Located in the rear of the large compartment was a fire control computer console equipped with two operator's chairs. The team inspected it carefully and couldn't see that there was anything obviously wrong with the computer or console. Carlisle, who had only recently discovered her fascination with the workings of the big naval guns, found that this monster gun emplacement almost seemed to be calling to her. In the weightless environment of the unpowered wreck, she shoved upwards from the floor of the projector chamber and caught ahold of the emergency gunner's chair for the starboard weapon. The muscle combination that she used to halt her momentum caused a stitch from her still healing ribs and she instinctively recoiled from the brief stab of pain. She rotated her shoulder experimentally and flexed her abdominal muscles but didn't suffer a repeat episode of the pain so she decided she hadn't re-aggravated any of her injuries. She made a mental note to try to be more careful in the future.
She levered herself into the seat and strapped herself in. She took a few extra moments to adjust the seat to a position suitable for her small frame. That done, she reached up and pulled down the periscope that was used for manual targeting and was pleased to find that it also seemed to be undamaged. She wondered what good the ability to manually aim the projectors would be when attempting to hit a target that was well over 5000 kilometers away but realized that any accurate fire would require that they get the ship's automated targeting systems operating. If they could get the emplacement to work, they would most likely be operating the guns from the fire control computer in the rear of the compartment.
On the other hand, even if they were forced to use totally manual control, the sheer intimidation factor engendered by these weapons could mean that actually hitting a target might only be secondary. If the enemy got close enough for accurate manual fire, the defenders would not only be able to hit some of the enemy ships, any shot that hit home would no doubt utterly destroy the target and demoralize any other enemy ships in the vicinity!
Such was her hope anyway...
A foray into the capacitor chambers beneath the projectors revealed that the obligatory but still unbelievably huge capacitor banks that powered the projectors appeared to be undamaged as well. Finally, they inspected the motors that drove the rotation of the turret. These were located in a compartment about two meters high that was situated between the projector and the capacitor chambers. Their inspection revealed no apparent damage to the huge, nearly flat motors that rotated the gigantic emplacement. As had been the situation with the Bofors turret that the Junkyard Dogs had mounted on the Greyhound, the capacitors below were stationary, mounted securely to the deck and were not required to rotate with the turret containing the projectors.
Encouraged by what they had found so far, the weapons survey team emerged from the wreck, went back to the Rover and headed down towards the ship's bottom and the unique belly turret. They entered the wreck as they had before, through some battle damage conveniently located right nearby, and descended into the turret. This time they went through the capacitor chamber first and proceeded downward through the actuation motor compartment before entering the projector chamber. Upon first glance, everything was arranged in a radically different fashion. Rather than going upward and outward from the interior of the ship to access the turret, this time they had been heading downward and outward. The position of the gunner's chair was upside down compared to the topside turret.
"Why do you suppose they designed this turret like this?" asked Steuben.
"It has to do with the artificial gravity," replied Caleb. "It's just too difficult to create a gravity field that pulls opposite to the other fields on the ship. The only way to make this system work is for the belly turret to be orientated upside down compared to the main field."
"Is it any more difficult to operate?" asked Carlisle.
"Not once you get used to it," said Caleb. "One thing you'll notice is that this emplacement has a full three hundred and sixty-degree circle of unobstructed fire. Anything in the entire hemisphere beneath the ship from any direction can be targeted by this emplacement."
"Easy to see why they included it," said Steuben.
"Why don't you go down there and get into that chair, Tamara" said Caleb, "You know, just to get the feel of it."
Carlisle had been about to do exactly as he suggested anyway and she pushed herself down to the manual controls for the belly projectors and strapped herself into the gunner's chair. Again she tinkered with the adjustments until she felt comfortable at the controls of the gun. Lastly, she pulled the periscope upwards from the floor of the turret, rotated the targeting sub assembly ninety degrees to the left to bring the eyepieces into alignment with her eyes and had a look. The view was much the same as that from the conventional periscope.
"Come on up, Tamara," said Caleb, "We need to inspect the rest of the workings for this emplacement."
The trio performed inspections of all the emplacement's systems and decided that as near as they could determine, everything ought to work. At that point they concluded that they had gathered all the information that they could until they had power. It was time to check in with the other workers on the resurrection team.
Carlisle called Harris on his suit radio.
"Lieutenant Harris? This is Ensign Carlisle."
"What is it, Dr. Carlisle?"
"Both the aft projector systems and the belly gun systems appear to be in pretty good shape. We're about to start tracing the power cables back towards the reactor to see if there are any breaks."
"Sounds like a good idea if you're up to it, Tamara. Just don't push yourself too hard."
"I think I'll be okay," she replied, "the exercise actually seems to be helping."
"Roger," replied Harris. "We're almost ready to hook up to the Perseus and get some power down here. Your information on the condition of the guns means that we'll definitely go ahead with the plan. The compartments aft of section 20B are the ones we've been sealing off. If you open any hatches between here and there make sure you secure them again before going any further. We'll be trying to pressurize that area. See you in a few minutes?"
"Roger, Lieutenant."
Chapter 18.
Santana Nexus System, Whitney Hyperlink Zone, January 3, 2599.
Captain Yassir Shalhoub on board the destroyer Sultan, formerly of the Jasmine Republican Navy but now part of the Sheik of Barsoom's Revolutionary Naval forces, instructed his crew to pause their ship near the Hyperdrive jump zone that serviced the Santana Nexus Station. He checked the readouts on his command display, noting that all twelve of the ships of his Strike Force had formed up into the loose formation that they had agreed upon beforehand.
"Communications? Open a channel to all ships in the Strike Force."
"As you command, Captain." The technician worked briefly at his control console. "Channel to all Strike Force ships open, Sir."
"This is Captain Shalhoub of the Sultan," he began. "We are set to embark on a mission of no mean importance. We will be entering the Naccobus system, home of the New Ceylon colony and of the United Federation Navy Reclamation Center, the so-called 'Scrapyard.' As many of you know, the Sheik himself led an attack on this facility just fourteen days ago."
Captain Shalhoub paused to let that information sink in before continuing.
"The Sheik's attempt failed and his ships were forced to retreat. The intelligence he received regarding the forces defending this Scrapyard had greatly underestimated the strength of the enemy. Even so, his force of three destroyers had been almost equal to the task. Our latest intelligence indicates that this spaceship junkyard is defended by a small force consisting of an unarmed diplomatic ship, an ancient freighter that has been armed with a pulse beam system and at least one mining ship with a very powerful mining laser. The enemy had used the power plant of the diplomatic ship, which is actually a converted cruiser, to charge the weapons on some of the wrecks in the Scrapyard.
These weapons are powerful but a weapon cha
rged in this manner is only capable of firing a single pulse. In addition, none of the wrecks are shielded and a single strike from any of our destroyers should take these weapons out of action. Use appropriate caution. Our force of eight destroyers will annihilate the opposition. We are to attempt to capture the diplomatic ship as it is where Ambassador Saladin of Meridian is almost certainly hiding. If we cannot capture it we are to destroy it. I will provide more information after we jump. Shalhoub out."
The twelve ships of the Revolutionary Strike Force began to sequentially enter the jump zone and translate out towards their target system.
***
UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard the wreck of the FWS Gibraltar, January 3, 2599.
While Carlisle and her small crew had been inspecting the weapons, the first order of business for the power restoration crew had been to determine which of the reactors, if any, on the old ship had the best chance of being returned to operational status. After a cursory inspection, the crew determined that the forward reactors, number one and number two, could probably be made operational but in both cases there were makeshift patches plugging some pretty formidable holes in the outer hull, evidence of the damage that had been inflicted on the old ship during the battle some fifty-odd years ago. The number three and number four reactors, closer to the stern of the ship, had fared considerably better and the compartments that housed them appeared to be intact.
Borrowing the same tactic that Harris, Hawkins and Carlisle had employed a couple of months ago on the Terrier, the crew located several of the emergency life support modules on the battleship and snaked cables in from the Perseus to power them up. While part of the team was running cable to connect and power up the life support modules, other team members went through the surrounding compartments and double checked to ensure that the appropriate hatches, those that would seal off only a selected portion of the ship, were locked down. Hatches to the unneeded compartments were deliberately left open to space or open to adjoining compartments that were open to space to ensure that they would not be pressurized or heated. The emergency life support systems would automatically reroute atmosphere and heat away from compartments and areas of the ship that wouldn't hold air.
By sometime in the late afternoon, the salvage teams had sealed the necessary hatches and powered up the appropriate emergency life support modules. Carlisle had provided support by referring to holographic schematics of the wreck while various team members called her to confirm which hatches needed to be sealed and which should be left open. The salvager's main intent was to provide atmosphere and heat for the engineering section and the reactor compartment for the number four reactor. They also wanted to heat and air up a patchwork string of interconnected compartments that would provide access to the dorsal and ventral main battery turrets. The turrets, each equipped with their own dedicated life support modules, were to be made livable as well.
With nothing much to do for several hours as the sealed compartments were being pressurized and heated, the salvage crew took a break with most of them going onboard the still-attached Perseus to shed their spacesuits for a time, get something warm to eat and to perhaps get a few hours of rest before resuming work on resurrecting the battleship.
Harris called Kresge to inform him of the status of the project.
"We've got life support modules operating throughout the projected work area, Commander," said Harris. "We should be able to get back to work in there early tomorrow morning."
"Roger, Lieutenant," replied Kresge, "Things are going okay on this end as well. We've got four cruiser projectors charged up and are working on charging two more. No sign of any enemy activity out at the jump point yet. Work as quickly as you can, Harris, the enemy could get here anytime now."
"Aye, aye, Commander."
***
UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard the wreck of the FWS Gibraltar, January 4, 2599.
After allowing the selected portions of the wreck to pressurize and warm up overnight, Harris, Hawkins, Talbot and Rahgib went back into the wreck and spent the next couple of hours cold starting the number four reactor. While they worked, the old ship continued to get noticeably warmer as the emergency life support systems performed their function and brought the sealed compartments up to preprogrammed parameters for temperature and air pressure. Carlisle was standing by with her wrist computer, ready to provide more info if needed. Harris and Hawkins were manning two of the engineering computers.
"Everything looks good on this console, Rahgib," said Harris, as the team finished up with the diagnostics required to determine if it was feasible to initiate the power up sequences.
"It all be fine on mine too," announced Hawkins.
"Keep a close eye on all of your readouts, both of you," said Rahgib, "I'm going to initiate the start sequence. Ready?"
The two Federation engineers responded almost simultaneously.
"Yes," said Harris.
"Aye," said Hawkins.
"Initiating power up sequence in...three, two, one, initiate!"
An intense electrical hum followed by a deep, throbbing vibration permeated the engineering section. Although all of them knew the theory and understood the necessary sequences, none of them besides Rahgib had ever started up a power plant this incredibly huge before. Knowing the forces they were about to unleash were formidable indeed, the team proceeded with caution.
As the vibration gradually increased in intensity, it began to smooth out until it became more of a sustained thrum.
"Phase in the generator," said Rahgib.
"Phasing generator in, now!" said Harris.
Another vibration that started out low and smoothed out as it increased in frequency permeated the reactor room. The regular lighting for the engineering section came on, drowning out the much less intense illumination provided by the emergency lights that were part of the emergency life support systems."
"Looking good, everyone," said Rahgib. "Let's hold it right here for ten minutes or so to make sure that everything is working properly. Lieutenant Harris? Would you see if you can get that weapons computer console up and running while we get the power stabilized?"
"Right away," said Harris as he shoved himself across the compartment and grabbed the operator's chair in front of the main engineering console before pulling himself into it and strapping himself in. He activated the power switch and within a few minutes he was working at a live computer console. Hawkins performed a similar maneuver and switched on the main life support computer, located on the other side of the engineering compartment.
"Weapons computer operational," said Harris.
A minute or so later, Hawkins made a similar announcement. "Life support computers are being operational."
When ten minutes had passed without any major issues, Rahgib gave another order.
"Route power to the life support systems."
"I be routin' power to life support now," responded Hawkins.
The soft whir of the emergency life support system was joined by a more intense sound as the standard life support systems of the ancient ship came online for the first time in over fifty years. As was the case with the emergency modules, the regular life support systems would not route atmosphere or heating to compartments that couldn't hold air either.
"Perseus? You may cut power to the emergency life support modules," said Rahgib. "I don't think we'll be needing them anymore."
A cheer went up from the entire engineering crew.
"Let's continue to monitor these old systems for an hour or so," said Rahgib, "and then we'll try to route power to one of the main battery capacitors. Dr. Carlisle? Perhaps you should get your team back into the topside main battery turret and get those computers booted up and ready."
"We're on our way," replied Carlisle. She left to gather up Caleb and Steuben, calling them on her suit radio as she headed towards the topside turret.
Rahgib nodded his head in satisfaction.
"By the way, good work everyone,"
he said.
***
Nacobbus System, Whitney Hyperlink Zone, January 4, 2599.
The Sultan, with Captain Shalhoub on the bridge, phased smoothly into the hyperlink zone for the New Ceylon system. Some thirty seconds later, a second ship phased into the system followed by another ship a half minute later. Within a little over six minutes, the entire Scrapyard Strike Force had completed their jumps. Shalhoub waited for another five minutes, to give all of the crews time to recover from the effects of the jump, before once again addressing the entire force.
"We will remain in position here for the time required to perform additional reconnaissance before microjumping towards the Scrapyard to begin our attack. Further instructions will be forthcoming. I suggest that all crewmembers utilize this time to recheck all systems. Shalhoub out."
***
UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard the wreck of the FWS Gibraltar, January 4, 2599.
"Gibraltar? This is Commander Kresge. I believe the attack we've been promised has begun. We have multiple ships phasing in through the jump zone. When they microjump towards us, you'll maybe have an hour or so to do whatever it you still need to do before they get here. Are you at a point where it is feasible to continue or would it be best to abort?"
"We're almost ready to start charging the main battery capacitors now, Commander" replied Harris. "Let us know when they start microjumping, we can make a decision on whether or not we'll have to abort at that time."
"Will do, Kresge out."
Chapter 19.
UTFN Reclamation Center, on board Meridian Imperial Diplomatic Ship Istanbul, January 3, 2599.
Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus Page 83
