Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus

by Phillip Nolte

  "The manual controls seem to be working just fine," she announced. She reached up and pulled the periscope down to look though the oculars. "The periscope also appears to be undamaged," she announced. "I suppose that being mounted on the stern of the ship means this emplacement didn't suffer much battle damage," she observed.

  "I'd say that's probably about right" replied Harris. "Probably didn't get much use either. Can you check on your wrist computer and find us some information on how to run a diagnostic on this thing? It looks to be in pretty good shape but it doesn't make much sense to try and salvage it if it doesn't work."

  "Let me see what I can find," she replied.

  Still strapped into the gunner's chair, she tapped several strings of commands into her wrist computer using the virtual keyboard, frowned and tapped in several more strings. She continued to concentrate on the display but called out instructions to Hawkins.

  "If we go back into the central level of the turret, we should be able to access all of the turret information through the engineering console we saw on the way in. I'll be down in a minute," she said, unstrapping and heading for the central hatch. When she got back to the middle level, Harris had already returned from below and he and Hawkins were inspecting the control console more closely.

  "We be needin' t' power up this console," said Hawkins. "With your permission, Lieutenant, I'll be headin' back to the sled t' be gettin' a cable rigged up. Good thing we got the Rover I goin' again," he added. "It be a lot easier to run power from her than it be from the Rover II."

  "I'll give you a hand, Hawk," said Harris.

  "There should be an inspection panel on the back of the console that we can remove to get at the workings," said Carlisle, once again referring to her schematics. "I'll see if I can get it open," she added.

  Carlisle worked the Dzus fasteners on the inspection cover and had the panel removed before the two men returned, trailing a cable from the sled behind them.

  "For now, we just be needin' to get power to the console," said Hawkins. "There's nay enough power to charge up the capacitors even if we wanted to."

  "I agree, Hawk," said Harris, "If the diagnostics don't come back clean, there's not much point in going any further."

  Hawkins poked his head and shoulders into the console through the inspection portal that Carlisle had exposed and fussed around for perhaps five minutes before requesting that the other two pass the end of the cable to him. He worked for perhaps five more minutes before finally coming out.

  "There, that should be doin' it. I'll be goin' back out to the sled and turnin' on the power. Be hollerin' if you be seeing sparks or smoke or ought like that."

  "Will do, Hawk," said Harris.

  After a little over three minutes had passed, Hawkins called on his suit radio. "I be turnin' on the power...Now!"

  There were no sparks and no smoke from under the console or anywhere else.

  Harris informed him. "Looks good in here, Hawk."

  Hawkins returned to the turret. He and Harris strapped into the two swivel chairs intended for the console operators and prepared to monitor the diagnostic readouts while Carlisle consulted the information her wrist computer.

  "Main power is the big red button right in the middle," she said. "Press and hold down for five seconds."

  Harris did so and the trio was relieved to see all of the displays on the console flicker for a few seconds before lighting up and settling into a steady glow.

  "To run a diagnostic, you'll need to toggle down through the main menu until you get to a section marked 'utilities.'"

  Harris tapped several commands on the console in front of him. "Main...Utilities...Okay, got it," he replied.

  "Access that option on the menu and then select 'Perform uncharged diagnostic.' You should get a prompt that asks if you want to continue. After you select 'yes' the diagnostic should run automatically."

  The two men followed her directions and within a minute the computer system in the turret control console began running the automatic program. Harris and Hawkins responded to a few prompts as they appeared, but mostly the program just ran by itself. After about five minutes of various readouts, an announcement appeared on the screen. Diagnostic completed. All systems nominal. Do you wish to charge capacitors?

  Harris selected 'no' and, after looking things over very carefully one more time, they turned the system back off. Hawkins went out to the Rover to cut the power feed to the temporary power cable. He returned a minute or so later and began disconnecting the cable.

  "Everything looks good so far," said Harris. "I guess we won't be able to learn much more until we get the weapon hooked up to a real power source."

  "Aye, Lieutenant," said Hawkins, still working inside the console, "that be true but I think we'd best be lookin' at how we go about removin' this unit while we're still here."

  "That was going to be my next suggestion," said Harris.

  Hawkins returned to the sled and, with his two companions guiding the now loose end of the cable, reeled it back onto the spool.

  All three of them returned to the gun emplacement control room.

  The section of the turret containing the capacitors and the control section just above it, the one that the group was currently occupying, were both contained within the hull of the ship. An oval-shaped skirt, itself almost a meter wide, surrounded the external, rotating portion of the turret and sealed it to the hull. The skirt, welded to the hull, also provided an airtight seal against the moving portion of the emplacement. They would have to take careful measurements, but it appeared that an oval opening about four meters by six would be required to mount the emplacement on the Greyhound. Further inspection revealed that the internal portions of the turret were welded to robust mounting brackets that were themselves welded to the floor of the outer deck and to a bulkhead that ran just behind the mounting point. The installation was going to require a space within the hull of the old freighter that was not only deep enough to accommodate the emplacement but would have the necessary strength to withstand the additional stresses imparted to the ship. Removal would be something of a project, but not beyond the capabilities of the Scrapyard personnel or the current suite of equipment they had at their disposal.

  "This doesn't look too bad," said Harris.

  "Aye, Lieutenant, nay too bad at all," replied Hawkins. "The external skirt be the biggest challenge. Once we be gettin' that taken care of we just be needin' to cut the bottom and the bulkhead brackets to be gettin' the whole thing loose. Then we just be needin' to weld it all in to the Greyhound. Might need to fabricate a bracket or two and add some extra bracin' here and there though."

  "That's what I was thinking too, Hawk," replied Harris.

  "I've got video," said Carlisle, "and precise dimensions on these schematics i my wrist computer. We should get back and show this to Kresge and Murdock."

  "Agreed," said Harris. "If we're going to do this, the sooner we get started the better.

  The trio returned to the Rover II and headed back to the Greyhound to report on their progress. On the way back to the Greyhound, Carlisle was surprised to discover that much of the day had passed while they had been on their inspection tour.

  ***

  Kresge was favorably impressed when he heard the report on the condition of the weapon and the feasibility of transplanting it onto the Greyhound but he and Murdock discussed the project with Harris, Hawkins and Carlisle for a good solid hour before Kresge and Murdock gave them the go ahead.

  "Take as many people as you want and anything else you think you might need," said Kresge. "This is now our number one priority. If this works out, we need to figure out if anything can be done with the Istanbul as well."

  "Old weapons...engineering challenge...Ah, Do you think we could ask Frank Talbot to help out again, Commander?" asked Carlisle. "He has more experience with these old weapons than any of us."

  "You must have read my mind," said Kresge, "I was just about to suggest that we get Fra
nk involved again. Anything to move this project along!."

  Harris had a crew picked out and briefed before everyone retired for the evening.

  Chapter 33.

  Greyhound, UTFN Reclamation Center, December 9, 2598.

  The first thing the following morning Harris, Carlisle, Hawkins, Talbot, Steuben and several other workers began the weapon transplant. With Murdock in tow, they surveyed the Greyhound, looking for a suitable place to mount the weapons system. After looking the old ship over carefully and frequently consulting with the schematics on Carlisle's wrist computer, they decided to mount the weapon on the top surface of the ship, to the bow side of the bulkhead just in front of the compartment containing the ship's power plant. The short distance from the power source would simplify the routing of the necessary power cables and the location they picked had the additional advantage of being one of the sturdiest points in the ship's construction. Using Carlisle's wrist computer schematics again, they made an excursion to the outside of the ship to precisely mark the position where they would need to cut a rather large, oval opening in the Greyhound's outer hull. The dimensions and the location of the compartment within the Greyhound that would house the emplacement meant that no further cutting would be needed nor would any additional material need to be removed from the freighter.

  Just as they had done when they were working on the power plant and drive replacement, the workers split into two crews, one to go about the business of removing the gun emplacement from the battlecruiser and another to perform the modifications to the Greyhound to get her ready to receive the transplant. Harris took over the team removing the gun system while Hawkins supervised the group making modifications to the Greyhound. Talbot, who had joined them that morning, stayed with the crew working on the Greyhound. Carlisle moved between both groups, providing assistance as needed piloting the Rover II as well as providing structural and other technical information about the two ships from her wrist computer.

  By the end of the first day, Harris and his group had the gun emplacement ready for removal and Hawkins' group, after careful measurements, had removed the oval chunk of hull material and were ready to begin the other modifications to the Greyhound necessary to mount the guns. Because depressurization of some areas of the freighter was temporarily unavoidable while the modifications were taking place, the repair group had sealed off several compartments in the old cargo ship. They decided to wait before cutting the ten centimeter hole through the engine room bulkhead for routing in the power cable until they actually had the turret mounted and the area repressurized to avoid having to depressurize the engine room as well.

  The group had also carefully considered how to handle the two large brackets that they'd had to fabricate to solidify the mounting of the gun. The brackets, too large to fit through the corridors and hatches inside the Greyhound, were placed in the compartment on the Greyhound where the gun emplacement was to be mounted through the new, oval opening in the ship's hull leaving them in position to be fitted during the final stages of the installation.

  Finally, both teams were ready to begin the transplant.

  With Carlisle piloting the Rover II and Hawkins operating the magnetic grappling system, they almost gently disengaged the gun emplacement from the battlecruiser. By simply attaching the magnetic grappler and three guide cables, they were able to lift the entire assembly straight up and out. Harris used the Rover I to provide counterforce to the wreck to keep it from shifting in response to the forces being applied to the emplacement. The final act of the operation was to disconnect the main power cable. Having been designed as a module that could be easily replaced, the main power cable was equipped with a standard male-female connector. Instead of disconnecting the emplacement at the connector joint, the group left both the turret and the shipboard connectors intact. They severed the main power cable about four meters upstream from the shipboard connector, leaving them a comfortable length of free cable to work with. They would need to integrate the shipboard connector with the systems on the Greyhound. If something went really, really wrong, they could decouple the connector as a last resort.

  With the emplacement successfully removed, they transported it through the Scrapyard and over to the Greyhound where they carefully positioned it over the new opening in her hull. In addition to the power cable for the capacitors, it was necessary to connect several other power lines and systems, for lighting and ventilation, to the emplacement from within the Greyhound before attaching cables to winch the gun into its new home.

  Unfortunately, the curvature of the Greyhound's hull and that of the gun emplacement's skirt were not a perfect match. Two sizeable crescents of hull material had to be welded to the hull about a meter distant from both the port and starboard sides of the new opening to bridge the gap between the flatter contour of the skirt relative to the more rounded curvature of the Greyhound's hull. The oval section of hull material, removed to receive the gun emplacement, provided the necessary material. Since the each of compensator crescents had to be assembled from three smaller pieces welded together to mate the unmatched contours of the emplacement skirt with the ship's hull while also accommodating the oval shape of the turret, this single aspect of the several fabrications necessary for the installation had been by far the most challenging.

  Finally, Hawkins ran a ten-centimeter wide bead of sealant on the outside of the Greyhound's hull around the oval opening and over the two compensator crescents. With great care, the crew used the Rover II to gently position the turret over the opening. Employing cables and winches to make the final alignments, they slowly began winching the gun assembly into place. The job was accomplished in stages with a crew inside the ship taking over the alignment and winching duties as more and more of the emplacement disappeared into the cargo ship. The skirt around the base of the armored turret overlapped the opening by about a meter but was more or less flush with the compensator crescents, just as had been intended. Finally the skirt settled over the bead of sealant and was winched down tightly.

  By the end of the second day, they had the gun roughly in place and tacked on to the front of engine compartment bulkhead. They would finalize the sealing of the hull and the other internal construction the next day.

  Chapter 34.

  Catskill-Soroyan system hyperlink jump zone, onboard the renegade destroyer Minotaur. December 10, 2598.

  "This is Strike Leader Sarkis of the Minotaur calling Lieutenant Touma. Strike Leader Sarkis calling Lieutenant Touma..."

  The Strike Leader repeated himself several more times before he finally received an answer.

  "Strike Leader? This is Corporal Tahan. Lieutenant Touma is not here at this time. He was on a mission with several of our number when we were attacked. We presume that he and Sergeant Boutros have been captured."

  "Attacked? Captured? By whom?"

  "We believe it was Station Security, Strike Leader."

  "Station Security?"

  "Yes, the Sergeant and the Lieutenant were in their battle armor standing guard while Private Cham and I were cutting through hatch doors on our way deeper into the station. The Lieutenant and the Sergeant went through the hatch door we had just cut open and they were attacked by a huge force."

  "A huge force?"

  "Yes, Sir, from the number of pulse beams flying around, there must have been at least thirty of them."

  "Did you see what happened?"

  "No Sir, Cham and I only had our pulse pistols. Our orders were to retreat if there was any trouble."

  "How many of you are left?

  "Counting myself and Private Cham, there are a total of fifteen of us, Sir."

  "Are you in any immediate danger?"

  "I...I can't be sure, Strike Leader. These defenders are always doing something unexpected."

  "See if you can hold on for a while longer, Tahan. We'll be on our way in from the jump point as soon as we can. We'll see who has the upper hand then. Sarkis out."

  ***

  "Dep
uty Hartmann? I just intercepted a ship to station signal. It was encoded though. I wonder if the reinforcements the Sheik promised us have arrived."

  "The timing is about right. Let's get everyone rounded up and head down into the rock. With any luck, they'll come after us. Wouldn't that be entertaining?"

  "I can't wait, Deputy Hartmann."

  ***

  Greyhound, UTFN Reclamation Center, December 10, 2598.

  After a night's rest, work resumed. Hawkins was just finishing up the final stages of welding the skirt to the hull of the Greyhound and other workers were finalizing some of the necessary internal modifications, when Kresge was notified by the Istanbul that they had received an urgent message on their stage II transceiver.

  "Harris?" The inquiry from Kresge came over Harris' suit radio.

  "Yes, Commander, what is it?" replied the Lieutenant.

  "I need you to come to the bridge of the Greyhound as soon as you can. Something's come up."

  The welder that Hawkins was using was mounted on the Rover I and Harris had been monitoring the power outputs of the welder and keeping track of the cables while the older man did the actual welding. Since Hawkins had only another meter or so left to weld, Harris decided that the final stages of the process could get along fine without him. He called Hawkins on his suit radio to let him know what was going on.

  "Hawk?"

  "What be it, Sir?"

  "Something's up. Kresge says he needs to talk to me inside. Can you finish up out here without me?"