The Chance Encounter: The Linda Eccles Series - Book One

by Robert Woodard

  ◆◆◆

  Bill found the design of the alien craft fascinating. While the smaller monitors in emergency control did not provide the details that he suspected Sharon and Linda were enjoying, it was still better than not seeing the ship at all.

  When Rebecca entered the compartment, the movement caught Bill’s attention. Looking at her, she seemed to be a bit shaken. Giving her a quick nod, Bill asked, “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

  “The Captain has ordered me to relieve you, Commander. She asked that you contact her upon my arrival.”

  After pressing the comm icon, and then selecting bridge, Bill said, “Bridge, this is Commander Launtra, please inform the Captain that I have been relieved in emergency control by Lieutenant Ladd.”

  Linda’s voice responded. “Commander, I want you to take up station in weapons control. Report in when you get there.”

  “Right away, Captain.” Bill slapped the icon to close the comm connection. Getting up, he looked at Rebecca, and said, “It’s all yours, Lieutenant.”

  Rebecca still looked shaken, and Bill suspected she was nervous about running solo in emergency control for the first time. Watching her scan the various monitors and multitudes of icons that allowed for emergency override of existing systems, he could imagine her hoping that nothing would happen to require her to have to use any of them.

  “Relax, Lieutenant, you’ll do fine,” Bill said softly.

  Reaching out, Bill pulled his ePersonal from the console. Where it had sat, a white outline now appeared with the word locked flashing within it. All Rebecca had to do to activate the console controls was to plop her own ePersonal into the rectangular outline to remove the lock.

  “If you have any questions or need some advice, I am only a comm button away,” Bill said. He received only a nod in reply. Rebecca seemed distracted as she continued to study the various options projecting on the console.

  Bill left the compartment and entered the passageway. The cooler temperature of the passageway felt good as he made his way to weapons control. Finding a turbo-lift sitting open and ready for occupancy, he hopped in and took the quick ride to the upper level where the weapons control compartment was located.

  Bill entered the weapons control room and immediately noticed that his entire crew huddled around two monitors displaying the alien ship. He could not blame them for wanting to be in on the action. While a few of them were probably giving up a little sleep time to remain in the compartment, they all seemed alert and excited.

  Jerking his thumb to indicate for Marcus to vacate his chair, Bill took the seat and hit the comm icon. Again, selecting bridge, he said, “Bridge, this is Commander Launtra, I am now in weapons control. We are crewed and ready.” Muting the comm, he said aloud, “Some would say I am over-crewed, at the moment.”

  “Commander, this is the Captain. You are cleared to unlock the weapons system but remain in passive mode until further ordered.”

  After un-muting, Bill replied, “Yes, Captain. Weapons system will be unlocked and kept passive.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Launtra. Let’s hope your services won’t be needed.”

  Amen to that, Bill silently responded before closing the comm connection. Turning to face the four specialists trying to look busy, he said, “Okay, let’s have it. What are you all doing in here dirtying up my compartment?”

  “Come on, Commander, you can’t blame us for wanting to see what an alien ship looks like. We are making history here,” Trea said. She stuck out her lower lip while tilting her head down, and then looked up at him in what Bill took as her best impression of an innocent child begging to stay up late.

  “Alright, but I do not want to hear any griping if you are overly tired when your shift comes around again,” Bill said. He received wide smiles from everyone.

  Tapping the activate icon on the gloss-black console, it was replaced by a square made up of a simple, thin, white outline. Pulling his ePersonal from his pocket, Bill set it within the box and then lightly placed his finger on the face of the device. The ePersonal beeped once and the console filled with large, easy to read icons. When he lifted his device off the console, the word passive flashed in its place. All Bill had to do now to charge and prepare the weapon to fire was to press on the passive icon to change it to active.

  Pressing the image control icon, Bill selected live view, and pulled in the image of the alien ship on the monitor positioned in front of him. The ship continued to track behind them but was no longer gaining. Leaning back in his chair, he waited for further orders.

  “What do you think this all means, Commander?” Jeremy asked.

  Nodding his head toward the monitor, Bill responded with, “It means that we finally have recorded proof that intelligent life exists in this wide universe we share. The Privateer will go down in history as the first ship to encounter such life.”

  “Do you think they destroyed the probe?” Marcus asked.

  Bill could see the rumor mill still ran rampant on the Privateer. Since no official word had been released about the discovery of the probe, or its having been destroyed, someone had to have let it slip. Most likely, it came from a specialist sitting on the bridge at the time the discussion occurred.

  “I have no idea,” Bill finally answered. “Right now, whoever commands that alien ship seems content to follow us. They have yet to show any aggression toward us, so we should not jump to any conclusion.”

  “Someone destroyed the probe, you have to admit that,” Marcus countered.

  Smiling, Bill said, “The nice thing about being an officer is that you don’t have to admit anything.”

  Bill turned his attention back to the monitor and the image of the ship that followed them. What bothered him the most was that the Privateer had a long way to go to get to the safety of the only known jump point open to them. He silently hoped the other ship would let them reach it.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sinska spun an eye onto tracking when the Overling reported that the prey ship had increased speed. They were now matching the Tail Whip, and it made him wonder if that was their top speed too. He hoped so. It would keep them from pulling away from him.

  Returning both eyes onto the live feed, Sinska found the blinking rear lights of the prey ship mesmerizing. Why the ship contained lights that blinked on and off mystified him. Even more confusing was how the lights varied in color. A light on the top left corner of the upper section blinked red, while another in the top right corner blinked green. In the middle of the bottom section, where the hull’s curvature bottomed out, two white blinking lights pounded against his eyes.

  With each passing beat the prey ship was moving closer to where they could safely jump out of this system, and he struggled with what to do about it. Thinking about how the prey ship was drawn to their buoy, he wondered if he could use that to his advantage somehow. They seemed curious in nature, so there had to be a way to take advantage of that, but how?

  Thinking over some of his hunting tricks, Sinska tried to use that knowledge to help him now. His favorite method was mimicking the mating call of his prey. That tended to draw them close enough for him to chase down. While he had no idea if these creatures had mating calls, or what it would be, he supposed he might be able to catch their interest with any kind of a call. Perhaps it would pull at their curious nature and get them to do something that would give Sinska a chance to delay them.

  “Underlord, prepare a message for our prey, and have it transmitted on all frequencies,” Sinska ordered.

  “What do you want the message to represent, Overlord?”

  Sinska thought it over for a few beats, and then replied, “Tell them they have entered Kracks territory, and that they are to stop to answer for it.”

  The simple message only took a couple dozen beats to create, and soon it passed through space. Sinska stared out at the blinking lights that depicted the prey ship’s location. Not expecting much to come from the message, he could only wait and hope. />
  ◆◆◆

  Having taken a quick break, Linda returned to the bridge to find Marcy sitting at the communication station. Without a comm specialist on the bridge, Linda suspected that Marcy had chased one of them off again. Deciding that it was probably a losing battle trying to keep the young ensign away, Linda ignored her.

  Shaking her head as she took her seat, Linda figured there was nothing wrong with being dedicated, although, in Marcy’s case, she may have just been nosy. Giving the monitor a quick glance, Linda frowned at the sight of the alien ship continuing to chase after them. She decided she didn’t want to see it anymore.

  “Nav, increase speed to full,” Linda ordered.

  Ignoring the confirmation reply and sensing the increase in vibration from the propulsion system, Linda felt relief at seeing the alien ship fall behind. It gave her some satisfaction in knowing their pursuer was slower than her Privateer. She stared at tactical looking for any sign of an increase in speed in the alien ship, but it continued to lose ground.

  A beeping filled the relative quiet of the bridge. Realizing it came from the comm station, Linda glanced down at Marcy as she worked the controls to determine the cause. The wait felt excruciatingly slow, but Linda had enough composure to let Marcy do her job.

  After a few minutes, Marcy finally turned toward her, and said, “Captain, the Privateer is picking up a radio wave signal very similar to the one that bounced back from the planet. Tactical shows the source is coming from the alien ship. They are transmitting on the entire frequency spectrum. The message is short and repeating. I am recording it now.”

  “Very well,” Linda responded. She then looked over at Sharon, who was on her left and facing her while leaning on the brass railing, and asked, “What good does it do to send out a signal when you know the recipient will not be able to understand it?”

  “Maybe they don’t think logically like that,” Sharon answered.

  “If they are logical enough to build a ship and put a tracking device into space, I would think they could figure out such minor details.”

  “Point taken, Captain.”

  After narrowing her eyes at the monitor showing the alien craft, Linda thought over the purpose of the message. She supposed it could have been a friendly attempt to open communications, but she doubted it. Nothing she had seen so far from these creatures had spelled openness. A missing and probably destroyed probe, along with a ship staying hidden behind a planet, proved that to her. She stared at the image of the ship as it began to merge into the darkness behind it.

  This entire situation was pulling up long hidden reminders of her past. It was like those teenagers all over again who constantly followed and harassed her when all she wanted to do was go home after school let out. Shaking the thought out of her mind, she wondered what was wrong with her. Get that crap out of your head. It was too long ago for you to be drudging it up now.

  Linda’s entire career had been about control—control over her life, career and feelings, and now these raging thoughts seemed to be breaking that control apart, and she didn’t like it one bit. Finally pushing the troubling thoughts deep within her, she focused on the meaning of the message before deciding that the best course of action was to do nothing. She would let the other ship make the next move. In the meantime, she would update Rapatine of their progress and current situation.

  “Sharon, work with Marcy to formulate a message to inform Rapatine of our current situation. We will maintain course and speed in case they reply, so be sure to include that as well.”

  Linda knew that there was a risk the message would not get though. The accelerated light-pulse message would travel between her ship and Rapatine not that much unlike a laser-beam. If something like a planet blocked the pathway, the beam would deflect off target and never be picked up on the other end. The same would be true with any reply. With the Privateer moving, the communication software on the other end would use their course and speed to calculate the angle for the return reply to intersect with the ship along its path. If she had to deviate from her course in any way, the return message would sail right on past them. Shaking her head, she knew that a lot of luck was needed right now for the message to get to them and back again.

  When Sharon moved away, Linda stared at the alien ship that was just a ghostly shadow now. The next move was theirs, and she silently hoped they would be content to sit back there and leave her alone. She had her doubts.

  ◆◆◆

  The only action Sinska received from the message was a speeding up of the prey ship. The two had almost been simultaneous. The message went out, and the ship took off like a startled prey. Frustrated, Sinska got up to pace.

  He supposed he could fire a warning shot. But would that give his prey the ability to determine the strength of his weapon, and that it was ineffective against their shielding? Although he had no idea if this ship contained any weaponry, it was already proving the faster ship. Frustrated with his lack of options, Sinska fought hard to think of some solution.

  A little seed sprouted an idea into his thoughts. The mines proved more than effective against the first object, so why not this prey ship? Instead of launching four out in front like before, perhaps he only needed one. He could launch a mine to pass behind the prey ship, but close enough for the magnetic field to activate against either the shielding or the propulsion wash. If the mine exploded, it just might create a back-blast into the exhaust ports to stall their drives. Without the propulsion drives, the ship would most likely lose its shielding and that opened up all kinds of opportunities.

  “Underlord, I believe our best option with this ship is to try to cut their power. Prepare to launch a mine. Calculate the angle to target so the mine passes directly behind the ship. I want it to look like a miss to the prey, while getting close enough for the magnetic field to trigger.”

  “The use of the mine would be limiting, Overlord. If they veer away after we fire it, they will quickly learn that it cannot track their movements,” Bresk said.

  Sinska was stunned for a beat. It was not like Bresk to question an order. Figuring he was just overly nervous about the situation, Sinska let the indiscretion pass. “I am aware of that, Underlord, but we will try anyway.”

  “Yes, Overlord.”

  When Bresk walked away to head for the tracking station to oversee the programming of the mine, Sinska resumed his pacing. He was taking a huge risk here, but he failed to see any other option. His directive from the Council had been clear, and that was to prevent the ship from leaving. If he could disable the prey ship, even for only a few thousand beats, that would give the other ships that much more time to arrive and take over the ship’s capture.

  What would the prey ship do in response? That was the question that bothered him the most. Perhaps his best course of action should be to veer off after launch. The more distance he created the better his reaction time, and Sinska’s instincts told him to get away from this ship.

  While waiting for the mine to be readied, Sinska thought over the capability of his own ship. Unlike the other ships docked above the Kracks’ planet, the Tail Whip did not carry any rockets. Just one of those rockets would have given him a huge advantage against his prey. The long-range rocket, with its heat-seeking technology, would have honed right in on the heated propulsion exhaust, and do automatically what he was attempting to do manually with the mine. Sinska decided there was no use wishing for something he could not have.

  The minelayers did have one advantage over the other ships’ designs that gave him a little comfort. It carried a double-hull construction that could absorb a lot of damage. All the minelayers had a protected inner hull in case of an accidental mine detonation. Sinska hoped that would be enough to keep the Tail Whip from being obliterated by this prey ship.

  Once again, Sinska longed to be on the open plains, facing an adversary head on, where his power and skills could be put to the test—two creatures facing off to see who would come out on top. That was the Krack
s way. That was where Sinska excelled, for his power, skills and hunter instincts made him second to none in comparison to the other creatures that roamed Kracks. Two ships facing off against each other was not the best use of his skills, and Sinska would prefer to have none of it.

  Staring at the prey ship’s blinking lights, Sinska hoped his decision to fire on them would not come back to bite him. He silently wished the other ships would arrive to take over. He felt too exposed out here against a ship he knew nothing about.

  “The mine is ready to launch, Overlord,” Bresk said.

  “Launch it,” Sinska ordered. He did not feel the confidence his deep voice projected.

  The telltale dimming of the lights, followed by the sudden jolt to the ship, provided all the evidence Sinska needed that the launch had been successful. The mine appeared on the monitor as it sped away. A bright flash followed as the propulsion system kicked in to drive the mine at an ever-greater speed.

  Returning to his chair, Sinska focused on tracking that followed the mine as it closed in on his prey. The tracking line of the mine seemed to be leading the prey ship at the proper angle to pass behind it by the time it covered the distance. Like throwing a rock at a fleeing prey, Sinska knew you had to lead a running target to hit it at the point where rock and prey intersected. Throw directly at a moving target and the rock will fall harmlessly behind. If the prey swerves, the intersect point no longer exists, but he hoped that would not happen with this prey.

  “Underlord, alter course left and slightly away from our prey.”

  While the Tail Whip veered left, Sinska hoped that he had made the right decision. He fixated on the tracking display as the mine continued onward.