11: LET GO THE LINE

Another month into the voyage and we were crossing Dorcon space …

"There it is again!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"I caught it too, this time," Sara stated from the sciences console. It wasn't much of a console. "Extreme edge of sensor range – an energy signature. It's dead astern. We are being followed."

"By which one this time?" Ben asked. "And how do we get a better look at them?"

"You can always do a Crazy Ivan," I quipped.

"What the hell is a Crazy Ivan?"

"During the Cold War of the 20th century, wet navy Russian submarines would do a reckless 360 in the water to see what was directly behind them in their blind spot. We would do a 180 at maximum warp and then another one. In the meantime we see if we can get a better look at that ship between the turns."

"Jennifer, could you do that?" Ben asked.

"Not a problem, actually."

"Then let's go for it. Plot it in at flank please."

"Flank? Warp 10?"

"We want a good look at them, and some getaway distance if needed. Go when you're ready…"

"Engaging Crazy Ivan in 10 …"

This was going to be interesting. I forgot that Orion engines had an extra short period dash speed capability. The Narcissus pirouetted and a minute later we had went to warp 10 from 6, straight back down our track. The sensor blip rolled onto the scanners. "Got it!" Sara stated. Another 180, this time at a gut wrenching warp 10 as the inertial dampeners strained to keep up. Sara put the image up on the screen, and it brought frowns all around, a K'T'inga class battle cruiser, probably the one at P'Jem.

"We might have a problem," Sara announced. "The Klingon has sped up to warp 10. She's keeping up with us."

"We can't keep up warp 10 for more than a couple of hours," Ben stated. "Especially with our jury-rigged engines."

"Even with a small-nacelle design they can probably stay at warp 10 for days. Possibly a couple of weeks," Sara replied. A large nacelle design, depending on the engineer, could stay at max for weeks to a couple of months.

"Then she'll catch us in just over a day when we throttle back to warp 7," I calculated.

"Well, a day to prepare is better than nothing. I will need suggestions. Briefing room in two hours," Ben ordered.


We all met in the briefing room. I had already taken over the conversation. "The T'K'inga sports a pair of photon torpedoes, four pulse disruptors, and 9 beam disruptors…"

"We have 6 beam disruptors, and a pair of pulse disruptors in our options mounts…" Ben stated.

"That means in two days, we are going to get our ass kicked," I stated. It was true. The cruiser had that firepower advantage over us. "But then, we do have the a advantage that they have to take us alive to find out what we know."

"OK. But what is their firepower, again?" Ben had to ask.

"Nine beam disruptors, four heavy pulse disruptors, and fore and aft Photon torpedoes," Sara answered. "One torpedo and all pulse disruptors are forward. If they land a clean alpha strike on us we're dead in the water."

"Ouch. So how do we avoid it?"

"We don't," I answered. "They're not going to fall for the 'Edison' trick a second time. That leaves the fact that they probably will try to cripple us, while we have no restrictions. The only thing I can think of is a minefield."

"Intriguing. But where do we get these mines?" Jennifer asked.


Showtime! The engineering crew spent the night making antimatter containment vessels and mounting them on the ships shuttles. Ben decided to cut the chase short and try to engage in a nearby system. We were unlucky to find no gas giant planets here, nor any significant asteroid fields. This fight was an impulse dance about the inner rocky planets of this system. We deployed our shuttle-mines and waited…

Our initial success was more than we expected. The other captain had no imagination and sailed right into our makeshift minefield. Unfortunately they were only moderately damaged. Then they chased us down, and eventually got that good alpha strike in. At least they were a hurting unit…

"All hands to repel boarders!" Ben commanded. Everyone on the bridge checked their charge on their personal weapons.

We expected the worst. But before we were boarded there came a surprise. Another Orion ship de-cloaked and fired on the Klingon. That Orion ship was a 'salvage cruiser'.

"Oh, great, it's the 'Armstrong' family. How did they get here?" Ben quipped

"In their starship," I sarcastically replied.

"Cute," Ben replied. "But how does that help us?"

"How about we land on that planet, and see if we can hide somewhere, like underwater," I answered.

More than one family was following us. This new ship put a spread into the K'T'inga class cruiser, disabling it. It was one of those cases of 'let's them and you fight...'

But as they finished off the K'T'inga cruiser yet another ship de-cloaked and fired on the Armstrong's ship. This ship was definitely more powerful, being a ship of generation nine. Both Sara and I recognized it immediately. It was the Parhelion II.

"Uhm … it looks like the cavalry has arrived," I mentioned.

"Who are they?" An incredulous Ben asked.

"They are the Boros angels," Sara replied.

"The who?"

"Remember that 'redemption' story I told you about …"

"You have got to be kidding," Ben concluded.

A transport later and there was another angel on the bridge of the Narcissus.

Ben was about to fire upon this uninvited guest, but held back when she was wearing the same red tunic as Sara and I.

Razia grabbed me and gave me a huge smooch. That caused him some pause. Razia had beamed here to give me a forgive-ment smooch, and then was introduced to the Hammerfield family crew.

"But I thought that you and Sara …" Ben was completely confused.

"I have two angels! Unfortunately we had this … misunderstanding…"

"Don't assume that when angels make mistakes that we aren't capable to rectify the situation!" Razia responded. "Just because we are driven by our cause it doesn't mean we are not checking against the evils other factions can cause. I figured out that there was another player involved. But then Stephen had already left! It took this long to catch up! You are slippery when you want to hide." Razia told me. "I didn't expect you to just walk out without a fight! Sara went after you almost immediately…"

I was speechless. But Razia didn't mind.

The smooch was one of those that I had difficulty coming up for air. Razia realized this and relented just in time. But that meant that I was off the hook only momentarily. The second round commenced…


I woke up with both Sara and Razia wrapped around me. For the longest time I felt whole again, just lying here in my quarters with the two angels gripped closely. Both angels were awake and waiting for me. Nothing needed to be said…


I entered the 'Helion's bridge and for the first time in a long time, sat in the captain's chair. The Hammerfields were guests onboard, the Narcissus parked on the H-class planet that we landed on. We would come back for it on our return trip. The Newton was already back in Ravnica as Razia found it on the Iconian planet and sent it back with one of her angels. The Edison was in our shuttle bay, crowding out the other shuttles.

"At least this trip won't take another 3 years," I quipped.

"How so?" Jennifer asked.

"Pense, what's our current velocity?" I asked

"Warp factor 9.6 … oh right. That's warp 15 for you geezers," Pense quipped.

"Thanks a lot!" But you couldn't help with the grins on the bridge crews' faces.

"I notice it it'll be less than three years to get there…" Ben mentioned.

"Much less," Pense answered. "It's still a long trip, but only 5 months and a week…"


But then I was 'complete' for the rest of this trip. We were passing through Dorcon space, and were going out of our way to hunt down their ships that crossed our path. Very quickly they figured out where we were headed and the sensors were clear until we left their territory. Then we were in unknown realms. Nobody knows how expansive the ISC territory is. So until we encounter their ships the space we now travel through never was part of a stellar empire…


Many uneventful weeks passed by until we encountered something. A ship finally appeared on our sensors.

"Slow to warp 10 and engage cloak," I ordered.

The healed Reia was on ops. "Warp 10 and cloaking…" she also gave me a hug when I returned to the 'Helion. They had found the Lupul that was my imposter, and killed it. Apparently there are a few more Lupuls still on Ravnica, and apparently Endara had hooked up with Szadek! Both have such a hate on for my angels that they actually teamed up! Razia was not expecting this, so didn't plan against it. Now that they know….

The ISC proved to be only "annoying". Their gen-6 ships didn't stand a chance against the 'Helion. We brushed them aside like anybody else that we encountered. Their 'plasmatic pulsar devices' were cute, but not effective against gen-9 shields. Of course trying to intercept a ship traveling at warp 15 is problematic for most…


We finally reached the coordinates, dropping into a stellar system with only a red dwarf star. It was not a likely candidate for harboring a planet with an artifact on it. Sara was on ops, while Maya was on sciences, scanning the system. Pense was on engineering, when she wasn't siding up to hug John, who was on tactical. As you can tell, I run a loose ship, but with the angels, it works!

"There is a planet in the star's habitable zone," Maya mentioned.

"Is it tide locked?" I asked.

"Surprisingly no. But it is uninhabitable, as it has a reducing atmosphere," Maya answered. "We'll know more by the time we reach it."

Ten minutes later and we had reached orbit. "There is an odd energy signature coming from the surface," Sara stated from ops. "There's a ship down there … I think."

"On screen," I ordered. A crashed ship was indeed sitting on the planet's surface. It was what appeared to be a bunch of hull sections jury-rigged together. "It's a Jacker ship," I mentioned.

"The who?" Ben asked.

"Jackers. They are gypsy like travelers. They travel the entire galaxy in their jury rigged ships not unlike that one," I answered. "Not liked by most, they go about salvaging and stealing anything not nailed down, then move on to sell it elsewhere. Much of their hardware is salvaged and kluged together from salvaged ship parts, a lot of it came from the Graveyard of Delta Pavonis."

"What generation would it be?" That seemed to Razia's favorite question when dealing with another star ship.

"Could be anywhere from 1st generation up to 3rd or 4th gen. It's usually never higher," I answered.

"There seems to be a high level of radiation surrounding the ship," Maya chimed in.

"Then I guess we are going down in hard-suits. And that includes both of you!"

SMACK. Neither Sara nor Razia liked wearing hard-suits. It pinned their wings into the parked position, and precluded the possibility of flight. Nobody knows just how much radiation an angel can take, and I wasn't willing to find out the hard way. Even if I assume it's more than a human can take, a massive dose will be debilitating, and about the most uncomfortable thing I can think of suffering through!

Every angel species had to have their own custom designed hard-suit. It was the number and placement of wings that made the difference! The Emeria angels had to contend with a six-pack of wing covers, while Sara only had two. Still, immobilizing those wings made the angels uncomfortable, but it beats dying of radiation poisoning.

"Ok folks," Allan stated from the transporter console. "I should be beaming you directly to the command deck."

Sure enough we found ourselves on the bridge of the Jacker's ship. The remains we found indicated the crew died at their posts. What happened here happened some time ago! Like the rest of the ship the bridge was salvaged and kluged together. The layout, though not ideal, was efficient, and seemed to do its job. Radiation levels here were elevated, but not lethal at this time. We decided to head aft. The first thing we found was rapidly increasing radiation levels. Then we reached a room. It was set up as an impromptu infirmary. From the medications and remains found I parsed out what it was.

"Welcome to the 600 club," I stated solemnly.

"The 600 club? What's that?" Sara had to ask.

"That is the group of people exposed to 600 rads or more radiation," I explained. "They have received a lethal dose of radiation, and the only thing to do is give them comfort until the end. 600 rads or more is the lethal dose for a typical human."

"So everyone here was doomed from the start?" Razia asked.

"Yes. They either were victims of irradiation, or sacrificed themselves to try to help the rest of the crew…"

"How would they sacrifice themselves?" Razia asked.

"By irradiating themselves trying to prevent an accident with a fission reactor," I replied. I expected to find such a beast on this ship.

"Well this room is still emitting about 10 rads per hour, which is a rather dangerous level," Maya stated. "These remains are still quite contaminated."

"Wait 'till we get to engineering," I replied.

Sure enough, the first engineering compartment was even more contaminated. "20 rads per hour and rising," Maya stated.

"Is that what I think it is," Razia asked.

"A fusion reactor?" I replied.

"Exactly that," Razia returned.

"Yes it is," I answered. "This is a gen-2 warp core exclusively powered by a fusion reactor. Doable, but very short ranged. Just like the Romulan ships during the Romulan war."

"But the Jackers…"

"Don't need range if they hop from system to system. Hydrogen is dirt cheap to get, and gets the job done. A ship at this speed isn't going anywhere fast anyways. They probably took years to work their way out here. For a family oriented generation ship that's not a problem. The duration of the trip was irrelevant for them," I answered. "The travelers were … patient. They were NOT in a hurry to get anywhere. In some respect I do admire them as free spirits! They could and did go anywhere in their view."

"But we can go anywhere," Raia mentioned.

'That's because I own the ship and you are the Boros Admiral. We set our own orders. You and I decide where the 'Helion goes. One of the advantages of being our own commanders…"

"I'd give you a smooch, if I weren't in this infernal suit…"

"Sorry, but I like living and having my angels," I replied. "Radioactive corpses don't do me any good!"

SMACK. But Razia wasn't really serious. She appreciated my precautions, and as we passed through engineering the radiation levels continued to climb.

We reached the secondary drive system, the radiation was rising rapidly, as we opened the doors to the auxiliary drive we found a completely melted down fission reactor. The fuel was spread out along the floor…

"Radiation levels still at 150 rads per hour, expect 500 + if you go in there," Maya stated.

Sure enough the rad levels climbed exponentially. We simply backed out of the auxiliary drive compartment and headed to the cargo areas. "Well, they couldn't prevent the meltdown and couldn't vent the ship to the reducing atmosphere outside.

We entered the bowels of the ship, where the cargo areas were. On our way we found a grim reminder that this ship contained families. We found that the crew in the cargo hold were in pressure suits, and decided to suffocate when their air ran out rather than face radiation exposure. But they did find and load the artifact that we were looking for.

We had finally found the artifact! Getting it onboard the 'Helion II took only a few minutes. Then we were headed back into Dorcon space to the Narcissus.

Razia was looking over the artifact, and surprised all of us when she burst our laughing. "You spent all that time looking for this?"

"And you know what this is?" Ben sounded angry.

"So do Pense and Caladea. They helped build it," Razia replied. "It's a white mana generator. When the first Parhelion was being built and my journey into the mana-less universe was fresh in everyone's mind, those two decided to make this 'just in case'. Unused for a couple of centuries it was auctioned off for some cause. Only recently, with Stephen's tech did we build another…"

"Then it's worthless…" Ben trailed off.

"Not exactly," Razia said with a smirk. "I know of at least one person on Ravnica who would buy it, and pay a good price in zino's."

"What are 'zinos'?"

"A zino is about 2 slips of latinum."

"OK, so how do I get to Ravnica?"


A few uneventful months later and we were returning to the planet that we parked the Narcissus on. Unfortunately there were a few ships waiting for us. There were five ships here, all banded together, waiting for us to arrive. At least all of the families were now accounted for!

"Open a channel," Razia ordered K'Tee.

"Good to go," K'Tee replied.

"This is Razia, the Boros Archangel. My angels are the creators of the artifact that you all seek, and I have decided to give it to the Hammerfield clan. Leave this system or deal with the wrath of the Boros," Razia concluded with.

Two ships broke off and headed out of the system, while three remained.

"OK, we have three ship to kill. John…"

John was on ops with Sara. Sara was already arming the weapons, and had brought up the dual shields. From the looks of the three ships this was going to be a short fight.

And it was. The first spread of torpedoes crippled one ship while the pulse phasers and the cannon sliced another in half. The third wasn't waiting around for our weapons to recharge, beating a hasty retreat to the warp wall. Then it was up to us to retrieve the Narcissus. That chore done and we were towing it to Ravnica, where they could get repairs done and sell the mana generator to Teysa.


Back in Ravnica and all is well. I was back 'in good' with my angels, and they had a new perspective, as Endara had actually teamed up with Szadek. I was 'forgiven' with apologies as far as Razia was concerned. She made it obvious that I didn't do anything wrong and must be forgiven and routed back into the Boros fold. They had found the culprit and got rid of it. Extra vigilance was put in place to prevent such mishaps in the future. Razia was not about to exile me again, and 'that was that'. She really missed me, and decided that any diversion would NOT be put up with. I appreciated that vote of confidence!

I woke to my two angels while atop Sunhome. They actually produced a press release, that the Fleet Captain was 'out on a secret mission' and the exile was simply a 'cover story'.

Apparently I was not an outcast at all! But the story had to be 'tweaked' to conform to reality.