Shadows of Golstar (38 page)

Owens inwardly winced at the brusque reference to the
ill-fated expeditions. He was going to have to talk to Hec about his cavalier
comments. He hoped Sharné wouldn’t take umbrage.

He shrugged, ignoring the comment and said, “We don’t
have any real choice, so we’ll just have to live with the situation and rely on
your estimates, Hec. Now please put the tactical display back on the main
holo-screen again. I won’t make any more excuses for my muddy thinking, but we
also should have discussed a strategy for the planet-fall before now. I know
it’s late in the game, but we need to decide quickly on a plan for reaching the
planet’s surface.”

Hec complied and the holo-screen shimmered as the
image changed. Owens looked at the tactical display that had replaced the
navigation grid. He viewed the relative positions of the
Holmes
and the
Golstar ship and asked, “Hec, how much of a head start can we expect to have
when we land on Selane?”

Hec’s voice took on an aggrieved tone, “I was going to
get to that. I estimate we’ll reach the planet’s outer atmosphere at a minimum
of ninety minutes before they do. The interval would have been a little
greater, but the Golstar ship recognized our destination some time ago, began
to ignore our course changes, and started to close the gap. However, both ships
are now braking as we approach the net. Fortunately, they can’t delay in
reducing their own speed because of the limitations in the battleship’s
maneuverability. So, our relative positions are being maintained.”

The AI fell silent. Owens waited for a few moments
before he finally said, “Okay Hec, speak up. You said they were beginning to
catch up, prior to our nearing the net. What are you not telling me?”

“Can’t put anything past you, Boss,” Hec replied.
“When I saw they were starting to gain on us, I got a little desperate, and so
I reviewed our engine’s new specs again. I found I could exceed the throttle
calibrations and push another five percent in power output from the engines
without doing any immediate or long-term harm.”  

Owens frowned.

“Boss, I honestly considered waking you for the final
decision, but I thought that the value of unbroken sleep in your recovery
outweighed my need for your okay. The logic pathways in my AI sub-mind
supported this decision, so I took it upon myself to raise the engine power. As
a result, they stopped gaining on us and we were just beginning widen the gap
when we both had to slow down for the defense net.”

Owens looked at the engine performance indicators
arrayed on the control bank and was impressed by the improvement. Other than
the increase in thrust, he couldn’t see anything amiss. All instruments read
nominal. He asked Hec, “Are you sure the engines aren’t going to be damaged by
the boost in power? We lose them, and all our efforts will be wasted.”

“About as sure as I can be, but I don’t have to
maintain the higher power level indefinitely,” Hec answered. “It’s conceivable
that the engines could eventually exceed heat margins and begin an automatic
shutdown cycle to prevent permanent damage. So far, with the power boost, the
engines’ temperatures elevated only three percent and held steady. I calculated
the probable temperature curve should they begin to heat up, and we would still
be safely on-planet well before the shutdown cycle would be initiated. Trust
me.”  

Owens rubbed his chin and wondered if he should be
angry that Hec had not awakened him earlier and asked for permission before
making the crucial decision to tweak the engines. Their survival depended on
their reaction drives. However, he had; he admitted to himself, told Hec he
trusted him and before that even called him his friend.  

Owens had already come to realize Hec was not just the
AI that ran the ship. He had become more than that. Hec was his partner. Owens
knew from experience that trust between partners was directly linked to
survival in his line of work. That trust could never be more important than in
their present situation.  

Besides, Owens reasoned, Hec had made the same
decision he probably would have made himself given similar information. And he
had to admit the uninterrupted sleep Hec had allowed him and Sharné was
precious. It could only help their chances of survival. He shrugged, “As I told
you before Hec, I do trust you. It’s okay. You did the right thing.”

Noting there was nothing further he could contribute
to their ship’s current status, Owens said, “So, I’ve had some
much-needed  sleep, and as I said before, I’m starting to think a little
more clearly. It’s about time we seriously consider how we’re going to get down
on the planet in one-piece.”

 He thought a moment, and then said, “As I see
it, our friends behind us can do one of two things. First, they can take their
ship into low orbit and try to use long range weapons from there to take us out
on the planet’s surface. I don’t know how sensitive their ship’s sensors are and
just what its weapons” capability might be.”  

Sharné spoke up, “We should assume they can scan a
planet’s surface for life forms, but it is my understanding the
Light Saber
and its sister ships are of the space-to-space ‘Dreadnought’ class of ships. I
do not believe they have space-to-surface weapon capabilities. We should not
have to worry about attacks originating from the battleship once we are on the
ground.”

He turned to face Sharné. She was now sitting in a
nearby crew seat. She looked at him calmly. He was happy to see that she seemed
relaxed.  He said, “That’s welcome news. Uh, how sure are you?”

“Actually, I am quite sure,” she replied. “In this
instance, the information was provided to me in briefings at the highest level,
by the Guardian of the Way himself. I know our lives depend on correct
assumptions. And after consideration, I must still say yes, I remain quite
confident that the battleship’s energy weapons are not designed to penetrate a
planet's atmosphere without dispersing. Nor, for that matter, would its
missiles, lacking shielding, survive entry into the atmosphere.”

Owens didn’t have a clue who this Guardian of the Way
was and didn’t ask. The title at least sounded very high on her government’s
food chain. That being the case, the assumption that the battleship couldn’t
fire at them on the planet’s surface was reasonable. “Okay,” he said. “One more
thing, I’m directing this question to both of you. I just want to make sure.
The Golstar ship really can’t make a direct planet-fall, can it?”

“You are correct. They cannot. It is not a ship of
that classification. They cannot land without the assistance of landing tugs
and a landing cradle of which, Selane has none that are currently active,” she
said with some confidence.

“Based on my scans and the ship’s library, I agree
with Sharné,” Hec responded. “The only way the crew can land is by way of a
shuttle or emergency craft.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me then; we can assume
they’re going to go for the only option I believe available to them, that of
parking their ship in orbit and using their auxiliary craft to follow us down
to the surface. Sharné, would you happen to know if they’re likely to have any
portable tracking devices?”

She shook her head, “I am sorry, but no. None of my
briefings included that level of information.”

Owens shrugged, “I’m not surprised, but it didn’t hurt
to ask.”

Sharné nodded.

Hec interjected and asked in a tentative tone, “Boss,
may I make a suggestion?”

“Go ahead. I need all the suggestions that I can get;
I’m a PI, not an expert on military strategy.”

“Since we’re maintaining a solid head-start, subject
to your approval, I propose to put the ship down on the far side of the planet,
away from their approach and scanners. As a result, the Golstar ship will be
temporarily blind to our exact landing location.”

Owens nodded, “Actually, that was my thought too.”

Hec went on, “That being the case, I propose a slight
modification to the landing. Rather than going for a standard glide-path, I
think it would be better to use a hot emergency approach to minimize the time
it will take to reach dirt-side. You and Sharné could then disembark, and I
could immediately take the
Holmes
back out into space.”

Owens’ brow furrowed. “Interesting, I hadn’t
considered that wrinkle. I’ve never experienced an emergency landing before.
Normally, I wouldn’t want to be in a position to try one, but in this case…
Hec, just how confident are you that you and the
Holmes
can pull it off?
I’ve seen a few newscasts where emergency approaches ended not in landings but
in some rather spectacular crashes instead. I would really hate to succeed in
escaping the mutineers only meet our fate in a crash landing.”

“Well I can’t say that there won’t be some risk, Boss,
but it should be an extremely small one and one I think is well worth taking.
If I execute it properly, and I know I can, I can drop you both off and have
the
Holmes
heading back out into space before they even approach a
parking orbit, let alone launch a shuttle.”

Owens said, “That sounds pretty good, keep going.”

“Well, the emergency braking impellers shouldn’t leave
much residual energy and what little they do leave is barely enough to register
on instruments. It should be the same for the heat imprint left by the
Holmes’
hull. By the time the Golstar ship makes it to the far side of the planet, any
energy signatures will already have dissipated.”

Hec paused, then said, “Oh, and most of those crashes
you mentioned were often the result of poorly maintained spacecraft or pilot
error. The
Holmes
has been refitted and recertified close to its
original military specs. As an AI, I can almost guarantee your safety.”

Hec continued, “A quick departure is just as important
as the hot emergency landing. Leaving the ship down on the surface would be a
dead giveaway. It’s best I take it back into space as soon as you’re at a safe
distance from the impeller fields. By the time the enemy ship makes it around
the planet, they’ll only see the
Holmes
heading into space. At that
point, the mutineers will have a decision to make; they can assume it’s a ploy,
and we never made the planet-fall and will continue to follow the
Holmes.
Alternatively,
they’ll have to assume we did land, and you got off somewhere.”

“Even if that’s the case,” Owens finished. “They still
can’t be absolutely sure, can they? In their shoes, I’d be forced to split up
my forces using an auxiliary craft to take some of my personnel to make the
planet-fall while leaving some crew members on the main ship to continue to
follow the
Holmes
in the case that we really didn't land. And if we pull
it off, even if they suspect we landed, they still won’t know exactly where.”

Sharné had been following the conversation with
interest and said, “I do know the shuttle craft aboard the dreadnought-class of
ships are equipped with little more than basic navigation scanners and
communication devices. So, if the main ship’s scanners
are
able to
discern life-forms on the planet’s surface, they will still be forced to remain
on board long enough to conduct a search pattern before they could begin to
dispatch the shuttle. I do not know how long that may take, but it could
further delay their eventual landing.”  

“That’s the gist of it,” Hec agreed.

Owens asked Sharné, “So, what do you think? It affects
your survival too. Do we go ahead with the hot landing? Although it has some
real advantages, there are still some serious risks attached.”

She appreciated being asked for her opinion. “It may
increase our chances of survival significantly. I believe there is a more
serious risk if we do not attempt it. Hec has already demonstrated competence
in piloting the ship, and I trust his assessment of his own capabilities. I
cast my vote in favor of Hec’s suggestion.”  

It made his decision easy. He thought that Hec had
proven his ability. “Okay, I agree. We'll use Hec’s plan.”

Owens thought another moment and then added, “Hec,
there’s not much else I can say. We wouldn’t have gotten this far without you.
In a very short time, you’ve become a partner and a friend. So with that being
said, I don’t want you to think of trying anything that would put your tin hide
in anymore jeopardy than it’s already in. I’ll expect you and the
Holmes
return to me in one-piece… eventually.”  

“Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to make sure that the
ship remains safe. Besides it would be a horrible waste if I couldn’t share
with my human-half back on Genhome what we’ve experienced.”

“Good, once you drop us off, you’ll be totally on your
own. Even if the com-link had the range, the jamming will prevent any
communication between us. So I just want you to get yourself clear of Selane
and head out in any direction you choose. If you can, head away from the center
of Golstar and keep to the outside boundaries. We don’t know if there are other
ships lurking in-system.”

Hec said, “No problem, Boss.”

Owens continued, “If you can keep out of the
mutineers’ weapons range, then it will continue to be a stand-off.  You
should have enough reactant for about six days at maximum drive speed, maybe a
little less using your booster trick.”