The Chance Encounter: The Linda Eccles Series - Book One

by Robert Woodard

  “Captain, sensor readings are very odd,” Sharon said. “This contact is registering too much metallic surface for a probe. The probe has a duroplastic shell and should have a much less metallic signature. The energy readings are off, too. I don’t think this is the probe at all.”

  “If it’s not the probe, then what is it?” Linda asked without expecting an answer.

  “We are not sure yet,” Sharon said.

  Warning bells began to go off in Linda’s head. Could there be a connection between the missing probe and this strange object? If there was, what did that mean? Was the Privateer, and for that matter, her, about to make contact with some alien species? Would they be peaceful or hostile towards her? Calm down, Linda, for crying out loud, it’s only a piece of metal floating in space right now. Don’t go getting your panties in a wad over it.

  The Nav Specialist looked up at her, and said, “Captain, I’m picking up an ion trail. The levels are characteristic with the residue I would expect to see from something of the probe’s size. I am also picking up some strange anomalies that intersect with the ion trail, and then it gets really weird.”

  Glancing up at the monitor showing the tactical view, Linda could see where the track lines now appeared that referenced the anomalies. She could see the single ion trail and then four other lines from something else that had traveled along this section of space. All five lines intersected well off the port side of the Privateer, and then just ended.

  “Nav, hold your position here,” Linda ordered.

  Shifting her view right, Linda focused on the monitor showing the sensor data. The kaleidoscope of information displayed on the monitor painted a different picture than what Linda could see with a naked eye. The ion trail seemed to sparkle like dry sand on a hot day. As her eyes followed the trail to where it intersected with the other four converging paths, she could see four nearly perfect round circles of disturbed space. The circles seemed to create a large square pattern, and in the center was another circle with spires shooting out in all directions, including through the other round circles. While fascinating to see, it left more questions than it provided answers.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this before, Commander?” Linda asked.

  Shaking her head, Sharon replied, “No, Captain, I have not.”

  “Comm, have Commander Launtra report to the bridge,” Linda ordered.

  ◆◆◆

  “Emergency control, bridge, Commander Launtra’s presence is requested on the bridge.”

  “Bridge, I’m on my way,” Bill responded.

  Pulling his eCapture out of the console caused the command controls to fade away. Bill slipped the device into the saddle at his hip and snapped the flap in place before leaving the compartment. It wasn’t long before Bill entered the bridge. He could see Linda sitting in the command chair, and Sharon standing next to the Nav Specialist. They both stared intently at the overhead monitors.

  Bill came around the end of the railing and stood to the left of the Captain. Linda looked up at him, then pointed up at the monitor on her right, saying, “Mr. Launtra, I’m at a loss to explain what we are seeing here. I’m hoping that your military background may prove useful in helping us figure it out. Do you have any idea what would cause this unique pattern that the sensor has picked up?”

  Bill looked away from Linda’s questioning brown eyes to focus on the screen. Stepping to the edge of the upper bridge section, he absorbed the closer view of the strange configuration of images. Small particles appeared very intense in the center of the four individual circles, and then lessened as they reached the outer sections of each circle’s radius. Whatever happened in the middle had intermixed with the outer circles. The circles were showing signs of disruption as gravitational pulls were beginning to have their effect. He suspected that the actual area of disruption was probably much larger now than when they originally happened due to those pulls, but by how much, he didn’t have a clue.

  The sight reminded Bill of a freighter he had seen after it had exploded. It had a lot of the same look as what he was seeing here, only much larger and not as evenly disbursed. He recalled that it had been while he was serving as an ensign aboard a cruiser within a hunter-killer fleet—the same fleet now stationed at Rap-1—that had been created and assigned to hunt down pirates who were raiding shipping between outposts. The nastiest of them would steal the cargo and then destroy the ship, with the crew aboard, to eliminate any witnesses and the ship’s recordings of the event. The pirates were all gone now, but those experiences remained within his memory.

  “What are your thoughts, Mr. Launtra?” Linda asked.

  “I think we are looking at the destruction of the probe,” Bill said when he looked back at the Captain. “It looks to me like multiple explosions occurred around a center object that then exploded itself, and I suspect that object was the missing probe. I can’t confirm it, but that is about the only logical explanation for these readings that I can come up with.”

  Looking up at the two monitors, Linda said, “I fail to see what more we can learn from these readings. We will let smarter minds then ours mull over our sensor data when we return to Rapatine. For now, there is another object out here that is definitely worth a closer look. We will take the Privateer in to get some solid sensor readings and then go home. Mr. Launtra, you can return to emergency control. I’ll feel better with you in there while we are in this system.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Bill said as he turned to leave.

  Before exiting the bridge, Bill heard Linda order, “Sharon, send a message to Rapatine noting our successful arrival, and bring them up to speed on what we have found so far. We won’t wait for a reply. Ahead standard. Make your course 2-1-5.”

  Chapter Twelve

  With nothing else to do, Sinska found himself pacing the control chamber, yet again, while keeping an eye on the monitors. The ship had resumed its steady progress further into the system, and it came closer to the buoy with each passing beat. Pacing helped him while away the time as the distance closed.

  Finally returning to his seat, Sinska sat down on the control chair with his tail dropping off the back where its end rested on the floor. With each passing beat the sensor pulled in more defining data on the ship. Flashing his tongue at the live viewer, he silently said, “Yes, just keep coming!”

  He could see by the numerical readout under the ship that it currently traveled at 54-quils, which was considerably slower than the Tail Whip’s top speed of 81-quils. Sinska knew he had no way of knowing if the other ship was traveling at maximum speed or not. He supposed that whoever commanded it was being cautious out here, and that led him to believe they were traveling at a slower pace.

  The Tail Whip was way late in making its regular report to the Council, and he wondered what was going through the Council Members’ minds right now. Were they concerned he had been destroyed, or did they figure he had nothing to report and didn’t bother to report that fact?

  Getting up, he thought over what to do next, and that had him pacing again. At some point, he knew, he needed to get a message to the Council. The thought of breaking off contact with this ship did not sit well with him, but it had to be done at some point. Once again, he chastised himself for not having the foresight to have set up a buoy with direct line of communication to the rebounder.

  Stopping, he stared at the tactical display while trying to think if it was possible to set up a buoy without needing to move the ship. Pacing again, he decided to broach the subject with his Underlord when he returned from his rest period. For a moment, he struggled with whether to send an overling to fetch the Underlord or not, so they could discuss options now, but decided against it as long as the other ship continued its slow progress.

  Sinska’s slow meandering brought him to the communication station, where the Overling tried to look busy. Stopping, Sinska wondered what kinds of ideas the Overling may be harboring inside that youthful brain of his. He thought about asking him, but Sinska f
igured that would only put undue stress on the young Kracks. What was the harm in asking, though? Sinska’s silent question to himself got him thinking again. Could this Overling have the answer?

  Swinging both eyes onto the Overling, Sinska realized he didn’t know this Kracks’ given name. All he ever knew of him was that he was an Overling, and that had always been enough. For some reason, not knowing his name bothered him. Isn’t this Overling important enough for me to know his name? He decided to rectify this oversight.

  “What do they call you, Overling?” Sinska asked.

  The Overling’s tongue shot out with nervousness at being addressed directly, but answered, “Dentrim, Overlord.”

  Nodding to himself, Sinska thought it was a good name. He then asked, “Well, Overling Dentrim, would it be possible to place a buoy out beyond this planet without having to move the ship to do it?”

  “The buoy doesn’t have the fuel capacity to travel that far.”

  “Yes, I suspected that would be the case.”

  “There may be another option, though, Overlord. It’s never been tried before, but it might work.”

  “And what would that be?” Sinska prompted.

  “You could try to launch it like a mine. Dentrim swung around on his stool to face the Overlord. He seemed to be gaining confidence the more he interacted with Sinska. “If the buoy was placed on its side, it is close to the same diameter as a mine. If it was loaded into the tube with the propulsion unit facing inward, we may be able to launch it. The launching process would push the buoy up to speed without wasting its fuel. This would provide enough fuel for directional changes, braking and final positioning of the buoy.”

  Impressed, Sinska found the idea fascinating. “Overling Dentrim, I want you to work with the Tracking Overling to make that happen. We will use the old buoy we replaced here since it would be no loss if this doesn’t work.”

  “Yes, Overlord.”

  Too excited now to pace, Sinska returned to his chair and watched the two Overlings working together. It occurred to him that he didn’t know the other Overlings name either, and that bothered him too. He wondered why. Normally, he just passed by an overling without giving them much thought, but now he was beginning to see that overlings were much smarter than he ever gave them credit for.

  Remaining quiet and watchful from his chair, Sinska listened and learned as the two overlings worked out the details, and then with his permission, put the idea into action as they coordinated the efforts needed with another overling, another nameless face to him, residing in the launch bay below deck.

  By the time Underlord Bresk came back to the control chamber to relieve Sinska, the Overlings were close to being ready to launch the buoy. All that needed to be done now was to load the buoy into the launch tube and connect it.

  “Underlord, I have these two Overlings preparing that old buoy for launch to get it into position to communicate with the Council,” Sinska said when Bresk approached him.

  “The distance is too far, Overlord.”

  “I am aware of that. That is why we will attempt to launch it like a mine. The launch velocity will propel the buoy along, and we will only need to fire the propulsion drive to keep it aligned to its destination.”

  “I would have never thought of that.” Bresk said, and it was clear that he was impressed by the idea. “I take it they refueled it already?”

  “I would suspect so since it would be worthless otherwise,” Sinska replied with a little annoyance at the question.

  “Overlord, the buoy is now being loaded into the launch tube,” Dentrim said.

  Sinska let his annoyance go as he now envisioned the buoy being placed into the tube on its side, with its top going in first. A magnetic disk would then be attached to the bottom and plugged into a slot in the tube door. Lastly, the tube hatch would be shut and locked into place.

  “Overlord, the buoy is ready to launch on your order.”

  “Underlord, rotate the Tail Whip to align to where Overling Dentrim needs the buoy to be placed. Once aligned, launch the buoy.”

  When Bresk relayed his order, Sinska watched the tracking display. His ship began a slow swing left to align the tube. As the ship slowly came around, Sinska watched Bresk move over to the tracking station.

  The excitement continued to build within Sinska. The time to launch fast approached. He could envision the stops inside the tube working their way inward to prevent the buoy from leaving the tube prematurely.

  “Open the tube’s outer door,” Bresk ordered. His deep, booming voice carried to every corner of the control chamber.

  The overhead lights dimmed ever so slightly. Sinska knew the opposing magnetic discs between the tube’s inner door and the buoy were building up. With the two disks repelling each other, the force would increase as the power level increased. The stops would keep the buoy in place until they released, allowing the buoy to race out the tube along the metal rollers underneath it.

  Feeling the slight vibration coming through his chair, Sinska knew the stops had pulled back to release the buoy. The live viewer caught the buoy as it rocketed away from the front of the Tail Whip. As if he was standing out in space watching the event, Sinska could envision the small antennae pushing out of its protective sleeve to await input from the ship.

  “I have received the confirmation signal; the buoy is ready to execute the command sequence, Overlord.”

  Sinska spun one eye around to look at Dentrim, who sat poised to send the signal to put the coding sequence into action. His other eye remained focused on the live viewer. Sinska said, “Execute.”

  The buoy had disappeared into the dark already, but a flash indicated the propulsion drive had ignited to make minor course corrections. When it shut down, the buoy once again disappeared from view. With one eye shifting to tracking, Sinska watched the buoy’s progress. His other eye remained on the live viewer, and now caught a grey disk spinning directly at his ship. It soon struck the hull and bounced harmlessly off to continue on its way.

  The sight of the disk did not bother Sinska. He witnessed similar hull strikes in the past when launching mines. When the propulsion drive fired, it blew the disk off to send it on a return trajectory to collide with his ship. Other than chipping a little color from the hull, these collisions did no real damage.

  Intensely studying the tactical display, Sinska could see that there was nothing more for him to do now. The other ship would continue its slow approach, and the buoy would be traveling for some time before it reached its destination to be aligned to the rebounder.

  A thought suddenly came to Sinska. There was a prey out there coming his way, and it arrived by ship, so did that make it a prey ship? After finding that a great term for this new arrival into Remp, he decided to call it a prey ship going forward.

  Turning over command to Bresk, Sinska left to get some rest.

  ◆◆◆

  Sinska returned to the control chamber shortly before the buoy reached its destination. After giving the tracking monitor a quick glance, he could see the prey ship was still maintaining its steady pace toward the stationary buoy. Other than being closer now, nothing had change with it.

  When Brest got up from the control chair, Sinska decided not to sit in it just yet. The excitement of having the ability to communicate with the Council began to build, creating nervous energy he hoped to walk off by pacing.

  His time in the chamber did wonders to revitalize him. With a full belly working on digesting his latest meal, and the warming effects of the heat lamps above his cot, Sinska felt like a new Kracks.

  “The buoy is rotating in preparation for braking, Overlord,” Bresk reported, “The buoy will begin breaking in forty-nine beats.”

  Sinska nodded his response before turning an eye to the monitor where he could see the countdown to braking clearly noted under the image of the indicator for the buoy. When it reached zero, Sinska stopped his pacing to await the results.

  Tuning out everything else as he
focused on tracking, he watched the buoy’s rate of travel rapidly decline, indicating that the propulsion drive had fired. When the buoy came to a stop, Sinska could envision the process it now undertook to become a functioning unit. Small jets would maneuver the buoy upright.

  His major concern now was if the buoy functioned correctly. Even though all its external components had been retracted into their protective state, the buoy was missing its outer shell that had been blown off to float away shortly after it was originally put into service out here. If it failed, though, as least he knew he could get a buoy into position out there before he invested a new one if he decided to try again.

  In his mind, he could envision the aerial panels unfolding like some winged creature preparing to take flight. Once unfolded, the receivers would expand and become active. The sensor disc would appear out the top, along with the data capture on its rotating base. Lastly, the transmitter would poke out of a side compartment like a plant sprouting out of the ground, and then expand outward to create the directional cone like a bud opening to expose the flower within it.

  With all that mechanical maneuvering done, the buoy would slowly turn to align the transmitter, so it aimed at the rebounder above Kracks. Then, and only then, would the buoy be ready to send and receive messages. Rotating one eye, he watched Bresk overseeing the communication station, waiting for a confirmation signal from the buoy that it was now operational.

  “Confirmation has been received from the buoy, Overlord. A test signal has been sent to the receiver.”

  Sinska’s hissed out his satisfaction that this old buoy had done its job. He knew that having that buoy in place now gave him a great advantage over the prey ship. He could keep an eye on them while having a running communication with the Council, and his prey would be none the wiser.

  Bresk had his back to Sinska, but one of his eyes spun backwards to look at him. Sinska nodded that he had heard the report. He then said, “Underlord, I will be retiring to my chamber to formulate a message to send to the Council once the connection to the rebounder is confirmed.”