Wandering Engineer 6: Pirates Bane by Chris Hechtl Page B

the problem he had suited up and gone
out to tear into it.
    He was still outside the ship working on the platform and a
sticky hinge when all hell broke loose.
    “Admiral...” Phoenix said over the channel, noting an odd return
on the lidar about three hundred kilometers out and closing at six hundred
meters per second. There was a rock approaching, but the AI hadn't noted its
course coming this close before now. The AI tracked its course; it would pass
within ninety kilometers of the ship, within the ship's safety range.
    That was in itself odd since the AI hadn't noted the rock on such
a course prior to its taking up the present orbit around the gas giant. Phoenix
ran a quick back track, but again it didn't make sense. The rock would have to
have swung around two other rocks and not impacted them in order to come in on
the course it was currently on.
    “Curiouser and curiouser,” the AI said, sending its findings to
Sprite. Sprite's attention was on the software repair, so she logged the data
and continued on her current project.
    Annoyed at the lack of interest, Phoenix ran a passive scan as it
prepared to fire the RCS to move the ship to the safe one hundred kilometer
range. There was something else, an energy trace off the port bow behind a
moon. It was faint, but there. “Admiral, there is something going on here. As
you like to say, something hinky.”
    “Not now. I'm busy,” Irons growled. “Whatever it is, it can wait,”
he growled, pulling on the hinge.
    “I'm afraid not Admiral,” Phoenix began, sending out a pulse.
There was no return. The AI thought about it for a microsecond and then sent a
rapid-fire series of pulses, these aimed at the local moon. The intent was to
rebound them, to get the pulse to bounce off the moon to the odd object to get
a scattered return. When the AI got the return a half second later he acted.
    Sprite got the data stream from Phoenix as Irons kept working
doggedly on the hinge. He felt his arm morph and his suit kick as he turned.
“What the hell?”
    “Defender, get the Admiral inside now,” Sprite said, dropping her
voice into a cool soprano of command. “Phoenix, time?”
    “Under five minutes,” the AI replied. “I can't get a solid number.
Whatever is coming it's good.”
    “Someone want to tell me what the hell's going on?” Irons snarled,
fighting the AI for control of his suit. “Commander!”
    “Get inside now Admiral. Incoming!” Sprite said.
    “Shit, now you tell me,” Irons snarled, no longer fighting the AI.
“Meteor?”
    “No!”
    “Sprite...”
    “No time Admiral! Phoenix roll ship ten degrees. Brace for
impact!”
    “If it hits, I don't think it will. Rolling ship now,” Phoenix
replied.
    “What is it?” The Admiral asked, looking up over the hull. He
could see something now, something black and not running any running lights.
She was briefly silhouetted against the gas giant beyond.
    “Ship. It’s some sort of ship or other object. It's under
stealth. Cancel that, stealth is dropping! It's a...” Phoenix's running report
was cut off in a squeal as the Admiral entered the open lock. The lights in the
lock flickered and then died before the door could close.
    The destroyer erupted out of stealth and used force beams to
short Phoenix's shields and drive before the Admiral could get back inside to
do anything. The ship went dead, drifting with its running lights out. A last
lingering puff of RCS had kicked Phoenix into a slow roll. Irons looked up in
time to see a ship pass by, less than a thousand kilometers away. That was
suicide range with shields, but it was there and gone. He scowled and returned
his attention to his ship, throwing out a radio inquiry. It was dead and he
didn't like the implications of that.
    “Report!” Irons growled, looking around. “Sprite? Commander! I
know you can hear me!”
    “Sorry, safety reset. I was in the net with Phoenix when the
destroyer hit us with some sort of directional EMP weapon and then a