Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (9 page)

"Engineering?"

"Yes, Cap'n?"

"Looks like we're right on course for hyper. I might need to make a few adjustments as we get closer to the zone but I think we can just coast on our intrinsic velocity for at least an hour or so."

"Roger, Cap'n. Just let me know if you need anything."

"Will do, Cliff."

Beth looked at Zack. "I don't suppose I could talk you into rustling up some breakfast, could I? I've got to get us ready for the jump and I'm famished."

"Can do," said Zack. He headed down out of the bridge to the galley. After a quick inventory, he decided to whip up some synthegg omelets which he would serve with more toasted Lehman's starbread. He used some special spices from a stash he carried in his backpack to embellish the normally rather insipid ship-going fare, a trick he'd learned from an old-timer during his first few months in the Marines. After running a serving down to Cliff, he went back to the galley and brought a tray with a couple of servings and two cups of coffee up to the bridge. Beth barely diverted her attention from her control console but accepted the plate and absently took a couple of bites.

"Hey, you weren't kidding," she said, looking over at him, "This is pretty good! What did you do to these eggs?"

"Old family secret," said Zack. He consumed his own serving with sips of the fairly decent coffee between bites while Beth did the same. They both finished up and then took a few minutes to finish their coffee before Zack gathered up the dishes and headed back down to the galley. After a quick dash down to engineering to bus Cliff's used dishes, he put the plates and silverware in the sanitation unit and secured the galley.

Ten minutes later he was on the bridge and back at his station.

"Have a look at your console and tell me if you see any ship contacts anywhere out there," said Beth.

Zack's hovercraft experience meant that he was well-versed in operating equipment that was actually a lot more sophisticated than the logistics console at the first officer's station. After only a short hesitation to examine and interpret the controls, he switched the view in front of him to a grid that showed other ship traffic in the system and, of particular interest to the crew of the
Capri
, near the approaching hyperlink zone.

"I...I have a contact, Captain,"

"What? No way!"

Beth switched her own console over to the same view as Zack's and changed the sensitivity settings, "Yes, it is definitely a ship," she said, "From the reaction drive signature, and the velocity they've built up, it's probably some kind of military craft. Looks like they'll be in the hyperjump zone about two hours behind us."

Beth chewed on her lower lip. "I was afraid something like this might happen. Those damned station officials must have been bribed."

"What's the problem?" asked Zack.

Beth was suddenly all business, "That ship is almost certainly chasing us. If their navigator is worth his salt, they'll hit the jump zone with all the extra velocity they've been building up and they'll catch up to us within another hour and a half or so after we come out of hyper in the next system," she paused and frowned in thought, "It's risky but we might be able to gain some distance on them if we go to sublight a little early. They can't touch us while we're in sublight space, but they'll probably figure out what we did right away and use the same tactic. Unless we get really lucky, they'll catch us before we get to the beta jump zone in the next system."

Beth called down to engineering.

"Engineering? This is the Captain."

"Engineering here, what can I do for you Cap'n?"

"We're being followed, Cliff. I don't want whoever it is to know that we're on to them but as soon as we come out of hyper, I want you to put the reaction engines all ahead on full emergency power and prepare for sublight as soon as it's safe for us to make transition."

"Aye, Aye, Cap'n. You want full emergency as soon as we come out of hyper and then prepare for early transition to sublight? Good thing we got a full load of reaction fluid! What's the rush?"

"We're being followed by someone we don't want to get caught by. There's no time now, I can explain later."

"Aye, aye, Cap'n," replied the engineer.

"Beth?" said a now fully-alarmed Zack, "What's going on?"

Beth made a few more adjustments to her flight console before sitting back and taking a deep breath. She turned her head, looked Zack directly in the eye and said, "I'm really sorry, Zack, but I haven't been completely honest with you."

"What do you mean?"

"First of all, my name isn't 'Elizabeth Howell' it's Ariane MacPherson. Secondly, I'm still active military. I'm an Ensign with Naval Intelligence and I'm on a special mission for the Federation government."

Zack didn't react for several long moments. Finally he said, "MacPherson? Are you related to the MacPherson who's on the grant proposal with my uncle?"

"Yes...he's my father."

"Why all the cloak and dagger?"

"You've been doing some research in your uncle's files?"

"A little, but there hasn't really been much time."

"Well, this 'Deimos Artifact' that your uncle got his hands on is suddenly something of a very hot potato."

"How so?"

"Some really strange things have been going on lately," replied the pilot, "There have been countless reports of people having dreams about a small pyramid."

"You mean that 'mass dream' or 'shared vision' thing I saw on the news yesterday?"

"Yeah, that's it. We don't know for sure, but there's an outside chance that the object in this shared vision could be your uncle's Deimos Artifact."

"No shit?"

"No shit. I don't know that I believe any of it myself, but the Soviets seem to want it bad. In fact, that's probably who's chasing us. They think the artifact is on this ship."

"Is it?"

"I don't know for sure. Maybe?"

"What the hell is this 'artifact,' anyway?"

"We don't know that either. My father and your uncle were very secretive about it. All we know is that it is very old and supposed to be an object of great value or great power or something like that."

"You needed me to retrieve my uncle's memory chip and unlock it didn't you?"

"Yes and no," she replied, "Our information wasn't that specific, Zack. We didn't know what Marv had done with any of his records. We couldn't get anything out of his lawyer, although old Alberts probably didn't know all that much anyway. It'll sure be a lot easier this way."

Zack would like to have pursued the matter further but realized that this was simply not the right time. If Beth/Ariane was right, he and his two colleagues had more immediate problems. His military instincts kicked in, "What do we do about that ship?" he asked.

"The configuration of the gravitetic harmonics in the next system and the velocity we've built up mean that we'll have about two hours of travel after we come out of sublight, before we reach the jump node where we'll be able to skip into hyper again. That second jump takes us into the Central system; they'll be far less likely to try and attack us there."

"You think they're going to attack us?"

"I wouldn't bet against it."

"And if we can't outrun them in this next system...?"

Her look grew serious, "We have to outrun them," she said, "These are probably the same people who killed your uncle, Zack. They'll stop at nothing."

"Then it looks like we have a problem," said Zack.

"We have a few things in our favor. They probably won't take a chance on destroying this ship outright, not if they think the artifact might be on it. They'll be more likely to try and disable us. After that, they'll board and search the ship."

"What about us?"

"I don't know about you, but if they find out I'm Military Intelligence, they'll only keep me alive until they've wrung me dry. That memory chip? Did your uncle encode it to you?"

"I had to use a password that only I would have known to unlock it," replied Zack.

"I have no doubt that there is other sensitive information on the chip that will require you to come up with additional passwords," said Ariane, "They might be able to break those codes eventually, but it'll be so much easier for them if they could just get them from you. They'd need you as long as they think there's useful information on that chip. The end result is the same.

"And that is?"

"What usually happens to loose ends? Eventually all three of us will wind up dead."

"Can we outrun them?"

"I'm really not sure," said the pilot. Zack had to make a conscious effort to force the mental switch required to call her "Ariane." Current crisis aside, he was coming to realize that he rather liked Beth Howell. Now he was sitting next to someone who was suddenly a complete stranger again, one with some sinister and unknown capabilities. He thought back to how easily she had disabled her attacker when the two of them had first boarded the
Capri
.

It also seemed that she was a glib and accomplished liar.

She looked at him as though she could tell what he was thinking, "You can call me 'Ariane' Zack and, no, I'm not all that different from the Beth Howell you've been dealing with."

Zack gave her a noncommittal shrug. There was an awkward silence as both found themselves at a loss as to what to say next.

Zack finally spoke up, "We do have a weapon," he ventured, "Shouldn't we be getting ready to fight them?"

"I seriously doubt that we can beat them," said Ariane.

Zack had been in far too much combat over the last several years to even consider giving up without a fight. He was, first and foremost, a Federation Marine, "Seems to me that we'd better do something," he said.

Ariane didn't reply right away, but Zack could tell that his suggestion had triggered a train of thought. Finally, she nodded her head and said, "Come to think of it, we might just have a chance. I'm pretty sure they don't know about our weapon or our enhanced power systems. That, and they'll be chasing us as hard as they can. Assuming that we're unarmed, they'll probably be diverting all available power to their reaction engines and won't be operating their shields at full power. Maybe if we surprise them when they get into weapons range, we can buy enough time to make it to the next hyper zone and translate out."

At that point, Ariane got really busy making the final adjustments to the ship for the hyperjump. Zack remained at his console and watched the complicated process, doubting if he'd ever be able to duplicate it.

"Engineering? Hyperjump in five minutes, it's time to charge the module."

"Aye, Aye, Cap'n!" came the reply from engineering. There was a deep vibration in the hull while the power plant strained under the demand of charging the hyperjump machinery. After a full minute, the vibration tapered off. Cliff announced, "Hyperjump module charged and ready, Cap'n."

Zack tried to follow the pilot's next series of control operations, as Ariane made minute adjustments on her console.

Finally it was time to execute the jump.

"Hyperjump in three...two...one...Now!'

{...Hypertransit discontinuity...}

Deep Space, Alpha Hyperlink Zone, Star System 10711, July 6, 2676.

Everything went blank for an undeterminable amount of time. Zack felt himself groggily coming back into a state of coherent thought. Every person had a slightly different reaction to the unnatural state of the hyperjump environment, though some level of disorientation was pretty much universal. Zack had experienced many jumps before, so he knew what his own reactions would be. Some people were less susceptible to the effects than others. Ariane seemed to be one of those less susceptible types as she was already back to normal and making adjustments to her control console while Zack's mind was still in the process of phasing back into full function.

"Engineering? Pour it on! Give me full emergency power to the reaction engines."

"Aye, Cap'n, reaction engines ahead full emergency." Apparently Cliff was another who was blessed with a quick recovery time.

Zack felt himself being shoved back a great deal more authoritatively into his chair as the extra boost from the reaction engines came online. He watched as Ariane rapidly scanned all of the readouts on her console. Satisfied with the status of the ship for the moment, she looked meaningfully at him.

"I'll go prep the weapon," he said and got up from his station, "How long until we go to sublight again?"

"I don't dare try until we've got some distance between us and the hyperzone. The sublight currents are utterly chaotic when you're near the nexus of forces that make up a hyperzone."

"Engineering?" said Ariane, over the intercom.

"Engineering here," replied Cliff.

"Zack is heading for the turret now. We need you to get ready to power up the weapons system and, after that, secure anything that isn't completely locked down. Going into sublight early guarantees we're in for a rough ride."