by Lori Beery
It took the four of us a bit longer to locate the rest of the probes. Apparently the pirate leader was paranoid because there were redundant probes. Perhaps the comet scenario was more frequent than we suspected. In any case, we located nine probes with the capability of spying on the Paradise and relaying the information to the planetoid. It looked like we would need to take out the two hanging about three light days from the planetoid. We all scanned the vicinity for likely comet materials.
‘Look at this!’ sent Dulain amazed.
We directed our awareness where he indicated. There was a comet heading in our general direction! If we could change its trajectory to accomplish our plan, we could image the replica without being seen. The question was: How would we get it on the right course without slowing it down too much?
‘What if we created a ward tube to get the comet moving on the right course to knock this rock into the probe and deflect this rock into the other one,’ suggested Jacarr.
‘I like the ward tube idea, especially if we make it curved,’ I responded. ‘That way we could accelerate the comet. I am concerned about the only two rocks being disturbed are the ones that take out the probes.’
‘So let’s make it hit this one dead center,’ proposed Marleah. ‘The impact should send fragments into both probes and beyond.’
‘Chancy but more natural,’ commented Dulain.
We conducted a scan of the space rock Marleah had indicated. It was made of materials that would likely do exactly as she proposed. It seemed a reasonable risk. Perhaps the incoming comet would, at least, draw the pirate’s attention from the Paradise at a time we needed them to be distracted.
‘Let’s try it,’ I remarked. ‘What speed do we need to achieve our goal and be timed to arrive at the thirtieth turn?’
‘I think we have to make the ward tube like this so it will have enough speed to deflect off this rock and fly into the rock we wish to fragment with enough force to take out the probes,’ Marleah sent.
The curve in the ward tube was severe. When the comet emerged it would be traveling much faster than when it entered and it would be on course to strike the rock Marleah had indicated with a glancing blow. Its trajectory would be altered just enough to impact the rock we wanted to fragment.
The propagated collisions made by the initial contact may or may not go unnoticed. Most of the affected rocks would disturb the small body field so that the motion was away from the planetoid. There was, however, a chance that several rocks would be pushed into the ring between the small body cliff and the pirate base on the far side. I saw nothing wrong with such a disturbance.
‘I don’t see a problem with it,’ I stated. ‘Does anyone else?’ I felt no objections. ‘We should begin…’ I let my thought trail off.
‘Now,’ Marleah responded.
We worked to create and position the ward tube as Marleah specified. The comet was twenty light seconds out by the time we finished our task. Once the comet exited the ward, there would be little we could do to alter its course without slowing its speed. Now came the most difficult task: waiting.
We pushed back to our suite. The energy consumption would be much less if we waited in our own skins. We each studied our sensor data of the comet as I displayed it in real time. And that time seemed to drag. Finally, the comet entered the ward tube. It tumbled through the curve rapidly accelerating onto its new course.
Marleah turned to me. Her face beaming joyfully. “Stage one has been completed successfully,” she announced with quiet pride.
“True,” I affirmed. “Only five more turns to see if our ultimate goal is achieved.”
“It will be,” she told me confidently.
“It is hard to wait,” I told her.
“I agree,” said Beltrain as the rest of my Hexacle made similar comments.
“Marleah, remember to remove the ward,” I reminded her. “We don’t want to redirect or catch anything else in it.”
“Ah, yes,” she responded. I felt her reach out to the ward tube and dismantle it. When her eyes regained their focus, I nodded my thanks to her.
“Lucera, you should take a nap,” I said to her. “It would be a good idea for everyone to turn in. I am going to heed my own words. I will be up in a couple hours.” With that, I headed to my quarters.
I fully intended to sleep when I got in there, however, other thoughts clamored for my attention. The most persistent wanted me to consider that these might be my last turns. Did I have any regrets? Yes; I had not been able to see my siblings before I left Cassyndryl. I hoped they knew I loved them. Because of our bond, they would feel my passing. I knew of no way to sever that connection or to lessen its effects. It would be an overwhelming deluge of pain and loss if it was anything like what we had experienced when our parents died.
As for my grandfather, our relationship was already strained. He had plans for me that he had not shared with me. If I died in this conflict with the pirates, my grandfather would be disappointed that his plans had been upset. Perhaps, he would simply slip my sister into the spot I vacated. It’s possible I was allowing my frustration with him to cloud my thoughts.
Did I really think I will die here? No I didn’t. We, my Hexacle and I, would keep the Paradise from being taken. We would get to Thendara and help defend the station against the pirates. Eventually, we would get to Dinave and begin our service.
Chapter 19
I awoke fifty deci after the twenty-seventh turn. The suite was quiet. A quick scan verified my companions had indeed heeded my request; they were napping. I checked on the comet and its course. I found it as I expected.
I was as ready as I was going to be. I had retrieved all of our crystals. Now, there was nothing left to do except prepare the image of the replica. I turned to that task. It did not take long to create. When I finished I compared it to the Paradise. Structurally, mechanically, and functionally the replica was the same as the original.
It just needed life signs. I started with scans of passengers and crewmembers. I made them solid enough to trip sensors into reading them as life signs. For a more life-like quality, I programed them to move about the replica mimicking the movement of their real counterparts.
Then, I turned to the weapons system. Instead of simply copying them into the replica, I upgraded them. I made them more robust with greater range and power. I decided to leave the shields alone. But, I included a ward that sheathed the ship. The pirates will be able to bring down the ship’s shields. But, they would not be able to breach the ward. I hoped it would be a lesson in frustration for them.
I was completing my final check of the image when my Hexacle joined me. A time check showed it was thirty deci short of the twenty-eighth turn, our time to head to cargo bay four. We each prepared for our departure. That meant everyone constructed their own ward-skin and got a ‘healer special’. When we were ready, Jacarr removed the ward lining our suite. We proceeded to the cargo bay.
Once inside the bay, KwinJai erected a ward to line it and cover all the cargo. We shed our ward-skins and carefully set our drinks on a crate. From there we congregated in the middle of the space. I proceeded to place all three crystals on the floor while they watched me. I spent a few moments linking them together. I did it in such a way that when the first one was drained, the second one would be used. After the second one was depleted, the third one would become the energy supply. I stood when I had finished.
Without warning them, I displayed my awareness of the comet. It was exactly where it should be. The glancing collision was scheduled to happen within the next one hundred ten deci. If all went as we expected, the comets second collision would be occurring one turn and one hundred sixty deci later. The furthest probe should cease to exist sixty deci after that. And that would give us thirty deci to image the replica and ward the Paradise before the captain changed our course.
“That last thirty deci are going to be very intense,” commented Dulain.
“That they will,” I responded. “At
least we won’t be adding in the cloaking element. We won’t need to cloak the replica as Lucera images it. Nor will we need to time the uncloaking of the replica with the cloaking of the Paradise. Using the comet to destroy the probes makes that unnecessary.”
“Are we beyond the range of the probe behind us?” asked Marleah.
“By the time the comet makes its second collision, we will be beyond its view,” I replied. “We will be within range of the two the comet will render useless. So the pirates will know we are still on course at that moment. They will also know we had nothing to do with their probes’ misfortune.” I couldn’t help but grin mischievously.
“Hey – I can see the small body field now,” remarked Lucera bringing our attention back to the display. “This is the one we want it to hit, right?” she observed, pointing to the correct rock.
“It is,” confirmed Marleah.
I changed the display to show the entire small body field. The angle allowed us to see the field from the top. The pirate base sat in the center of an empty space ringed by a close packed field that grew thin and sparse toward the rim. I choose to highlight the rock Lucera had indicated in yellow.
“I want to see the resultant motion from the impact,” I explained. “It would be very nice if some space rocks are knocked into this ring,” I added pointing to the emptiness on the far side of the pirate base.
“That would certainly draw the pirates’ attention,” stated Lucera.
“Yes, they will send ships to push the rocks back into the field,” commented KwinJai. “I wonder if they would notice all the other rocks that will have been disturbed.”
“I’m hoping they will and spend lots of time investigating it,” I responded. “Sadly, it is not an event with a high probability.”
“We won’t know until it happens – or doesn’t,” reminded Marleah.
“True,” I agreed. “Let’s get one more data dump from the probe. While we are focusing on the planetoid I want to investigate the engine from the inside out. Lucera, I would like you not to join our link. I want you as strong as possible when it comes time to image the replica.” I knew my request was not what she wanted to hear. To soften my words, I added, “Keep an eye on the display. If we are focused elsewhere, I want you to bring our attention to it just before the comet hits the yellow highlighted rock. Okay?”
She managed a smile as she nodded. She stayed at the display while the rest of us moved a little to the left of the display to stand in a rough circle.
“When we get over there, Jacarr will stay with me. The rest of you will get the probe’s data.” They acknowledged their assignments. “Let’s link,” I invited. In short order, I felt all five of them. We reached for the probe. I gestured toward it before shifting my awareness to the planetoid’s engine nozzle. Jacarr and I found ourselves outside the planetoid looking up the gapping maw of the nozzle. We proceeded inside, coming quickly to the grouping of the individual nozzles of the multiple ion drives. We continued through the drives into the actual engine room.
‘What exactly is our objective?’ asked Jacarr mentally.
‘I want a location to teleport the crystal within the probe that will result in stopping this planetoid from being mobile,’ I explained.
‘These ion drives depend on the nuclear generator to provide the necessary electricity,’ he said. ‘We could blow up their ability to control the generator. That would strand the planetoid here.’
‘Indeed it would,’ I responded. ‘It may be the course of action we take, but I was looking for a way to achieve that goal without gutting the planetoid. But now that I actually see it, it really depends on the strength of the shell around it.’
‘Do you think it is as strong as a ward?’ he inquired.
‘No,’ I replied. ‘It may be strong enough to eject the whole engine room out the nozzle.’
‘No engine, no motion,’ he stated with a grin.
‘No engine, no power, no life support,’ I reminded him.
His grin faded slightly before he sent, ‘It will give us an opportunity to see what’s in those other rocks.’
‘True enough,’ I remarked. ‘Perhaps they have even planned for total engine destruction.’
‘Perhaps,’ he allowed. We both knew that no one plans for that possibility. They don’t usually have time to wish they had when they needed it. ‘The others are ready.’
‘As are we,’ I said.
We shifted our awareness to the others. They were outside the planetoid waiting for us. We pushed back to cargo bay four. When we had settled into ourselves, we found Lucera dutifully watching the display.
She peeked at us, smiling as she informed us, “It is about to happen.”
We gathered around the display. The comet was seconds away from collision one. We watched, hoping we had not miscalculated. I smiled when I noticed Marleah was holding her breath, and she was not the only one. I forced myself to exhale. As I did, the comet grazed the rock. Its new course lined it up for the dead center collision with rock number two.
“Step two has been successfully accomplished,” she reported happily.
“Indeed,” I replied. “Congratulations on steps one and two.”
“Thank you,” she said. “Shall we view the data from the probe?”
“Of course,” I answered. I gestured for her to lead the way to where she wanted to gather.
When she stopped, the rest of us gathered around her. We linked minds so that we would all be privy to the information as we viewed it. She began the data stream. Much of it was administrative business. The only reference to us was to learn our current position. They acknowledged that we would be moving to the next set of probes in one hundred sixty deci, which happened to be the same time our comet would be impacting the target rock. As far as we could tell, all was proceeding according to our schedule.
I returned to the display. The disturbance caused by the first collision was wide spread. Much of the field on the same plane as the comet strike was being shifted toward the backside of the planetoid from us. The rocks spread out leaving open space almost all the way into the ring. Surprisingly, five rocks did get knocked into the empty ring around the pirate base. If the pirates followed previous procedures, they would dispatch clean up and investigation vessels. This should occur within the next forty five deci.
We continued watching the display. And, yes, ships were dispatched. It seemed two vessels were assigned to push each rock back into the field. While ten vessels were busy with clean up, two ships flew investigation. They did take a long time – half a turn – surveying the changes to the small body field. They even flew the circumference of the field running sensor sweeps. But the scans were directed in toward the planetoid. It didn’t appear they detected the comet.
“Hexator Nickoli,” called Dulain. I shifted my gaze from the display to him. “Have you decided what you are going to do about the planetoid?”
“No,” I replied, “I haven’t.”
“What do you wish to accomplish?” asked Marleah.
“I want to foil the pirates’ plans,” I said. “I want to deny them the Paradise and Thendara Station. I want to remove their threat to the Empire.”
“How do you want to accomplish those goals?” she inquired.
“That’s where the problems materialized,” I remarked with a sigh. “The best way to protect the Paradise and Thendara would be to destroy the pirates. I could blow up the reactor and allow the blast to either gut the planetoid or expel the engine room into space. Either way, the people inside the planetoid are dead.”
“Unless those other rocks contain a separate power source,” interjected Jacarr. “Or there is a large vessel hidden somewhere close.”
“I suppose that could be possible,” I responded. “We didn’t see any ion trails leading to those other rocks. I’m more inclined to believe they house fighters, their pilots, and fuel. There may even be a repair yard.”
“We haven’t seen any sign of any vessel in the
vicinity,” added Lucera. “I suppose it could be cloaked. But it would have to be a really good cloak to hide from us for long.”
“What would happen if we just took out the ion drive?” asked Beltrain.
“That would keep the engine offline,” I replied. “They would not be going anywhere until they got it replaced. But I do have a concern. During our search, I found no other power generator. So taking out the ion drive would still mean a death sentence for all aboard.”
“Exploding the reactor would be more spectacular,” stated KwinJai. Marleah glared at him. He shrugged before saying, “Death would come faster than waiting to freeze or asphyxiate.”
“He does have a point,” Jacarr murmured.
“What if we left the crystal in the probe?” asked Lucera.
“Not very much,” I answered. “It would blow up the command bridge, destroying consuls. I doubt the explosion would cause much damage to the docking bay.”
“So what do we do?” asked Dulain.
“We are going to image the replica once the probes are destroyed,” I said. “Then, we will ward the Paradise so that it cannot be seen after the captain changes course. We will link minds. Then, Beltrain and Lucera will head to the bridge in their ward-skins. Their tasks will be to scan for the Captain, defend the ship from danger, and monitor pirate communication. Hopefully, they will just be running scans and monitoring communication. Meanwhile, the rest of us will defend the replica. Once we leave the pirate base behind, we will destroy it. When the Paradise returns to its original course, Lucera will drop the replica’s image.”
“Wouldn’t it be easier to just destroy the pirate base?” asked KwinJai.
“Truthfully, yes,” I answered. “We might even catch all the vessels in the docking bay with no power to the equipment.”
