I had a number of similar conversations with Jarrod on the way out to the Pollus sector. In one such conversation I had asked him if he would like to be President of Defiant. He declined. When we arrived in the Pollus sector I thanked him for the ride and then boarded the Hammer.
It had been a long while since Frig had been aboard the Hammer and the interior d��cor was nothing like he remembered. “Sir, this is unusual. I didn’t know our Barg had such bizarre tastes. All these mirrors… it is a little unsettling Sir.”
I sat in the captain’s chair as I powered on the generators. “Well, you picked it so you get to live with it until we get back.” I looked around at the walls behind us. “I think it adds the appearance of space, makes the place feel bigger. You know, some people have a big problem with the confined space after a while. This might be his way of coping with it. Or, maybe he just likes to look at himself.” I chuckled.
Frig shuddered, “It is bothersome to me Sir. I am going to jump every time I turn around thinking someone else is aboard with us. You might not think it so funny if I pull my blaster and blow a hole in our cargo door. I sometimes react before I think.”
I looked at Frig with my forehead down. “React before you think? You are about the coolest, calmest person I know. I’m the one you should worry about. If I looked up and saw Rex Bumbalee standing there I might try to shoot him. I still get freaked out a little when I look in a mirror on occasion. Maybe one day I’ll have George change my face back to what it was. He might try to talk me out of it, but sometimes I just want to be me again.”
We lifted out of the cargo hold of the Helix and set a course for Mortel. It was a four day journey during which time we practiced utilizing the ship’s systems. Every ship would have its own little quirks and it was necessary to know those quirks before going into battle. By the time we arrived at Mortel we were fully familiar with the subtle differences of the Hammer.
I ordered the Frost to stop at a distance of a light-year away. They would observe from afar as we moved in close. We would stop at a safe distance and scan the system for the information that we desired. Leaving the Frost was an unusual move on my part, but I could feel in my bones that today it was something that should be done. We moved in to our closer position.
“I see three pickets Sir. If they come this way we will have to abandon this position within the hour. The sensor array is on full and I can complete a deep scan before we must leave. From the initial numbers it looks as though there is still an impressive fleet guarding Mortel. Wait… I am picking up a new ship Sir. It is not listed in our database. And it has Durian markings. It is also larger than any Durian ship we have seen in the past.”
I pulled up the data on my console, “Wow. That’s an odd one. What do you make of that glass bubble that makes up the center?” As we watched, a Milgari ship pulled up beside the Durian mammoth. The glass dome began to glow a deep blue which then turned into a dark purple. A purple bolt then shot out from the Durian vessel, striking the Milgari warship on the nose and then slowly working its way back. Once complete, the Milgari ship maintained the purplish glow for several minutes before it pulled away.
“Frig, I do not like the looks of that. My guess is the Durians are performing some type of treatment on that ship that I can only guess will make it harder to kill. I’m now a little ticked that they didn’t offer it to us. If that is a new shield enhancement then we are in trouble.”
I leaned back in my chair with a sigh, “Why is it that every time we get a little edge they come up with something new. What we need is a way to track that Durian ship back to their home-world. It might be nice to put a little fear in them so they back out of this conflict. If they keep feeding the Milgari new weapons and shields we are never going to be rid of them.”
Frig pulled up his console and began to type. He then signaled for me to read what he had written. Sir. I believe they know we are here and they may be cloaked just behind us. I’m detecting a tiny laser signature on our hull. It is the type used for listening to conversations. The vibrations from our voices can be extracted from vibrations of our hull.
I leaned over to type on Frig’s keyboard. He pushed my hand away and pointed towards my own. I typed in a response, If they are parked right behind us then we need to move away slowly. We need a planet or a star that we can slingshot around in an attempt to lose them. If it is a Durian, which I would believe it is, we may have a tough time getting away.
Frig nodded in agreement and a slow course was set for the farthest planet in the Mortel system. “I say we move over behind that last planet and continue our spying from there!” Frig looked at me and rolled his eyes. He again typed on his keyboard. Sir. Try not to be so obvious. If they suspect that we know they are there they will make a move before we have a chance to act. It might be best if you not talk Sir, especially if you feel like you have to… how do you say it? Ham it up?
As always Frig was right. All we needed to do was show whoever it was that was watching us that we were taking what would appear to be normal actions. I had not acted since my eighth year of elementary education. My talent for it was horrendous with my performance bringing about both laughter and boos. It was a harsh age to learn that you could not act. It was even worse when that lesson was learned in front of your entire school.
We moved in closer to the Mortel system and took up a position on the back side of the planet. Frig took the opportunity to do another deep scan of the Durian ship. It was unlikely that we would have another opportunity to get as close as we were. I moved the Hammer down close to the planet’s surface and then sped up as we moved around towards the front.
Our risk of detection from that distance was low but if what Frig had detected was true, our position was already known. As soon as our sensors indicated the loss of the laser signal I pushed the throttle to full. I used the planet’s gravity to accelerate and when at three quarters distance around her I pulled up hard on the stick.
As we raced away from the planet the laser signature returned. It was soon followed by an immense ion blast. Gy’s new Aquamarine skin absorbed the first several shots with ease as a Durian ship uncloaked and began its pursuit. I began to smile as the Hammer accelerated towards light-speed. The smile quickly faded when another Durian ship uncloaked in front of us with its ion cannon firing.
“Whoa! What the…” I pushed the stick hard to port, narrowly missing the skybridge of the sleek, black Durian ship. Frig switched our cannon to negative ions and began to blast a nasty scar down the side of the Durian vessel. Explosions rocketed from the damage sending debris directly into our path.
An unlucky strike by a large piece of the Durian ship cracked our Aquamarine skin. The next shot by a Durian cannon then fractured the outer Aquamarine layer, causing it to shed. “One more of those and we are done for. See if you can target that cannon!”
I placed the Hammer into a random spiral as we continued to move away from the Durians. Frig took aim and fired another negative ion bolt. It hit its target and I could not help but yell out, “Booyah! Nice shot! Try to get that other one. We need another ten seconds to freedom!”
Frig traded blows with the second Durian ship, but not before its weapon took our armor down to a single layer. The hit just penetrated the Hammer’s hull around the rear cargo door. The glass from Barg’s mirrors shattered and filled the cabin with tiny flying shards of death. Had we not been wearing our combat suits we would have died a death by a thousand tiny cuts.
The damage to the Hammer was extensive, but we continued to accelerate. As we passed through light-speed I sighed a sigh of relief. We had escaped. “Wow, looks like we pulled off another one. Barg is going to be pissed about these mirrors.” I turned towards Frig and he was slumped over in his chair. His face-shield sat half opened.
As my jaw dropped I jumped up from my chair. “Frig, just hang in there buddy, we’re gonna take care of you.” I picked him up and moved him back to his bunk. I removed his helmet to reveal the damage
that the glass shards had done. For whatever reason, he had not fully closed his face-shield. His face was covered with those thousand tiny cuts I had thought of only moments before. My friend was a bloody mess.
I set a course for a rendezvous with the Helix. It was scheduled to reappear at that point in three days��� time. I was in desperate need of the help of a medic. I had no training in medicine so I turned to the only thing we had available, the ships computer. Frig had an extensive database on his physiology.
After an hour of digging through page after page of diagrams I finally found a section of his medical journals that was related to cuts and abrasions. Thoroughly clean wounds. Apply antiseptic. Bandage to promote healing and to prevent infection.
“Great. How am I supposed to clean a thousand tiny cuts when the glass shards are still embedded? You just hang in there my friend, I am going to pick every bit of that out even if I have to… well I just have to.”
I leaned his head, face down, over a sink and rinsed what I could with a sprayer. I searched through the tools that were at our disposal and settled on a simple pair of tweezers. I administered a sedative in case my fumbling hands caused him to wake in more pain. I turned on the optics control on my helmet and dialed up a forward facing light. Our face-shields had the ability to perform a macro-zoom. I set it to 10X power and then leaned in to begin the task of picking the shards from Frig’s face.
I worked steady at the task for four hours. My back was aching but I was not about to stop. I had done the best I could with the hope that the automated medical bay on the Helix could do the rest. I was terrified that it might have impacted his eyes. Even in the best of hospitals with the best of equipment, eye surgeries were complex.
By the time we had arrived at the rendezvous Frig was awake. He questioned me about what had happened. I told him of the concussion he had received due to the ion bolt strike and of the lacerations due to the thousand tiny shards of mirror. His face was badly swollen; he had not been able to open his eyes since regaining consciousness an hour before. Our world and our current existence was not very friendly to the blind. I began to wonder if accommodations would have to be made.
Frig was groggy, but he spoke, “Sir, was the Frost able to escape?” I replied, “Yes, they were not detected and were able to leave without issue. I am surprised we made it out of there in one piece. The cargo door looks to be bent on its frame. I’m not sure how it held its seal.”
“Both of our battle suits are ragged looking and the interior of this ship is a mess. Other than that you had a concussion and your face got cut up from those mirrors shattering. And there is nothing for you to worry about. The Helix should be here at any moment and we can get you in the medical bay with someone who knows what they are doing. I did what I could, but I’m sure you still have glass embedded in there. Just hang tight and we will get it taken care of.”
I could tell Frig was in pain so I again administered a sedative. The Helix arrived and I moved the Hammer into its cargo hold. The ship’s medic was waiting and we quickly moved Frig into the automated E. R. “OK, place him up here. And let���s get this battle suit off of him. My bay has to stay extremely sterile if we want our boys to survive when they come through here.” Half an hour later Frig had been washed and was resting comfortably. The medic was evaluating his eyes.
Jarrod placed his hand on my shoulder, “Come on Don, let’s get a cup of coffee. I sent the Frost back out with the Cougar to continue their patrols. We are heading back to base to get him taken care of. Can’t say that I know much about how hardy his species is. His face is… well, torn up. Maybe George will be able to help when we get back.”
Two days into our ride back the medic came into the ship’s lounge with good news. “I can’t say much about scarring, but it looks like the Gambits have an extra eyelid in there that is almost like a hard shell. I think his eyes are going to be fine. As far as his face goes, the automated bay was able to extract another 247 pieces of glass. His healing should proceed at a faster pace now. That swelling is already beginning to go down.”
The news was excellent. With my worries for his health withdrawn I boarded the Hammer and began to examine the data from the scans we had done. It was evident that the Durians were now deeply in bed with the Torrians and the Milgari.
Once back at the Suppressor I would have our teams redouble their efforts at finding out just where the Durians hailed from. We knew so little about a species that was now a major player in this war. I thought it was time that they too felt the pain of war and what it meant for their people.
The scans of the Durian ships were revealing. The outer hull was thick while the inner structure seemed almost delicate. I wondered what materials they used for their decking and what advantages they offered. The hulls appeared to have many layers of Tantric just as our ships, but theirs were interlaced with quartz. It was something I would have Gy look into when we arrived home.
I knew my limits when evaluating the technical data from a deep scan and I was soon standing in the medical bay recovery room, asking Frig what he thought. “Sir, if you route the information to the Helix’s systems I would be happy to analyze the data. Your thoughts on the Durian armor are interesting and I shall take them into account as I look over what we were able to obtain.”
I sat in a chair beside his bed. As I looked at him I shook my head, “Wow. Your face is hideous. Of course I always thought your face was hideous before, but in a nice way.” Frig sighed, “You just never quit with the sarcastic remarks do you Sir. I guess I would be worried about my condition if you did. I’m just glad you are transparent enough for me to see through to what you really mean Sir. Believe it or not, I am glad you care.”
I sat back and folded my arms, “Well, somebody has to keep you in line. If it wasn’t for me you would be back on the Grid working for Felix!” I looked over and received a smile. Frig was going to recover. I would do my best to make sure of it.
Chapter 7
When we arrived back at the Suppressor, Frig was up and moving about as normal, but his face was indeed a hideous mess. George met us at the docking bay and gave an immediate evaluation. “Hmmm. We will have to remove down to the structure underneath and rebuild from there.”
“I will need to take a few skin samples to grow in the lab. We should have enough skin in a couple months to begin the process. I would guess… this is going to take about a dozen sessions over the next six months.” He patted Frig on the back and smiled, “We will have you good as new. And the lab growth will yield skin that looks and feels younger. It might knock half a dozen years off of your age!”
I stepped up with a comment, “Half a dozen years? Doc, is there anything more you can do for him? Half a dozen years ago he was intolerable. I would hate to have to take him back through all that training I’ve given.” Frig shook his head as George replied, “Well, I’m sure you two can work that out amongst yourselves. I try not to get involved in such matters.”
George left the room. As Frig stood from his chair I put my hand around the back of his neck and squeezed. “Honestly, I’m glad you will be OK. It would get lonely on the Swift without having you to kick around.” Frig replied, “I’m sure you would manage Sir, but perhaps we should investigate getting you a pet. I think maybe a Gernarian hamster, something that is more along the lines of your lower intellectual scale, but with equal wit.”
After leaving George’s office we made our way to Gy’s lab. He was hard at work with his analysis of the scans of the Durian armor. “Don, the Durians are using a combination of crushed quartz and carbon. I’m guessing they mix it into a paste along with the Tantric and then put it through a drying process to make an extremely thin layer of Aerogel.”
“It’s not quite as tough as our own armor mix, but it would be much easier to apply. And it looks like they have over 500 layers of the stuff as compared to our 26. I looked at the damage our negative ion cannons did to it, but I would guess they will remedy that shortcoming in
a hurry. All they would need to do with that quartz mixed in there is to apply a negative field. It would make our negative cannons almost useless.”
One thing I did take notice of though, you still had the deep scanners running when you fired upon that ship. I did a spectral analysis of that debris and I think I know how they snuck up on you. The outermost layer has a heavy mix of phosphorus. I think they are able to project an exact, high resolution image from behind themselves onto their hull. We are doing the same thing to reduce our visual signature. It looks like they have figured out a way to ruggedize the process. I’ll have another look at the tech they sold us and see if there is a way from there to this.”
I nodded as I listened to the information Gy was supplying. The Durians had us outgunned and would have us out-armored, probably by the time we next encountered them. I had a sinking feeling that the tide of the Milgari war was again turning against us. I next made my way to the Colonel’s office.
“Grange! Sorry to hear about Frig. Heck-uva engineer that one. We need more like him.” I responded, “Well, yes, that would be a good thing. But I came around here to get your thoughts on something. What would you say if I asked you about trying to board a Durian destroyer?”
The Colonel spit a wad of Omega root juice on the floor, “I have about 50,000 Defiant Marines who would be chomping at the bit for that assignment! If we went in there with conventionals… those boys would be ecstatic. Please tell me this is something you are heavily considering.”
I sat in a chair across from his desk and looked at the wall of images behind him before looking him in the eye. “I am heavily considering it, but probably not for the same reason you are. I want us to figure out how to fight our way on there so we can leave a transmitter. I want to know where they go and how fast.”
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