Deke bolted down Terminal D’s walkway. There were 24 bays on D. The Buttercup was in bay 14, in between two Raptors. It was easy to spot the ship, since the top of her bow was lower than the bottom of theirs.

It was very easy to see their discrepancies from this angle. It was also easy to see that the Buttercup packed half the guns of a Raptor in a quarter of the size. And that the engines were the same size, meaning they would propel her faster than any Raptor could reach.

On top of that, there was a group of naval soldiers in front of the bay, getting a lecture from Bronze Valve. It was his job to take them under his wing and integrate them into being a Third Fleet officer.

Deke slid to a stop in front of the ramp, but behind Bronze Valve. He took a deep breath to restore the air lost on his long sprint to the ship. His uniform had to be a bit disoriented.

“Have the others arrived?” Deke panted.

“No,” Bronze Valve replied, confused.

“Skeleton crew aboard?” Deke asked.

“Of course,” Bronze Valve nodded.

Deke took a solid breath in and composed himself in front of everypony. “Emergency calling for us. Launch with what crew we need immediately. So Warrant Chief, take the new crew members in for some more classroom work. Maybe get them started on ship profile identification? And make sure they learn the advantages of the Corvette Class. Backwards and forwards. They will need them immediatly. Same with the downsides and how to compensate for them.”

“Yes Sir!” Bronze Valve replied, saluting with his wing.

Deke shot a salute back and scrambled up the ramp. He clamored through the ship to the bridge. It was his first time back on the Buttercup since they had taken her in for some work. He could see some immediate changes like the seats, but he had a ship to launch.

Deke jumped into the pilots seat, which had been moved to the very front of the bridge for an unobstructed view, and immediately put the ship on full alert. He sounded the ship’s whistle to alert the crew, before coming over the ship’s communication speakers.

“All crew to your stations. This is not a drill. This is Lieutenant Commander Deke. We have been requested for emergency take off and rendezvous. I know we only have a skeleton crew aboard, but that is all we want. I have no other details at this time. Prepare for a quick launch. We will launch as soon as Admicaptain, oh fuck it. As soon as Ruby and Little get here we are launching. I still have to solidify all these proper procedures for the new wings.”

Deke leaned over to the other pilot terminal beside him and opened it up in admin setting. He switched it to a communications terminal and then called out to the air traffic control tower.

“Tower this is The Buttercup, ID CV-001. Acting XO, Lieutenant Commander Deke. Do you have orders for our departure?”

“CV-001, this is Tower. We received immediate, emergency departure orders for you. All air traffic has been grounded. You are clear to take off as soon as possible.”

“Roger that. Waiting on the other XOs. As soon as they are secured, we will depart. Prepare to be amazed.”

Deke began to plot their path out of the terminal and Nellie Air Force Base. This was the hub of all hubs for Cloudships. Las Pegasus was where they laid down the new Cloudships. To halt the air traffic was a big deal. It showed the importance of their departure and that the tower had no idea what was going on, so they cleared it all to allow a departure to any direction.

Little plopped into the Navigators Seat, across from the Pilot’s Seat. She nodded to Deke and both of them looked back at Ruby Snow, who was standing besides the Captain’s chair. He gave a silent nod.

Deke put full power to the engines and pulled the ship back into a rearward lean nearing 30 degrees as he took the Buttercup straight out backwards. He used that 30 degree lean to give them the lift they needed to get into the sky, clear of the base. It was a good thing they were at emergency stations because of the angle. Deke expertly slipped the Buttercup around and transferred cleanly to full power forward, without losing any momentum.

Ruby Snow gave the coordinates to Little. She laid them in and gave Deke the heading change. She was not happy with being the navigator. Little saw Deke as a navigator, not a pilot. And only because he had first joined the Buttercup as a navigator. And she believed she was the better pilot.

But she wasn’t stupid or vein. They stayed at their stations as they pushed the limits of their engines. There was nothing to talk about. Only Ruby Snow knew what was going on, and even then, it was only the next step.

“Hmph,” Little snorted. “The new wings are going to have to recalibrate these engines.”

“Not if they did things right,” Deke shot back, only watching his terminals and out the windows. “Assuming they did things right. They did do the chairs right.”

Little snorted a chuckle. “Hard to fuck up chairs with what we had.”

“I’m afraid to look at what else they did to the bridge,” Deke stated.

“Look later,” Little said as she checked on the beeping terminal. “We are on an intercept with a Cloudship. Raptor by the look at it.”

Little gave Deke the coordinates. The Raptor was slowing down. She gauged it’s stopping point. Deke kept them on pace. The ship held its position as Deke brought the Buttercup screaming towards it. This high priority mission required the utmost speed.

Deke pulled the breaks, opening all flaps and reversing the engines for a high speed stop. It was a lot of force. The engines were screaming in agony. Little helped out by lowering the ramp.

They stopped perfectly, bow to bow, separated by only a pony length or two. There was no adjustments needed. Deke was that good. Little looked over at Deke. Deke saw her wonder in his peripherals. He had to fight hard to suppress even a smile at the stunt he just pulled off.

Deke had to give credit to the other captain who held his ground. Moving would have been more problematic, but it had to be hard to stay so still. The Hurricane was captained by a very good Captain.

Their ramps were both down, matching the same plain. A Pegasus hopped off of the Hurricane and onto the Buttercup. Ruby Snow had headed below to meet him. As the ramp began to move up, Deke coaxed the Buttercup to rise up so that the two bridges were face to face, since the Corvette’s design had the bridge below the top guns, not in the middle like the other classes.

Deke stepped to the front to be clearly seen. He gave a salute to the Captain, who had also stepped to the front. The Captain saluted back.

Deke sat back down and pulled the Buttercup up and away in a smooth, but fast maneuver. Deke put them into a southeast heading. The Hurricane didn’t move until after they were well away.

Ruby Snow came back with General Shielded Vengeance by his side. “Little, lay in a course for...”

“Already in,” Little said, cutting him off. “There is only one place we have to head to in secret. But Deke, you need to adjust your heading by 30 degrees north.”

“Not yet,” Deke replied. “We are still in sight. Over the next hour we will maintain course. I’ll make that final adjustment then. I know, in seven and a half minutes, they won’t be able to see us, but we will give them no indication of our destination, while maintaining a strong course.”

“You know the distances of the radar?” General Shielded Vengeance asked, impressed.

“Absolutely,” Deke replied, flipping through weather reports. “Both Little and I do. We have a longer range than any other Cloudship, even the Solar doesn’t have the range we do.”

Little chuckled and explained it. “They fucked themselves up on that. They developed a better radar for the Corvettes. We need it for the patrolling the ship is designed to do. But when they scrapped it all, they didn’t take key improvements, like the radar, and use them in any new ships, or even to upgrade others. They just scrapped it as one whole thing. At least this ship and it’s systems survived so we can confirm the superiority of it. They just make carbon copies of the Sky-tanks and Raptors, rather than create something totally new. You know, with minor improvements every few decades so they are not exact copies. Still.”

“What is the max speed of this Cloudship?” General Shielded Vengeance asked.

“We can max out at 500 Knots,” Little replied. “Currently we are cruising at 478 Knots. Atmosphere plays a key role in the speed. The Lord Clove maxes at 300 Knots. The Net Layers beat the Lord Clove by a solid 35 Knots, about 335 Knots, max. A Sky-tank will hit 375 and a Raptor 450. In optimal settings. They usually won’t go past 400. Thunderheads sit about 325 top cruising speed.”

“And the Red Dawn?” General Shielded Vengeance asked.

“550 Knots,” Little replied with a smile. “That is sustainable speed. The top recorded speed was 582 Knots. Less than 100 Knots to go for her and she breaks the sound barrier.”

“The Red Dawn is a Battle Cruiser, we need more of her,” General Shielded Vengeance said.

“Nope!” Ruby Snow shot back. “The Battle Cruiser is a bad class. Its a lucky shot, converting an early war troop transport to carry big guns. Its a lot slimmer than the later Cloudships, so she cuts through the air very efficiently with her retrofitted engines. But she isn’t a good design.”

“We have Unit 731 stationed on her,” General Shielded Vengeance said, trying to understand.

Little turned the seat around to face them. “Because the Red Dawn is a carrier. A Fairy Class carrier. So stationing troops on her is natural. They were trying to update her as a carrier to compete with the others, rather than scrap her. For a ship of the line, you need more. Which is why they came out with the Monitor Class and the Corvette Class.”

“You need more ships,” General Shielded Vengeance stated. “Your prestige went up from the work you did with the North’s Ice Emergency. But you won’t get them on your own. The Second Fleet’s new Vice Admiral is now Purple Breeze, who was Fleet Admiral of the Third. Strong. And Ruby Snow, you are a long time Third Fleet Officer and now the Fleet Admiral. That move is a powerful one for you.”

“What are you getting at?” Ruby Snow asked.

Beeping on the Navigation Terminal caused them to all turn as Little checked it out.

“A group of ships just entered our radar,” Little said. “Nothing big. Probably the First Fleet’s Ninth Task Force from what I recall on troop movements.”

“Changing direction now,” Deke said, turning them to their final heading. “That way we only are seen by them on one heading, not changing headings. That is the safest.”

“They will see us,” Little said, finishing rough calculations. “Only on Radar. I’ll relay our position so they do not break to pursue something moving faster than they thought a Cloudship could fly.”

Little popped back to the Communication Terminals. “This is CV-001, the Buttercup, Third Fleet. Is that the First Fleet’s Ninth Task Force we see on our Radar?”

“CV-001, this is RR-126, lead ship on the Ninth Task Force of the First Fleet. That’s a good radar you have, we still can’t see you. But we have no other radio chatter.”

“RR-126, We are moving at top speed for a high priority call. You will see us clip through your forward Radar in about 45 minutes. We are currently moving about 475 Knots in an east by south east direction.”

“475 Knots?”

“That’s the CV class for you,” Little replied.

“We are sustaining a 330 Knot speed at our heading.”

“Roger that. I have the same. You won’t be a problem. The only reason I am even having to contact you is so that you are not confused by a 475 Knot speeding object on your radar for those seven minutes.”

“You are really good at those numbers.”

“It’s just part of the job, knowing them. Making sure you won’t hit anything.”

“Yeah, but you know radar distances.”

Little gave a chuckle. “You can learn them too. It would separate you from the others if you can do it. Give you an advantage for promotion.”

“I don’t think I can keep it in my head.”

“Please, I have a cheat sheet set to give me my formulas. Its more than anypegasus else will have. At least it shows you care.”

“And I am a com officer, not navigation.”

“Do you like com?”

“Yeah. Its not weapons or pilot, but its better than weather.”

“All officers should be able to function at all positions, not star. So learn, and maybe you can shift. Or jump ship in a transfer to get it done.”

“I should get off the line, since this is not longer important or relevant, but thanks.”

The line was hung up and Little turned around to face Ruby Snow and General Shielded Vengeance.

“You were saying?” Little asked General Shielded Vengeance.

“Ah, yes. I was saying that, you need more ships, but don’t have the leverage to expand your fleet. I could back the expansion, if we were to place some Units on rotation in your holds. The corvettes and monitors can hold troops, correct?”

“They can,” Little nodded, letting Ruby Snow listen and think. “Monitors kind of go against the ACU ideology being so slow, but combining the Corvette with an ACB unit would work well. We know it works well with 731 being stationed on the Red Dawn.”

“Get me a fleet design,” General Shielded Vengeance said. “We can start there.”

“I’ll get it written down,” Ruby Snow said. “But I know what we need. Five Monitors to make six in the fleet. Two per city, Las Pegasus, New Cloudsdale, and Twin Clouds. That will give us a direct defensive cover around the cities. Add in another nine Corvettes and we could take on the entire First Fleet and probably win. Assuming its fielded correctly. Strategically.”

“I don’t know if I can get you that,” General Shielded Vengeance replied. “But I bet we can get half of that.”

Ruby Snow nodded. “I’ll draw up a Fleet Strategy Plan for it. We can keep the corvettes running the cities and critical points like they are designed, with the Monitors playing defense on each city. We are the odd balls. The Council should like the plan.”

Deke sighed, still watching his terminal screens. “We will have to train a lot of officers, fast. We can’t let any new Cloudships get tainted with the wrong philosophy.”

“We have enough in play,” Ruby Snow said. “We can pull from them to Captain and First those ships, so we stay true.”

Deke silently nodded and they settled into an uneventful trip. They were not far off from their mark, coasting into a careful stop by Deke, close to midnight.

They should be on a rotation, since it was a skeleton crew. But none of the officers were going to sleep right now. The crew was probably on rotation, but none of the officers on the bridge could sleep, even if they wanted too.

The navigation terminal beeped and Little leaned in to read it.

“Two Pegasi coming in fast off our rear from north northwest.”

“Two Pegasi?” General Shielded Vengeance asked concerned. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Little said, taking a closer look. “This system is good, and I am great at reading it. Its small, but no way its more than three. And they fly in pairs. Is that a problem?”

“No,” General Shielded Vengeance replied. “I am surprised you can pick them up at that range.”

Little chuckled. “And that is why the Enclave shot themselves in the wing when they scrapped the whole project and didn’t keep the systems updates. They will be here in 43 minutes by their speed. I say hour and a half because they will cruise in with us in sight.”

Little was right on the nose with her projections. The ramp was lower and General Shielded Vengeance met them below. He returned a little while later alone.

“Lieutenant Commander Deke, make a hole!” General Shielded Vengeance ordered.

Deke stepped over to the right wall of the bridge where the terminals were set up for fire control. It was odd not giving them a view out the bridge, but part of the new design.

Deke blew the ship’s whistle to signal a message. “Team to Turret 5 for fire control. I need a team to Turret 5 for fire control.”

Little was concerned. “Turret 5? That's the funky turret!”

“And if they did their job, it should have been fixed,” Deke fired back.

“Ruby?” Little asked.

“No idea,” Ruby shrugged. “But it was on the detailed log. So it should have been fixed.”

Deke chose his point, the turret’s movement groaning audible in the quiet ship, and gave the team final orders for the turret. It would be off to their right side since Turret 5 was on the bow’s starboard point. Just in view of the bridge. When the light went from yellow to green, he pulled the trigger, firing the round.

“You missed!” Little shouted when the round disappeared into the clouds without exploding.

Deke spun around to look at her, wing out, counting down with his feathers. “Three, two, one, BOOM!”

Deke’s count was spot on and he was grinning. Little turned to navigation.

“Clouds breached,” Little said a second later. “500 yards out. Deke slipped it between them to nestle in the center of the layers, rather than blow them from the top down. Your team is clear to move.”

Nothing was said, but the two pegasi soon slipped out of the bay and down along the clouds. They lazily flipped up and straight down through the center of the hole.

Deke turned to face the others, for the first time since they had picked up General Shielded Vengeance. “24 hours? Same thing?”

“Yes,” General Shielded Vengeance nodded. “24 hours.”

“Then,” Deke said standing up. “I shall step down for the next 18 and start the rotation. After I check out what was exactly done to our bridge.”

“Good call,” Ruby Snow said. “And in 8 hours Little will step down and I will take control.”

As Deke had already noticed, things were set up with the standard center isle, with the forward section set down two steps. The Captain's Chair had been moved forward several feet and given a left sided console, but it was still on the upper floor, to look down on things. There was two feet of space in front of the Pilot’s seat on the right, and two in front of the Navigator’s Seat. Both had primary and secondary seats. The space in front of the glass was there for forward visual inspection by the captain.

Along the walls was everything else. Fire Control for the guns on the right, with Systems next to it. The left had Weather’s position right behind the Navigation, and Communication after that. Behind the Captain's Chair was where everything had really changed.

The bridge was small, but it was rammed in quite comfortably. They had to move the Captain's Chair forward because behind it was two more stations. The entrance to the bridge was on the right back corner and couldn't be changed. But immediately to the left was a station with several terminals, two along the back wall and two on a central unit they had added. It looked like a center half wall. The seat might be located in the back, but it had a good view of the bridge. It was set up for the Admiral to work at, while overseeing it all.

The left corner had one terminal on the rear wall by the center unit, the center unit had two terminals on the other side from the admiral’s chair and two terminals were on a front unit that boxed everything in, except for it’s entrance on the far left. On the back wall, above the seat, was two slide boards. The top had “Commander” slid into it, and below had “Deke.”

Deke sat in his corner. It was a step up, so he could see everything better. It had it all. Weather and systems monitoring was on the back wall’s screen, communication and Fire Control shared the center console. Navigation and full piloting control was on the forward console. Deke had more than enough desk space on both to work as well. He might have full controls for all stations, but he knew it wouldn't come to it. They were only giving themselves redundancy for safety reasons. Still, it was all his.

“Like it?” Ruby Snow asked.

“Oh yeah,” Deke said, grinning. He wiped drool from the corner of his mouth. “This is built for me. It’s built for a real first officer. Everything you need to watch over the ship. Especially when you are training new wings.”

“Well,” Ruby Snow shrugged. “You did inspire a good amount of the design. Both of you. You know how to pay attention to it all, without crowding. But you need to see it for yourself, along with receiving updates. I look forward to seeing how you mold the crew.”

“I’ll miss navigation,” Deke said leaning back, lounging in the chair. “Mostly for sitting in a forward position. But I will enjoy it here, where I don’t have to piss them off as they do their job.”

“Cross information is key,” Ruby Snow stated. “All stations have that terminal in between seats. Its designed to be there for them to flip through the other readouts to double check without having to ask for simple information.”

Deke chuckled. “In other words, to make it so I wasn’t pissing the other bridge officers off by asking for simple info to make sure I was navigating the ship correctly.”

“Exactly,” Ruby Snow chuckled. “I get a kick out of reading those reports about you. Especially after having you serving under me. Now it makes them funnier. You do your job, and its pisses everypegasus else off.”

“Alright, I am out,” Deke said standing back up. “While I could sleep in that chair. I won’t to keep it sharp. They will know if I am there, I am watching. Always watching.”

“You are going to be a terror on my crew,” Little groaned, trying to not laugh. She would be doing the same thing. But both would be approachable. An officer always had to be approachable to ensure that the ship got things done right.

Next Chapter: Chapter 86 - Sword And Shield Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 5 Minutes