Phantom chapter 2 (standard:science fiction, 2472 words) [2/5] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 12 2003	Views/Reads: 2723/1998	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Phantom's story continues.

“Raise mast, sensors on passive.” ordered Archer. The mast extended and
its various instruments started scanning the area. The mast only 
protruded a few feet into real space and would be practically invisible 
to an enemy's sensors unless they knew exactly where to look, or 
blundered right into it. “Ahead dead slow. Rig for minimum signature. 
Standard search pattern.” Minimum signature meant turbines active and 
set to dead slow and absolute minimum use of the etheric masses in 
order to minimise passive epdar signature. It wasn't long until there 
came the cry, “Con, epdar, contact bearing 270 by 000, range....1 light 
second.” Archer responded with, “Helm, intercept course; bring us to 75 
K.” She would have liked to get closer but feared the enemy would pick 
them up on gravimetric mass sensor. Archer knew the Andurils were aware 
of her presence and she knew they were aware of her ship's 
capabilities. 

Phantom's primary armament consisted of  six 65cm torpedo tubes and four
122cm torpedo tubes. The 122cm Harbinger torpedoes were considered 
suitable only for emergency use when the event horizon shield was 
online, because of their lack of manoeuvrability when under 
auto-guidance (remote piloting was obviously impossible when the event 
horizon was on). Therefore the 65cm Reaper torpedoes were the weapon of 
choice, they needed no remote pilot and despite having a smaller 
warhead they had a better chance of hitting. They had been designed 
specifically for the Phantom class and incorporated a brand new GCD 
system as well as epdar and visual/radar guidance. Phantom was also 
equipped with a mid-size 5.5 kiloton EP Cannon with a full 360-degree 
swing, though obviously this could only be used if the event horizon 
was offline. Its intended use was to deliver the final blow to enemies 
already crippled by torpedoes. 

As well as the hyperdrive motivator, ion turbines, event horizon shield,
stealth shroud and sensor mast, Phantom was equipped with one other 
piece of new prototype technology called the GCD or Gaseous Cavitation 
Detector. When a starship uses its ramscoop to collect interstellar 
hydrogen, it leaves a hydrogen cavity in its wake lasting several 
hours. Hydrogen emits radio waves on the 21cm wavelength, the GCD scans 
this wavelength looking for cavities and extrapolates the ship's 
direction and, if the speed is known, it can find the range. In 
addition to this, just in case the Megaerans developed a similar 
detector, Phantom was equipped with a system for dumping hydrogen fuel 
behind it to cover its trail if necessary. All these technologies 
combined meant that the term cutting edge didn't really do her justice. 


Suddenly there came the words, “Ping detected!” “Retract mast. Torpedo
room is that contact strong enough for torpedo lock?” “No ma'am.” The 
destroyer had used its active epdar, normally not a problem for 
Phantom, but the mast might just give them away. “Anything on grav?” 
(Gravimetric mass sensor) “Negative.” “Helm, bring us onto their 180 
and match speed.” On the holoscape there was a wire-fame sphere in the 
general location of the enemy destroyer. Normally Archer would have 
fired torpedoes anyway and relied on the torpedoes' on-board guidance 
to do the rest, but Phantom's strength lay in stealth and firing would 
give away her bearing. Her plan was, now that she was on the enemy's 
six, to attempt to get a better fix; a normal ion drive creates a big 
EM sensor mess and it is the best place to hide. “Raise mast.” 
Immediately the visual sensors and passive epdar picked up the enemy 
vessel, and the holoscape sphere changed into an Anduril destroyer. 
Simultaneously, the gunnery officer's voice came into her earpiece, 
“Firing solution loaded!” Archer responded, “Gunnery prepare cannon. 
Target tango one, foxtrot tubes 1 and 2 and fire on my mark... mark!” 

The Reapers shot away, accelerating faster than their larger cousins
would. In an instant they were free of the event horizon and the enemy 
reacted, but they were too late - the torps were too close. Both 
impacted and ... nothing happened. Or so it seemed; but on the Anduril 
vessel it's computer recognised the dummy torpedo hits and simulated 
appropriate damage. An instant later the second volley hit; the 
computer simulated shield failure and hull damage. “Deactivate EH! 
Cannon open fire.” This was exactly what the cannon was for. The enemy 
was almost destroyed and to use another torpedo would be a waste. The 
gun crew simulated firing and Chrysys transmitted this to the 
destroyer. In a few shots it was toast. 

The destroyer sent an End Exercise message along with one congratulating


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