The Veritian Derelict (Junkyard Dogs) (21 page)

"I can't tell you how good it feels to be working with you two again. It
was just like old times." Harris and Hawkins both smiled back at her. Her gaze lingered on Harris for a few extra seconds.

"Right now, I have to get back to the
Istanbul
, Sondia is helping me with diplomatic protocols and I'm supposed to be meeting with her in half hour."

"I hope we'll have a chance to talk somet
ime soon," said Harris, with a meaningful look. "I'd like to catch up on how things went for you back at the Academy."

"I'd
like that too," she replied, holding his gaze for a few moments longer. He seemed to relax a little.

Carlisle left
for the
Istanbul
and the two men headed to their quarters for the night.

Chapter
28.

UTFN Reclamation Center, December 4, 2598.

The next morning Harris, Hawkins
, Norbert and Steuben headed to the airlock area, suited up and piloted the
Rover II
over to the
Istanbul
to pick up Carlisle on their way out into the Scrapyard. When they arrived, Carlisle was helping F.C. Talbot finish getting suited up. The two newcomers found places on the sled and the team then headed deep out into to the Military section of the Scrapyard to see what they could find out about the drive system dimensions of the
Terrier
and, every bit as importantly, the condition.

On their foray
a month and half ago to examine the handful of destroyers in the Scrapyard that had survived the final battle of the Succession War, Harris, Carlisle and Hawkins had only been concerned with whether or not any of the old ships still had compartments that could hold atmosphere. Later they had spent a considerable amount of time on the weapons systems, particularly the antiquated mass driver railguns on the
Terrier
. Since there hadn't been any reason for it, they had never taken the time to look at the power plants or drive systems on any of the three destroyers.

As before, they
headed for the
Terrier
because she appeared to be in the best condition. The other two destroyers were much more badly damaged. The bridge area of the
Fairmont
was completely blown away and the
Osage
had been hit by the debris cloud from the explosion of another ship.

Talbot
had been talkative for most of the trip but he fell silent and his expression took on a haunted look as the sled passed near the
Fairmont
, his old ship.

"My God," said the
former engineering officer. "It's the
Fairmont
!" He remained silent as they passed along the length of his old ship, his gaze sweeping intently, almost lovingly, over her the whole time. His voice was strained when he spoke again. "Remarkable! I've heard about how traumatic it can be for a sailor to see his old ship again. I must say...I never thought to experience it myself. All those memories..." He swallowed, obviously in the throes of some intense emotions, and became silent once more. When he did speak again, his voice was on the edge of breaking. "Some of my dearest friends died on that ship," he said solemnly. Everyone on the sled remained respectfully quiet as the
Fairmont
passed behind them. With an effort, Talbot turned his attention back to the business at hand. "It's alright everyone, the moment has passed. I think I'll be okay now."

A few minutes later t
he
Rover
II
arrived at the
Terrier.

While they
had been taking refuge on the old destroyer, Harris, Hawkins and Carlisle had been impressed with the condition of the instruments and control consoles on the
Terrier's
bridge. If they were to successfully transplant the power plant and the drive to the
Greyhound
, then control systems that matched them would be vital.

The old destroyer
was pretty much as they had left her a couple of months ago, remarkably intact except for a large, open gash on the starboard bow. The Reclamation Center's other utility sled, the
Reclamation Rover I,
which had supplied limited power and maneuvering capability during the earlier battle for the Scrapyard, was still strapped to the destroyer's hull, right where they'd left it, between the stubby bridge superstructure and the front railgun turret.

The
salvagers entered the
Terrier
as they had so many times before, through the large gash on the starboard bow. As had been the case with the merchant ships earlier, there was no power, so there was no artificial gravity and the crew had to again perform their inspections under weightless conditions. After making their way through the ship to the engineering section, they approached the chamber containing the power plant and drive system with some trepidation. Hawkins worked the hatch mechanism to the engineering section and the group went inside. Using their suit lights for illumination, they thoroughly inspected the engineering area of the old destroyer. Just like the bridge area had been on their earlier visit, the engineering section appeared to be in very good condition. A quick inspection of the drive systems revealed no visible damage.

"
Dr. Carlisle?" asked Harris. "Didn't you say earlier that the
Terrier
made it to the Scrapyard under her own power?"

"That's what the ship's log indicated," replied Carlisle.

"That's good but it's not the only thing that matters. We'll have to get this fusion plant back up and running and that could present a problem."

"What
kind of problem?" asked Carlisle.

"
The
Greyhound
is currently home for a whole bunch of us," replied Harris. "We'll have to shut down everything on the ship for as long as it takes to get the replacement power plant up and running again. If we can't do that, we could be in real trouble. Thank god we have the
Istanbul
and the
Dingo
."

"
We can be runnin' some test procedures on the fusion plant," said Hawkins. "If that be checkin' out, the rest 'o this drive system, including the Whitney overdrive, looks t' be in pretty good shape, much better than any o' those cargo ships."

With Talbot looking over his shoulder,
Hawkins connected a meter to the inert power plant via a diagnostic receptacle and ran through the limited series of diagnostics that could be performed on the dormant system. "Power plant and drive look t' be fine, as far as I can be tellin', Lieutenant, I be thinkin' we should be giving this engine swap a try."

"I would have to agree," said Talbot. "This machinery looks to be in very good condition."

"And I agree as well," said Harris. "But we'd better check with Kresge before we go any further with this project. The group made their way out of the old destroyer, intending to get back on the
Rover II
and head back to the
Greyhound
to meet with the Commander. As they emerged from the destroyer, Hawkins stopped and took a long look at the
Rover I
. The utility sled had been hit, along with the
Terrier
herself, by the wash of energy from a powerful pulse beam bolt during the final moments of the battle for the Scrapyard and the sled had been completely inert after the impact.

"Be waitin' just a moment if you would, Lieutenant,
" said Hawkins. "I be needin' to check something." The old CPO made his way carefully over to the dormant sled and clipped a tether to the railing. He then removed an inspection panel in the decking right below the control console.

"Hah!" he exclaimed excitedly. "The fus
ible link be burned clean through!"

"What does that mean, Hawk?" asked Carlisle.

"It be meaning that this old girl might still be workin' in spite of the abuse she be taken'! There be a spare link strapped right here to this cover. With your permission, Sir I could be takin' a few minutes to put the spare link in. Maybe we could be gettin' the
Rover I
workin' again. Lord knows we could be usin' another sled out here!"

"Absolutely,
Hawk," replied Harris, "take a few minutes and change out the link."

Hawkins rummaged around in the
workings that had been exposed by the removal of the inspection cover before extricating an electrical connector with what looked like a short bit of burned cable clinging to it, one end of what was normally a one-piece fusible link. After some more rummaging he extracted the other half of the link, a second, matching connector with a shorter bit of burned cable attached. He then unclipped the intact link, a stout half-meter length of special cable with the very same connectors on each end, from its mounting on the inspection cover. In the event of an unexpected power surge, the link was designed to fail before the other electronic components of the sled received any damage from the overload. Cable in hand, Hawkins went back to work rummaging around in the workings of the sled for a few minutes longer. Before replacing the cover, he straightened up and activated the main power switch for the sled. To everyone's surprise and delight, the control panel lit up!

"Saint's be praised
!" said Hawkins, "She still be workin'! Could you be givin' me a hand gettin' these cables loose? Looks like we be havin' another sled!"

After dis
entangling the series of cables that bound the
Rover I
to the old destroyer, Harris and a jubilant Hawkins headed back towards the
Greyhound
on the resurrected sled with Carlisle and the others following carefully on the
Rover II
.

***

A short time later, Kresge, Murdock, Talbot, Harris, Carlisle and Hawkins gathered in the bow cargo hold of the
Greyhound
. Temporarily outfitted for seating up to thirty people, the hold had become the official meeting room for the Scrapyard expedition. The meeting had been in session for about forty-five minutes. After announcing the good news that the Reclamation Center had acquired another utility sled, Harris had started out the briefing by outlining the overall project for the group before handing off to Carlisle. She had just finished going over several 3-D holograms and other schematic materials concerning the potential replacement of the
Greyhound's
power and drive systems with the ones from the
Terrier
.

"So you see, Commander," said Carlisle,
wrapping up her presentation, "we think that the power plant and the drive system will fit but we'll need to do some fabricating."

"How long do you anticipate that we
'd be without power on the
Greyhound
?" asked Kresge.

Harris thought intently for a few moments before replying,
"If we get everything ready to go, outside panels removed and other preparations on the
Greyhound
completed and get everything removed and transported from the
Terrier
...I estimate..." Harris again thought long and hard before finishing, "...a minimum of forty-eight hours and maybe as long as a week. There's just so much we won't know about until we actually have to do it."

Kresge turned to Talbot. "What do you think,
Dr. Talbot?"

"Please, Commander, it'll make things so much easier if you just call me, Frank," said the old man.

"That it will," replied Kresge. "So what are your thoughts on this project, Frank?"

"I believe we can do it. The systems on the destroyer appear to be in excellent condition and you have the necessary tools and equipment." He looked at Harris, Hawkins and Carlisle. "Not to mention the right people."

"How many personnel?" asked Murdock.

"
If we had two teams, we could work on both ships at the same time," replied Harris. "I think probably six people minimum and maybe... eight for a maximum on each end. If we have any more than that, people will just be getting in each other's way. We'll need both
Rovers
, I can pilot the
Rover II
and, of course we'll need Hawkins and Murdock. Oh, and don't forget Carlisle. She can pilot the other
Rover
and her command of all the reference material is likely to be badly needed before we get this project finished."

"I almost hate to ask this," said Kresge, "but what about the control systems? Can we use the
Greyhound's
commercial control systems for this swap?"

"I knew the subject would come up sooner or later," replied Harris. "To tell you the truth, this is the one area that is likely to give us the most trouble. We might be able to get the current control systems on the
Greyhound
to communicate with the new power plant and drive systems but all of the military hardware is so much more robust than the commercial stuff. That and the military hardware has capabilities that the commercial systems don't even have, like military strength shielding and far higher precision microjump capability, for starters. No, I'm afraid we'll have to install the control systems from the
Terrier
onto the
Greyhound
. This is another area where I'm really glad that we have Dr. Talbot --sorry, I mean Frank -- involved."

"
She's your ship, Helen, what do you think?" asked Kresge, turning his attention to the Captain of the
Greyhound
.

As both Captain and
owner of the ship in question, Helen Murdock had been following the conversation with great interest. She chewed on her lower lip for long moment. Finally she spoke.