Jasper pointed his chin as they walked forward. “I decided I was in need of a title. Except for Mr. Hobbs, we keep jumping stations. I discussed it with Mr. Crawford. He thought it might be a good idea.”
Mace replied, “You know, we keep switching stations so that everyone is cross-trained on what we do here, right? If Johnny has to leave the comms, I want to know we can put just about anybody in that slot and count on them to perform.”
Jasper raised his hands. “Not saying that’s a bad thing. I just think we might be better served with a few specialists rather than a hundred crewmen who are all at a general level.”
Mace nodded. “OK. I suppose we’ve pushed the cross-training about as far as it can go. After our raid tomorrow, we’ll have a group discussion and start assigning titles. Just out of curiosity, Mr. Collins, why’d you pick defensive officer, and what’s it supposed to mean exactly?”
Jasper grinned. “It means I get to snoop into all things concerning the defense of this ship. People, weapons, shields. I want access to them all. I have a good eye for people who are up to no good. I think it stems from all those years at the cave giving tours. I could always tell which kids, or adults, were gonna be troublemakers. One of my long-time staffers, Gina, used to tell me I would have made a good detective. I’m suspicious by nature, she used to say.”
Mace patted Jasper on the shoulder as they turned into the reactor room. Congratulations, Mr. Collins, you are our newest, first, and only DSO.”
Jasper smiled. “DSO. I like it.”
Mace said, “Jane, we have a ship we’re bringing aboard in a few minutes. I thought you might want a break to come check it out with us.”
Jane turned. “Sweeney! I’ll be back in a bit!”
Crewman Sweeney nodded in response.
Jane walked with Jasper and Mace. “Was listening on the comms. You sure it’s safe to bring that ship aboard?”
Jasper pointed. “See? She’s suspicious, too.”
Mace held up his hand. “Fine, we’ll do a full scan before bringing it in. I just don’t want to be messing around until the other ships show up. When the scan’s done, we bring it aboard and haul out of here.”
Jasper nodded. “Use a little caution, that’s all I ask.”
The Rogers pulled to a stop just under a kilometer from the small craft. Humphrey Mallot put the sensors to work, gathering all the data the Rogers was capable of. Several minutes later, results were available.
Humphrey said, “The interior is dense, like it’s full of something.”
Montak and Klept joined the others in the bay.
Bontu looked over the image being shown on a wall display. “I don’t recognize that as being a Mawga ship.”
Gnaga replied, “It appears to be nothing more than a shipping container with a gravity drive attached. If you pull up the energy data, I can tell you the size of the reactor they have aboard. The drive appears to be the same drive used on the Mawga shuttles.”
Bontu nodded. “I would concur with that assessment.”
Gnaga commented as the energy readouts were pushed to the display. “Ah, yes, a C26 reactor.”
Bontu nodded, “Yes. Slightly larger than the model we added to your vehicle, Mr. Hardy. It’s a standard reactor used throughout the galaxy, although this is the first time I’ve seen it used to power a craft.”
Humphrey came over the comm. “I have ten Mawga cruisers now on the sensors, Mr. Hardy. We’ll be wanting to move soon unless you’re looking for a fight.”
Mace asked, “Anyone have any ideas about what it’s carrying? Mr. Klept? Bontu? Any way to tell?”
Bontu replied, “The scan tells us the density. Without sending over a team, we really have no way of knowing.”
Jane said, “Sure would be nice to have a drone about now. Something we could send over to snoop around with.”
Johnny opened a channel. “They should be within comm range any moment.”
A hail came in.
Johnny asked, “Should I patch it through?”
Mace replied, “Sure. And, Mr. Hobbs, prepare to slide us over to that ship for a pick-up. We’ll be bringing it into bay three.”
“Roger that.”
The comm channel opened to the dark silhouette of the Human fleet commander. “Mr. Hardy. I see you have corralled one of our ships. I must insist that your return it. The cargo is quite valuable to us.”
Mace laughed. “I don’t think so, B12, or whatever your name is. The ship, along with the other shuttles, are now property of the Earth Alliance for Freedom.”
The commander chuckled. “EAFF? You are naming your single-ship insurrection EAFF? Sounds terrifying, Mr. Hardy, like the noise an angry titmouse might make. And my designation is A4. The fourth Admiral of the fleet.”
Mace returned an angry but embarrassed stare. “Well, A4, exactly what are you calling yourselves?”
“We are the Stark Force. Outwardly, we call ourselves the Star Force.”
Mace shook his head. “How original. Maybe you should call yourselves the SRM… for Stark Raving Mad.”
The silhouette was silent for several seconds. “I will make your suggestion to the king when I return. Now, please move away from our ship. The king will want his resources back.”
Liam said, “Mr. Hardy, all set to bring her aboard.”
Jasper reached out, taking Mace by the arm and whispering. “Before you give that order, give me a minute to talk to him. We have the time.”
Mace drew an impatient breath before nodding.
“A4, this is DSO Collins. Why don’t you tell us exactly what that valuable cargo is? After all, we can have it aboard to inspect in a few seconds’ time.”
The admiral replied, “I must protest. The ship is ours, the cargo… ours. Taking it aboard is only a further provocative act which you will come to regret.”
Jasper asked, “Johnny, can you tell me if there have been any broadcasts directed at that small ship?”
Johnny replied, “I have any number of communications that have happened, but I can’t say if they are between those ships or from there to here.”
Jasper turned to face Mace. “This doesn’t feel right. The tone of his voice is all wrong for someone who’s about to lose something of value. And those comms, we’re within range, but they would be using directional comms between ships. We wouldn’t even detect them from full range unless they’re directed toward us. I say we just blast that little ship from here and be done with it. I don’t like the fact that he has possibly made contact with it. Keep in mind, we have another one of those ships out there we can always dig into later.”
Jane stepped up. “I have to agree with him. This setup makes me nervous. We don’t know what’s on there, which means we don’t need it. I say scratch this one and we’ll take our time to study the other one.”
Hobbs came over the comm. “Mr. Hardy, if we’re bringing her aboard we need to make our move now.”
Mace stroked his beard as he looked at the silhouetted image. “Admiral, I think we’ll pass on this one. Mr. Hobbs, take us clear. Mr. Mueller, hit it with a plasma round once we’re on the move.”
The silhouette turned to a side profile. “Do it.”
A voice replied, “Do it? The button?”
An irritated admiral screamed. “Press the button, you idiot!”
The small craft exploded with a fury. The Rogers shook violently for several seconds, lifting the crew into the air and then slamming them hard to the deck before settling down.
Mace rolled over and yelled. “Hobbs, get us out of here!”
Liam replied, “Brace yourselves! We’ll be passing back through the shockwave that just hit us!”
The Rogers again rocked and bounced.
When the shaking settled, Liam said, “We’re through! Lost three transducers in that initial blast!”
Mace pushed himself to his feet, helping up Jane.
Jane looked over her arms. “Glad I had on the suit. Thought that was goin
g to rattle my teeth out for a minute.”
Gnaga Klept asked, “Mr. Hardy, may I see the data from the radiation sensors?”
“Humphrey? Post up the radiation data if you could.”
The display wall in the bay lit up with figures and graphs.
Gnaga stepped closer. “Nuclear. Definitely nuclear.”
Jeff Moskowitz walked into the bay. “That was more than just nuclear. There was blast and a shockwave. You don’t get that from nukes in space.”
Gnaga nodded. “Indeed. Look at the hydrogen curve. I believe the cargo of that vessel was liquid hydrogen. The radiation is from a fission reaction, the blast and shockwave from fusion. The reactor must have gone supercritical during the blast having that much fuel available to it. Mr. Collins, I must thank you for warning us off. Had we been any closer, and if we had been on a lesser ship, we would not have survived.”
Jeff stared at the data. “Remarkable. Mr. Montak, is this a weapon the Mawga have or make use of?”
Bontu replied, “Absolutely not. The rules explicitly say that fission weapons shall not be used. This has to be a weapon put together by your Humans, Mr. Hardy.”
Gnaga nodded. “And a very effective weapon I might add. And the materials used to do this are relatively inexpensive and easily had.”
“And look at this,” said Jeff. “Linear. They could scale this up to be a thousand times more powerful. Imagine being near a small supernova when it went off.”
Jasper stood, flexing the joint of his elbow. “Any chance we took a fatal dose of radiation?”
Gnaga studied, the data. “Here, this is the graph showing the internal level. We had a small spike, but not enough to cause any damage while in these suits. As a precaution, I would like to do a few scans on each of us that were here in this bay. We were on the blast side and the least protected.”
Jasper scowled. “Those transducers are what kept us from frying, are they not?”
Gnaga nodded. “They are.”
Jasper frowned. “And losing three of them, on this side of the ship, that didn’t give us a higher dose?”
Gnaga shook his head. “The radiation reached the ship almost instantly, the transducers provided full protection for us during that part of the event. The shockwave that followed from the reactor explosion took out the transducers. That wave travels at a much slower speed. See here, approximately forty thousand kilometers per hour as compared to light speed.”
Jasper again scowled. “We aren’t gonna pass back through that radiation again, are we?”
Jeff replied, “Not unless we can pass light speed.”
Jasper nodded. “Guess that makes sense.”
Mace placed his hand on Jasper’s shoulder. “Looks like our new DSO saved our hides.”
Jane frowned. “What, no love for me backing him?”
Mace laughed. “Fine. As a reward, I’ll let you pick out the acronym for your new title.”
Jane offered a confused look. “New title?”
Mace replied as they walked toward the bridge. “Tomorrow, after our raid of the Mawga cargo ship, I thought we’d vote on titles for each other, and give more permanent assignments. No more constantly changing station rotations.”
Jane smiled. “I could get behind that.”
Mace made his way onto the bridge. “What’s the systems damage, Mr. Crawford?”
Jordan replied, “As you know, we lost three transducers. We also just took one of the reactors offline. I redirected Mr. Moskowitz and Mr. Klept to investigate. The reaction parameters appeared to be losing stability, still at safe levels, but unusual. I have teams checking for any physical damage to equipment.”
Mace sat in his chair. “Anyone get tossed around up here?”
Jordan shook his head. “No sir. Mr. Hobbs suggested we all strap ourselves in as soon as we got close. Thank you for that by the way, Mr. Hobbs.”
Liam pointed. “That was a previous suggestion by Mr. Hardy. If credit is due, it’s to him.”
Mace asked, “Where we headed?”
Liam replied, “I took us out at about eighty degrees from our target area for tomorrow. We’ll be turning toward that destination in about a half hour. Should be there in about twelve hours, well ahead of the designated arrival time for the Mawga.”
Mace stood from his chair. “Mr. Crawford, when you feel the situation to be fully stable, start rotating the crews for a rest. I want this crew back on the bridge when we reach our destination. I’ll be in my cabin if anyone needs me.”
“Consider it done, Mr. Hardy.”
Chapter 17
*
The Rogers arrived with just over four hours left on the clock. Crews were sent out to move two of the remaining transducers to provide a more balanced dampening field around her hull. Mace returned to the captain’s chair from a long rest.
Johnny was at the comm station. “I could sure use a big ol’ cup of coffee about now. Those nutrient bars aren’t bad, but they don’t quite give the boost of a sixteen ounce double-dark latte.”
Mace laughed, “A what? Double-dark? Let me guess, you chase that with one of those monstrous caffeine drinks?”
Johnny shrugged. “I weigh in at three hundred pounds. It takes a lot of fuel to get this much mass going.”
Jane walked onto the bridge, cutting into the conversation. “Two eighty-five.”
Mace asked, “What’s that?”
Jane replied, “Two hundred eighty-five pounds. He’s dropped twenty-two pounds on the nutrient bars.”
Jasper snickered from a corner chair. “He ain’t quite the man he used to be. I might have to start calling him monkey boy instead of ape-man. He loses any more I’ll have to reduce that again to just plain ol’ chimp.”
Johnny pointed. “Just don’t start calling me Bubbles. You do that and I’ll come down on you so hard you’ll squeeze through the holes in that deck plating.”
Jasper casually waved the threat off. “I ain’t scared of no monkey.”
Jane snapped. “You’re both monkeys. Now please shut up. Mace, I just came up to report on the transducers. They’ve been moved, and the adjusted fields look good. We’re down about 15 percent on that side of the ship, but still well above any others out there.
“And this got me thinking. We possibly have eighty shuttles out there waiting for us. Each one has a single transducer on it. Bontu says all transducers are the same. They all come from one of the Galactic Union founders— another market they’ve cornered it seems.
“Anyway, Jeff, David, and Gnaga ran some numbers. They think adding that many transducers could increase our total shielding by as much as 400 percent. Those twenty cruisers could pound away at us from as close as a kilometer and not do damage.”
Johnny nodded. “I like the sound of that.”
Jane continued, “And we have the power from the reactors to easily handle those. In fact, Gnaga suggested we scavenge reactors from the shuttles as well, setting up the dampener fields with their own reactors. He thinks two dozen of those smaller units could be used to protect our hull, leaving the main reactors for the gravity drives and plasma cannons.”
Mace asked, “Would we have enough hydrogen storage to support that? We’re already using it at twice the normal rate.”
Jane replied, “We would. Each of those is a quarter size compared to what we currently have. Adding twenty-four would be like adding six full reactors. Our original six months supply of hydrogen would only be lasting us six weeks. But I would take that burden in trade for being immune to the plasma guns. And Jeff says we wouldn’t even have felt a shimmer from that ship bomb they tried to get us with. I’d say it would be well worth the cost.”
Mace took a deep breath. “Worth it if these raids go OK. Otherwise, we’ll be spending a couple months refining enough hydrogen to refill our tanks with the refiners we have. I’d rather not sit in one place for that length of time.”
After the short break, the order was given to proceed to the final targ
et area. The cargo ship was expected to come through a wormhole in the same location as had previously been used. As the Rogers approached, sensor scans were performed.
Humphrey Mallot said, “We’re now within range of the prior opening and sensors are showing all clear. I would have expected escort ships.”
“That’s a big tactical mistake on their part,” Mace replied.
Jane called up from the reactor room. “We have the eighth reactor back online. Gnaga performed an adjustment to the containment field and all monitors are showing stable.”
Hans Mueller said, “Good. If we get into a firefight, that extra reactor will be a big help. We should have a half second full recharge time when all eight are online. That’s a whole—”
Humphrey interrupted. “We have a wormhole opening at fifteen hundred kilometers.”
Bontu Montak came on the bridge. “Mr. Mallot, are those figures correct?”
Mace asked, “What’s the issue?”
Bontu replied, “Wormholes are expensive, Mr. Hardy. You would normally only open one to the size of your largest ship. That is much larger than a standard deep space cargo hauler.”
“Do your people have cargo ships that size?”
Bontu nodded. “We do, but they typically only travel short distances, such as fast interplanetary hops. Deep haulers tend to purposefully be long and slender. The cost is much greater for a wider wormhole as compared to keeping a smaller one open longer.”
Humphrey said, “We have a ship coming through. Long and thin as Mr. Montak suggested.”
Mace gestured to Liam. “Mr. Hobbs, take us in. Mueller, give her a couple warning shots. Let’s bring her to a stop. Mr. Crawford, this is Mace. Are your boarding teams ready? I want at least a dozen refiners brought back once that ship is secure. After that we’ll worry about dumping that crew on a shuttle.”
Jordan replied, “We’re ready, Mr. Hardy.”
As the Rogers closed on the cargo vessel, Hans Mueller let fly four plasma rounds as warning shots.
Humphrey said, “She’s slowing.”
Mace stroked his beard. “This is too easy. Mr. Crawford, I—”
Humphrey yelled, “Sir! We have another ship coming through! And it’s big!”
HADRON Incursion Page 15