Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus

by Phillip Nolte

  Sometime before morning, she awoke and kissed him on the cheek before disentangling herself from him and standing up. She straightened her coverall and ran her fingers through her short brown hair.

  "Thanks, Ryan. I feel a lot better. I'd better get back to my own quarters before someone finds us here."

  "I...don't really care about that. Will you be alright?"

  "I think so..."

  "Should you talk to someone besides me about this? Maybe the Istanbul's doctor?"

  "I...don't know...maybe, but it was just the one dream."

  "How about you tell me if you have any more dreams like that?"

  She looked relieved.

  "I can do that. Thanks Ryan. Really, I feel much better now.

  She reached down and squeezed his hand before slipping out the door and returning to her own quarters.

  Harris wore a worried look as he got up and got ready to face the new day.

  Chapter 29.

  UTFN Reclamation Center, onboard Federation Auxiliary ship Greyhound, January 8, 2599.

  Immediately after they had finished their breakfast the following morning, the two junior officers approached the Commander on the bridge of the Greyhound. Kresge looked up at them from his command terminal where they could see that he was still obsessing over the inventory situation.

  "Yes, what is it?" he asked.

  "We came across some information last night that we think you should know about, Commander," said Harris.

  "What sort of information?"

  "We're not exactly sure," replied Harris, "Carlisle was going over the download that she copied onto her wrist computer just before the auxiliary tracking station was destroyed two months ago and she found some...locked files. We think you might want to have a look it."

  "Okay," said Kresge, "Show me."

  Carlisle brought up the same display that she had shown to Harris the previous evening.

  "File folder for access by Station Commander only?" Kresge scratched his head. "I've never seen any of this before. This was not on the command computer of the main facility. At least not that I remember."

  "I found it buried in a folder labeled 'miscellaneous,' Commander," said Carlisle.

  "Any idea what's in it?" asked Kresge.

  "We don't know, Commander," said Harris, "We just copied everything we could onto Carlisle's wrist computer before we abandoned the auxiliary tracking station back during the Veritian Brotherhood's attack on the Scrapyard. Last night, she was sifting through the inventory, looking for donor ships that might have parts to upgrade the Greyhound's weapons systems, when she found this."

  "I suppose I'd better take a look at it."

  "There is a problem, Commander," said Carlisle.

  "And that is....?"

  "The files were copied while we were on the auxiliary tracking station just before it was destroyed and you were back at the New Ceylon station."

  "And this means...?"

  "This copy of the files 'thinks' that Lieutenant Harris is in charge."

  "That's strange," said Kresge.

  "We aren't sure what happened, Commander," said Carlilse, "but it looks like the Lieutenant is the only person who can unlock this particular version of these files."

  "So you're telling me that accessing these files means that the two of you will have to be present, at least when I initially open them?"

  "If we just made a copy to your personal computer, I wouldn't be needed, Sir," said Carlisle.

  Kresge looked back and forth between the two junior officers and shook his head. "Frankly, I don't see that as a problem. Like it or not, you two are my de facto second and third in command. Besides that, I trust you both completely. The fact that you could have accessed these files yourselves without my permission, and you didn't, only serves to reinforce that trust."

  Kresge thought briefly and quickly came to a decision, "I say we all have a look!"

  "We were hoping you'd say that, Sir," said Harris.

  "Chief Jenkins?" Kresge called out the chief who was tending his station on the other side of the bridge.

  "Yes, Sir?" replied the Chief.

  "See that we aren't disturbed for a while, would you please."

  "Aye, aye, Sir."

  The three of them went into the Commander's ready room. Kresge closed the door behind them and indicated that his two subordinates should take the two seats in front of his desk before going around behind the desk and sitting down himself. "Okay, Ensign, bring up that file."

  Carlisle made a few deft movements with the fingers of her right hand and a list of files appeared in the air in front of the three officers.

  "It was this file here, Commander," she said, highlighting the file in question. She attempted to access the file and received the now familiar warning message.

  "This file can only be accessed by the Station Commander."

  Carlisle entered: Identify current commander.

  The reply came back: Acting Current Commander is Lieutenant Ryan Harris."

  "Well, I'll be..." said Kresge. "I remember officially transferring command of the loading and unloading operations to Perkins, before the station was attacked. However, I did list you as the highest ranking officer before I went to New Ceylon, we can assume that the responsibility for this information must have been automatically transferred to you when I left. Can you copy all of those files to this computer, Ensign? We could use a backup or two anyway."

  Carlisle spoke a command at her wrist computer and a string of files being copied appeared on Kresge's computer monitor. After about a minute all of the inventory and other files had been duplicated on the Commander's computer. He brought up the file in question and pushed his chair back from the computer terminal.

  "Harris? Go ahead; input your command code."

  Harris got up and came around behind the desk where he leaned over and typed in a string of numbers and letters. The computer came back with: "Command code recognized, access granted."

  A string of subfile and folder names began to scroll down the screen.

  Harris went back to his seat and Kresge rolled his chair back to the terminal. He placed the computer in projection mode which brought up a holo display that all of them could read. He then picked a folder at random and began to access some of the files it contained. As expected, it was a fairly long list of personnel information and other materials that appeared to be mostly of a mundane clerical nature. Kresge closed the file and began to scroll downward again. Towards the bottom of the list, the name of one folder stood out for all of them.

  "New Ceylon Reclamation Center: Special Inventory," Kresge read out loud, "Commander's eyes only?"

  "What do you suppose that is?" asked Carlilse.

  "I don't know," replied Kresge. "I've sure as hell never seen it before."

  Kresge opened the file and the monitor began to scroll downward again as the screen was immediately flooded with what appeared to be a fairly large amount of detailed inventory information. They all looked it over for several minutes before reaching a somewhat shocking conclusion.

  "This is impossible," said Harris, his eyes scanning the inventory list, "It's a list of scrapped ships but all of them are newer than anything we have here in the Scrapyard. Check this out; there are three Orion Mark V Destroyers, a couple of fast command cutters and several prototype warships. There's a whole bunch of stuff we never knew about. There are several newer cruisers and even some experimental craft that must not have worked out so well."

  "Where is all this stuff supposed to be located?" asked Carlisle.

  Kresge did some more searching within the file folder.

  "As near as I can tell, it's near an asteroid in the L5 point of Naccobus V," he said, finally.

  As a minor system in a minor corner of Federation space, New Ceylon was the only planet in the Naccobus system that had been officially named. The rest of the planets had only received number designations. Naccobus V was a gas giant planet located some twelve times as fa
r from the primary as was the far smaller but inhabited, and therefore named, planet of New Ceylon.

  "I'm not so sure, Commander," said Carlisle, "from what I'm reading it looks more like the inventory is inside the asteroid."

  "You mean it's hollow?" asked Kresge, "Like the colony at Patagonia?"

  "Probably," replied Carlisle, "According to the history files I studied on the way out here, there actually was some mining activity here in the Naccobus system. They used the materials to provide income while they got the colony on the planet started. As you know, the L-4 and L-5 points of gas giant planets often contain a few sizeable asteroids. A mining station could easily have been set up in that region and operated for a few years, leaving a hollowed out asteroid behind."

  "And then the Federation Navy used the asteroid to store some secret inventory that they wanted to keep well hidden," finished Harris.

  "How long would it take to get out there?" asked Kresge.

  Carlisle performed a preliminary calculation on her wrist computer.

  "It's in the L5 point of that gas giant, so there's no significant gravity source anywhere near the location. Let's see...given about an hour to get clear the Scrapyard and a microjump to within about an hour or so away from the asteroid," she said. "I figure we could easily get there in half a day. Give or take an hour or two."

  Harris had been continuing to scan the display of the inventory list. Each entry contained a brief outline of the item or ship concerned. He began to get excited.

  "There's a whole bunch of stuff that we might be able use out there," he said. "There're a number of prototype experimental ships."

  "Yeah and several of these ship types had more modern weapons and other systems, like shields and sensors that we could use as well," added Kresge. He looked at his two companions. "We'll simply have to go out there and take a look around."

  "That would seem like the logical next step," said Harris, "and I say the sooner the better, we have no idea if we will be attacked again or not or whether something else just as unpleasant might be coming our way."

  "I totally agree," said Kresge, "Now is a good time since we have a few days before any of our recruiting and supply expeditions get back."

  He thought for a moment. "For now we'd better do our best to keep this information secret. I want a small expedition of only a few absolutely trustworthy people and a foray that takes no more than a day or so to complete. They'll be fewer questions that way." He looked at his two companions. "That means you Harris...and Hawkins. Who else?"

  "We could take one of the cutters and maybe two or three other personnel," replied Harris. "I'd say Talbot, if he's willing to go and maybe Orville Steuben. With myself plus Hawkins and the others, we should be able to handle a quick reconnaissance job and figure out what we can concerning any advanced engineering, especially in the limited time we have."

  Harris couldn't miss the look of disappointment on Carlisle's face as she realized that the Commander wasn't intending to include her in the mission. He made a plea on her behalf.

  "With respect, Sir, I would also like to take Dr. Carlisle. That wrist computer with her running it is likely to come in very handy. That and she can get into places in her special suit where the rest of us simply can't go."

  Kresge looked intently at the Ensign. "Are you sure you're up to this, Tamara?"

  Eyes wide, she bobbed her head eagerly.

  Kresge still looked doubtful as he acquiesced, "Alright, Ensign, you can go as well."

  "Thank you, Sir!" she said, unable to disguise her excitement.

  "Start making preparations to leave immediately," said Kresge. "Your first priority is to procure whatever hardware you might be able to find that will permanently solve the weapons problems on the Greyhound." He shook his head. "I take full responsibility for having used the weapons at full power during that first battle for the Scrapyard but I don't know if we had any choice. Unfortunately, we did overheat the module that we salvaged from the Exeter and we could definitely use something a bit more robust. Beyond that, get me as much information on the condition of the ships and other materiel out there as you can. Are we clear?" Harris and Carlisle nodded. "Good. Get out there as quickly as you can, and I don't have to tell you to keep this absolutely quiet. Is that understood?"

  "Yes, Sir," replied the two young officers, almost in unison.

  "And you, Ensign," he looked sternly at Carlisle, "You're going along because they're likely to need you. Don't forget that you're still recovering from some pretty serious injuries. We're going to need you in top form if we're to go through with your plan to liberate the Nexus. You are not to overdo it!"

  She nodded eagerly in affirmation.

  "Harris? Can I count on you to keep an eye on her?"

  Harris looked at Carlisle, "I'll make sure she doesn't get out of hand, Sir," he said, though he was unable to totally suppress a good-natured smirk.

  She gave them both a look of mock exasperation but she wanted so badly to be part of this mission that she wasn’t about to do anything that would make the Commander change his mind.

  "I promise I'll be on my best behavior," she said finally.

  "Good," said Kresge, "Although based on past experience, I'm not sure what that means exactly. Get your people together and get moving! Dismissed!"

  Chapter 30.

  "...United Terran Federation Navy Fletcher II-Class Destroyer.

  Length: 275 meters.

  Mass: 9,800 metric tons.

  Crew: 15 officers and 52crew fully manned, 5 officers and 25 crew minimum.

  Propulsion systems:

  Reaction Drive: General Electric Cesium Ion Drive, 4th generation, Nominal thrust capability 3.1g, Maximum 10g, Emergency 12.1g.

  Hyperdrive: Sixth Generation Pullman-Whitney Overdrive equipped with Dyson graviton damper.

  Armament:

  Main: Four 2000 gigajoule Parkinson capacitor discharge pulse beam projectors (7th generation) in fore and aft twin-mount, centerline turrets. Main batteries equipped with overrides allowing for temporary overload operation providing an extreme rapid fire mode for periods of up to sixty seconds.

  Secondary: twelve 5.5 gigajoule Parkinson-Mitsubishi rapid-fire pulse beam projectors in 6 twin mount turrets.

  External hardpoints to accommodate up to eight Keppler-Salaiz Vengence or Harrison Hellhound guided missiles (these mounts are also often used for transport of external cargo modules containing additional provisions for extended voyages).

  This ship type was developed by the United Terran Federation Navy to be the most powerful destroyers ever developed up to that time. The main batteries are more powerful than those of any other destroyer type and the shielding is also more robust. At the current time, this ship type has no equal in any other Navy. Though not yet proven in battle, it appears to be a superior design and has become the mainline destroyer for United Terran Federation Navy... "

  Hartwell Wrist Comp reference note highlighted for further review by Tamara Carlisle. Excerpt is from "Janes Fighting Ships" (2598 version).

  Heard's World Star system hyperlink point, January 8, 2599.

  The Asimov flashed into the Whitney hyperlink point in the Heard's World system. Two minutes later, the Dingo translated through as well. After recovering from their hyperjump disorientation, the bridge crew on the Asimov immediately began a scan of the system using the ship's state of the art sensor suite.

  Captain Shirleen Nesbitt was in command of the Asimov. Nesbitt's actual rank was Lieutenant but she had been the highest ranking officer onboard when the Asimov had made her escape from the Santana Nexus and, in spite of her relative inexperience, Admiral Kingston had appointed her Captain of the ship. The ship's previous commanding officer, Commander Barbara Zeluski, had been on the Nexus Station when the terrorist attacks occurred and was believed to have been one of the Federation casualties. Nesbitt rated the title "Captain" by virtue of being in command of the ship. Carlisle's fellow Spacer and Asimov's acting tactical offic
er, Massa Sukamoto, was also at his station on the bridge.

  Clancy Davis-Moore, owner and operator of the Dingo, was in command of the freighter. Chief Kelly of the Federation Marines was onboard the Dingo along with six of his fellow marines. In addition to seven sets of the latest battle armor, they had brought one of the Scrapyard's 5.5 megajoule assault cannons with them. If the mission required people on the ground, this weapon might really come in handy. If the ships needed to split up, Kelly and his men would be able to provide a least limited protection for the freighter. Kelly was on the bridge of the Dingo with Clancy Davis-Moore as the two ships came into the system. Caleb Jordan was also with them on the bridge. In addition to being a top-notch weapons technician, Caleb was a native of Heard's World and, due to recent events, was the reigning expert in the Quadrant on the Veritian Derelict.

  "What have we got, Sensors?" asked Nesbitt from the command chair in the center of the Asimov's bridge. The Asimov was one of the most modern ships in the Federation Navy and her sensor suite was absolutely state of the art.

  "Checking now, Sir,"

  "Open a channel to the Dingo, please," said Nesbitt.

  "Channel open," said the radio operator.

  "Caleb Jordan? Are you there?"

  "Right here, Captain,"

  "What can you tell me about this system?"

  "Heard's World is the third planet out from the star," replied Jordan, "There's an orbital communications platform near the planet that was abandoned by her crew last time we were here. I don't know if there is anyone back onboard yet or not. The fifth planet out is a gas giant. The ninth moon out from the gas giant is where the abandoned cruiser is."

  "What sort of weapons remain salvageable on that wreck," asked Nesbitt.

  "Two projectors from the main battery on the wreck still looked to be intact the last time I was there."

  "Captain Nesbitt?" said Sukamoto, "Sensors has two contacts, Sir."

  "Hold on a second, Caleb," said Nesbitt, "Go ahead, Sensors."

  "There is a small communications platform orbiting the third planet and there is one ship... looks to be a freighter."