Phantom chapter 3 (standard:science fiction, 1705 words) [3/5] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 12 2003	Views/Reads: 2505/1744	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Chapter 3

It was not without trepidation that Phantom's crew said goodbye to the
freighter, approaching unseen was all well and good, but once the blow 
had been struck escape would not be so easy. The battleship was docked 
with a hollowed out asteroid/space-station, within the closest of the 
three asteroid belts. The asteroids would not pose a manoeuvring 
problem. Contrary to popular belief there are in fact hundreds, often 
thousands of kilometres between asteroids in such belts. However, they 
would cause a navigation problem. Under EH they would be nearly 
impossible to detect until they got close enough to register on the 
gravimetric mass sensor. 

Archer ordered the ship out of hyperspace, as far away from the enemy as
she dared. It was a matter of compromise. Too close and there was a 
chance, however tiny, that the enemy would detect the motivator's 
unique portal, too far away and they would have insufficient fuel to 
keep the EH up for the whole attack. A quick scan with the mast showed 
all as they had left it. This was obviously a pretty major hub; there 
were many ships in port and others (mainly destroyers) patrolling the 
area. “Down mast, ahead one third on turbine,” said Archer, speaking 
quietly, her voice laced with adrenalin. 

The holoscape showed the local area, several asteroids highlighted in
blue, Phantom herself in green and the hostiles in red. Chrysys could 
predict the motion of the detected asteroids to within the degree of 
accuracy necessary for navigation, but as they moved on toward the 
target it would become more dangerous as they came into un-mapped 
sections of the belt. The enemy's movements were another matter. Their 
movements could not be predicted and unless the mast was raised, the 
only information on enemy movement came from the short range 
gravimetric mass sensor and the passive epdar array which itself was 
far from all-seeing. 

Once they came within .005 light seconds of the nearest hostile Archer
ordered rig for minimum signature, and the ship crept on. Every pulse 
was racing. When the mast had been raised before the approach, they had 
detected an active epdar array which obviously could not detect them 
but if their passive signature was detected there was nothing they 
could do but stop the engines, unshift the etheric masses, and pray. 

“Con, epdar, new contact designated tango 13 bearing 047 by 355.” A new
icon appeared on the holoscape, a red wire-frame sphere but the contact 
wasn't strong enough for identification. Chrysys showed a red line 
indicating the sphere's projected course, it came just to close for 
comfort. “Helm, come port five degrees, engine thrust only, no mass 
shifting.” By increasing the thrust on the starboard turbine, Phantom 
could change course without using the etheric masses which might give 
them away. With all masses unshifted Phantom gave a negligible passive 
epdar signature. As the two ships passed each other Phantom's 
gravimetric mass sensor registered a contact and Chrysys changed the 
sphere into a representation of  a  Type One destroyer. Thankfully 
though that's all that changed. The enemy continued on its course, 
which meant that the interloper had not been detected. Everyone 
breathed again as they resumed course. Archer wanted to raise the mast 
but she dared not, it simply wasn't worth the risk. 

Onwards they crept for four hours, the tension never decreasing. The
navigator had plotted a course which would bring them very close to the 
asteroid/space-station in the hopes that their own grav-signature would 
be masqued by the asteroid's stronger one. The disadvantage of this was 
that as they got closer, the traffic became denser. 

“Target at 5 K Captain,” the epdar officer declared. “All stop,
thrusters only,” she ordered, “on my mark raise mast sensors on 
passive. Confirm target and lower mast again.” It took a little while 
for the ship to stop, instead of using the etheric masses to stop 
Archer had ordered manoeuvring thrusters be employed. These took longer 
but decreased the chance of detection. “Mark.” The mast was raised and 
three seconds later lowered, the gunnery officer's voice sounded over 
the intercom, “Target confirmed, firing solution loaded!” The sensor 
officer also reported, “Minimum EM signature Captain, her shields are 
down and most systems offline.” After examining the wreck of the 
Megaeran battleship which was destroyed in the Battle of Bernard's 
Star, the layout of this class of ship was quite well known. 
“Excellent. Gunnery target Harbingers on the starboard auxiliary 
anti-matter bunker, target Reapers at intervals along the hull and 


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