Jallis immediately fell to the side of the injured Layda, who Garrett was beginning to assist. "What happened? Layda?"
I set a waypoint for fifty kilometers away and hurried to the back.
Jallis looked around. "Where’s Garmon?"
I placed my hand firmly on Jallis’s shoulder and shook my head. "Garmon gave his life so Layda could live."
I reached down, scooping Layda gently up into my arms. I carried her forward to the cabin, laying her down on a bed in the captain’s cabin. She had extensive lacerations to her right arm. Garrett did his best to bandage her wounds.
I looked back into the cabin and sighed. The loss of a close sibling was a gut-wrenching thing.
Jallis spoke as he wept. "It was my duty to watch out for him."
I replied, "You have been nothing but stellar in the performance of your brotherly duties. Garmon survived the slavers. He gave his life to save another. There are few greater stations in life than that of passing on during the commission of such an honorable deed. You should be proud of your brother. Do honor to his memory by celebrating his life. You would have done the same given the situation."
Jallis nodded but remained in place. "And Layda? How is she?"
I replied, "Garrett is patching her up right now. She has some deep lacerations on her right arm, but I believe she will recover. Go, be by her side as she has been by yours. She will need your support."
The loss of Garmon was hard on our small group. He was a positive force in everything we did, always willing to assist and never one to argue. I diverted the captured cargo vessel to the factory to retrieve our food store before setting a heading to another city. The capital city of Effica was soon behind us.
Chapter 14
Halfway to the next city, I decided to set the cargo ship down in an open field. We had traveled a full two hundred kilometers from the capital. I stepped outside to survey any possible damage to the outer hull from the blaster fire. Numerous blackened burn marks told of each hit that we had taken, but none violated the adequate plating of the outer hull. The salvagers had toughened her up for just such a purpose.
Garrett stepped out of the hold and spoke. "Any damage?"
I replied, "She’ll fly. If we need orbit, we shouldn’t have an issue with that either."
Garrett touched one of the burn marks. "I was looking at the equipment they have in there. I think we could repair just about anything we needed to. The entirety of the Jess is crated up in there as well. If we go back for that frame, we could piece her back together."
I shook my head. "We can’t go back there. It’s too much of a risk. Go should be back anytime now, if he is going to make it back. We need to plan exactly what we are going to do when he gets here, or what we’ll do if he doesn’t. Either way, we have a ship that we can use to go elsewhere with."
Jallis stepped out through the gravity wall and into the sunlight.
Garrett said, "How’s she doing in there?"
Jallis replied, "Resting. She is in pain, but no longer bleeding. I have been using the magnetic healer on her arm. Those cuts went deep in the muscle. She will recover fully."
Garrett nodded. "Sorry for the loss of your brother. He was a good man. Someone to be proud of."
I finished checking the hull and stepped back through the gravity wall. "I suggest we go through these boxes and see what we have. Perhaps we can find something that is useful."
After a thorough search, we came the last three crates, sitting up close to the cabin door.
Garrett spoke. "These don’t look like salvage. They have yet to be opened. This one has an Orwallian stamp on it."
I retrieved a pry bar and began to open the first crate.
Garrett looked inside. "That looks like blaster rifle butts."
We moved to the second crate, prying open the lid. "And this one is power cells. I think I have an idea of what that Orwallian crate has in it!"
The third crate was opened. "Wow, we have the parts for several hundred blaster rifles here! What were the salvagers doing with cargo like that?"
I replied, "It’s possible that they were salvage from somewhere back in the city. Our little fight back there might have been a bit different had the Harpians known they had blasters sitting in these crates."
Garrett pulled a piece from each box. "The power cell snaps in like this. The tip screws into the power cell."
Garrett stepped over to the gravity wall and pointed at a shrub sitting fifty meters from our location. He took aim, squeezing off an ion round. The shrub disintegrated in a bright flash, scorching the earth and digging a shallow hole where the shrub had previously been.
Garrett smiled. "Self-calibrating. I like that! The power cell has four thousand rounds in it. That is one compact cell for that much ammo. An army with these could fight for days without a reload. That crate back there looks to have about a dozen power cells for each rifle butt. And I would put that ion bolt at about four to five times the energy of my handheld, which is no slouch."
I took the rifle, aimed it, shook it around, and handed it back to Garrett. "Lightweight. That is enough firepower to take control of an entire planet out here. I’m wondering if the Orwallians were exporting their revolution here as well. Are there any shipping dates on the crates?"
Garrett walked back to check. "These arrived in the city port eighteen months ago. That is well before that revolt we got caught up in. I wonder if the Orwallians were planning their own empire. Overthrow a dozen planets out here on the galaxy rim and I doubt anybody would even notice. Of course, there is also the possibility that the Efficans felt threatened by the slavers and bought these for their own protection. These arrived about the same time the slavers abducted this population. Two hundred blaster rifles would have been more than enough to be a deterrent."
I nodded. "This blaster would poke holes in the hull plating of this ship."
Garrett smiled. "We do have a way of checking that theory out."
I replied, "You aren’t suggesting we take a shot at our hull, are you?"
Garrett laughed as he walked toward another crate. "Don’t have to. We have the plating from the Jess to try it out on. If it penetrates that, then my guess as to its power output is off."
Garrett carried the hull plate out through the gravity wall, setting it up against another low shrub. When he returned, he took careful aim and let loose an ion bolt. Upon impact, the hull plate shot backward, digging the low shrub from the ground before coming to a stop. Garrett walked out and retrieved the meter-square plate.
As he stepped back up through the gravity wall, Garrett spoke. "I’m impressed. I didn’t think the Jess II would have handled a hit so well. There appears to be an outer layer that buckled and splintered, while an inner layer slightly dented. Somebody spent some good money on the construction of that ship. The blasters the slavers have on their gunships are probably no more powerful than these rifles."
Jallis spoke. "We had a cutting tool in our construction shop that combined five cutting tips into one. We could chop through just about anything we needed with that tool. Could the same be done with these blaster tips? The tips on that cutting tool looked just like this, only of a smaller scale. It used simple ion reflectors to combine the five bolts into one."
Garrett looked over the blaster tip. "I might be able to build something like that with the tools here if we can find some reflectors."
I replied, "And what would we do with a more powerful blaster?"
Garrett smiled. "We arm this big dump of a ship, that’s what. If we are going to fly this thing anywhere but down here in the fields, a semipowerful blaster weapon might not be so bad. Come on, Jallis. Let’s see if we can dig up some reflectors from all this junk. I know the Jess had some on board."
As Garrett and Jallis dug through the boxes of salvage, I walked to the cabin to check on Layda. She was awake.
As I stepped into the captain’s cabin, Layda spoke. "How is he?"
I looked around. "How is who?"
Layda continued, "How is Jallis? Does he hate me?"
I chuckled and smiled. "Jallis is not unhappy with you in any way. He is hurting with the loss, but he will learn to live on. Death is a part of life that none of us can avoid. Sometimes it comes to the young who have not yet lived a full life. In Garmon’s case, he gave his life to save another. There are few higher honors that can be achieved in death. Jallis will recover, and he will not hold any ill will towards you. You did not get Garmon killed."
Layda offered a half smile. "Thank you, Mr. Beutcher. Thank you for all you have done for us. You have no reason to continue this fight for our people on Telfor, and yet you do."
I replied, "Unfortunately, I still believe in the order the New Alliance has to offer. If the planets all fracture into their own little empires, war will be just around the corner. One major drawback to almost every sentient species I have ever known was their desire to possess what others have. That is certainly not everyone, but the ones who always seem to claw their way to the top. They often do so on the backs of others rather than through their own hard work."
Layda winced as she looked over at her bandaged arm. "How can the New Alliance be good if it allows slavery to exist, like what we have just been through?"
I spoke. "I would agree that the New Alliance is far from perfect. I believe most would go back to the days of the AMP if that was possible. But the AMP is gone. The New Alliance is what holds us all together now. And we need to be united now more than ever."
Layda replied, "What do you mean?"
I sat in a chair beside the captain’s bunk. "There is a war going on in the Andromeda galaxy. A war against forces from outside of the six galaxies. Already, nearly a quarter of the worlds there have fallen. The Salton family is the only one providing support in an attempt to stop the entire galaxy from being overrun. If an outside force can reach Andromeda, they can reach here. Imagine if this entire galaxy was to be conquered and killed or enslaved by that outside force. That is why I still place my faith in the New Alliance. Even as backward as it sometimes is, without it we have no chance of defending ourselves."
Garrett and Jallis continued their attempt at combining the firepower of several blasters into a single burst of energy. Ion reflectors had been found, and the small machine shop on the salvage ship was being put to use. They hoped to have a working prototype by morning. I found a crewman’s bunk and lay down. I was soon asleep, dreaming of my wife and children.
When the sun again rose on Effica, I stood, stretched, and walked back to check on Garrett and Jallis.
An excited but tired Garrett spoke. "You are just in time. Carry this box over to the gravity wall for me. We have two blaster tips focused into a single point. I tell you, this shop is awesome. It has every tool you could think of; it has welders and cutters, every metal fabricator you could want. It even has an alignment table. I don’t think we will have to do any tuning of these tips to sync up the bolts. That alignment table does it all for you."
I set the box where Garrett suggested. Jallis carried over the small contraption they had constructed while Garrett grabbed a power source. Five minutes later, the combined blaster prototype was ready to test.
Garrett said, "I have it aimed at that small tree. It doesn’t really matter if it hits it or not. We will know if it worked by the hole it leaves in the ground."
Garrett turned to look back at the shop area.
I asked, "What are you looking for?"
Garrett replied, "I was just wondering if they have any power meters back there. I would like to get a reading on one of these blaster rifles versus this combined output. If it’s double, we know we got it right."
I nodded. "How about I just use the sensors on my arm pad to record. They would not be high precision for what you are doing, but I don’t think you need high-precision values for your test."
Garrett smiled. "Great idea. Hold up your arm and start recording."
Garrett picked up a blaster rifle, aimed at the base of the tree, and pulled the trigger. The small tree exploded as the ion bolt impacted and began to spread out.
Garrett looked back. "Did you get that?"
I replied, "Four hundred fifty kilojoules. Not bad."
Garrett turned towards the combined blaster. After one final review of the setup, he pressed a button to fire the device. The ground in front of where the tree had been exploded.
I lowered my arm. "I think you are going to like this. I’m reading one point four megajoules. That is just over triple the power."
Garrett furrowed his brow. "Triple? How did that happen?"
Jallis walked back to a holo-display on the wall by the machine shop. He punched in numbers for several minutes as Garrett and I looked over the device.
Jallis slapped his open palm on the table beside him. "That alignment table must have placed both bolts exactly in phase with each other. The power curve begins to go slightly exponential at that point."
Garrett smiled. "So, if we combine three, four, or five tips that are perfectly aligned and in phase, our power output could spike to five or ten times the individual outputs?"
Jallis nodded. "It would appear so. That is probably the reason the cutting tool we had back at the construction shop was so efficient."
As Garrett walked toward the front of the cargo hold, I spoke. "Where are you going now?"
Garrett pointed at the crates of blaster parts. "I'm getting another three blaster tips. We found five ion reflectors. We might as well use them all for another test. If this works, I say we mount it on the outside of the ship and wire it to the command consoles."
Jallis turned to follow Garrett. "I will assist."
As I looked up at the others, Jallis stopped. Layda was standing in the cabin doorway.
Jallis ran to her. "What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting!"
Layda smiled. "I just wanted to see what all the excitement was. I’m feeling better, and there is nothing wrong with my legs."
Jallis shook his head. "You need to stay in there with the healer. Let me see that arm."
Layda gently held out her damaged arm.
Jallis spoke as he looked it over. "That is looking much better. The cuts have all scabbed over."
Jallis turned back to Garrett. "Get started and I will join you shortly."
Garrett nodded as Jallis turned back towards Layda. "Let’s get you back in there. I will run the healer for an hour or two."
Layda smiled as they turned back to the captain’s cabin. "I would like that."
As the two Feldons disappeared around the corner, Garrett smiled. "We are going to have to watch out for those two. Love can be a big distraction."
I walked to the machine shop as Garrett carried over the extra blaster tips. "It is, but it can be a good distraction. They both need to physically heal. A little distraction might help."
I worked with Garrett through the morning before we had another prototype to try. The device was set on the boxes and connected to a power source.
Garrett spoke. "Ready to record?"
I replied, "Just as a precaution, why don’t we aim for the base of that hill over there. That should give us a little distance should the device be more powerful than we think."
Garrett turned the box and aligned the setup, taking aim at the base of the hill. "Let’s hope you are right!"
The button was pressed, and a mound of earth flew into the air.
Jallis hurried out of the cabin, still unable to run. "Was that it? That felt much bigger than the last. It shook the room in there."
I lowered my arm. "I’m reading fifteen point six megajoules."
Garrett nodded. "That is almost the equivalent of the cannon I had on the original Jess. If we can mount that on the hull, we will have more firepower than any of those Talisan gunships. They are using standard blasters that they mounted as external guns. Heck, we might even be able to beat the lot of them in a fight while flying this barge!"
I replied, "I do
n’t think this ship is solid enough to withstand the peppering that a few dozen of those gunships would offer. It would be too easy to poke holes in this hull. I do think that having a weapon mounted is much better than what we currently have. There should just be no mistaking this cargo vessel for a warship."
Garrett laughed. "Well, this is all we have. And if Go doesn’t make it back soon, we may be forced to use it. The Talisans want their slaves back working, and at some point they are going to force that issue."
The remainder of the day was spent working with Garrett on a gun mount. The old cargo hauler had a sensor turret that our multi-blaster could be attached to. Making a gun mount that would survive the rigors of space was not a trivial issue. It was, however, an issue that we could overcome.
Chapter 15
The following afternoon, we had the sensor turret converted to also host our new multi-blaster. Garrett tapped into the power supply of the sensor array to provide a continuous feed of ion power. As a test, I piloted the cargo ship up to a kilometer of altitude while Garrett worked on calibrating the weapon’s aim. With a small amount of programming, our new multi-blaster was fully controllable from the copilot’s sensor screens.
Garrett spoke. "We need to find some real targets. If this works as well as I think it will, we will want to find more ion reflectors so that we can build one of these for the top sensor turret as well."
I replied, "I have a small town showing on the nav maps for this region. I suggest we pick out a half dozen targets, after which I will do a flyover while you fire at points beside those targets."
Garrett turned toward me with an odd stare. "Points beside targets? Why would we do that?"
I sighed. "We would do that because these targets are property of someone. Should they ever make it back from the slave mines, they will want that property back."
Garrett shook his head as he frowned. "Sorry, I don’t want to seem crass, but the Efficans have been gone for eighteen months now; I doubt even a quarter of them are still alive. I won’t argue with you about it, though; I’ll aim just to the north of each target. All that matters is that my aim is consistent. Take us to the town."
OMEGA Guardian Page 15