Exploration (6 page)

"Honey, give me an assessment. Are we in danger?"

The synthetic brunet ran her hands over the console in front of her. Ricky was at a loss as to wh
y—
considering she was the ship's avatar and therefore already in possession of all the relevant sensor data.

"Of the thirty-one ships that have entered the system, only one poses a serious threat. Most of the vessels have minimal shielding and limited kinetic weapons. The larger ship seems to be a mothership of sorts. It has a massive fusion reactor that I conservatively estimate is capable of producing something in excess of four petaJoules."

"You said 'Peta' not 'Tera'?"

"That is correct, 10 to the 15th Joules."

"That is pretty powerful," Ricky mused. "I wonder what they do with that much energy?"

"Pretty much anything they want to," the diminutive android said.

***

Cat's mind went on high alert. Having been privy the sensor data being received by both Ken's pinnace and Ricky Valen's
Honey Dipper
, she was immediately aware of the massive destructive potential of the opposing fleet. What she didn't know was this fleet's intentions.

Silently she instructed her internal Heshe AI, Cal, to do an assessment of the
Bluefi
n’
s
bridge. She needed to know that she could take control of this ship if it became critical to their survival. Microscopic nanites fluttered from her finger tips and stationed themselves where they could monitor each critical station. In addition, they relayed to Cat's AI every keystroke and command entered within their view. In short order Cal, and therefore Cat, had a reasonably good approximation of bridge security codes and operating procedures.

She watched Captain Running Stream as he quietly moved about his bridge. He was both calm and efficient. In other circumstances she would have admired his professionalism.  He turned and saw her staring at him. He smiled and winked. Apparently some gestures transcended species.

"These are war games. My hatch-mates are testing my readiness to defend myself."

"And are you ready?" Cat asked with more than just idle curiosity.

"Our shields are more than a match for any..."

KABOOM!

The floor dropped out from beneath them. The bridge heaved and the crew was tossed like rag dolls across the room. Someone yelled "They're attacking!"

Instinctively Cat snatched the Bearephant Captain as he flew by, while at the same time grabbing for a console. Her Heshe enhanced muscles had no trouble managing his two hundred kilo mass. Sparks from overloaded systems showered over the now smoke-filled room. The lighting was completely erratic and threatened to fail completely. People were scrambling to reach controls but the constant buffeting made the task nearly impossible. 

"Rotate the ship!" Cat yelled.

"What!" Running Stream yelled back as he struggled to regain his feet.

"Damn it, Captain!" Cat grabbed his arm and pointed towards the front of the ship. "Get that massive rock you are holding between us and that big guy firing on this ship, and do it while you still have a ship!"

A second series of blasts hit the
Bluefin
and it was clear this was no practice battle. The ship was taking serious damage. Cat had no idea how long a ship like this could take this type of pounding. The Modos crew was too slow. They were scattered about the battered bridge struggling to regain their stations.

Cat vaulted the railing and dove into the vacant navigation pit. Her hands flew at impossible speed as she brought the crippled ship about.  The ablative shield that was the iron-nickel asteroid they had used during the trans-dimensional transit was now between them and the largest of the attacking ships. The artificial gravity fully reasserted itself and the ship seemed to stabilize.   Even so, it was clear that they were bleeding atmosphere.

Captain Running Stream reasserted control. "Seal those breaches and get me a status report, ASAP!"

He used his trunk to flip on an intercom.

"Engineering... I need power for shields and jump drive, in that order. Give me an update."

A voice filled the bridge that Cat assumed was the Chief Engineer. "I can give you 80 percent on the shields now. The rest will take a dry-dock. As for the jump drive... I'll need ten minutes."

"You have five!" Running Stream snapped.

"Captain..."

Running Stream cut him off. "Make it happen, Engineer!"

"Yes, Sir."

The ship continued to shutter as the asteroid shield was repeatedly hit by massive beams of focused plasma traveling at near relativistic speeds.

Running Stream looked at Cat who was still sitting at the navigation station. She started to get up but he waved her down. The crumpled and dying form of the previous navigator was fifteen feet off to the left of the station where he had been thrown. In fact, his bridge was in a shambles. Only two other officers seemed to be on their feet and functioning.

"I have no idea how you learned to fly this ship with a total of ten minutes on the bridge but right now I need a navigator and you're it. Give me your word that you will do your best to protect the lives of all on this ship and I'll give you a provisional commission here and now."

"Agreed," Cat said "If the offer is extended to my two friends." She pointedly looked at Sassi and Ben.

"Done, and done 'Commander' Kimbridge," the Modos captain agreed. "Lieutenant Sassi, our computer interface is pretty much fried. I understand you are something of an expert. See what you can do."

The Ashkelon stood as tall as a four foot hairy moth could and returned a sharp "Sir, yes Sir!"

"That leaves you Lieutenant Ben..."

"Sir, I'm a power systems engineer. I may be more useful in engineering helping to get your drive back online than here on the bridge."

"I agree, but I don't have anybody free to guide you to engineering."

Ben smiled... a startling sight in a six legged canine. "You forget, Sir; I'm cybernetic. My internal computer had a pretty complete map of this ship several days ago."

Captain Running Stream looked at him and raised an eyebrow in yet another very human gesture. He toggled his ship-wide intercom.

"This is the Captain. We have been attacked and are still under attack. It seems our secret has been discovered. For the moment there are more questions than answers, but despite those questions I need each of you to focus on your individual areas of expertise. We will live to fight another day. All slaves are to be confined to quarters except those needing medical attention.  From this point forward they are our guests and are to be treated according
.
”

Looking speculatively at Ben, he continued without pause
,“
Inductees 6, 9, and 4 are now to be considered crew.  Commander Kimbridge and Lieutenant Sassi are assigned to the bridge. Lieutenant Ben will be serving in engineering. I need major systems available in the next five minutes."

He paused to look at the decimated bridge. Cat swore she saw a tear in the corner of his eye. Slowly, deliberately, with grave solemnness he continued in a softer tone.     

"Aside from our newest members, this crew knows better than most how important our mission is and why it is critical that we survive this day. That is all."

***

Ken watched the scene from the
Bluefin
Bridge unfold on his holographic display. He felt like he could reach out and touch his friends and yet despite his proximity he might was well be in another universe. He felt powerless.

The comments the captain had for the Modos crew were intriguing. Clearly more was going on than had been initially apparent.

"Cat, do you have any orders?" Ken queried via his commlink.

Cat sub-vocally responded immediately.

"You and Ricky continue to feed my AI your sensor data. We are almost blind here. Deploy a nanite sensor mesh over critical areas of the
Bluefin
hull but be careful to keep them hidden. If any sections are at risk of failure, at your discretion extend your shields to protect them. It seems apparent that despite their ability to jump between universes; our hyperfield technology is far more advanced than theirs."

Ken heard his friend and commanding officer open a channel to Ricky Valen on the
Honey Dipper
.

"Ricky, can you and Honey set something up for me?"

"Sure thing, Madam Admiral, Sir. What do you have in mind?"

***

The captain of the Dreadnaught
Red Tide
swore. The traitorous quarry should have been destroyed by the first dozen salvos but their cunning captain was using their transit shield to delay the inevitable. He yelled at the young fry scurrying about the massive bridge.

"Move us closer! I weary of this game... let us end it now!"

As a unit they jumped to implement their irate captain's latest order. Too many of their former colleagues had met an early demise by taking too long to respond to his orders.

Slowly the powerful plasma drives began the task of countering the existing momentum and moving the ship on a course that would bring it closer to the
Bluefin
. The power of their beam weapons was a function of the square of the distance between the ships in question. As the vessels moved closer the amount of energy delivered to the target increased rapidly. 

The
Red Tide's
strategy was not sophisticated. It was simply to bludgeon the enemy vessel with its primary beam weapons until its intended victim was so much detritus floating among the stars.

***

Honey leaned forward and pointed towards an asteroid field that was near enough to be useful for Admiral Kimbridge's plan to work.

"There," she said in a husky voice that Ricky found vaguely distracting but not as distracting as the excessively tight jumpsuit she insisted on wearing. For an android she certainly knew how to 'flaunt her hardware' as it were.

Ricky coughed to clear his mind from where it was going as she leaned forward. He looked at the spot she had indicated.

"Go ahead and deploy a cloaked Sandy and extend the repulsion shields to give our little friends a tiny push."

***

Cat watched Ricky's progress. The Sandy was a weapon developed during the D'lralu war. It was a device that released a specialized group of construction nanites. They were programmed to tear apart any physical matter they ran into. In this case they would be tearing apart fifty-three metric tons of water and methane ice. The asteroid in question had been pushed into a path that would shortly place it between the attacking ship and the
Bluefin
.

A slowly expanding cloud of dust slowly moved between the two combatants. The plasma beams had no trouble punching through the wispy vapor. Cat smiled. The intent was not so much to stop the beams as to destroy their cohesion.   The result was a dramatic fall off in the beam intensity. There was an immediate and dramatic decrease in the ship's shuddering. 

Captain Running Stream noticed immediately. "Sensor tea
m—
analysis! Have they  scaled back their attack?"

"Negative, Sir. There seems to be a bit of interstellar dust between us and the dreadnaught. It's dispersing the beam a little."

"Navigation, plot a course and apply lateral thrusters. Try to get more of the cloud between us and them."

"Aye, Captain" Cat said as she punched in the coordinates she had already calculated.

Slowly the
Bluefin
shifted in space. Between the movement of the dust cloud and the now slightly lateral movement of the Modos slaver, the energy dissipated against the transit shield fell by another 10 percent. Cat estimated this bought the rapidly disintegrating shield another three minutes of useful life. It had already been six minutes since the attack had begun.

Cat was reluctant to tip her hand by having either Ken and/or Ricky intervene. Either of their ships could be a game-changer given the hybrid Human/Heshe technology employed by both of them. Fortunately she was spared this choice. Just as she had decided to instruct them to extend their shields the light on her panel indicating a functional hyperdrive flashed violet, which was the Modos equivalent of 'Green.'

"Captain, we are 'go' on hyperdrive!"

"Lieutenant Sassi does our computer have a set of jump parameters for us?"

"Negative, Captain. The computer is still offline. I've manually calculated a set of jump coordinates that will move us eleven light years towards the galactic core."

"Manually?" Running Stream looked at Cat as if to confirm he had heard correctly. She smiled and nodded her head.

"Why eleven light years?"

Sassi turned in his seat to face the Bearephant. "Eleven seemed like a nice even number."

Running Stream shook his head and turned towards Cat. He had previously confirmed that she knew how to engage the engines for a hyperjump. He nodded to her now.

"Jump us, Commander."

"Yes, Captain. They will, of course, follow us," Cat said as she engaged the hyperfold engines. Mentally she sent the new coordinates to the
Honey Dipper
. Ken's pinnace, being attached to the
Bluefin
like a lamprey would come along for the ride regardless.

"True," Running Stream acknowledged. "But it will take them time to reacquire a targeting solution. Time that we can use for repairs." 

The stars changed as the
Bluefin
reemerged in normal space. Ricky confirmed from his vantage point on the
Honey Dipper
that the Dreadnaught engaged its hyperjump engines and followed the
Bluefin
in its own hyperfold.

"Shields up!" Running Stream yelled as soon as the jump was complete.