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A Moment's Inattention - Chapter 3
In the end it came down to a vote. Beka went into her stateroom and returned with a pack of playing cards. She gave herself and each member of her crew two cards, a heart and a spade. She explained the significance of the cards stating that a heart signified a desire to attempt the salvage operation in spite of the mine threat while a spade indicated abandon the attempt. Her one caveat was that in the event of a tie her decision as captain would be binding decision. After the cards were handed out Covas collected one card from each member of the Maru's crew.
"What do we have Covas?" asked Beka when the girl had collected all the cards.
"Three hearts and one spade," answered Covas, holding the cards out for all to see.
"I guess we're going in then," said Beka secretly relieved that she hadn't needed to be the tie breaker. She pointed to Vexpeg and Rev. "Vex, Rev, go have a chat with Beckenworth. Find out what his Bureau knows about the Kolk ship that was out here. Especially about how many mines they think it was capable of carrying. Harper," she said turning her attention to her engineer, "I want you to figure out some way we can either slip past any remaining mines or get them to go after something other than the Maru."
"How many false targets generators did you guys launch?" asked Harper a thoughtful look in his eye.
"Four," answered Beka.
"That leaves us with two." He put a hand to the back of his head as if he was trying to massage ideas up. "We'll want to launch them at a decent speed and far enough away so that the mines don't lock onto us before we can launch the FTGs. There won't be any problems if the mines detect radar or magnetic signatures, the FTGs are designed for that Of course the mines may trigger on engine emissions or target mass. That could be a problem. Let's see, maybe I can..." His voice trailed off as he began to contemplate solutions to the problem.
"Is there anything I can do to help, Captain?" asked Covas.
"You can help help Harper," said Beka.
Harper's solution was the Maru's mule. A mule was the space going equivalent of the scoots used in many spaceports. Consisting of basically a metal frame to which cargo could be attached, with a crude guidance system at one end and a small magneto-plasma dynamic drive system at the other end, mules were used for inter-ship cargo transfers when it was either not possible or not desirable for two ships to mate their airlocks. There were a pair of saddle seats for a pilot and passenger but the mules could be controlled remotely by radio provided the controller was close enough to the mule.
Harper and Covas had attached the Maru's two remaining false target generators to the mule with a release mechanism that could be triggered by a radio command from the Maru. Their plan was for the Maru to approach the Victorious at a vector that would allow them to launch the mule with a reasonable velocity towards the crippled ship while still allowing the Maru to stay out of range of any possibly remaining mines. When the mule entered the potential danger zone the false target generators would be activated and the mule would be remotely flown through the area dropping the FTGs and hopefully triggering any remaining mines.
"I have two questions," said Beka after Harper and Covas finished their explanation of how their improvised mine sweeper was going to work. "One, what happens if the mines are designed to trigger on target mass? And two what are the chances of us getting our mule back in one piece?"
Harper shrugged helplessly. "Hey, I'm a genius not a miracle worker. Unless you're planning to strap the Maru to the mule there's not much we can do about a mass detector. As far as recovering the mule, well there is the hazard bonus. I think it will cover the purchase of a new mule."
Beka gave Harper an annoyed glare "Great," she said. "We haven't even begun the salvage operation and were already operating in the red. Covas, your boss is going to be getting one Hell of a bill when this operation is finished. Ok, lets get this operation started. Maybe we'll be lucky and there aren't any more mines."
Ninety minutes later the mule had done it's work. There had been more mines. One of the mines had triggered when Harper had released the first false target generator. The second FTG was deployed without incident and began broadcasting an electronic and magnetic signature of a larger ship but moments later the mule stopped transmitting its location back to the Maru and Rev, sitting at the sensor operator console, announced the detection on an energy flare similar to that from a directed energy mine.
"Rev," asked Beka about five minutes after Harper announced that he had lost contact with the mule, "is the second FTG still operating?"
Rev consulted his display screens. "Taking light speed lag into consideration, yes. It would seem that there were only two mines remaining in the minefield and that Master Harper and Petty Officer Covas' sweep accomplished its mission."
"We'll go in then," said Beka, "nice and slow with our PDL's ready. We'll position ourselves five light seconds from the Victorious and look her over. If things look good we'll close in to harpoon range. And Rev, if you have any friends upstairs it might be good to ask them for a favor. Covas, tell Beckenworth what's going down then come back here. You're more familiar with the Victorious than we are, you may be able to help us evaluate what we see. Stations everyone."
"I have good news and bad news for you, Beka," said Rev shortly after they closed the distance on the Victorious. The bad news is that from what Petty officer Covas has told me our airlock wont match with any of the Victorious' air locks. We're going to have to have to do an EVA approach."
"And the good news?" asked Beka.
"We wont have to worry about how to get aboard her. If her airlock access mechanisms doesn't operate there are several holes in her hull large enough for us to pass through."
"We've done that before," said Beka. "We can do it again." She
was beginning to relax a bit now that the Maru seemed safe. "Let's
close to harpoon range. I want the tow cables attached before we go EVA."
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