by William Wood
Calvin jumped back. “Whoa,” he said. “I take it you made the cloak work.”
“You couldn’t see me?” Dev asked.
“No,” Calvin said. “You were totally invisible.”
“Then I will call that a successful test. Well, partially successful anyway. It only worked for ten seconds. It must be the power source; it’s not strong enough.”
“Still, it seemed very effective.”
“Yeah, but ten seconds doesn’t do us any good.”
“No,” Calvin said. “So this is where you’ve been hiding.”
“Not entirely. I’ve been hanging out in the engine room. Alpha Nine’s been teaching me how to maintain and repair the engines.”
“Good,” Calvin said. “We’ll make you the chief engineer.”
Dev chuckled. “At least until I get back to my people.”
“Have you been able to reach them yet?”
“No,” Dev answered. “They haven’t responded to my messages. They must’ve changed their communications protocols. I’m sure that’s all it is. I just need to find the right one.”
“I’ll be sorry to see you leave,” Calvin said. “Maybe when we find them and you see they’re safe, you could come with us. We could really use your help.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Dev said. “I’m sorry, but they’ll need my help, and my first priority will be the survival of the Tryvellen people.”
“Right,” Calvin said with resignation. “I understand. I’d do the same thing. Good night.”
“Good night sir.”
Calvin left Dev and made his way back to his room, down the empty corridors. Everyone was staying busy, and Calvin was glad. Petori and Freks were staying out of sight, which was fine with Calvin.
CHAPTER FOURTY-ONE:
CATASTROPHIC BREAKDOWN
Calvin awoke from a deep sleep. He rolled over and looked at the clock. When he was able to focus his eyes, he saw it was two-thirty. Why did he wake up? He tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. When he got tired of trying, he got up and got a glass of warm gluuven, an Alerian drink similar to warm milk. It was supposed to induce sleep. After the drink appeared in the dispenser, Calvin reclined in his chair. He took a sip and closed his eyes. He felt the warm drink go down his throat. Almost instantly, he felt relaxed. It surprised him every time how fast it worked.
Just as he was beginning to fall asleep, a slight tremor gently rocked the ship. Calvin assumed it was a minor fluctuation from the hyper-drive engines. They happened occasionally and were completely normal. But instead of stopping, it grew into a soft, constant vibration. Calvin sat still and waited for it to stop, but it didn’t. The vibration turned into a hard shaking. A solid jolt slammed the ship, almost tossing him out of the chair. Calvin jumped up, fully awake. Fearing the worst, Calvin dressed quickly and ran to the bridge. The shaking got worse, bringing back memoires of the severe quakes on Doonterria.
Ion was alon e on the bridge when he got there. “What’s happening?” Calvin asked. He had to hold onto a chair to keep from falling down. Red lights were flashing on computer panels and the alarm was ringing loudly.
“The hyper -drive is overheating,” Ion said. “Systems across the ship are crashing.”
A small monitor next to the engine display turned on. Dev’s face filled the screen. “Bridge, the hyper-drive is destabilizing!” He shouted “If you don’t take us out of hyperspace now we’ll be torn to pieces!”
Calvin dashed to the pilot’s seat, plopped down and pulled the levers all the way back to the off position. The stars rearranged themselves and the ship returned to normal space.
Maneuvering jets on the front of the ship brought them to a dead stop. The vibration didn’t stop as Calvin expected it to. Instead it grew more intense. The alarm was ringing so loudly, it was blaring through his head.
“Ion, shut that thing off!” Calvin said, slightly irritated. The alarm stopped, but Calvin became aware of a loud, high pitched whine that came from deep inside the ship.
The door opened and Astra stumbled in, holding on to whatever she could.
“What’s going on?” She asked.
“I have no idea,” Calvin answered. “Dev’s in the engine room. He said we needed to drop out of hyperspace or we’d blow up, basically. We just returned to normal space, but the problem is only getting worse.”
“I’ll be in the engine room,” She said and hurried off the bridge.
“Why didn’t it stop?” Calvin asked.
“I don’t know sir,” Ion answered. “Can you please stay on the bridge? I believe my services are needed in the engine room.”
“Go ahead. I can handle it here.”
“Thank you sir,” Ion said. He stood and left the room. Calvin rapidly assessed the situation. They were sitting in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around for light-years except a small red sun, with a lifeless moon circling it. Red lights were flashing across several of the computer consoles, and a strange odor was filling the room. The cloaking device was on, but it was fluctuating slightly. The shields were at fifty percent and falling. In the midst of the chaos, a red dot appeared on the short range sensors, moving fast and heading directly towards them.
He felt a stab of panic. “This is crazy,” he said out loud to no one. “This is the most advanced starship ever built, right?” A quick glance at the scanner showed the red dot much closer now. Could it see them? Calvin clicked on the red dot, and zoomed in on it until it dominated the screen. At least the sensors were still working. The system scanned the new contact and swiftly informed him it was a Goremog scout ship; a lightweight, highly maneuverable craft with weak lasers. But its power wasn’t in its weapons, but in its unfortunate ability to report back to bigger friends.
Calvin wouldn’t feel safe until he got the ship moving again. He quickly assessed his options. He couldn’t use the hyper-drive, but what about the main engines?
“Astra,” He called on the comm system, hoping that system wasn’t affected too. “Can you hear me?”
“I hear you Calvin, what’s up?” She had to shout over the roaring of the engines.
“A Goremog scout ship just dropped out of hyperspace. It’s heading directly towards us.”
“What?” Astra said loudly.
“I think it can see us.”
“That’s impossible,” she answered. “We’re cloaked.”
“Are you sure?” Calvin asked. “It’s coming this way and its weapons are charged. I need the engines.” Calvin heard some shouting from the other end, but couldn’t make it out. One was definitely Dev’s voice.
“OK,” Astra said. “Just don’t use the hyper-drive. There was a massive overload and the power plant failed to scram. We’re trying to shut them down manually. Don’t let the scout identify us Calvin. If it does, we’ll be in big trouble.”
Astra’s last statement was ominous, and filled Calvin with a sense of dread.
“Leave it to me,” Calvin said, more confidently than he felt. He eased the throttle forward. The Frost started moving slowly, and lurched forward in short bursts as it struggled to accelerate to full speed. The scout ship was much faster, and was swiftly closing the gap. Calvin switched the weapons on. He targeted the Goremog scout ship with the rear missiles and laser batteries.
The big question was; could the enemy ship see them through the fluctuating cloak? Calvin could only think of one way to find out. He turned the ship hard to starboard and then hard to port; back on their original course. His fears were confirmed when Goremog ship changed course to match Azure Frost. Calvin felt an icy ball form in his stomach. The enemy could see them.
The scout ship opened fire as soon as it was in range, unleashing a mere four laser shots that splashed harmlessly into the shields. Out of habit, Calvin checked to see the impact. The shields were down to fortyfive percent and dropping. The scout couldn’t possibly drain the shields that much. Something was obviously wrong; probably the same thing that was affecting the engines.
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Suddenly a thought occurred to him; he knew he could deal with the scout ship; it was like fighting an annoying bug . But what if the enemy ship called for help? Jam it! It took Calvin a second to find the electronic countermeasure panel and hit the switch. Azure Frost flooded the star system half a light-year in all directions with enough electronic noise to prevent enemy ships from calling for help.
More laser shots hit the ship. The enemy bug kept throwing a steady stream of small annoying stingers at Azure Frost.
“I’ve got to stop this,” Calvin said out loud. “Or that little ship is going to cause real damage.”
He reached for the rear missile controls, but before he could activate them, laser fire poured out from the back of Azure Frost. The area around the Goremog scout was bathed in laser fire. It maneuvered wildly and tried to pull away but it was too late. Several shots lanced through the center section of the scout’s main compartment and the entire ship was engulfed in a bright flash that only lasted for a second and was gone. Only a small patch of debris was left.
“Woohoo!” Wexton shouted. “Nailed him!”
“Great shooting!” Calvin said, relieved. He looked at the internal sensors, which showed Wexton was in the rear turret.
“Are there anymore?” Wexton asked.
“No,” Calvin said. “Just the one.” He checked the sensors, and was happy to see it was clear of red dots.
Before he had a chance to celebrate, the vibration stopped, and there was a noticeable drop in power. One last jolt quivered through the bridge, and the ship decelerated markedly.
“Astra,” Calvin said. “What’s going on down there?”
“It was worse than I feared,” Astra said. “The hyper-drive was heavily damaged. We were able to shut it down, but it was too late.”
There was a pause, as if she was letting the news sink in. Without the hyper-drive, they were stuck there.
“We need to land and shut everything down,” Astra continued. “We’ll have to get inside the engine in order to fix it. Is there anything close by?”
“There’s a moon, not far from here. No atmosphere though. Do you need to go outside?” There was a brief pause.
“Yes, but that’s OK. We should be able to get it done with space suits. How long until we get there? I only ask because the longer we wait the more damage we cause. I’m worried it could be irreparable.”
“Hold on, I’ll check,” Calvin said. He brought the moon up on the monitor. It was dark and barren. Data scrolled across the monitor, but the important details were highlighted for him. There were no life signs, the atmosphere contained no oxygen and gravity was extremely low. As he suspected, it was a lifeless rock.
“Twenty minutes,” Calvin said. He changed course toward the moon and reduced speed. No reason to stress the engines by pushing them unnecessarily. “Twenty-five minutes.”
“I think we can keep things together that long,” Astra said. “Find us a nice place to land, and be gentle. Let me know when we’re on the ground.”
“Copy that,” Calvin said. He glanced back at the long range sensors, certain he would see more enemy ships in the area. But to his relief, the screen was still clear; no red dots. He wondered how long that would last. Calvin didn’t rely on feelings, not when it involved the safety of the ship. But like many other times on this mission, he had a very bad feeling nagging him; did he jam their communications soon enough, or did the Goremog get a signal out?
Calvin kept an eye on the flight instruments, gauges and sensors at the same time. The engines were still running very hot, the gauges were all in the red; that worried him, and they weren’t dropping.
It didn’t take long; fifteen minutes to reach the outer edges of the moon’s near non-existent atmosphere. It felt like it took forever. Halfway there, the temperature on the bridge began to rise. Calvin gritted his teeth. There was nothing he could do but hope and pray they made it.
The closer they got, the less hospitable the moon looked. When Azure Frost finally arrived, Calvin placed them in a geosynchronous orbit over the day side. The computer provided clear pictures, but nothing beat the view through the window. The air was clear and bright, and he could see tall barren mountains and deep dark canyons. Because there was no atmosphere, there was no turbulence and the ride down was very smooth. Concerned that the Goremog scout identified them and called for re-enforcements, he set Azure Frost down in the bottom of a deep crater on the dark side of the moon. The bridge was enveloped in darkness as the ship slowly descended into the crater. A green box appeared in the center of a monitor that said, ‘activate external light beams?’ Calvin touched the box and powerful beam lights turned on, illuminating the crater perfectly. The sensors told him how far away the bottom was and the distance from the walls, but it was comforting to see his surroundings, even if it was just rocks.
Ten feet from the crater floor Calvin hit the landing jets, which slowed their descent. Clouds of dust were blown into the air. Touchdown was very soft. There were terrible noises as he shut the engines down; noises the ship had never made before. It took two minutes for the sounds to slowly die down. It was hot on the bridge, and the air seemed a little thin to Calvin.
The external beam lights turned off. Calvin looked out the window. It was pitch black outside; barely any star light reached them at the bottom of the crater. Hopefully, that would hide them if someone showed up looking for them.
“That’s it,” Calvin said. “We’ve landed.”
“You picked a perfect hiding spot,” Astra said. “I doubt the Goremog will find us here, But the sensors won’t work very well in this hole. We won’t be able to see them coming.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Calvin admitted. “Should I move us to higher ground?”
“No, we won’t find a better place,” Astra said. “Besides, I don’t want to restart the engines right now. Repairs are going to take a while. You know, this might be a good time to take one of the new fighters out for a test flight. We’re going to shut everything down except essential systems. If we emit no power emissions, there won’t be anything for the Goremog to detect. Since we’ll be blind, we can use you in the fighter as extended long range sensors; a kind of early warning.”
“Hey,” Calvin said, suddenly excited. “I love that idea. I’ll stay in touch.”
“You’d better,” Astra said sternly. Then she softened her tone, “Please be careful, you’re not invincible.”
“Don’t worry,” Calvin said, getting up. “I will.”
“I always worry about you,” Astra said. Just at that moment the computers and lights turned off, replaced by a single blue light.
Calvin took his seat harness off and stood up. “But I am invincible,” Calvin said to himself, as he walked down the corridor. He didn’t really mean it, or did he?
Halfway to the shuttle bay he felt a surge of exhilaration as it sunk in that Astra had just suggested he fly one of the new advanced fighters, something he had been dying to do since he found out about them. He walked into the shuttle bay. The four new advanced fighters were lined up along the wall in the back. Calvin walked to the first one and ran his hand along the side. It felt cool to the touch. He stepped back and admired it. It was long, sleek and glossy black, with a highly tinted canopy on top, about ten feet from the nose. It looked beautiful and graceful, like it could slide through any type of atmosphere with little resistance.
Calvin walked to a computer station in the corner. The machine already had his measurements, and asked him to select a flight suit. It only took a few seconds, and a neatly folded black uniform appeared in a receptacle, complete with an Alerian Lieutenant rank insignia.
“Nice touch”, Calvin remarked. He used a nearby locker room to change. The flight suit was very comfortable, and it felt good to be back in uniform.
A computer console on a pedestal at the back of the bay controlled the selection and preparation of the fighters. Calvin selected the ship he wanted to fly and two large robotic ar
ms from the ceiling picked up the fighter and moved it into launch position in front of the bay doors. Calvin watched the process with fascination. The canopy opened with a soft hum, signaling that it was ready to go. Calvin walked around the fighter and inspected the outside. Even sitting on the bay floor, unmoving, it looked fast.
He climbed in and the computer screens lit up. The layout, the controls, and the feel of the chair, all felt exactly like the simulator he was very familiar with. Everything he needed was at his fingertips, and easily accessible.
He had the process down so well he could have done it in his sleep. He closed the canopy and switched on the power generators. Next the twin T600 engines roared to life. They were so loud, even in the sound dampened cockpit that they startled Calvin. Cold air flowed from vents as the oxygen pumps turned on and the cockpit was pressurized. He could feel the raw energy in the fighter. It was as if the fighter desperately wanted to be free of its prison in the shuttle bay; its power was barely contained, ready to spring forward in an instant.
This fighter was the most advanced he had ever seen. With the touch of a button the restraining system tightened around him, sensing his body size and creating a perfect fit; not too tight, not too loose. Another button opened the big shuttle bay doors.
When the shuttle bay doors were fully opened, he was met by nothing but black empty space outside. The optics and visual enhancement system mapped the area ahead, showing the bottom of the crater in digital perfection.
Calvin gently pushed the throttle forward, and eased his way out of the shuttle bay. He was surprised at how responsive the fighter was, but then, he’d been used to flying a much larger ship that was far less responsive. Once outside, he closed the hangar bay doors. Next, he angled the nose of the fighter upwards and pushed the throttle forward. It was like unleashing an angry caged animal. The tiny fighter blasted out of the crater. He was shocked by the incredible power that was available to him. He reduced speed and leveled out, already one thousand feet over the moon’s surface in just a few seconds.