Hunter Killer: Legacy Earth 7, page 7
“I know I can, because it’ll run on technology that hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years,” she replied. “It’ll be so antiquated in comparison to the galactic average that no amount of scanning or hacking will be able to get into it and it’ll give us the edge we need to find out who actually attacked us.”
“And what would you give us for such valuable technology?”
“I’ve got a beat up Svikarian fighter in my hangar,” Lance replied. “It can’t fly worth anything, BUT you’ll be able to strip it for scraps.”
“That’s an interesting proposition,” Shi-fan said with a nod as he stroked the crystal spheres in thought. “But that leaves you in quite the conundrum.”
“Good word use,” Dexter said, holding up two thumbs.
“Thank you, it’s one of my favorite human words,” Shi-fan replied. “I’m overjoyed the translators work both ways for it.”
Lance smirked as he shook his head before asking.
“What is this conundrum we seem to be in?”
“Both SOAT and human regulations require all corvette class star-ships to have no less than two operational dropships to access at all times,” Shi-fan replied. “And if you give me one, that could put you in a strategic weak spot, tactically speaking. What happens if you get ambushed by more fighters than just two ships can handle?”
“That was going to be my second point,” Lance stated, leaning his forearms on the table. “We would need a ship from you as well.”
“But not just any ship.” The Calnar chuckled, leaning back in his chair.
Lance’s eyes narrowed. He did his best to read the Calnar. His species was hard to pinpoint.
“You need a stealth ship. The kind that you could park on top of the Alcazar tower, and no one would notice unless they looked up.”
“And you have such a ship, I take it?” Lance asked as the former emissary nodded. “If it’s truly that stealthy, why give it to us? It’s got to be worth more to you than anything we could trade from our ship.”
“We do, but it’s experimental. Using it would incur certain risks. The cloaking technology has shown to work in our labs and in atmospheric flight,” Shi-fan explained. “We have yet to test it in space and in combat situations, but should you record that information, we would consider your debt mostly paid.”
“Mostly?”
“There is one other thing we would ask for should this trade be complete. The schematics to this untraceable computer your engineer speaks of.”
Lance sat back. He bit the inside of his cheek before looking at Stephanie. As he worked on mulling over the offer, he held up a finger. Standing up, he waved for Steph to follow him. She did.
“How dangerous could this computer be in the wrong hands?” Lance asked as they huddled far enough away for their whispers not to be heard.
“It’s an untraceable computer. In the wrong hands, it could do a lot of damage,” Stephanie replied before crossing her arms. “The real question is, how well do you know Shi-fan and can we trust him?”
“There hasn’t been talk of civil war in over six months since he’s taken charge,” Lance replied. “I’ve been keeping an eye on this sector and all of our intelligence points to him actually being a good ruler.”
“Fine, but I’ll only give it to him if there’s a remote kill switch that we can control,” Stephanie added.
“It’s like you read my mind,” the captain replied before returning to the table and leaning against his chair’s spine. “What do you want to use the system for?”
“There is a project my people have worked on that is of sector security,” Shi-fan said while glancing at the ground, allowing the captain to put two and two together. “The computer systems we have hooked up to it now are like a beacon. It’s only a matter of time before they’re discovered.”
“And what is this project?” Stephanie asked.
“It’s top secret,” Shi-fan replied.
“I don’t feel comfortable giving something like this over to a project I know nothing about,” Stephanie said, shaking her head.
“It’s okay, Stephanie,” Lance countered. “I know what he’s talking about, and it’s only being used as a stabilizer.”
“And if it destabilizes?” Stephanie asked.
“Then we destroy it, along with your computer,” Shi-fan replied.
“What if Stephanie put in a remote kill switch that can only be activated by me?” Lance asked, looking at the emissary, knowing if he approached it like it was Stephanie’s idea, it’d appear weak. “That way, it gives our engineer here peace of mind and I’d like to think you know me well enough to realize I won’t use that switch unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
Shi-fan paused. He stood up as well and waved his guards over. They huddled together and murmured to one another. Lance looked over at Dexter and Mattias. The sniper shrugged as Dexter pointed toward them.
“It’s really hard to read their lips,” he said.
“I’d imagine so since they don’t speak English,” Stephanie cut in.
“No, I mean, even if they did, the way their heads are shaped, they wouldn’t have to hold their hands up when they speak like we do,” Dexter continued. “It’s kind of cool!”
Shi-fan broke the huddle. He walked back over to the table with his guards.
“After careful deliberation and consulting those I trust most, I have decided…” Shi-fan paused, causing Lance to hold his breath. “To agree to your terms.”
Shi-fan leaned over the table some more and extended his hand. Lance reached out and gave the Calnar a firm shake.
10
THE WHISPER
Stephanie and Dexter stayed in the dining hall where she shared what equipment she’d need with half the royal guard that remained with them. Mattias joined Lance and Shi-fan as the other half of the guards showed them deeper into the structure.
They were led through familiar hallways in the building’s bowels. Eventually, the final door opened to reveal the hangar. A ship transporter flew in through the open doors with the broken Svikari vessel on its large flatbed. It landed in one of the many open spaces, and the bed retracted, dropping the heavily damaged ship on the hangar floor.
“You weren’t kidding,” Shi-fan said, scratching his chin as he inspected the ship. “It is in bad shape. No matter, our engineers are second to none in this sector. We’ll be able to make use of it.”
“Where’s the stealth craft?” Mattias asked.
“Matt,” Lance scolded, looking back at the sniper.
“It’s over here.” Shi-fan pointed behind several of their pure white fighters.
Walking below them, Lance slowed to a stop. His eyes fell on an elegant vessel. It was matte-black with a wide wingspan and just tall enough to accommodate the average person’s height.
The captain walked around the nose of the craft. He placed his hand on its sharp nose while looking into the cockpit. It was significantly smaller than that of the TATlev’s, or any other ships he’d seen.
“I think that may be a little tight for Scott,” Lance said, looking at Mattias.
“Maybe, but Justin’ll be right at home tucked in there,” the soldier replied.
Lance chuckled and nodded as he ducked and stepped under the ship. He inspected its vertical thrusters as well as several angular boosters to allow for maneuvers out of atmosphere. As he slid his fingers over the hull of the craft, he couldn’t help but notice how it felt almost like velvet while producing next to no friction against his fingers.
Reaching the back of the ship, he paused and looked at several small Bombay doors. The captain tapped them and looked back at Shi-fan.
“Mines?” he asked.
“Heat sync drops,” the emissary replied. “There are enough heat syncs to store enough thermal energy from the engine to let you run completely undetected by heat signature for almost an hour.”
“And we just jettison them when we’re done?” Mattias asked. “Won’t that let everyone know right where we are?”
“The ship’s cooling system loops around the syncs. They’ll cool naturally once out of stealth mode,” the Calnar replied. “But in case cover is blown and enemies bear down, they can be ejected to allow for a faster transition to jump speeds. We’ve also found that they can be quite damaging when ejected into a ship’s hull.”
“Very interesting,” Lance said, stepping out from under the ship and inspecting its engines. “Those are some mean-looking engines!”
Two large, elongated hexagons accompanied by two smaller several feet onto the wing took up the captain’s field of view. They sported sleek, layered flaps to change the engine’s aperture in an instant.
“And how fast can this thing go?” Lance asked as Shi-fan rounded the back of the ship. “Outside of jump space, of course.”
“At top speeds, it’s not the most maneuverable, but in atmosphere, it can break Mach sixteen. I wouldn’t suggest turning at those speeds, though,” the Calnar warned.
“Are special suits needed to fly this thing?”
“No, your armor will protect you perfectly. Our engineers also designed the inner portions of the ship to be pressurized enough so oxygen won’t be needed for the pilot.”
“This thing has got to be the most advanced ship in the galaxy,” Lance said, shaking his head and stepping away before looking at his counterpart. “This trade isn’t fair; we’re getting the better end of it by a LONG shot.”
Shi-fan looked down for several moments. His eyes narrowed as he took a deep breath. He placed his arms behind his back as he shook his head.
“There are things that I must admit to you, Lance. Things that I’m not proud of, things that will make this trade much more even.”
At his confession, Mattias stepped behind the guards and placed his hand on his pistol. Lance locked eyes with the sniper and shook his head. The sniper stopped but kept his hand hovering just above his weapon.
“What’d you do?” Lance asked, looking around and readying to summon his helmet.
“When we overthrew Mundur, he escaped,” Shi-fan said. “As hard as we tried, we were unable to end him before he stole a ship and escaped.”
“How do you know he’s not coming back?” Mattias asked as a wave of relief washed over Lance and he relaxed slightly.
“Because we showed our true might to him,” Shi-fan replied. “We showed him that the Calnar are not a people that can be taken over so easily. And we’ve enhanced our planetary scanners. Any Svikari enter the atmosphere, our defenses will automatically shoot down the ship carrying them.”
“They sound like cockroaches,” Mattias muttered.
“What is a cockroach?” Shi-fan asked.
“It’s a vermin on Earth capable of surviving just about anything and if you see one, there’s at least a thousand you don’t see,” Lance replied. “And once you get them, they’re almost impossible to get rid of.”
“Cock…roach,” Shi-fan muttered before nodding. “That is an apt definition of the Svikari.”
“And while it may be… please don’t put a pause between the two syllables, it sounds wrong,” Mattias said.
“Would you like to give him a test run before loading him onto your ship?” Shi-fan asked, motioning toward the ship.
Lance looked at his sniper. Mattias’ facial expression shifted to that of pleading. The captain looked at his multi-tool. No updates from Justin or Stephanie. He opened an encrypted channel to them both.
“How are things looking?” he asked.
“All quiet up here,” Justin replied.
“We’re getting the resources now; should be good to go in about an hour,” Stephanie replied.
Lance cracked a smile as he raised an eyebrow.
“Copy that. We’ll be back by then,” Lance said as Shi-fan turned and walked along the craft’s front wing. He followed. “Justin, I want you to run a simulation with the SOAT sensors. I’m going to make a quick test run.”
“Test run of what?” the pilot asked.
“The Bugatti of all spaceships!” Mattias chimed in.
Shi-fan placed his hand on the side of the ship. A soft blue light flickered under his hand as the side of the ship slid open for quick, easy access. Inside were six chairs, three on either side of an aisle, each faced forward.
Lance grabbed the side of the craft and pulled himself up. Standing upright, he deployed his helmet. It missed the roof by less than an inch. Inspecting each seat, he noticed withdrawn consoles that could emerge in front of each chair. He looked back at Shi-fan.
“While radar, weapons and scanners can all be controlled from the cockpit, we took a page out of a humanities book, from the information Mundur studied and gave the option for it to be disbursed between the crew to allow each member to focus closely on their respective jobs,” Shi-fan replied.
“Why would you add human traits to your most advanced ship?” Mattias asked as Lance made his way to the cockpit.
“If one is going to make the best ship in the galaxy, one must first look at the best parts of every race to incorporate into their ship,” the Calnar replied as they all followed him inside.
Lance inched his way around the solo chair and sat down. It sported a slightly reclined position with arm rests so wide, he didn’t have a choice but to lay his hands on them. He looked around the dash of the ship. There were no buttons, levers or joysticks to turn the ship on, or steer while in flight. He checked to see if there were any pedals either, just in case there weren’t.
“How do I turn this thing on?” Lance asked.
“Place your hand in the center of the dash in front of you,” Shi-fan replied.
As the door shut and everyone strapped themselves in, Lance placed his hand directly in front of him. A blue light flickered under his palm.
“Pilot race identified… human… requesting permission to react to pilot,” a robotic voice called from the craft.
“Emperor Shi-fan gives permission for ship to start for current pilot,” the Calnar called from the back.
“Verbal verification recognized. Initiating startup and interface for human pilot,” the ship explained.
Holographic panels flickered to life in front of him as portions of the arm rests clamped around the fingertips of his gloves. In a soft light, the engines of the ship roared to life. Lance’s heart skipped a beat as restraints self-deployed and pinned him into his chair.
“Calibrating controls for human flight,” the ship said as the holographic information in front of him flickered while his ocular translators tried to keep up with the rapid linguistic shifts until it landed on English. “Before flight, please consult how your race controls this ship.”
A set of instructions overtook the windscreen, both written and visual, that showed how humans should interact with the craft’s controls. The right hand determined how the ship turned, left, right, up and down, while the left controlled the speed.
A question popped up asking if that was okay, or if the controls should be inverted. Lance selected to keep them as is. A second showed up, asking if the hand configuration was correct or if they should be switched. Once again, the captain selected to keep them at their default.
A moving image indicated what his hand movement should be in order to lift off the ground. He followed the gesture, and engines roared as the whine of landing gear being retracted filled the craft. After the ship lifted off, a second hand movement appeared, showing him how to move forward.
As he followed the indicator, the lights around his fingers shifted to a greenish-yellow. The ship’s primary engines roared as they slowly drifted toward the open hangar doors.
“What’s the color shifting mean?” Lance called back.
“Yellow is in the safe zone,” Shi-fan called back. “Red is ideal and black is danger.”
“That’s going to be confusing.” Mattias chuckled as they emerged from the hangar.
“Justin, this is a stealth craft… Whisper,” he said, coming up with the name off the top of his head. “Your job is to try and track us with everything the Gladius has, okay?”
“Copy that,” Justin replied.
Lance pulled back with his hand, making the nose of the craft tilt up. They slowly ascended to the level of their craft.
“Oh, that thing is so beautiful,” Justin murmured over the open channel. “Daddy wants to fly it.”
“You ever refer to yourself as ‘daddy,’ and I’m not sure I’d feel comfortable with you in this seat,” Lance replied.
“And I’d feel bad for anyone who has to get into it after you,” Mattias chimed in.
“Is he supposed to be drooling this much?” Valdivia’s voice crackled in over the radio.
“Oh, sorry, I got distracted,” Justin replied with a quick slurp. “We are tracking you as best we can. It looks like whatever material the ship is made from is absorbing our scanning waves because, even from this close, it’s hard to tell you’re even there.”
“And the stealth system isn’t even activated yet,” Shi-fan replied.
Lance continued to climb until they were above the city, the tree lines and even the distant mountains. He did a quick systems check; everything was yellow. He looked over his shoulder before turning his attention to the blue sky before them.
“Y’all ready for this?” he asked.
“Ba-na-NA!” Justin cut in over the radio.
“Punch it!” Mattias shouted from the back.
Lance clenched his right fist, rolled his wrist down, and shoved his arm forward. KOOM!
The engines roared to life. Lance was slammed back into his seat. His stomach dropped as the air was briefly stolen from his lungs. A cone of condensation almost immediately broke across the nose of the craft.
Lance tightened his stomach and controlled his breathing as Mattias and Shi-fan both let out a scream of enjoyment while they accelerated. Adrenaline coursed through the captain’s veins as he gently ascended so they could go faster.
He punched a hole through the clouds as he continued to climb. His speed continued to increase. Lance gently started to turn the craft so he could fly directly over the Gladius. They were already approaching Mach four.
