Junkyard Dogs 1: The Scrapyard Incident by Phillip Nolte Read Free Book Online Page B

insulating properties are almost
perfect. If you look at it in the infrared, you won't see any heat
signature."
    "You be wearing it well," he said, matter-of-factly.
    "Thanks,
Hawk."
    Harris got them
back on track.
    "Ensign
Carlisle -- I mean, Vixen -- is here to inspect some of the Succession Era
warships, Hawk, but I think we should start out with one of the training
vessels to give her a little practice and some orientation before we head out
to the Auxiliary Tracking Station. I trust that's okay with you, Ensign?"
    Carlisle was
momentarily disappointed that they were not immediately heading for the section
of the Scrapyard that contained the destroyers but, not wanting to get off on
the wrong foot with her new coworkers, chose not to let it show
    "Ah...I
guess you have to learn to walk before you can run," she replied.
    "Well, let's
get to it," said Harris. "Since part of your training is to practice
close quarters maneuvering, you might as well go ahead and take this first
stretch on the flight com."
    Carlisle slid
into the pilot's seat. She took a few minutes to look over the instruments and
adjust the foot controls and the seat to accommodate her small frame before
buckling in.
    "Standard
control set up?" she asked as she looked over the com center.
    "Yeah. The controls for this craft are exactly the same
as the ones on a Class II Naval cutter, even though the two types of craft look
a lot different."
    "That'll
make it easier."
    "But you
mustn't get overconfident. I know you've put in hundreds of hours already on
several different types of ship and even more on the simulators, but the
Scrapyard takes some getting used to."
    "What should
I look out for?"
    "Most pilots
will never get as close to another space craft as we do out here. The trick is
to keep your speed way down on the approach and really, really watch what
you're doing. I bet you'll catch on pretty quick."
    "We'll
see."
    "First rule
is that all three of us need to keep an eye out, there's a lot of floating junk
up here. We'll holler if anything looks too close for comfort. Head for that batch of stuff over there."
    He pointed to a
clump of old ships ahead of and a little above their present position. To their
right and behind them, the blazing orb of Nacobbus dominated the sky. Ahead of
them, New Ceylon was a bright spark against the star-encrusted black matrix of
space.
    She took a few
more minutes to feel out the controls before she smoothly and confidently
undocked the utility sled, swiveled the bow around and "upwards"
while gently accelerating towards the small cluster of wrecked ships and other
unrecognizable junk that looked to be at least a couple of kilometers from the
main station. Hawkins took station on one of the front corners of the roughly
rectangular utility sled while Harris picked a spot where he could watch the
scrapyard and keep an eye on Carlisle's piloting technique.
    Harris took the
opportunity to provide more information on scrapyard protocols.   "We find it is usually best to go inside
the ship we're working on," he said. "A cargo or utility hold
provides pretty good protection from the high radiation of direct starlight and
any wandering junk that might be floating around out here. Hawkins can give you
some pointers on working with wrecks. Hawk?"
    Hawkins gave
Harris a short "Do I have to?" look before pointing to an area on the
sled where there were some large tool bins and several cables coming up out of
the deck of the sled with various types of connectors on their ends. "I be
havin' a few special tools that be helpin' a lot, Lass. Fifty years out here be
nay too easy on stuff."
    Carlisle, who at Admiral
Loftgren's insistence had been spending a portion of her time studying how to
improve her interpersonal skills -- perhaps her weakest area -- employed one of
the basic rules: encourage new acquaintances to talk about themselves or their
work. She thought quickly and came up with, "Ingenious, Hawk, did you, ah...make all these