Junkyard Dogs series Omnibus

by Phillip Nolte

  He almost wished that something would happen to help relieve the boredom.

  He had forgotten the salient advice that his mother had given him so many years ago: Be careful what you wish for...

  ***

  Catskill-Soroyan System, Piedmont Mining Station, January 9, 2599.

  On board the Piedmont mining station, Chris Hartmann, acting Director of Security, was watching the armed freighter through one of the windows of a restaurant on the lowest above-ground level of the mining station. He and the miners had discovered that they could go into many of the above ground areas of the station in reasonable safety if they were careful to take certain precautions. Making sure that the lights remained turned off was one of those precautions. He could see the armed freighter parked a short distance from the mining facility with its small but eminently lethal pulse cannon aimed at the station. Next to Hartmann, also observing the freighter, was Henry Fitzhugh, the governor of the colony.

  "Bastard sure looks smug out there, doesn't he?" said the Governor.

  "Yeah," replied Hartmann, "but smug only goes so far. To my way of thinking he's taking a hell of a big chance by staying so close to the station. He's only five hundred meters away! I wonder if we could get close enough to him with a mining sled and a portable mining laser to burn through the airlock and take over that ship? I'll bet he wouldn't be so damned smug then!"

  "I assume you want to do this without getting yourself killed?"

  "That would be part of the plan, yes," replied Hartmann. He looked thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe if we had the right kind of diversion. What if we had a commotion of some kind in the upper part of the station to distract them?" He thought a bit more, "Or maybe we could send out a couple of unmanned sleds and keep that gun occupied firing at them. Meanwhile we use another sled and sneak out from underneath the station and get to his airlock. Or maybe we could just place a really big charge of explosives on the bottom of the ship..." Hartmann stopped here as though he had come to an impasse.

  "I don't have any objection to us getting this monkey off our back," said Fitzhugh, "but I don't think I can condone a suicide mission. Let's hold on for bit and see if a better opportunity pops up. We've got plenty of supplies. I'll bet we can last another month or more without any trouble."

  "I know, Hank, but this situation just galls me. I hate not being able to fight back against these goons."

  Both men were distracted by a small pinpoint glint of light from the direction of the system hyperlink point. As they watched, they observed two additional flashes, each occurring about thirty seconds after the last.

  "Looks like three ships have just translated into the system," said Hartmann. "More of these confounded terrorists, I'll wager. Maybe we'd better get back down into the rock to the communications center to see if we can find out who it is and warn everybody that we might be getting some of that action we've all been wishing for."

  Chapter 38.

  Federation Experimental Prototype XC-89.

  "...A bold attempt by the federation to produce a totally new class of ship, the XC-89 was given life by the marriage of two light cruisers, one from an older class of ship and one from a newer class. The designers wanted to retain the more modern and more powerful dual reactor system of the Brooklyn class cruiser that had donated the aft portion of the ship. To do so they had separated the ship right at the main bulkhead on the forward end of the reactor chambers. When adding the bow section from the other donor, an older Argus class cruiser, the designers cut through the hull of that ship two meters aft of the bulkhead just behind the front main battery, leaving behind a ring or 'skirt' of hull material.

  The diameters of the two sections of the new ship at the junction were slightly different and the aft section was actually just enough smaller in diameter that it could be slipped inside the two-meter skirt that had purposely been left on the bow section. A series of slender wedges removed from the skirt allowed the builders to 'crimp' the skirt down around the stern section. When completed, the joint area consisted of two massive bulkheads welded to one another with the overlapping skirt portion of the bow's hull welded onto the hull of the stern portion for good measure. The joint area was perhaps the strongest part of what was a very stout ship.

  The resultant hybrid ship is only a little longer than a destroyer. Imagine a standard light cruiser that has been shortened by about a third of its normal length. This design decision makes the proportions of the ship look just a little "off" in that it appears to be rather short and fat compared to a regular cruiser. The awkward, slightly stepped down ring at the joint between the bow and stern portions, does nothing to make the design any more aesthetically pleasing.

  She also has no traditional bridge superstructure, as that portion had not been included from either of the donors. Instead, the ship is conned from the auxiliary control room that is located in the upper forward portion of the stern donor ship, right up against the dual bulkhead. The lack of a recognizable bridge, the unconventional fin system and the fact that her proportions just don't look right, are a few of the issues that kept the ship type from getting past the prototype stage. Good designs have been passed over for dumber reasons. With full cruiser power and just over half the mass, this ship has an extremely high thrust to mass ratio which gives it a high acceleration/deceleration capability and also renders it highly maneuverable.

  As if the ship wasn't odd enough already, what really sets this prototype apart and takes it from the merely 'risky' design category and consigns it to 'full-on ridiculous,' is the choice of armament. Here the designers really went out on a limb and the main armament on this prototype is as far removed from conventional as anything ever attempted before. For one thing, there are only two pulse cannons in the main battery armament and these are a pair of highly experimental Bofors rapid fire emplacements mounted on the centerline, just in front of the joining ring. To provide a full 360 degree range of fire for the pulse beam system, the rear main battery has been removed and the opening where it had resided has been somewhat hastily covered with a makeshift patch. The designers envisioned this abbreviated cruiser type being used as a planetary defender or a diplomatic escort ship, so they had insisted, perhaps somewhat naively, that all of the armament be retractable. They reasoned that with all of the weapons retracted, the ship would display a smooth, non-threatening exterior.

  The decision to make the weapons retractable does add some extra complexity to an otherwise simple design. The retraction mechanisms work but, at least in the prototype, the turret deploys too slowly. Once or twice it has actually become stuck in the open position, though we think we have corrected that problem by arresting the deployment of the turret before the retraction mechanism reaches the very end of its travel. As a precaution, the ship was simply operated with all of her weapons deployed during her trials.

  The Bofors pulse beams themselves are also experimental in that they are considerably more powerful than any of the standard Bofors units. Where a standard unit is powered by four capacitors that could be utilized in various combinations of one, two, three or four capacitors powering each pulse, these experimental units are powered by six much more robust capacitors which can also be mixed and matched in various combinations to regulate the strength of the pulse beams. Where the standard units have a maximum pulse strength of 2000 gigajoules, these special units were capable of 6000 gigajoules, which actually places them right in between the main battery strength of a light and a heavy cruiser. The prototype also carries a reasonably full complement of secondary weapons in the form of four twin-mount turrets of 5.5 gigajoule rapid fire pulse beams each. As mentioned previously, these are also retractable...

  ...All in all she is a bold design that didn't quite work out..."

  Hartwell Wrist Comp reference note highlighted for further review by Tamara Carlisle. Excerpt is from "Notes and impressions concerning the XC-89" by Captain Peter Haspel, Commanding officer of the XC-89 project. Captain Haspel's notes are included in t
he "Secret Scrapyard" files and are considered to be highly classified until further notice.

  UTFN "Secret Scrapyard," on board Federation prototype cruiser XC-89, January 9, 2599.

  Ensign Dr. Tamara Carlisle was discussing the XC-89 with her colleagues. She was partly reading from a wrist computer display and partly sharing her own thoughts.

  "It was a bold design that didn’t' quite work out," she quoted, "and yet it seems nearly perfect for our purposes. Your enemy wouldn't have a clue what she actually was until it was too late for them to do anything about it."

  "That's a good point," said Harris. "They'd probably think she was some kind of off-brand cargo ship, which is sort of what she looks like with her armament retracted.

  "With those two high-powered, rapid-fire Bofors projectors," added Talbot, "this could be, in many ways, the most powerful ship in the entire quadrant! With the dual power plants somewhat understressed, the theoretical rate of fire from her two pulse beam projectors is simply phenomenal.

  "Aye," said Hawkins, "and the shields should be a good bit stronger than you would expect for her size t'boot."

  "There are some concerns, however," said Talbot, ever the engineer

  "And these would be...?" asked Harris.

  "Reliability for one," replied Talbot. "She could prove to be extremely reliable but from the information we have, this prototype never got past a few preliminary trials before the Brass decided that the design was way too risky and way too unconventional and they moved on to other things. We already know that they had some serious reservations about the retractable turret design."

  "We have at least one more serious issue," said Harris.

  "And that is...?" asked Carlisle.

  "Where in the hell are we going to find a crew to man this beast?"

  "Now that is a good question," said Talbot.

  Chapter 39.

  Catskill-Soroyan System, Piedmont Mining Station, January 9, 2599.

  Hartmann and Fitzhugh carefully made their way back out of the restaurant and through several corridors to one of the elevators located in the central column of the station. They then took the elevator downward, out of the upper, artificial construct of the portable mining station and into the hollowed out living rock of the asteroid. Upon arriving at the elevator's lowest level, they disembarked and headed for the communications suite.

  Hartmann knew that the short period of disorientation that accompanied hyperlink travel meant that the crews of the recently translated ships would need a few minutes to recover before they could function properly. As Hartmann and the governor strode into the communications suite, the communications technician was monitoring a Stage I transmission from the newcomers that had just begun a few seconds earlier.

  "...is Captain O'Connell of the mining ship Donegal, calling the Piedmont station. Security Director Hartmann, are you there?"

  "Mining ship Donegal? This is the Aladdin, a patrol ship stationed here on behalf of the Sheik of Barsoon, long may he live! State your business, Captain O'Connell."

  "This is our home station; we've come here to check on our relatives and friends."

  "I suggest you turn back around and leave this system, Donegal, I must warn you that the Aladdin is armed and we have orders to maintain the security of this system."

  O'Connell paused for several minutes as though he was considering his options before responding. In the meantime, he received a radio communication from the mining station.

  Chris Hartmann, from his position down inside the asteroid, had sent a message to the Donegal on one of several private mining communications bands. The proprietary system was nothing more than old fashioned radio and was therefore subjected to cumbersome light speed delays, which was especially clumsy for two-way communications of any distance. The hyperlink zone for the Piedmont system was about one astronomical unit away from the mining station which meant that it had taken a little over eight minutes for the radio communication to reach the Donegal.

  The miners, O'Connell included, were accustomed to dealing with such delays and had learned to compensate by putting all of the information that they thought might be useful into each of their transmissions in the hope that whatever information was needed was included in the initial contact. While O'Connell was still in the process of deciding how to respond to the belligerent guard ship, he received Hartmann's communication which was packed with pertinent information.

  "Seamus, you old goat! Where the hell have you been? This is Chris Hartmann. We've been holed up back down inside the rock for about two weeks now. Be careful if you decide to come this way, this Aladdin is an armed merchant with what looks to be a single mount, one-hundred gigajoule pulse cannon mounted right behind her bridge. As soon as he got here, the Commander of the Aladdin ordered us to surrender the station. We refused and retreated down into the mines and it's been kind of a stalemate ever since. They've been taking pot shots with that cannon every time they think they think they detect any activity on the station. Needless to say, we're getting a little tired of it.

  With a little bit of help, I think we can get right up close to him with a mining sled and blow the airlock door or one of the holds and board the ship. They may have some hand weapons, because their original intent was to board the station but we think a dozen miners could probably take over that ship in a matter of minutes. If we could just get on board. We've been wondering how to set up some kind of diversion and the Donegal might be just what we need. If you could make your way in here to the mining station, I'm thinking that between our forces we can probably take care of that ship in no time.

  From what I know of your mining ships, the shields are strong enough to take a few pulses from that cannon. If you approach them head on, they'll never penetrate your front armor plating. Get within a kilometer and one short blast with your mining laser would pretty much put this arrogant bastard out of commission. I'm not ruling out such a direct attack but I'd really rather capture the ship intact so, for now, we keep that as a last resort. We think we can use a mining sled to get a force on board and capture her but we will need your help to make the plan work. If you microjump towards the station, we'll assume you got this message and we'll go ahead and start getting set up. As you get closer, and the communications lag gets shorter, we can refine our actions.

  Watching for you to jump. Hartmann out."

  With this new information in hand, O'Connell made his decision.

  "Aladdin? This is Donegal. I'm afraid that I will have to come into the mining station, I am low on reaction fluid and our sister ship Glendaloch is...having some problems with her attitude thrusters. We'll be microjumping within a few minutes."

  "Be warned Donegal, you will be boarded and interned. My orders are to allow no one to leave this station."

  "I hear and understand, Aladdin, we just don't have much choice."

  O'Connell and Patrick decided to leave the freighter City of Darwin out near the hyperlink point not only to keep her out of danger but also so she could transport out and report back to New Ceylon if anything went wrong.

  On his security monitors, deep down inside the rock, Hartmann had not only overheard O'Connell's reply over the Stage I communicator, he had also seen two distinct flashes indicating microjump activity.

  "Donegal and Glendaloch are on their way, Hank."

  Hartmann smiled in anticipation. His old friend was coming with not one, but with two mining ships! Things were about to get interesting!

  Chapter 40.

  UTFN "Secret Scrapyard," January 10, 2599.

  When Kresge had been informed about the condition and the potential capabilities of the XC-89, he approved the transfer of the ship to the Scrapyard for further evaluation. The project was deemed important enough that the Nasr was sent out to rendezvous with the salvage crew. When the Nasr arrived, some thirty members of the crew of the FNS Larkspur transferred over to the prototype and utilized the better part of the next morning familiarizing themselves with the workings of the
ship. Frank Talbot and Angus Hawkins both remained onboard the prototype to help out with questions concerning the dual reactor set up and other aspects of the systems on a ship that was at least two generations older than anything that most of the destroyer crew was accustomed to. The fact that prototype had been created by the joining together of two different classes of ship didn't help matters at all.

  Captain Jennifer Helmsford was given command of the ship but couldn't make up her mind whether the assignment was an honor or a penance. With so few experienced Naval crewmen available to the Scrapyard forces, she had to admit that the Larkspur's old crew was probably the best choice of personnel to man the craft. At least they had a goodly amount of recent experience working with each other.

  With no conventional bridge in the normal topside position, the nerve center for the hybrid was situated in the Auxiliary control room that had been located near the very front portion of the back half of the ship, a location that placed the control room just about in the very center of the ship. If nothing else, the command staff would be well-protected.

  Captain Helmsford was sitting in the Captain's chair on the bridge of the prototype familiarizing herself with the workings of the ship and wondering what she had gotten herself into. She scanned her readouts one more time and keyed up the ship's intercom.

  "The time has come for us to take our new ship out of this asteroid and put her to work," she said to all hands. "I want a status report on all systems before we take her out for a test flight. I'll call off by sections and you reply when your section is called. Main power?"

  "Main power is go, Captain."

  "Hyperdrive systems?"

  "Hyperdrive units are go, Captain."