Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human

by Bruce Adams

  CHAPTER 22

  Chief Engineer Hasephrey Saephan rested his hands on the rail overlooking the projected display of the system Ekaph. Sparta was depicted as a white triangle flying through the seven planet system. She was closest to the second planet orbiting the largest star of the trinary system. A red triangle orbiting the same planet, but on opposites sides of the world, indicated an enemy ship – the Alliance battle-cruiser Agamemnon.

  “Helm, bring ship to heading one seven one Z fifteen,” Saephan ordered. “Plot intercept trajectory to fourth gas giant planet of system. We must refuel jump drive hydrogen fuel tanks.”

  “Aye aye sir,” replied Kizzarra who sat at the pilot’s station. She had added several glimmering decorations to her fur, and she shimmered as her hands moved over the controls. The antigravity pulsar engines accelerated the ship to tremendous speeds, but the artificial gravity field never strayed from the normal one gee standard. To Saephan, the gravity on the ship was weak. The homeworld planet of the Orvod, Hron, was a heavy gravity planet, consisting of one-point-four standard gravities. Distance from their current position to the gas giant was roughly four astronomical units or four hundred and fifty million kilometers. After three hours and thirty five minutes the ship rendezvoused with the massive hydrogen planet designated Glos. The planet spun rapidly on its axis once every four and a half hours. The Sparta took up position in orbit – a speck against the vastness of the swirling red and yellow clouds below.

  “Hydrogen skimming port is open. Magnetic scoop field is active,” Kizzara said, glancing at the readouts. “Sparta is ready to descend five thousand kilometers.” The magnetic field that emanated from Sparta created a conical net one kilometer in length and half a kilometer at its base. The field would collect tons of hydrogen as Sparta flew through the upper reaches of the gas giant. Within twenty minutes time, the fuel tanks that fed the jump drive would be completely full.

  “Fill her up,” ordered Saephan. With Kizzara pushing the control yoke forward, the ship began to descend into the upper atmosphere. Drag steadily increased on the spacecraft as the emptiness of space was rapidly replaced with a hydrogen atmosphere. The large Orvod was keeping track of two separate displays. Hasephrey watched as Sparta slowly scooped in a ton of hydrogen per minute from the upper atmosphere of the planet as the other display showed the Alliance Battle-cruiser in a parking orbit over Furnace.

  “Engine room, increase speed to flank—want to finish refueling ten percent faster.”

  “Yes sir,” replied Alix Rhose, third in command of the engineering section of the ship. There were no visuals, only audio. An amber circle of light appeared over the Alliance Battle-cruiser. It was moving its position above the planet.

  “Computer, project trajectory of Alliance Battle-cruiser Agamemnon on display.” Saephan wanted to know where it was heading. The computer displayed a green line showing the probable course of the enemy vessel. The path intersected directly over where Omega team had set down hours before – Long Junction.

  “Raise both ground teams on link. Apprise them of situation.” Saephan believed in being thorough.

  Communication specialist Jalen Riehl spoke. “Sir, we’re in stealth mode. Even with our tight beam links, it’s possible the Alliance could pick up our signal and figure out they’re not alone in this system.” At the glare the giant Orvod gave him, Jalen then attempted to contact Omega team for five minutes with no success.

  “Sir, there’s no answer,” said Jalen with exasperation edging his voice.

  “Keep trying.” Saephan ordered. Hasephrey put his thumbs and forefingers together into a triangle and stared at the ever changing display. He was deep in thought and the tattoo patterns on his bald head changed shape and colors frenetically. He spoke his thoughts where everyone on the bridge could hear him. “What is Alliance doing? Why position over inhabited structures on planet?” Agamemnon had angled her nose down, pointing at the surface of the planet.

  “It’s possible they are too far below the surface of the planet. They are not equipped with quantum links in their combat armor. If they’re over a kilometer deep, none of our signals will get through to them.” Jalen continued trying to raise Omega team on the secured link channel.

  “Alliance battle-cruiser is engaging its linear accelerator. Agamemnon is firing,” said the computer with an emotionless inflection. The linear accelerator on a capitol ship of the line has the destructive capabilities of a small tactical nuclear weapon…without the radiation.

  “Ajura! They’re targeting Long Junction!” Kizzara said with an alarmed edge to her voice. “We have to get our team out of there!”

  “Calm yourself Evene. If Omega is deep inside planet, they are safe. If not…” Saephan did not want to state the obvious. “Computer, monitor situation. If Alliance ship stops firing, changes target, or moves from current position, let me know.” He squared his massive shoulders and cracked his knuckles.

  “Helm, bring ship about and plot trajectory to second planet in system. If we can get close to Agamemnon a few well placed shots will cripple their engines. We don’t want them bombarding Platinum City, especially with Alpha team down there.” The Orvod’s tattoos began pulsing red and morphing to circular rotating patterns. “Engine room, set fusion core to maximum output and increase pulsar thrust to one hundred thirty percent.” He grimaced showing rows of sharp incisors. “Raise Captain Monroe and inform her of Alliance actions. Is possible that Platinum City will be attacked soon.”

  “Sir, it will take at least forty-five minutes to reach Furnace, even if we accelerate to maximum thrust velocity. We shouldn’t jeopardize our element of surprise by broadcasting on tight beam link to our ground parties.” Specialist Jalen wasn’t giving up…he wanted to convince the chief engineer that it was foolish to send comm signals from this distance.

  “Hmm…perhaps you are right. It is much too risky. Discontinue link transmissions.” Hasephrey’s gaze swept the CIC. “Pilot Kizzara, bring Sparta smartly right behind Agamemnon at your earliest convenience.” He began to walk to the aft part of the CIC. “I am returning to engineering deck to sweet-talk more power from engines. Kizzara, you have temporary command here. Contact me ten minutes before Sparta is in firing range of the Agamemnon.”

  “Aye, aye sir!” Kizzara’s hands flew over the holographic controls and the ship leapt at her commands. Hasephrey did not feel entirely comfortable being responsible for making life and death decisions. He felt sure of himself in engineering…surrounded by the machines he knew and loved. Taking the elevator down to deck four took only a few minutes and he met several crew members on his path. They were busy going about their duties and he didn’t talk to them. Inside engineering he quickly found Elizabeth Qian, Naunet Joubert and Merrick Dunne all performing their duties at the main control console.

  “Technician’s…let us see if we can’t coax antigravity thrusters to increase output one hundred and fifty percent.” He smiled at all of them. They knew that smile and they knew he was serious.

  “Sir…is that even possible?” asked Elizabeth Qian. She queried with an incredulous look on her face.

  “Is not possible if you don’t do exactly what I tell you!” laughed the Orvod. “Now come…Qian.” His eyes fell on Merrick Dunne. “Dunne, you too. I need both of you to help.” Saephan had expanded his micro tools that he always carried with him and was turning to the starboard part of the engineering deck…where the bulk of the antigravity pulsar engines were installed. Naunet Joubert looked stricken. “Sir…don’t you need my help?” Naunet was smaller than the other techs and the top of her head just barely came to the mid-point of Hasephrey’s chest.

  “No…you stay and monitor gravimetric flux of thrusters at main console. Inform me if readout exceeds one hundred and fifty-eight percent.”

  “What happens if that happens?” she asked, not fully comprehending what he was planning on doing to the engines. The Orvod’s head tattoo’s clashed with a mix of colors and patterns.

&nb
sp; “Ship likely to explode…” He paused a beat and looked at his subordinate expectantly.

  “What? Are you kidding?" exclaimed Naunet incredulously.

  “Hah! Yes, just joking,” Saephan said. “I want you at main console for manual shut down in case of error on my part. Nothing to worry about.” Saephan with Qian and Dunne in tow walked into the starboard engine compartment through the open iris door. With force spanner in hand, Saephan crouched at the antigravity engine pump and began to open up the main panel covering the machinery. He was at one end, and the techs were at the other end four meters distant from him. His muscles bulged as he worked to loosen the bolts. The multifold cover they were working on was made of durasteel plating and was exceedingly heavy. When all of the bolts were removed, he stood up.

  “Now together we lift…me at my end and both of you at your end,” He said. “Be careful!” The cover section lifted and they placed it on the corrugated metal floor with a heavy clang. The hum of machinery became louder. Saephan remembered Gavrul engineering school back on Hron and the faces of his friends as he first showed them how this trick was done. He could still hear their laughter and scorn at his claims. How they didn’t believe.

  “What are you going to do?” asked Elizabeth Qian. “What’s that yellow thing sitting on top of the main regulator? I don’t recognize it.” Dunne was silent but hung on every word, breathlessly waiting to find out what the great engineer had in mind.

  “Yellow thing is Supercharger I installed before leaving DSD. Never finished…much like null field generator…” He kneeled down over the exposed machinery and used several of the micro-tools while Qian and Dunne looked on, taking notes. Within a few minutes he had performed the necessary adjustments and clasped his hands together. He felt the same satisfied pride he had back at Gavrul when the laughter had stopped.

  “There…is turned on,” he said with a smile as he activated his internal comm implant with a silent mental command. “Engineering technician first class Naunet Joubert…what is gravimetric flux readout showing?”

  “Instrumentation is showing one hundred fifty-four percent throughput readings on the flux, sir.”

  “Excellent, that’s what is shown here as well. So…let’s see if we can sneak up on Agamemnon faster now.” Hasephrey turned to return to the main engineering compartment. The multifold cover was lying on the deck and the exposed guts of the machinery were still exposed.

  “Sir, why didn’t you perform this procedure when you first came back onboard?” asked Merrick Dunne. “Getting that kind of efficiency is just…well, it’s insane.”

  Saephan looked at his subordinate human engineer with a glum expression. “Had many things on mind. Forgot. Am only Orvod after all.”

  He began collapsing his tools and putting them back onto the harness he wore. Qian and Dunne then helped him replace the multifold cover back over the antigravity engine housing. When the last bolt had been tightened, Saephan walked back to the main engineering compartment. As he did so, he instructed his comm implant to create a link to the CIC. Kizzara’s face appeared in front of him.

  “Pilot Kizzara, increase thrust output to one hundred and fifty four percent over maximum.”

  “Sir?” Kizzara answered in bewilderment. “Sparta cannot do that!”

  “Just nudge thrust controls forward a notch, a little bit at a time. You’ll see…” Saephan watched as Kizzara’s face broke out in a smile.

  “Ajura! Engines are increasing thrust beyond maximum…velocity is accelerating,” said Kizzara in jubilation. “Recalibration of time estimate shows us coming into firing range of Agamemnon in twenty-one minutes.”

  “Good. Perhaps enough time to keep them from attacking more outposts on the planet.” The Orvod seemed very pleased with himself.

  “Computer, what is time needed for Agamemnon to maneuver to firing position over Platinum City?”

  “Fifteen minutes thirty seven seconds,” answered the ship’s computer.

  “Is the Agamemnon continuing to fire on Long Junction?”

  “Yes, their mass accelerator main weapon has been firing continuously for the last two minutes.” The computer voice was calm – just stating facts.

  “We must allow Captain Monroe the opportunity to finish her mission.” Saephan turned to his subordinates as he wiped his hands on his uniform. “Alliance must not bombard Platinum City. We will disable Agamemnon with strike on engines and powerplant. Destroy perhaps. There is always possibility.” A gray smudge of grease was evident where his fingers had left a track. “I am headed back to CIC. Inform me if anything…bad…happens.”

  “Uh, yessir…” Merrick Dunne was slowly getting used to the idiosyncratic behavior of his chief engineer, though he didn’t know if a human could ever fully understand an alien species. The three technicians huddled together discussing what had just taken place while Saephan left for the bridge. While returning to the CIC, Hasephrey received uninterrupted data from his implants concerning the status of the Sparta and distance to the enemy ship. Arriving back on the bridge, he glanced at the main display showing Sparta on a trajectory to intercept the Alliance battle-cruiser Agamemnon orbiting the planet Furnace.

  “Hasephrey, what happens if we fire at the Alliance ship and don’t disable her engines with the first salvo?” Kizzara was used to fast attack fighter craft that used speed as a defense. A fighter pilot would evade enemy fire at long distances and then close in on a capitol ship to weaken its shields. Once a section of shields was disabled, missiles were launched against the target. She was lost when it came to larger ship tactics.

  “Fire again.” He looked at the Evene with black eyes. His red pupils were large and dilated. “And keep firing. Until the ship cannot maneuver or attack in return.” Kizzara nodded solemnly and reached for the control yoke. Sparta kept accelerating smoothly through the black void. Modern ships equipped with pulsar engines were capable of continuous thrust and increasing velocity while in normal space. Once Sparta began closing in on the Agamemnon, Kizzara would have to brake the ship to reduce velocity, otherwise they would zip by the enemy ship at hyper relativistic speeds without a chance to even fire. The Agamemnon was currently keeping itself positioned directly above Long Junction, albeit five hundred kilometers above the surface of the planet. The enemy vessel continued to fire its mass accelerator and bombard the outpost and surrounding areas. Nothing living could survive where each impact occurred. It seemed obvious that the captain of the Agamemnon was trying to obliterate all traces of Long Junction.

  “Computer, can you give details on impacts? How deep is the destruction penetrating?” Hasephrey knew that the mining shafts and tunnels under Long Junction were vast but each strike hit with a force of at least two hundred thousand newtons. The Alliance was being thorough in their design of destruction. As each minute elapsed, the crew on the bridge watched the main display with fascination, unable to tear away from the sheer devastation unfolding before their eyes. Most had never witnessed a capitol ship using its main weapon – a linear accelerator, projecting intense beams of protons at the speed of light. In five minutes, Sparta would be in range to fire its main batteries, two massive particle cannons situated along the front port and starboard sides of the ship. Additionally, she carried six turrets, three on each side, mounted with heavy gauss cannons. There was no indication that the Alliance was aware that Sparta was bearing down on them with lethal intent. The Agamemnon had not shifted from its position for orbital bombardment.

  “Gun crews prepare to fire all weapons on main engines of enemy ship once when we come into range.” Hasephrey was leaning against the railing once again, peering intently at the multi-data main display shown in front of him. “Kizzara, I want our main weapons over-charged. The shields on the Agamemnon will be weaker at the rear, but a concerted attack at point blank range should penetrate.”

  “Aye sir,” Kizz’s eyes were glued to the readouts in front of her station. The ships various computers did most of the work on a starship
, but each could easily be overridden with the manual controls. Kizz was ready to fly the ship with the control yoke the moment she sensed something wasn’t right. The second a red warning flared on her screen she knew she had to take evasive maneuvers. Pulling hard on the yoke to the right, the ship shuddered as the stress worked itself out in the hull. Personnel that were not strapped into seats fell sprawling to the metal grated floor.

  “Pilot, what in the Twenty-seven Hells are you doing!?” thundered Hasephrey Saephan at Kizzara. He had barely maintained his footing by tightening his grip on the metal railing. The computer warning came a split second before Kizzara answered.

  “Warning! Threat detected! Take evasive action!” The female voice of the ships computer sounded the alert throughout the CIC. Manually controlling the ship, Kizzara continued steering to the port side and then to starboard…weaving through a barely detected minefield. The sensors on the enemy mines were fooled by the null field encasing Sparta and could not detect the ship – only direct contact with the hull would have detonated a mine.

  “A minefield? This Alliance Captain is a devious human.” Hasephrey laughed – a full throated roar that startled the crew. “Evene, you sensed that first mine and moved the ship away just before we hit it.”

  “Just so,” Kizzara replied silkily.

  “Well, slow down and veer away. I don’t want to risk hitting any mines.”

  “I'm already doing that," came Kizzara’s reply. The minefield was apparently not large. Sensors on the Sparta seemed to indicate that the mines were sparsely laid out ten kilometers from the enemy vessel with a density of five mines per kilometer. The mines had their own power source and homed in on vessels that came within detection range.