Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (11 page)

"Bridge? This is Weapons." Drawing on his long experience during combat situations, Zack forced himself to be calm.

"What is it, Weapons?"

"I approve of the evasive maneuvers but a little warning would have been nice."

"Sorry, Zack. I didn't want to distract you while you were busy with the weapons."

"Thanks, I guess. I'm checking the fire control computer now. By the way, something is seriously wrong with these weapons. Only four of the capacitors fired. From the sound of it, we have at least one bad capacitor in each bank. The good news is I'm pretty sure I hit him at least once."

***

Murmansk.

"It appears the ship is refusing our demands," said the sensor operator.

"Yes, it would appear so," replied Sergei, "Engineering?"

"Engineering here."

"Increase shields to full power."

"Belay that order," said Krupski, coming to his feet and nearly shouting, "We must seize that ship without further delay! Need I point out that it is a pleasure craft and carries no armament? Maintain all power to the reaction engines!"

Against his every instinct, Sergei withdrew the order, "Change in plans, Alex. Maintain shields at one quarter and reaction engines on full emergency."

"Aye, Captain. One quarter to the shields and full emergency to the reaction engines."

"Weapons?

"Aye, Captain?"

"Do you have a lock on one of his reaction engines?"

"Affirmative, Captain."

"Prepare to..."

At that moment, the entire ship lurched and the lights on the bridge went out as the plasma bursts from the
Capri's
four-pulse spread engulfed the courier ship. Moments later, the reddish light of the emergency systems came on. Sergei could no longer feel or hear the slight vibration nor the dull hiss of the reaction engines.

"What in the name of Putin's Ghost was that?" shouted Sergei, to anyone who had an answer.

There was a short pause as the sensor operator analyzed the readouts on his console.

"It... it appears as though that ship
is
armed, Captain. We were hit by pulse beams that originated from our target."

"Alex? Shields to full power! NOW!" shouted Sergei. He fought down a wave of panic, meanwhile praying that the enemy wouldn't be able to target them again while they were in such a vulnerable state.

After ten seconds that seemed like an eternity, engineering announced, "Shields at full power, Captain."

Sergei's relief was palpable. He allowed himself to relax just a little but mentally chided himself for allowing that idiot Political Officer to coerce him into taking his ship into a potential combat situation without adequate power to her shields. He would not make that mistake again. "Ship's status?" he called out.

"We've... lost our dorsal reaction module, Captain. It must have taken a direct hit from one of those pulses. The other pulse was...apparently not a direct hit or we may have sustained even more damage."

"Weapons?"

"The weapon is charged but...automatic targeting systems are still down, Sir."

"Get them back on line and prepare to return fire!"

"Aye, aye, Captain."

"Engineering?"

"Aye, Captain?"

"What's the status of our hyperjump module?"

"That pulse also knocked the module offline, Sir. We're powering it back up now but the earliest that we will be able to execute a jump will be at least a half hour."

"Thank you, Alex," said Sergei, "Do your best." Not feeling much hope, he contacted the weapons officer, "Weapon status?"

"Weapon is ready to fire, Sir, but..."

"But what, Weapons?"

"With our reaction engines knocked off-line, the enemy has pulled out of range, Sir. They have also initiated evasive maneuvers."

Sergei knew when he was beaten. He kept his eyes glued to the main battle display on the bridge of the
Murmansk
anyway. The full realization hit when he watched his target reach the hyperjump zone and translate out of the deserted star system.

The enemy had won this round...

Sergei would take extra care to make sure that the results of their next encounter, should there happen to be one, would come out a whole lot differently. He would not go against his instincts again even if it meant clapping his less than worthless Political Officer in the brig! He looked around the bridge and noted that Krupski had slinked quietly away sometime during the excitement and was no longer at his station.

He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew exactly where the little weasel had gone...straight to the Ambassador to ensure that Krupski's biased report was the first that the official would receive. Sergei knew there was absolutely no chance that he would get fair treatment and did not relish the thought that he was going to have to inform his passenger that this excellent opportunity had eluded them.

Chapter 12.
Shoddy Merchandise.

Capri, Near the Alpha Hyperlink Zone for Star System 10711, July 6, 2676.

Zack checked the targeting display. He noted that the interval between the first and last of the four pulses had been less than two seconds. Though every one of the pulses they had managed to fire had come satisfyingly close to hitting the target, the two middle pulses of the spread appeared to have made contact with the enemy ship. The targeting computer agreed with his assessment.

"I can confirm two hits on the enemy, Captain," said Zack, managing to keep his voice under control despite the excitement he was feeling. He scanned the targeting display for a few seconds and announced, "The enemy ship has ceased gaining on us. We must have managed to knock something important off line."

"Thank you, Weapons," said Ariane, "Cliff? Is our jump module ready? We'll be in the jump zone in two minutes."

"Ready whenever you are, Cap'n."

Ariane was very busy for the next two minutes. She deftly made a series of adjustments on her command console, checked everything over one more time and announced, "Hyperjump in three...two...one...engage!"

{...Hypertransit discontinuity...}

Zack found himself still at his post inside the
Capri's
turret as his mind phased back into a semblance of normal function after the rude disruption of the hyperjump. On his targeting display, the surrounding star field was completely altered and the display had also become clouded with ship contacts virtually everywhere. He breathed a sigh of relief. The
Capri
had made it safely to the Central System! Even if the unknown enemy ship came through the jump point right behind them, there was little likelihood that her captain would dare renew his attack on them here.

"We did it!" said Zack.

"I knew you guys could to it!" said Cliff.

"Good job, everyone!" said Ariane.

"It looks like your theory that he wouldn't be operating his shields at full power was dead on," said Zack.

"That wouldn't have mattered if you hadn't been able to hit him," said Ariane, "Good shooting, Zack!"

"Thanks..." replied Zack, "but we've got some serious problems with this weapons system. If we do manage to get it fixed, I'd be a lot more comfortable if we took some time to calibrate the automatic targeting systems. They're a lot more accurate than manual, especially at the distances we're likely to be using the weapons."

"Either way, we got the desired effect," Ariane grew sober, "Keep in mind that we won't be able to surprise the crew of that particular ship like that again."

"Point taken," replied Zack.

Everyone was silent for a few moments.

"What now?" asked Zack.

"I need to flip the ship around and start scrubbing off some of the excess velocity we built up trying to outrun that Soviet ship. I also think we should get in contact with my father immediately, certainly before we go back into sublight." said Ariane, "If anyone has some answers for us, it'll be him."

"Your father?" asked Cliff.

There was a short silence from the bridge before Ariane responded.

"I must apologize for the deception, Cliff," replied the pilot, "My real name is Ariane MacPherson and I'm an Ensign with Federation Navy Intelligence. My father is Dr. Harold MacPherson from Colfax University."

There was a short silence before Cliff responded, "Yeah, I know this MacPherson, fellow. Me 'n Marv were workin' with him before Marv got killed. You're his daughter?"

"Yes," replied Ariane, "Look, I'm not allowed to share a lot of details, but I can tell you that the project they were working on was important enough that it has recently come to the attention of some people pretty high up in the Federation Government. As you've probably guessed already, the Soviets are interested too."

"I've been kinda wondering," said Cliff, "you comin' along like you did...it did seem a little too good to be true. Did you know about this, Zack?"

"Not until just after that ship started chasing us."

"As I said," replied Ariane, "I'm sorry, but maintaining my disguise was one of the directives of my assignment."

"I guess who you really are doesn't change things much," said Cliff, "You just got us out of a pretty tough jam. Welcome aboard...Ariane."

"Thank you, Cliff, I'll be as straight with both of you as I can from now on."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," replied Cliff.

"What now," asked Zack.

"In a couple of hours we'll go back into sublight to take us into the inner system. After that we need to get to the Central Orbital Station."

"Let's do it then," said Zack, "Cliff?"

"What do you need, Zack?"

"Can you come up after we go to sublight and take a look at these capacitors with me? We need to know what went wrong. I'll wait until after to stow the turret."

"Will do," said the engineer. "I did some weapons work back when I did my stint in the Federation Navy. It was long time ago though, probably about the time you were born."

"So you have some experience with pulse weapons?"

"Like I said, it's been a while, but they haven't changed all that much. Best you check the air in that capacitor chamber before you head down though. Could be a mite unpleasant in there."

"I hadn't thought of that! Thanks, Cliff."

Zack left the gunner's chair and went over to the hatch in the floor. Assuming the worst after Cliff's warning, he cracked the seal and lifted the hatch just the tiniest amount. He was immediately assaulted by the acrid smell of fried electrical components accompanied by a wisp of smoke that wafted into the gunner's chamber but soon dissipated. He shoved the hatch cover back down and stood on it while he charted his next course of action.

With the layout of the capacitor chamber still fresh in his mind, he visualized where the hatch that led from the chamber into the rest of the ship was located relative to his present position. Assuming whatever had burned in the chamber below had used up the oxygen and replaced it with toxic gases and particulates, he really didn't think he should risk breathing down there. He took a series of five deep breaths before filling his lungs and holding the sixth. He then lifted the hatch cover and headed down the ladder. To his vast relief, the atmosphere in the chamber was, surprisingly, only moderately hazy. He deliberately closed and sealed the upper hatch before negotiating his way through the capacitor chamber as quickly as he could. With the outside hatch just a couple of steps from the ladder, he was able to open it and exit the chamber within a few seconds before closing and sealing the chamber hatch behind him. Only then did he allow himself to exhale and begin breathing again.

The entire capacitor chamber had undoubtedly been filled with some pretty noxious smoke immediately after the malfunction but, fortunately for Zack, the ship's ventilation systems had partially evacuated the space before he had gone in. Judging by the burned odor that followed him out of the chamber, it was probably best to let the ventilation system work a bit longer before venturing back into the chamber.

Ariane and Cliff were busy preparing for the next sublight transition and Zack found himself with nothing to do for an hour or so. He took some of the time to rustle up something for everyone to eat again and, after distributing the food and collecting the dishes afterward, was just finishing up down in the galley when Ariane announced that they were phasing back into sublight drive.

Zack ducked down into engineering and found Cliff making some final adjustments on the sublight drive module.

"Hey, Zack!" said the engineer, "Just a couple more minutes here and we can go up and have a look at those capacitors."

"I can wait," said Zack, "Have you got some kind of breathing apparatus we could use? Things are still pretty bad in that compartment."

"Yeah," said Cliff, "We got some breathin' rigs to use if there's a fire or somethin'. The oxygen can go pretty fast if you have a fire." He made a few final adjustments and got up from his console, "Hang on, I'll go grab a couple of 'em."

Cliff disappeared into the workroom and returned a few moments later with a couple of small air tanks that had clear face masks attached to them with flexible hoses.

"Here you go, Zack."

Cliff called Ariane from his engineering console, "Cap'n? We're going to take a quick look at the pulse beam capacitors and see if we can find out what went wrong."

"Holler if you need any help," replied the pilot.

"Will do," said Cliff. He grabbed a tool box and the two men headed up through the ship up to the turret.

Both of them took a moment to strap on the oxygen tanks and fit the masks over nose and mouth before entering the capacitor chamber and quickly closing and sealing the hatch behind them. The atmosphere looked a lot better than it had been when Zack had come through a little over an hour ago, but neither of the men wanted to risk being in the space without their breathing masks.

"Judging by the firing pattern," said Zack, "it was the number two starboard and the number three port capacitors that didn't fire."

That information allowed the engineer to zero in on the likely problem components immediately.

"Here's the problem," said Cliff, pointing to a charred and melted element about a meter in length and fifteen centimeters in diameter near the bow end of the bottom capacitor module on the port side, "It’s the Takahashi hyper-diode."

Even Zack could tell that something had gone radically awry with the component. A quick inspection revealed the same problem within the center module in the stack on the starboard side.

"Can you repair the damage?" asked Zack, realizing that the ship was worth a lot more with a fully functioning weapon than it was without. If the system was malfunctioning and in need of repair, the value of the
Capri
would probably go down considerably. Only a bargain hunter would stoop to making an offer on a ship that looked like a project in progress.

"I don't see why not," said Cliff, "hyper-diodes are standard gizmos you find anyplace where you need to modulate a big power discharge. We have components just like 'em on the sublight and the hyperdrive modules. We just need the specs and we can probably get replacements when we get to Central. Hang on a sec."

Cliff rummaged around in the tool box before pulling out a wrench and a pry bar. Working on the number three port capacitor, he broke loose and removed several bolts from the stout clamps on either end of the ruined Takahashi hyper-diode. After a bit of levering, he was able to pop the fused component out of the cradle that held it in place. Most of the damage appeared to be confined to one end, the end where the power flow entered the component.

After easily disconnecting a robust cable from the undamaged end, it took Cliff a bit more effort to disconnect the cable on the damaged end. He wound up giving the melted resin on the fused end of the component a couple of whacks with a hammer before he finally got it to break loose.

"Good," said Cliff, after a short inspection, "The cables ain't damaged. Not only do these hyper-diodes modulate the power, they're designed to fail first, kinda like a big fuse."

He repeated the process on the number two starboard capacitor and soon there were two similarly damaged components lying side by side on the deck.

"We can replace these," said the engineer, "but first we have to find out why they failed in the first place."

"Didn't you give this emplacement a thorough inspection after it was installed?"

"I guess I probably should have," replied Cliff, "but this whole weapon thing was sort of Marv's baby. We did fire a shot from each projector, but those would have been powered by the number one capacitor of each bank. They both seem to be workin' fine. We'd better take a closer look."

Cliff took a hand torch out of his tool box and began to inspect the capacitor stacks.

"Would you look at this?" he exclaimed almost immediately.

"What?"

"The two bad modules ain't the same as the other four."

In the harsh light of the hand torch, it was obvious the two malfunctioning modules were a bit different from the others. Though the two modules were identical to the functioning ones in almost every way, there
was
a subtle difference: the paint on the originals was a slightly less-faded shade of blue-gray than that on the failed modules.

"These two modules were replaced," said Cliff. He nodded his head in thought, "I wonder if the hacks out in that wreckin' yard knew how to get 'em hooked up proper?"

Another quick inspection revealed that the two modules weren't properly connected to the plasma generators of the projectors above.

"Well I'll be," said Cliff, shaking his head, "They reversed these two cables on both modules! No wonder those hyper-diodes failed. There was a dead short!"

"Why didn't that show up when I ran the diagnostic?" asked Zack.

"The diagnostic would have only given you an okay on the chargin' end. About the only way you can test the discharge cycle is to fire the weapon."