“We’ve been studying the technology of the Kahna Ri and were of the opinion that there had to be some kind of local power supply. There is a low level energy field that indicates some kind of power supply on the planet, but we cannot find the source. Thus far, we have not been able to tap into the field directly. We have no other engineers on our team with the skill set to fabricate the necessary hardware to make something work.
“Let me see if I’ve got this,” Ethan said. “You’ve got a pissed off pirate hiding in this system with you, and he has potential intel on your location. And then to make it worse, he may have captured the one engineer in the Coalition that knows you’ve got no defenses until someone brings you a reactor or a replacement engineer.”
Dr. Tegan nodded.
“I think you’ve got a lot bigger problem than whether FleetCom figures out where you’re working” he said.
Makhbar looked indignant as he struggled to find a reply that didn’t make him look foolish. “If you’re willing, your engineer might be qualified to help with installing the defenses,” he said after several seconds of hanging silence. “We’ll pay for his services.”
Chapter Nineteen
Rene and Ethan shared a table off to the side in the mid-deck lounge while Quintan set up for breakfast. It was early enough that no one else was awake yet, but it had been a long night awake for the captain and he expected it to be an even longer day.
“I don’t know if there’s anything I can do for them,” Rene said drumming his fingers on the table and staring through Ethan into some other level of understanding that they didn’t share. “I have power systems certifications for everything up to type six fusion, and type four antimatter reactors, but this might be way past that.”
“They don’t need you to figure out how it works, just how to tie into what’s already running, and to convert it to something that will power the defenses,” he said.
The engineer nodded. “I get that, but all electromagnetism is not created equal, no matter how it’s created.”
“Maybe not. But I think you should give it a try.”
“To be entirely honest, I’d rather we loaded up and got on our way,” he said. “Nothing against the educated idiot that’s running things down there, but he might be better off buying someone with the specific skills he needs and having the right engineer for the job.”
Ethan sat forward and made sure that Rene’s eyes focused on him before he spoke. “Here is my thinking. It will take them several days to hand load the artifacts we’re hauling back. While we wait, it can’t hurt to poke at it, can it? We’re doing nothing and, our eggs are in the wind with the rest of them.”
He sighed. “I work for you, and if you want me to take a look at it, I will. You need to make sure Makhbar knows it’s a time and materials job, and not something where we will guarantee results in order to get paid. Otherwise I think it would be better for me to spend my time sitting shifts on the ConDeck and watching the screens for Jetaar.”
“After the conversation turned that direction last night, Ammo took care of the negotiation with him,” he said. “She made sure he understood the reality, and that if we couldn’t get it working by the time the load was ready, he’d still make it worth the time.”
“It’s not about the money as much as I want to know that working on this insanely stupid project won’t delay us getting out of here. It doesn’t matter how much we make, I don’t want to end up as a bed buddy for some pirate named Ivan.”
“Yah, that too,” Ethan said.
Quintan walked up and set coffee and a couple sweet rolls on the table in front of them. “To hold you over since you’re both up early,” he said. “Coffee is extra black. You both look like you need the caffeine.”
“Thanks,” Ethan said.
“And I know Ivan, he’s a sissy,” Quinn said with a wink as he spun back to his morning rituals.
Rene sat there with his mouth open for several seconds before he whispered, “I don’t know if I should be amused or mortified.”
“Probably both,” the captain said.
The engineer nodded but his attention had already returned to the practical matters at hand. “So what happens if Jetaar drops in unannounced? He could push the safety line and end up on top of us with only a few minutes warning. If you have to bolt to keep from tangling with him, I won’t have time to get back to the ship if I’m down in the dirt.”
Ethan frowned. He didn’t have enough of an idea to call it a plan, and he knew that Rene wouldn’t like it. “If he comes out of nowhere, he’s going to want to make sure we’re not a problem before he goes for Makhbar’s site. He’ll take a run at us first, and we can retreat far enough to draw him off the planet. When he chases us, we’ll double back and scoop you up. Since we’ve got the extra coils, it’ll give us an edge in speed that should give us enough to get you and make feet.”
“That puts the Dawn at some pretty serious risk,” Rene said. “He will want the kill because we shoved his bad ass reputation into the recycler chute, but he won’t chase the ship around forever. As long as he thinks you’re close to where he can get the shot, he’ll play the game. If not, he’ll just come back and hammer the planet to get your attention.”
He was right, but they didn’t have many winning chips to play.
The engineer frowned. “Ultimately that might get us and the ship out of danger, but it dumps a very pissed off pirate back on Makhbar. With potentially no defenses at all.”
“Look it’s not a perfect world, but I don’t know what else we can do,” Ethan said. “If we don’t at least try, we’ve pretty much done the same thing, anyway. Jetaar’s already going to be looking for flesh to pound after we handed him his ego.” He sat back, scratched at the stubble on his chin, and shook his head. “When he gets here and they have no defenses, whether or not we dance him around an extra hour, he’s going to take it out on them.”
“I see where this is leading,” Rene said, nodding. “If I can pull it off before Jetaar comes hunting, then they stand some chance.”
“Otherwise not so much.”
“Alright let’s be real for a minute,” he said. “Other than that Shan Takhu medical tech that Kaycee and Elias hooked up on our last run, I’ve got no experience with any non-human technology. Elias was the one with the special training for that gear, so all I did was hand him an extension cord and watch. What happens if I can’t make it work?”
“Then we get far enough away to be safe and we call in FleetCom,” Ethan said. “It’s the best we can do, and at that point I don’t think Makhbar will be in any position to bitch at us over breaking confidentiality.”
The engineer leaned back and ran his fingertips over the faint worry lines on his forehead as he thought. Finally, he shrugged. “I’ll need to load the big shuttle with tools and sensor gear and take it with me. If Marti’s willing to come along on this fool’s folly, we’ll need to bring her Gendyne automech.”
“Of course, I am willing,” it said. “I was waiting to volunteer until you had committed to this effort. We will need to unmount our heavy fabrication printer and take it with us, so we can build the connecting hardware should we determine it is possible.”
“I was actually thinking about your enhanced sensors, but the muscle and fabrication tools you carry would be a help too.”
“Should I begin removing the fabricator now?” Marti offered. “I can have it ready for transport before you complete your breakfast.”
“Yah,” Rene said. “If the boss doesn’t mind us tearing it out of the Dawn?”
“You do what you need to do,” he said. “Anything that doesn’t affect your safety and the safety of the ship is all good. If you can pull off the miracle and get those guns up and running, the better for everyone.”
Rene pulled a thinpad out of his pocket and nodded as he started a list. Ethan watched him a few minutes before he stood up.
“Wait,” Rene said. “Can you get them to send up any information they
have on this energy field? Until I’ve got some background on it, I don’t know where to begin.”
“I’ll tell Dr. Tegan that you agreed to give it a stab, and I’ll have her get the info uploaded to you,” he said. “I’m sure they’ll give you anything you want at this point.”
The engineer nodded, then shook his head. “How do we get ourselves into these stupid foobed messes? I just wanted to haul cargo quietly around the galaxy and not have anyone depending on me for things other than keeping the engines working.”
“I’ll take it up with the boss,” Ethan said as he walked toward the breakfast table.
He’d been asking himself the same question since they got to Escabosa.
Chapter Twenty
“Captain, can I talk to you?” Kaycee asked as she came into the ConDeck and interrupted him doing nothing.
Captain? he thought, turning to face her and raising an eyebrow. “What’s with the formality? Remember, I’ve seen you naked.”
“Uhm, yah. Sorry,” she said, looking down at the deck and shaking her head.
“No, you aren’t,” he said, trying to read what was chewing on her. “Something’s wrong?”
“I hope not, but it’s possible, and I think you need to know what it might be if it is. Although it’s probably not. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, you know—”
“Stop,” he said, pointing at the other seat. “Sit down and breathe and then tell me what the hell you’re talking about. Preferably in sentences that don’t keep running in circles.”
She nodded, dropping onto his usual place behind the command console.
“I think Jetaar might be a lot more dangerous than we think,” she said. “If they have what they might have, then we might be in real trouble. And I don’t mean just us here, and them down in the dig on the planet. I mean everybody. Hopefully not, but—”
“You’re doing it again,” he said, cutting her off. “Back up and start at the beginning.”
She took a deep breath and leaned back. She let it out in a noisy hiss and then put both hands on the tops of her thighs. “Ammo and I were discussing the things that Leo was saying. There’s a lot there he hasn’t said directly that fits into things I know.”
“Things like what?”
“You remember him mentioning that fast ship?”
Ethan nodded. “You think they have one?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I doubt they have one that’s working, but they might be in possession of something else that might include a ship like that, and if so, it could be very bad.”
“You’re losing me again,” he said. “Fill in the blanks and go slowly.”
“He’s implied that Jetaar has located a collection of Shan Takhu technology,” she said.
“Other than what they’ve released to the public I don’t know much about the Shan Takhu,” he said. “But if so, what would that mean?”
“The Shan Takhu lived for a million years. They were an extremely advanced civilization that seeded life all over this part of the galaxy. Then they left archives of their knowledge for when their children were ready to climb out of the cradle,” she said.
“That much I know.”
“Humanity discovered the Tacra Un in our solar system 125 years ago and we’ve still only gotten about five percent of it figured out. That small amount gave us faster than light space travel and everything else that got us out here.”
“Right. I still follow you.”
“Now imagine what it would mean if Jetaar’s got something like that and figures out how to decipher it. That would be bad,” she said.
“This is where I fall into the fog,” he said. “If we’ve only got this small fraction of it worked out after more than a century, won’t he always be behind the rest of civilization?”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “The archive itself included working models of various pieces of technology. Other than studying their science, one of the jobs of the Shan Takhu Institute is to keep control of the hardware so it doesn’t get into the wild.”
“The STI is sitting on things it can use but that it thinks are too dangerous for humanity to have?” Ethan felt a twinge of outrage flash through him, but he swatted it to the side for future consideration and focused on what she was telling him.
“No. Well yes, really that is true, but it’s not as sinister as it sounds,” she said. “There’s a lot of technology in a Tacra Un archive that could be misused, so keeping some of it locked down is safer for humanity at this point in our development.”
“You’re saying this supposed supership isn’t just Jetaar bragging to impress the new recruits,” he said.
“It may be, but I’ve seen one of them when I was studying at the Institute,” she said.
“The Coalition has one of these and is keeping it secret?” The frustration buzzed at him again, this time taking more effort to shove away.
“After the Battle of L-4 Prime, the ship that ended the Old Union War was the Tahrat Shan Che. It was a Shan Takhu starship that they took from the Tacra Un,” she said. “The fact that it exists was never kept secret, but what it’s capable of doing wasn’t widely shared. Its legend has been left to fade into the realm of folklore.”
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s assume I believe this isn’t the stuff of a paranoid delusion. Some of these things this ship could do, would be something a pirate captain could put to good use?”
She nodded.
“Like what?” He already knew from her expression he probably didn’t want to know, but he had to ask, anyway. Plus, the answer might explain why he was feeling the edge of anger trying to chew its way through the chains he kept throwing over it.
“The engines of the Tahrat Shan Che are entirely different from the field coils on a ship like this one. Imagine a ship that travels by folding spacetime and jumping across an infinite distance, instantly. Add to that the ability to transport people from the ship to their target just like opening the door between two rooms, and you might have an idea of what he could do with it.”
Ethan shook his head. That was the stuff of tri-vid fiction.
She held her hand up like she was taking an oath. “How dangerous would Jetaar be if he could appear and deploy his troops before you knew he was attacking?”
He shook his head again. “You’re telling me he’d be able to appear and disappear out of nowhere?”
“He doesn’t even have to appear,” she said. “The Tahrat Shan Che can develop a field that sinks photons so it can make itself invisible. It could be undetectable even while it was attacking.”
“I’m not even qualified to tell you why I think that’s impossible,” he said.
“I know, it sounds unbelievable, but I swear to you it’s true,” she said. “The Shan Takhu traveled space for longer than humans have walked upright, and they built stuff we can’t even imagine.”
Ethan struggled to wrap his brain around what she was saying. “If he has one of those, he’d always have the element of surprise. He’d be utterly unstoppable.”
“I was hoping, since they seem to be somewhere close to here, that Jetaar was mistaking artifacts from this civilization as Shan Takhu technology, but the more I listened to Leo talk, the less likely that feels,” she said.
“Why?”
“The skills they’ve got Leo looking for sound like ones I’d have targeted if I was trying to decode the Shan Takhu language,” she said. “Archaeologists and engineers.”
“Wouldn’t the engineers be needed to get any ship working?”
“If it were some other society’s technology maybe,” she said. “But the Shan Takhu language is organized in a way that engineers would understand. A Tacra Un includes a teaching structure that helps to figure out the language, but once the code is cracked, so to speak, there’s a straight path to the technologies inside it. After that, it might take anthropologists and archaeologists to fill in some of the smaller pieces to make it all work.”
She paused and stared at the
wall above him like she was reading a message floating above his head. After several seconds, she nodded having apparently come to an internal decision. “Fortunately, there are elements of the language that keep most people from fully understanding it. It takes a certain type of specialist to make some of the more advanced equipment work, but a lot of the tech might operate well enough to be useful without a complete comprehension.”
“Specialist? What does that mean?” he asked.
“I can’t say.” She locked eyes with him.
“Can’t, or won’t?”
A subtle shift in her expression told him he shouldn’t ask. She let out another long slow breath. “When I told you I would be a target if my status with STI got out, it’s because I’m one of those specialists. That’s what the Fellowship credential on my degree means.”
“If the pirates have some of this Shan Takhu technology and they get their hands on you—”
She nodded. “It means I’m a real threat to the security of the Coalition.”
“You think he’s really got one of those ships?”
“I don’t know, but the longer we talked to Leo the more it felt like a possibility,” she said.
“Is there anything we need to be doing?”
She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something but just shook her head. “If he’s got a ship like the Tahrat Shan Che ship operational, then there isn’t a fragging thing we can do but pray we don’t run into him. And if he comes at us without one, we can’t be taken.”
“You mean you can’t be taken,” Ethan said.
“I’m sorry but I won’t let that happen if it comes down to it,” she said.
He didn’t ask what she meant. Her eyes told him to leave it alone.
Chapter Twenty-One
“What’s wrong?” Nuko asked as she came into the ConDeck to stand her watch. Ethan sat with his head leaned into his hands and stared at the long range sensor screen.
Wings of Earth- Season One Page 31