Tramp Wars: The Enemy

by Larry Roberts

"You need to plug me in Mark. I still have only a rudimentary knowledge of the fighter and without access I have no control over any of the systems."

  "Hey I though you knew everything about the Empire so why don't you know about their fighter bombers? This Mustang."

  "These are after my time. They were designed about 200 years ago with the technology available to the Empire systems at that time to fill the needs of Imperial planetary systems that no longer had the imperial fleet to defend and patrol their immediate star systems. It appears that the Empire had been issuing official up graded designs of both defensive fighters, combat ships, transport ships and industrial equipment as the technology has progressed around the Empire. Trying to maintain a balance across the Empire without allowing one or a group of systems to have that big of an advantage over the rest as well as defending the Empire from external threats. Including pirates."

  “Pirates you say? I don’t’ think they have been doing too good a job in that respect.” Mark opened his belt pouch and started rummaging through it. "Ok which one do you want me to use?" A slide suddenly lit up at the bottom of the pouch. "And where do you want me to plug it in at?"

  "I am scanning the cockpit now. I do not like any single buss or connection I have been able to scan Mark. The systems have many isolation points to prevent damage from knocking out all of them." A spot down next to Mark's knee finally lit up. "That is the best place in the cockpit Mark. I will know better when I can access some of the systems."

  Mark slipped the slide into the slot and it disappeared. Mark looked around the cockpit as he waited and slowly realized that he already knew most of what he was looking at. Most of it was just smaller or simpler or in a few cases, more complicated versions of what he had been using aboard ship in the hundreds of hours on the ship's simulators. The main point was, instead of being spread out over a dozen consoles for a crew to handle, they were all miniaturized to fit in front of one person. Going over the systems he found the engine and power screen were it was easy to see and read in front of the left side throttle. Flicking up the switch cover he pushed the power button and the cockpit lit up with all the screens coming to life.

  "That is better Mark. Thank you. I was looking for some way to turn on the power remotely. Now I can see the entire craft and all its systems even if I cannot access most of them yet."

  "Ok that does not make sense. Does that mean I can't access them either?"

  "No Mark, you should have full access to everything from your controls. I just don't have access yet."

  "Ok while you are figuring that out, I am going to do a walk around." Mark started climbing out of the cockpit.

  Dian sat up unfastening her harness. "If you are going to walk around the station, I am coming to."

  Mark stopped half out of the cockpit. "Not, (Walk About) Dian, (walk around). I am just going to walk around the space craft to check it out."

  "Oh…" She said disappointed. "I am starving. I missed lunch remember. I thought we came up here for dinner."

  "Ya. So did I but we lost the space craft. They destroyed it and now I am trying to steal a new one so we can get home. If we stay any longer than necessary we will get caught and you will have three meals and a 5 by 9 cell and never see home again."

  “Oh don’t be so melodramatic Mark.”

  Rolling his eyes Mark dropped down and started around the fighter opening inspection covers with a push of the barely outlined latches to check inside while pulling brightly colored pins with rings sticking out of the fuselage and wings that would normally have flags on them to make sure they were not missed. Sticking the pins in his pocket as he worked his way around the fighter and back to the nose. Holding several intake and exhaust covers he climbed up the ladder single handed, he tried stuffing the covers behind the seats with not much success getting them to fit into a nook and finely just laid them on top of the flat shelf and sat back down.

  "Well any progress accessing anymore of the systems?"

  "No. Everything is too isolated. I think I have spotted another location to install my remote in the electronics bay according to the schematics. The central bus."

  Mark finished looking the controls over again and hit the Engine start controls bringing up a check list and started down it. "Let me check the engine and then I will find this electronics bay." A minute later he hit the engine start button. The engine suddenly bucked and came to life but instead of settling down to a nice pure it kept bucking and sputtering as he scanned the engine's read outs with nothing reading normal. Mark tapped into the engine diagnostics and was not surprised when most of the engine was highlighted in red and yellows. A few of them flashing bright red.

  "That does not feel right Mark. Is something wrong?" Dian said as she leaned over the center console trying not to touch any of the switches or the big red button in the center between them even if it did have a cover over it.

  "No Daaa, Dian. Something is wrong with the engines." Shaking his head as he studied the readouts. "Mickey what can you make of this. It does not make any sense… Unless something is plugging the chambers. No. Did I miss a cover or something?"

  Hitting the kill switch Mark jumped out of the cockpit and walked back around the fighter checking for missed pins and covers and then started opening inspection covers again.

  "Mark, if you plug me into the central bus so I can access the engine, I may be able to help you."

  "Ok where is that?"

  "The fighter access panel Dian opened when we first arrived controls all the main access hatches. Including the big maintenance hatches."

  Mark went back to the ladder and opened the little cover and started tapping maintenance hatches open along with the electronics bay and noticed one that said Baggage Bay and tapped it as well. Ducking under the fighter to the other side he looking up. "Dian toss down those covers I threw behind the seats. No sense in letting them float around getting in the way in free fall. I found a storage compartment."

  A cover came sailing out of the cockpit like a Frisbee a few seconds later and flew out arcing around away from the fighter past the X-wing fighter next in line. The other covers seamed to hover over the edge of the cockpit as they spun slowly sliding out a few feet as they floated down, arcing back for Mark to catch. Dian finely leaned over the edge and smiled. Sorry for the first love. A little out of practice. And blew him a kiss."

  "Well you can just retrieve it then. I am busy, Love." Walking forward to the storage bay in the nose he started to throw them into it and stopped. The bay was packed with boxes. "What the heck." Starring at them with his hands full trying to figure out what they were and what to do with the covers. The boxes started to dissolve showing him what was inside of them. The jumble did not make any sense at first and then it downed on Mark that they were the special maintenance tools and spare parts for the fighter. Shaking his head he dropped the covers on the deck. "I'll worry about them later."

  Turning around he walked back to the engine now completely exposed with half a dozen large hatches folded down to serve as walkway or up out of the way. Stopping just in front of the cockpit, he stuck his head into the electronics bay. Looking around until he found the bus he hoped Mickey needed that connected all the modules together and to the fighter. "That the one you wanted Mickey?"

  "Yes I believe so Mark."

  "What? What do you mean you believe? Come to think of it why didn't you just mark it for me like you usually do?"

  The Bay is heavily shielded especially with the power on. I am having a hard time seeing anything electronic inside the bay through the electronic shielding, but I am getting indications of heavy electronics flow through that bus. Can you find a test slot you can put one of my slides into? There on the bottom, I believe I see something Mark."

  "I don’t believe this. I thought you could see into anything."

  "Not if it is as heavily shielded as the Military gets. They do not like their electronic equipment being detected outside the spacecraft. Besides I am still only ope
rating at less than half power."

  Mark felt around in the pouch and came up with a slide and tried to slide it in the wide slot. "Just one end fits but only about a half inch in." Turning the half inch wide, one and a half inch long slide on its side. "It is too long to go in sideways by about an eighth of an inch."

  "Yes I see Mark. Back out of the bay for a second please and let me cut it down to fit."

  "Cut it down?"

  "Yes, just hold it up in front of me and I will cut it down to fit perfectly."

  Mark held it up in front of his eyes and watched the lenses light up the slide without making him squint as a bright spot ran down the end of the slid and it fell off. The slide slid tightly into the slot with Mark having to push a little hard to make it fit. "Isn't that a little tight Mickey?"

  "I want to make sure it does not fall out or move Mark. There are almost a million connections in that slot to my surprise. A much higher density than I believed the local technology was capable of. While the basic design of the fighter is hundreds of years old the English have made considerable progress in advancing the onboard systems. The X-wing fighters the English have designed themselves that is on the flight line now and was introduced in the last years of the war maybe markedly more advanced than I thought possible as well."

  "Ok well. Are you able to access the rest of the systems?"

  "Yes Mark thank you. I am running a diagnostic on the engines now but so far it does not make sense."

  "That I already knew Mickey. I was hoping you could tell me why." Mark walked back down the fighter, closely examining the engine for loose lines, tubing, pipes and obvious damage. "I think I am going to have to take off the headers and take a look inside. It just acts like something is plugging something inside the damn thing." Reaching the back he looked up the tail pipe thrust nozzle of one of the engines and stopped and starred as his mouth opened. Turning away he walked to the side of the fighter bomber and hit his head against the side of the fuselage and then went back to look up the tail pipe again. "I did take a cover off this thing didn't I Mickey?"

  "Yes Mark. I believe that is preservative sprayed on to keep the oxygen in the air from corroding the thrust tube lining while the fighter was in storage."

  "Cute. Well that explains why the engine runs like shit. You would not have noticed anything like a long pole in amongst all those tools did you?"

  "Fact is I did Mark. A collapsible pole in the back of the baggage bay with several cleaning utensils on it. Probably used for cleaning the 30mm guns as well as washing down the outside hull. I also detected a half moon hoop the size of the thrust chamber."

  Mark went back up to the baggage bay and looked in. "Ah you said at the back?"

  "Yes Mark behind all the boxes of specialized tools and spare parts. I am sorry but I do not see any standard tools in any of the boxes."

  "Which means I have everything I need to work on the engine once I get into the engine but none of the standard tools everyone normally has to get into the engine. So taking the heads and fusion chambers apart is out of the question even if I had the time. I hope the hell once I get the thrust chamber cleaned out the rest will blow out. If not it is going to make a nice big bang and they can have their fighter back with the engines in pieces strewn across the hanger."

  Mark started pulling the heavy tool boxes out. The first one's weight caught him by surprise as he slid it out trying to pick it up and almost dropped it on his foot as it crashed down onto the deck.

  "Mark please be careful. That tool box would have broken your foot if you had not moved your foot in time."

  "Thanks for your concern." Mark grunted as he pushed the box off to one side out of the way. The next box was just as heavy as he slid it toward the edge of the compartment. Stopping he stepped to the side as he shouted up at the cockpit. "Dian, I could use your help down here please."

  Dian looked over the edge and smiled. "You know they have quite a medical library in this thing. It talks about things I don't think our medical library has a clue about."

  "That is good babe. Ah I really could use your help down here for a few minutes."

  "Oh sure love be right down." Climbing over the lip of the cockpit, Mark started to turn away until he saw her butt wiggling and stopped, transfixed as she climbed down and walked up to him planting a big kiss on his lips. His hormones starting to kick in with his body wanting more. "You just wanted a kiss didn't you?" She wiggled up against him.

  "Ah ya. No. Ah. I have a few heavy boxes to lift out of the baggage compartment that I could use your help with if you feel you are up to it."

  "Sure babe." She frowned as Mark showed her what he needed help with. "Ah... Don't you have a machine to do that for you?" She cuddled up to him pressing her boobs into him trying to kiss him again.

  Gently pushing her away. "Come on it will only take a minute."

  Dian dropped her end of the heavy box as Mark was setting his down. "That was heavy it almost hit my toes." They had the bay unloaded in a few seconds with none of the other boxes that heavy but Mark enjoyed having Dian's help. "My arms are sore." She wined. "You just wanted me to get dirty." She looked at her hands and then her nails and then down her uniform. "Look at that, I cracked a nail and my uniform is a mess." She said huffily.

  Mark smiled holding up the telescoping tube with its box of implements. "Thanks Dian. I get the engine cleaned out and we can go home, I hope." Opening the box he found one shaped like a half moon ring, the perfect size for scrapping the thrust chamber. Breathing a sigh of relief he fastened it to the tube and walked back and started scrapping the protective covering off the front inside of the thrust tube with the handle fully extended.

  Dian watched him for a few minutes pouting over her split nail as she dug something out of the purse over her shoulder. After working on her nail for a few minutes she was finely happy with her nails. Looked at Mark work for a few more seconds she shrugged her shoulders and climbed back up into the cockpit and started reading again.

  He soon had a pile of fiber shavings piled up at the back end of the tube next to the exit. Looking around trying to figure out what to do with them he spotted a trashcan over by the bulkhead not far from the elevator. Stepping over to the side he yelled up toward the cockpit. "Dian! Could you go get me that trash can please? I have quit a mess developing here."

  She appeared looking back at Mark and then the Trashcan he was pointing at and wrinkled her nose. "I already got dirty and my arms hurt now because of those stupid heavy boxes. You go get that filthy thing. I am busy."

  Mark frowned and shook his head and went back to scrapping the inside of the chamber for another couple of minutes. Finely shaking his head he left the tube hanging out of the engine and went over to the trash can only to find it chained to the bulkhead. Shaking his head as he looked inside and wrinkled up his nose at the smell. Dropping the lid back down he started to go back to the fighter and stopped. Turning around he pulled out his torch, flicked the safety off and cut the chain. Grabbing the can by its handle he threw it over his shoulder and carried it back over to the tail of the fighter and started shoveling the pile of plastic fibered shavings into it.

  With all three engines thrust chambers as clean as he could get them an hour later, he carried the full very heavy trashcan back to the bulkhead and welded the chain back up to it. As he walked back toward the fighter a flash at the end of the big cone of rings ending at the big open hatch in the outer hull of the hanger caught his attention as thunder echoed down the hanger getting a little scream from Dian.

  A huge shuttle raced down the trap rings rapidly slowing and coming to a stop over the brightly lit lines in the center of the hanger. Other flashing lines ran off to a bright cross on the deck of the large open area between the lines of fighters he was at the end of and the line of fighters running down the other set of rings on his side of the huge flight deck compartment. The shuttle with a line ports along the upper deck from one end to the other slowly turned and slid out from b
etween the end rings drifting toward the large flashing cross on the deck in the large open area. The hundred and fifty foot long shuttle dropped gently to the deck and the hanger again quieted as the coil hum finished echoing from down the long narrow compartment running the length of the two opposing trap ring cones.

  Mark studied the shuttle for a few minutes as he walked back to the fighter. It's solid flat grey exterior was only broken by a tail number, the emblem of the English State on the tail cooling fins and 4 large bright white stars ringed by a red line boxed around them just behind the nose. Mark smiled. "Must be some Admiral's Barge." Then got busy putting the scrapper away but leaving the tool boxes scattered around the baggage bay as he tried to figure out some way to us the tools to open up the engine and finish cleaning it out if he needed to. Realizing that would be a hell of a chore he did not have the time for. Reviewing everything he knew about drive engines he decided the try something radical

  Climbing into the cockpit he ran the engine's check list again and hit the start button bringing the middle engine to life again. This time it bucked the whole spacecraft sending a cloud of debris and smoke out behind the fighter for a few seconds before the engine caught but it did not settled down as it continued coughing and belching, not wanting to idle down.

  "Mark, each burb or ignition failure requires the use of plasma from the storage bottle to restart the engine. It just happens so fast automatically that it is only noticeable as a burp to you but it is a major failure that should be fixed before you attempt space flight."

  "Don't be ridiculous, we can fix it once we get home." Mark advanced the throttle to quarter power for a second causing the fighter to buck even with the landing gear locked down to the deck. Climbing up to hang out over the edge of the cockpit, he could see the engine burping away on idle with it blowing a smoke ring out the back each time it burped.

  Running the diagnostics again he frowned with a little bit of hope as it showed mostly yellow on the systems with only a couple in the red. "Well at least it is running even if it is still a little rough." Thinking about it for a minute as he watched the readings remaining the same as the plasma bottle slowly drained and finely shook his head. "Damn I don't really want to do that… But all I can do is hope it cleans most of the engine out. Mark slammed the throttle forward to max and back to idle as fast as he could. The fighter bucked with a big bang from the back end sending flames streaking back to hit the bulkhead behind it, leaving a large round patch scorched. The engine settled down into a rough idle with all the readings below the red. The plasma bottle stopped emptying and then slowly started showing plasma going back into it. Though it still burped once in a while.