Seraph's Break by Wayne Basta

Author:Wayne Basta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Many Worlds Fiction
Published: 2022-12-01T00:00:00+00:00

28- Squee

Squee studied the image of the ship on his screen. Unlike Seraph the ship had an asymmetrical look, with several large components extending off at unusual angles. He had never seen a ship like it before.

“Are we sure this is a Vultur ship?” Squee asked over the internal comm.

“Doesn’t look like anything I’ve ever seen before,” Noah said. “So it’s not anyone we know.”

“That does not mean it is Vultur,” Squee pointed out. “It could be another unknown civilization.”

“Two new ones in such a small area of space?” Noah scoffed. “That’s really unlikely.”

“Well, so far in this empty unexplored area we’ve run into drones, Rokma, and the Vultur. What’s one more?” Serene asked.

“Let’s not take any chances. Olivia, keep us clear. I’m going to transmit friendly greetings. Mesu, get over to the mess and get Fiver in front of a sensor screen. Ask him if that is what a Vultur ship looks like,” Ariana ordered.

The comm went silent for a few moments. Squee glanced toward the converter that powered the Zolan shield system. He hadn’t initially liked having Sapik in here with him. The shield systems were his domain. But now it felt odd and lonely.

Sapik and his people’s remarkable shield would not be able to help them in this fight. Squee got up and began work on finishing the modifications he had been working on. They could not power the Zolan shield and gain the unique ability to block teleporters, missiles and convert incoming weapon fire back into defensive shielding. That didn’t make the hardware useless though.

Most of the work had been completed earlier and he just needed to switch the final power cables. It hadn’t felt right to completely disable the shield before and as there hadn’t been any need, he had avoided it. Now was not the time for more sentimentality.

“Vlasa, I have completed the modifications to the shield array and am ready to bring them online. Is reactor two ready?” Squee asked.

“Just about. Powering it up now,” Vlasa replied.

Seraph had acquired, and Vlasa integrated, a second smaller fusion reactor system some time ago. They had previously used it to boost overall system power enough to gain a second layer of shielding, something most civilian ships lacked. It had also allowed them some defense against low level ion effects, which had opened up transit routes usually reserved for bigger freighters. With the advent of the Zolan hardware, he and Vlasa had worked out a way to independently power the shield layers. In theory this would greatly increase their regeneration rate and defense from stronger ion weaponry. Which, the Vrinans claimed, the Vultur were supposed to favor.

The reactor power came online and Squee watched the shield power build. Each layer strengthened to their theoretical maximum before stabilizing. While it wouldn’t be as strong as the Zolan shield or a military warship’s third or fourth layer, it would provide the ship with almost three times the damage mitigation as she had had when he first came aboard.

“It is working,” Squee reported proudly.

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