Sparks Snippet 2

 

Chapter 2

 

Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Sol star system

 

Lieutenant Commander Nick Pruitt smiled in anticipation of his latest proposal. He was eager for it to work out; he was sure he had a solid plan. Sure, he hadn't done the write-up on it but he had the basic concept down. Besides, all of the hard work had been done for him in the game engine by the designers!

He was certain that his proposal would put him on the list for early promotion if BuShips was receptive to it. He was confident but nervous though, his boss was hard to interpret. The rear admiral had come up with dozens of his own designs over the years and had a history of making things work. He was actually famous for that particular trait. That and being apolitical.

“He'll see you now,” the yeoman said with a nod.

He got up, brushed his pants and tucked his tablet under his arm and then went into the office. He stood at attention. The admiral nodded. “All right, what do you have in mind, Commander?”

The commander immediately began his pitch for a new cruiser design. He watched the admiral as he sat back and watched him, rocking slightly in his chair and steepling his fingers together.

Nick was certain that his family connections would help push the design through to the next phase. He would get the credit for the initial hard work of coming up with it. Let the engineers do the little bits of making it work, that was what they were good at after all.

“So, you thought this through, Commander?” the admiral asked after the pitch. He stared at the spinning image of a light cruiser. He'd seen the design before. Of course, he'd seen a lot of ship designs over the decades he'd been in uniform. This one was very familiar though.

“Yes, sir,” the commander said with a nod.

Getting pitches for new designs from eager junior officers was nothing new. He also got them from the occasional navy contractor wanting a work contract, if only to design something that ended up redundant and useless. This particular commander had delusions of grandeur. He never did the actual work on a design he came up with, that much was obvious from his latest pitch.

The design finally came to him when he ran a search through his implants. He snorted “No, I don't think you did.”

The commander scowled slightly. “Sir … it will work. I ran the simulations myself. Tactical simulations prove its value. The ability to turn on itself is priceless in battle.”

“Engineering simulations? Or did you get the idea from a video game?” the admiral demanded, eyeing the young man. He was very young he noted again. Green, and he had no business as a lieutenant commander. Not when he came up with crap like this.

“Well …”

“Yeah, that's what I thought,” the admiral said as he tossed the tablet onto the table in disgust. The image floating on his work screen continued to spin. He left it up for the moment.

“Were the tactical simulations in our computers or in a game?” the admiral asked.

“It will work!” the commander insisted. “Sir,” he added after a moment, seeming to calm down and remember his place after a sharp look from the officer across the desk from him. “It has been used many times in game mechanics! I'm quite good at it; there is a cult following for the basic design …”

The admiral looked at the design again and snorted. It had two pontoon engines on either flank. They could swivel a full 360 degrees. He'd seen such a half-baked design before on ships and shuttles. It put a lot of stress on that joint plus you had to run lines that could handle that sort of swivel design.

In theory it was great for a VTOL. But it didn't pan out when you had to move the nacelles and when you factored in the wear and tear and what could go wrong; it was a no brainer.

In other words, it was much better to just stick engines forward and back with vectored thrust and be done with it. Keep It Simple Stupid, something this kid had yet to get through his thick head.

“It will save weight, fuel …”

“Let me stop you there,” the admiral said, raising a hand to stop him. “First, you didn't run an engineering simulation. Specifically, point stress load on the pivot points or the structure. You'd need heavy structural reinforcement. Second, you have to have fuel lines that can swivel, which means a point of failure. Third, while swiveling the ship is vulnerable. If anything goes wrong, a micro meteorite, a piece of dust, anything gets in the gimble to muck it up and it's stuck in a bad position. I've seen it happen.”

The commander frowned.

“This is where real world experience comes into play, Commander, something you clearly lack. So, homework for you. Run this past an engineering simulation.”

“But, but, to do that, sir, I have to have engineering experience. I need a naval architect to design it …”

“Ah, so, you work in BuShips and come up with ideas and let others do the hard work of executing them? Is that it?”

“I … that's not what I said, sir.”

“No, it is what you implied. Do your homework first. That now includes research on past similar proposals with an eye to what worked and what didn't. I expect an answer back next week. That's on top of your regular duty assignments, Commander”

“Ah, as I was saying, sir, I'm not …”

“Then I suggest you figure it out, Commander. Dismissed,” the admiral said sharply.

The commander instinctively came to attention and then exited the room.

The rear admiral let out a raspberry sigh and then shook his head. You'd think by now the kid would have realized you don't come to a senior officer with a half-baked idea unless it was solid and you were ready to really get behind it and push.

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