Task Force Mars - Kevin Dockery [46]
The SEALS looked up suddenly as a man cleared his throat in the door of the room. Director Parker stood there rather awkwardly. Master Chief Ruiz was beside him, looking sheepish.
“What is it?” Jackson asked, irritated at the interruption and the fact that if one of the Eluoi had come along, their possession of the schematics would have been discovered.
Ruiz nodded cheerfully. “I think you should hear what the man has to say, LT.”
“Go on,” Jackson declared coldly.
“It’s just that—perhaps I can help,” the director said with unusual diffidence. He nodded at the sheets on the table. “I guessed that was what the consul brought you. My background is aeronautical engineering; I did design work for the ISS and was a consultant as we adapted Shamani technology.”
Jackson was surprised but immediately recognized the potential usefulness of his skills. “Have a look,” he said, moving to the side to make room at the table.
“Hmmm…yes. Remarkable, really. You were right about the size. This ship is comparable to the great nuclear aircraft carriers of fifty years ago.”
Jackson bit back a sarcastic reply and waited with mounting impatience.
“Yes, well, this would be the communications center,” Parker said, indicating a hivelike nest of compartments in the very middle of the ship. “These are the external batteries. Looking at the connections, I would guess that they would be controlled from this deck, not far from the hangar bay.”
“What kind of guns?” the officer asked.
“I would suspect a mixture of energy pulse and missile launchers. That has been typical of Shamani tech, though as you know, they have been reluctant to share ordnance technology with us.”
“It’s interesting, but what good is this going to do us?” Sanders asked.
“Perhaps you should call your master chief in here,” Parker said. “He has made a potentially useful discovery.”
Moments later Ruiz entered at Jackson’s command. The chief was carrying one of the metallic paddles that served as eating utensils.
“Chief?” the lieutenant asked, letting the word hang in the air.
“Have a look at this, LT,” Ruiz replied, unabashed. He crossed the compartment to the large table and knelt beside it. With a quick twist of his makeshift tool, he pulled out a white enamel screw. “I left two in place, you know, to anchor it. But Falco and I pulled them all out less than an hour ago. Derek, can you give me a hand?”
Falco went over to Ruiz, and the two men pulled on a corner of the solid-looking block. Amazingly, it pivoted away from the bulkhead on the one corner that was still screwed to the deck. Immediately the Earthlings felt a blast of fresh air and found themselves looking into a wide, dark passageway.
“When were you going to share this news, Chief?” Jackson asked, surprised and a little miffed.
“Right away, sir. That is, we were just fixing to tell you when Harris’s girlfriend showed up with them plans.”
While the chief shot him a dirty look, Ruiz grinned impishly, and Jackson couldn’t help but chuckle. “Well,” he said, pleased. “First we get a road map, and now it looks like you might have found us an on-ramp.”
“Girlfriend, huh?” Harris whispered hoarsely. He and Ruiz were wedged into a tiny crawl space that seemed to connect all the compartments of the shuttle, prisoner, and storage decks. Sweat-streaked and exhausted, they paused to catch their breath, having being conducting their recon for about an hour now.
“Hey, we all saw the way she looked at you,” Ruiz said with a chuckle. He mimicked her precise diction: “‘Chief saved my life in warfare.’”
“Well, I was just in the right place at the right time. She’s got some nice curves, though,” Harris admitted. “Anyway, she sure came through in the clutch.”
“That,” Ruiz couldn’t help but agree, “she did.”
They had memorized as much of the schematic as possible before starting out, since Jackson had deemed it too risky for the two chiefs to take the plans with them. Besides, they’d be able to explore only a small portion of the ship before they’d have to return. The LT had given