Guardians of the Galactic Sentinel 1: The Deimos Artifact (21 page)

"Ariane! Zack! You must come and see! We've found something."

Chapter 24
. Alter Origin.

Deep Space, Star System 10883, July 9, 2676.

Ariane checked over the command console readouts and concluded that she could leave the bridge unattended for a short time. The two of them followed the obviously excited Professor back down to the meeting room. Arnold and Kathryn were still positioned in the cleared space in front of the projections on the viewscreen and were studying them intently. Kathryn was explaining something to Arnold who was nodding his head vigorously in understanding. The first thing Zack noticed was that the photo containing the artifact in front of the wall, partially blocking the view of the inscriptions, was being projected on the right. The new photo, the one with the unobstructed view of the inscriptions, was alongside it to the left.

"We've been using both images because we can observe a complete set of the writings that way," explained the Professor. "It seems as though we've had at least one wrong idea from the very start. The artifact didn't originate on Deimos; the artifact is supposed to be
taken
to Deimos!"

"To do what?"

"That still isn't clear," said the Professor, "but this is a major breakthrough nonetheless!"

"Is there any indication of where on Deimos we're supposed to take it?" asked Ariane.

"We think so," replied the Professor, "Check this out..." He touched his tablet and the image on the wall zoomed in on a portion of the previously obscured writings. The display focused in until it was filled by a symbol or figure from the very center of the previously blocked-out area. Even to Zack's eyes, this particular symbol looked like it had been deliberately emphasized. It was larger than the rest of the figures in the row and was delineated from the other figures by a circle that had been etched around it. Within the circle, a symbol formed a closed loop, roughly triangular in shape but with severely rounded-off corners. The figure contained three small circles of differing sizes that, at first glance, looked to have been placed at random. The largest of the circles contained its own symbol.

"What am I looking at?" said Zack.

"It didn't make a lot of sense until Arnold thought of doing this..." The Professor brought up another image, this one of a small moon or asteroid, "...this is an image of Deimos."

The view revealed a moon with a surprisingly smooth surface that was marred with several prominent impact craters. The moon was shaped like a rounded, somewhat lopsided triangle, very much like the symbol in the photograph.

"That symbol represents Deimos and the circles are impact craters?" asked Zack.

"That was our conclusion, as well, Zack," replied the Professor. "Because it contains its own symbol, we're thinking that this crater is our destination.." He pointed to the largest of the three craters, "It actually has a name, believe it or not. It's called 'Voltaire Crater.' This means that we really do need to go to Mars." He paused for a moment before continuing, "That presents us with a new set of problems."

"Such as?" asked Zack.

"How to get there safely from any of the jump zones. Mars is deep within the system and as has been repeatedly pointed out, Sol is a pretty rough place."

"I may have a solution," said Zack.

"Really?"

"Yes," replied Zack, "I spent the last hour or so going through my Uncle's notes like you suggested and I came across some more information. Marv said we need to contact someone named Holger Tvedt and his men in the Sol System."

MacPherson nodded his head, but instead of reacting positively to Zack's solution, he frowned, "Holger Tvedt! Of course!"

"You know him?" asked Zack.

"There are several large bands of pirates in the Sol System," said MacPherson, "I figured we were probably going to have to deal with at least one of them. Knowing that Tvedt's is the band we're looking for will save us time and could help us keep the danger to a minimum."

"Who is he?" asked Zack.

"He's the leader of one of the larger bands of pirates operating in the Sol System."

"A pirate leader?"

"He calls himself a King, actually," said MacPherson.

"So we're looking for a pirate king?" said Zack, "Are you serious?"

"It's not as bad as it sounds," replied MacPherson. "He and his band represent one of the more stable forces in the middle regions of the Sol System. They also keep pretty close tabs on traffic coming into the system. He and the members of his group can be ruthless if you threaten them or do something to get on the wrong side of them; but, believe it or not, they have to remain somewhat respectable because they are dependent on trade partners."

"Trade partners?"

"Yes, there many things that are hard to obtain and, therefore, very much in demand in a vicious, backwards system like Sol has become. Tvedt and his band have arrangements with suppliers from a number of neighboring star systems. They get all manner of things, luxury items, exotic foods, electronic devices and weapons, to name a few. The size and influence of his group gives them a virtual monopoly on such things within their zone of influence. Tvedt's band takes what they need and then sells or trades the rest to other bands like his and even, I've been told, to people who live on the planet. In return, his group gets paid in food or in valuables like gold, silver and other metals, or gems and things of that sort. These commodities are then used to purchase or trade for more goods. It's an interesting economic system when you think about it. Kind of rough and tumble, but it seems to work."

"I'll take your word for it," said Zack, "How do we find him?"

"Actually, he'll probably find us," replied MacPherson.

Zack didn't know if he liked the sound of that or not.

"Marv said that this Tvedt person knows the man who actually discovered the artifact and removed it from its original resting place. I expect you would be interested in talking with him?"

"He may indeed be able to provide valuable information," replied MacPherson.

"Any other reason you can think of why Marv thought we should talk to this Pirate King about the artifact?" asked Zack.

"Well, we could certainly use his protection. I know that it would be really nice to be able to examine the moon and that crater without having to be looking over our shoulder every moment."

"What do you expect to find?"

The Professor paused for a moment before continuing, "Totally unknown. This artifact truly is one great big mystery. It looks like we're just going to have to talk to Tvedt."

"Looks as though," replied Zack.

"Arnold?" said MacPherson, "Would you see if you can get Cliff to give you a hand putting the artifact back into storage. There's not much more we can do with it for the present and it won't do to have it sliding around up here unsecured. I believe we have a transition coming up within an hour or so."

"Right away, Professor."

***

Murmansk.

Nova York Orbital Station, July 10, 2676.

Sergei Popov found himself once more in the corridor outside the Ambassador's compartment, dreading what must come next. He pressed the intercom button and announced himself.

"This is the Captain," he said. "I have news."

"Enter."

Sergei went into the darkened compartment. The hatch closed behind him. As usual, the Political Officer was there before him. It appeared as though the man spent the bulk of his time in the Ambassador's chambers.

"Our repairs are complete, Your Grace. We should be able to depart within the next hour or so."

"It is about time," said Krupski.

Sergei elected to ignore him, "The master engineer did his very best. He was able to exceed his own estimates by half a day at least."

"Very good," rasped the Ambassador, "We need to be on our way."

Sergei didn't relish sharing the next item of information. "The other vessel departed about twenty-four hours ago."

"I am already aware of that."

"May I ask how you know that?"

"As I told you earlier, I have ways of sensing the item. Do you know where they have gone?"

"My sensor technician informs me that they translated out through the Deneb IV portal."

"They no doubt did that in an effort to throw off our pursuit," said the Ambassador.

"Yes, Your Grace. From there they have access to dozens of star systems. By the time we can get to the Deneb IV system they will have almost certainly translated out to somewhere else. We have no way to determine where."

"Your candor is much appreciated, Captain, even though it is yet another admission of your shortcomings."

As had become his habit of late, Sergei absorbed the gratuitous insult without comment.

The Ambassador continued, "It is a commendable tactic to throw off our pursuit, but it will ultimately prove futile."

"Why is that, Your Grace?"

"Because I know where they are going."

"What? How?"

"That is for me to know, Captain. When we have cleared this system through the Deneb IV portal, set course for the Sol System."

"The Sol System? That is one of the most dangerous systems in all of human space!"

"Nevertheless, that is where they are going."

"I'll see to it immediately," said Sergei, "Thank you, Your Grace."

"Thank me when we have been successful in recovering the item, Captain."

"One more thing, Your Grace. The scientist that we solicited from the Moscow Institute boarded the ship just over an hour ago."

"Very good, Captain. Now let us get under way as soon as possible."

Sergei, sensing that his interview was over, gave his customary slight bow and exited the Ambassador's compartment. This last interaction only increased his discomfort at having to work with the sinister official. The Captain was professional to the core and would see this mission through to the very best of his ability, but he found himself really looking forward to having it come to an end.

The sooner the better.

***

Capri.

Sol System, Near Hyperjump Zone Alpha, July 13,2676.

After several more days and six more hyperjumps, the
Capri
translated out into the Sol System, the birthplace of man. Despite that singular honor, the system had fallen on extremely hard times. There was virtually no other spaceship traffic in the immediate vicinity of the jump zone. Professor MacPherson had joined Zack and Ariane on the bridge of the
Capri
during the final jump into the system.

After recovering, at least somewhat, from the effects of the jump, Zack asked the Professor, "What do we do now?"

"I think we just wait for a little while. Tvedt always has a ship standing guard out here near this jump point. They should be hailing us any minute now."

"What do we do then?" asked Zack.

"Follow instructions," replied the Professor, "Tvedt and his men will almost certainly recognize this ship from the last time Marv was here. It
is
fairly distinctive. In our previous dealings with them, they have asked that we identify ourselves and then arranged for an escort for us to their main facility. If we just do as they tell us, we should be fine."

"Should be?" responded Zack.

MacPherson thought for a moment and said, "It might be best if you handled the communications, Zack. Just tell him that you're Marv's nephew."

"You don't want to talk to him?"

"I will eventually but..."

"But what?"

"Holger Tvedt and I didn't exactly part on the best of terms at our last meeting."

"I can't wait to hear about that," said Zack.

The interchange was interrupted by Ariane.

"I am detecting a multiple contacts dead ahead...," she said. She paused for a few seconds before adding, "... and weapons fire! Zack? You should go man our turret. Now!"

Chapter 25.
A Minor Altercation.

Sol System, Near Hyperjump Zone Alpha, July 13, 2676
.

"Are we going into battle?" asked Zack as he vacated the first officer's station, his combat reflexes instantly ramping up all of his senses to full alert.

"Not if I can help it," replied Ariane, "but we'd better be ready in case we have to. Dad? Take a seat in the first officer's chair, I might need your help." She keyed up the ship's intercom, "All hands secure for possible violent maneuvers. Cliff? Prepare to power up our weapons and give me full power to the shields!"

"Aye, Cap'n, power to the weapons and full power to the shields," responded Cliff. "What's goin' on?"

"I don't know yet," replied Ariane, tersely. "There's a battle going on dead ahead involving four or five ships. Dad? See what you can pick up on communications."

The Professor had been on numerous missions and, while he was by no means an expert at any of the positions on the bridge, he knew enough about each of the stations on the yacht to be of some use. Communications was one area that he'd had a fair amount of experience in. He performed a quick check of the communications array and announced, "I'm picking up some chatter."

"Put it on the main audio," said Ariane.

Meanwhile, Zack had hurried down to deck two to man the turret again. With the Professor on the bridge and Arnold and Kathryn in their quarters, the boardroom was vacant. Once more, he closed and dogged the hatches between the two chambers of the weapon and the rest of the ship. Inside the turret, he climbed back into the gunner's seat and keyed up his own intercom input, "Engineering? This is Weapons. I'm in position and ready for power-up."

"Aye, Weapons," came the reply, "Powering weapons...now!"

The master power indicator on Zack's console lit up and he quickly and efficiently went through the rest of the routine to power up the capacitors and deploy the turret. This time he left the projectors aimed dead ahead. The procedures took about five minutes, after which he contacted Ariane, "Bridge? This is Weapons."

"Go ahead, Weapons."

"Turret deployed and ready for action, Captain. Now what am I shooting at?"

"Hopefully nothing, but listen to this..."

Ariane had the Professor channel the feed from the battle ahead into the turret so Zack could hear what was going on. One of the ships was broadcasting a distress signal over several of the TachRad bands.

"This is picket ship
Warbird Three
to Viking Central at Midgard! We are under attack by three ships from the Jovian Hegemony. Request immediate assistance!"

"What is your status,
Warbird Three?
"
came the almost immediate reply.

"We have damage to two reaction engines and multiple hull breaches!"
replied the Commander of the
Warbird
.
"We're gonna have to stand and fight. We can't outrun these damned Hedgies because of our engine damage. Shields are holding for now, but these bastards are gonna wear us down before too much longer!"

Zack could sense the tension in the man's voice.

"We can get two
Warbirds
to your position, Three, but they can't possibly get there for at least an hour. Can you hold on that long?"

There was a longish pause as the commander of the beleaguered ship presumably took a moment to check with his fellow officers. When it came, his reply sounded rather desperate,
"We'll do our best to hang on, Central, but an hour is going to be cutting it pretty damned close!"

"Viking Central?" said Zack, over the intercom, "You never said anything about Vikings, Professor."

"Vikings? Pirates?" replied the Professor, "They're pretty much the same."

Zack decided that this wasn't the time to argue the point, "Do we help them or not?"

The Professor thought for a moment before responding, "That Viking ship almost has to be the one that was stationed out here to keep watch on the jump zone. I don't know how he wound up in such a predicament but it would almost certainly be to our advantage to render assistance to them if we can, Zack."

"What makes you so sure of that?" asked Zack.

"Holger Tvedt is the leader of the Vikings. Things could go quite well for us if we successfully came to the aid of one of his ships."

"That's all well and good," Zack responded, "but what kind of ships would we be taking on here? Can we even make a difference?"

Ariane called down to engineering, "Cliff? Have you been listening in?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"You've been out here before, have you got information on any of these ships?"

"I do, Ma'am. I don't like the odds of takin' on three of 'em, it could be a bit of a near thing; but if we jump in, I think we maybe could turn the tide here. The Hegemony is kind of a loose-knit, hand-to-mouth bunch, more like a mob than anythin' else. Their equipment's never been anythin' to write home about. Most of their ships are like the
Capri
herself, either armed merchants or modified pleasure craft. Compared to what they're usually packin', our weapon should be a lot more powerful. That's one of the reasons we chose these guns in the first place. One on one against any of those ships, we should be able to hold our own."

"What about the Viking ship?"

"The
Warbirds
are usually quite a lot bigger and a lot better armed," replied Cliff. "It's hard to see how, but these three Hedgie ships must have somehow got the drop on that Viking. Trouble is, if they don't get too antsy, they can probably nibble the Viking down eventually and blow her out of space. I doubt the Viking will surrender, it just ain't in their nature. I'm with the Professor, we really ought to lend them a hand if we can."

"What's your pleasure, Captain?" asked Zack.

"I need a minute to think," responded Ariane.

"How about we fire a warning shot or two?" suggested Zack, "Maybe we can scare them off."

"Probably worth a try," replied Ariane.

"
Warbird Three
?" said Ariane over standard radio, "This is United Federation Research Vessel,
Capri
. We are on our way to render assistance."

Instead of the
Warbird
, it was one of the Hegemony ships that replied,
"This is not your fight,
Capri
. Be advised that you will become a target yourself if you interfere!"

"Acknowledged," replied Ariane.

Ariane arrowed the
Capri
straight into the battle zone. As they got closer to the action, it became readily apparent that the battle they had stumbled upon had become a rather lopsided one. The Viking ship was leaking atmosphere and fluids from several still-glowing hull breaches and, from what the crew of the
Capri
could observe, was fighting a losing battle.

With her main batteries apparently down and the ship continuing to take damage, the Viking was attempting to fight back with two or three of her secondary weapons but was only able to fire them intermittently. Zack was impressed with how stout the Viking's shields appeared to be. A normal ship would have been nothing but a debris field ages ago. As the
Capri
began to draw into range, one of the attacking ships turned to engage the new threat while the other two continued to methodically pound away on the wounded Viking.

"All hands prepare for combat!" said Ariane, over the intercom.

"Shields at full power," said Cliff.

"Weapon ready," said Zack.

The Hegemony ship that had turned to engage them appeared to be a battered old freighter of some kind. Just as the
Capri
was coming within the extreme range of her own weapons, the enemy ship fired a pulse from the single-mount pulse cannon somewhat awkwardly grafted onto her chin. Zack and the others aboard the
Capri
felt the ship lurch and saw the lights dim slightly. A cold pit of fear instantly materialized in Zack's stomach as he recognized the blue-tinged signature of yet another of the powerful Soviet-sourced plasma cannons.

The Soviet line was that a shipment of these weapons had been high-jacked about a month ago. Shortly afterwards someone had equipped the rebels back on New Slav with four of the powerful pulse cannons. Now it seemed that this "Jovian Hegemony" had at least one of them as well. How fracking many of the damned weapons had been in that shipment? Just as importantly, who else had managed to get their hands on some of them? Zack was getting really tired of random enemies taking high-powered potshots at him and his friends!

"That ship is equipped with a Matsukov plasma projector!" said Zack, nearly shouting. "We'd better keep our distance!"

"Lucky for us, he was right at the very edge of his range," said Ariane, "Our shields seem to be holding okay. I am initiating evasive maneuvering just a soon as you fire that weapon. Have you got a firing solution, Zack?"

"Affirmative, Captain," replied Zack. "I'm firing a ranging pulse right now."

Zack triggered a single pulse from the starboard projector and watched on his weapons display as the shield envelope of the enemy ship flashed with a deep violet light. He was immediately wrenched upwards and to port against the restraints of the gunner's chair as Ariane initiated evasive maneuvers with a random and rather violent twisting, diving turn of the ship.

Whether it was Zack's skill as a gunner, blind luck or some combination of the two didn't matter. The single hit provided all the information he needed to calibrate the fire control computer. He quickly ran through the short calibration procedure and locked in the settings. Zack could now use the weapon's computer with a high level of confidence that he would be able to hit what he aimed at.

Meanwhile, the enemy ship hadn't fired again for some reason. Nor was it taking any evasive action. Instead the ship continued to bore straight at them, nose first. Zack's mind flashed through several possible scenarios seeking one that would explain their enemy's apparent lack of aggression. Was it too much to hope that their single pulse strike had dealt some damage to the jury-rigged ship? That high-powered weapon demanded an appropriately high level of respect.

Wait...was that it? Was it possible that the weapon's tremendous power was also a liability? Zack nodded his head as the solution to the puzzle presented itself. The strained power plant of the battered old freighter almost certainly needed a fairly lengthy time, maybe even as much as a full minute, to recharge the capacitors on such a powerful weapon. The trade-off for the weapon's hard-hitting power was a painfully slow rate of fire! That and probably reduced power for shielding while the weapon was charging.

At least Zack hoped that was the case. By immediately heading straight into the fray, the crew of the
Capri
were more or less committed to following through with their attack!

"Excellent shot, Zack," said Ariane, as she put the ship through another gut-wrenching series of random maneuvers.

"We need to hit that ship hard as soon as possible," said Zack, "I'm betting they haven't returned fire yet because that old power plant barely has enough power to charge that weapon. At least we'd better hope so!"

In the interim, the
Capri
had drawn to well within the effective range of her own weapons. Ariane juked the
Capri
upwards and violently to starboard just as the opposing Hegemony ship finally fired another pulse. The powerful bolt ripped past the
Capri
, a near miss to port. Ariane's evasive maneuvers combined with the enemy's inexperience with the weapon may have just bought the
Capri
the precious time they needed.

"How sure are you about the lag time between pulses for that weapon, Zack?" asked Ariane.

"Pretty sure," replied Zack, "There has to be some kind of a trade-off for that much power. It was about thirty-five seconds after the first pulse until they fired the second one. Give me ten seconds of straight, level flight so I can get a good lock on them and then resume evasive maneuvers immediately after I fire a spread of pulses."

"You got it, Zack, ten seconds of straight, level flight, starting now..."

Ariane ceased her violent maneuvering and settled the Capri onto a flight path that aimed the ship directly at the enemy.

Zack quickly programmed the weapon to fire full spread of six pulses, just as he had done against the Soviet ship out near Haven; only this time, he was going to let the weapons computer do the aiming.

With a little over four seconds left in his ten-second window, Zack had the weapons lined up and just had time to check the lock one final time before triggering the spread of pulses. By this time the range had drawn close enough that the individual pulses packed a pretty horrific punch. They were also close enough that the weapons computer had no trouble achieving a firm and very accurate lock on the target.

Zack felt a series of precise, minute movements of the turret and watched as the targeting computer walked a spread of pulses across the nose of the target ship. To his vast relief, there were no issues with the capacitor discharges this time around. The instant that the weapon ceased firing, he was jerked violently around in his seat again as Ariane immediately reinstated her evasive maneuvering tactics.