Read The Dieya Chronicles - Incident on Ravar Page 18
CHAPTER 16
A flash of blue light announced the arrival of the HAL battle cruiser Reliant in the Rainbow Nebula sector. The Reliant resembled a blistered metallic cylinder with a fat ring jammed on one end. The ring, a technology gift from the Gless, was the dimensional gate engine. The forces required to open a dimensional gateway for a ship the size of the Reliant were unimaginable, but Gless technology had made the impossible happen.
The blue glow hadn’t completely faded from the Reliant when Captain Arslac blinked on the “battle stations” icon in his eye. The crew rushed to their stations, much like the water navies of old. Gunners were still gunners, and missilemen still missilemen. Only on the Reliant, the gunners manning the gun blisters fired computer guided lasers and the big Kali guns fired twenty-four inch shells of matrix tinkla and magnetic ceramics. When fired, a small bias drive engine jumped the shell close to the speed of light. The forces unleashed when something got in the way of a shell moving that fast were considerable. The only problem was their relatively short range – the shells couldn’t hold up to the stress.
Captain Arslac monitored his crew’s response to the “battle stations” alert and checked the time as the last section light blinked green. He allowed himself a smile. Not a record-breaking time but well within standards. He had a good ship and a good crew. Pride filled him as he strode to his battle station.
“Captain on the bridge!” an ensign sang out as he entered.
“As you were,” Captain Arslac automatically responded. With some satisfaction he noted that no one had even glanced up from their station as he entered. “Report please, Mr. Emfal.”
The stone-faced Exec glanced at the captain and displayed the sector on the main screen. “Sir, it looks like an inoperable Kraken Cross. Scans show no activity and only minor power sources.”
Arslac viewed the screen with a tightening in his gut. The last time he’d seen a Kraken Cross had been as a newly commissioned ensign. It had also been the bloodiest battle he’d been in to date. “Any possibility of this being a trap, Mr. Emfal?”
“Sir, the scanners show the fire control center has been destroyed. They have never tried subterfuge before.” The Exec added quietly, “But there is always a first time.”
The Captain grunted. “Notify HQ and ask them to have a backup ready just in case.” The Exec nodded. “Have we had any more reports from the scout ship?”
“Yes sir. DartPilot Larg Keed sends his greetings and is glad we have arrived.”
“I’ll bet he is,” said the Captain. “It has to be a little unnerving to be parked next to that monster.” He adjusted the display to show the tiny scout ship floating next to the damaged fire control center. “Let’s stay out of weapons range until we can be sure we’ve pulled its teeth. Tell that Dart pilot to get in here and report to me.” He stared into space and blinked twice to activate the comm link. “Commlead Haridep, I am sending in a marine striketeam to establish a command post. Your team will follow. Are you ready?”
“Yes, Sir,” she responded.
Captain Arslac wasn’t aware that Janelle, her fourteam and all their equipment had been belted down in Shuttlecraft Two for the last half hour, awaiting a “go” signal. This was the kind of mission an alien studies team dreamed of, but she still had mixed emotions. This would be the first time humans had ever boarded a Kraken ship and she simply didn’t know what to expect. The debate still raged whether the Kraken were different sentient beings from their killing robotic machines or the machines themselves were sentient. The Alliance had found various robot parts and machinery in destroyed ships, but never any DNA.
Early on, in the first recorded Human-Kraken encounter, the transport ship Venture, carrying colonists bound for Noadna IV, was intercepted by a Kraken ship and boarded by battle droids. The droids carried off some of the humans and killed the rest. The horrendous vid pics of men, women and children being lasered down or simply torn to shreds had mobilized the several hundred colonized and independently evolved human worlds into forming the Human Alliance League.
Those well-remembered images flashed in her mind and tightened her stomach. Her gloved hand bounced off her helmet’s faceplate as she subconsciously tried to bite her nails.
After an eternity, the word came from the Captain. “Commlead, the marines have given it an all clear. Good luck.”
She felt a slight bump as the shuttlecraft disengaged from its cradle and pulled away from the Reliant. She keyed her visor to a split screen of the shuttle pilot’s view. The Avant scout’s laser fire had blasted open a hole on the top of the Cross under its fire control center. The marines had widened the hole and set up a docking collar so the Commlead’s team wouldn’t waste time doing an EVA. As they moved closer to the Kraken Cross Janelle saw how much it dwarfed the shuttle. The giant, evil black bulk had fear butterflies ricocheting in her stomach. She unbuckled and moved toward the docking ring before the butterflies could root her to her seat.
“Welcome to first platoon’s Fire Base Alpha, Ma’am,” crackled the radio in her ear. “Lancelead Grey, at your service.”
She peered down into the hole and saw the Lancelead standing thirty feet below her. He wore a standard marine battlesuit with full armament load. She was glad she wore the less bulky scout suit. “Any battle droids on board, Lancelead?”
“No, Ma’am. Doesn’t seem to be anyone home.”
Her fears of a running laser battle with battle droids lessened, and the butterflies in her stomach slowed their rapid racing.
The Lancelead pointed up to her left. “We’ve set up a pulley-ladder on the docking ring. Hook your suit in and I’ll bring you down.” She hooked up, stepped into the hole and the electronic pulley lowered her. Once past ten feet of plating, she eagerly scanned the inside of the Cross. The last of her butterflies fled before her building excitement.
A few light sticks strung up by the marines dimly lit this section of the Cross. She gazed eagerly down a long twenty-foot square hallway that marched into blackness at either end. As the marine helped her unhook from the pulley-ladder, she studied his face through the clear helmet. Lean, dark eyes, short dark hair – and incredibly young.
He saluted and continued his report. “There are anti-grav motors working at point-eight-gee so getting around should be easy. There is no atmosphere and you will have to stay suited up. We have secured this entire hallway and we cut into the floor and the walls on either side. There are identical hallways next to and below us.” He pointed to his right. “We have checked most of this hallway and Fire Team Two is nearing the central core.” He stared and blinked before continuing. “Fire Team Two reports a barrier shield protecting the central core. I’d advise your group to return to the shuttle until we can neutralize it.”
“Not on your life, Lancelead. They are going to have to pry me off this baby.” She pushed past the Lancelead but the strangeness of the interior halted her progress. The first thing that struck her was the total absence of color. Everything was an even shade of dark gray. Her eyes had difficulty making sense of the size and distance of objects. There was little equipment in the long hall. The ceiling angled downward over one bank of controls and a narrow pit contained others. The stations were all different shapes which might be appropriate if the Kraken were a robotic race. Perhaps this find would enable them to finally determine the nature of their foe.
She gradually overcame the human sense of “wrongness” caused by the spatial irregularities. The lack of color might indicate the limits of the user’s sensory perception. “Design of anything reflects the being that uses it.” Her instructor’s words echoed in her mind. “Even the smallest detail could define the user, from buttons that need to be pushed by a finger, to doorways shaped in the form of the body that moves through them.” Kraken ships had a nasty habit of self-destructing when disabled and information about them was severely limited. This view gave them more dat
a about the Kraken than they had extracted during two hundred and fifty years of conflict.
She turned to her staff coming down the pulley-ladder and issued orders. “Ensign Geb, start getting pictures of the diagrams above each control panel. Take vidpics in all spectrums in case there is something here in ultraviolet or infrared.” She turned to the Lancelead. “Have you figured out how to access the fire control center?”
He nodded. “Yes, Ma’am. There is a gravity lift.”
She tapped the shoulders of two of her ensigns. “Get up there and learn what you can from the fire control center.” She pointed a finger at the last member of her group. “Ensign Shik, when Geb is finished, cut away any equipment you can and load it on the shuttle.”
Lancelead Grey listened to a report on his comm channel then turned to Commlead Haridep. “Ma’am, my Fire Team Two believes they can drain the shield barrier at the core and are asking permission to try. Should I tell them to hold off until one of your team looks it over?”
“No, Lancelead, tell them to proceed. They probably know more about force shields than any of my team.”