The Santana Nexus (Junkyard Dogs Book 3) (28 page)

Chapter
40.

UTFN "Secret Scrapyard," January 10, 2599.

When Kresge
had been informed about the condition and the potential capabilities of the
XC-89
, he approved the transfer of the ship to the Scrapyard for further evaluation. The project was deemed important enough that the
Nasr
was sent out to rendezvous with the salvage crew. When the
Nasr
arrived, some thirty members of the crew of the
FNS Larkspur
transferred over to the prototype and utilized the better part of the next morning familiarizing themselves with the workings of the ship. Frank Talbot and Angus Hawkins both remained onboard the prototype to help out with questions concerning the dual reactor set up and other aspects of the systems on a ship that was at least two generations older than anything that most of the destroyer crew was accustomed to. The fact that prototype had been created by the joining together of two different classes of ship didn't help matters at all.

Captain Jennifer Helmsford was given command of the ship but couldn't make up her
mind whether the assignment was an honor or a penance. With so few experienced Naval crewmen available to the Scrapyard forces, she had to admit that the
Larkspur's
old crew was probably the best choice of personnel to man the craft. At least they had a goodly amount of recent experience working with each other.

With no conventional bridge in the normal topside position, the nerve center for the hybrid was
situated in the Auxiliary control room that had been located near the very front portion of the back half of the ship, a location that placed the control room just about in the very center of the ship. If nothing else, the command staff would be well-protected.

Captain Helmsford was sitting in the
Captain's chair on the bridge of the prototype familiarizing herself with the workings of the ship and wondering what she had gotten herself into. She scanned her readouts one more time and keyed up the ship's intercom.

"The time has come for us to take our new ship out of this asteroid and put her to work," she said
to all hands. "I want a status report on all systems before we take her out for a test flight. I'll call off by sections and you reply when your section is called. Main power?"

"Main power is go, Captain."

"Hyperdrive systems?"

"Hyperdrive units are go, Captain."

"Reaction engines?"

"Reaction engines ready, Captain."

"Thrusters?"

"Thrusters are
go."

"Life support?"

"Life support operating at full capacity, Captain."

"Gravity and inertial damping?"

"Gravity and inertial damping are go, Captain."

"Okay, let's take her out." She contacted Harris who was standing by outside. "Lieutenant Harris? Could you release the docking cables, please?"

"Roger, Captain Helmsford, releasing docking cables."

A team of eight workers, under the command of Harris, disconnected the cables that had held the ship stationary and tethered to the
interior of the asteroid for more than four decades.

"All four docking cables have been released, Captain Helmsford. You are
go to maneuver on your own."

"Thank you, Lieutenant.
Helm? Lift the ship straight up fifty meters from the floor of this cavern, please."

"Roger, Captain, raising ship fifty meters above the bottom of the cavern."

The ship drifted upwards under minimum boost from her maneuvering thrusters.

"Okay, now bring her around forty-three degrees to port.
Easy now."

"Roger, Captain, bringing ship around forty-three degress to port."

Responding to her thrusters, the ugly little ship swung, surprisingly gracefully, to port.

"Now rotate her on her stern and bring the bow up ninety degrees."

The bow swung smoothly upwards until the prototype was pointed at the center of the opening that led out of the asteroid.

"Ahead on
quarter thrusters, Helm."

"Roger, Captain, ahead on
quarter thrusters."

The ship began to accelerate gently upwards, towards the opening to the outside. Within a minute she had cleared the asteroid and was out into open space for the first time in decades.

"Steady everyone, I think we'll just drift using this momentum for a few minutes to get well clear of the asteroid and to give the other ships of our group a chance to catch up to us."

Five minutes later, the
Nasr
and the cutter containing Harris, Carlisle and several other Federation workers had joined the prototype.

"Ahead one quarter on reaction engines, if you please," said Captain Helmsford.

"Roger, Captain, ahead one quarter on reaction drive."

The homely little ship leaped eagerly forward.

"Easy everyone," said Helmsford. "My but she's a lively ship! I'm surprised; she accelerates a lot harder than our destroyer did!"

"She's got the power of a cruiser and only masses a little more than a destroyer," said Talbot, from down in engineering, "She should be able to show her heels to a lot of different ship types."

Captain Helmsford had her crew spend the next hour just "flying" the ship, in an effort to get the feel of her before they tried anything radical, like attempting a hyperjump, for instance. After checking the ship's performance by running through a set of standard maneuvers just like they had when training on the
Larkspur
, everyone on board had a much better idea of what to expect from their new ship.

"Helm?
Have you calculated the parameters for a microjump towards the Reclamation Center?"

"Jump is programmed, Captain," replied the helmsman.

"I'll inform the other ships that we're ready to jump," said Helmsford.

"Lieutenant Harris? Captain
Bishara?
XC-89
is ready to microjump towards the Scrapyard."

"We'll be right behind you," replied Harris.

"
Nasr
is ready to microjump as well," said Bishara.

"Microjumping in...
three...two...one...Mark!"

The stumpy prototype was visible one second and, after a bright flash, she was gone. The cutter and the
Nasr
flashed after her shortly afterwards.

***

Catskill-Soroyan System, Piedmont Mining Station, January 10, 2599.

The two
mining ships flashed out of their microjumps about an hour out from the Piedmont Station. At this distance the conspirators were able to use the miner's radio comlink to converse in real time.

"
This is Donegal and Glendaloch on route to the Piedmont Station,"
radioed O'Connell on the private mining band.
"What do you want us to do?"

"I need you to keep that ship
distracted while we get a couple of our mining sleds ready for a boarding exercise. I wonder if you could park between that ship and the mining station, maybe one of you to port and the other on his starboard side. In the meantime, we'll disguise what we're doing on the sleds by loading up the front of each them with a big scoop of ore. We thought we'd send an unoccupied sled out to his starboard side first to make him rotate that gun all the way over in that direction. If the
Glendaloch
could hold his attention and maybe keep that gun pointed over that way, we can sneak another sled out low and to his portside. That way we'll be under him so he won't be able to target us unless he moves the ship. With the
Donegal
on his port side, blocking the view, he probably won't even notice us."

"With
both of us that close to him, we could make this into a very short battle with either one of our mining lasers,"
said O'Connell,
"I blew a hole clean through the front turret of a destroyer just a couple weeks ago."

"
A mining laser as a weapon!" said Hartmann. "I know, I watched you vaporize that shuttle craft a couple of weeks ago, remember? How about we do that as a last resort, Seamus? I'd really like to have a little talk with these bad guys and I really wouldn't mind having that ship."

"We'll
help out any way we can,"
replied O'Connell,
"Just be damned careful."

"What? And miss all the fun?
" replied Hartmann.

O'Connell smiled
and shook his head. Once a marine, always a marine and from what he knew of Chris Hartmann, the security director had been a pretty damned good one!

The
Donegal
and the
Glendaloch
were just coming into visual range of the mining station when they were contacted by the
Aladdin
again.

"Two mining ships, Captain O'Connell?
You didn't say there were two ships. I am disappointed in you though I guess it doesn't really matter. You will park your ship in the docking area and stand down for boarding. Tell your sister ship that she is to prepare to be boarded as well."

"As you wish,
Aladdin.
"

The
Donegal
and the
Glendaloch
bypassed the assigned parking area and instead took up stations where Hartmann had directed them to, between the cargo ship and the mining station. Both of the mining ship captains took the expedient of aligning their ships with their bows aimed directly at the armed cargo ship. This had the double advantage of pointing the most heavily armored portion of each mining ship directly at the enemy ship but, more to the point, it also brought both of the 10,000 gigajoule mining lasers directly to bear on the unsuspecting and now completely overmatched
Aladdin
.

"That is not where I instructed you to park,
Donegal
!" said the captain of the
Aladdin
, "But it will do. Shut down your systems and prepare to be boarded. Our shuttle will be departing in a few minutes."

Apparently th
e captain of the cargo ship hadn't spoken to any of the members of the Sheik's navy who had been in this system previously. The balance of power at the Piedmont mining station had just shifted dramatically and one of the players was completely oblivious to the peril he was now in! Seamus O'Connell smiled sardonically. No matter, the captain of the
Aladdin
would understand the error of his ways soon enough...

Shielded from the view of observers on the
Aladdin
by the bulk of the two mining ships, Chris Hartmann and four additional heavily armed station security people plus another seven burly, pissed off miners, all of them heavily armed as well, prepared to launch a mining sled towards their former tormentor. Hartmann was wearing the set of battle armor that the station forces had captured from the enemy during the Sheik's last attempt on the station, 

In the meantime, another group of Hartmann's men set the automatic controls on an
unmanned sled and prepared to send it out towards the cargo ship from a totally different direction.

"
Seamus? We're ready to distract him with the dummy sled. Get ready to make your move."

"Roger, Chris,"
O'Connell radioed back. "
The
Glendaloch
is going to start heading towards him from his starboard side and I'll move the
Donegal
right up into his face on his port side. You keep that sled right up underneath the
Donegal
while we move towards him and when you get within fifty meters of him, you guys make your move. You get that close to him, with that gun on the top of the ship, they won't have a firing angle on you. Latch onto him and get inside as quick as you can, we'll keep him from going anywhere."

"Sounds like a plan," returned Har
tmann.

"
Everybody ready?"
asked Seamus,
"Okay, we'll start the action on my mark...three...two...one...Mark!"

Chapter
41.

Nacobbus System, on board Federation Prototype cruiser
XC-89
, on route to UTFN Reclamation Center, January 10, 2599.

Captain Jennifer Helmsford kept a careful eye on the readouts she was getting from the viewscreens at her command post on board the
XC-89
. The auxiliary bridge area on the prototype ship was remarkably similar to the bridge of her last command, the
FNS Larkspur
. She was encouraged by the fact that the first microjump that her crew had attempted with the old ship was proceeding normally. The ships were similar enough in other ways as well so the crewmembers from the
Larkspur
were not running into any big problems operating the systems on the prototype. One of the biggest differences was the fact that their new ship had two reactors but with Frank Talbot and Angus Hawkins helping out down in engineering, even this difference didn't seem to be too big of a factor.

The
XC-89
phased smoothly out of her microjump. Executing a hyperjump was mostly a matter of getting all of the parameters set properly, activating the drive module, and going along for the ride. The machinery would automatically power down the drive and bring the ship back into normal space when the requested instructions had been executed.

"Engineering?
This is Captain Helmsford. Is everything okay back there?"

"Aye, Captain," replied Hawkins, "All be lookin' fine down here. T
'be tellin' the truth, this machinery, for as old as it all be, has nay been operated much. It's like all of it be almost new."

"I must say that the ship operates a lot better than I expected it to. Check everything again, if you would
, Chief Hawkins, to make absolutely sure we haven't missed something."

"Aye, Captain, we be already started."

The cutter with Harris and Carlisle on board phased out of hyper a safe distance away and, some thirty seconds later, so did the
Nasr
.

"Lieutenant Harris here.
Is everything okay with the prototype?"

"It sure looks like it, Lieutenant," replied Helmsford, "the major systems are checking out fine, but we're double checking to make sure we haven't missed anything."

"We'll stand by, Captain Helmsford. From this point, it will take us about an hour to get back to the Scrapyard on our reaction drives. I'll contact Commander Kresge and let him know what our status is."

***

"
Kresge here, what have you got for me Harris?
"

"We took the prototype through some trials using conventional propulsion and now we've just come out of microjump. Everything seems to be working fine. We're boosting in on reaction drives now. We should be at the Reclamation Center in an hour or so."

"
Excellent!
" replied Kresge.

"What's the status of our recruiting expeditions?" asked Harris.

"
The
Asimov
and the
City of Darwin
will be jumping back sometime later today. They had some difficulties over in the Heard's World system. They had to take on a couple of Jasmine gunboats.
"

"Two gunboats?
How did that go?"

"
The Asimov blew them both out of space!
"

"I'd heard those Fletcher Class destroyers were good ships."

"
Yes, they are and it sounds like that young Spacer tactical officer on the
Asimov
is damned good too. I don't have all the details yet, we'll have to debrief them when they get here. They must have a pretty good story to tell, they also captured a freighter loaded with supplies and hand weapons. The freighter came through yesterday.
"

"What about the mining ships?"

"
No word from them yet, I kind of expect to hear from them today or tomorrow
."

"Thanks for the update, Commander."

"
Have you tested the weapons on the prototype as yet?
"

Helmsford, who had been listening in, responded.

"We haven't tried the weapons yet, Commander. Are you sure it's a good idea?"

"
Might as well find out if we have an effective offensive weapon or another transport ship,"
replied Kresge.
"Out there in deep space would actually be a damned good place to test your weapons just in case...something does go wrong
."

"I have to agree, Commander,
Foul Beastie
will proceed with weapons testing."

"
Foul Beastie
?" asked Kresge.

"Sorry, Commander," replied Helmsford, "That's what
Chief Hawkins called the ship when he first saw it. I think you'll agree with his assessment when you see her. The crew picked up on it and the name seems to be sticking."

"
UTFN Foul Beastie?" said Kresge, "
Manned by a bunch of Junkyard Dogs, it somehow seems more than appropriate.
Foul Beastie
she will be!
"

The gun crew for the retractable turret was a hodge-podge of personnel from the
Larkspur's
two main battery crews who had managed to survive the battle with the three destroyers. With both of the
Larkspur's
main batteries having been destroyed in that altercation, some of the heaviest losses suffered by the
Larkspur's
crew had been among the gun crews. Combining all of the remaining personnel into a single team provided just enough people to man the single main battery turret on the prototype.

"Attention, all hands," said Helmsford
, over the prototype's PA system. "We are going to test fire the weapons while we're still out here in deep space. Engineering? Prepare to run the number two reactor up to one hundred percent power."

"Roger, Captain," replied, Hawkins, "we be rampin' power on number two up to one hundred percent. She
be on standby right now. We'll be needin' about fifteen minutes t'get her stoked up."

"Understood, engineering. Let me know when we have full power.
Weapons? Bring the front battery into firing position!"

One
more task that had yet to be performed on the Larkspur was the operation of the retraction mechanisms for the main and secondary turrets.

"Raising the front battery to firing position!"
came the reply.

A strange vibration permeated the prototype as the front battery rumbled from retracted to fully
deployed. Harris, at the controls of the cutter, watched as the round, flat plate on the front of the prototype was revealed as being the top of a squat, disc-shaped turret. The flat plate of the top was about half a meter larger in diameter than the turret itself. The plate fit into a recessed receptacle and sealed the emplacement neatly and almost seamlessly to the hull when the turret was retracted. When the disc of the turret had fully deployed, the snouts of the two projectors ran out through two circular openings in the front of the turret. Immediately afterwards, the four smaller turrets of the secondary batteries deployed as well. The secondaries were all placed where they wouldn't interfere with the full three-hundred and sixty degree field of fire for the main battery. One set poked out of the nose of the ship. Two others deployed on the port and starboard flanks, just in front of the strange cooling fins and the final one deployed out of the bottom of the ship. With all of her weapons deployed and her ultimate purpose finally revealed, the homely little ship took on a decidedly more sinister and purposeful appearance.

The deployment had taken just over three minutes. Something that Captain Helmsford made a mental note on. Knowing the capabilities and the limitations of your ship could make the difference between living and dying
!

"Engineering?
How's that number two reactor coming?"

"She
be spoolin' up now, Captain," replied Hawkins. We should be at one hundred percent in another...three minutes."

"That's better than your first estimate by about five minutes, Chief Hawkins."

"Aye, Captain, that were just an estimate. This machinery be in much better shape than we expected."

"Thank you, Chief."

"Main battery crew? Are you prepared to charge capacitors? We'll have full power to the reactor in just few more minutes."

"Standing by for your order, Captain," replied
Sergeant Conrad Lieber, the gun crew chief. "We're ready. These capacitor systems aren't all that much different than the ones on the
Larkspur
. They're a little more robust and there's two more of 'em but other than that, it all looks pretty much the same. We've got the control consoles all powered up and will attempt to charge capacitors as soon as we get the go ahead."

"Captain?
Engineering here. We be havin' one hundred percent on the number two reactor. All clear on our end t'be chargin' those weapons."

"Thanks, Chief," replied Helmsford.
"Main battery? You are clear to charge capacitors, Sergeant!"

"Aye, aye, Captain.
Charging capacitors."

The gun crew had set the controls to charge up the six capacitors of the portside gun one at a time and
, when those modules were charged, to repeat the process with the starboard capacitor stack. Lieber, who was monitoring the charging process was astounded by how quickly the capacitors charged up.

"Charging number one capacitor.
What the...? Number one capacitor charged! Charging number two...three...four. My God these charge up quick! Port side capacitors all charged, Captain. Charging starboard side...four...five...six. All capacitors charged on both guns, Captain."

"Prepare to test fire the portside weapon
, Sergeant. Multiple pulses from single capacitors, if you please."

"Aye, Captain. Firing portside projector, single pulses,
single capacitors. Firing portside projector now!"