The Chance Encounter: The Linda Eccles Series - Book One

by Robert Woodard

  Thanks to the coordinates obtained from the buoy data, the Navigational Overling had calculated correctly and come into Remp perfectly aligned to cut the object off. Of course, it had helped that the object had not changed course after the Tail Whip had entered light speed.

  “Object is adjusting course,” The Navigational Overling called out while rotating one eye toward Sinska.

  Sinska could already see the course correction on the tracking display, and the point of intersect disappeared. The object’s new course took it down the left side of the Tail Whip. Realizing that he did not have a lot of time to react, as the object was probably nearing its jump point, Sinska needed to get his ship to reverse course quickly.

  “Overling, spin the Tail Whip around. Once the ship has been repositioned, switch to breaking with the propulsion drives.”

  Sinska pressed the lock option for the monitor, allowing the computer to automatically switch to whichever data capture could fix onto the object. After several beats, the object closed in to provide a wonderful view, and Sinska found it an interesting design. The object looked long and narrow, and constructed using different segments of a tube. It seemed to be comprised of three independent parts. The front third, being white in color, contained a pointed front and carried an odd-looking round disk with holes in it on top. Sinska had no clue as to its purpose.

  The back section shined green, and Sinska suspected it housed a propulsion drive, and perhaps a light-speed drive. The center appeared the most interesting. It looked reddish-brown, but the material shined in the limited light projecting from the top and bottom of the object. Small metal-looking tubes projected outward from its center. The tubes seemed evenly spaced as they worked around the object. As the unit passed, the exhaust radiated from a single propulsion port out the back. Its heated output created a shimmering distortion that seemed more dramatic in the harsh coldness of the surrounding environment.

  After the object cleared the Tail Whip, Sinska could see its exhaust port rotate and the propulsion drive fire a burst that adjusted the object’s course again. When the propulsion cut off, heated exhaust continued to flow out of the port, only at a reduced rate. The object soon faded in the dark, causing him to use the tracking display again to mark its movements.

  The deck shook heavily as the propulsion drives worked hard to bleed off the ship’s speed. Slowly, the Tail Whip came to a stop, and then started forward at a controlled rate to prevent the gravitational forces from crushing the crew.

  When Bresk returned to his side, Sinska said, “Underlord, charge the energy cannon.”

  “Yes, Overlord,” Bresk said. He moved over to where the Tracking Overling sat and watched as the Overling entered the commands that would bring life to the single energy cannon.

  Sinska’s tongue lashed out at the monitor in an unconscious effort to pull in this prey’s scent. After swiping his nostrils, he pulled it back into his massive jaws. While he waited for the energy cannon to charge, he realized he should have done that sooner. Letting the thought go, he knew that dwelling on what he should have done was not productive.

  Glancing at the sensor readout on the object, he could see it came across as unknown material. Whatever made up the outer skin of the object was unfamiliar to his scanning computer. The energy readings seemed incredibly high for such a small device. At least the object’s propulsion output was not that much unlike what the Tail Whip produced. Sinska found that encouraging.

  “Energy cannon is charged and ready, Overlord,” Bresk reported.

  “Fire a burst directly into the exhaust port, Underlord.”

  Sinska’s tongue flashed out and back in, as if trying to help the cannon fix onto its prey. Affixing both eyes on the live viewer, he waited to see the impacts from the energy strikes. The lights in the control chamber dimmed as the cannon fired from the nose of his ship. Sinska could see the light-blue streak of energy flash out toward the target. The beam struck the back of the object, but instead of penetrating, it dissipated into a wide blue circle. The energy burst ended, and the completely unaffected object continued along its course. The way the energy had crackled outward confused Sinska. Cocking his head sideways, he tried to determine what went wrong.

  “Overlord, sensor data shows that the energy beams stopped short of the target,” Bresk reported. “I believe it may have struck some type of shielding. It disbursed the energy outward.”

  “How can something that small contain such technology?”

  “Should I fire again, Overlord?” Bresk asked, apparently ignoring Sinska’s question.

  “Yes, increase the energy to full output and fire a maximum burst.”

  The lights dimmed again as the energy beam shot out from the Tail Whip to strike the back of the object. The beam created an even larger blue circle when it reached the object. The streaks of energy that flowed within the circle created an impressive display of power but produced no results.

  Ignoring his building irritation, Sinska tried to think of how to deal with this object. The Tail Whip had finally gotten itself up to maximum speed, but he doubted they had the time to catch the object before it reached its jump point. Sinska knew he needed to do something and do it fast.

  Unlike the better armed ships docked above the Kracks’ planet, the Tail Whip was only a minelayer. Not really designed for anything other than laying mines and servicing buoys, his ship did not carry any of the Stinging Death rockets the other ships sported. Just one of those rockets would have been more than a match for this troublesome object—shielding or no.

  Sinska knew the only reason the Tail Whip had a weapon at all was so they could explode a mine on the rare occasion when it would not respond to commands to shut down to be serviced. He wished he had just one rocket at his disposal to launch at that object.

  Launch? Why could he not launch a mine at it? The idea intrigued him. They launched them for placement, so why not launch it like a rocket, too? If he could launch his mines and get them in front of the object, he just might get it to pass close enough to trigger one to explode. Especially if it passed by a mine as close as it did his ship.

  “Underlord, have each mine in the tubes programmed to run past the object with enough clearance to set its magnetic field. I want a pattern that will cause a mine to trigger no matter which direction the object attempts to veer.”

  “At once, Overlord.”

  While Bresk carried out his orders, Sinska got up to pace. This would most likely be his last opportunity to capture the object before it jumped out of the system. Reaching the back of the chamber, Sinska reversed direction. Stopping by his chair, he stared at the tracking display. The distance began to close between ship and object, and that would only help his cause. The closer they came to the object the less distance the mines would have to travel.

  Sinska could envision it all in his mind now. The mines would launch from the tubes, and that would give them a good head start in coming up to speed. Then their single propulsion drives would ignite, shooting them even faster. Once they neared their destination, the propulsion would shut down, allowing the mines to reverse direction. Finally, the propulsion drives would fire again to bring the mines to a stop. Sinska figured their fuel reserves would be about exhausted by then, but for what he needed the mines to do, that would not be a problem.

  Once the mines reached their assigned location, their magnetic fields would generate and expand out, just waiting for something to disrupt one of those fields and set off an internal charge. The mines carried a heavy payload, too. Sinska could not imagine the object coming out the opposite side of that blast without being disabled in some manner. Of course, there was no way to know for sure. He would find out soon enough, though.

  “The mines are ready to launch, Overlord,” Bresk said.

  “Launch them all.”

  The entire ship seemed to shutter from the sudden thrust of mines shooting from four tubes at once. Sinska would not have been surprised to learn the Tail Whip had literally stoppe
d all forward momentum for a beat. With the launch tubes designed to shoot out and place mines, one at a time, well away from the ship before activation, it was the first time he ever fired off four at once.

  Staring intently at the monitor, he watched the images of the four mines on the tracking display and how their track lines appeared. Satisfied the mines were tracking correctly, he spun one eye over to look at the live feed, taking in both views at once. The fiery white glow from the propulsion output of the four mines clearly projected against the darkness beyond.

  When tracking showed all four mines passing by the object, Sinska nodded in satisfaction. His tongue flashed out to taste his victory, before slowly disappearing again. When all four mines went dark, he knew they had shut down their propulsion drives. After a few beats, four flashes appeared, signaling braking had occurred. When all went dark again, Sinska knew this was the key beat of success or failure.

  The object and the mines were now hidden in the darkness of distance. Sinska waited for the telltale flash of the object firing its propulsion drive to change course, but nothing happened. A sudden feeling of dread came over him, as he realized the object was going to pass through the center of the small minefield. That could potentially trigger the magnetic fields of all four mines at once. He doubted anything could survive such a concentrated blast.

  Sinska realized he should have had one mine placed directly into the object’s path to force it to deviate into one of the other mines. This would have ensured only one mine detonating, instead of all four, as he knew was going to happen now. Shaking his head, he felt disgusted over his lack of vision in the plan.

  A bright flash filled the live viewer, forcing Sinska to spin both eyes backwards. After a few beats, he brought them around again to see the monitor displaying a white cloud of explosive debris. A quick look at tracking showed nothing existed beyond the Tail Whip, validating the object’s obliteration.

  Dropping his head slightly, Sinska knew he had failed his assignment. Not only had he missed capturing the object, he ended up destroying it. The Council Members were going to be most displeased by his failure.

  “Underlord, I will be in my chamber,” Sinska said while turning to leave. “Bring us to a stop and hold course here until I direct otherwise.”

  Arriving in his chamber, Sinska paced back and forth. He formulated messages over and over in his head, trying to find just the right words to send to the Council. Finally taking a seat at the small desk in his rest chamber, Sinska began typing with the tips of his claws. The words flowed out of him and displayed onto the desktop monitor. Done, he read the message a final time.

  #to overlord jeftrick from overlord sinska commanding the tail whip—arrived on station as instructed—found the object on an intersecting course attempting to exit the system—attempts to disable the object with energy cannon fire proved ineffective due to protective shielding—attempted innovative action of launching mines in the path of the object to disable it—object activated all four mines used—object destroyed beyond recovery—awaiting further instructions#

  Satisfied with the message, Sinska sent it to the transmitting computer with instructions to send. He knew the computer would shoot the message directly to the rebounder. From there, it would route to the council complex to be captured and sent on for review. Sinska’s fate would then rest on the decisions made by the Kracks Council.

  Staring at the blank monitor, Sinska wondered what would be in store for him now. The Council would surely be upset that he had not captured the object, so they could study it. He did prevent it from leaving, though, but would that matter? All Sinska could do now was wait and see.

  Chapter Six

  Lieutenant Rebecca Ladd swung the shuttle around as a dust-off prior to attempting to land. The dry, loose soil swirled around making the already near-zero visibility out her cockpit portals even worse. The sixty-five-mile-an-hour wind tested her landing skills. She concentrated on her strut indicators showing distance-to-ground clearance for both front and back sections of each of the two skids. The shuttle bucked and rocked in the wind like some caged animal trying to break free. Rebecca cringed when the shuttle bounced off the tip of one skid before settling to the ground. With a sigh of relief, she cut power to the thrusters while increasing power to the top jets to hold the shuttle down against the heavy winds.

  The wind howled all around the shuttle, peppering its side with debris like a shotgun blast. When a sudden strong gust shook the shuttle, Rebecca found the heavy weight of the craft, along with the downward push from the top jets, comforting. The last thing she wanted was the shuttle flipping over in the high winds—especially with her inside it.

  “Shuttle three has landed and is ready for ground crew assistance,” Rebecca said aloud. She knew her voice would be picked up by the small microphone resting against her cheek.

  “Affirmative, shuttle three. Ground crew is heading your way now.”

  Although she couldn’t see anything, Rebecca knew the ground crew was getting ready to slide a sled under her shuttle to haul her into the protection of the warehouse. She didn’t have to wait long before she felt the shuttle elevating off the ground. She wondered how anyone outside could see well enough to guide the sled under her shuttle without hitting anything. With the shuttle now under the sled’s control, she cut the power to the jets.

  Looking out the large front portal, she saw that visibility remained nil. Swirling dust and dirt continued to dominate the scene. The shuttle shook slightly as she felt the pull of the sled. A few minutes later, the shuttle slipped inside the protective walls of the warehouse. In seconds, her visibility went from zero to 100% within the bright environment of the building. The shuttle rocked slightly as it lowered onto its landing skids.

  Pulling the communication headset off, Rebecca squirmed her way out of the cockpit seat, and headed into the storage bay of the shuttle. After opening the side hatch, she heard the whine of the steps sliding down to the warehouse floor.

  Grabbing an emergency breathing apparatus hanging near the opening, Rebecca slipped the strap over her head and let the mask hang from her neck. She didn’t need to use it in the relative safety of the building, but regulations required her to have one in her possession anytime she left the shuttle in such an inhospitable environment.

  A loud bang signaled the large double-doors of the warehouse slamming closed, shutting off the outside elements. The temper-tantrum of the external winds plagued every trip she made to and from this stinking planet, and she was more than ready to leave it behind.

  Exiting the shuttle, Rebecca could smell the musty odor caused by the environmental units working overtime to keep the area oxygenated. Taking the three steps down to the floor, she landed on the thick corrugated metal sheeting that made up the flooring. The sheeting had been covered with an epoxy-like material that gave the floor a smooth look and feel and made it easier for walking.

  Making her way to the back of the shuttle, Rebecca activated the rear cargo hatch release. The hydraulics whined as the hatch slowly lifted and just cleared the ceiling when it reached its fully open position.

  Rebecca stepped aside as a ground crewman guided the small forklift into place and lifted the first bundle of plastic sheeting out of the bay. Once unloaded, she suspected he would be loading in equipment to return to the ship. With the work winding down, more cargo was going up to the ship than coming down to the planet. That suited her just fine, as she was more than ready to be done with this madhouse of a planet.

  Looking at the multitude of activities underway around her, Rebecca waited for the workers to finish unloading her shuttle. In one area, some of the ground crew operated machines to soften and shape the plastic sheeting. That process always fascinated her. A flat sheet of plastic would be funneled into one end of the machine, only to come out the other end in some predetermined form. A large roll of thin metal, mounted to the top of the machine, slowly fed in and fused with the plastic sheeting. Rebecca suspected it gave the pl
astic shapes their surprising strength, which was truly tested in this harsh environment.

  She figured that somewhere there had to be a master plan that outlined where all the prefabricated sections would end up and be used to complete whatever structure the ground crew was building. Although, how in the world they could put anything together on this terrible planet was beyond her.

  In another area, Rebecca noticed a group of workers putting formed plastic panels together with odd-shaped fasteners. Nearby, two people stood in a corner trying to hold a conversation in the noisy, echoing, building. She recognized one as Commander Bill Launtra and the other as Tyrone. The conversation looked a bit heated, so Rebecca decided not to join them.

  Tired of standing, she took a seat on the top step of the shuttle. Behind her, she heard the whirl of the rubber rollers spinning. Glancing over her shoulder, Rebecca watched a pallet of sheeting slide from the front of the bay toward the back hatch. Glancing down, she watched the shuttle’s black rubber rollers work in unison to move the heavy load. At the back hatch, the forklift operator was holding in the button that activated the rollers bringing the load close enough for him to get the forks under it to lift the pallet.

  A loud bang startled Rebecca until she realized it was just a flying object slamming into the outside wall of the warehouse. It reminded her of what she would have to deal with on the return trip. She did not envy the workers who would follow behind them to begin mining natural resources from this cursed place. In fact, she couldn’t even imagine how the warehouse managed to keep from being blown apart by the constant, severe winds. Rebecca supposed it provided testament to the technology and strength of the materials used to keep the buildings upright. Looking around, she decided the miners were a crazy lot, for who would want to test the longevity of the panels in this hellhole?