Scission: Ka-pow!
Dylan was out on scanning shift and Harper was feeling refreshed with only a couple of hours sleep. However, he wasn't sure if his newfound vigour was up to the task of being alone surrounded by Nietzscheans even if they were allies.
Harper walked quickly to keep apace of Charlemagne Bolivar's rolling stride. The Jaguar ruler was chatting inanely about fatherhood and the benefits of a good Nietzschean wife as they toured the Flagship. Harper had tuned him out and nodded at what seemed like the appropriate times. He knew he'd probably seem terrified, but then he was.
At least he had the feeling that Charlemagne was trying to put him at ease. Of course that didn't help. Tyr had never tried to make him feel comfortable. He always emphasized the 'don't let your guard down around Niets' thing. So Bolivar's calm friendly voice only served to make the engineer twitchier.
"And this is Engineering," the Jaguar leader said as they walked through a large grey door. I think you will find everything in order. I tried to persuade my chief engineer that the science station in command would be better but, then, you engineers are such a peculiar lot."
A young Nietzschean male spied them and called 'Officers on deck.' Harper heard rustlings from around the room as people came to attention.
"I will introduce you to the team. Wolfe," the grey haired Sabran stepped up from behind them, "you have already met. He is the Admiral's Chief Weapons Officer. And of course Favian, my Chief Weapons Officer." A younger man with fey features similar to the Archduke's stepped from their entourage.
"Now the Engineering part of the team. Thule, my Ordinance Technician," a hulking male with long reddish hair and a braided beard stepped forward. "And, of course, my Chief Engineer, Validia."
Harper turned and his eyes met the biggest and most beautiful cleavage he had ever been blessed to witness. He followed the trail of peaches and cream skin up to a cheerful rosy face framed by thick strawberry blonde braids. He managed a crooked smile as he gazed up, speechless into big blue eyes whose humour has only slightly checked by the normal Nietzschean arrogance. "Hi," he finally managed. I think I've died and gone to Valhalla.
"Hello, Seamus Harper." Her voice was as rich and creamy as the rest of her.
The kind of voice that I'd love to sing me to sleep every night. Harper managed a nod.
"I have been looking forward to meeting you." She extended her hand in a human greeting.
He looked at her forearms, slightly relieved, as he shook her hand. She wore bracers but there were no bone blades in evidence.
"Let me show you what we have achieved so far."
He floated after her oblivious to the rest of the team that followed them. It was only the sound of the Archduke clearing his throat that brought him back to reality. "I will tell your Captain that you have arrived safely." Charlemagne gave him a bemused smile and gave a nod to the room before departing in a swirl of plum satin.
Harper glanced up at Validia and caught her return nod to her Leader but was too captivated by her face to think anything of it.
"Let me introduce you to my command," she said gesturing for him to follow.
They walked around the maintenance stations and equipment to a flat wide console table showing a large schematic of the alien fleet overlaid onto a visual of the debris field several thousand kilometres away and a nebula light-years beyond. Three Nietzscheans were working on calculations on the control panels around it.
The oldest of the three let out a frustrated growl. "Chief, I did the calculations over again. It still will not work."
"Mr Harper this is my senior engineer, Ferdinand."
The frustrated Nietzschean scowled. "Are you sure this is the genius? He is small even for a human."
"Listen here-" Harper started but was stopped by Validia's hand on his shoulder. It was a good hand; long fingers lightly callused.
"Ferdinand you know genius comes in unlikely packages. Ewen," she pointed to the next male. "my Environmentals Technician and finally Sonya, Power Systems Technician." Both of the other Nietzscheans gave him a cursory once over and returned to their duties.
Harper ignored them and walked around the table studying the fleet from all angles. "What have you proposed?"
"Originally, we were hoping for nova bombs, but your ship no longer carries any," Val replied. "Now we are trying to find the best locations for conventional ordinance." She came around the table to stand beside him. "The problem we are encountering in the simulations is they have little effect -- just tend to scatter the ships."
Seamus walked away circling the table again. He couldn't think when he was beside her. Suddenly he stopped, staring at the ships against the backdrop of the distant nebula. "I just had a thought." He looked around at all the big Nietzscheans wishing Tyr were here to protect him. "Ah you're not gonna like the reference." He looked across to Val.
"Yes."
"Witchhead." That brought all of there heads around. "I've … studied the mechanics of the event. Apparently there was an explosion that started a fusion chain reaction in the gases of the nebula. The subsequent explosion incinerated as much as blew up the fleet." Harper tapped the image of the gaseous cloud in the distance. "We seed the area with hydrogen and ka-pow!"
"Yes! That could work. We would need to do it in a controlled fashion. Part of the fleet at a time." She looked across the table, "Sonya, calculate the density needed. Look at both open gas and containers."
"Add in proximity mines." Harper threw in as he studied their target. "Now how do we divide up this mess?
