Junkyard Dogs 1: The Scrapyard Incident (14 page)

Irene had crossed
the room to join them when she saw who Kresge was talking to. She didn't know
Haines well, but they had met on several occasions in the past.

"He's right,
Deputy Haines," said Irene. "I had some of the same issues when we
first got here. Forget about arresting anyone, we can sort that out later,
right now we need to put aside our differences and come together against this
common enemy."

"I... I
don't know...," said Haines. She looked around and realized that she was
not only badly outnumbered, but that two people who probably outranked her were
telling her to back off. She finally relented. "Alright...fine!
Now what?"

"Now we work
together and figure out just what the hell is going on!" replied Kresge.
"To tell you the truth, I'm damned glad to see somebody from station
security. Tell me more about how the station is organized. How many security
people are there?"

She looked at
Gibbons and Steuben before answering somewhat reluctantly, "There are
about sixty of us," she said finally, "but only about a third are on
duty at any one time."

"So roughly
twenty of you were on duty when the attack came?"

"Yes, that's
about right."

"Have you
seen anyone else from security since the attack?"

"No, Gordon
Harmon, the security chief, took at least six people over to the governor's
area to protect the dignitaries." Her look became serious. "I heard
Gordon didn't make it."

"Yeah,
sorry," said Kresge.

"Wrong place, wrong time.
It's a pity, he was a good
man. In any case, he sent me down to the opposite side of the station to
maintain order there. I had another security officer with me, George Fowler,
when I came down. I sent him to the next stairwell over. You haven't seen him
have you?"

"No, but
people keep straggling in," said Gibbons, "maybe he'll show up before
too long."

Haines continued,
"Security hadn't really had time to formulate any kind of real plan. I
sent a whole lot of people to their quarters, it's the best place for most of
them, but a small group of us, including your two men, Commander, had collected
at the stairwell and were just trying to decide what to do next when Allison
Steuben found us.

"I see you
have a stun rod," said Kresge, looking at a device that was holstered on
her uniform utility belt. "Tell me about it."

"It'll
incapacitate a man for half an hour or so."

"What's the
range?"

"You need to
be within three or four meters."

"That's a
bit close but I suppose..."

The conversation
was cut short as one of the Organization's observers came through the entrance
and reported immediately to Gibbons and Kresge. Haines remained with the
leaders.

"This is
Harvey Rothwell, Commander," said Gibbons. "He's maintenance foreman
on the first deck. He knows that area like the back of his hand."

"Good to
meet you, Harvey," said Kresge, "Do you know Kathy Haines?"
Rothwell nodded warily. "Hi, Kathy..."

"Are you
part of this too, Harvey?" asked Haines.

"Maintenance
jobs don't pay shit, Kathy. Man's got to make a living!"

Kresge
intervened, "
It's
okay, Harvey. What have you got
for us?"

"Sorry,
Commander, I wasn't able to get a look at any of them. I still don't know who
they are or what they look like. My spot ain't that good for seein', but it's
pretty good for hearin'."

"So, what
did you hear?"

"The leader
was real mad that they had to send that ship back out to the Scrapyard."

"They went
to attack the Scrapyard?"

"Sorry,
Commander, that's not quite right. It's more like they already had attacked it
and they had to go back. They hit the main facility in the Scrapyard to take
out the communications and then headed in here to get the
Boise
and take over the orbital station."

Kresge looked
like he had been punched in the stomach.

"They
destroyed the main facility of the Scrapyard? Were there any survivors?"

"Probably
not many, it was a surprise attack, just like they did here, but there must
have been some somebody."

"How so?"

"Well,
somebody from the Scrapyard called to warn us here at the station. Too bad they
were too late."

"Harris?"
Kresge thought out loud. "I'll bet it was Harris. He and Carlisle and
Hawkins were supposed to be out in the yard for a few days. He probably got to
the auxiliary tracking station and used the Stage I communicator from out
there. I knew I liked that boy!" Then he became more sober. "No other
survivors?"

"I couldn't
tell from what I heard."

"Any
indication of why they attacked the Scrapyard, destroyed the
Boise,
and took over the station?"

"Maybe,"
said Rothwell. "As I said, they wanted to take out long range
communications. Their real objective seems to be the Meridian Ambassador. They
said that the Ambassador was gonna be real surprised when his ship gets here. I
think they're gonna try to capture him alive. I didn't hear any more than that.
They left the room and I decided to get down here and let you know what I'd
found out. Sorry about your Scrapyard, Commander."

"Thanks...I
can't change any of that. Well done, Harvey! Go get something to eat."

Kresge's look was
dangerous. He swore under his breath as he headed back to the mess area.

"The sons of
bitches attacked my Scrapyard. They're gonna wish they hadn't done that. From
now on, this is personal!"

Chapter 25

...The final configuration of the Federation
Navy projectile
launcher,
also referred to as a
"railgun," made for a most formidable weapon. Capable of launching
projectiles of nearly five hundred millimeters in diameter (these were the
largest ever manufactured -- larger diameters were theoretically possible,
though probably not practical) at velocities up to nine thousand meters per
second, these weapons were capable of inflicting an enormous amount of damage.
The fact that these velocities were obtained by the use of a linear mass driver
powered by the superb Parkinson capacitor discharge system meant that the ships
mounting these weapons were not required to carry large quantities of bulky and
potentially dangerous propellants for the projectiles. Often the warheads
themselves were not required to contain any explosives either; the vaporization
of the projectile on impact due to the extremely high kinetic energy imparted
by the extraordinary velocities was usually sufficient to destroy or
significantly damage any target. Different degrees of penetration through armor
could be obtained by altering the jacket material of the projectile -- greater
penetration being obtained by a material that held the projectile together a
few fractions of a millisecond longer...

...Several serious limitations led to the
eventual demise of the projectile weapon, however. The use of projectiles
dictated that warships were limited to a finite number of salvos before running
out of ammunition. The sheer mass of the projectiles, as well as the turrets
and launch tubes associated with the systems, added prohibitively to the energy
required to maneuver and alter the velocity of the ship, in addition to slowing
these activities down. Naturally the situation was much worse in the case of
the larger ships...

...The pulse beam system utilizes a more
highly-developed form of the Parkinson capacitor discharge bank. The extreme
power demands of pulse beams are well known, but Sigvald Parkinson himself
demonstrated that making the capacitor charging system an integral part of the
ship's fusion power plant made the pulse beam practical and reliable. Finite
supplies of ammunition and vast amounts of excess mass were no longer at
issue...

...Projectile weapons were quickly phased
out when effective pulse beams and hyperelectromagnetic shielding were
perfected just before the beginning of the War of Succession. As had happened
so many times in the past, the demands of war drove the development and
refinement of weapons systems at a vastly accelerated pace. Navies adopted the
pulse beam weapon almost immediately and only a few ships of mixed
projectile/pulse beam armament were ever developed. Early versions of the pulse
beam weapon, such as those used in the Succession War, were quickly superseded
by far more powerful types as they became available...

...Guided missiles were, of course, used
throughout this same period and continue to be used as this report is being
prepared. Though they suffer from some of the same limitations as projectile
weapons such as excessive mass, use of dangerous propellants, and finite
numbers, the ability to select and lock onto targets as well as the ability to
travel in a non-linear fashion and to change course during flight are
advantages too great to ignore...

... There is a persistent, but unconfirmed
rumor that early forms of the shield, such as those used by the opposition in
the Succession War, could be penetrated by projectiles under special conditions
(see Talbot et al, 2547)...

Hartwell Wrist
Comp reference note highlighted for further review by Tamara Carlisle. Excerpt
is from "Naval Weapons in Transition: The Case
Against
the Projectile Launcher," by Charles Nolan.

UTFN Reclamation Center,
onboard the wreck of
FNS Terrier
October 6, 2598.

Carlisle and
Hawkins arrived at the hatch that led to the capacitor bank for the portside
launcher in the aft turret of the old destroyer. Hawkins opened the hatch with
no difficulty and made his way inside as Carlisle waited.

"How's it
going back there?" asked Harris over the suit communicator.

"Hawk is
down in the base of the turret now," replied Carlisle.

"Lass?"
said Hawkins. "The capacitor bank be fried but could you be comin' down
here? I need you to be checkin' somethin' against your schematics."

"Sure, Hawk,
I'll be right down."

She headed
downward into the base of the turret and found him at the forward end of a mass
of blackened wires, charred coils, and melted components that had once been a
capacitor bank, frowning at a cable that came out of the capacitor enclosure
and disappeared through a neat, but obviously non-specification opening that
routed the cable towards the bow of the ship. The opening had been sealed up
around the cable with a large glob of emergency sealant.

"What is it,
Hawk?" asked Carlisle.

"Would you
be seein' if this cable be on your schematics, Lass? I dinna think it's
supposed to be here."

Carlisle brought
up the schematic and looked it over for several minutes.

"Mass
driver...capacitor bank...black cable
?...
No, Hawk,
whatever that cable is for, it wasn't in the original design specs for the
ship. Nothing in any of the later refit update reports either, at least not in
anything that I have. My guess is that whoever ran that cable did it after the
last refit." She paused to check a cross reference before continuing.
"That would mean it was done sometime within the last year that the ship
was in service."

"Pardon me,
Lass, but could you maybe be takin' a look at where that cable be comin' from?
You mustn't be offended, but wee as you are in the first place and bein' in
that wisp of a suit, maybe you can squeeze back in there and be seein' what
they did."

"It'll take
more than that to offend me," she said, smiling at the older man and
noting, with some affection, his chivalrous regard for her feelings. "You
want me to trace this cable back?"

"If you could."

She squeezed into
the small space between the bulkhead wall and the capacitor bank before taking
a moment to check the schematics again.

"Black cable...mass driver...mass driver?
 
It looks like they disconnected the feed to
the railgun above. Why in space would they do that?"

"I dinna
have an answer either. Come on out, Lass. Let's be checkin' the starboard
launcher."

They found the
identical situation on the starboard side of the ship, a fried capacitor bank
and a non-spec cable. Carlisle squeezed into a mirror image of the area she had
inspected on the port side and discovered, as she had expected, that the
starboard railgun had also been disconnected. She and Hawkins looked at each
other.

"This is
really strange, Hawk. Check it out. The cable on this side isn't as
thick."

"Nay, it
isn't. Maybe they
be
runnin' out of the thicker stuff,
whatever they were tryin' to do." Hawkins shook his head.

"Did you
check the magazine?"

"Nay, Lass, not yet.
It
be
back that way, separate from the capacitor enclosure."

They made their
way towards the rear of the ship. The nearby magazine area was heavily armored
with hull material that was at least twice as thick as the material that made
up the rest of the ship, with the exception of the outer hull itself. A quick
check revealed another curiosity; the aft magazines were nearly full.

"This is
strange, it looks they didn't even try to fire the aft guns."

"Aye, and
yet the capacitors be burned out."

"Well, at
least we have plenty of ammo."

"It'll only
be helpin' if we have something to shoot it with, Lass. Let's be checkin' the
forward gun emplacements."

"Lieutenant,
are you getting all this?" asked Carlisle.

"Yeah, I'm
following. Check the forward guns. I'll be monitoring you."

With Carlisle
consulting the schematic for the ship, and Hawkins his memory, they made their
way forward. Their route took them through one of the cargo holds where they
saw a scattering of cargo modules and several stacks of barrels marked
"United Terran Federation Navy Type B Silicon Fluoride Nanite (SFN) Ion
Drive Reaction Fluid." Carlisle smiled as she recalled Harris' lecture
back on the main station just a day or so ago.

"That must
be some of the material Harris was talking about," she said.

"Lass?"

"Sorry,
Hawk. It's just something that Harris told us about back on the main station.
He said most of these ships have lots of reaction fluid and sealants on board.
Looks like he wasn't exaggerating."

"Aye, that
be
true. The stuff
be
all over the
place." He turned to shine his suit lights on another stack of drums
lashed down on the other side of the hold. "Those
be
sealants over there."

Hawkins quickly
led them through several more closed hatches and into the front turret area.
Here things were different because of the damage to the forward part of the
ship. The port side gun was easy to check because there was no damage on that
side. Hawkins could tell as soon as he entered the enclosure that the forward
portside capacitor bank was also burned out. A quick inspection also revealed
yet another mysterious cable, this time running from the capacitor bank towards
the aft part of the ship. It appeared as though it might have been connected to
the forward capacitor bank but everything was such a charred mess that it was
hard to tell for certain. Once again the two inspectors looked at each other.

"What do you
want to bet that this is the same cable that ran from the aft capacitor bank,
Hawk?"

"Aye, Lass,
I agree, I suppose we could try to trace it back but it be the same color and
the same thickness. Heck, even the sealant looks like it be put on by the same
guy. I wonder what in space they were doin'?"

That left the
only the starboard gun. Here, however, the situation was a bit more difficult.
Due to the damage on the old ship's starboard side, a bulkhead was bowed inward
and the hatch to the capacitor area was jammed tight. Hawkins worked on it for
a few minutes before he gave up, went back to the sled and brought back a
portable plasma cutting torch and a pry bar. He expertly burned through the
hinges on the heavy door and used the bar to pry the recalcitrant hatch cover
open. Careful not to touch any of the jagged edges he had just created, he went
in to inspect the starboard capacitor bank. A few minutes passed.

"Be careful,
Lass, but I need you to be comin' in and seein' this."

Carlisle made her
way carefully through the hatch opening. Instead of the charred and distorted
machinery that they had seen in the other three capacitor enclosures, the
starboard side was, to all appearances, undamaged. A further quick inspection
revealed the mystery cable coming from aft, the thinner one on this side, only
this cable had burned through, right where it presumably had connected to the
forward bank.

"I wanted to
do it anyway, Hawk, but I wonder if we can salvage the log for this ship. Maybe
we could find some kind of explanation."

Hawkins nodded.
"Good idea, Lass. At least this capacitor bank seems to be okay."

"I'll see if
I can get power to the ship's command console," said Harris, from the
bridge. "I'd like to have a look at the log book, too."

A quick check of
the forward magazines revealed that the starboard side, the one with the intact
capacitor bank, was empty. The port side, with the fried capacitor, had only
three projectiles remaining.