He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (38 page)

              “Oh my lord! They are recycling those ships for the material.”

“Yes, then recycling the rest of the ship to make new warships.”

“Could it be that simple?”  Pete looked back and forth between Mike and Jan.

“Without knowing how the Ag plates are made, they’d either have to buy it from some other race, such as the Voss, of the Breen, or salvage as much as they can from old ships.”

“Buying it from the Voss or the Breen could be expensive once they knew how desperate the Sirriens are to get their hands on them.”

“Even knowing all that, it still doesn’t change our mission.  We still have to find out where those LAC’s are and either retrieve them, or destroy them.”

“It's going to be a bitch getting in there, Skipper not matter which way you look at it.”  Jan pursed her lips in thought.

“You’ve got that right, Jan.”  Mike nodding in agreement.

“Christ, even with our shielding, there no way we can hide our drive trail if we go in.”  Gable sighed.  And then what do we do.  We still don’t know if the ships are even on the station.  For all we know the Sirriens might have already shipped them off somewhere else.”

“I don’t think so.  They took a hell of a lot of trouble to get them here in secret, and this is a hidden base.  I’m betting the ships are still on that station.”

“So how do we go about finding them, Skipper?” 

Their drive signature was the one weak point in their invisibility shield.  It would stand out like a sore thumb to any competent sensor tech.  Mike sat there in silence, studying the battle board, formulating and rejecting one plan after another.

“How about using a shuttle, or ships launch, Skipper, that should be a able to slip though the net?”  Gable ventured.

“It might, but if spotted, there would be no way to rescue it.  Besides that, what do you do if you get there?”

“I’d take that chance, Skipper.” 

“I know you would Jan, but it's too risky, but thanks for the offer.”  He sat there, deep in thought, thinking about what his Grandfather taught him, and looked for the obvious.  Unconsciously he sat forward as he studied his data pad showing the system, stroking his chin and tapping his front teeth with his fingernail.  A germ of an idea formed making his eye squint as his brow pulled into a frown.

“Let's go back to the Bridge. I want to see the systems on the big screen.”  Once they arrived, Jan put an enlargement view of the system on the main screen.

“Jan, step the view out.”  She did, zooming out one-step at the time.  “Hold it there.”  Everyone on the Bridge looked at the board to see if they could see what the Captain was seeing.  One or two looked at each other and shrugged.

“Zoom in Janice on this point, slowly.”  Mike used his consult pointer to indicate a position.  Janice zoomed in.  Then he smiled and sat back, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world.  “How are your piloting skills today, Chief?”  Mike asked.

“Piloting?...  fine, sir.”  Conner answered, looking over his shoulder with a skeptical look on his face, remembering the last time Mike had asked him that.  At least this time there were no canyons for him to thread his way through.

“Excellent,” Mike muttered and turned his attention to his consult for a moment, “drift us to these coordinates, Chief.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”  Conner check the position, then brought the manoeuvring thrusters on line and slowly turn the ship around into a new heading.

“OK, Skipper, let’s have it.”

“What?”

“You’ve sitting there like the cat that just eaten the canary.”

“Oh, that,” he pointed to the screen, “what’s that, Pete?”

“That, sir it’s an asteroid belt.”

“Right.  And where does asteroid belts go?”

“Go?”  He thought about it for a moment before answering, thinking it might be a trick question,  “all the way round the system usually.”

“Right.”  Then it hit Pete and the others what Mike was talking about. “Right pass the Solar furnace and the construction yards.” They both said together.

“That right, boys and girls, that’s where they get their construction materials from to feed the solar furnace, and a path right thought their defense ring.”  Conner looked over his shoulder at Mike.

“And I take it you want me to take this ship inside the asteroid belt, don’t you Skipper.”  Moreover, he’d just thought that piloting a shuttle through a narrow canyon was hard.

“Better than that, Chief, I want you to find me a nice safe, cozy asteroid to put her down on, one with a rotation in line with the solar plane if possible.”

“Good lord! That brilliant, sir.”  Conner exclaimed, catching on immediately.

“Yes, it is quite elegant.”  Pete marveled at the brilliance of the plan.

“Glad you think so, Mr. Standish.  Would you care to take the helm to accomplish the manoeuvre?”  Conner offered with a raised eyebrow.

“Err... nope, don’t think me twelve week piloting course would put me in your class where I would consider putting this ship down on a spinning asteroid, thank you very much.”  There was a loud cough from the other side of the Bridge, but underneath Mike could have sworn he heard Janice let out a big chicken squawk.

“I heard that, Second Leftenant Fletcher!”

“What!”  She asked in outrage.  “All I was doing is clearing my throat.”  She battered her eyelids at him in mock innocents.

“Don’t worry, Pete, I’ve seen Mr. Blake put an assault shuttle down inside a cave under a waterfall.”  Conner just snorted, and held his piece.  “Janice,” Mike said in a stern voice, trying to show his disapproval, not that it works with all the chucking around the Bridge, “try and find us a good size asteroid, nickel-iron if possible, with a slow rotation on her.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.”  She answered attempting to keep a straight face.

“Discipline on this ship is definitely slipping, Captain.”  Pete huffed, rocking his seat from side to side.

“You think so, Number One?  I didn’t think we had any in the first place.”  Pete scratched his chin again.

“Yes, come to think of it, you could be right about that.”

“Not much we can do about it now, except bring back flogging.”  He offered.

“How about walking the plank, Skipper.”  Gable put in brightly.

“Oh, I think we should bring back keel hauling.” Janice added.  “That should be fun to watch.”

“You demented people are no help at all.  I shall gather what dignity I have remaining a push off to the Wardroom for a cup of coffee.”

“Err, can you bring me one back?  Cream and sugar.”  Jan asked, giving him her sweetest smile.

“Permission to go drown my sorrow, Skipper.”

“Permission granted, but don’t forget to bring back the donuts.”  Mike gave him his killer smile.

“
Et tu, Brute.”  Pete muttered as he passed through the hatch.

“So, if the Leftenant can find one like that, Skipper, I take it you want me to set her down on it?”

“Right, Conner.  We then go to ultra-quite and passive scan only as the asteroid rotates, that way there is less chance of someone spotting us as we pass through their security net.  It will also get us through the defense lines without them even knowing we are here, I hope.”

Conner Blake drifted the ship slowly sideways a few degrees at the time to bring her around to head for the asteroid belt.  Mike crossed his fingers that no Sirrien sensor tech would notice an asteroid almost turning in a circle.  The hatch opened, and Pete came back on the Bridge with a tray of drinking bulbs with coffee and a plate of donuts, catching the last part of Mike’s statement.

“Then what?”  Jan asked.

“We scan as we go in and if everything looks good, we launch a raid and locate our fighter.  Find them, destroy them, or fly them out of there.”  It sounded lame even as he said it but Janice didn’t make any sly comments or remarks.

“Sounds worthwhile, sir, and if not, we can at least stay put and wait till we are out the other side.”  Pete walked around handing out coffee and donuts.

“Right again, Peter.”

“Although I do wish we had a plan to get onto that station for a look see.”  Pete brushed sugar out of his beard as he spoke.

“I see you’ve recovered your dignity sufficiently to rejoin us, Number One, but I’m with you.  I wish we had a plan as well, but we’ll just have to wait and see what the lady of fortune brings us.”

They drifted for six days until they were on the outside and shadowed by the asteroid belt, and well outside any possible sensor sweep.  Other than keeping an eye out for wandering picket ships, they ghosted in-system scanning the local asteroid for another two days before Janice found a good-sized chuck of rock and painted it for the helm.  With all the delicacy of a surgeon, Conner Blake manoeuvred, the ship behind the asteroid to the one Janice picked.  This was about a quarter of a mile long by an eighth of a mile and just the right rotation for what they needed.  Conner had his work cut out, as not only was the asteroid turning around its axis, but also the whole belt was turning in two directions.  One in a circular path around the sun, and secondly in a slow undulating twist around itself.  This was caused by four small shepherding moons that tended to pull and move the whole belt in a spiral.  The distance between the numerous rocks didn’t help, and four sets of eyes watched spellbound as he inserted the ship between the two asteroids.  Once he’d establish the ship directly behind the rock, he now had to spin the ship to match its rotation.  Mike felt himself get dizzy just watching all the different movements, and he wondered how Conner was doing under the VR helmet.  He could see sweat trickling down Conner’s neck, yet at this point, he dare not say a word.  One false move and they'd be like a pinball, bouncing from rock to rock.  As a precaution, he’d ordered all hands to slow battle stations and sealed the ship.  He didn’t use the alarm system, just the all-stations intercom so as not to distract Conner Blake.  There was no way the shield could handle a multi-thousand ton rock slamming against the hull, and even some of the small chucks of debris came a little close for comfort.  As the ship began to spin to match the asteroid, Mike spotted a cleft, or fissure in the surface.

“Chief,” he said, softly, “see if you can put us down in the cleft.”

“All ready spotted it, Skipper, heading there now.”  He murmured, his hands delicately moving the control yoke.

The second ticked by, each an eternity, nerves stretched to the breaking point as Conner inched the ship forward.  A knife edged crag swept passed them, barley missing the hull by inches and setting off the proximity alarm.  Janice quickly killed it, and Mike swore his heart skipped a beat.  Then Conner lowered her as he matched speed with the asteroid and put her down on the landing sponsons as gentle as a mother putting a baby to bed.  Everyone felt/heard the clang-crunch and she settled, the hull tilted and right itself on a level footing.

“Sweet Jesus!  That gets you a week's liberty on me, Chief, at the port of your choice.”  Mike slumped in his seat, shaking like a leaf. It was a giant gamble, and it was paying off, thanks to Conner and his skill at the helm.

“Chief, you have my undying admiration, Sheesh!  I thought I was a hot shot pilot, but that was something to behold.”  Janice applauded.  She came over and gave him a hug as he removed the VR helmet.  Conner looked embarrassed and shrugged.

“It wasn’t as hard as it looked, Ma’am.”  He smiled sheepishly.  He wasn’t use to all this attention.  “Besides that, if this is where the Skipper won’t it, that where she’ll be.”

“Chief, you are relieved of duty as of now, go take a shower, get a drink, relax and sleep, you deserve it.”