Brad Mufflen Makes Ripples
Copyright© 2026 by Thinker
Chapter 5A
Brad worked rather late that evening and returned to his room rather late and went to bed. theThe next evening he went to the dining facility, but Eleanor did not show that night and was not around. When Brad went into Ops ops to see her the next day, she was obviously unhappy and told him she was very busy and would have to get back to him at some point. Brad was crushed,; he knew it was over, obviously Louise had not liked the relationship. He went back to work, but all his friends saw the change and stepped up as best they could. That evening Genevieve showed up at his room and was trying to cheer him up, sitting on hihis bunk and telling him that he had his choice of women, and that Eleanor’s rejection was her choice and her undoing most likely. She was not prepared when Captain Merriweather slipped in, she jumped to attention and slammed her head into the bed frame above her, causing both Brad and Captain Merriweather to quickly attend to her. FortunatelyFortunately, her hair arrangement saved her a cracked skull or even a cut as the women needed their hair up on their head and off their neck to wear the flight helmet. Ginny immediately felt in the wrong place and gave Brad a hug and said “Je suis là pour toi” getting Brad’s attention at the foreign language, only to hear Captain Merriweather respond ‘Oui, moi aussi”. Ginny’s head snapped around to look at the smiling Captain captain “I was taught several languages” she said with a smile. Ginny decided it was time to leave for sure, andsure and excused herself.
After Ginny left the Captaincaptain sat in the chair next to Brad’s “I have heard what happed with Ensign Hamilton., I am sorry, but it happens. i knowI know you are crushed, but you have given her every chance, Brad. She has made her choice, so now it is time to move on. Your French friend is concerned as am I. I expect you to find quite a few more friends who care and you need to accept that there is a reason why this didn’t work deeper than Eleanor just saying no. Her family is not accepting of you. youYou will find more happiness with those who appreciate what you do and who you are. She stood and Brad stood with her, “Thank you ma’am for caring, it means a lot” he gave her a slight hug, then realized that was inappropriate and started to apologize.apologize. She put a finger to his lips “it’s OK” and she raised up and kissed his cheek, then turned quickly and left while he tried to get his senses working.
The next day he pulled Ginny aside “OK, what were you and the captain saying? You know I don’t speak French ... or English all that well either.” Ginny looked at him “I told you I was here for you in the French close friends use, not formal French I’d use with the Captaincaptain or others I did not know well, or who were more important. than me. It implies a level of intimacy and closeness. She respond responded “Yes, me too” in the same informal French ... have you been close with the captain Brad?”
Brad was looking at her as his mind assessed this, He shook his head ‘no’. “It is very odd then, as she seems to speak fluent French.
The ship continued on with it’sits missions of course and they attacked three different alien colonies. Brad went out with his squadron, and he always brought them back. His squadron was becoming known for sticking together and not losing anyone in even the toughest fights although several fighters came back seriously damaged and two pilots were injured and had to be replaced. Brad had a diligent training program worked out for his squadron and Captain Merriweather requested he share it, which he did although some of the other squadron commanders weren’t as interested and had to be ordered to learn and use it. It did seem to reduce casualties though and relied ofon a lot of maneuvering between shots. After seven months the ship had to return to Fleet World for maintenance and updates. LikewiseLikewise, the fighters were all inspected and assessed with quite a few replaced. The newer fighters all had the large blue laser but still required 30 secondseconds of uninterrupted charging time between uses. They also had provision or for carrying two anti-ship missiles. All of this affected maneuverability as the same thrusters had to move more weight now. Working with the maintenance crews Brad managed to up increase the thrusters’ out put some, but it did not make up for all that had been lost. They sent notes to the fleet about the loss of maneuverability and its potential effects on future casualties.
Training with the new fighters showed the loss of maneuverability and of acceleration, vs the older fighters, they suffered in practice combat. Most felt the big Blueblue laser wasn’t worth its cost in survivability. Even the captain’s two seattwo-seat fighter could out maneuver the new fighters and the wing wished to refuse them. This caused a stir and various high level officers and civilian functionaries got involved. The fighters were held back for base defense and the HORNET’S NEST got refreshed old style fighters, also able to carry two missiles.
There was some sort of fuss around the Captaincaptain and she boarded the ship which deployed almost immediately to support the push back past Gandalf. That planet itself was so radioactive as to preclude landing or even close stay in space, which there was no reason to do. The gas giants around the system had all been exterminated and it was just a upsetting memory for all.
Past that they joined the fleet pressuring the aliens, with two large flattenedlarge, flattened globes, four heavy cruisers, and several smaller cruisers, and a slew of escorts. The carrier was a welcome addition as the aliens had not found a good counter for the Federation federation fighters. Their own fighters were several times larger and far less maneuverable, making them fairly easy kills. theThe remotely piloted fighters were much more comparable to the federation fighters but were limited by the time/distance of what the unmanned fighter saw transmitted to the controller who then sent movement and firing orders back. With a bit of luck, the federation fighter had destroyed it by then, but with a flood of them deployed, they were a challenge best defeated by destroying the controlling ship. Numerous such remote controlledremote-controlled fighter fighters had been gathered up after battles and exploited, but nothing surprising was found and the most use came from looking at the commands being sent as a foothold into the alien’s language. A few had been altered and used against the aliens, but their effectiveness was not worth the effort and costs. The fighters were involved from day one and engaged in several battles using a manyas many as three squadrons at a time. Losses began to mount and most squadronsquadrons were flying just three flights of three ships and a single command ship five months in, which was not a good way to fight. Brad’s squadron was just as beat up with only six fighters fighting in two two-ship flights and two ships in the command flight. Brad was one of only three squadron commanders still in command andcommand and the First first Squadron squadron CO was flying wounded. The maintenance crews were slaving away trying to restore ships for use, but were struggling to just keep the level they had as newly damaged fighters kept coming in. Crew fatigue was high and getting worse and the arrival of the small carrier MOSQUITO allowed HORNET’S NEST to withdraw to refit and rest at a forward base. New pilots, fresh out of school and fresh fighters were supplied and training the new crews became another mission to be accomplished by yesterday.
Once back at the forward base, Brad found a hand writtenhandwritten note in a small envelope on his desk. Things like this didn’t exist out here, so it was with curiosity that Brad opened the note. It was a small card folded over and inside he read We need to talk some, nine PM my cabin, Donna.
Brad only knew one Donna and he was concerned a bit. But then again, she was the boss. A few moments before nine he ventured into the senior officersofficer’s passageway and tapped lightly on the door of the CO’s cabin. She opened it immediately and pulled him in and closed the door, then hugged him and pointed him to a chair on the far side of the cabin and joined him. “I am so glad you survived this hell, I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I took the XO into my confidenceconfidence, and she is covering for us. I just needed a friend, not a fellow officer, you can manage that?” Brad smiled and nodded. She reached over and took his hand in hers. Life is becoming so busy and confusedconfusing. And this is a big risk, as we could be found out...” she noted the smirk on Brad’s face “What?”
To read the complete story you need to be logged in:
Log In or
Register for a Free account
(Why register?)
* Allows you 3 stories to read in 24 hours.