by Hugh B. Long
He could see Senior Engineer 0-3 Mared, tending to the engines with a concerned look. She spied Hal and stopped to acknowledge him, nodding.
“Sir,” she said.
“How are things looking, 0-3?” he asked.
“Worse than we thought previously, Captain. I think we need to drop out of hyperspace to work on the engines. I was hopeful I could repair them as we went, but running them is exacerbating the problem. If we could stop somewhere for twenty-four hours, that should be enough time to patch them up until we can return to the Orbital Station at New Midgard. The problem is the missile hit damaged the dark matter tap. If it goes, we lose reaction mass for sub-light drive, inertial compensators, contragrav and shields. That is a real weak spot in our design; one I intend to address when we get back. We have triple redundancy on our anti-matter reactors that power the tap, but no redundancy on the tap itself. I suppose it was due to the expected mission for these ships. Alfar warships have a redundant tap for both dark matter and dark energy, but then, they expect to take battle damage.”
Hal began pinching the skin at his throat and pursed his lips. The dark-matter tap was the most critical part of any ship. Using an anti-matter reactor to power the tap, it literally tapped into the dimension where dark matter resided, and since eighty-three percent of the mass of the visible universe was located in this dimension, the uses were countless. The dark matter could be temporarily brought into phase with the visible universe and stored in reservoirs. It was much more dense and massive than normal matter, and so occupied a smaller volume. Dark matter was also injected into plasma shell casings on-demand, and magnetically sealed. These were then fired as super-massive kinetic rounds. Although only the size of an old ninety-millimeter artillery shell, they were one-thousand times more massive, and packed a commensurate wallop.
In order to counteract the ship’s mass, and function as an inertial compensator, another piece of critical technology was required: a dark matter inverter, which inverted the mass of dark matter so that it became negative dark matter. This material was stored in a separate reservoir and essentially negated the mass of the ship on demand—acting as a variable inertial compensator.
Hal was quiet for a moment.
“Ok. I think we can do that. Our friends won’t know we’ve stopped. If they're following us, they would be on a direct jump right back to New Midgard, and the Gungnir. I’m certain she’s more than a match for the enemy-vessel.” Enemy vessel was the only term he could think of. Hal didn't know whether they were Hrymar, or some other race or faction. Enemy would have to suffice.
Hal tapped his wristcomm. “Nila?”
“Yes, boss?” came the near instant response.
“Nila, Mared feels we should drop out of hyperspace for twenty-four hours to repair the engines. She’s concerned the dark matter tap may fail before we get home. Can you find us a nice safe spot to lay up? I’d like to land and take all systems off-line and go completely dark if possible. A planet should give us some extra cover, just in case someone else is sneaking around. Can you find something close to where we are now?”
“On it, boss.”
Hal could always count on Nila and she was a joy to be around; He wished for ten more crew just like her, somedays. They also had a solid working relationship after two years of surveying together as a team.
“Ok, I found us a parking spot about an hour out.” Nila reported.
“Ok, Mared,” Hal said, “lets see if we can get this ship patched up.
* * *
The Sleipnir dropped out of hyperspace and the main bridge view-screen lit up with a bright orange star shining in the distance.
“Report,” Hal ordered.
“Welcome to Libuscha, Captain,” Eva said, “she is a Spectral Class K5 V Orange Main Sequence star.” Eva continued to glance at her display scanning for relevant data, “I detect six orbiting bodies. There is an asteroid belt at 0.62 AU from the star…. and, here we are … there is a terrestrial world, Libuscha II, at 0.55 AU. It has an orbital period of 0.42 Earth years and gravity 0.83 that of Earth. It is a chilly place, with mainly iron and silicates in the crust. The atmosphere is thin and dry, but breathable." Eva looked back over her shoulder and smiled at Hal. “A good place to land, but I am afraid picnics will be a problem.”
“Fair enough,” Hal said, “take us in helm.”
* * *
The ship’s sleek hull cut through Libuscha’s thin, rusty atmosphere with ease. Not that the crew would experience much atmospheric buffeting—the inertial compensators took care of that. Only in extreme cases, such as entering Jupiter’s great storm, would they have felt much of anything.
Glaw found a flat, orangish-black, stone plateau, and the Sleipnir touched down, her landing struts making firm contact with the rocky surface.
Hal looked over to Gina. “Let’s have a fire team on a twelve-hour watch rotation until we’re off this rock.”
“You've got it, sir,” Gina replied.
“I think I’m going to stretch my legs and take an air car out … see what’s in the vicinity of this plateau,” Hal said.
“Mind if I tag along?” Eva asked with enthusiasm.
Hal felt a lump in his stomach. What could he say? The last thing he needed was to be a foot away from Eva, alone in an aircar. But it wasn’t her fault, he needed to get control of his own emotions.
“Sure, 0-3,” he addressed her by her rank, trying to set a tone of formality, “give me thirty minutes to get ready.”
Eva left the bridge.
“Gina,” he motioned to her, “my office?”
She nodded and followed him into his office adjacent to the bridge.
“What’s up, sir?”
“Any progress on our investigation?”
“I’m afraid so,” she said
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve narrowed the list of likely suspects to three individuals.”
Hal raised his eyebrows. “Ok…”
“Based on time of death and crew alibis, there are only three people that could have killed her in the timeframe: Dana Hausler, your steward; Nila Johar, your Navigator; and Eva Joubert, your … physicist,” she said hesitantly. Implying Eva might have been more than just his physicist?
Hal let it slide. Gina was sharp, he was sure she knew there had been something between them.
“I just can’t believe any one of those three could have murdered Dana,” he said. “All three of them are … sweet women. Sorry for generalizing, but they are. Dana’s motherly, Nila’s like my kid sister, and Eva, well … we were involved years back.”
“I know,” Gina said, matter-of-factly.
“What do you mean—you know—you mean you suspected?” he asked with an irritated look.
“No, sir, I knew. I checked up on you before we left Alfheim.”
“I see,” Hal said evenly.
“It’s my job, sir. Remember, before I got pulled onto your team, I was heading off to become Director of Security at Norvik. And I was an MP. I’m a cop and a Marine, probably more cop. It’s my job to know things.”
“Ok, it’s fine, it’s just a bit … complicated right now. I haven’t seen her in years.”
“Understood. But just remember, any one of those three could have done it, despite what you think you know about them,” Gina said.
“But how certain are you it’s one of those three? We have seventeen other people on this ship.”
“I’d say I’m ninety-nine percent certain.”
Hal just nodded. He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact one of those women could be a murderer. He had eight lethal marines with special ops training—they felt much more likely as candidates—and he didn’t know them well, or consider any of them … sweet. Then he had a fleeting thought—could it be Gina?
“I’ll keep working the clues, but I think we’re at a standstill until we can get back to New Midgard- oh- never mind.”
“What do you mean? Why never mind?”
“I was just thinking … I brought an Alfar lie-detector with me to Norvik. But it was in my quarters when the city was nuked.”
Hal shook his head. “This has been a really fucked up month, Gina.”
She nodded silently.
Hal reached into a drawer on his desk and pulled out a bottle and two shot glasses. Gina read the bottle:
- Glenfiddich 40 Year Old Single Malt Whiskey (Bottled 2078) -
“Wow! That must have cost a fortune. That’s fifty-years old.” Gina marveled.
“Yep. My grandfather bought it for me ten years ago. It was a graduation present. I take a drink on very special occasions, or very, very bad times,” Hal explained.
“Still half a bottle,” Gina noted.
Hal nodded. “I toasted with my grandfather when he gave me the bottle, then at my engagement to Siobhan, at Ailan’s birth, and when my grandfather passed away. This week is another milestone.” Hal filled the two glasses offering one to Gina.
“Skål!” Hal declared. They both downed their glasses. Smooth as satin Hal thought.
Gina eyed her glass before putting it down. “I assume, skal, is some kind of toast?”
“Yep, it’s an old Norwegian toast, like cheers.”
“Well, I’m glad I could share this with you, Hal. And, the gods willing, we’ll get through this. I’ve been praying to Diana for aid and guidance on a regular basis.”
Hal pulled his Mjolnir pendant from beneath his shirt and held it between his thumb and forefinger. “What I wouldn't give for Thor’s hammer right now to smite these bastards,” Hal stood up, and Gina did likewise, "Keep me posted. I’ll just poke around the area and see what’s on this rock. I’ll be back in a couple of hours- tops.”
“Ok, I’ll call you if anything comes up, but we should be snug as bug here until the repairs are done.”
Chapter 13
The Sleipnir had a complement of vehicles to accomplish its varied mission profile, two of which were a pair of incredibly advanced aircars designed specially for the types of activities S3 would be undertaking.
They were large vehicles, if one compared them to an old personal ground car; they were more like the size of the Old Earth Humvees, which the American military had used. To call them cars was a misnomer; they were more aircraft than automobile. Dark matter taps and the resulting contragrav technology turned these aircars into surprisingly versatile vehicles, capable of 2,000 kph, and with an endurance measured in years; the anti-matter reactor was small, but incredibly efficient.
It had no weapons, but was lightly armored, had marginal stealth capability, life support for a week with two occupants, and could seat six. It wasn’t quite space capable, but could dock with a low orbiting station in a pinch, arriving very slowly once it hit the upper atmosphere.
Hal was cruising at a modest 200 kph to afford him a better view of the surrounding plateau. It was fairly flat where they landed, and the same topography went on for hundreds of kilometers in every direction.
“Anything interesting on scanners?” Hal asked Eva.
“Well, this is not exactly a scientific vessel, Captain,” she said with a wry smile.
“Fair enough,” he said. Ok, emotions under control, he thought. I can do this.
Hal’s eyes swept across the rusty red landscape.
“Reminds me of Mars,” Hal said.
Eva nodded agreement. “It does. Bigger though, and a little warmer. This would be a better terra-forming candidate than Mars, certainly. I wonder if there was any life here once?”
Hal shrugged. “There seems to be a lot more life in the multiverse than we ever though possible,” he said.
“What do you think of these Hrymar?” Eva asked.
“Not much to go on really. We have one subject who is apparently an outcast and a reject, physically. Gina was impressed by the larger Hrymar she fought on the transport though. ‘A big tuff bastard’, I recall her saying. And I don’t think Gina says that lightly, she’s a tough bitch,” Hal laughed.
“She is rather intense,” Eva said with a little shudder.
“That’s her job. I hope you’re not getting any flack from her?” Hal asked.
“No, why would I?”
“Well, apparently she knows about our history.”
“And? That was years ago. Is she concerned about some conflict of interest?”
“No, and for the record, neither am I. We can work together like two adults. Just because we dated once, doesn’t mean we have to be uncomfortable together.”
“If you say so,” she replied, sounding unconvinced.
They were jarred momentarily by an updraft as the aircar rocked, then returned to level flight. They looked at each other and smiled.
Eva was perusing the landscape, looking for anything of interest, but it was an unremarkable vista. Planets worked over by an active atmosphere and biotic agents were vastly more interesting—this planet was dead for all intents and purposes … and then Eva saw something that looked a little out of place.
“Hal, down there,” she leaned over toward him and pointed to a black shape going by on their port side.
“What is it?” Hal asked.
“I don’t know, but it looks peculiar. A very dark, black rock? I don’t know, let’s just go have a look, I need to stretch my legs anyway.”
Hal swung the aircar around smoothly and vectored the vehicle toward the black rock. The aircar touched down gently, in contrast with the sharp clunk of the Sleipnir earlier. The ground did look softer here, more sandy than rocky.
They both flipped up the visors of their Recon Combat Armor, to shield them from the expected cold. The starboard gull-wing door rose gracefully and they scrambled out.
Libuscha II’s star didn’t provide much in the way of light. Libuscha had a luminosity about a quarter of Sol's, and even though Libuscha II was twice as close as Earth was to Sol, the star still bathed the planet in much less light—it gave it a dim, spooky feeling. Hal almost laughed, with the dull red lighting, the planet reminded him of a big red-light district, like those in Amsterdam or Copenhagen.
As they walked up closer to the black object, they could see it wasn’t natural at all. It was a runestone.
* * *
Gina was sitting on the bridge, chewing on her lip and mulling over Adrianna’s murder. The big question was the why, rather than the who. She needed to understand the motivation behind this, then she could find the killer.
Cadfael sat in the command-chair, his hands steepled under his chin deep in thought. Nila gasped, and Cadfael turned to look at her.
“What is it?” asked Cadfael.
“Sir, we have a contact above us!” Nila replied.
Cadfael’s expression didn’t change at all—he was a paragon of cool.
“What other information can you provide?” he asked.
“It is them, sir, the ship that attacked us,” Nila replied.
Gina made eye contact with Cadfael and keyed her wristcom. “Mared, Teaghynn, we have an incoming enemy contact. Our friends are back. Where are we with repairs?”
Mared replied, “0-4, the dark matter tap is offline, we just extracted it from its housing half an hour ago.”
“Pluto’s balls,” Gina muttered cursed. “Ok, can you put it back into service quickly?”
“No, it will take twice as long to re-install, and we have not yet begun repairs.”
That meant no shields, no sub-light drive, no inertial compensators and no kinetic weapons. In short, they were screwed.
“Is the dark energy tap still online?” Cadfael asked.
“Yes, sir, it is,” Mared said.
“Good.”
“What are you thinking?” Gina asked.
“That means we still have our plasma-cannon working in case we need it,” Cadfael said.
“Do you intend to attack them?” Gina asked.
“Not outright, no. I think what we must do, is deceive them. With all power off we will look damaged and perhap
s incapable of defending ourselves.”
Gina snorted.“Not far from the truth is it?”
“They are slavers, Gina, they will likely come and attempt to board us if they can. I think we should encourage that. Mared?”
“Yes, sir, still here”
“Can you vent some plasma and make it appear we have more damage than we do? Perhaps some anti-matter as well?”
“Of course.”
“Nila, how long until they are here?” Cadfael asked.
“About thirty-two minutes, O-4.”
Cadfael keyed his wristcom to contact the Captain. He explained the situation, but Hal and Eva were now an hour away at full speed, and wouldn’t make it back in time. But Cadfael had a plan.
* * *
A dark shape descended through the rusty yellow clouds, growing ever larger. The enemy vessel was at least thrice the size, and twice mass of the Sleipnir, and was clearly designed to fight. The Sleipnir could hold her own in a skirmish if needed, but not in a pitched battle. She was a ship of finesse and precision—a scalpel, not a sledgehammer; the enemy vessel appeared to be the latter.
Cadfael lay prone on his belly in the rocky, red soil, about fifty-meters from the Sleipnir. As the ship descended, he could make out a few of the salient features of tactical note—it was equipped with two plasma cannons and multiple missile launchers. Clearly they didn’t intend to destroy the Sleipnir during the first engagement. Based on the armament Cadfael saw, they could have done so. Had they opened with a full volley of missiles and both plasma cannons, the Sleipnir would have been disabled, or perhaps even destroyed immediately; they did have their plasma cannons trained on the Sleipnir now though.