Q Runner: 2nd Fleet Story in the Outfitters Universe

By A.A. Forringer

Of the billions that have ever lived on Earth, 29,755 have been chosen.

Indentured servants from Colonial America, tailors from the 1920s in Brooklyn, NY, crocodile hunting Australian Aborigines, and farmers from the Horn of Africa; all removed from different times, places, and circumstances of Earth’s history. Each selected by a mysterious, seemingly omnipotent, alien race called the Outfitters because they had ‘no discernible impact on Earth’s history’. These diverse individuals join a unified Fleet to defend an Earth that moved on without them.

The crew of the Free Lunch is tasked with doing emergency rescue work in the vacuum of space. Max was studying Agriculture at the University of Somalia in the year 2020, his co-pilot Kim is a frustrated Korean military man who believes Rescue duties are beneath him, Jill is a Quaker, Philly is a crafty Elvis fan, Gwen is a hippy chick out of time, Roberto is an orphaned house painter from Cuba, Paddy watched Babe Ruth hit a homer and Sven well he does not say much.

• Language: English
• Publisher: A.A. Forringer
• Release date: Jun 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311007940

A.A. Forringer

Retired Law Enforcement, country boy who has been around the world, here, there, everywhere.Favorite Quote: All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.”― T.K. Whipple

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Q Runner

Copyright 2014 A.A. Forringer

Published by A.A.Forringer at Smashwords

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

The Story

About A.A. Forringer

Other Books by A.A. Forringer

Connect with A.A. Forringer

Acknowledgment

Thanks the Forringers and Clarks for reminding me who I am and where I come from, I do not spend enough time with you guys. Thanks to my daughter who is my favorite person to hang out with. To Ken and Scott my sounding boards and who put up with me texting them stupid, self centered questions. Last but not least my Thursday Morning Men I would not made it thru this last period in my life without you guys. Thanks to Tony M. who has given me a place to hang my hats.

Speical Thanks to Graham Kennedy of the United Kingdom, a great artist and the creative force behind the great cover on this book.

We had known it was coming for a while; you just can't hide that many ships, not when someone was looking for them. Not when your intention was to get close enough to kill the other guy. So we knew the Alarians were out there and they dam sure knew where we were. Now both fleets were jockeying for position.

Now you may ask yourself what position are you talking about its space, nothing out there, sure a few planets here and there, a couple of scattered stars, maybe a gas nebula, or two but for the most part just big empty nothingness, right?

Well you are right, it is a big empty, but you also have to think of lines of withdrawal and advance, supply lines, where your reserves are going to be held, are you going to feint, will the enemy. And don't forget this is all in three-D, not only are we talking left and right we are talking up and down too.

Now myself I may understand the principals but I would be way out of my league if I even presumed to tell you if it was good or bad strategy that we were following. Heck historians to this day argue about who won, whether Bashir should have withdrawn, or been more aggressive.

In my personal opinion, I judge Bashir on the whole not what happened during one month of the war.

Yes, I know the battle only lasted three days. To me they were the three longest days of my life, terror, screaming, blood and now it blurs together into seventy two hours of hell, but the battle lasted close to a month. Two weeks of maneuver and counter maneuver. Two days of the two fleets drawing closer and closer together at minimal speeds. Then after both sides were spent two days withdrawing wondering if the other side was going to slam the rest of itself back up against us. Then another week of maneuvering while licking our wounds and trying to put ourselves back together then trying to see how much actual damage was done to the other side.

The way I see it we won. We were still standing after it was all over and I think that scared the Alarians just a bit.

I mean we went into it out manned, out gunned and out numbered in ships almost two to one. But no matter what impression we made on those blue skinned bastards it came at an incredible cost, 15 major ships lost, over two hundred small ships lost, and five thousand personnel lost during that same span of time. Three of which died on my ship while we were trying to save them.

Oh yeah I guess that was your initial question, 'What did you do during the battle of Broken Wolf.'

I worked on a deep space rescue runabout, or as everyone liked to call us I was a Q Runner.

Chapter 1 December 25, 2150

He is going to finish fifth.

Not bad out of a hundred.

Yeah, but you bet him to win, place, or show, fifth is none of the above.

You are right. Come by the ship at around 1900 you can pick it up then.

Sorry Sergeant, Mac said to do it as soon as the first three cross the line, and since your guy wasn't one of them we go now.

Philly shrugged and waved to his two enlisted crewmen who were watching the exchange from across the crowded finish line area, both Roberto and Gwen nodded. The bet had been made by Philly but in reality they all had agreed on using their case of whiskey as the stake. Now they were all losing that, but like Philly's Dad had told him in a rare moment of sobriety, 'don't bet more than you can afford to lose'. Luckily they had not bet all three cases they had squirreled away on the ship.

Sergeant Phillip Xavier led the man over to a hovercraft and climbed aboard, the man had just settled into a seat when Philly twisted both throttles fully open.

So I heard Mac was going to get married? Philly asked over the wind.

You heard right. The man said non committedly.

First marriage I've heard of in the fleet.

First one for me too.

They rode along silence for a few minutes. Philly tried one more tactic try and get the guy to open up. So is Mac going to continue running the side business or is he going to retire when he settles down?

The bigger man looked him over and smiled. Unlikely, the girl he is marrying is his best handicapper, who do you think put the odds on the marathon. The man said motioning over his shoulder at where they had just come from.

Philly chuckled. Well nothing like a good family business.

The man seemed to have shifted back into nodding mode because that was how he answered, oh well Philly thought, here we are. The hovercraft had just cleared the final rise and they were coming on the assembled Rescue ships. There were ten in all, lined up in two rows of five. Behind them were the shuttles from their home ship, the Clara Barton hospital ship of the Second Squadron.

Which one is yours? The large man beside him asked.

Second row, third from the right.

They pulled up to the Free Lunch and Philly shut down the hovercraft.

Not much to look at. The man stated looking over the ship.

Yeah you could say that, but if you are in a jam anywhere out in deep space, you will love to see this thing in the neighborhood, because that means someone is coming for you.

Is that so? He said dismissively.

Absolutely my friend, this ship and the nine other ones here, and he motioned to the other ships, do nothing but rescue work, if your ship decompresses and is dead in the water, so to speak, then me and my crew find you and bring you back.

Well Mac and I are part of the crew of the 2nd Squadron’s Battle ship; you know the one with the big guns.

Philly muttered something under his breath about compensation; luckily the guy didn’t hear him or didn’t understand the meaning. Well if things are looking bad during a battle, button up your environmental suit, nice and tight and good old Philly will be there to pick you up.

Phhh. The man said dismissing the idea of something being even able to harm the battleship. Not only do we have the ability to reach out and punch whatever we want out of the sky, and he struck his considerable fist into his equally impressive palm. But it has the heaviest armor and strongest shields in the squadron.

Philly nodded not very impressed as they walked underneath the ship towards the central ramp ducking underneath a tractor beam projector. Yeah but the Rescue Runner does what it does not for speed or not for stealth, rescue and rescue alone. Philly hit the commlink on his belt. Computer this is Philly, lower the central ramp.

A female voice responded. Roger Philly.

It has a women's voice. The collection guy said surprised.

Yeah. Replied Philly. All rescue, ambulances and hospital ships do. It’s supposed to be more soothing to our patients I guess.

It's not one of those smart ship's is it? The guy said looking at the ship warily.

Philly was confused for a second, then he snapped his fingers. Oh no, no positornic brain on this one, we are only an alpha class ship, no hyperdrive so no need for a thinking ship, those are only on bravo class and above.

The big man looked at the ship and Philly saw the pistons firing in his head, then the guy nodded his head knowingly, which Philly hoped meant that he truly got it.

The ramp locked into place at ground level and Philly stepped on. The collector was about to step on when Philly put his hand up. Sorry buddy, the Lt. gave strict orders no one allowed on board without his permission. The big man just nodded and stepped back off the ramp. Philly hit the control panel and the ramp went back up.

Philly laughed to himself after the ramp locked into place. The Lt. had never made such a rule; he just didn't want Mac to know via his errand boy that he had two more cases of the very expensive whiskey on board. He walked quickly to the ladder and up to two deck; he went to the maintenance alcove and opened the service panel where they hid their whiskey. Taking a case he resealed the panel and put the tools back in front of the panel as he had found them. Listening before going down the ladder he got back outside as quickly as possible.

Well that was fast.

Philly looked around and saw no one, all still at the competition sites he hoped. Yeah, well here you go. He handed it over quickly to the guy and walked over to the hovercraft. He turned hoping Mac's collector was right behind him and discovered the man had opened the box and was unscrewing one of the lids on a bottle.

Philly was in shock he struggled for words then he looked around again, still no one in sight. He took a deep breath and calmed down. Excuse me what's your name friend?

Pete. He said looking at Philly while smelling the contents of the bottle.

Yeah well Pete, Philly said looking around again, I realize Mac doesn't trust me, which is fine no reason he should, but could we leave the vicinity of my ship while you check the contents.

Sorry Sergeant, Mac said to check it upon receipt, just doing like he said. The man put the bottle back down sans cap and started rummaging through the pockets of his vest.

Philly considered getting on the commlink and asking Gwen where Ensign Kim was but decided against it. Kim might answer or might even overhear Gwen getting the call. If Kim even suspected Philly was up to something the first place he would come to would be the ship.

Uh, here they are. Peter said pulling what looked like a small plastic bottle from an interior pocket in his vest.

What's that? Philly asked, temporarily distracted.

A test strip. Peter responded, as he opened the container and pulled out a long thin piece of paper. Peter than stuck the piece of paper in the bottle and sloshed the bottle around once. Pulling the paper out he looked at it closely to make sure it was wet.

Philly was about to ask what was going on when off in the distance he heard the high pitched whine of a hovercraft. Philly looked over at Pete and praised the gods when he saw him close up the bottle and put it back in the case with the other bottles. Philly then heard the whine of the engine and it was much closer now.

There he heard the hovercraft make the turn and approach the ship. Then it stopped. Philly peered around Pete to see who it was. Pete didn't turn around he just picked up the piece of paper off the crate and then looked at his watch.

Voices, but no ones Philly could recognize.

Times up. Pete said and held up the paper to the container. Philly watched the man's eyes dart back and forth from one to the other.

A voice louder than the rest yelled something and immediately Sergeant Phillip Xavier let out a sigh of relief. The voice was that of Barb his peer and possible girlfriend from the ship lined up next to his.

Okay satisfied? Philly asked smiling again.

The collector nodded and hoisted the case up to his shoulder. They walked to the hovercraft in silence and continued that way back to the finish line. Now that they were away from the ship Philly had full deniability and no matter what Ensign Kim thought, there was nothing to connect the whiskey to him or the Free Lunch. Philly started humming the tune to Hound Dog . When the arrived back at the Start/Finish line Pete got off and was lost in the crowd in a few steps without even a 'see you later'. Philly walked in the general direction he had last seen the crew and a few minutes later he found them, they were sitting around a picnic table.

As soon as he got within earshot a voice called out. Sergeant Xavier where have you been up to some deal or scheme I suspect?

Acting surprised Philly responded. Ensign Kim, you mean the race is over sir, I am sorry I missed your finish, but I went back to the ship because I brought you this. He threw the man a sweatshirt he had stored on the hovercraft.

The ensign caught it out of the air and muttered thanks as he put it on.

Philly smiled and waved his hand, as if not worrying about it. So anyways boss how did you do, 1st Place is my bet.

Chapter 2

Philly was so glad that the Captain was not big into formality, the Clara Barton and its complement had exactly one formation. That had been after the crawl phase of training.