Clidepp Requital (32 page)

"Okay, Captain. Then in answer to your question, we can be ready to mount the generator as quickly as Padu and Addams can get into EVA gear and take the generator topside."

Two hours later, Padu and Addams were bolting the generator to the shaft that raised it to the height necessary for use. When it was firmly affixed, they began making the final connections.

* * *

"Captain, I'm getting a strange reading on my screens," the tactical officer aboard the Clidepp Destroyer
Laggesttig
said. "It's an anomaly that only appears once in every seven or eight sweeps, and then only for an instant."

Captain Wurrassow rose from his command chair and walked to the tactical station. He would have been able to see the image on a monitor by his hands, but he wanted to stretch his legs. It had been a boring watch, and he'd been sitting in the chair for hours.

"Where?" was all he said to the tac officer as he reached the station.

"Give it half a juwote, Captain." Pointing to one of his screens, he said, "It will appear right here."

Wurrassow watched closely, and about twenty-three seconds later the anomaly flashed on the screen, then winked off. He was intrigued. "That's strange. What do you think it is?"

"No idea, sir. I've been watching it for about ten juwotes, trying to determine what it might be. Do you suppose a smuggler has developed some kind of cloaking method?"

"Let's go find out. Send the coordinates to the navigator. Navigator, plot a course and send it to the helm. Helm, take us there at top speed. If these
are
smugglers, we want to jump them before they know we're coming."

~ June 28
^th
, 2286 ~

"Captain, we may have a serious problem," the tac officer aboard the
Justice
said. "There was a distant contact on the DeTect screen. It was traveling across our course, so I dismissed it, but it's changed course and is now proceeding straight towards us."

"They've been able to see us?"

"That would appear to be the case, ma'am."

"How? Our Dakinium hull is supposed to be invisible to anyone other than Space Command ships. Could they possibly be Space Command?"

"The computer is identifying it as a Clidepp
Bernouust
-class destroyer."

"And it changed direction so it's now headed
directly
towards us?"

"Aye, Captain. Perhaps they got a radar reflection off the EVA suits our guys are wearing."

"Com, get an update from our two people topside. How much more time do they need?"

The com chief spoke into his mic, and a few seconds later said, "They report they've completed the install and are now performing tests."

"Chief, tell them to pick up their tools and get back inside immediately. Tell them trouble is headed this way."

"They want to know if they can have two more minutes to complete the present test."

"No. I want them inside now."

"They understand and are complying, Captain."

"Tac, tell me as soon as they're inside the airlock and the outer hatch is closed and sealed."

"Aye, Captain."

"How long until that Clidepp ship arrives?"

"ETA is one minute, fourteen seconds."

And it will take probably two minutes or more to get our people inside,
Sydnee thought.

* * *

"Tac, what's the time to that anomaly?" Captain Wurrassow asked.

"One juwote, two kliseds, Captain."

"Is the image still only appearing every half-juwote?"

"Yes, sir."

"And other than the occasional blip, you have no other information?"

"That's correct, sir. It's as if it isn't there, and then it just— is. And then it's gone again."

"It has to be smugglers. Well, we'll show them how we deal with their kind. Ready all weapons."

* * *

"Tac, update," Sydnee said.

"Ten seconds before the Clidepp ship arrives, Captain."

"Com, where are our people?"

"Headed for the airlock, Captain."

"Tac, be prepared to roll out the laser arrays, but don't open the outer doors unless I tell you."

"Aye, Captain."

"Helm, as soon as our people are inside, use thrusters to roll the ship so our keel is towards the Clidepp destroyer."

"Aye, Captain," Caruthers said, adding, "That will expose the Marine habitat to potential fire."

"Yes," Sydnee said.

* * *

"The computer indicates the anomaly is twenty-five thousand kilometers off our bow, Captain," the tac officer said.

"Give me maximum magnification on the vids and sensors. Show me what's out there."

"We're at maximum now, sir."

"But I see nothing except blackness."

"That's all I see also, sir, but the computer says there's something there."

"Let's see if that's accurate. Fire a torpedo at the anomaly."

"Torpedo fired, sir."

* * *

"The Clidepp ship has stopped twenty-five thousand kilometers away and fired a torpedo at us, Captain," the tac officer said. "Should I attempt to shoot it down with our lasers?"

"Negative. Com, where are our people?"

"Opening the airlock, Captain. They're moving as fast as they can. They understand the urgency."

"Time until the torpedo strikes us is one minute, fifty-seven seconds," the tac officer said.

Sydnee stared at the image of the destroyer on the front monitor. Having commanded one of that same class made her aware of its capabilities and the lethality of their torpedoes. She could visualize what was happening on the bridge. They were probably confused and had fired just one torpedo to see what they could learn.

"The airlock hatch is closed," the tac officer said. "Now it's locked."

"Rolling the ship," Caruthers said.

* * *

"There was a fifteen klised period when the anomaly solidified, but then it disappeared completely, Captain. It was like a door opened and then closed. The torpedo will reach the former position in— three seconds."

For a few seconds, the monitor at the front of the destroyer's bridge white'd out as the explosion temporarily blinded the sensors.

"Target struck, sir," the tac officer said.

"What target? I still see nothing."

"And the anomaly isn't showing anymore."

"Is there something there or not?"

"There has to be something there. The torpedo struck
something
."

"But is it a natural phenomena or manufactured?"

"Unknown, sir. The evidence of my eyes says there's nothing there."

"Let's see if we can put a dent in it— whatever it is. Prepare to fire a full spread of torpedoes."

"Aimed at what, sir?"

"The same place you put the last one."

* * *

"No damage reported from the first torpedo, Captain. What's our response going to be if they fire again? Can I roll out the mobile laser platforms?"

"No, not yet. Helm, build an envelope and engage at maximum speed."

"An envelope, Captain?"

"It can't hurt to try. Our Marines said they had completed the installation and were testing the unit. I can't think of a better test than this one."

"Aye, Captain. Building envelope." Caruthers suddenly said excitedly, "Captain, the generator is on line! It's building an envelope!"

"Get us out of here as soon as possible, Lieutenant Caruthers."

* * *

"We're ready to fire a full spread of torpedoes, Captain." The tac officer said.

"Fire," Wurrassow said.

Everyone on the bridge watched the front monitor as ten torpedoes raced away from the destroyer. When just a few seconds remained, the tac officer performed a countdown— "Five, four, three, two, one, zero."

"What happened?" Wurrassow asked incredulously.

"Nothing, Captain. The torpedoes are still running hot, straight, and normal. There's nothing there now."

"Was there
ever
anything there?"

"The first torpedo had to have hit something."

"It could have struck a rogue micro-asteroid too small for our sensors to get a proper lock, right?"

"Uh, yes, sir. It might have. And the asteroid could possibly have been obliterated by the explosion."

"Helm, return us to our former course," Wurrassow said.

"Yes, sir."

"Tac, detonate those torpedoes so they don't become a hazard to innocent shipping."

"Aye, sir, detonating. How should I log the use of eleven torpedoes, Captain?"

"Target practice. I'm not going to be the laughing stock of the fleet for firing at natural phenomena. And I'd better not hear any crazy stories about this incident. That goes for everyone on the bridge. Forget it ever happened."

* * *

"Wow, the one on this end of the spread must have missed our stern by millimeters, Captain," the tac officer said.

"Dakinium is supposed to be impervious to laser fire and torpedoes, but I wonder if anyone ever tested it against a full spread like the one they fired. We can thank Chief Luscome, Staff Sergeant Padu, and Lance Corporal Addams for getting our generator working so we weren't a test case for damage by enemy torpedoes. Lieutenant Caruthers, what's our speed? Have we exceeded Light-75?"

"Unknown, Captain. There something wrong with the readouts. The console is reporting Light-2241.63."

"Wonderful. That's a great deal better than Light-75."

"But I thought Light-9793.48 was the only speed constant for double-envelope travel."

"I believe that was the constant established by Space Command engineers to avoid having a variable speed above Light-800 cause problems. The
Colorado
experienced a massive power overload that left them stranded almost a hundred parsecs from the
Prometheus
when they tried to accelerate to maximum speed and the double envelope tried to form from a single envelope. The helm consoles are always rigged to prevent anyone from using anything except Light-9790 with a double envelope."

"Then how can we be traveling at Light-2241.63?"

"All I can surmise is that the problems with our generator are responsible. But I'm not complaining if we really are traveling at Light-2241.63. I'm anxious to get home and this speed is a tremendous improvement over anything we've had since arriving at Yolongus. And nobody better cancel our envelope because we might not be able to reestablish it again. If it's going to break down on us, let's get as much mileage as possible out of it first. But I would like to know if the speed readout is accurate. Lieutenant Olivetti, take some position readings over the next hour and compute an approximate speed so we know where we stand. Lieutenant Weems, you have the bridge."

After Sydnee stepped down from the command chair, she headed directly to the sickbay. Chief Luscome had already heard that the
Justice
had been able to generate an envelope and he was grinning from ear to ear. Padu and Addams were with him.

"Gentlemen, everyone on this ship is indebted to you. We are once again traveling FTL and it appears to be almost thirty times faster than when we left Yolongus."

Luscome stopped smiling. "Thirty times faster than Light-75? That's impossible."

"We just had that discussion on the bridge. The helm console shows Light-2241.63."

"But the systems are set for only Light-9793.48 when using the double-envelope speed. We have to cancel the envelope right away, or we could experience a massive power loss. Everything could get fried, including us, and we don't have the staff necessary to work through the problems like the
Colorado
did."

"Yes, but everything seems stable."

"It might be the calm before the storm, Captain. We have to stop and check the generator."

Sydnee took a deep breath, turned around, then walked to the end of the room and returned as she thought. "I realize there's a danger. I also know that sometimes fortuitous conditions occur that, if cancelled, cannot be replicated at a later time. I'm going to maintain this speed either until the generator breaks down again, we cross the GA border, or we suffer a calamitous event. At this time, we're not even sure the console readings are accurate. For all we know, we might be traveling at Light-5 or Light-50. All we know for sure is that we left the Clidepp destroyer in the dust, so to speak, and the hull sensors have shifted from optical to digital. We're assuming those two things mean we're traveling FTL.

"I've asked our navigator to take position readings over the next hour. When I have that information, I can make more informed decisions. I just came down here because I wanted to thank all three of you for your hard work and a job well done. Getting the generator online when we did allowed us to escape that Clidepp destroyer. Even if they couldn't harm us with their torpedoes, just having them learn who we were would have sent political ripples back to the GA that could have resulted in our going to war with the Empire. I don't believe the people aboard the destroyer ever got a good look at us. Carry on, men."

No one said anything until the door closed behind Sydnee.

"I don't know guys," Luscome said. "I guess I just get nervous when people do things that go against what I've been taught by people far smarter than I am."

"Her reasons seem sound to me," Padu said. "In the Corps, we're trained to improvise and adapt."

"I have to go along with the Lieutenant," Addams said. "She's one smart cookie. I was on Diabolisto with her. She may be SC, but she thinks and fights like a Marine. I'd follow her anywhere."

"I never told you," Luscome said, "but I asked the Lieutenant to stop the forward motion of the ship while you worked on the generator outside. That's what we were taught when I was in engineering school. She refused. She has the rank, so I couldn't argue with her. Afterward I thought about her response. It made a lot of sense. Since then, I've revised my thinking about stopping the ship to work outside. So maybe the Lieutenant's right about this also."

Instead of returning to the bridge, Sydnee went to her office to think. So many things had happened since leaving GA space that it seemed like she was in a simulation back at the GSC Warship Command Institute in Australia and the testers were throwing every catastrophic problem and disaster at her they could dream up. She was tired of all the life-and-death decisions she'd been making lately and simply wanted to get home to the GA and enjoy some down time.