Version 2006 - Ch 64



"It is official now! Captain," Krabbel said. "We are now in unexplored space. No union ship has ever came this far Core Ward." I was just walking on the bridge. We had left Arkalon five weeks ago and kept a steady course Core Ward and would soon leave the Perseus Arm and fly across the gap to the Cygnus Arm of our Galaxy. Almost exactly opposite of the Orion Arm were Earth and much of the Union space was. TheOther got up from the Conn finishing his first duty watch on that position." Specialist Lancaster broke his arm during a Steel Ball match in Hangar A, no other casualties. Lt. Kleinschmitt's Team The Tremor Avalanche won 3 to 2 over Prince Gatu's Gray Stompers. Other than that there is nothing to report, Captain." The Nul now sitting at Communications turned his turned his dome shape head 180 degrees around and said." A rematch is planned for tomorrow night and I am certain we even that score." "Just be careful not to kick one of the Hangar doors open by accident. With you guys stomping down there, who knows what could break." "Only cosmetic damage Captain. The Ship is remarkably well build. Very durable even for Nul Standards." "Do I want to know what Cosmetic damage means?" " Lt Hans kicked the ball in one of the light elements but it is already repaired, Captain." I wanted to add some light comment when he held up his joint less arm." The Red Dragon is hailing us Captain!" "Make sure the visual filter is in place showing the bridge of the old Kartanian and not the Tiger Sharks." "Aye Captain. Visual filter is linked to Janus device and automatically on, Sir." "Just making sure." TheOther handed me my mask and then I said."Alright put him on." "Captain Velvet we are about to cross the Arm gap and we are low on fuel and decided to land on the next suitable planet and set up our Refineries. My sensors picked up a K III star with three planets nearby. How is your fuel status?" "I think I could have made it across the gap but restocking on fuel might not be a bad idea." Our little armada entered the system. I said." Sensor Data? Anything artificial around?" Narth responded." No Captain. Three Planets . One Super giant, two minor Planets. No artificial energy signatures, no communications. Second planet is within the life distance of its sun and is a Type D Garden world." Shea said." Captain, this is an unexplored and non surveyed system. It carries only a number in the Catalogs and it is tradition that the Captain of a Union ship names it properly. It will then so be designated in the Star Catalogs of all Union ships . Of course only after we returned home and are back in Communication range." "Alright. SHIP official log entry: On this date and time, I Captain Olafson name Entered Star System HIP number this and that herby to be known as ..." I looked around. "Any Suggestions?" SHIP chirped happily." New name recorded in Log entry . System now know as 'Any Suggestions' " "SHIP! That wasn't the name. I was asking for suggestions. You knew that!" "Yes Captain I did but you said Official Log entry and sorry I can't do anything else but to go strict by the programming then." "Great now when the Admirals read our Log they say."What a moron can't even think of a good name for a Star system." "It is not so bad Captain. There are much worse names other Explorers came up with." "I better think before I speak next time!" Har-Hi had a dead serious face." One guy to the other. Hey mate where are you from? Any Suggestions. I don't now I could not even guess, just tell me! I told you Any Suggestions! " He then grinned." if they ever settle that Garden world that be fun to hear." I wasn't too amused. Official Log Entries could of course not be erased. "SHIP, Official Log Entry. Add this Correction to previous Entry. Said system to be designated Har-Hi's Eye. It is a red star after all." "Recorded." The other Pirate ships, except the Crimson Curse didn't even bother with an Orbit and went straight down. the Crimson Curse went into orbit first just like us. Shea operated her science scanners and said." 80 percent land and 20 Percent open water, very shallow oceans. I am reading life signs but no neural patterns associated with sentient life. Breathable Nitrogen Oxygen atmosphere. Narth said." I don't sense any sentient thoughts either, but whatever lives down there has a strong minds. It's dull like the that from a non intelligent life form but strong." I nodded." Muhammad set her down a little distance from the others, let's say a click or so. Mr. Har-Hi sound General Quarters. Mao shields please." Muhammad sat us down in a landscape of rolling smooth hills near the shores of huge lake or ocean. In the distance the other ships. They already had started to unpack their Refinery. Red Dragons Ship, the Kermac Destroyer of Shuputz and the Crimson Curse had landed right in the water of the shallow lake which made sense as Water was the best source for NuGas. I looked over to Shea." I know you are itching to go out and survey the place and you can but don't overdo it and make sure you stay out of a direct line of sight. No extensive sample taking either. I got up and said." I am going to join you. I always wanted to step on a world no one ever stepped on before." Har-Hi said. "Well Crimson Dragon and his goons were first." "Technicalities. How long do you think they need?" He shrugged." Setting it up, making enough for five ships. Putting it down. If they work fast with a trained team eight nine hours. With Pirates and old Robots I say more like 15 or 18." "You got the Conn." With those words did I go down the IST and wanted to go to the next Auto Dresser when Cirruit and Suit intercepted me. Cirruit said" Captain are you planning to go outside?" "Yes. You too?" "No Captain but Tyron I mean Suit would feel better if you did not rely on primitive Garments. This is an alien world with potential dangers." " Well I am not planning on putting on an Atlas. It doesn't look very dangerous out there." The Suit said:" Captain it is still an alien World and your safety is important. If you wear me, then it be much safer." "I thought you don't want to be a garment?" "I would feel greatly honored to be yours." "Alright I don't mind if you don't!" Suit flowed around me skintight and then turned black and looked like my usual leather suit it just shredded again. "I can mimic any material and look; Captain. Of course I can make you invisible, move in any known environment and you have a wide array of defensive and offensive choices. " "Good to know but hopefully not necessary out there." Shea, Cateria and two other Crewmembers joined us at the main airlock. The two Crewmembers had disguised themselves as they thought Pirates would look like, but they really looked like two science geeks in costumes. I didn't say anything but hoped Shea knew how to curb their science enthusiasm. She looked at her handheld readout." No harmful aerosols or pollen present, no traces of poisonous gases. Temperature 36 degrees." We cycled through the air lock at the bottom of the extended IST shaft. The ground felt spongy but did not leave tracks or cling to the boots. It had a unhealthy pinkish shade and little cracks all over. In more or less equal spaces stood black leaf less plant stalks or something like that. the Stalks were about twenty meters tall and I could not help as to think a extremely magnified beard hair would look like that. The pinkish ground and black plants stretched as far as I could see over the rolling hills and all the way to the water. The air had a sweetly sikly odor to it. Down by the water the pinkish ground made way to a light brown rock surface. Man sized crab like animals scurried around taking no notice of our or the other pirates presence. "What a strange world!" I said to myself. I watched the Pirates put up the NuGas refinery. Suit magnified my view just as I squinted my eyes to see better and I could see them close up." That is neat. Even on an Atlas you got to dial for magnification." " These Atlas suits are actually quite advanced for a primitive culture as yours." " If you keep saying that I am going to believe it and get depressed." "I will refrain from it." The pirates had only few robots to help them and it looked like hard work. I saw them sweating and cursing and putting up the components. Mao walked up and said." If that isn't the weirdest place I ever been to! I never seen a ground like that. No rocks, no dust. Just this spongy ground as of someone had covered the entire area with a padded bed sheet or something." Narth floated around and I was directing my thoughts." What do you think?" "I am thinking on many levels and ponder 54 different and quite unrelated subjects, however I am certain you wanted to know my opinion on this world." "Well I am glad you clarified that to me and I was indeed wanting to know your opinion. Now I know why Narth shield their thoughts, another telepath would go crazy listening in." "This is actually one of the reasons indeed!" He came floating over." While I still wait on Shea's data to make a more educated statement. I must say this surface strikes me as unusual. I just calculated the energy output of that sun and with the other data I am certain this is a very old system. There are no significant mountains anywhere on this planet. The entire surface looks like this." Suit said." Captain, I am linked with SHIP and cross referenced my scanning data with all available library information. There is a significant level of danger here." Shea called:"I think we better leave our current landing position and land in the water as well." "All back into the ship we are changing positions. Muhammad prepare for immediate lift off as soon as SHIP verifies we are all in." "Aye Captain!" "What is the nature of the danger Suit?" "There is but a single life form on this planet. The ground we stand on is that organism." "Elfi get me Red Dragon." "Aye Captain. Establishing contact. You're on." "Dragon. I think we should leave now. We are all in danger!" "Now can you be more..." I was the last one, just about to enter when a tremor threw me almost of my feet. Suit compensated. I Jumped in and the Tiger shark rose into the Air before the door closed. The entire ship rocked! The Battle "Report!" Har-Hi 's voice came on."Shields at 20 percent, no damage no casualties yet. Shields just displaced 12000 tons of matter!" I had to wait till the decontamination process was completed. No one was allowed to re enter the ship without a detailed bio hazard scan and decon procedure. the ship rocked twice more. "Shields are barely holding!" I finally made it on the bridge but did not change seats with Har-Hi who had taken the Command seat. I plunged into the XO's and Ship switched Command level authority faster than we could have done. The battle view came to life and I saw the entire landscape had come to life! Like a huge blanket or carpet with enormous ripples and wave like motions it extended folds and held the Tigershark. Our Neutronium hull held better than the shields that had been collapsed by trying to displace many thousands of tons of matter. Of course we still could switch on our real shields but that would completely destroy our disguise. "Mao you have fire permission but plasma weapons only. Try to cut us loose. As soon as you are successful Muhammad get us into orbit. Full Engines. Cirruit can you reset the shields as soon as we are free?" "Cirruit here. the shields can be reset, takes me five seconds though!" "Mao you have to keep that carpet off for five seconds. I don't want to go full engines blasting through atmosphere into space Neutronium armor or not." "Aye Captain commencing fire pattern now.!" The beams cut through the folds that held us, but the carpet thing rippled even worse tried to smother us with. "Captain the more I cut the more ripples come and the load is increasing. We are being pulled back. ArtiGrav past Red line." "I hope the armor is as good as they say it was. Mao Translocator cannon. Lay a 1 Kilo AM bomb 500 meters into the ground directly under us. that should create a crater and suck the thing in, long enough to let us go." Har-Hi said." But there will be an expanding shock and dirt wave before it collapses." "I hope the material of the being is taking the brunt of it and our armor is that good. Fire!" Despite internal ArtiGrav, the some of the tremors came through a huge hole had been ripped into the creature below us and we came free. Muhammad catapulted us into space! "Damage report!" Har Hi "Janus simulated hull damaged. Needs to be completely reset and assembled. Shield Coil Modulators of the secondary Shields belonging to our Janus mask are burned out. Landing strut Aft 4 is bend. No other damage reported." "Casualties?" "No Casualties!" "Status of the other Pirates?" This time Narth replied. " the New Intruder and the Bloody Mary sustained damage. The Other ships seem un harmed and are in Orbit and within visual range in less than 1 minute." "Muhammad, take us to the Magnetic Pole as fast as possible. Then Gravimetric TransDim maximum acceleration behind that Sun!" I hoped the magnetic shadow of the Planet would hide is from their sensors just long enough so we could get out of here and I hoped they had no sensors able to detect Gravimetric TransDim Propulsion. Staying as close as possible behind the Systems sun would give us a little breathing time. ________________________________________ INTERLUDE: Red Dragon cursed at the Situation and cursed his Sensor Operator." You said you detected the Silver Streak in Orbit! Where is it?" "I swear to you it was there one Second and now it's gone. I think she went over the Pole. Adjusting for magnetic interference now." " What a worthless idiot are you. Is she there or not?" "No Captain I cannot detect her ship anywhere in the system. But maybe our Sensors were damaged." "Of course your sensors are damaged. She can't simply disappear. Get them fixed now!" "Yes Captain." "Now let's sort things out. hail the Intruder first!" The face of the Orkh appeared. " We are buried underneath whatever this thing is, Shields are gone, The Hull is holding, but my Engineer says that thing is feeding on our Metal and it might be an hour or two and then the hull is dissolved. As soon as you help us get out of here, we might be able to jury rig her with spare parts for a limb back home. " "I be right with you. I need to talk to the others too!" The Bloody Mary was next." I am going to kill that stupid Meateater. It was him who fired on those Crabs and started the whole thing." "How is your status?" I am still on the Surface but I managed to get the Ship into the Ocean. The thing hasn't followed us into the Water. We lost a few Hull plates and one ISAH pot is bend out of alignment but I think we can fix that within a day or so. The Refinery is scattered all over and we are trying to gather the pieces." "Alright now get me the Puup." "No Damage here, just lost four of my crew working on the Refinery. I think I scattered it a bit as I lifted off and toasted them in the process." " Get me the Silver Streak." "Sorry Captain I am unable to raise her. She might still be buried under that thing. Since our sensors are damaged who knows what that Bulfong thought he saw." The Scanner operator, a Togar extended his claws and threatened the beardless Kermac at the Comm Board." I will rip you to pieces!" "Cut it out you two! Or I kill you both! Meateater has now lots of Crew who wants to come with us! Now find that Silver Streak. If she is buried we burn he out. There is plenty of treasure in that ship that makes it worth burning the entire planet to ashes!" ________________________________________ Cirruit came on the bridge." Shields are operational again, Janus Device is reset and we are the Kartanian once again and that Landing strut is back in shape in an hour. Our real hull doesn't even have a scratch captain. Suit who was still on me said." That armor is indeed quite advanced and if we add self repair capability to it is as good as Celtest armor. Your sensors are however quite primitive and I think we should change that." I said." Well you two work on that. Now let us back to that planet. We need to explain our disappearance convincingly" The Suit said." I can extend my cloaking field around the ship and we return invisible to their sensors and when they are not looking we are there. "You can do that?" "Yes." "We could have simply cloaked in Orbit !" "You never asked or gave me a chance to suggest. But your solution was quite good, Captain!" "I am glad you approve, Starman Suit. Now go and do that cloak thing!" "Aye Captain!" The Robot stomped onto the bridge and the Suit separated itself from me, taking possession of the robot body again. "Starman Suit?" "Yes Captain?" "Please next time you separate from me, wait till while we are in private. This is the second time I am in the buff in front of everyone!" "Oh, I had no idea this was a problem!" "I think Cirruit needs to explain why we Humans decide to wear clothing!" I glared at the others." Go ahead. I know Har Hi is already biting his lip very hard and trying not to burst." Shea brought me a jacket and I left the Bridge." I be right back!" The Cloak worked according to the Suit and we slipped back into orbit. Shea confirmed the Sensor rays of the other two ships went right through us without sensing anything. Narth said." I made his sensor operator believe he fixed his never broken Sensors. The Captain named Meateater, however hopes our shields are still damaged. He had witnessed our struggle and now plans to attack us. His ship sustained heavy damage, and is no longer able to go trans light. He obtained spare Shields from Red Dragon and wants to shoot and make us give up so he can take possession of the Silver Streak. The others will assist him if they think he succeeds." "Alright that gives us a chance to take one out of the equation. Narth can you simulate battle damage on the Janus fast enough for them to think they hit something?" "Yes I think so with SHIPS help I can preprogram some damage and display it." "I want him to be able to shoot at us once, turn on shields and give me an excuse to retaliate. " We waited for them to be out of a direct line of sight and Suit turned his marvelous Cloak off. "Elfi hail the Red Dragon for me." "Silver Streak hailing anyone. We are testing our Communications Equipment is it working again?" "Ah there you are! So you did manage it to get off the planet after all! Our Sensors didn't pick up anything. Any serious damage?" "Only minor. Our shields are still down and we are fixing those." He told me the situation and added." We burned an area clean and secured the Intruder. But the organism seems is at closer survey as big as the continent and there is more matter than we could destroy with the energy available. We think it might attack again." As he spoke the damaged Intruder appeared, under shields firing on us! And he hailed:" Captain Velvet, you have no shields. My next shots will vaporize your bridge and your weapons. You can however surrender and land . I take over your ship and guarantee your crew will have a chance to work for me. Refuse and I destroy you!" "You false bastard. I thought we were all in together. Are you in with this Red Dragon?" "Not yet Velvet, this is a private matter between you and him. He is desperate I can't blame him. Whoever comes out on top comes along." "You guarantee the safety of my crew?" "I will talk to Captain Meateater and I will take some aboard." "Alright I will land!" Muhammad took the Ship down closely followed by the Meateater The others not far behind! We landed in the Water. The intruder was just about to land as well:" Mao, shields! Target the Meateater's weapons and shield generators and cut his remaining landing gear. Then pound him with Techstop!" "Shields up. Firing now!" "Elfi put me on their channel." She made a sign that I was on. "Looks like my shields are back just in time. I am going to deal with this scum now. Anyone interfering and I send you what I took of the Duke!" They knew there was nothing they could do to escape a real Loki Torpedo that close. Narth managed to put an amused tone in his voice." The Red Dragon just found out that his Celtest shields don't come on!" It was the Red Dragon who responded." As I said it is a private matter. Meateater is all yours!" I cut him off and said." Marines, Hans we are going to board the other ship and arrest those who surrender, then we plunder that ship in Pirate fashion. Mao you have permission to use Lokis on all but the Crimson Spider if they interfere. Elfi have you prepared the doctored visuals?" " Yes Captain, Ship and I did with lots of input from Mao, who loves gory horror shows." "As soon as we are over there play it on our channels and use easy to hack codes keys as discussed." "It's all ready Captain!" ________________________________________