∞∞∞
“What’s on the agenda today?” Lyyle asked as he ambled sleepily into the main cabin of the Cahill Express.
Ian noticed that Lyyle’s ever-present coffee cup was in his hand. He had come to doubt that his friend could exist without the liquid stimulant.
“Glad you could join me,” Ian quipped at his passenger. “We should be coming up on the picket line soon.”
“They have one this far out?” He sat down at the auxiliary console. “From what you had me study, it seems like a redundant precaution.”
“When you’ve tangled with Red-tails, nothing is redundant when protecting yourself. Drop your guard and there’s no second chance.”
“I would think the Axia would have cleared this region of space by now,” Lyyle commented. “Vogel didn’t have problems with incursions when we were still part of Galactic Axia.”
“There have been more than a few years since then,” Ian said as he sent out an identification signal. “And for the last decade or so, there have been a rash of these transit tubes popping up in the most guarded places. One minute space is empty, and the next you find yourself in a swarm of Red-tail ships.”
“I hope the Optiveil can help,” Lyyle said. “It sure has protected Vogel all these years.”
“I hope so too.” His communications board came to life. “Ah, there they are,” he added. He adjusted his transceiver to the incoming frequency.
“Cahill Express,” the speaker squawked. “Follow the beta vector for approach.”
“Acknowledged,” Ian responded while he tuned to the specified signal.
“Not much on courtesy,” Lyyle commented.
“They are a bit abrupt,” Ian agreed. “Something must have them on edge.”
“Let’s just hope it’s not Red-tails!”
“You spoke too soon!” Ian snapped. “I just picked up a dozen traces on my sensors!”
“Where’d they come from?” Lyyle asked anxiously as he buckled in. Ian was too busy powering up weapons to respond.
“There they go!” Ian said when a squadron of Axia ships appeared on his detector screen. Lyyle looked on his screen and saw the picket ships also racing to confront the incoming red ships. The lead elements were already starting to tangle with the lead enemy ships.
“Are we going to help?” Lyyle asked.
“In ways they can’t possibly imagine! Activate the Optiveil.”
Lyyle immediately powered up the Optiveil equipment and within seconds the Cahill Express disappeared from the sensors of all the other ships. Ian heard one of the picket ships comment that the Express must have been destroyed but they were too ensnarled in the fight to concern themselves with it.
“Looks like traffic is getting a little thick around here,” Lyyle observed, looking at his screen.
“Let’s take some heat off our team,” Ian said. He shoved the throttle forward, and in response the veiled Cahill Express shot toward the thickest of the fight. Swinging around for an effective pass, Ian moved his thumb over the trigger stub for the main heat ray.
“Is the Optiveil stable? We’re taking it into combat.”
“Steady and strong,” Lyyle said, excitement coloring his voice. Ian smiled. This was Lyyle’s introduction to space combat.
Targeting a Red-tail ship, Ian pressed the firing stub for the main heat ray. Immediately, its deadly beam shot out, neatly torching the enemy vessel.
“Good shot!” Lyyle exclaimed. His screen showed the red ships scatter. Having one of their ships unexpectedly torched had rattled them. Ian immediately swung the Express around and aimed at another red ship. As soon as he had target lock, he fired again.
“Scratch another Red-tail!” Lyyle whooped. Now even the Axia ships seemed confused by the events unfolding around them.
“Axia ships,” Ian said into his mic as he twisted his course to follow one of the fleeing Red-tail ships. “This is the Cahill Express.”
“Where are you?” one of the picket ships responded. “Some weird things are happening around here!”
“I’ll explain later,” Ian replied. “Just don’t worry about what you’re not seeing,” he added as he torched the third ship.
“Roger that,” the picket answered.
“If you’ve got it here, we’ll break off and continue our approach,” Ian said when he saw the picket ships neatly cornering the remaining Red-tail ships.
“I still don’t see you, but go ahead,” the picket leader broke in. “I look forward to your explanation later at debriefing.”
“I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!” Ian said with a smile.
Chapter Nineteen
Piaffè looked out through his forward port. Hanging there in space was a gigantic human ship, what the Horicon had told him they called a mothership. To Piaffè it looked more like a moon rather than something constructed. Out of its docking bays, Piaffè watched scores of ships come and go in what seemed like an endless stream.
As to why the Horicon had directed him here, Piaffè was still unable to discern. Obviously, these humans had a strong and formidable presence in space. Having watched them in action against the Red-tails had given much hope and comfort to the young Jibbah, which was quite a difference from the flee-and-hide policy of his own race. But then the Jibbah had nothing with which to match the red ships in battle. Virtually every contact the inquisitive Jibbah had with the Red-tails had been fatal to the little explorers.
Swinging his tiny ship around on its new vector, Piaffè’s sensors suddenly activated. Looking at the readout, it indicated the soon emergence of one of the distorted transit tubes. To his great surprise, Piaffè didn’t see the actions of the humans change in reaction to the coming threat.
Is it possible they can’t detect the strange effect in the ether?
Within seconds, the exit of the tube appeared and red ships swarmed out of it. The galvanizing effect on the human ships was immediately apparent. Any ship outside the mothership swung sharply toward the invaders and attacked. Clearly, they were trying to protect the larger vessel.
But in spite of their effort, the surprise attack of the red ships allowed a dozen of them to streak through the forming defensive lines. Piaffè cringed while he watched one red ship swoop toward the mothership with its deadly ray firing. To his surprise, Piaffè saw the ray stop just short of the skin of the ship in a shimmering barrier of radiance. To confound the little Jibbah pilot further, the large ship started firing back. It cheered him to see these humans so full of fight!
The battle unfolded before him as ships of red, silver, and black twisted and fought. Occasionally, there was the flare of a dying ship, and to his sadness, Piaffè saw that it wasn’t always red. Clearly, the element of surprise had worked in the invader’s favor and to the detriment of the humans.
All too soon, the battle was over. The remaining red ships fled into yet another transit tube and were gone. The only ships left in the arena of battle were the humans. Piaffè saw that the mothership appeared to be unscathed, but many smaller ships had been damaged or vaporized by the vicious attack. Contrary to his nature, Piaffè found himself wanting to aid in the fight against this red scourge. However, as his little ship headed undetected along its new vector, nothing Piaffè could think of could have helped in the fight.
∞∞∞
Ian sat in one of the lounge chairs while Lyyle looked around the room. They had been waiting for the Axia brass to arrive. Fortunately, the wait turned out to be shorter than he’d expected. The door to the base lounge opened and a string of officers and enlisted personnel entered the room.
“Captain Cahill?” the base commander, a major asked as he approached them. “I’m Major Armada, base commander.”
“Glad to meet you, sir,” Ian said, taking the major’s hand. “This is my friend Lyyle from the planet Vogel.”
“Never heard of it,” the major said. “Let’s relax and make this informal as possible. I’ve had enough of stiff collars to last a lifetime!”
“Refreshments, gentlemen?” the major asked.
One of the junior enlisted personnel headed for the wet bar. “I’d say we owe you that at least after the help you gave to the picket ships. They said you torched three Red-tail ships before you broke off?”
“Yes, that’s correct,” Ian agreed. “If you’ve got some strong tea, I’d appreciate it. And coffee for my friend.” Lyyle nodded his agreement but kept quiet and let Ian do the talking.
The major nodded toward the waiting trooper at the wet bar. The man immediately started preparing the requested drinks.
“Tell me how you managed to get those three ships,” the major continued. “From what I heard, our pickets didn’t know you were there until you’d already torched one.”
“I’m not surprised,” Ian said with a wink toward Lyyle. “Tell me, did any of your ships pick us up at all?”
“Now that you mention it, no. I expect better of my picket ships.”
“Don’t be too hard on them. We were veiled against visual and sensor detection when we entered the fray.”
“What do you mean ‘veiled’?” the major asked, perplexed. Just then, the enlisted man brought over the drinks and set them down on a table.
“Exactly what I said,” Ian answered. “Veiled.”
“I think I can clarify what he means,” Lyyle said. “To put it bluntly, on our planet, Vogel, we developed the technology to mask a ship from sensor or visual detection.”
“An entire ship?”
“Yes sir, an entire ship. And much more.”
“Impossible,” the major said sternly. “I know it’s been in fiction for years beyond number but it’s just not possible.” He waved his hand in a jester that said they were wasting his time talking this nonsense.
“No sir, it’s not only possible,” Ian said with a smile, “it’s very real.”
“Just for sake of argument, let’s say that I believe you,” the major said as he reached for his drink. “I know a little about physics. To mask a solid mass object would take enormous amounts of energy. If, and I mean if it was possible, you could only do it for a very small object.”
The major looked around the room then extended his hand brandishing his cup. “Something the size of this cup, for example.”
“Let me show you something,” Lyyle said. Reaching over, he took Ian’s cup from his hand. With his other hand, he picked up a sugar cube.
“We can all see this cube, correct?” he asked. Everyone nodded.
“Now we drop it into the tea,” Lyyle continued, following his words with action. “We can still see the lump at the bottom of the cup.”
“What’s your point?”
“But if I stir it even a little, it dissolves. Now I can argue that the sugar is still there, but of course, we don’t see it. In effect, I masked it in plain sight.”
“So you dissolve the sensor signature of an object in the surrounding space?” the junior enlisted trooper asked from behind the wet bar. The major cast a dangerous sidelong glare at the trooper.
Ian looked astonishingly at the young trooper. From the mouth of babes, he thought.
“Exactly!” exclaimed Lyyle, ignoring the disdainful glare cast by the major.
“Wow! What perception! Why don’t you join us over here, young man?”
“You just stay right where you are!” the major ordered. “I think we can handle this.” The trooper lowered his eyes and continued to clean glasses behind the bar.
Uh-o, thought Ian. Lyyle is getting excited. They’ve had it now.
Lyyle continued with his explanation. “To mask the object, we use what I call the scatter effect of normal molecular interaction.”
“But it’s still impractical,” the major rejoined.
“Tell me, major,” Ian said, jumping into the conversation as he retrieved his sweetened tea from Lyyle. “Can you explain how the basic bedspring drive system works on Axia ships?”
“Of course not,” the major replied. “Many have tried and a few have even come close, but even less retained any form of coherent expression in their explanation.”
“You sure do love to turn a phrase,” Ian commented to the nodded agreements of the other troopers present. The major frowned.
“But I digress. You can’t explain the bedspring drive and neither can I, but that doesn’t stop us from using it, correct?”
“Correct,” the major agreed tersely. Ian saw that they were not going to get anywhere just talking about it.
“Would you be willing to accompany me to my ship?” Ian asked. “I’d like to show you something.” Ian stood and motioned the major toward the door.
The major hefted himself up. “Let’s get this over with.”
“I assure you that I won’t waste your time,” Ian said as they all headed out of the lounge. Only the young trooper stayed behind, collecting cups and glasses from the others as they departed.
The only one that understands the basic concept stays behind to do the dishes, Ian reasoned within himself. That figures!
It only took a couple of minutes to reach the Cahill Express. Ian and the major entered the ship while by unspoken agreement, Lyyle and the others headed for a viewing window looking down on the docking bay floor.
“Have a seat, major,” Ian said, strapping into the control seat.
“You didn’t say we were going anywhere,” the major said. He made to head back out the airlock but the warning light came on, indicating that the remote lock-down was active. The major turned and glared at Ian.
“Relax, major,” Ian said. He powered up the ship’s systems. “I only strap in out of habit. It’s obvious that you haven’t been in a small ship for a while.”
Too much time sitting behind a desk drinking coffee and eating pastries, Ian really wanted to say.
“What are you up to?” the major asked suspiciously. “I thought you wanted to show me something.”
“I do,” Ian said. “Please tell me what you see on the main viewing screen.” Ian adjusted the visual sensor controls.
“I see the viewing window where your friend and my staff are watching us,” the major said. “What of it?”
“Notice their expressions?” Ian said as he magnified the image. Zooming in, it was now possible to see their facial expressions quite clearly. Except for Lyyle, they looked bored.
“I see them,” the major answered sullenly.
Ian keyed his microphone. “You ready up there, Lyyle?” While Ian and the major watched, one of his staff activated the intercom next to the viewing window.
“Ready when you are.”
Ian reached for a side control. “What do you see now, Major?” he asked as he powered up the Optiveil.
The image on the screen showed the simultaneous expressions of disbelief on the faces of all of the major’s staff. Lyyle stepped aside when panic ensued and created a circus-like atmosphere of people rushing around. Pandemonium had broken out in the viewing room.
Only Lyyle was calm. He was explaining something to a lieutenant. Looks like that circus clown act with the little car and bucket of confetti, Ian thought.
“What’s going on up there?” the major demanded.
Before Ian could answer, alarm klaxons sounded and the dock master’s voice came on the comm. “Cahill Express, please respond!”
“Cahill Express here,” Ian replied calmly. “Is there a problem?”
“Uh…” was all the dock master said for a moment.
“What’s happening?” demanded the major. “Let me talk to them!”
Ian nodded toward the comm unit near the major.
The officer stabbed the send button roughly and shouted into the mic. “This is Major Armada!” he shouted. “What’s going on up there?”
“Where are you, major?” the dock master asked.
“What do you mean, where am I? I’m captive in this lunatic trader’s ship!”
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“What ship, sir?” the dock master queried.
“What do you mean ‘what ship’?” the major demanded angrily. “Have you lost your senses? It’s sitting right here on your dock floor!”
“I think my senses are fine,” the dock master replied anxiously. “The only thing I seem to have lost is that ship. It’s gone!”
“No it’s not!” the major shot back. “We didn’t lift or anything! We’re right here!”
“Maybe this will help,” Ian said to both the major and dock master. With the flip of a switch, the Optiveil powered down. To those watching, the missing ship shimmered into existence right before their eyes.
“How…?” was all the dock master said over the comm while the major looked more confused than ever.
“Tell the major what you just saw,” Ian suggested quietly to the poor dock master.
“Go ahead,” the major agreed suspiciously.
“Sir,” the dock master began. “I saw you enter the ship a few minutes ago. Then the ship disappeared. Dock sensors noted the change and went into warning mode. All they could indicate was that somehow a ship was no longer present without any departure clearance.”
“You’re saying they couldn’t read our presence?” the major asked in disbelief.
“Yes sir,” the dock master stammered. “I mean, no sir,” he stammered again. “I really don’t know what I mean, sir, except that I conducted a full sensor sweep since I couldn’t believe my own eyes. Everything indicated you were gone.”
“Not even the dock’s load mass detectors?”
“Not even those,” the dock master answered. “Nothing registered except your comm transmission until the ship shimmered back into view. How did it do that?”
Space Trader (Galactic Axia Adventure) Page 16
