Chapter 521

Deep Space – The Alien Ship

... The Weapon’s Officer caught the First Officer’s eye. “Sir, on another subject. There is a way to find out if there is a ship observing us.”

“And...”

“Just drop a smart mine the next time the Chief Engineer brings us to warp. The transition should cover the mine’s launch and it will lay dormant until it detects the other vessel, either through movement or the activation of its drive. It is a perfect way of finding and eliminating that little gratchet of yours – forever.”

“Hmmm,” the First said as he thought for a moment. “And what if that ‘little gratchet’ of mine out there is indeed real and has a crew? It is certainly not from the race we are observing. Think about it. It has managed to elude our best efforts to find it. Not only has it avoided all our detection sweeps since that first slight energy spike that I noticed back in the asteroid belt, but it has also avoided thousands of pulses from the Paladins’ weapons during our clearing sweep – without once showing itself. No matter what the Captain says, I know there is a ship out there. And judging from their pitiful attempts at space flight, how could these Earthlings be out here more than four light years from their planet? Simple logic eliminates them; so, what race is out there?” he asked, nodding to the outside. “Suppose we drop our mine like you suggest, and it lies waiting until our little gratchet brings up its engine to go to warp. Then our weapon strikes.

“With the abilities that ‘gratchet’, as you jokingly call it, has exhibited so far, I strongly suspect our mine would be foiled, anyway, but ... whether the mine succeeds in destroying the mysterious craft or it escapes, we would send a strong message. And... that message would be loud and clear – we are aggressive. Want to fight a race whose technological base is superior to ours, because of our having destroyed their vessel without provocation?

“Our race has won over all those planets we have subjugated because our technology has been far superior to that of any race we have encountered – to date. Do you want to be on the other side of that technology curve? I certainly do not. We will continue to try to detect the vessel that I know is out there, but we will not act aggressively toward it,” he snapped. “My decision to do that was a mistake. Hopefully, our little exercise of firing randomly might well have been construed by whoever is out there as just an exercise, but leaving a mine would certainly not be interpreted that way. We will not leave a mine.”

“Yes, First,” they all answered.

The First Officer and the primary bridge crew were ready when the Chief Engineer’s okay came in. At the First’s nod, Helm brought the engines to Warp 1. Reality wavered around the big ship and it blinked out of existence. “We are supralight and steady at Warp 1,” Helm responded after a long moment.

“Maintain Warp 1 for now,” the First responded.

“Yes, Sir. Maintaining Warp 1.”

The First spoke to the Chief Engineer again. “Helm reports steady at Warp 1, Chief, but it will take us four years (translated) to reach this Earth at our present speed.”

“My instruments show no sign of fluctuation,” the Chief responded.

“Ready when you are, Chief?”

The Chief’s voice was tense as he responded with, “The coils are balanced to six decimal places at Warp 1.” There was a long pause as he presumably checked his instruments yet again. Finally, “She’s ready when you are, Bridge.”

“Go to Warp two,” the First ordered Helm.

“Warp two,” Helm acknowledged, his posture remaining ramrod straight in his seat due to the tension.

There was a slight change in the background sound as their speed increased twofold. After another long pause, Helm responded with a tense voice, “Steady at Warp 2.”

“Chief?” the First asked.

There was another long pause before the Chief Engineer responded. “The tuning is holding at four decimal places. It could be better, but I am not going to touch anything just now.”

“Warp 3?” the First asked.

“No. Until I have six decimal places at Warp 2, I want to maintain this speed for now. I want to see if my tuning will hold.”

“Maintain Warp 2 for now,” the First ordered Helm.

“Warp 2 for now, Sir,” Helm acknowledged.

Time dragged on, everyone tense, when suddenly the Chief Engineer screamed, “Abort. Abort,” even as he brought the warp coils off line an instant before Helm could.

As the stars steadied on the forward screen, all the First could hear over the circuit was the Chief Engineer’s cursing.

The Science Officer caught the First’s eye and nodded toward the bridge exit. As the First started off the bridge, he motioned to the Second Officer, who responded, “I have the Conn, Sir.”

The First followed the other officer until they got to the Science Officer’s quarters. With a motion to remain quiet, he brought a sensor out of a pocket and stood watching its screen for a time. Finally, he turned to the First Officer. “My shield is in place and there is nothing being transmitted from my quarters.”

“And,” the First prompted.

“As you expected, another warp drive came partially on line, certainly not enough to move the other ship, but enough to interfere with our warp drive. If the drives had continued, I suspect that both would have violently self-destructed, which would have resulted in our ship being scattered over a half light year of space and maybe even across the dimensions.”

“Could you tell...”

“Without a doubt,” the Science Officer interrupted to say, “the drive is in the Paladin area, probably on the flight deck. Once I knew what to look for, the source was simple to find.”

“That fucking brain-dead idiot could have killed us all. And why in the hell (interpreted) does he want to be in charge of this menagerie, anyway?”

“Are you kidding?” the Science Officer asked. “As you well know, whoever is in charge of this vessel will be rich beyond imagining once we subjugate this Earth and its people.”

“Maybe, but how is the Paladin Commander going to get around being shot for mutiny?”

“Well, there is that?” the Science Officer replied with a grin. “But ... there is always the possibility that he is thinking about setting himself up as the ruler of the planet. The Captain likes those two-breasted females; maybe the Commander does too.”

“They are cute,” the First agreed, “and they tend to grow on you. But ... he can not fuck when he is dead, and it looks as if he is going to kill us, or I will wind up killing him. It is insane to be fighting among ourselves when we are approaching a rich planet that could be ours for the taking. But ... I still think that trade would be an even more logical, and... a more profitable and longer-lasting route to take.”

“Well,” the Science Officer said with a grin, “it does seem that the Captain’s enemy is your enemy, too. Maybe the Paladin Commander will kill the Captain and you will not have to. Then, you can have the Commander executed and you will wind up as Captain – legitimately.”

“That is a possibility if the Paladin Commander does not kill us all in his efforts to insinuate the Commander’s technician in the engine room as Chief Engineer, or if the high command doesn’t decide to execute every officer on the ship. However that works out, I still do not want the Captain’s job.”

Back on the bridge, the First used what he hoped was a secure circuit to the engine room. When he had the Chief on, the First said, “I am going to confront the Paladin Commander before the idiot kills us all. Activate your mutiny defenses and do not deactivate them unless I or my Second gives you the code sequence.”

“Activating now,” the Chief responded without hesitation, amusement in his voice.

“This is going to aggravate the Captain just a wee bit, shall we say?” the Second Officer said with a laugh.

“Well, he stays aggravated, anyway.” The First’s voice changed. “Activate the Bridge’s defenses as well as that of the female quarters. A moment later, the ship filled with the computer’s voice as it informed the crew that the mutiny defenses were activated for the engine room, bridge and female quarters.

When the cacophony of sound had finally died down, the Chief, still on the circuit, said, “You do realize that I almost didn’t catch it in time. Another few sub cycles and we would all have been dead. He, they, whoever, kept that other engine on line much too long that time. They are fools. I dare not go to warp again until this is settled. It is suicide to do so.”

“I agree,” the First returned.

When the First was off the line, the Second Officer came over. “You are not going to the Flight Deck without me.”

“I appreciate the thought, but I am not foolish enough to go there just now. Whether deliberate or not, the Commander has shown his true intentions.”

Within seconds, the Paladin Commander had buzzed the bridge wanting to know why the mutiny defenses had been activated.

“You of all people should know the answer to that,” the First snapped. “Do you think we are too stupid to realize your little ploy to take over the engine room? Only the Captain would be dumb enough to entertain your idea of replacing the Chief engineer by a Paladin technician. Granted the warp coils are seemingly fully tuned at low warp speeds, but will that tuning hold at higher speeds? The Chief thinks not. So what happens when your Paladin technician pushes the warp engine to Warp 5? In case you really don’t know the answer, it is death – as in all of us dead and scattered over a half a light year or more. This, you idiot, is fact. Your engineer knows nothing about warp coils, no matter how much jasih he has blown up your ass. Now think about it,” he said as he cut the connection.

Half-dressed, the Captain, having run all the way from the females’ quarters, burst onto the bridge. Before he could say anything, the First stepped up. “I have nipped your little plan in the bud.”

“What?” the Captain screamed.

“Yours and the Paladin Commander’s plan to take over the engine room.”

“There was no plan, other than for his engineer to repair the warp coils,” he screamed back.

“I almost feel sorry for you, and I suppose I would, if you were not so... arrogant with your stupidity. There is nothing wrong with the warp coils, other than the Paladin Commander having brought the scout’s warp engine on line enough to knock the ship’s coils out of tune and make it appear that the Chief Engineer could not do his job. But ... that Paladin technician almost went too far this last time. Another few sub cycles and your ship would have been scattered across space, and you – not to mention the rest of us – with it.”

That gave even the Captain pause before he returned a little less positively as he absently closed his tunic, “That is ridiculous,” but it was evident that he was a little less sure of himself.

“I think we were a heartbeat away from a mutiny led by the Paladin Commander. I hate to say this, but if I were you, I would stay on this side of the defenses. That badge you are wearing that keeps the defenses from scattering your atoms down the passageway, might not work if you approach the flight deck again.”

“That is ridiculous.”

“Go ahead and do it, then. If you get yourself blown away by the Paladin Commander, I will be Captain without having to kill you and suffer the consequences. As a matter of fact, I could then kill the Paladin Commander, send a message torp to the High Command and be appointed Captain. I would not have to worry about going rogue then.”