"Where are they?" asked the Captain.
"The freighter is stationary near a small moon orbiting the gas giant.
"Captain, Nesbitt?" said Kelly, from the Dingo. "I wonder if that freighter is there to salvage weapons from that wreck so the enemy can arm a couple more ships?"
"Maybe so, Chief," replied Nesbitt. "The main battery projectors on that wreck are still pretty powerful, even by modern standards. A merchant armed with one of those guns would be a very effective commerce raider against unarmed ships. If that's the case, it looks as though they haven't wasted any time."
Nesbitt thought through several options.
"We were going to visit that wreck after we got supplies loaded but it looks like maybe we'd better go check it out now," she said, "Dingo? Let's program a microjump towards the gas giant."
"Right away, Captain Nesbitt," radioed Davis-Moore.
Five minutes later the two ships microjumped towards the gas giant. After giving each of their crews a short time to reorient after the jump, they continued towards their destination using their reaction drives.
The Asimov's sensor operator was attempting to get more information on the unknown freighter when two more ships suddenly came arcing out from behind the moon and headed straight for the Asimov and the Dingo. They had apparently been able to remain invisible to Asimov's instruments by hiding in the sensor shadow of the moon.
"I have two more ships, Captain," said the sensor operator. "Attempting to get bearings now...Omigod! I'm detecting weapons fire!"
As if on cue, a pulse beam bolt, attenuated to near harmlessness by the extreme distance, flashed past the two Federation ships several kilometers overhead. The enemy was too far away for them to do much damage to either the Dingo or the Asimov but any question about whether their intentions were hostile or not had just been answered.
"Was that a warning shot or an overeager gunner?" asked Sukamoto of no one in particular.
"It's a trap!" shouted Nesbitt. "Shields up! Battle stations everyone! I repeat! All hands to battle stations!"
Alarms began to sound all over the ship.
The shields on the destroyer were at full strength within the next thirty seconds and all hands were at battle stations within another thirty seconds after that. Nesbitt was staring intently at her command display, trying to decide what to do next.
First things first.
"Dingo? That was a pulse beam bolt! Assume we are under attack! Get your shields up and then do your best to put me between you and those two ships!"
Nesbitt issued more orders to her crew. "Helm? Bring us around so that we're facing those ships. Do I have weapons?"
"All weapons charged and ready!" came the reply.
The two ships continued to approach but were not firing their weapons any more...at least not for the time being."
"Your assessment, Ensign Sukamoto?" asked Captain Nesbitt, her eyes still intent on her command console.
"I agree, Captain," replied the Ensign, "this is an ambush. They almost had to have been waiting for us. That freighter is the bait. Sensors? Can you tell what kind of ships they are?"
"One moment, Sir," said the sensor operator, his inexperience showing through as he nervously fumbled with his keyboard while he surveyed his instruments. "They are...almost certainly something military...," he replied,"...not big enough to be destroyers...additional information on unknown ships coming through...now, Captain!"
"Go ahead, sensors,"
"It looks like a pair of Jasmine Republican Navy gunboats, sir...they look to be Shafra class."
"Armament?"
"Coming up now sir...here it is. Shafra's carry a pair of five hundred gigajoule pulse beam projectors in a twin mount forward turret. Secondary armament is six five point five gigajoule projectors in three twin-mount turrets."
"Certainly no match for us, then?"
"Not in a stand-up fight slogging it out with pulse beams, Captain," said Sukamoto, "but that gunboat type can also be armed with anti-ship missiles!"
"Are these ships so equipped?"
"Impossible to tell until they arm them, Sir," replied Sukamoto. "Our point defenses should be able to handle a missile attack, if they're carrying them, but we should approach them with extreme caution. If they are carrying missiles, and they can get in close...it could make for a very bad day for us."
"Duly noted, Ensign."
Nesbitt cupped her chin in her hand as she took in the information and considered her options. Two military ships, even these two smaller vessels, complicated her mission considerably. She didn't dare split up with the Dingo, the freighter would be a sitting duck against even one of those ships without Asimov's protection. In fact, in what appeared might develop into a fire fight, the Dingo was one big fat liability. Unless...
"Dingo?"
"What is it, Captain Nesbitt?"
"You need to jump back towards the hyperlink point to New Ceylon. You have a fast ship and with a head start you should be able to jump out of the system before either of them gets to you if we can't handle these two ships.
"I think I understand, Captain," replied Clancy Davis-Moore, "We are to microjump back towards the New Ceylon system immediately, go to maximum thrust and be ready to jump out of this system if Asimov...can't handle this current situation?"
"Affirmative, Dingo. Those two ships will be within the effective range of their weapons sometime in the next few minutes. Before they get here, I want you to get your jump module charged up get the hell out of here!"
"We can certainly do that, Captain," said Davis-Moore, "What are you going to do?"
"We're gonna fight these sons of bitches!" said Nesbitt. "They're standing between us and our food supplies. Besides, I'm getting damned sick of running!"
"We'll be waiting," replied Davis-Moore, "I don't have to tell you be careful!"
Clancy Davis-Moore wore a frown as he terminated the communication. The Asimov was a state of the art ship but she was under the command of a brand-new, inexperienced Captain. Many of the crew members were highly trained and extremely competent but, with the exception of Kelly and his Marines and Davis-Moore himself, no one else on either of the ships or in either crew had any combat experience. For all he knew, these two enemy ships might be no better off. Much more likely, in view of all of the Sheik of Barsoom's military activities of late, was that they were seasoned veterans. That and there were two of them. A well-coordinated attack by a team of ships, even if they were inferior on paper, could prove to be...interesting."
As Clancy watched the displays from the bridge of the Dingo, he instructed his pilot to bring the Whitney jump module online and microjump back towards the hyperlink zone. He also instructed the crew to bring shields to full power. The Dingo's shields were some of the most robust available on a non-military ship but he still didn't want to take any chances. The enemy's pulse beams probably weren't powerful enough to do much damage to the destroyer, at least not just an isolated strike or two but any kind of pulse beam strike, even at extreme distance, was best avoided by his freighter.
Microjump completed, Davis-Moore frowned as he considered the possibilities. If these two enemy ships coordinated their attack and were able to land enough pulse beam impacts, things could get dicey for the Asimov and her inexperienced captain and crew. That and those gunboats could be carrying missiles. Clancy hoped that Captain Nesbitt wasn't making a mistake. He shook his head as he ordered full acceleration back towards the hyperlink zone.
Chapter 31.
Naccobus/New Ceylon Star System, near the L-5 point of the gas giant, Naccobus V, January 8, 2599.
As the cutter with the salvage team onboard approached the remote location of what they had dubbed the "Secret Scrapyard" in the L-5 point of the Nacobbus star system's only gas giant, the asteroid that had been described in the hidden files grew in size until it dwarfed their small vessel. Like almost all of the asteroids that were large enough to be mined with a portable mining factory, this one was between
twelve and fifteen kilometers long and about ten wide. As they got even closer to the planetoid, they noticed that one of the craters on its surface was marred by a nearly circular opening, one that was just the right size to have been created by a semi-permanent mining facility. Carlisle, who was at the controls of the small craft, said as much.
"There, in that big crater right at the top of the viewscreen," she zoomed the display in on the crater, "That looks like the footprint left by an asteroid mining facility."
"It sure as heck does," replied Harris, "Get us in closer."
Within the next few minutes Carlisle maneuvered the cutter until it was stabilized over the top of the crater.
"Do you want me to try going inside, Lieutenant?"
"Not just yet, Ensign," said Harris, "I think we'd better take a look in there first. Shine some light down into that opening."
Carlisle raised the tail of the cutter and pointed the nose of the small craft towards the three-hundred meter wide opening in the crater. She then switched on the cutter's landing lights. Intense beams of light flooded the pitch black interior of the asteroid. The cavern that had been excavated by the mining station was several kilometers deep and at least the same distance across as the excavated area ballooned outwards inside the asteroid from the relatively narrow opening. Near the floor of the cavern, the exploration team could make out what appeared to be several ships illuminated by virtue of being in the direct path of the shuttle's beams. Outside of the bright circles of light directly illuminated by the landing lights they could also see a number of less distinct glints and reflections indicating the presence of additional ships or other constructs within the huge, dark space.
"What do you think, Lieutenant?" asked Carlisle.
"I don't see any reason that we shouldn't go in and have a look around inside," replied Harris. "Take us in slowly."
As Carlisle maneuvered the cutter through the entry, some of the ships in the pools of light created by the landing lights began to take on more recognizable shapes. Once they had gone completely inside the asteroid and were several hundred meters away from the opening, Carlisle slowly swiveled the cutter to port and back to starboard through a 180 degree arc to scan the interior space with the lights.
What was revealed was not a large collection of ships, certainly nothing like the myriad types and quantities found in the Scrapyard proper but there were still somewhere around twenty-five ships packed inside the hollowed out space. Closer examination revealed that each of the ships was secured in place by cables anchored to the walls of the cavern, to keep them from drifting into the walls or into one another. Also, unlike the Scrapyard proper, there did not appear to be any facilities for a permanent or even semi-permanent human presence.
"No habitat," said Harris. "I wonder where they housed their working crews?"
"They may have had a habitat and took it with them when they abandoned this place," observed Talbot.
"Or it could be that there were facilities built right into the rock," said Carlisle, "A lot of mining operations do that." She swung the lights of the cutter along the "bottom" of the artificially created cavern. "See, that looks like an airlock door built into the rock, right there."
If it were an airlock, the door had been left open so there was obviously no atmosphere in what may have formerly been a living habitat. Harris concluded that Carlisle was probably right.
"Looks like this place has quite a story to tell," said Talbot.
"No doubt," replied Harris, "but our main purpose is to locate some parts to repair the Greyhound. Does anyone see anything that looks like an Orion Mark V destroyer."
"Nothing so far," replied Carlisle.
"I'll be jiggered," said Hawkins. "It be lookin' like those two big ships are being Federation cruisers. The one t' starboard be a Brooklyn Class by the look of her. I ain't seen one of them for twenty years or more. The other one be...the bow is missing. It's kinda hard t' be tellin'. Could be an Argus maybe?"
In fact, it appeared that both of the cruisers had been partially dismantled. The Brooklyn Class cruiser that Hawkins had correctly identified was missing her stern. Another mystery for the salvagers to ponder.
"I repeat, does anyone see any sign of the Mark V Orion destroyers that are supposed to be here?" asked Harris.
"I think there're three of them in that row of ships just to port of the dismantled cruisers, Lieutenant," said Carlisle, who seldom missed anything.
"I believe you're right," Ensign.
"How far out do you want me to stop, Lieutenant?" asked Carlisle.
"These ships are quite a bit more closely packed than they are back in the big yard," replied Harris. "That and they're all secured with cables. Be really careful, Ensign, but I think we can safely get close enough so you can tether over to one of them. Once you secure a lifeline, we can try Hawkins' portable power unit to see if we can open an airlock.
"I can do that," responded Carlisle.
"Make it so, Ensign," said Harris, "Just be careful."
Carlisle got them to within ten meters of a row of three of what appeared to be Orion Mark V destroyers. Unlike the ships in the Scrapyard, almost all of which were showing some kind of battle damage, all three of the destroyers and the other ships in the vicinity appeared to be in virtually undamaged condition. Unfortunately, "undamaged" didn't mean that they were intact. Any hope of using one of the destroyers for the defense of the Quadrant was dashed immediately as all three of them were partially disassembled and each of the ships was obviously missing some of its vital parts, like their drive systems or their power plants. All three of the destroyers were also missing the front turrets of their main battery, which in the case of the Orion Mark V had been a twin-mount beam weapon.
As they had done so many times before, Carlisle, Harris and Hawkins got into their spacesuits and prepared to do some exploring. The airlock on the cutter finished running its cycle and the door opened, revealing the row of destroyers a few meters away. With her special suit, her innate agility and her incomparable skills under weightless conditions, Carlisle was the obvious choice to get a lifeline connected to the row of destroyers.
Carlisle clipped a coil of meta-kevlar rope to a D ring on the hull of the cutter just outside the airlock door, coiled her legs under her against the hull of the cutter and launched her body towards the nearest destroyer, paying out the rope as she soared gracefully through the space between the two ships. When she was about halfway across the gap, she fired one of her retractable tethers at the target destroyer. The small pad on the end made contact with the destroyer's hull and, as it was designed to do, stuck fast. She then used the tether to reel herself over to the destroyer. She found another anchoring ring on the hull of the destroyer, threaded the end of the rope through it and pulled the rope taut before securing it. Her two companions could now clip a carabineer to the taut line and use it to safely make the transfer over to the destroyer.
Hawkins was carrying a portable power supply that he had cobbled together a year or so ago. He and Harris and Carlisle had used to open airlock doors when they had been stranded in the Scrapyard a couple of months earlier. The plan was to plug the power pack into the destroyer's docking port and use it to activate the outer airlock door. The device did not have sufficient power to run any of the ship's systems, like life support or heat, for instance, but their calculations indicated that it carried enough power to open perhaps eight or ten airlock doors before it would require recharging.
When he got over to the destination ship, Hawkins made straight for the forward airlock door. He braced himself against the hull of the old destroyer and used a hand tool to pry open the small, twenty centimeter diameter access door that protected the docking port. He uncoiled the power cord from the power pack, twisted the connector into place and flipped a switch on the power pack. LED's above the two buttons located within the docking port enclosure winked on before settling into a steady glow. Hawkins pushed the "open" button and was rewarded by the sight of
the airlock doors sliding open.
"Now, don't you be gettin' overeager, Lass," he warned Carlisle. "These old ships all be more than a wee bit dangerous."
"I remember. I'll, be careful, Hawk," said Carlisle, once again both amused and touched by the old Chief's desire to protect her.
The three of them switched on their suit lights as they entered the old destroyer and headed through the ship towards the engineering section, Carlisle using a wrist computer hologram schematic to help guide them. Hawkins had actually served on an Orion Mark V when he had first enlisted in the Navy and was finding much of this experience to be hauntingly familiar.
"Seems t'be a lot smaller than I remember," he said. "That, and she looks t'be pretty well picked over."
The ship had indeed been pretty well gutted, and much of the interior was in disarray with various components removed from the ship in some undecipherable pattern. Finally, they arrived in the engineering section. It too looked like it had been stripped of anything useful.
"I be tracing the cables from the power plant to the beam weapons module," said Hawkins.
"The module should be on the starboard side of the compartment, according to my schematics," said Carlisle. "It would be a box a meter and a half on a side and about thirty centimeters thick. If it's still there," she added.
"Here it be," said Hawkins, illuminating what had to be the module with his suit lights and sounding somewhat relieved. He kept the module centered in his suit lights as his companions came over to examine it with him. From the outward appearance of the component, it certainly looked to be intact. A closer inspection indicated that the module was bolted to the deck with four fairly large nuts on four equally-sized studs.
"We be needin' a powered spanner," said Hawkins, as he inspected the device more closely. "There be one in the toolkit I be puttin' together. I'll go an' get it. Mayhaps you and the Ensign can be takin' a look at the wiring while I be fetchin' the tools."
Hawkins used his suit radio to call over to Frank Talbot who had remained on the cutter.
Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus Page 92
