AMP Private War (14 page)

My tour of the Suppressor continued. I was shown the ship repair bay and the living quarters for our Marines, I was shown the new bay where Gy and Rita would be constructing Raiders, I was shown our maintenance facilities where the entire freighter turned station was kept running and I was shown our engineering facilities where Bucci and our programmers continued to enhance our systems.

I stopped briefly in the computer lab to see what the guys had been working on. Our flight computers were being given an upgrade that took into account the field of battle. If a ship’s armor had taken a strike on the right side, the computer attempted to turn the ship’s flight angle, so that the same spot would be difficult to strike a second time. By spreading the hits out across the surface of the ship we would be able to stay in the fight longer. The programmer’s work continued to impress.

After the tour I moved up to the Bridge to sit and watch the daily operations. Even with all the construction going on things were quiet. We had more credits than we could use, we had more Tantric ore than we could sell and the Colonel was preparing for another recruiting run to the Grid. He was looking to triple the size of his force in the coming months. The easy recruits had already come aboard.

It seemed we were now in the mode of recruiting managers for our managers to manage. The organization was growing at an alarming pace. I sat looking out the bridge bay window at the rocky world of Jarhead down below. The nation of Defiant was real and growing. I wondered what the coming year would bring.

I was startled by a hand on my shoulder. "Sorry Sir, didn’t mean to scare you, was just wondering if you would like a beverage. We just finished a lunch meeting and we have a few left over. Oh, and my name is Hiller Sir. I’m a Bridge tech, you know, I keep this entire place running... I just wanted to say that it’s a pleasure to meet you Sir, an honor really."

I shook his hand and accepted the offer he held out in the other. It was a berry drink that George’s team of buyers had purchased on some third world planet. Most of the goods we consumed daily had come from similar sources. It was just one more way we had used to conceal our existence. As I sat back in my chair, staring out the window with the beverage in my hand, I wondered how long it would be before we were discovered.

The chatter regarding a Milgari attack had eased since our capture of the two loads of Tantric ore. The Prassi had fled from the attack on their system only to return after a lengthy fight. With much of their infrastructure in shambles they would be busy for years rebuilding. I thought it was time that I made an effort to once again contact them about the selling of Tantric ore.

Our assembly line for the first Raider had been in operation for months. The first of the ships, the Hunter, had taken its maiden flight. All tests had gone exceedingly well and the Hunter was being stocked for its first mission.

A number of members of her crew had been trained in the art of Tantric plating. With a generous supply of highly refined ore, together with a small on-board lab, the Hunter’s crew would be able to repair damage to their armor while away from the Suppressor, a function that was crucial for an extended tour of duty.

With the hunter soon launched on its first tour of duty I set my sights on the Prassi system where I hoped to once again be a seller of Tantric. When I arrived the Prassi were busy, they had cities to repair and space docks and space stations to rebuild. They were in dire need of Tantric for the re-plating of their ships and I had a large cargo to sell.

But the Prassi were no longer in a position to pay as they had been before. Their economy was in shambles and much of their accumulated wealth had been pilfered by the Milgari. I was offered what little gemstones they had as well as the plans for their missile technology, a technology that was largely useless for our needs.

"Please accept our generous offer of our defensive technology. As I am sure you saw from our previous battles it was at times highly effective. We understand there are better methods out there, but this is what we have to offer."

I thanked the Prassi ambassador and headed back to the Swift to take it under consideration. The offer was anything but generous, but it was all that they had.

I returned several hours later with my counter offer. "I sympathize with your plight Mr. Ambassador. So, I have come up with a plan that I hope meets both of our needs. We will deliver one hundred kilotons of ore per month. Payment will be with the gemstones you currently possess for the first three months followed by the offer of technology. This will allow you time to acquire more gemstones for trade before having to give up your secrets. If you determine that you have other commodities to trade during that time we will make every effort to take those into consideration."

The Ambassador had little leeway to object and the deal was struck. We would park an ore hauler just outside of their sensor range and once a month it would come in and unload a set amount of refined Tantric ore. A Defender would be in escort and would be the means to transport the payment back to the Suppressor.

When I returned to our base the Colonel was readying his men for a trip out to the Milgari mining planet. If the freighter that was parked there was nearing capacity we would attempt another raid. After Frig had conducted deep scans of the planet it was determined to hold a vast amount of Tantric ore. I was sure we would meet with significant resistance as the mine itself was a valuable commodity, a commodity that the Milgari were likely in short supply of.

The following week we arrived just outside of their sensor range. Frig began his scans and we soon learned what we would up against. Twenty-two battleships and 31 cruisers were parked in a defensive formation around the space-dock and freighter. The freighter was nearing capacity.

But there was another ship in the system that we were not familiar with. It was identified as a Durian Warmonger, a ship that was only rumored to be in existence. The Durian ship was three times the size of a Milgari battleship and instead of having two main ion cannons, it had 16. A deep scan of the armor on its hull revealed a thickness that we had yet to see. It was a blend of Tantric and another material that we were not familiar with. A raid on the system was now in question.

The Colonel spoke. "We have weeks before that cargo is ready to move. I think we should camp here and discuss our options. We don’t know the capabilities of that Durian ship, heck, we don’t even know if it would join in a fight against us, but it sure does throw a wrench in the works. My boys are evaluating the data from that scan. I’m betting we will need data that is of a higher resolution than what we can obtain from here."

The Colonel was right. I soon concocted a plan to get the Swift in close. We would ride in behind an asteroid and then roll out during a blind spot behind the fifth planet in the system. It was a gaseous giant that would be uninhabited. We would then hide in its upper atmosphere and move slowly around until we had a clean image of the Durian ship for a scan. If our movement was slow we felt that we could easily go undetected.

The gas giant had a blue tone due to its high content of methane. We would have to minimize our stay in the upper clouds as the corrosive effect of methane would eat away at our outer layers of Tantric armor. An asteroid was gathered from a near system and pushed in the direction of the mining colony.

We rolled out as soon as our position was hidden from the Durian ship and took up a position just above the atmosphere of the blue planet. "Sir, I’ve done a few quick calculations regarding the corrosive nature of that methane. We will lose approximately one layer every 57 minutes if we maintain an altitude within 5 kilometers of the outer atmospheric layer. We will however, be exposed at that altitude.

I looked at Frig’s data. "So, what are you proposing? What are we up against?"

Frig punched his keyboard and pulled up a chart. "The deeper we go the higher the rate of corrosion. At 20 kilometers we will lose one layer every 23 minutes, at 100 kilometers that rate rises to one layer every 7 minutes."

"This is an extremely thick atmosphere Sir, but it is very thin at the highest levels. We will need two minutes for the scan to complete and we can be no deeper than 400 kilometers or we lose resolution. At 400 kilometers we will be losing one layer per minute. I’ve plugged in our estimated travel time through the atmosphere to achieve the needed position. If we are able to stick to the exact plan I believe we will have two layers remaining upon our return."

I threw my hands in the air. "Two layers? Are you kidding? Why didn’t you do this analysis back there before we came barreling in here? You do realize that we no longer have an asteroid to hide behind right? I mean, what is our exit plan?"

Frig looked at me with an uncommitted look. "Perhaps we rushed in before planning this one out fully Sir. I think we are both a bit intimidated by that Durian ship."

Again I threw my hands in the air. "Perhaps? Do you think?"

I stood and began to pace back and forth on the deck. "What we need here is a new plan, a plan where we have covered all the angles!"

I paced for several minutes before the questions began to flow. "Is there anything we can do to minimize the corrosive effect of that methane? Ionize the hull, spray it with some coating? Set off an ion bomb?" I continued to pace.

Frig replied, "Sir, all of those are excellent suggestions. I’m afraid that we cannot ionize our hull as the Tantric Aquamarine will only absorb it. We do not have anything to apply to the hull and the negative ion bomb would either be inert or it would rapidly increase the rate of decay. I am afraid that we may have to take our chances with a minimum number of layers remaining Sir."

I responded, "And what do we do with the info once we get it? We can’t just fly it back out there!"

Frig took several seconds to reply. "You are correct in that we cannot fly it out there as we would then give away our position. What we can do is to load the data onto a passive probe, and then push the probe in their direction with a minimal ion burst."

Frig turned back to his keyboard and typed away frantically. "There is a high likelihood that they would not notice an object of that size. It would take three days to make it out of sensor range Sir, that is three days that we will have to wait out here while fully exposed. If the Milgari were to send out a picket we would be easily detected."

I pursed my lips and then responded. "So, fly in slowly as the ship dissolves, capture the data and return, and we then pack it on a probe and launch it out to the others. Then we sit for three days with our butts up in the air while they figure out what to do. Did I get that right?"

Frig nodded.

I continued my pacing for several minutes. "I don’t like your plan, but it’s all we have so let’s just do it and get it over with. Set your way-points and take us in."

The Swift slowly moved through the gas giant’s upper levels and the defensive console began to show the damage.

"Four layers… there goes five… bye bye six…"

Frig spoke, "Sir, beginning the scan now."

I looked over his shoulder and then back at the defensive console.

"Eight… nine…"

The Swift turned and again moved slowly back towards where it had begun.

"Eleven… twelve… thirteen… Frig, come on, get us out of this soup. It’s eating us alive!"

As Frig had predicted, we exited the methane atmosphere with only two layers of Tantric armor remaining. "Sir, the data has been stored and we are packing it onto a probe now."

Frig continued to punch away at his keyboard.

Frig continued, "Hmmm. This is interesting. I took the liberty to model the corrosion of the methane on our hull armor. It seems that while the Tantric was dissolved, the Aquamarine now has a tighter bond. I’m running a charged bolt simulation now… interesting. The charged bolt, all the way up to a battle cannon level, was completely absorbed and dissipated by the Aquamarine. I find the mechanics of this phenomenon highly unusual."

I placed my hand on his shoulder as I looked at the data on his console. "So, you are saying we can now somehow magically take a full cannon shot without damage?"

Frig again punched away on his keyboard. He then came to a stop. "Hmm. That is precisely what I am saying Sir. But there is one caveat; the Aquamarine now makes up the outer layer which is vulnerable to debris strikes as we travel at high speeds. The Tantric below will prevent hull penetration, but the outer layers would wear off on a trip of any duration."

I again paced back and forth. "So, we are now stuck here until the Colonel and his lot figures something out. What have you been able to discern from the Durian ship?"

Frig punched away. "It appears that the cannons are more powerful, as we suspected, but we won’t know by how much until such time as they fire them. Their armor has the same unknowns. It is Tantric based, but it has some other combination of material in it that I can only guess is for charge dissipation, similar to our Aquamarine."

"The coatings on that ship also have an effect on its visual signature. From this distance we can clearly see its size, but from a greater distance it would appear to be about one third the size that it is. That would come in quite handy when… whoa."

I stopped my pacing. Exclamations were something rarely used by Frig. I turned to see what had his attention.

I spoke, "Ho… we are toast my friend!"

There hovering before us was the Durian Warmonger. Its sinister sleek black appearance foretold of our demise.

A hail came over the comm. "You are in direct violation of Milgari space! Identify yourself!"

I sat in my chair and pulled the seat belt tight. "Don’t bother answering. We have nothing to say. I’m placing the self-destruct on for a one minute delay. We can’t be taken captive or we give up our technology. Switch our cannon to the plus-minus pulse. If you sense a cannon powering up of anything then take it out."

Frig switched the cannon to alternating pulse output. "Cannon switched Sir. And I’m afraid we will not detect them powering up their cannons Sir. They are already waiting, ready to fire."

Again the Durian ship blasted out a hail. "Intruder. This is your final warning. Identify yourself and be prepared to be boarded!"

We remained silent, staring at the Durian ship that filled our screen. "Awe, what the heck… unidentified ship. Please prepare to be boarded yourself. The Defiant navy is hereby confiscating your ship and placing your crew under arrest!"

I then turned and nodded to Frig with a smile. "Been nice knowing you!"

Seconds later a bright blue bolt shot from one of the Durian cannons. Its power registered an order of magnitude higher that a Milgari battle cannon. I winced, waiting for the inevitable blackness that would come with death, but the Swift’s hull only shuddered from the powerful beam as the newly formed skin absorbed the ion charge.

The Milgari waited several seconds and then fired again. The second pulse yielded the same result. The Swift shuddered as the charge was dissipated.

I then spoke. "Hit ‘em right in that gun turret with all we have. I don’t know what to think about this magic coating we now have, but I like it!"

Frig pressed the fire button and the Durian ship took a direct hit to the cannon mount that had fired upon us. The cannon exploded as the ionic charge expanded and a deep crater was left in its place.

The Durian ship began to turn. "Hit her again and keep blasting until there is nothing left!"

The Swift shuddered as each new bolt of energy left its cannon. The Durian ship quickly lost its left engine and a third strike took out a second cannon. The Warmonger returned fire as it attempted to flee and again the Swift absorbed its blows.

I continued, "Target that second engine before it… grrrr!"

The Durian ship shot off into the distance as its remaining engine came on full. Seconds later the first of the Milgari battleships rounded the gas giant with its cannons blazing. Two precision shots by Frig took the battleship’s cannons offline. It accelerated past us in an attempt to flee. Frig hit its vulnerable spot, just before the engines and the battleship quickly lost thrust. I pitied no one on-board her as she began to descend into the methane atmosphere of the gas giant we orbited.

I then began to push our own throttle forward. Frig reached out his hand to stop me. "No Sir. If we move we risk damaging this armor with the debris from those ships. We are going to have to wait for them to come to us!"