by T J Bryan
"So why the OCN? Civil engineering sounds like a profession you love."
Quadi laughed, "Well, after you have shovelled dirt for half your life and thought only about dirt for the other half, you kind of welcome a change."
Abel was impressed with Quadi. Her motivations seemed sound and her attitude positive. As the conversation went on Abel became even more impressed as Quadi explained the difficulties of managing a crew of laborers on the small projects she was assigned to manage as an apprentice, as well as the larger construction efforts she designed as a member of her guild. She well understood how to motivate work crews who were committed to their work, but still liked to complain, slack off occasionally, and blame others for their failures. Quadi stressed team building and collective responsibility for both success and failure. She had a strong sense of self, but well understood the need to persuade and inspire others. She was a leader Abel realized.
The Collegium clock tower struck the beginning of Moon time and the light outside the office began to fade. He was going to be late for the Munitions Committee meeting, so he thanked Quadi and set off for the small classroom where the committee met.
Emmitt Wong and the committee members sat around a long seminar table with a display vid showing a time line and critical path for the development of one of their projects. As Abel sat he could see that the project was far, far behind schedule.
The committee had grown to 10 with two new additions; Jason Lambert a PhD candidate in physics and Martin Kárason an engineering undergraduate who, while often seemed a nervous wreck, was extremely well organized and driven to complete his projects. His sister Lydia Kárason was third defense on Ragnarök and Abel knew he had 'skin in the game'.
Upon Abel's late arrival all discussion stopped. Emmitt turned to Able. "We were just discussing the attempts, and 'attempts' is the right word, to reduce the size of our fusion engines to fit into a missile of the same form factor as the 'K's. We really have not made any progress. The design is still three times larger than the launch tube can support."
Abel attended the formal Committee review meetings every three days, but he met with Emmitt each morning for coffee and they discussed the progress of the munitions efforts or the lack thereof. Abel knew about the issues on the fusion engine project and although there had been some progress, there was simply not enough. And now the engineering team seamed to have come to a dead end. Rajesh Neet, a full Professor of Physics, led the team of twelve engineers on the project and Abel could see his frustration as Rajesh completed his very short presentation. Abel said nothing, for he had nothing to add.
Dr. Fredrickt Amost who headed the Collegium Department of Physics was in charge of the anti-matter project which right now consisted entirely of the question of how to open the anti-matter containment torus obtained at the Poly System and transfer its' contents to the Greayson torpedoes they had in stock. Professor Amost spoke for almost ten minutes before Emmitt cut him off. "So you still have not figured out how to open that thing?"
Amost, who was very knowledgeable, but pompous and wordy, simply shrugged his shoulders and sat down. Abel could see defeat written all over the professor. Perhaps someone else might take a look at the problem with fresh eyes and a new approach. That is if they simply didn't blow up the entire Habitat and the forbidden zone as well. After some discussion it was agreed to take the anti-matter containment vessel out of the Habitat and on to a distant abandoned mining station. The concern was that any more aggressive attempts to understand the vessel might well result in an explosion. A minimum distance of 300,000 kilometres was judged to be adequate.
Tyve Narlock another undergraduate reported that construction of the probes requested by Silvi had begun and they had successfully tested nine out of the ten they had made as prototypes. The tenth had failed as its' laser communicator was fried by a misaligned reaction jector. They knew what the problem was and it had been corrected. Tyve reported that they would have more than 100 completed and tested before the end of next month. Another two hundred would be available by the end of the following month when they expected Silvi and Farn to have returned. Abel was pleased but did not want to de-motivate the others so he said nothing at this time. He would catch Tyve later and inform him of how happy he was that the project was on track.
Daniel Merrryford, another undergraduate from the Mechanical Engineering Department, reported the successful modification of 10 sand casters to diamond dust casters. The tests had gone well Abel knew, however the utility of substituting diamond dust for spent uranium dust in combat as an electromagnetic and plasma interrupter was at this time unknown. The diamond dust had deflected and diffused plasma cannon shots during the test but it was still just an interesting idea. Abel could tell that Daniel was anxious for another project.
Finally Malcom Millot, who now managed the New Quark project spoke and informed everyone of the success of having relatives of the fabricators who served in the OCN 'help out' with the plasma welds on Quark. Off duty OCN crews with immediate relatives in the Fabricators Guild had been trained as 'weld inspectors'. The rejection rate on inspection had fallen from 8% to nearly nothing and all because the fabrications guild now fully understood that its' sons and daughters would be flying in New Quark and that the welds must be sound. The project was now back on track and testing of the full vehicle would begin at the in two months. Abel was again pleased.
"I have a new project for you Mr. Millot. It's something I talked a lot with Silvi about. It's a variation on the probes. Silvi want a 'mailbox' she can leave at a portal entry or exit. She wants to place messages in the 'mailbox' and be able to receive messages from other OCN ships as they pass by. The probes need to be passive to avoid easy detection, encrypted if discovered, and located near the portal but not in the way of passing ships. And they need to be hidden until pinged by our ships. Do you think you can design and test this 'mailbox' concept."
"Yes Sir." Malcom almost shouted and as Abel continued discussing some other technical matters he could see Malcon writing and drawing furiously on his inter-tab. He was already designing the 'mailbox' system.
Chapter Sixty Seven
Fitz System - Ragnarök - Year 3246. October 28 ET: 16:33
The SAR Sigrún entered the Fitz system first followed moments later by the Destructor Ragnarök. As usual both ships did not immediately enter the planetary regions choosing to linger and remain in stealth as they surveyed the system for activity. However moments after entry Sigrún notified Ragnarök of intense anti-matter explosions occurring 8 light minutes away in the dense asteroid belt which circled the white dwarf that was the Fitz system.
Multiple anti-matter explosions could only mean one thing; a battle was underway within Fitz.
"Mr. Eldjárn, give me a scan of the region of the anti-matter explosions," said Captain Arast. Silvi rose from her jump seat and scanned the vid screen.
"Aye, Sir." Rozel began to intensely work the defense station and moment later called back his voice expressing surprise and concern. "It's the Kára, Toni Hamilton's ship. Some one or some thing is attacking her."
"Are your sure Mr. Eldjárn?"
"Yes, very sure. She is running her transponder."
"Pilot Paris, your very best time to intercept Kára. Now!"
Rozel asked, "Should we hail Kára. Let them know we are on the way?"
Captain Arast turned to Silvi for instructions. Silvi was about to say yes, when she stopped herself. "Pilot Paris what is our best time to the Kara?"
"Six hours on reaction engines. It's dangerous to use the GWP this close to all those rocks and planetoids."
Silvi replied, "Captain Arast I'll leave this up to you, but we need to get to Kára as quickly as possible. Anti-matter torpedoes against a SAR is a nightmare. But get us there as fast as possible."
Arast turned to Paris. "Let's juice this a bit. Can we use GWP here in the outlying regions even for a brief time? Then once we have significant momentum switch to reaction engines. That should
reduce the time."
Paris nodded. "We might use GWP for half an hour at the maximum setting. If we hit anything it's all over. Then we can switch to reaction jets. That would put us at Kára's location, assuming she is not moving too fast in about three hours."
Arast called out to Niles Milford their astrogator. "Niles give us a GWP plot through this junk. We need speed but I don't want to run into a big rock or have our flight misdirected by some knowable gravity well from those big asteroids. "
Niles said nothing but Silvi could see he was very nervous. Using GWP among these rocks even with the best astrogation was tricky if not down right suicidal. Moments later he gave a plot to Paris. Then Niles said he wanted to re-do the plot because he could make it better. He only needed ten minutes. Arast overruled him.
Silvi turned to Captain Arast. "We are of no help to Kára at this distance. If we hail her whoever is attacking her will know we are here. I hate to say this, but we need to get to her as fast as possible and remain silent until we know more. Tony Hamilton is a good pilot and all the rocks out here should help in her defence. I suspect she is firing sand casters at a furious rate, but we need to get closer."
Captain Arast called out to Rozel on defence. "I want any status change, or new scan information the second you get it. Now everyone assume battle stations. Load up our tubes with sand casters. We will probably face anti-matter torpedoes so remember our need to stay out of the 80 kilometre damage zone." Arast did not mention the 40 kilometre kill zone of anti-matter weapons but everyone on the bridge knew about anti-matter torpedoes.
The Ragnarök and Sigrún accelerated under GWP for almost forty minutes. The ride was unpleasant as the pilots jinked and dodged around not only rocks and asteroids, and small planetoids which cast gravity well distortions around their orbits. As the ships transitioned to reaction engines the flying was no smoother because they had built up tremendous speed and although reaction jectors did not have the acceleration of GWP they still continued to increase speed toward Kára.
Silvi kept wondering how to let Kára know they were here without alerting the attacking ship or ships. But nothing came to mind.
Rozel almost shouted his update, " Kára's hit. I can see venting. She is about to enter a low orbit around a planetoid. I have put up an asteroid map of the attack area. Looks like Kára is using the planetoid as a shield against those torpedoes. If they are like the ones Greayson made they don't track well if at all. All that anti-matter interference in the warhead makes active tracking impossible."
"And the attackers, Mr. Eldjárn? What of them?" Asked Arast.
"The scan is strange. It's not like other ships we know. And we need to get closer. However it seems to be firing anti-matter torpedoes every five minutes or so and they are detonating at least 90,000 kilometers from Kára. But they are getting close. It looks like the sand casters are detonating most of them before they reach the kill zone for Kára."
There was silence on the bridge for a moment then Rozel continued. "I have put up a map of the asteroids in the battle field. The big one Kára about to circle now is labelled A12. A12 is about 500 kilometres in diameter. The attacker I have labelled H1, is between two smaller asteroids. There is only one attacker. The two approach asteroids I have labelled A16 and A10. A16 is 200 kilometres diameter and A10 about 30. The hostile ship, H1, is following Kára in between A16 and A10 and heading for the big one at A12. If Kára can keep the big asteroid A12 between herself and H1 she might survive until we arrive."
Silvi interrupted. "How soon until H1 is in the shadow of A12?"
Rozel returned to examining his status board. "In about an hour."
Silvi continued "And how long until Kára is available on line of sight from us for a laser comm as she passes out of the shadow of A12?"
Rozel smiled. "In about two hours at her speed and ours. At that point we will be within 300,000 kilometres. Good shooting range."
"Captain Arast, when Kára appears and H1 is still blocked from seeing us on the far side of A12 notify Kára we are here. Notify Sigrún of our intention to attack H1 as it comes into view from around A12 Also notify Kára of our intention to attack, and if Kára is able to reverse course have her join in the attack. However if Kára is damaged tell her to run."
Tense moments passed as Silvi considered her options.
"I have more on H1 from my latest scan." called out Rozel.
Both Silvi and Anna Arast turned toward Rozel. "I can put it up on vid now even at this distance. It will be a bit blurry. Now here is what I know."
Silvi looked at the vid screen. The ship was large and even at this great distance she could see its' odd shape. It was the same shape as what they had called the Dumbbell ship they had seen at the Poly System and the anti-matter refuelling station.
Rozel continued, "It is two large spheres, about 800 meters across separated by a thin tube that's some 1,200 meters long. The aft sphere is putting out a dirty energy signature so that is where the engines are."
"What can you tell me about the engines?" asked Silvi.
"Give me a moment." Rozel spent more than a moment at his scans and then replied. "Hitti engines. Those are Hitti engines. Not the clean ones described in the EG but very dirty ones. Still it's Hitti design."
"How long to our laser comm Mr. Eldjárn?" asked Arast.
"Twenty two minutes."
Ervin who was standing in the passageway to the crew quarters whispered, "Megra."
Silvi turned. "Megra? That ship is Megra?"
Ervin nodded yes.
"What's Megra?" demanded Silvi.
Ervin stepped forward, "Allies of Sloans. Sloans killed Ammon. I recognize the shape of that ship. About the Megra I really know nothing. They just stood and watched as Sloans bombarded Ammon and destroyed our food supplies."
Silvi wanted to know more, but that would have to wait. Silvi was thinking and then spoke to Arast. "Sand casters. Let's not take a chance. We know H1 is using anti-matter torpedoes so lets start with sand casters the moment we see her. In fact we might launch seconds before H1 sees us so that the casters will be on top of her as she fires her first rounds. That might blister her paint."
Arast nodded in agreement. "Weapons, Megan Jónsson, are we ready. Is Sigrún prepared to follow our lead?"
Megan responded, "All 24 of our tubes are loaded with sand casters. Cycle time for the autoloaders is eight seconds. We have a full complement of 128 casters and another 128 'K's. Sigrún has her four tubes loaded and ready."
Silvi continued with Arast, "I suggest we fire sand casters continuously depending on Kára's condition. Lets see if H1 exhausts its' supply of torpedoes. Something that big clearly can carry a lot of them, but the supply is not infinite and they seem to have fired a great many already. However let's be ready with 'K's the moment we think we can get it a good volley. Watch for the cycle time of the torpedoes to diminish. Diminished cycle time might mean either damage or the intention to conserve munitions. That should be the sign to give them some 'K's."
"Any damage detectible on H1?" asked Arast.
"None that I can detect," replied Rozel. "But Kára's casters have been pretty effective against those torpedoes and I suspect that some of that sand has hit that thing. I don't care how well shielded or how thick the armour you get hit by a 2,000 kilos of sand travelling at 60% SOL it's gonna hurt."
"Kára's almost visible. Just a few moments."
Captain Arast, who had been standing this whole time, sat in her captains chair and took the comms mic. "Let me know when ready."
A little later Rozell called out, "I have her on comms. It is Captain Hamilton."
"Put us on speaker please Mr. Mr. Eldjárn," said Arast. She keyed open the mic. "Ahoy Kára. This is Ragnarök and Sigrún. We are closing in on your position. Our intention is to attack your opponent. What is your status?"
A moment passed and then the speaker came alive. "Ragnarök. Thank the gods. This is Captain Hamilton. We have been hit and we are venting. Our eng
ines are running hot. We are down to a dozen casters but have 56 'K's. What is your plan?"
"Our intention is to attack immediately as your opponent, H1, exits the shadow of that asteroid. We intend to fire continuous volleys of sand casters in defence against torpedoes."
Tony responded, "As we approach you this thing will follow. We have been shielded by the asteroid and I expect they will begin firing again as we leave orbit. Your plan for casters is correct, but perhaps it is better for us all to run. That ship is durable but not too fast. Her cycle time on torpedoes was 90 seconds, and now is three times longer than her initial attack at around five or six minutes. It is either saving munitions or she thinks were dead ducks and can take us any time."
Tony stopped talking but the crew of the Ragnarök could hear a rapid discussion on Kára before Tony resumed. "We just lost two engines. We won't be able to outrun this thing, but you should consider running. This beast is tough and very dangerous."
Arast turned to Silvi and shook her head 'No'. Silvi agreed. "No, we stay and fight."
Arast keyed her mic again, "We stay and fight Kára."
Rozel called out, "Kára is slowing and H1 will enter visibility in 235 seconds."
Silvi looked to Arast, "Anna have Kára turn as she approaches us and fire every 'K' she has. A continuous barrage. Assuming Kára can still fire. If she cannot have her run while we attack and take the heat."
Silvi spoke, "Mr. Eldjárn how wide is the tube connecting the two spheres on H1?"