by T. R. Harris
“Do you think you could fly one of these things?” he shouted at Copernicus through the roar of the elevator machinery.
“Possibly, if the engines are charged. You heard what Aric said.”
“He was talking about the service modules. Maybe these ships are ready to go, just waiting for the pilots.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to find out. Besides, it will be safer inside the hull of a spaceship than standing out here in the open.”
There was a black warship twenty feet away. The team sprinted for it, searching the undercarriage for an entrance hatch. Copernicus had no experience with entering or exiting one of the vessels conventionally. He entered through an umbilical tunnel the first time and then exited through the cargo hold. There had to be another entrance.
“Got it,” Riyad said. It was under the ship and operated by a simple pull out lever. The hatch fell open, and the six Humans and one Juirean scrambled aboard. Adam buttoned up the hatch and then followed the rest of the team deeper into the starship.
“What the hell is this?” he asked.
“Yeah, they’re not too much into open spaces aboard their ships,” Coop said. “It’s kinda cozy if you ask me. Follow me; the bridge is this way.”
19
Copernicus slipped into the pilot seat with Riyad taking the one next to him. They were the two most-experienced pilots in the group; even so, they sat for a moment studying the controls.
“I saw the pilots operate a ship like this. The controls are basic. I just need to figure out how to get the engines working.”
“Chemical liftoff, right?” Riyad asked. “That should be standard. The dark energy won’t come into play until we engage the gravity drive.”
“Good point. This looks like a standard lifting console.”
“And what the hell is this?” Riyad asked. He was staring straight ahead at the bank of monitors. “No forward viewport?”
“They’re on the sides. Gracilian pilots rely only on the monitors.”
“And the service modules wouldn’t even use that,” Riyad stated. “This will take some getting used to.”
Not everyone could fit in the cockpit. Adam and Monty were behind the pilots, while Tidus, Summer and Sherri crowded in the passageway outside. From what he could see through the narrow side viewports, Adam could tell the elevator was almost to the surface.
“There’s no need to wait,” he said to Coop. “Light us off.”
A second later, the view outside was filled with a wisp of exhaust smoke. The hull vibrated slightly as the ground slipped away below them. The command monitors showed various views, including the expanse of the elevator and the dozen or so menacing looking starships on the pad now exposed to the full light of the Gracilian sun.
“There’s another ship lifting below us, and another,” Riyad reported.
“I see it. Whoever’s not strapped in, you better grab hold of something. I can’t find the inertial compensator controls. We may have to make some radical g-force moves.”
There were another two seats behind the pilots, reserved for the captain and XO. Adam took one, while Monty shoved Summer into the other. Then he, Tidus and Sherri threaded their arms through conduit lines in the passageway.
Copernicus gave the starship a few quick test moves, getting a feel for the controls. They were still climbing on the efficient and eerily quiet lifting jets. He grinned, reveling in the chance to fly such an advanced starship, all the while knowing that two more of them, with more experienced pilots, were on their six.
“I’m going to try out the gravity drive,” he announced. “I think I know where it is.”
Copernicus fingered another control, and the lifting jets shut down. Nothing took their place.
The inadvertent maneuver was fortuitous, as at that moment, a strange spiraling blast of blue energy passed above them as they began falling back toward the surface.
“What the hell was that?” Riyad asked.
“It must be one of their dark energy weapons. But right now, I’ve got to get us moving up again.”
Riyad was surveying his console. It was different than Coop’s, looking more like a weapon’s console than for navigating or piloting. There was a set of six panels on the left, each flashing red. He began pressing them. A graphic display appeared on his screen, showing defensive shields encircling the ship. They were more than simple diffusion screens, which normally consisted of static plates with gaps between them. This was more of an electrified shroud covering the entire ship.
“Way to go, Riyad!” Sherri yelled from the passageway. “That should help if the shields are designed to ward off dark energy weapons.”
“We’re going to find out soon enough,” Copernicus said. He had the lifting jets working again, but now he was competing with a pair of alien spacecraft utilizing extremely shallow gravity wells in the atmosphere. They were infinitely faster and more maneuverable, and a moment later, the ship rocked from the impact of four direct hits on the shields.
Riyad’s screen lit up, showing red marks along most of the hull. But they didn’t stay red. Most switched to yellow a moment later.
“We seem to be intact,” he said. “But that was a lot to absorb. Get the damn gravity drive going, Coop.”
“I’m trying, asshole. I was pretty sure I had it the first time. But now I’m getting a reading. That may have been enough to prime the engines. I’m trying it again.”
A scream, along with a pair of heavy grunts, came from the passageway behind Adam. He looked around to see that those in the hallway were gone, having been thrown aft by the sudden acceleration.
“Is everyone okay?” he called back.
“Yeah … I think,” Sherri replied. “Give us a little warning next time. And find the damn inertial compensators!”
Riyad was probing the controls at his station. Even if Copernicus could master the gravity drive of the starship, without the compensators working, the movements would prove deadly, even to the strapped-in passengers. They needed the internals working, and the computers adjusting for the incredible inertia experienced at faster-than-light speeds, especially in a warship under attack.
Riyad began flicking control toggles. At one point, everything changed. Adam felt a surge of weight in his legs and a yelp came from behind.
“Thanks,” Sherri yelled. “That’s better, even without a warning.”
Coop looked over at Riyad and grinned. “Now, let’s see what this thing can do.”
He had the gravity drive activated and the basic controls down. He could turn, accelerate, dive and climb. He also had the ship in space and free of the confining friction of an atmosphere.
“Don’t get too fancy,” Adam warned. “Just get us out of here.”
“My thoughts exactly, especially since Riyad hasn’t figured out how to fire the weapons.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Try the set of controls on the right, along the side of the console. They look like firing triggers.”
“You want to trade places, smartass?”
“Why are you calling me names all of a sudden?” Copernicus asked with a grin. “Is it because I had sex with your ex-wife a few days ago?”
“I knew it!” Riyad blurted out.
“Knock it off, you two,” Adam ordered. “Concentrate.”
“Incoming … again!” Riyad announced, surveying his monitors.
“I see them.”
Copernicus whipped the black starship into a tight spiral. Adam watched the screens, marveling when a roiling blue mass of … of something passed down the center of the spiral, missing the ship by only feet. Adam chalked that one up to luck on Coop’s part. No one was that good to steer a circle around a flash bolt.
The ship lurched slightly, but not from a hit from one of the dark energy weapons, but rather from Riyad finding the firing controls. They were on the right side of the console, just where Coop said they would be. The two men exchanged silent looks.
“Gear up, man,” C
oop said. “Let’s take the fight to the enemy.”
“Go for it, my friend.” Riyad’s brilliant white smile lit up the cockpit.
Copernicus whipped the ship over in a tight loop, bringing it back in the direction of the pursuing warcraft. They were surprised by the aggressive move and sheared off, one to each side. Riyad could fire the weapons; he was still unsure as to how to aim them. Still, he lit off a barrage. The blue flashes shot off to the sides of the ship to avoid the miniature blackholes ahead of them. This was standard practice for warships, and now Copernicus corrected his course, sweeping across the path of one of the vessels as Riyad let loose with another round.
Remarkably, two of the bolts hit the Gracilian starship, but just like when their ship was hit with the bolts, the enemy shields glowed and the warship moved on after suffering little or no damage.
“There has to be a weakness,” Adam called out from behind the pilots. “I have an idea. Let set ourselves up for another attack. See where they aim. But be ready to bug out as soon as they fire.”
“You know that’s a crazy idea,” Copernicus said.
“I’m open to others.”
“I said it was crazy, not that it won’t work. I just hope my reactions are quick enough to get us out of the way in time.”
Copernicus straightened out his course, ending all of his wild gyrations. The enemy spaceships jumped at the chance and moved ahead before spinning around and coming at them on either side. They had to be careful to avoid the gravity well of Coop’s ship, and he theirs.
“They’re coming at us from the front. That doesn’t make any sense,” Adam said.
“It does when you look at the coverage of the shields,” Riyad said. He enlarged the image on the screen, showing the glow around the ship. There was a break, two of them in fact, one on either side where the focusing rings sent the gravity waves forward to the point of origin for the singularities.
“That’s it!” Adam called out. “A weakness in the shields. The screens can’t close around the transmission lines to the wells.”
“I’ve seen enough,” Copernicus said as he angled the ship up and away. He was only a breath in front of the four bolts the enemy craft fired, that slipped harmlessly to the rear. “Now, the trick will be getting into position to fire our own weapons.”
“How about one of those patented spiral moves of yours?” Adam suggested. “They’ll think you’re trying to avoid them, while Riyad times the shots as best he can.”
“Impossible timing for impossible shots,” said Riyad. “Sure, no problem.”
“Just make a good show if it. If we can get some separation between them and us, we might be able to stay ahead of them all the way back to L-3.”
“And then what?” Riyad asked. “Call ahead to the garrisons and get them up to cover us? I don’t think they’ll have any more luck with these dark matter starships than we’re having.”
“Always with the negative thoughts, Mr. Tarazi. Just aim straight, and we won’t have to worry about them.”
“Get ready, Riyad,” Copernicus said. “I’m coming back around. I’ll get us spinning right between them.”
It was at this point that Adam was glad for the forward monitor screens rather than a viewport. The computers corrected for the spin, keeping the images relatively stable, whereas a live view would have been like looking into a kaleidoscope on steroids.
“This is never going to work,” Riyad mumbled. His fingers were on the triggers, and as the target vessels approached, he released all six rounds he had under his control. He would have to wait a few seconds for the batteries to recharge before firing a second round.
The blue, dark matter energy bolts flared out, achieving perfectly straight trajectories immediately after being released. Four of them impacted the screens of the passing starships but causing no damage. However, another bolt managed to strike the starship on the port side, just below the bridge. The screen glowed here as well, but not as strongly. A small energy discharge was detected coming from the vessel and it began to slow precipitously. But it wasn’t dead in the water. The craft angled away and sped off, knowing it was damaged and wanting to get away before it could be targeted again.
But Coop was already on the scent. He cranked the ship over and gunned it, closing on the rapidly slowing vessel. The enemy ship was hit in the snout-like forward focusing ring compartment, knocking out a couple of the devices, which were crucial to the operation of the gravity drive. The remaining rings could still form singularities, just not as intense as before.
“Watch this,” Copernicus said as he closed on the stricken Gracilian starship. He approached from directly behind, coming at them at full speed. Adam knew what was about to happen.
A moment later, the enemy vessel disappeared, being sucked into the blackhole forward of Coop’s ship. It was an effective use of the gravity well, and a constant threat to spacecraft everywhere. The most dangerous place to be during any close encounter with another starship was directly in front of it. The problem was that to make the strategy effective, one had to be only ten miles or so from a starship under full gravity drive. At the speeds involved, that was next to impossible to achieve, unless one intended on vacuuming up the other ship.
“The other one is still on our tail,” Riyad reported. “He’s going to try the same thing on us. He’s firing.”
Copernicus had maintained a steady course as he closed on the damaged vessel, allowing the other craft to get a bead on him. Now a stream of six incoming bolts cast an unavoidable spread along their path. Coop twisted the ship, but three of the bolts still struck the underbelly of the spacecraft.
“This is good to know,” Riyad said almost nonchalantly. “At least for future reference. But it seems our shields are faltering. The Gracilian system can take only so many direct hits. It will take several more before they drop, but it is possible to disable them.”
“I just wish we weren’t the test subject for your study, Mr. Tarazi,” Copernicus said. “Coming around for another run. Hopefully, the pilot will think the kill shot on the other ship was just a lucky shot. Get ready.”
Copernicus Smith was one hell of a pilot, even in a starship he’d never flown before. He had a sixth sense about these things, not only understanding tactics but also with an instinctive feel for what a ship could do. Adam prayed for the three members of the team who weren’t strapped in as Coop began a wild series of gyrations that the inertial compensators could barely handle. His reactions were fluid and instant, and a moment later, Riyad was sending another powerful barrage at the passing starship. He didn’t hit any critical areas this time, but all six of the bolts impacted the enemy ship, while Coop’s vessel took only one direct hit.
Once again, the ships spun around and came at one another, a prolonged bullfight between matadors, each delivering a measure of damage to the other with each pass.
Finally, the enemy vessel had enough. Knowing their shields couldn’t withstand another pass, the ship turned back toward Gracilia and shot away. With equally matched starships—at least with regard to speed—Copernicus had no chance of using his gravity well again as a weapon. So, calling the day a victory, he turned the vessel and set a course for Liave-3.
20
The stolen Gracilian starship was twice as fast as the Ed Gibson, so, it was only three days before they entered the Liave system. Tidus, Sherri and Monty were pretty bruised up from the beating they took during the space battle, with the Juirean suffering a broken arm, his more fragile alien bones unable to withstand the punishment the Humans could.
“So, Copernicus, you really screwed up, didn’t you?” Summer said when Riyad spelled him at the pilot’s station, and he went to the galley for something to eat. Sherri was on the bridge with Riyad while the rest of the team was in the dining area, the largest open area on the ship except for the cargo bay.
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“You should have let us have him. If you had, none of this would be happenin
g.”
“How can you say that? You don’t know,” Coop said in his defense. “Aric may have eventually sent someone else to get the dark matter collector. It would have been better than letting their plans die because one person couldn’t get to what they needed.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
“You see now that this mission was bigger than just recovering some money.”
“It’s two billion credits,” Monty mumbled.
“I’m sorry, but this mission has been in the works for years. And now that we know what the Gracilians are planning, what do we do about it?”
That was the question, and the next three days were filled with arguments seeking an answer. They had plenty of time to consider the situation from all angles, including one where what the Gracilians were proposing was a good thing, at least for the Kidis Frontier. Why not have locals govern the region, and locals with enough power to withstand the military might of two huge galactic empires? If that was all there was to it, Adam conceded, why not? But there was more to it.
The Gracilians were power-hungry, seeing themselves as the heir apparent to the Aris. They wouldn’t settle for just the Kidis; they wanted it all, the entire Milky Way galaxy. And from the brief encounter the team had with their technologically superior warcraft, it was possible they could do it. But no one was going to simply roll over and surrender. This wasn’t like Kracion and his brand of galactic blackmail. Galactic forces could counter the Gracilians, and now that the allies had a dark matter starship, the technology could eventually be duplicated, including the use of dark energy. Contrary to the Gracilians’ high opinion of themselves, they were not a million-year-old civilization as the Aris were at the time they chose their particular path to immortality. The Gracilians were just smart people who copied someone else’s tech. Any number of other races were capable of doing the same thing, including the Humans, Formilians and even the Juireans.
All this led to the conclusion that the galaxy was about to become engulfed in another bloody and prolonged war, and this new technology—if not handled properly—had the potential to destroy everything. Granted, at this time, no one aboard the stolen starship knew how the dark energy generators worked. Was there the potential for catastrophic accidents as there was with the dark matter collector and the tiny containment cubes? Hopefully not. Hopefully, the Gracilians were using the same level of technology that powered the service modules. No one ever considered them too dangerous to have around.