Frontiers 07 - The Expanse (13 page)

Nathan looked at Cameron. “Sometimes, you just have to take a chance, Commander.”

Cameron smiled slightly.

“Vlad, take the ZPEDs to ten percent and stand by.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“Our preliminary analysis indicates that we were somehow pulled off course during our last jump by the black hole’s gravity,” Abby said. She looked about at the faces gathered around the conference table in the command briefing room.

“How is that possible?” Nathan asked. “Our jump plot should have taken us well beyond the reach of that gravity well.”

“Yes, you are correct; it should have,” Abby admitted.

“Even now, we’re considerably closer to the black hole than our original jump plot would’ve taken us,” Cameron added.

“It appears that our jump drive is somehow attracted to massive gravity wells,” Abby said. “A ship traveling in normal linear fashion would not have been affected by the black hole’s gravity well, at least not when following the course we had plotted. However, somehow, our jump drive interacts with relatively nearby gravity wells, creating an attraction… one that can literally curve our jump path toward the gravity well pulling at us.”

“How does that work?” Nathan asked.

“As you know, we still do not fully understand how the jump drive works.” Abby thought for a moment, in obvious frustration, not only at the task of trying to explain complex physics to laypersons, but also at the fact that she herself did not fully understand the physics involved. “Imagine you have a powerful electromagnet. An object composed of a magnetic material, if placed close enough to the electromagnet, will be pulled toward it. However, if placed a sufficient distance away, the object will be unaffected. Now, instead of a simple magnetic object, place another powerful electromagnet at the same distance. The attractive force created by both electromagnets together is enough to overcome that same distance, thus drawing the two objects together.”

“But we’ve been around large gravity wells before,” Nathan said.

“In comparison to even a small, stellar mass black hole like the one we just escaped, anything we have encountered previously has been insignificant. Except for one.”

“Which was?” Nathan wondered, a little annoyed that he had to ask.

“The Campaglia.”

“The Campaglia was a ship, Doctor. I’m pretty sure she did not carry a significant gravity well about her,” Cameron argued.

“The Campaglia’s ZPED was massive compared to the miniature versions we have been experimenting with. If you remember, during testing of the hybrid jump drive concept, we experienced an effect that simulated that of a massive gravity well, even at relatively low outputs.”

“The problems with the artificial gravity plating in the decks around the mini-ZPEDs,” Vladimir added.

“Yes. Although the devices do not actually produce gravity, they have a similar attractive effect. This is why they caused problems with our jump drive.”

“That’s why we jumped into the middle of that battle?” Nathan asked.

“All the evidence seems to indicate such, Captain,” Abby admitted. “The act of passing through the Campaglia’s outer shields caused our jump fields to fail. Had they not done so, we would have collided with the Campaglia at unimaginable speeds.”

“Then we just have to avoid black holes,” Nathan said.

“Captain, there are thousands of stellar mass black holes out there,” Lieutenant Yosef stated. “We only know the location of a handful of them.”

“How many of those are between us and Sol?” Nathan asked.

“None, that we know of, that is. But we didn’t know about the last one, either, and that’s the point,” Yosef said.

“Perhaps we should be looking for them along our course?” Cameron suggested.

“We were, sir,” the lieutenant defended. “But we’re looking forward from light years away. When a star collapses, a stellar mass black hole can form in an instant. The one that we just encountered could have formed years ago, or minutes ago.”

“So you believe that it was the result of a collapsed star?” Cameron asked.

“That would explain the debris,” Nathan said. “It would’ve broken up whatever planets were in orbit and sucked them in.”

“I believe it was a system designated as B157-12087 in the fleet star catalog,” Lieutenant Yosef stated.

“How do you know?” Nathan asked.

“Because it’s not there, sir, and the black hole is. That singularity is right where B157-12087 should be. Now there’s just a black hole and a lot of debris.”

Nathan took a deep breath. “So, now we have to try to avoid black holes, possibly ones that we don’t even know of.”

“We could adjust our course in an attempt to keep as much space between us and any system that we know has the potential to form a black hole,” Abby suggested.

“I doubt that’s going to make much of a difference,” Nathan stated.

“Not to mention that it’s bound to take longer,” Lieutenant Yosef added.

“We have another matter to consider, Captain,” Cameron said. “Propellant. We used more than three-quarters of it escaping the black hole. We have enough to get home as long as we keep our maneuvering, acceleration, and deceleration to a minimum. However if we run into a similar situation…”

“We won’t have enough propellant to escape a second time,” Nathan said, finishing her sentence for her. “We need to find more propellant. We have processing facilities on board, don’t we?”

“No, sir. They were not installed prior to departure. The systems weren’t even loaded. I guess Fleet didn’t consider that aspect of our design as a priority.”

“Any chance we can fabricate the components needed to rig something up ourselves?”

“Assuming you have all the specifications in your database, it is possible,” Lieutenant Montgomery stated. “However, it would take some time, probably more time than it would take to get back to Earth.”

“Not a lot of options, here,” Nathan sighed. “How far are we from reaching the fringe?”

“Based on the state of the core and fringe worlds of Earth at the time that the Data Ark was sealed up to protect it against the bio-digital plague, we should reach the outermost edges of the fringe in about ten to twelve jumps,” Cameron reported.

“Maybe one of those worlds can spare some propellant,” Nathan said.

“That’s a really big maybe, sir,” Cameron stated. “We have no idea if any of those outer worlds survived. Even if they did, are they controlled by the Jung? Do they have a compatible propellant? Are they willing to provide us with a significant amount? How are we to pay them?”

“I get the point, Commander. It’s a long shot at best.”

“I have another idea,” Abby said. “It won’t solve the problem, but it might extend the potential range of our current propellant stores.”

“I’m all ears, Doctor,” Nathan said as he looked across the briefing table at her.

“We could use the ZPEDs to achieve greater acceleration with smaller amounts of propellant.”

“That might work,” Vladimir agreed, sitting forward in interest.

“Does anyone have any objections to this idea?” Nathan asked the others in attendance. Nathan leaned back in his chair for a moment, contemplating his options as he waited for opposition from his staff. “Very well, Cheng, use the ZPEDs to get maximum thrust at minimal propellant cost.”

“Yes, sir,” Vladimir responded.

“Captain,” Cameron said, “we should be careful not to use up too much propellant during the rest of our journey, if possible. We will need the propellant when we reach Sol.”

“At that point, if we’re out of propellant, I’m sure Fleet can send us a bit more to get us safely into port,” Nathan commented with a smile. “Lieutenant Yosef, while you keep an eye out for black holes and other threatening anomalies, also look for signs of civilization. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find someone willing to top us off.”

“Yes, Captain,” Lieutenant Yosef responded.

“Even if we make contact with another civilization,” Cameron said, “we risk using valuable propellant just making orbit to investigate.”

“Point taken, Commander,” Nathan said. “However, it won’t cost us any propellant to keep our eyes and ears open.”

“I’m only saying that it might not be worth the course change.”

“We’ll make that decision if and when the time comes, Commander.”

“Of course, sir.”

“Lieutenant Montgomery,” Nathan said as he turned toward the Takaran lieutenant sitting at the far end of the table, “go ahead and work out the details of creating our own propellant production capabilities. I’d like to know for sure if it’s even an option. We’re still a long way from Earth. Who knows what might happen along the way?”

* * *

Nathan sat in his ready room, studying his daily reports. It had been two days since they had escaped the black hole at B157-12087, and after five jumps, Nathan was beginning to relax a bit. Vladimir had incorporated the additional power created by the mini-ZPEDs into the ship’s propulsion and maneuvering systems, which had improved their potential energy to maneuver the ship. Nathan still preferred to locate another source of propellant if possible. Having little room for maneuvering one’s way out of an emergency was an unpleasant position in which to be.

“Captain?” Commander Taylor called from the open hatchway.

“Commander,” Nathan responded. “What’s up?”

“Lieutenant Montgomery would like to speak with you,” she stated as she entered the ready room.

“Bring him in,” Nathan urged.

The commander turned around and signaled for the lieutenant to enter.

“Lieutenant Montgomery,” Nathan greeted. “My condolences on the loss of your fellow countryman.”

The lieutenant looked slightly confused by the captain’s terminology but surmised its meaning nonetheless. “Thank you, Captain. We appreciated your kind words at the memorial service.”

“They were both fine men who gave their lives for this ship. As a captain, I cannot ask for more than that.”

“They were both volunteers,” the lieutenant stated. “I believe they both died serving a cause they believed in, as do we all.”

“How can I help you?” Nathan asked, changing the subject as he motioned for the lieutenant and the commander to be seated.

“You asked me to investigate the possibility of creating onboard propellant production capabilities.”

“Indeed I did. What have you learned?”

“As I originally suspected, it is not a small undertaking. Even using our more advanced systems rather than those detailed in your database, it would take time and a great deal of effort. It simply is not an alternative given the amount of time available.”

“You didn’t need a personal meeting with me to tell me that it can’t be done, Lieutenant,” Nathan stated with suspicion. “Was there something else?”

“Yes, sir. While I was investigating the viability of onboard propellant processing, I took notice of some other systems on the Aurora that I believe we could improve upon using Takaran technologies.”

“Such as?”

“As you know, we cannot provide you with shields that would not interfere with your jump drive fields as well.”

“Yes, that’s why we chose not to delay our departure in order to install the shield emitter arrays,” Nathan told him.

“We could begin the installation process during our recharge layovers,” the lieutenant suggested, “the same way that we upgraded the secondary jump field emitter array… using the crawlers.”

“Wouldn’t that take considerable time as well?” Nathan wondered.

“Yes, it would. However, we could do it a section at a time. Perhaps if we concentrated our efforts on strategic locations, such as the bow…”

“An interesting idea,” Nathan admitted.

“There’s more,” Cameron said.

“There are two other projects that you might be interested in, sir. We could replace your missile battery with a plasma cannon. It would be similar to but smaller than those that defended Answari.”

“Aren’t they relatively short-range weapons?” Nathan asked.

“Correct. Their effective range is only about five hundred kilometers. Beyond that the bursts begin to dissipate. However, their destructive power is far superior to that of ship-to-ship missiles.”

“Then why don’t Takaran warships use them?”

“Because they wouldn’t be able to get in close enough,” Cameron added, “not with everyone else using long-range missiles.”

“Like taking a knife to a gun fight,” Nathan said.

“Exactly,” Cameron agreed. “Getting in close is our biggest strength.”

“A plasma cannon, when used at the ranges that the Aurora regularly employs, would be quite formidable,” Lieutenant Montgomery said.

“We wouldn’t have to worry about running out of ammunition, either,” Cameron added, “and plasma shots can’t be taken out with point-defense systems.”

“But they can be repelled with shields,” Nathan said.

“To some extent, yes,” the lieutenant explained. “However, if targeted directly at the location of the shield emitters, repeated fire can quickly overheat the emitters and cause failure, thus weakening the shield. Take out several shield emitters within close proximity to one another and you can collapse an entire segment of the enemy’s shields.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Cameron said.

“What about the power requirements?” Nathan wondered.

“A single mini-ZPED would produce more than enough energy to power the weapon.”

“How long would it take to make the change?”

“The entire conversion can be done within the pressurized compartment that houses the missile battery. The weapon itself can be fabricated within a week and installed within a day, assuming the missile battery has already been removed while the weapon is being fabricated.”

“Could the weapon be mounted externally on the hull instead of replacing the missile battery?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, sir. However, leaving it out in the open during transit greatly decreases its operational lifetime.”

“Same reason all our weapons are made to retract when not in use,” Cameron said.

“I’m hesitant to take a working weapons system offline in order to experiment with a new one, even if it is more formidable.” Nathan looked to Cameron, his XO. “Commander, I’m assuming you and the lieutenant have had a lengthy conversation about this idea?”

“Yes, Captain,” Cameron answered confidently. “Risks, resources, personnel, the usual. I believe it is an interesting idea, in concept. However, I, too, would prefer not to trade in one weapons system for another. Perhaps we could fabricate the weapon, then mount it externally for testing purposes prior to using it to replace the missile battery. After all, we still have a full load of missiles. I see no reason to take them out of our arsenal.”

“Good idea, Commander,” Nathan agreed. “Would that be possible?” he asked the lieutenant.

“I’ll speak to Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy. I am certain he will have an idea of where to mount the weapon.”

“Very good. You may begin fabrication,” Nathan said.

“Yes, sir.”

“You said you had two ideas?” Nathan asked.

“Your torpedo tubes,” the lieutenant continued, “they could easily be converted to fire energy plasma shots as well. Although they would be at the disadvantage of having to fire along the same line as the ship is pointed, their destructive force would be easily one hundred times that of a plasma cannon shot. In addition, you could convert only one or two of your six torpedo tubes to fire plasma shots, leaving the other tubes to fire your existing torpedoes.”