Fortitude (The Navy of Humanity: Wasp Squadron Book 4) by Jonathan Brazee

Author:Jonathan Brazee [Brazee, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Semper Fi Press
Published: 2019-06-11T22:00:00+00:00

FS CALGARY

Chapter 11

“She doesn’t look that much different,” Beth said, making her inspection.

“Not much was done with her hull,” Lieutenant Commander Markel said, wiping his hands on his stained tanned overalls. “Most of the important upgrades were on the interior.”

The lieutenant commander was dual-hatted as the Calgary’s XO and engineering officer. With only 37 crew aboard the massive ship, most of the crew filled more than one position.

It had taken a full day after receiving the orders for the Bobolink and the Calgary to link up, a full day of direct and indirect queries on her mission. Beth never spilled, even to Mercy, who seemed rather put out. When Beth had returned to berthing and told the others that her mission was classified, Mercy had never considered that meant to her as well.

It had been a relief to finally leave her pouting friend and fly the Tala over to the big ship—although that had its own drama. Josh had begged to transfer to the Calgary, almost apoplectic that others would be working on his baby. Beth had tried to reason with him, telling him she would be returning to the Bobolink and he’d be stranded, but that hadn’t done much good. He’d made her promise to keep a detailed list of everything the techs on the Calgary did to her so he could undo them at his first opportunity.

“That’s not to say that we didn’t do anything. Come take a look,” the lieutenant commander said, flopping down on his back and pulling himself under the fighter. Beth hesitated for a moment. The Calgary was generally and surprisingly spotless, but not the specific area around the Tala where five techs had been working non-stop for the last 12 hours.

Hell, what am I worried about? Just a little dirt.

She got down and slid up alongside him.

“This is your P-13 housing. We removed the cyclotron, power converter, and lens.”

For good reason, Beth was a little wary about hadron cannons now, and part of her approved the removal, but she would miss having the weapon with her. She’d never made a kill with hers, having splashed crystals with torpedoes and her rail gun, but that didn’t mean the weapon was useless.

“Now, here,” the lieutenant commander continued, pointing to a recessed latch, “is your access. Pull it out ninety degrees from here, rotate it like this, then flip it up.”

The housing swung both out and open on a hinged edge, revealing a surprising amount of room, more than Beth would have guessed would be under a Wasp.

“When you want to close it, just reverse the actions,” he said, demonstrating.

Beth reached up and touched the seam. She could feel a slight ridge, which wouldn’t be a problem in the vacuum of space, and she hoped it wasn’t disruptive enough to cause a problem in New Bristol’s atmosphere.

“Can I put a person in there?” she asked.

“Can you? Sure!” he said.

Maybe I can stick my guest—

“If you don’t mind him dying on you. There’s no life support in there,” he said with a laugh.

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