Phantom chapter 1 (standard:science fiction, 1897 words) [1/5] show all parts
Author: St George	Added: Mar 12 2003	Views/Reads: 3542/2242	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The tiny SNS Phantom sets out on a mission to prove that the smallest ship in the fleet is also the most deadly. This is the second part of the story of the Furie war.

PHANTOM 

Things change; time was when the Andurils were top dogs technology-wise.


Kate Archer stood by the window and looked out. She didn't touch the
glass (or whatever it was they used here instead of glass); all over 
the place were warning signs telling her in a dozen languages not to 
touch the window, the air temperature outside was minus 60 degrees C 
and that chilled the window to danger level. The view was certainly 
stunning, a 180 degree panorama of Hellas basin, the solar system's 
biggest hole in the ground. During her training at the naval academy at 
Cydonia she had done all the normal touristy things in her free time: 
visited Tharis and Noctis Labarinthus, toured through part of the 
Vastitas Borealis, even gone to see the Viking Landers. However, for 
sheer visual impact there was little to compare with Hellas, which had 
been restored to its original condition after the removal of the 
Behemoth. 

There were around two dozen other people in the observation gallery, all
absorbed by the scenery; most were, like herself, naval personnel in 
black. Some were Neo Mir, recognisable by their grey uniforms, and 
fewer still were civilians standing out in coloured clothes. The only 
way onto this planet was at naval or Neo Mir invitation, so she assumed 
the civilians must have important functions. Over the general murmur of 
voices she heard the PA telling her to report to orbital emigration and 
meet the shuttle that had just landed. 

Fifteen minutes later Archer left Hellas behind, she was strapped into
the co-pilot's seat of a Dragonfly mini-shuttle. Within a few short 
minutes the tiny craft was weaving its way through the Escher painting 
that was the orbital Martian shipyards. The pilot was flying slightly 
faster than he needed to and getting slightly closer to the obstacles 
than was strictly necessary, all the normal things people do when they 
are trying to impress someone. In a moment the pilot spoke, “We'll come 
up on the ship in a minute Captain. It doesn't look much but 
considering what she can do, she can afford to look a bit frumpy.” The 
pilot had obviously seen a lot of starships and to be fair, if you had 
seen some of the more impressive ships then the Phantom class would 
seem a bit tame; but Archer had never seen an interstellar warship in 
the flesh and television news reports couldn't really capture the 
spirit. (Command training was carried out in a set of underground 
rooms, which exactly mimicked the interior of a Lucifer class 
destroyer, nicknamed SNS Enterprise.) Besides her inexperience of 
larger ships there was another reason why she thought this one was good 
looking, it was her command and that made it the best in the fleet. 

As the Dragonfly came closer she got a better look: the SNS Phantom,
first (and only) of her kind, 350 meters from stem to stern, a relative 
baby compared to most warships. Archer thought back to her last 
command, HMS Trafalgar, a hunter/killer submarine, Trafalgar had been 
85.38 meters long, making her 62 cm shorter than Phantom was tall! 
There was a tanker alongside and the two ships were connected by a 
broad umbilicus which was transferring anti-matter to Phantom. The Argo 
class cutters, of which the tanker was an example, were the mainstay of 
the Neo Mir fleet and served functions as diverse as tankers to science 
vessels, but at 400 metres it was 50 longer than Phantom. As they 
approached the cutter began to retract the umbilicus and prepare to 
move off. 

The shuttle pilot performed the necessary communications and expertly
guided his craft into Phantom's tiny hangar, with the Dragonfly in and 
a second one next to it the hangar was now full. 

“Welcome aboard Captain,” came a voice. On the wall a monitor lit up
with the image of the ships AI. Normally a ship this small would not 
have a sentient computer but Phantom was special. “My name is Chrysys, 
the resident sapient.” “Sapient?” replied Archer, querying the strange 
word. “Yes Captain. I find the term artificial intelligence demeaning,” 
continued the computer as Archer began her walk to the bridge, “my 
intelligence is not artificial, it's as real as any-one else's. I 
prefer the term sapient.” “Very well.” 

Archer strode down the utilitarian military grey corridor; the main
thoroughfare, it ran the length of the ship. On either side were 


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