bridge.”
I said, “Sorry, gents, meeting adjourned. You might want to see what the situation is, before you head back to your ship.” I ran across to the bridge, and Saucy announced me. I replied with, “As you were. My ship, report.”
As I was strapping in, Topper said, “Sally detected a fleet coming in. She says one of the ships is bigger than anything she’s seen before.”
“Tell the fleet to bounce as soon as they emerge. No use being sitting targets for these idiots. Saucy, get me a line to Sally.”
Sally’s voice came over the speaker. “Yes, Boss?”
“Did you get a count of how many vessels we’ll be facing?”
“The monster, one carrier, and six destroyers.”
“Unless that big boy is really tough, that doesn’t sound like all that much of a fleet. Jump in behind them, just to keep them confused. I’m beginning to get a funny feeling about this.”
“Understood. Sally out.”
“Wilson out.” I turned to Topper. “Send the fleet Sally’s count of our opponents. Tell Black Beauty and Midnight that I want scans of that big ship as soon as they can manage.”
“On it, Boss.” I hadn’t realized everyone from the meeting had followed me to the bridge. Natti spoke up. “Did I hear correctly? There is a massive ship incoming?”
I replied, “Yes, Ambassador, that is correct. Sorry to say, I don’t think you have time to get back to your ship before it arrives. You might want to have Nikki brief you on how to use our life pods, this ship is bigger than anything we’ve fought before.”
“I don’t think that will be necessary, Commodore. The only ship I know of that is that large, is the Emperor’s personal yacht. It’s quite impressive, but it isn’t a warship.”
“Wait a minute. You’re saying the Emperor his own self has come to the party?”
“That’s what it looks like to me.”
“Saucy, give me a channel to the fleet.”
“You’re on, Boss.”
“Be advised, the large ship about to emerge from FTL and scare the crap out of you is thought to be the personal yacht of the Emperor of Oak. Do not fire on it, unless it fires on you first. All Captains acknowledge on this channel.” Everyone but Sally acknowledged. I said, “Thank you, Captains. Good luck.” I gave Saucy the gesture to cut the connection, then I said, “Make sure Sally is informed as soon as she emerges. We don’t want her getting the wrong idea when she comes out and sees that monster in our system.”
Saucy replied, “Understood.” We waited, and then the Emperor’s fleet emerged. His yacht and the carrier both launched fighters, which proceeded to put on an ‘airshow’, designed to impress us with their mastery, I suppose. I said, “Ruth, as soon as they recover, show them what precision flying looks like.”
“Yes, Boss.” She punched a few buttons, and said, “Flight plan delivered to the fleet, Boss. Awaiting your go.”
The Squirrel fighters began recovering on the yacht and the carrier. I noticed their flight ops were sloppy, compared to Gene. Once they were mostly back aboard, I said, “Go, Ruth.” Saucy put the show up on the main screen. All our carriers went into barrel rolls, so that they could deploy a fighter screen without the fighters having to maneuver. Once the fighters were far enough out for it to be safe, the carriers started jumping into one another’s fighter screens. Ruth had the timing down well enough for it to look like magic. The destroyers were keeping up their end, doing all sorts of tricks. Once the carriers were back inside their own fighter formations, the fighters recovered, and we jumped back to our starting positions. Natti