‘Aye Sir,’ responded both captains.
Both ships moved off to take up their positions. A few minutes later the Colorado initiated the graviton beam incrementally adding power and balancing with thrust to maintain separation, until the beam was at one hundred percent power.
‘We’re at full power on the graviton beam... and about half power on the engines. All systems showing green,’ reported McCandless.
‘Very well,’ said Straus.
Straus looked to the conference screen and saw the three doctors carefully studying the readouts and asked, ‘How long do we maintain this?’
Darla looked to the others and shrugged saying, ‘Until we see something.’
Ten long minutes later the data from the Amazon showed a measurable deflection and Darla said, ‘That’s good enough.’
‘Colorado, disengage and maintain your position,’ ordered Straus.
‘The computer is crunching the data. It estimates it's mass at 65 billion tons. I’ve got it working on the best options for deflection now,’ said Darla.
After a few minutes she said, ‘The top two choices are to apply force at the axis of rotation. Pulling it in the same direction as the test will pull it across Earth’s orbit and avoid a collision, however there is a sixty percent chance it will hit on the next pass in about twenty years.’
‘And if we apply force in the other direction?’ asked Straus.
‘It will pass outside of Earth’s orbit, loop around behind and head closer to the sun. At that point it will become a spectacular comet as the surface begins to vaporize.’
‘And where will it end up?’
‘Difficult to predict, because it will be losing mass. If it swings in too close to the sun, it may break up altogether. The next two options have us either slowing it down from behind, or pulling it ahead faster, both of which will affect the timing so that an impact is avoided. The eventual outcome for those maneuvers are also hard to predict but will give us at least twenty years of safety.’
‘Your recommendation?’ asked Straus.
The three discussed it for a few moments and Townsend said, ‘We like the spectacular comet option.’
‘I like that one too, and how long do we need to apply force?'
‘If we use both ships, then we can finish in ten days,’ said Darla.
Straus looked to the other comm screen where the transport pilots were listening to the discussion and said, ‘Captain McCandless, ease to the other side of the asteroid and begin pulling it in the other direction.’
‘Aye Sir.'
‘Captain Burke, reposition us behind the asteroid to where the Amazon is.’
‘Aye Commander.’
‘Amazon head back in and establish an anti-graviton beam opposite of the Colorado. You’ll need to balance with forward thrust as you increase power to the beam.’
‘Roger that, Commander. On our way.’
After five minutes each of the ships were repositioned and the graviton beams had been established. The Adamant now had the vantage point for keeping track of the deflection. After studying the incoming data for fifteen minutes Darla spoke up.
‘It looks as if the anti-graviton beam is only 75% as effective at pushing as the other is at pulling. The new estimate is that we’ll need to maintain this configuration for fourteen days, which also factors in refueling and shift changes.’
‘Not bad considering we’re moving 65 billion tons,’ said Straus.
‘Amazing,’ said Hamilton shaking his head.
Chapter 6
IMPACT
Ten days had gone by and the transports were making steady progress moving the asteroid onto a safe trajectory. Phoenix squadron was flying overlapping eighteen hour shifts so that at any one time, two flights were on patrol. They had fallen into a routine of flying patrols, then collecting DEP from the asteroid belt and ferrying it back to refuel the transports. The transport pilots themselves, were pulling twelve hour shifts. Every twelve hours they would dock with the Adamant, refuel, and change pilots.
Late on the tenth day, it was time for the night shift to take over. The Colorado had docked and Lewis had moved it back into position. Then the Amazon docked and refueled. Browning took over and eased the transport back into pushing the asteroid.
Straus was having dinner with Darla and the two visiting doctors in the ship’s mess, when he received a call.
‘Straus here. Very well, on my way.’ He put his comm device back in his pocket and turning to the others said, ‘Duty calls.’
He left the mess and took the lift up to Flight Ops. As he walked through the door he said, ‘Report.’
‘Sir, Flight Two reports contact with the drones. They’ll be in firing range in about two minutes.’
‘Contact Flight One and have them abort their trip to the asteroid belt and get out there to support Flight Two, pronto.’
‘Aye Sir,’ said Caplan as he turned to make the call.
Straus looked at the incoming telemetry and watched as the two forces converged. He made an adjustment on the comm panel, pressed a button and said, ‘McCormick, I’m sending in Flight One to back you, but it’ll take them fifteen minutes to reach you.’
‘Roger that, Commander.’
‘Don’t hesitate to make a tactical withdrawal. Better to retire from a fight, to live another day.’
‘Understood, Sir. Have them on short range scan now. Looks like eight ships. There’s a Beetle and... something new. It’s energy signature doesn’t match anything in the computer.’
‘Great,’ thought Straus to himself. He vacillated on whether he should go out there himself or not. He could have his Ninja out there in five minutes. Then he got an idea and made an adjustment on the comm panel.
‘Captain Hartnel. Change course and head for the transports instead. You’ll need to cover them. I’m taking the Adamant in to back Second flight.’
‘Acknowledged, Commander,’ said Chance.
‘Caplan, scramble Third flight to their ships and have them ready to launch in five minutes,’ said Straus as he turned to leave.
‘Aye, Sir.’
Straus headed for the bridge and heard the klaxon sound and then the announcement over the PA system to scramble the pilots. The night shift on the bridge consisted of only two people since they were locked on a steady course behind the asteroid. There was Lt. Winfield, the communications officer and the co-pilot, Lt. Skeels.
‘Winfield, signal Alert Status Red. Skeels man the weapons console. Energize the turrets and standby on the shields,’ ordered Straus as he took the pilot’s seat.
The alert status indicators changed to red and the alert tone sounded throughout the ship. Straus set course for Flight 2 and accelerated to full speed, jostling the ship as the Inertial Compensators struggled to counter the G-forces.
‘Incoming transmission from Second flight, Commander. Displaying it on the comm screen.’
‘Commander... I’ve never seen anything like it! Loner and Moe got caught in that red plasma, then that thing swooped in and their ships were shredded to pieces. Bio and I are heading back at top speed but it's gaining on us.’
‘We’re thirty seconds away, Bug. Just stay ahead of it,’ said Straus. Turning to Lt. Skeels he said, ‘Full power to shields. Ready with forward batteries. Winfield, signal Flight Three to launch as soon as we arrive.’
As the new threat closed in for the kill, Bug said, ‘Bio it's right on your six! Drop your proximity mines.’
Both ships dropped their mines and the killer drone rushed straight into them. A few exploded harmlessly on it's shields, while most of them were destroyed by the energy beams without detonating.
Bio yelled, ‘I can’t stay ahead of it! Captain use your Supercharger and get the helaaggg...’
At that point Bio’s ship was destroyed by the arcing energy beams. Bug activated her Ninja’s Warp Field Supercharger and shot away.
The Adamant warped into the area, slowing at the last moment. On the main screen
Straus could see what looked like a giant starfish and it was still chasing down the Flight Leader. It was as large as a transport with five long arms stretched out like spokes on a wagon wheel. Between the arms was some sort of arcing energy beams, giving it the appearance of a giant electric spider web.
‘I don’t have a shot, Sir!’ said Lt. Skeels.
‘Bug, you’re in the line of fire. Split-S now,’ ordered Straus.
Bug rolled, and looped under the Starfish, out of the way, then the forward batteries locked on and fired. At first nothing happened as it's shields protected it from the oncoming barrage. However it wasn’t long before it's shields collapsed and the rapid fire energy bolts started tearing it to pieces. Bug added the last of her fire power to help blow it apart.
Straus saw that Third flight had launched and joined the fight. He said, ‘Mustang, you and your group try to disable that Beetle. We’d like to have it intact.’
‘Roger that, Commander. Hurst on me. Rat, you and Jaws take out that Booster,’ ordered Mustang.
Mustang and Hurst concentrated on the approaching Beetle and opened up on it with their Ion pulses. Its shields collapsed and it's energy emissions dropped to zero as it slowly tumbled away. Rat and Jaws took on the Booster and after dropping it's shields took it apart with their Gatling pulse, then collected the spilled DEP.
Bug had looped around and joined Mustang and Hurst as they took on a Tank. Once it was history they started to chase down a Darkwing. It made the mistake of getting too close to the Adamant and Skeels took it out with the Adamant’s starboard turrets. Thirty seconds later it was over.
Straus maneuvered the Adamant so that the fighter recovery field could collect the Beetle. It drifted into the field and was pulled into the launch bay where it could be studied. He then caught up with a piece of the Starfish-drone that had a portion of the central hub and most of one arm, and positioned the ship to recover it.
‘Bug return to the Adamant. Third flight fly escort,’ ordered Straus. ‘Winfield, take us down to Alert Status Yellow.’
Once the fighter had been recovered, Straus brought the Adamant about and headed for the region where the two forces clashed and scanned for signs of the black boxes from the two ships that they lost from Flight Two. He detected only one signal and tracked down the black box then got back on the radio.
‘Mustang, I’m detecting the black box beacon from Flight Two just ahead. Run out there and recover it.’
‘Acknowledged, Commander,’ said Mustang as he and his wingman raced ahead.
Straus watched as the ships slowed and Mustang popped open his canopy. When the canopy started closing he heard, ‘I’ve got it Commander, but it's in pretty bad shape.’
‘Nice work. You and your team head in,’ said Straus. After Flight Three had been recovered, Straus set course back to the asteroid. As they were closing on it, he could see the dark red dot in the distance. Suddenly there was a bright flash, that faded back to red.
‘Incoming transmission from First flight, Commander,' said Winfield.
'Let's hear it,' said Straus.
‘Commander, we just lost Points!’ said Chance.
Straus was preoccupied with flying the ship, and replaying the battle in his mind. He was confused by the comment and said, ‘Lost points for what?'
‘No Sir.. we lost Browning... and the Amazon.’
Straus was now focused, but still confused. Had the drones been able to get passed him? He increased speed to shorten the time back to the asteroid and said, ‘How? Was it the drones?’
‘No Sir. No drones in the area. I’m not sure what happened Commander. It just appeared to auger into the asteroid. We’re busy at the moment collecting the spilled DEP from the Amazon.’
‘Save as much of it as you can and see if you can pick up the black box transmissions while you’re at it, Captain.’
‘Aye Sir.’
‘Winfield, raise the Colorado,’ said Straus.
She nodded and they heard, ‘Lt. Lewis here, Adamant.’
‘Lewis, did you see or hear anything regarding the Amazon?’
‘No Commander. We were both listening to the inter-ship chatter of the battle. I didn’t see anything from here.’
‘Understood. Thank you, Lieutenant.’
Straus brought the Adamant back to within five miles of 2015EJ3, and he could see the cloud of debris hanging over one side, as the weak gravity slowly pulled on it.
‘Adamant, this is Chance. We’re picking up the black box transmission, but it's buried in a mixture of fractured ice and debris. Its going to take some work to get to it.’
‘Understood. Chance, I want Flight One to take over Flight Two’s patrol.’
‘Acknowledged,’ said Hartnel.
‘Winfield, Maintain Alert status. We’ll wait until morning to try to figure things out. You have the conn, Mr. Skeels.’
‘Aye, Sir.’
Straus headed for the Flight Bay. The deck crew had moved the captured drone hardware off to the side. Bug had just been sitting in her cockpit. She finally climbed out of her Ninja and took off her helmet. She tried to put on a brave face but when she caught sight of Straus, she burst into tears.
He walked over and she cried into his chest, ‘My whole squadron.’
He held her and said, ‘You did all you could Captain. I know it hurts, but in time the pain is easier to bear. You’ll feel remorse. You’ll feel guilt for surviving... and you’ll go on. In time this experience will make you wiser and stronger. Right now though... it just sucks.’
She smiled and nodded.
‘Go change. Get yourself cleaned up, and have something to eat. Tomorrow you can work on your report.’
‘Thank you, Commander,’ she said choking back more tears as she turned to leave to the locker room.
Straus looked over the drone hardware and the Tech sergeant was there scanning it with a hand scanner, then he said, ‘Was just checking for energy emissions Sir. Don’t want that thing to wake up in here.’
‘No harm in being cautious. In fact, why don’t you move them over to the launch lane. I’m sure their dead, but if they do wake up you can just launch them out of here.’
‘Thank you Commander. That’s a great idea,’ said the sergeant as he waved some of his people over.
Straus left the Flight Bay and headed to his quarters. Darla was laying in bed reading her electronic slate and when she saw him come in, she lowered it, saying, ‘How’s a girl suppose to get her beauty sleep with you shaking the ship around like that?’
‘Sweetheart, you’re more beautiful than your fair share. You don’t need any more beauty sleep, however I am through shaking the ship... for now at least.’
She smiled and held her hand out invitingly. He came over and sat on the edge of the bed, took her hand, and gave her a big kiss.
She let out a dreamy sigh and said, ‘I love you so much.’
He caressed her cheek and said, ‘I have a present for you... but you have to promise not to open it until morning.’
‘Oh? What is it?’
‘An intact Beetle drone.’
‘Really? You shouldn’t have. You sure know how to make a girl happy,’ she said with a smile.
‘At least this girl,’ he said giving her another kiss.
‘You’ve just earned major brownie points mister, and if you’d like to... collect...,’ she said as she pulled the blanket back enough to reveal that she wasn’t wearing anything.
‘I’d like that. Remind me to talk to you about brownie points in the morning,’ said Straus as he turned off the light.
At breakfast Straus explained the situation and what had transpired the night before with the battle, the new Starfish drone, losing three fighters, and the loss of the Amazon.
‘I’m sending a team down to the asteroid to collect the black box so we can hopefully figure out what happened. I thought perhaps the three of you might like to go along. It will give you an opportunity to do that science stuff you like to do
,’ said Straus.
Townsend said, ‘Out there? Uh... I don’t think so. I’ll be content to study whatever samples are brought back though.’
‘I’m game,’ said Hamilton.
‘So am I,’ said Darla.
‘Good. After breakfast report to Tech Sergeant Abernathy. He’ll get you fitted with the Excursion suits.’
‘Darla I’ll need you to focus on the black box from the Amazon and the one that we recovered from Flight Two that was shredded by the Starfish drone.’
Corvus Prime: Escalation Page 8