“Somebody’s either got a sense of humor or has been reading too much fantasy,” Commodore Kitano muttered.
“Kris, there’s something strange about those warships,” Nelly reported. “They’ve got double the capacitors for their lasers. And their lasers are giving Chief Beni readouts that don’t match anything in our database.”
Kris couldn’t help but notice that when Nelly couldn’t verify the signature of a ship, it was Chief Beni’s problem. However, this might be more of a problem than just a database slip.
“Is this an alien sneak attack?” Kris quickly asked.
Captain Drago was on his feet and headed for his bridge.
“Hold it,” Commodore Kitano said. “There was talk of a new 22-inch laser before we left. They were totally different, not just uprated 18-inchers like our 20-inch lasers. They had teething problems. If what we’re seeing are those big guns, they’re going to look weird to us.”
“Reactors are straight-up human construction per our analysis,” Nelly reported.
Drago came back to the table but stood behind his chair.
Another new squadron was coming in.
“This one’s from Pitt’s Hope. It shows clear U.S. recognition signals,” Nelly reported. “And it has those same strange guns. Battleaxe leading Broadsword, Scimitar, Saber, Arrow, Longbow, Claymore, and Grenade. All standard-make U.S. reactors though. They’re trailed by the Artifex, Appleleaf, Orangeleaf, and Cherryleaf. I make them out to be another repair ship and three supply ships.”
“Let’s hope they didn’t stint on the food,” Kris said.
“Oh, we got a big one,” Nelly announced. “It reports itself the Portsmouth out of Pitt’s Hope. It appears to me that we have another addition to Canopus Station.”
“With all these ships to park, we’ll need some piers,” Kris said.
She made a quick call to Admiral Benson. “I think you have another extension to your station.”
“So I noticed. I sincerely hope whoever is skippering the Portsmouth is as good as Admiral Hiroshi was with the Kure Docks.”
“You might want to get with Hiroshi and coordinate with the new fellow,” Kris said.
“Was already planning on it,” the admiral said, and Kris rang off.
And yet a fourth squadron came through the jump.
“This one is from Yamato,” Nelly reported. “The flag is Mikasa, followed by the Asahi, Hatsuse, Yakumo, Idzumo, Iwate, Asama, and Toikiwa. Those are the warships. There’s also a Tyogei, likely a repair ship since there’s no ‘maru’ after the name, and the Kamoi Maru, Kinugasa Maru, and Kinagawa Maru. Supply ships most likely. Ah, Kris, are Musashi and Yamato on good terms? Should we brigade the two squadrons together or keep them apart?”
“No doubt we’ll find out soon enough,” Kris said.
“Hopefully, you’ll find out before you leave,” Commodore Kitano muttered loud enough for all to hear.
“There’s another huge dockyard-size ship coming through,” Nelly reported. “The Sasebo Maru. Yamato has a Sasebo Navy Shipyard in orbit. This might be another yard for us.”
“If we double our ships, we need to double our yards and docks,” Kris said, standing. “The only question is, do we put it in a trailing orbit or hitch them on to us here. Nelly, ask Admirals Benson and Hiroshi for a report on those two options plus any more they want to present.”
“Oh,” Nelly whispered. “Here’s something even bigger. The Prosperity out of New Eden. Interesting. It’s got two squawkers, one at each end. One says Prosperity in English. The other in Chinese.”
Kris tapped her commlink. “Pipra, do I have a challenge for you.”
“Not another one?”
“Yep. It appears that New Eden has contributed a huge factory ship full of mills and fabricators to our effort. However, having been spawned early from Earth, they’re of two minds. Half started from North America, the other half from China.”
“I think I’ve heard about that setup. They don’t talk too much, do they?”
“Not much from what I heard last visit. However, we’ve got a monstrous factory ship squawking from one end in English and the other end in Chinese.”
“Oh my. And I’m betting you want me to figure out some way to split that getup in half and land each end in some distant crater on the moon with plenty of water and other resources.”
“You got it. Makes me think you’ve been hanging around one of those damn Longknifes,” Kris said with a laugh.
What Pipra said was too low to hear.
“We got another large factory ship,” Nelly reported. “This one calls itself You Can Have It Monday, Maybe.”
“What kind of name is that?” Penny asked.
“I have no idea,” Nelly answered, “but you got to like it. It’s out of New Bern, so it must have corporations from the Helvetican Confederacy.”
“Pipra, can you find space for them as well?” Kris asked.
“Kris, you get me more factory ships, and I’ll find room for them anywhere and everywhere. I love more factory ships.”
“Great, Pipra, because I’m going to leave welcoming these fine folks in your warm and capable hands.”
“You’re going to what?” didn’t quite rise to the level of a scream. Not quite.
“I’ll talk to the Navy types and let them in on the situation. You talk to the business types.”
“You don’t pay me enough for this, woman.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, none of us are getting paid very much of anything,” Kris pointed out.
“I got to change that.”
“You do that and we’ll all celebrate with you.”
“Good-bye, Your Highness,” Pipra said.
“Good-bye, my right-hand gal of business,” Kris said. “I have yet another group coming through,” she said as she rang off. This time four ships appeared.
“Kris, this is a division from the Esperanto League,” Nelly reported. “They’re non-U.S. Their flagship is the Miela, that translates as ‘honey-sweet.’ The next three are Karesinda, Dezirinda, and Spirita, meaning ‘caressable,’ ‘desirable,’ and ‘witty.’”
“Strange names for warships,” Jack said.
“After the Iteeche War, the League passed a law that no warship could have a ‘distressingly combative name,’” Nelly said.
“So they managed to pass a bill authorizing warship construction,” Kris said, trying not to chortle at the political implications, “but not a bill to change the naming law.”
“The next should be the last,” Nelly announced, and the jump promptly gave up six more. “These are from Hispania, a U.S. member. The Libertad is the flag, followed by the Federaciaon, Independencia, and Union. They have two supply ships, Minnow and Koralo. That’s it, Kris. Forty new warships, twenty-four with those strange lasers, two new yards, three repair ships, twelve supply ships, and two very nice factory ships.”
“Not a bad haul,” Captain Drago said. “Especially considering what we’re down to after that last dustup.”