Nu Trilogy 1: The Esss Advance (10 page)

The first trial run for the new Delta class ship was underway. Sted had prepared the trial workout plan carefully and was observing from the mobile mining platform used to transport the prototype vehicle halfway between Earth and Mars and on the opposite side of the sun from Earth. AMC did not want anyone to know about the new ship’s capabilities. It might cost the company an extra month in their development program, but the need for secrecy was paramount.

Only the test pilot and engineer were on board for the initial flight test. The small size of the ship obviated the need for extensive structural testing of the inner hull under acceleration. The new connections between the outer and inner hulls were a different story. Aidan had insisted that the testing start under minimal acceleration to ensure that the new telescoping pin design could handle the stress.

What Sted was interested in at this point were straight-line acceleration numbers for the ship under different power settings. Any captain worth his salt had to know how his ship was going to perform under all conditions, and the primary tool in his or her bag of tricks was the nimbleness of the ship. Any ship has considerable mass to move around, and the mass to acceleration ratio was a critical factor.

“Let’s proceed by the numbers, gentleman. I want ten percent power for this first run, Mr. Alverez.”

Marty Alverez was AMC’s lead test pilot. He would be on board for the entire trial period but would return to the lunar base after the test. He was much too valuable to send out to the belt.

Today’s itinerary was simple. Work the ship up in ten-percent increments until full power was reached. Each run started and ended near the mining platform. Power out for five minutes, flip over and decelerate for five minutes, bringing the prototype to a relative standstill with the platform. Then power back and flip with the same settings, returning to the original starting point. Then bump the power up by ten percent and do it all over again. The distance covered by each successive jump would increase and be measured by low energy lasers on the platform. What Sted was looking for was consistency of performance out of these new engines.

Aidan was on board for this initial test run even though normal test procedure called for just risking the test pilot. He insisted on handling the trials of “his” beautiful new ship. He was in charge of monitoring and recording every aspect of the new engines under the ever-increasing levels of acceleration, and he could stop the test at any time.

The engines had been tested extensively in special underground chambers on the moon, so there was little chance of an engine problem. The primary concern for Aidan was the structural integrity of the new double hull design. He had specially designed monitors placed at all contact points between the two hulls, and he was watching the stress at each point.

At the end of the fifty percent power circuit, Sted asked Aidan to report his findings, having heard nothing from him on the previous trial runs.

“All stress points are nominal, Sted,” came Aidan’s reply. “It appears we have nailed engine and ship alignment perfectly, and the new double hull design is seeing no abnormal stress at any of the contact points. I recommend moving to seventy-five percent power on our next run and then go up in increments of five percent. I don’t see any benefit in the sixty and seventy percent runs, but I want to monitor this carefully as we approach maximum acceleration.”

“You have my approval, Mr. McBride. Let Marty know to advance the schedule to seventy-five percent and proceed when ready.”

Day one of testing was critical from an engineering standpoint. If they could get through all structural testing, they could begin training with a full crew. Sted was looking forward to the testing of the new offensive and defensive weapons. AMC had brought along an assortment of missiles on the mining platform to test the defensive laser systems. There was also a remote-controlled Beta class ship docked to the platform for testing the effectiveness of the mining laser as an offensive weapon.

Sted was tasked by the AMC board with preparing a set of recommendations within two weeks for modifications for the remaining ships that were about to be assembled on the factory floor. If Sted and Aidan approved, the prototype would be released for its first fully operational run and accompany the mining platform on its return to the belt.

AlvaResh was ecstatic about the third planet out from the star. It was ideally located at a distance from the star where water could exist as both a solid and a liquid. This was critical to the Nu, because the seeding of life had to begin in large bodies of liquid water.

In addition, the planet had a large moon that stabilized the planet’s tilt and prevented the wild swings in climate that would have resulted due to the ever-changing tilt of a moonless world. Most planets they had encountered so far on this survey had only a few smaller moons. The effort required to guide enough material from the planet-forming debris to collect into a large moon, though not impossible, was very time-consuming and delayed the critical work of seeding the planet by more than 100 rotations of this galaxy. That was time they could not afford. The Esss would not be contained forever. Their jump to this galaxy was inevitable.

For AlvaResh, the decision was simple. “Establish our base of operations in the outer shell. We will begin the process of sending water-laden debris down the gravity well to impact the planet. In addition, send a signal to the scouting operations center to dispatch additional resources to this system.”

A simple scouting mission was not designed to have a staff large enough to guide so many water-laden bodies down to the planet. It did, however, have the capability of sending the first candidates down into the system as well as identifying all of the necessary candidates to be sent once reinforcements arrived.

After arriving at their first star system in the new galaxy, AlvaResh concentrated all of his race’s efforts on reproduction. Because they essentially lived forever, the Nu had restricted reproduction long ago to avoid overpopulating their worlds. Replacements were needed only when individual Nu members decided they had lived long enough and wanted to return their personal resources back to the universe.

This unprecedented crossing to another galaxy, however, necessitated accelerated reproduction and training. After only one rotation of the new galaxy, they had expanded their numbers from the 200 members that crossed the void to almost 30,000. This was considered enough to support their efforts of expanding throughout the galaxy in search of habitable planets for breeding a warrior race.

This was only the fifth such system the Nu had discovered since they jumped to the next galaxy, and of the five, this was the most ideal. Hopes ran high among the crew. They would not be continuing the survey in this star nursery. That would have to be delegated to another team. Much work needed to be done, but a short celebration period was definitely in order.

Three days into the trial, they hit their first major glitch. Sted had
Delta One
stationed just twenty kilometers off the mining platform for the first basic tests of both the mining laser and the defensive laser clusters. To save time, Sted ordered that testing of both lasers be done independently. The mining platform had sent up one target for the mining laser and three missiles on a slow ballistic path toward the
Delta.

Bill Overton, their mining engineer, had cycled up the mining laser for drilling holes into his target. When he had the target in the laser’s crosshairs, he pressed the firing button with no noticeable result, at least for the first ten seconds. Then smoke started pouring into the cabin from beneath the mining laser console.

“Lock down your suit helmets, everyone!” Sted yelled just before he locked down his own helmet and engaged the suit’s independent air supply. “Marty, check Bill and Bundy’s suit integrity. Aidan, we need you on the bridge! We have smoke coming from below the main laser console.”

Aidan was already pushing his way through the confusion on the bridge with a small fire extinguisher in hand. He pulled out his floor jack and inserted the leading edge into the floor panel slot in front of the laser console and twisted the handle, which expanded the jack and released the floor panel. Then he inserted the hose from the fire extinguisher under the floor, pushed the panel back down on top of the hose, and then pulled the trigger on the extinguisher. Fire suppressant foam filled the area under the console, and some pushed its way out of the small seams around the edges of the floor panel.

“Clear the bridge!” Sted ordered. “Marty, Bill, and Bundy get to the crew quarters. Marty, you’re in charge of keeping them safe while we work this problem and clear this foul air from the bridge. Make sure that hatch is sealed, and then give me the all clear.”

Marty Alverez herded the crew through the hatch between the bridge and the crew quarters. When the hatch was sealed, he notified Sted over the suit comm channel and then began a close inspection of each of their air systems. He didn’t know how long they would be sealed in their suits, and he needed to know how long they had until the suits began to run out of oxygen.

Meanwhile, Sted issued a mayday to the mining platform. He was not going to engage any of the ship’s systems until he understood the cause of the problem, and that would be determined best with the ship docked to the mining platform. At this point, the mining platform would have to come to them.

“Aidan, can you inspect under that floor panel to make sure you’ve shut down the smoke problem? I’m going to set up the airlock to cycle all of this air out into space, and I will need to know if we can safely refill the cabin with fresh air.”

“Yes sir,” Aidan said as he pried the floor panel back up and pushed his glove through the layer of foam to locate the problem. “I see the problem, sir,” he said after a couple of minutes of inspection. “The power feed from the capacitor that drives the mining laser and the defensive lasers has completely fried itself. The fire is out though, so you can clear the air on the bridge. I’m going to have to install independent taps from that capacitor for the two laser systems. Firing both at once must have caused the problem.”

“How long will that take?” Sted asked.

“Once we’re docked on the mining platform, I should have this up and running in less than a day.”

“Thanks, Aidan. Please take over getting this foul air cycled out of the airlock while I contact the platform and dial back on the urgency of the mayday.”

Just one week after the incident, Sted was starting to feel optimistic again. Aidan’s field fix to the feeds from the laser capacitor resolved the immediate problem. The longer-term problem was the ability of the multiple laser systems to be fired simultaneously. That required some design work at AMC and a refit for
Delta One.

Since then, the defense systems had proved to be very effective against the missiles sent from the mining platform. Though the incoming missiles had no warheads, Sted was able to provide a sense of urgency to the crew he was training. Only the first missile sent was able to get close enough to their ship to have done some damage, and Sted used that as a whip on the crew, telling them they were probably all dead or injured because of their slow response. No other missile got even close.

In addition, his new defense officer was able to make several recommendations for changing the layout of the defense console. Unlike naval ships, this small mining craft could not support defensive missiles in addition to its laser defenses, so borrowing from the original naval design had proved to be less than optimal. Tracking and targeting were still critical, but the speed of response of the lasers under computer control was much quicker than trying to guide anti-missile missiles. This ship must be designed for close-in fighting only. That meant the defense console had to be simplified. The defense coordinator had to be more concerned with the remaining power in the system to support the lasers, and he had to prevent the computers from using overkill on each incoming missile. Pinpoint accuracy was paramount, and blanket coverage was unnecessary.

Today was a milestone. The unmanned Beta ship was being released from the platform. Sted’s test plan called for using the mining platform as an asteroid from behind which the enemy ship would appear suddenly. The platform would simulate an attack from the ship by releasing two missiles with only thirty seconds between each release.

Now,
Delta One
had to deal with the defense of the ship and then stop the Beta before it could release any more missiles. This was a more complex scenario than the crew had handled so far.

“Hard to port,” was his first command when the ship appeared from behind the platform. “Hold her steady at two eighty and rotate starboard defense cluster between us and the enemy.”

“Prepare for incoming missiles.”

At this point, Sted wanted the crew to concentrate on defending the ship. As soon as the second missile was destroyed, he would complicate matters for the crew. With the starboard and port defense clusters straddling the drill laser near the ship’s nose, Sted intended to switch between the starboard and port defenses and fire the drill at the Beta halfway between the switch. That way, there was no window of opportunity for the enemy to get through the defenses.

“Second missile destroyed,” Bundy Meacham, his defense officer, reported.

“Okay, gentlemen, on my mark, come around to starboard ninety degrees and maintain that position for sixty seconds. Then come starboard another ninety degrees to engage our port defense cluster. Mr. Overton, prepare the drill. Set your targeting computer for three fifteen-second bursts. Paint three Xs on the hull for the drilling software. You have five seconds between bursts to advance the target slightly from starboard to port. I want three big holes in that ship. Respond when ready.”

After one quick “Ready” response from Alverez and one delayed “Ready” response from Overton, Sted gave the order: “Mark.” The ship came about nimbly as only a small craft can.

“We are at ninety degrees, sir, and holding for sixty seconds.”

“Burst one engaged! Counting. Acquiring target two. Burst two engaged! Counting. Acquiring target three. Burst three engaged! The drill map overlay of the ship shows positive engagement on all three bursts, sir,” Overton said. He had taken quickly to his new job. After all, there was little difference between a small asteroid and an enemy ship. His job was drilling holes and analyzing the result. In this case, he was looking for air being released from a hull integrity failure caused by the laser instead of looking for the types of elements being released from the asteroid.

“Analysis shows large quantities of oxygen and nitrogen being released. I confirm multiple hull breaches, sir”

“Coming around another ninety degrees, sir,” Marty said.

“Port defense cluster engaged, sir. No sign of further incoming missiles,” Meacham reported.

“I’m impressed, gentlemen!” Sted replied. “You handled that superbly. Normally we would remain in ready state until we determined there was only one ship attacking us and that we had destroyed that ship. We would also look for survivors, if any. In this case, let’s stand down and evaluate the damages to the Beta
.
I want a full write-up from each of you describing the engagement from your perspective. I want details on how the equipment performed, what can be improved in both equipment and training to reduce the time between initial orders and engagement. I also want a full analysis of the state of the entire ship. We need to know the impact of that engagement on all systems.”

Sted knew that this test, though complicated for his mostly commercial crew, was nothing like a real engagement with a determined enemy. He also knew that the mining laser was a potent offensive weapon when used properly. If, however, he had been engaging multiple ships, he would never have been able to get out of a defensive mode. He would have had to defend and run as quickly as possible.

Something was going to have change in the design. Maybe the Delta class ships already under construction could be altered, but more likely, a new class of ship would need to be put on the drawing board that allowed for a more nimble and simultaneous offensive capability.

The Deltas were a big step forward for AMC, and they would probably be successful for a few years until the claim jumpers started banding together and attacking as a group. All of this needed to go into his report for the board.

“Mr. Alverez, set course for the Beta
.
I want to tow that ship back to the platform for analysis. Once we get back to the platform, I want you to bring your protégé Julie up to speed on all operational aspects of
Delta One.
I want her to have time at the helm before we set sail for the belt.”

“Yes, sir,” Marty replied.

“With Julie taking over,” Sted said, “I also need you to take responsibility for consolidating all departmental reports into a comprehensive test review document. Before we depart for the belt, I will write a summary and final series of recommendations for the board, and then you can take it all back to AMC Lunar Base on the shuttle.”

“Aidan, what are your plans?” Sted asked. “Will you be heading back with Marty or joining us for our full operational test in the belt?”

“I need to get back to my engineering staff to begin work on the Epsilon class ships with more of the offensive weapons capability you’ve been pushing so hard. We need to squeeze in a missile launcher and a missile storage area,” Aidan replied. “Eddie Sampson can move over from the mining platform as the first shift engineer.”

“I’m sorry to see you go, but I understand your priorities,” Sted replied. “Cam told me he would leave this option to your discretion. Your field level fix for the capacitor connections certainly saved us a great deal of time during the trials. I hope we don’t have another incident out in the belt. Having the lead engineer aboard would be very comforting.”

“I’m sure Eddie can handle almost anything that might come up,” Aidan said. “There are also three top notch engineers on the mining platform to back Eddie up. Besides, Marty will need some intelligent company on the trip back to Luna.”