The Shiss made strange labored sounds and I realized he was laughing. "The Hyperion isn't slow, old friend, and they don't offer you the Captain’s seat to a battleship every day."
"I know, I am proud of you, but still you are the best small craft expert bar none and I should know because I am the second best and I am in charge of Small Craft Development!"
Zezz put his upper right arm on the Commander’s shoulder and explained to me. "Commander Larson and I went to the Academy together."
Larson's grin became even broader. "The stories I could tell you, son. That crocodile-face and I, we sure did some bad things indeed!"
"He is second year, we’d better not put any ideas in his mind. Could get him expelled."
Larson rounded his desk and pushed a clipboard over the surface. "Sign here, lizard, and she's all yours. Berth 234."
Zezz pressed one of his thumbs on the pad and said, "You said it's a shuttle, right?"
"Well, that's only what she's called on the non-classified papers, and technically the thing can be used as a shuttle."
"Why do you want me to test it? Something wrong with it?"
"No, not really, it tested out fine so far, but it is still in the prototype phase, you know how it is. It is a brand new system and there is always something somewhere just not right. So I thought I would let you at it.
"Besides, I like your opinion. Take her out and go to the Barrow System or somewhere and take her to the limits and back and see how she does."
"Berth 234, right?"
"Berth 234. There is a landing field-dedicated Inter-Base Transport outside, right across from my office. It will take you right to the hangar."
Zezz looked down to me. "Well Mr. Olafson, let's get going so we can have you back reading your books by tomorrow."
"Aye, Sir!"
"Starships are incredibly complex machines as you know," he explained on our way to the IBT. "We use them every day and all of us think we know how they work and take them for granted. But if you really think about how much development, how many parts need to work together in perfect harmony to harness and channel sun-like energies, travel faster than light through quasi-space and even fight at these conditions, if you realize that, then you stand in awe before something as small as a D12. Don't you?"
'Yes Sir, I am fascinated about ships!"
We reached the IBT and it was as the Commander had said: a dedicated unit having only one destination.
The Inter-Base Transport delivered us to a deserted corridor with huge black and yellow-striped doors on one side in regular intervals of every thousand meters or so. The corridor seemed endless in both directions. The massive access door before us bore the number 234.
Two Cerberus robots stood silent guard before the door and did not react as we approached. Nevertheless, I knew their sensors were tracking every movement and checking our authorization.
Both stepped in a fluid robotic motion to the sides and snarled, "Access authority verified."
The 20m-tall and 40m-wide door made of thick Ultronit sank into the floor, revealing a sleek ship standing there inside an airlock hangar. It was clearly of Terran design, Terrans always designed ships with a hint of the aerodynamic, not that such considerations meant anything to a spaceship.
I estimated it to be perhaps 90m long. It had two long, oversized-looking ISAH thrusters on each side of a streamlined hull. The hull had no designation markings and there was no name I could see.
Zezz entered it through an open side airlock and I followed.
A short hexagonal-shaped corridor led through the center of the ship’s only crew deck from aft to bow. The air smelled of that exciting scent that new machines have.
A safety airlock in iris configuration zipped open and we stepped into the small flight deck. It had two control stations and a third command chair behind them.
Zezz pointed at the left seat. "Take her out, Ensign."
I couldn't wipe the smile off my face."Yes Sir, I will Sir!"
"Ensign, this is not the Academy. Don't snap into attention every time you talk to me, just call me Captain Zezz and leave the parade ground manners and the rest of the Z's of my name behind for a while."
"Yes Captain Zezz."
I slid behind the multi-task console and the soft pseudo-leather seat adjusted itself automatically to my body. The direct access panel for ship systems slipped under my left hand and the intuitive-control under my right.
The panel came to life and a sexless voice said, "Prototype Scorpion, fast attack craft, all systems on standby."
Zezz sat in the command chair behind me and leaned back. "Just take her out – she’s all yours."
I ran a swift system check and got all green. "How about communications, Sir? How do I identify us?"
"Your name, ship type and reason for our excursion."
"Aye, Sir."
So I opened the comm. unit. "Port Control, this is Ensign Eric Olafson aboard Prototype Scorpion. Request take-off clearance from Berth 234 for system test flight."
"This is Port 5 Control. Prototype Scorpion you have take-off clearance in 12 minutes. Stand by for computronic control."
"Prototype Scorpion acknowledged, standing by for external control!"
"Acknowledged."
I sealed the ship and made sure there were no umbilicals attached, then I pushed the power plant to full standby.
The berth doors opened and revealed the dirty yellow sulfur sky of Arsenal II.
External tractor beams lifted us off the ground and pushed the small ship fast into the sky.
"This is Port 5 Control, Prototype Scorpion we will disengage computronic control in 60 seconds. Have a safe flight, Port 5 Control out!"
I acknowledged and pushed the intuition lever slowly backwards firing our own thrusters and gaining altitude.
The ship handled like a dream and responded to the slightest intu-move of my right hand.
Zezz hissed, "Take her out of orbit right away and lay in a course to the Barrow System."
"Aye, Sir."
"Make sure you have plenty of acceleration space in front of you. This is one of the busiest star systems in the galaxy, and it would be a shame if we puncture a hole through a freighter."
"Aye, Sir. Programming waypoints now, with path scan phases at each course change sir."
Using a tactical map of the quadrant I programmed two waypoints, and kicked the ship past the light threshold into quasi-space.
Zezz said, "That was quick! How fast did she accelerate?"
"Sir I accelerated this shuttle with 800km/sec^2."
"That is as fast as a Wolfcraft IV!" he said. "They made her quick, that is for sure!"
"Sir, I believe she outperforms a Wolfcraft. I only accelerated with 65% of available thrust. Full acceleration according to these readouts is 1,230 km/sec^2."
The Shiss gasped. "They broke the 1,000 click mark with little engines like that. That is amazing indeed; those Terrans are indeed the best engineers! The very fastest Shiss ships can accelerate is 230."
"Sir, does this vessel we are in right now, not incorporate the pinnacle of engineering skills of all member species – and that includes Colonial Shiss, I am certain!"
He laughed. "You are right, Olafson, but I was quite serious. When it comes to engineering something for military use, no one beats the Terrans. The Attikans are known for the fastest engines but they have not managed to break the 1,000 click mark. Now we sit in a bird that can! They have a knack for it! Do you know they have an old saying on Shiss and it goes like this: ’Those Monkey primates of Terra always talk about peace and all because they are so terribly good at war!’"
"I am getting this a lot lately. Every non-human species always points out just how savage and warlike we humans are."
"Well maybe there is a tad of truth then?" He glanced at the Nav Screen and said, "Let's take her past red line and see how fast she is translight!"
I agreed and pushed the Isahs to max ship acceleration and the Comput
ronic verified that my rank as Ensign was enough to authorize ship operation past red line conditions. I silently cursed and wished I had that available when I faced the pirates with my Sturgeon. The Shiss Captain kept an eye on the Nav Screen and said, "That's enough Ensign, we are already 24 light years past Barrow System. Looks like she is about 20% faster translight as a standard Barracuda. Make a note of that, Ensign, and remind me to call the designer of these engines. I want to know."
One of my screens blinked red and I said, "Sorry to interrupt you Sir! We have an incoming distress call!"
"Put it on and check who else is close by."
"Yes Sir. No Union assets in scanner range. Putting distress call on."
"This is the USS Seneca, Captain Nagfir. This is a distress call. Need urgent assistance. We are 20 light years out of the Barrow System."
Zezz answered, "This is the Scorpion. We received your distress call and we are only 12 minutes from your position. What is the nature of your emergency?"
"Hostile alien craft! Sudden attack, we lost …"
Whatever the other Captain was saying got cut off. I checked the comm. equipment to see if I could re-acquire the signal.
"Sir, I am getting massive ECM pulses, characteristic jamming method of Galactic Council tech. They can't jam our Transdim signals so they try to kill the systems."
"Check what weapons and shields we have and go to maximum speed. Computronic: Full Battle Mode!"
"Full Battle Mode engaged!" the Computronic responded.
My seat moved me into a reclined position and a 5-point restraining system pulled me into the pseudo-leather as if I was bonded with the chair. Simultaneously the dome-shaped omni-sight helmet lowered around me. With it, I had an unobstructed field of view all around the ship and my eyes were synaptic-linked to the zoom controls. In essence, I had become the ship!
I heard Captain Zezz contact Fleet while I checked the weapon and shield status. "This is Captain Zezzazzzzz aboard a prototype shuttle. I received a distress call from the USS Seneca. Possible hostile action."
Then he said to me, "Do we have anything to defend ourselves?"
"Aye, Sir! 2 Loki III torpedo tubes, two FTL DE turrets and a kilo load Translocator Gatling! Bomb magazines are full for a chance and we have triple redundancy Paradim Type IV shields."
"That's why they named it Scorpion. It has a mighty sting, so it appears."
We broke out of quasi-space and saw the Seneca immediately. It was a spherical 500m ship, typical form for a light-armed explorer vessel of the Science Corps. She had a gaping hole in the engineering section and one of the ISAH thruster pods was gone.
The ship was hanging above a rugged, dark-looking asteroid.
None of my sensors detected alien activity or anything else responsible for the damaged explorer ship.
Just then I noticed a faint energy spike coming from behind the asteroid, enhanced by the ship’s Computronic and visualized as a red pulsing dot along with all relevant data before my eyes. It was artificial energy, very faint, not just a patch-reflective material, natural and common on asteroids, with remnants of ice or high metal content. I knew that whatever attacked the Seneca was hiding behind that space rock.
Zezz saw it too. "See if you can manage a microjump. Accelerate to FTL. I want to come out of quasi-space on the other side in no more than one light minute."
"Aye Sir."
I hastily laid out the requested maneuver. Microjumps were difficult because even a fraction of a second could take you way too far away, and safety features like mass collision avoidance had to be disabled because not even a Computronic could react that fast. Basically, it was a matter of hoping that I made the right calculations and that everything worked precisely. A matter collision at the very point of transitioning between quasi-space and real space would result in explosive neutralization.
I engaged the Isah Drive for the shortest duration possible and forced the Scorpion in a tight loop, so our direct line weapons would point towards the enemy. The Computronic complained and the inertia dampers redlined, several G came through and pressed us hard into the seat cushions.
We were now on the other side of the asteroid and screamed towards it at high speed. The sensors picked the alien ship up, enhanced the data and gave us a visual. Just about 100m above the rock surface hung a 150m-long ship shaped like the letter T. Our Computronic was unable to match the configuration to any known friend or enemy vessel. But the markings and the Nrlagh thrusters in the cross section of the T-bar made it most likely of Kermac origin.
The alien ship had noticed us as well and began to turn.
"Don't let them fire first! They are bigger than us and probably have enough firepower to pound even our excellent shields!"
"All weapons in range, Sir. Translocator loaded and armed!"
"Disable their drive and maneuver clusters!"
The most powerful weapon in Union arsenals was the Translocator Cannon. It translocated antimatter bombs at the moment of explosion via a trans-dimensional tunnel directly in its target range. No known shield could stop a Translocator Bomb. Even the best-armored ship was instantly crippled or destroyed when a Fusion Bomb explosion went off inside its engine room, or anywhere inside for that matter.
The Scorpion had two translocator Gatling, basically, six Translocator Cannons built around a rotating base fed by a conveyor with a choice of one and five gram AM loads.
I sent the smallest possible load into the alien ship’s thruster pods and another double salvo into what looked like a gun turret.
Armor plates suddenly became white hot and peeled off the alien ship. Its engines exploded and where there once was the gun turret, now gasped a ragged-looking hole.
The fight ended before it really started, the alien ship was clearly crippled and without maneuver power.
Zezz hailed them. "Alien craft, this is Captain Zezzazzzzz of the United Stars Starship Scorpion. You are in Union space and attacked one of our vessels. Cease all hostile activities, identify yourselves."
The alien ship was burning and with a weak flicker its last shield went out and now my sensors where able to penetrate the ship and acquire more information.
"Sir, the alien vessel is clearly of Kermac design. All energy signatures and material scans indicate a vessel of Kermac design by 99.98%. There are 25 life forms aboard, two of them Kermac. The others do not conform to any known bio signature."
A small craft detached from the ship and energy spiked at the same time. The big alien ship exploded, blinding any conventional sensors.
Zezz cursed in an unknown language and then said, "Did you lose that small craft?"
"No sir, but it is accelerating fast!"
"Stop it!"
"Aye, Sir!"
I had the small escape craft already targeted and fired a double salvo with the faster tan light energy projectors while accelerating and catching up with the pod. The small escape craft was hit by both pulses and cut in half.
Our trans light sensors detected multiple targets coming closer and an entire squadron of Ultra battleships arrived in real space.
The wreckage of the escape craft did not read any life signs.
We were hailed by the lead ship of the arriving squadron and Zezz identified himself.
A Pan Saran Captain appeared on our screen. "Captain Zezz, this is Captain Tiberius of the USS Michigan. Thanks for your assist. We are taking over now. Leave the area at once, your log entry of this incident has to be classified and filed only with Fleet Intel. I am transmitting authorization codes to verify my orders."
"Understood, Captain Tiberius. We are returning to Arsenal II now."
To me, he said, "Looks like we won't find out what happened here, Ensign. Lay in a course back home!"
"Aye, Sir."
Presently, as I was ready and about to engage the drive, we were hailed again. The comm. signal was prefixed Blue-Blue-Blue and that meant this message was encrypted to the highest level and sent by Fleet Command itself.
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br /> Zezz removed a little plastic key from a small skin pocket unnoticeable in his left upper arm and inserted it in the comm. console. "Computronic verify. Captain Zezz Zezzazzzzz service number 3094821-Z-3433."
"Blue-Blue-Blue protocol ID verification I progress. Voice, DNA and brainwave pattern confirmed, Psi-Assessment complete. Input of correct command access data key acknowledged. Awaiting input of Day Code."
"Day Code is Black-Ink."
"Blue-Blue-Blue protocol complete. Transmission decrypted and open."
The screen showed the logo of the Fleet Admiral and was then replaced by Admiral McElligott's face. "Good Afternoon, old friend. I am glad that it was you who was out there today to assist the Seneca. I thought you were enjoying some well-earned off time since your ship is in dock."
"Sir, I had the opportunity to test this prototype vessel and you know my fondness of small craft."
"Indeed Zezz, indeed! Who else is with you?"
"Just a Midshipman who had nothing better to do. So I took him along."
"Identify yourself, Midshipman!" Commanded McElligott. My own comm. screen came on and McElligott looked at me. "Cadet Olafson. I had no idea you were out. Not that it should surprise me. Something happens and you're there."
"Sir I ran into Captain Zezzazzzzz and …"
"Never mind. I know you and that is good enough. You are Blue-Blue-Red verified, that makes things even easier. Zezz, I want you to take a container from the Seneca and bring it to Tabernacle 12. There you will transfer it to Professor Sam Neumann. Do not open the container. Do not scan the container. Anyone seeing the container other than Neumann and team must be eliminated. If you are captured or in any form of distress you are to self-destruct. Do not call for help."
McElligott looked very serious and added, "Everything about this is classified Blue-Blue-Red and you are not to talk to anyone about it"
Zezz hissed, "Understood Sir!"
Elligott attempted a weak smile. "God speed to you."
"Thank you Sir."
"Nice to see you again Mr. Olafson. Stick with Zezz, he is one of the best!"
"Aye, Sir!"
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 6 (The Galactic Chronicles Series) Page 3