“Salvage that set of nodes, Mr O’Connor. We can use them to rebuild this station. Mech, give him a hand.” The Lieutenant dismantled the damaged portion of the control station. Using the salvaged parts and some spares from Leander, he patched together a console from which the navigation could be run. Directing Ferghal to another, he said, “This business in merchant ships of having a combined Engineering and Command Control Centre makes this easier. Here we have Navigation and Drive control in one compartment — no need to run additional coms anywhere. Get that Engineering unit open and see what you can do with it.”
“Aye, aye, sir.” To Ferghal it seemed vaguely disquieting to know that they were alone on this semi-derelict ship, conscious that their own ship had jumped back into transit status to avoid showing up on any hostile scanners. Despite the assurance of the small fighter squadron now forming a defensive shield about them, he worried that they might be attacked while helpless. This motivated him to work quickly but carefully to restore the systems as soon as possible.
Aware of the usual noise of an AI in his ears, he wondered if he could activate the engines of this ship. He asked the ship, “Greenbay Orion, will you allow me to run your engineering controls, perhaps to operate your drives?”
“You are cleared to bypass my controls.” The AI paused. “You are not a standard mobile interface. Where do you come from? You have no manufacturer’s engagement coding.”
Ferghal’s laugh drew the Lieutenant’s attention. “What have you found?”
“Nothing, sir — or a solution, I’m thinking.” Ferghal told the AI, “A moment, please. I must explain this to my superior.” After a moment’s thought, he added, “I am a human. Our ship calls me a mobile human node. I’ve been called many things in my life, but that was a new one on me!”
Ferghal could’ve sworn he heard the AI chuckle. Back to business, he said to the Lieutenant, “Sir, this ship will allow me to control its drives through my link to its AI. Now, if we could have Harry as well, the two of us could run Engineering and Navigation.”
The Lieutenant stared at him as he pondered this. “Sounds good. But we’ll need a few more people. I’ll talk to the Captain. You talk to the ship and see what else is needed.”
HARRY DISEMBARKED FROM THE BARGE THEN GATHERED HIS equipment and cycled through the airlocks. Already the ship’s AI was in his head as he made his way to the Command Bridge.
“We haven’t a lot of time. Are you connected to the ship?” Lieutenant Orloff stared at the wrecked consoles. “Hell, I don’t know if this is even possible!”
“I’m connected, ma’am. Orion says it will be helpful if some of the interfaces can be repaired, but is happy to accept instructions through us.”
“Okay. What have we got to lose?” Over her shoulder, she shot, “Don’t answer that, Piotr!” knowing he was probably doing just that under his breath.
She contacted the Captain. “We are ready to run a trial, sir.”
“Proceed.”
“Right. Harry, set the helm to move us one astronomical unit from this position.”
“Set, ma’am.”
“Good. Ferghal, you have the drives ready?”
Ferghal nodded, his face a mask of concentration. “Aye, ma’am.”
“Harry, action, please.”
“Very good, ma’am.” He concentrated. “Greenbay Orion, let me speak to Ferghal.” He waited for Ferghal to join him in the link. “Ferghal, on my mark, ninety seconds at two-thirds power on the hyperdrive. Three, two, one, mark!”
With the usual command displays destroyed, only Harry and Ferghal could see the result. Through the ship’s external sensors, they watched as the view of the system vanished, was replaced by the grey fog of hyperspace, then returned into view, though now from a different aspect.
“On station, ma’am.”
“That’s a relief.” She linked to the Captain. “It worked, sir. We’re ready to go.”
“Good. We’ll collect you. Get Mr Heron to link the helm to us as soon as we drop out. Drives all functional?”
“Drives are functional, sir.”
“Here we go then.” Leander appeared, the fighters sweeping back to her as she closed the freighter. “Link your helm.”
Harry reached into the program and ordered the link. “Helm linked. Drives standing by.”
“Enter transit, match course and speed with Leander.”
The pair of ships plunged into the singularity created by their drives and vanished, Leander leaving behind a small and unobtrusive drone.
“Piotr, we had better get to work on rebuilding at least two of these control positions. Can we get a visual display working? I hate flying blind like this.”
“The consoles will take a couple of hours. The displays? Maybe. Give me a hand with the helm console. If we can get it working, only one of our mobile human nodes needs to be in constant contact with the AI.”
The Engineering lieutenant glanced at Ferghal. “I agree, but Ferghal suggested something earlier that has me thinking. I want to rig a receiver unit that will make it possible for us to do this from Leander. Ferghal talked about towing a ship if it was disabled, and it makes sense.”
“Good idea. If we can transfer the controls to Leander, we don’t have to live in this foul atmosphere.” She massaged her temples. “The carbon dioxide levels must be high. It’s making my head thick.”
“All the more reason to get off her then,” said Lieutenant Guzewski from within a damaged console. “We can’t scrub it out of the atmosphere, and I’m not sure of the water purity either.”
IN THE EMPTY SPACE THE GREENBAY ORION HAD OCCUPIED, the small drone sent a stream of scrambled pre-recorded messages. The simulation of an on-going conversation between two ships was intended to create the illusion of an attempt at rescue or salvage. It achieved its purpose.
The Consortium ship dropped out where the freighter had been, her weapons ready to fire.
“No target, sir. The signal is from a drone.”
“What the blazes? I thought that damned freight hauler was inoperable!” The Consortium Captain glared at his second in command. “You told me you’d destroyed all the controls for the drives and navigation.”
“We did.” The man frowned. “Those control units were stripped right down, and what we didn’t need we smashed.”
“Well, somehow they’ve got her going again.” The Captain’s fist pounded the arm of his chair. “And it was the frigate we wanted to catch.” His anger boiled over as he thrust himself out of his chair. “Damn that clumsy moron Blatch. If he hadn’t caused that feedback on the weapons controls, we’d have had them before they could shift that wreck.”
His second-in-command shrugged. “He won’t do it again.”
“How the hell did he do it the first time? It’s supposed to be impossible to create that sort of shunt.”
Studying his fingers, the Executive Officer kept his face neutral. “It was deliberate. I’ve been watching Blatch for a while. He had a score to settle, I believe. Now he’s had a little disagreement with a personal plasma projector.”
The Captain’s mouth dropped open as this sank in. His executive officer was a cold fish, and a deadly one. With an effort he redirected his anger. “Blow that bloody drone to atoms, then set course for New Eden.”
It didn’t matter how the Fleet ship had managed to get the freighter going. They had done it, and at least he knew where she was going. The Johnstone leeches can wait a little longer for their assets, he mused in bitter frustration.
“DRONE HAS CEASED TRANSMISSIONS, SIR. Final transmission was interrupted, but we got an image of the attacker. Heavy cruiser of their Trader Class.”
“So they were there. We’re lucky she didn’t jump us. I wonder why they didn’t strike while we were fiddling about.”
“Could be they’ve had their own problems to sort out. I’ve been wondering why they took some of the control modules intact.”
&nbs
p; “Could be, Phil, could be.” His link chirped. “Captain.”
“Sir, we think we’ve managed to rig up a system that will allow us to operate this ship from the Leander. Piotr has rigged receivers to the control consoles we’ve rebuilt. The atmosphere here is bad and deteriorating fast, as there are no circulation fans. We’re having to use survival packs in Control.”
“That’s not good.” Captain Rafferty frowned. “You’re sure this will work?”
“Yes, sir. Piotr has everything rigged, and Heron and O’Connor have tested it. They can link to the Orion through the receivers as long as they’re linked to an AI.”
“What happens if we lose control of it? Is there a way we can get a backup?”
“I think we can set it up in about an hour. It really only needs the fitting of a multi-channel link and an interface to the AI network. Once that is in place, we can test it and run with it. If necessary, we can always fail the reactor containment. That will vaporise the entire ship.”
“And everything nearby, but you’ve got a maximum of a half hour tops. We’ll drop out in system GBB69774, pick you up and go hyper again as soon as Heron and O’Connor can connect.”
“EVERYTHING READY? MR HERON? MR O’CONNOR?”
“Ready, sir.” Harry glanced at Ferghal. “We’re connected to both ships.”
“Link helms. Transfer course and speed data.”
“Done, sir.”
“Activate.”
The display showed the damaged freighter on station, proving, to the Captain’s relief, that the link between the frigate and the Greenbay Orion had held.
“Well done. Now, if it all works, we’ve a convoy and a squadron to catch. Can the Orion manage a sustained full power run? We’ll need that capability if we’re to catch up. Even then it’ll be four days minimum.”
“There was no damage to the drives, sir, and being a freightliner, her plant is designed to run at near full power on passage for sustained periods.”
The Captain nodded. “True. It remains to be seen if we can drop out successfully.”
“If the Orion decides not to, someone is going to get a nasty surprise one day in hyperspace,” remarked Lieutenant Commander Dalziel as he watched their prize on the scanner.
“You’re right,” grinned Lieutenant Orloff from her console. She winked at Harry. “What would you fellows have done with a prize in your day, Mr Heron? I doubt you could have rigged it to sail itself, now could you?”
“No.” Harry grinned. “We probably would have set her afire to make sure the French couldn’t save her later.”
“WE’RE IN CONTACT WITH OUR SQUADRON, SIR,” the weapons officer reported. “Aurora acknowledges our pennant number.”
“Good. Get Captain Gratz on a link for me.”
“Welcome back, Greg. I see you’ve got the Orion with you. Well done.” Captain Gratz paused. “Any problems?”
“I think they planned an ambush, but something went wrong.” Greg Rafferty rubbed his eyes. Not having left his Command Centre for almost four days as they overhauled the squadron, he was exhausted. “A Trader Class heavy cruiser dropped out shortly after we departed and shot up the drone I left. The Orion is in a bad way. Her controls are destroyed and her environment section is completely inoperable.”
“Bad. So how are her crew operating her?”
“They’re not. We had to jury rig her and be a bit creative. We’re hoping she’ll drop out with us. If she doesn’t, it’s going to be an interesting chase.”
“Creative?” The uncertainty in Captain Gratz’s voice was plain. “Never mind. What’s your ETA for joining us?”
“My Navigation team tell me four hours.”
“Good. Our ETA for New Eden is now forty-eight hours.”
“COMING UP TO DROPOUT, SIR,” LIEUTENANT ORLOFF reported.
“Link helm to Aurora.” The Lieutenant Commander looked at Harry. “Make sure our tow stays with us, please.”
“Aye, aye, ma’am.” Harry focussed on his link. “Leander, please connect me directly with Orion.”
“We are connected, Harry. Orion hears you.”
“Thank you. Orion, we are about to drop out of transit. Are you receiving the commands?”
“I am.” There was a moment’s pause. “Will I be repaired here?”
“There are no repair facilities here, Orion, but there may be an opportunity to restore at least some of your system while we wait for the Beagle to complete her surveys.”
“On the mark, sir. Aurora counting down.”
On the display, each of the ships showed on station against the backdrop of the stars, with the damaged freightliner following on Leander’s quarter.
FROM THEIR VANTAGE POINT IN SPACE, NEW EDEN seemed very similar to Earth.
“An odd place, it seems,” Harry remarked, studying the planet. “New Eden is smaller than Earth and about the size of Venus, Leander tells me. And the atmosphere is slightly richer in oxygen.”
Ferghal grinned. Harry’s constant quest for knowledge amused him, but there was no denying that it was often very useful. In contrast, he was satisfied with the essentials. After all, if he needed to know something, he had only to ask and the information would be there, as if he’d always known it. Now he decided to play Harry’s game. “As you say, and the oceans are shallow affairs with creatures as unlike our fish as they could be.”
The marine life, he’d learned, tended to invertebrates and the creatures that could eat them.
The flora and fauna of this strange world were radically different to anything Harry could have imagined. According to the files he had studied before landing on the planet, very large insect-like creatures abounded because of the higher oxygen levels. Alongside these, certain flora had evolved as flesh eaters, some of the varieties similar to certain species found on Earth, but others radically and savagely different.
“Small wonder the early colonists could not survive here,” commented Harry. “The Protection of Native Life Treaties must have rendered defence against the flesh-eating flora difficult.”
A surface scan of the settlements showed that these had not only been abandoned, but someone had very methodically stripped them of everything usable, and even the domes had been destroyed.
“I wonder why,” mused Captain Rafferty when this was brought to his attention. “I would have thought they might have been left intact in case the mining operation needed to return.”
Lieutenant Commander Dalziel offered an explanation. “I expect the location may have been a factor. They’re not near the mines for the most part.” He frowned as he studied the data from the Beagle’s scanning drones.
“There’s a lot of life registering, and a few anomalies. Those could be some of the abandoned mines.”
“Leave it to the scientists to do the exploration of that then.” The Captain considered. “On second thought, flag the anomalies. We’ll do a deep scan of them when we have a chance.”
“Fleet wants to put a base somewhere in this area, and the mines would be a bonus, but I think they’ll have to go for automated mining and orbital platforms.”
The Executive Commander joined them.
“What should we do with the Orion, sir?”
“Put a repair team aboard her, Phil. We’re to take up a patrol station beyond the asteroid belt. Let them try to get her environment system functioning again first. I’m not happy about her trundling along with no one aboard. If we lose contact, we’ll have even bigger problems to deal with.”
NECRS BEAGLE’S TASK WAS TO CONDUCT A FULL SURVEY of the planet to determine the viability of placing a permanent station there.
“This will serve as a base for maintenance and to provide a permanent protection squadron in the system,” Captain Gratz told the other Captains. “Another aspect is the potential for mining the asteroids — which also needs a permanent station here.”
“There are enough of the damned things,” commented Lieutenan
t Commander Dalziel. “The presence of two gas giants this close to the sun has disrupted the formation of most of the probable inner planets. The debris field is massive — far worse than any other system I have seen so far.”
“Agreed,” said the Executive Commander as they sat in the Wardroom. “By the look of them, those two giants will tear each other apart or merge. The outer one’s orbit brings it very close to the inner one, and each time they pass each other, the larger one strips atmospheric gases from the smaller. Give them a few thousand years and they’ll either mutually destroy each other or merge, and this could become a binary star system, in which case New Eden will fry. “
“Not a bad thing given its current inhabitants,” commented Lieutenant Orloff helping herself to a drink from the counter. “Pretty awful collection of life forms from the records.”
“Come, come,” chided the Commander. “WTO Directive on Preservation of Sensitive Environments and respect for Sentient Life Forms places us under an obligation to preserve all sentient life and defend its rights.”
“Obviously written by some idiot bureaucrat who has never left his comfy office,” she grumbled on her way to the door.
Chapter 29 – Ambushed
The attack was launched with precision, and the frigates had no warning of the impending strike. Leander reeled under the onslaught of the heavy weapons deployed by the Consortium cruiser that dropped out of hyperspace almost on top of them.
The general alarm sent the crew racing to their action stations. Harry and Ferghal sped in opposite directions to their posts. Just as Harry reached the entrance to the navigation control centre, the ship lurched heavily, flinging him violently against the doorframe.
He gasped as pain shot through his ribs. Driven by adrenalin, he staggered to his post and took his seat. Clumsily, he checked his survival suit was in its stowage as he scanned his display.
“Course plot closed up. Midshipman Heron on the plot.” Hearing the acknowledgement, he completed the myriad tasks required to keep the ship moving and evade the attacker. Deliberately he pushed his fears aside and focussed on his work. Immersed in the AI, he could feel every blow the ship suffered.
Harry Heron: No Quarter Page 26
