The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (22 page)

By
bracing themselves and carefully alternating the application of a prybar from one side of the module to the other, Hawkins and Harris were able to first break the module loose from its mooring spot and then to walk it up the studs until it came free. The trio then took a hydraulic-powered shears out of the toolbox and severed the ten centimeter-diameter cables connecting each end of the module to the workings of the old ship. They then negotiated their way back out of the stripped hulk of the destroyer and loaded their prize into the cutter.

Then,
with their primary mission accomplished, they took some time to examine the other ships in the Scrapyard's new "collection."

The two cruisers were
initially impressive but ultimately as disappointing as the destroyers had been. They too had been partially disassembled for some kind of project and it did not appear as though the lost parts were anywhere to be found. The bow end was missing from one of them, and the stern was missing from the other. Someone had been working on a rather large project of some kind but whatever it was, it had been long ago and was now long forgotten.

Unless...
? Carlisle spotted an odd-looking ship, also secured to the floor of the asteroid, but over by itself, without any other ships within fifty meters. Upon closer examination, it looked as though it had been somewhat haphazardly assembled from the missing bow and stern components of the two dismantled cruisers. On the bow end there was what looked like a flat, roundish plate that covered the opening in the hull where the front battery would have been positioned. The position normally occupied by the rear battery was likewise covered.

Sticking straight out from
the sides of the odd-looking ship were a series of ten triangular fins, five of them sprouting from either side of the ship. Looking like a series of stacked delta wings, each fin was some forty meters long and measured about twenty meters wide at its widest point which was at the back edge the fin. The rear edge of the fins intersected the fuselage of the craft at a ninety-degree angle and ended less than halfway down the side of the ship. The five fins on either side were parallel to one another and each was spaced about a meter away from its neighbors.

The resulting craft was a somewhat ungainly looking creation that was short
, thick and stubby. The two donor ships had been sliced apart in such a way that when the bow end of one had been joined to the stern of the other, the resulting craft was somewhat shorter than either of the donors had been, making it about the length of a destroyer. The fins sprouting out of the sides gave it an almost comical resemblance to the sort of ship that might have been featured in an ancient space video or an old-fashioned science fiction yarn. The proportions of the homely little ship were...just wrong.

Hawkins
inadvertently described the strange construction almost perfectly: "What kind of a foul beastie do you suppose that be?" he asked, of no one in particular.

"Looks like some kind of very experimental craft," replied Harris. "Have you got anything
about it in your wrist comp files from the special inventory, Ensign?"

"Let me check
," she replied. After fiddling briefly with her wrist computer, she brought up a display and began to look it over.

"This must be it here," she said, and then began to quote,
"United Terran Federation experimental prototype XC-89: Basilisk Class Planetary defense light cruiser."

"
Basilisk?" said Talbot, "A creature so ugly that it can kill with a glance? That name certainly fits! Any details, Ensign?"

"Yes,
the stern section contains both of the power plants from the
Brooklyn
Class donor. Hmmm...the idea was to provide a whole lot of power for weapons...and for some extremely stout shielding." She skimmed down a ways before continuing, "...It was intended to have a small crew of only about thirty personnel or so. I'm paraphrasing here...but from the description it seems like they envisioned it as a planetary defender, and it would have remained pretty much in orbit close to the planet it was defending. By design, there isn't much storage space and even with a crew of only thirty or so, they would have needed to be resupplied every couple of weeks or so."

"What about the armament?" asked
Harris.

Carlisle scanned the file some more before pursing her lips and saying: "Well I'll be damned!"

"What is it, Ensign?" said Harris, his curiosity piqued.

"That flat plate on the bow houses a
highly experimental prototype Bofors turret."

"Like the one we installed on the
Greyhound
?"

"Only in the most general sense, Lieutenant," she replied. "This turret is retractable
."

"Why would they have needed a retractable turret?" asked Harris
.

"
I imagine it was some kind of misguided attempt to demonstrate peaceful intent while the ship was guarding Federation facilities," replied Carlisle, "You'd only deploy the turret when you thought you would be using it. Seems like a lot of complication for no good reason."

"How much different are those projectors
from the ones on the
Greyhound
?"

"
The biggest difference appears to be the power output."

"Which is?"

"Well... let me see...," Carlisle scrolled through the file a little further, "...Here it is. Omigod!"

"What is it, Tamara?"

"Each projector is powered by up to six individual modules. With each module good for 1000 gigjoules, these guns have a maximum output of 6000 gigajoules apiece!"

"
Whoa!" said Harris.

"That's only part of it," said Carlisle.
"Those oddball fins on the sides are part of a superduty cooling system for the weapon."

"Why do you suppose they needed th
at?"

She read again for a moment.

"Because -- if I'm reading this right -- those projectors are each supposed to be able to sustain full power fire, that's 6000 gigajoules apiece, at ten pulses
per second
for over five minutes at a time!"

"Saints preserve us," said Hawkins. "There ain't a shield in existence that could stand up to that
kind of poundin'!"

"I assume that was the point," said Carlisle.

"I wonder if it works?" asked Harris.

"
How about we give Kresge a call and ask him if we can have a little more time to check it out?" asked Carlisle.

"
That's just what I was thinking," said Harris.

Harris
powered up the Stage I communicator and, within a couple of minutes, was in contact with the Scrapyard.

"Scrap Central, this is Junkyard One. Do you read?"

"Scrap Central here,"
replied Chief Allen
. "What can we do for you, Junkyard One?"

"We need to talk to Kresge right away.
Top priority!"

"A moment, Junkyard One, he's in his office."

Kresge's face showed up on the monitor a moment or two later.

"Harris? What
's happening out there? Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Commander, everything is fine,
" said Harris. "We found several partially dismantled Orion Mark V's and we have secured a new module to try on the
Greyhound
but...something else has come up, something that might be worth taking a closer look at."

"I'm listening..."

"
Don't get me wrong, Commander," said Harris, "There's mostly just a bunch of junk out here but we did find one really interesting ship."

"And?"

"I really don't think we want to talk about over these communications, Commander," said Harris. "But we may be able to find a use for it. Request permission to attempt a power-up."

"How much time do you think you'll need?"

"I don't know that we should waste a lot of time, Commander. Maybe if you just give us overnight. At this point we don't even know if the ship was ever powered up in the first place. We'll let you know in the morning."

"Sounds
alright to me, Lieutenant, but you'd better start heading back here before noon."

"
There is one more thing, Commander,"

"...and that is?"

"If the ship is worth salvaging, we'll need another ten to fifteen personnel to man it and get it back to the Scrapyard."

There was a longish pause while Kresge considered the request. Finally he replied,
"Most of the crew of the
Larkspur
are still unassigned. I think we can manage something. Call me as soon as you have more to report. Just be damned careful out there! Kresge out."

Chapter
32.

"...There are many similarities between the offensive and defensive maneuvers that are performed by aircraft and spacecraft. In a combat situation, pilots of both types of warship must continuously balance a myriad of parameters: their relative speed, their momentum, how much g-force they will be subjecting themselves to and a host of other factors. There are, however, a number of important and basic differences that make the two types of piloting very, very different from one another. One of these differences is atmosphere...

...
An aircraft is embedded in air, buoyed up by it and the pilot is able to use various control surfaces to interact with it in order to perform all sorts of complicated and effective aerobatics. In contrast, the spacecraft operates in vacuum, and any maneuvering requires the application of power to affect a change in direction. The pilot must then apply additional power in the proper measure and on the proper combination of vectors to counteract the forces that were applied to effect the original change. Remember that in space momentum is conserved. Also, there is no friction. A spacecraft has no atmosphere to work against to bleed off speed or to lever a change in direction by simply moving a control surface...

...
Another major influence is, of course, gravity, and for atmospheric craft it is just as huge a factor as the atmosphere itself. Read your textbooks on aerial combat and you will see page after page of how important it is for pilots to learn how utilize gravity and how they are limited by it. Atmospheric combat does occur in three dimensions but gravity dictates that there is a definite up and down that must always be factored in. Also, as altitude increases, the atmosphere gets thinner. There is a limit, a ceiling, to how high you can go as well...

...
Space warfare doesn't have any of these limitations and, as a result, combat in space absolutely occurs in three dimensions. There is no up or down. Interestingly, you will still see a great many design features of modern spacecraft that must be present to allow us poor, gravity-bred, mostly two dimensional, humans to be able to function. During this series of lectures, we will try to help you understand some of these limitations and help you get past them to become more effective at fighting with a spacecraft...

...As you would expect, there are things you can do with an aircraft that you can't do very easily
, if at all, with a spacecraft. On the other hand, there are lots of interesting things you can do with a spacecraft that are impossible in an aircraft. For instance..."

Hartwell Wrist Comp reference highlighted for further review by Amanda Steuben. Excerpt is from a series of recorded lectures on spacecraft combat tactics taught by Commander William "Billy" Staunton (b2501-d2590) at the United Federation Naval Academy on Old Earth during the 2579-80 class session.

Heard's World Star System, on board Jasmine Republican Navy
Shafra
Class gunboat
Falco,
January 8, 2599.

Lieutenant
Fayyad Morcos of the gunboat,
Falco
, called his fellow gunboat captain to coordinate the next phase of their attack on the small Federation force that had just entered the Heard's World system.

"
Falco
calling
Farat
," he spoke to the video pickup on his bridge.

"
Farat
here
," replied Lieutenant Hannad Wasem, the other gunboat's captain.

"
Those are almost certainly the two ships we were warned about," radioed Morcos, "Just as we were informed, one of them appears to be a Federation destroyer."

"And the other?"
asked Wassem.

"A freighter of some
kind," replied Morcos, "though a fairly new one. It looks like he is running back to the hyperlink zone. It is a pity; that ship would have made for a fine prize. You must discipline your gunners; that premature shot warned them and they were able to respond all the sooner."

"The guilty party has been chastised. It will not happen again."

"That would be for the best."

"What do you suppose they want
in this system?"

"
Food? Weapons? Nothing that can be good for us!"

After a short pause, Wassem asked,
"Can the two of us take on that destroyer?"

"
Of course we can," replied Morcos. "We simply employ the same tactics that Captain Haaman and I used to defeat that Meridian destroyer we engaged in the Harmony system last month, and we should prevail. Our ships are faster and more maneuverable. If we deploy our Al-Bashiq anti-ship missiles at close enough range we should have little difficulty scoring a strike. Once the ship is crippled, it should be easy prey for the two of us."

"You are saying that w
e need to get in close enough that they won't have time to react to a missile attack?"
Wassem asked, though he sounded somewhat doubtful.

"Correct
. She looks to be one of the Federation's newest class of destroyer and she'll have good point defenses and probably the latest countermeasures. If we each fire more than one missile and use the fly by wire controls we have an excellent chance."

"How close do
we dare to get to a Federation destroyer?"

"
We need to get within fifteen hundred kilometers," replied Morcos, "though a thousand would be even better."

"A thousand kilometers?"
Wassem still sounded as though he was unconvinced.

"Yes
and we must keep them distracted with accurate pulse beam fire. If we both take aggressive evasive action and we come at him from two different directions, one or the other of us should be able to hit them a missile."

"How powerful are their pulse beams?"
asked Wassem.

"
I am not absolutely certain, but our shields should be able to sustain several hits before they become overloaded. Our evasive maneuvers must be aggressive. It will be for the best if we can avoid getting hit."

"What
are your orders?"

"
We'll form up as attacker and wingman, accelerate towards them and then split and build speed while we arc around to attack from two directions. We will approach the ship from the bow, you high above her from her starboard side at, say, two o'clock and I'll attack low from port at ten o'clock. That way she won't be able to target both of us with her front battery. It's the same tactic that Haaman and I used to kill that Meridian destroyer a month ago."

"
Understood,
Falco
, I form up with you and accelerate towards the enemy until we split to approach on our separate attack vectors."

"I'll give the order when it's time to start
targeting them with our missiles."

"Happy hunting,
Falco
!"

***

Heard's World Star System, on board Onboard
FNS Asimov,
January 8, 2599.

Onboard the
Asimov
, Nesbitt was shaking her head. "I don't like the feel of this at all. Keep those shields up and be ready to respond in case they try something nasty, like launch a missile or something. Point defense? Keep your weapons trained on the missile tubes of those gunboats. If any of them go hot, I want you to start putting pulse bolts up those tubes. Damn, what I wouldn't give for a few Hellhound missiles right now!"

The
Asimov
, in her temporary role as a courier ship shuttling dignitaries between Sol-Terra and the Santana Nexus, wasn't carrying a normal compliment of offensive and defensive missiles. In fact, as a sign of good faith to the various governments who had representatives at the Santana Nexus, she hadn't been carrying any missiles at all.

"
They've split their formation..." announced Sukamoto, "...they're arcing around...Here they come, Captain...both of them! It looks like a classic two on one attack formation! Incoming ships at two o'clock high and ten o'clock low!"

"Ensign,
" said Nesbitt, trying to keep the urgency out of her voice, "at my station, now!"

Sukamoto
crossed the bridge and was at the Captain's shoulder within three seconds.

"Sir?"

Nesbitt pitched her voice low so only the Ensign could hear her. There was no sense in alarming the rest of the bridge crew by letting them know anything about her indecision regarding the proper response to this situation.

"
What do we do here?" asked Nesbitt.

"Captain?" replied Sukamoto.

"Must I spell it out? You've obviously been trained in tactics, Ensign, I haven't."

"I was first in class for tactics,
Captain, what do you want to know?"

"How do we defend
against an attack situation like this?"

Sukamoto nodded his head in understanding.
"Way too many ship commanders tend to think in atmospheric terms," he replied, "It looks to me as though these guys fall into that group. They're attacking us head on, high and low, one from port and the other from starboard."

"It sounds like a reasonable approach," said Nesbitt.

"It's not bad," replied the Ensign, "This attack formation would give them an advantage in a surface battle as an airship with a single forward weapon being approached head on almost certainly has to choose one target or the other."

"What do you recommend?"

"If we want them to think their attack plan is working, our initial reaction should be to alternate fire between the two targets with our front battery. Then we do the unexpected."

"...And that would be?"

Sukamoto pointed to the plot on Nesbitt's command screen. "Draw a line from one of their ships to the other and you'll see that all we need to do is roll the ship so that the line connecting them becomes our new horizon and we've taken the high-low aspect out of the equation."

"
Yes, I see that," whispered the Captain. "That will certainly help, but what about the port-starboard aspect?"

"More
atmospheric tactical baggage," replied the ensign. "Here's what we need to do." He quietly described his solution to the Captain. She looked at him with new respect.

"Brilliant, Ensign, brilliant! Thanks, Sukamoto. You'd better get back to your station."

Sukamoto made his way back over to his tactical console.

"No need to make it easy for them," said Nesbitt
, forcing her voice to a calm tone that most definitely did not reflect her inner feelings. "Helm? Continue on course for the time being. On my order give me a thirty degree roll to port and prepare to follow that with a ninety degree slew to starboard. The roll will position us onto a targeting plane where we can engage both ships simultaneously without having to make major changes in our projector elevation and the slew will allow us to take them both on with our full broadside. Rear battery? You'll take the starboard bogey after the slew maneuver. Front battery? I want to start this battle out just the way they expect us to with you splitting your fire between both bogeys. If we let them think we're confused, they'll be more likely to fall into our trap. After we reorient the ship, the forward battery will concentrate fire on the port side bogey! Does everyone understand?"

After hearing a chorus of "ayes" she gave the order to commence firing.

"Forward battery?" she said. "I know the range is a little long, but start firing as soon as you have a target. If either of you destroys their target first, go after the other bogey immediately. Don't waste precious time waiting for further instructions. Point defenses? Prepare to counteract missile fire!"

The
Federation destroyer resolutely continued her on her original vector, as though she was bewildered by the intentions of her attackers. At extreme range, the
Asimov's
front battery began alternating fire between targets, firing one pulse bolt from each of her front projectors to port followed by rotating the turret and firing two pulses to starboard. As ordered, the front gunners would then rotate the turret back while changing the projector elevation to engage the other target and then repeat the process.

***

Heard's World Star System, on board Jasmine Republican Navy
Shafra
Class gunboat
Falco,
January 8, 2599.

On the bridge of the
Falco
, Lieutenant Morcos nervously reevaluated his battle plot every few seconds.

"All hands?
Prepare for evasive attack maneuvers! Helm? Initiate evasive tactic two alpha!"

The
Lieutenant immediately began to feel the effects of the maneuvers, even with the little ship's inertial dampers operating at maximum. He nodded in satisfaction as the destroyer, as expected, attempted to split her front battery fire between two targets.