have a crew of maybe seven or eight with
hardly any cargo space; at most you might be able to mount an external railgun
or laser on her.”
“Holy
crap!” Lieutenant Vernay exclaimed. All eyes turned toward her as she began to
turn a bright shade of red. “Oops. Sorry, sirs.”
Heskan
couldn’t help but smile a little. “Keep working on that Tourette’s, Stacy.”
She
giggled softly, “No, sir, uh, I mean yes, sir.” Vernay shook her head,
“Whatever. What I mean is I think I know how the other buoy, the one at the
Narvi tunnel point, died.”
“Space
object debris strike,” Truesworth said.
Vernay
waved a finger at Truesworth. “Yes and no. What if the space debris was fired
from a railgun on that stealth ship?”
Truesworth
shook his head. “Whatever hit it was roughly point one meters wide. Stacy,
you said yourself that no political entity in known space uses point one as a
caliber,” Truesworth countered.
“Yes
but now I’m saying something different. Two possibilities. The first is the
debris was fired from a custom railgun. Now why go through the expense and
trouble of building a point one railgun? It’s stupid when almost anyone could
go to Lieutenant Jackamore’s black market stealth supplies and weapons emporium
and get a standard point two. The power costs would be about the same, even
the size would be nearly the same and ammunition wouldn’t have to be custom
made.”
Vernay
took a breath and then continued, “However, if you wanted to make your hits
look like space debris, then using something nonstandard makes more sense and
might be worth the trouble.”
“And
the second possibility, Lieutenant?” Riedel asked.
“The
ship carries a standard caliber railgun but they used a sabot round.”
Selvaggio
interjected, “Stacy, I’m just a navigation officer. They tell me where to go
and I make the ship go there really fast. Can you translate that into
something understandable, please?”
Vernay
smiled at her friend. “The gun barrel is this big,” Vernay said as she used
both hands to form a large circle.
Selvaggio
exaggerated her nod and expression as if in wonderment.
Vernay
then used only one hand to form a smaller circle and added, “But the bullet is this
small. Now, to get the bullet to fire cleanly out of the gun, the bullet is wrapped
in something, probably a carbon foam of some kind, so the bullet is now big
enough to be fired accurately out of the large barrel. But when it clears the
barrel, the wrapping detaches and all that is left is just this smaller bullet
with an innocuous caliber.”
Selvaggio
stayed silent.
“‘Innocuous’
means…”
“I
got that part,” Selvaggio cut her off as she rolled her eyes.
Heskan
lightly tapped the conference table with an amused expression in his eyes. “So
we might have a sloop-sized ship with stealth capability and a railgun lurking
around in this system. What are the implications of that?”
“A
lot,” Riedel offered. “Most sloops don’t have a tunnel drive. So how did it
get here?”
“Transported
by a freighter, most likely,” Brown said.
Heskan
turned toward Brown, “Chief, would something the size of Vagabond have
the cargo capability?”
“Absolutely,
she has more than enough continuous hold space an’ the doors on those bulk
carriers could open wide enough to get it in an’ out.”
Riedel
continued with his train of thought, “But why is she here and how long has she
been here? How long can a sloop operate independently? When would it need to
resupply?”
“My
estimate would be a sloop wouldn’t be able to operate unsupported for more than
a couple weeks,” Jackamore said. “If she is still in-system from the time the
first buoy went out to now, we’re talking many months, maybe years.”
“Heck,
Captain, even Anelace can’t go without logistical support for several months.
We’re stopping by the RALF every week or so,” Riedel
hardly any cargo space; at most you might be able to mount an external railgun
or laser on her.”
“Holy
crap!” Lieutenant Vernay exclaimed. All eyes turned toward her as she began to
turn a bright shade of red. “Oops. Sorry, sirs.”
Heskan
couldn’t help but smile a little. “Keep working on that Tourette’s, Stacy.”
She
giggled softly, “No, sir, uh, I mean yes, sir.” Vernay shook her head,
“Whatever. What I mean is I think I know how the other buoy, the one at the
Narvi tunnel point, died.”
“Space
object debris strike,” Truesworth said.
Vernay
waved a finger at Truesworth. “Yes and no. What if the space debris was fired
from a railgun on that stealth ship?”
Truesworth
shook his head. “Whatever hit it was roughly point one meters wide. Stacy,
you said yourself that no political entity in known space uses point one as a
caliber,” Truesworth countered.
“Yes
but now I’m saying something different. Two possibilities. The first is the
debris was fired from a custom railgun. Now why go through the expense and
trouble of building a point one railgun? It’s stupid when almost anyone could
go to Lieutenant Jackamore’s black market stealth supplies and weapons emporium
and get a standard point two. The power costs would be about the same, even
the size would be nearly the same and ammunition wouldn’t have to be custom
made.”
Vernay
took a breath and then continued, “However, if you wanted to make your hits
look like space debris, then using something nonstandard makes more sense and
might be worth the trouble.”
“And
the second possibility, Lieutenant?” Riedel asked.
“The
ship carries a standard caliber railgun but they used a sabot round.”
Selvaggio
interjected, “Stacy, I’m just a navigation officer. They tell me where to go
and I make the ship go there really fast. Can you translate that into
something understandable, please?”
Vernay
smiled at her friend. “The gun barrel is this big,” Vernay said as she used
both hands to form a large circle.
Selvaggio
exaggerated her nod and expression as if in wonderment.
Vernay
then used only one hand to form a smaller circle and added, “But the bullet is this
small. Now, to get the bullet to fire cleanly out of the gun, the bullet is wrapped
in something, probably a carbon foam of some kind, so the bullet is now big
enough to be fired accurately out of the large barrel. But when it clears the
barrel, the wrapping detaches and all that is left is just this smaller bullet
with an innocuous caliber.”
Selvaggio
stayed silent.
“‘Innocuous’
means…”
“I
got that part,” Selvaggio cut her off as she rolled her eyes.
Heskan
lightly tapped the conference table with an amused expression in his eyes. “So
we might have a sloop-sized ship with stealth capability and a railgun lurking
around in this system. What are the implications of that?”
“A
lot,” Riedel offered. “Most sloops don’t have a tunnel drive. So how did it
get here?”
“Transported
by a freighter, most likely,” Brown said.
Heskan
turned toward Brown, “Chief, would something the size of Vagabond have
the cargo capability?”
“Absolutely,
she has more than enough continuous hold space an’ the doors on those bulk
carriers could open wide enough to get it in an’ out.”
Riedel
continued with his train of thought, “But why is she here and how long has she
been here? How long can a sloop operate independently? When would it need to
resupply?”
“My
estimate would be a sloop wouldn’t be able to operate unsupported for more than
a couple weeks,” Jackamore said. “If she is still in-system from the time the
first buoy went out to now, we’re talking many months, maybe years.”
“Heck,
Captain, even Anelace can’t go without logistical support for several months.
We’re stopping by the RALF every week or so,” Riedel
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