Read Online Atlas: Infinity Verge Trilogy: Book II by DJ Morand - Free Book Online

twisted on his heel and ran to his captain’s chair. “Go and get the crew for me love”
    Ima grinned, “I love seeing you like this,” she stood and moved to the comms station. “Attention crew, prepare for asteroid docking. Prime the mining lasers.””
    Ima looked back to her husband and smiled. Ivan didn’t notice as he was focused on restarting the primary engines for a burn towards the asteroid belt. The boyish excitement on his face brought another smile to Ima.
    I love that idiot, she thought.
     
    * * * *
     
    Inner System Asteroid Belt - Icarus
    2973 ESD -- Friday, May 14th 07:21 hours
     
    The Icarus ’ engines were powered down and the vessel was anchored to a large asteroid. The mining laser extended from the belly of the square-like freighter and bored into the rock. The cargo hold sat open with the doors folded under. Large electromagnets drew up the lasered minerals.
    Ivan sat in his captain’s chair on the command deck with his hands behind his head and watched the statistics. Power output from the laser and electromagnets and the amount of mineral weight collected. They would have to review the molecular structure of the minerals once they were collected. Ima would work to get the system to sort through the mineral content as they made their way back to the Quintar Prime system.
    For several more hours the crew maintained and reviewed the laser output. Ivan and Ima took time for themselves while the crew worked. The starless system had taken a toll on everyone and none more than Ivan and Ima. As they both dressed, the klaxons began to blare across the ship.
    Ivan pulled on his shirt and rushed to the command deck. He rushed into see the entire Transteel screen flashing red.
    CRITICAL SYSTEM MALFUNCTION
    CRITICAL SYSTEM MALFUNCTION
    HEAT SHIELDING AT 15%
    “Flak!” Ivan ran to the captain’s chair and punched in commands into the console. “What the flak is going on down there!?”
    The comms crackled, but no one responded. Ivan changed the settings and switched to the emergency shutoff. He input his credentials and hit the shut off. The Transteel viewer reverted to its normal view and displayed a confirmation that the lasers had been shut down. Ivan tried the comms again.
    “Crew, anyone there? This is Captain Straught, do you read?”
    The comms continued to crackle and the only response he received was static. He switched comms to Ima’s Writcom, “Love, I need you up here now!”
    “I’m on my way, cool it,” Ima barked.
    “I’ll flakking cool it when I know what the flak is going on! Where the flak are you?” Ivan snapped.
    “Right flakking behind you,” Ima said aloud.
    “I need a navi-scan of the surrounding area. I need to know what the flak happened out there!”
    “Calm your shit and don’t get all glitched,” Ima sat down at the scanning station.
    Ivan might have been able to figure out the scanners, but in truth he wasn’t great with anything but having hunches and barking orders. It was Ima who did the real directing and navigation. Ivan had the mining crew to do the work and his wife to get them to the right place. He was the taskmaster.
    The Transteel viewer changed again to display the Laser-Radar (LIDAR) scanning. A moment later they read a second signature near the bow of the Icarus. As far as he could tell it looked to be a gunship. The Icarus wasn’t much smaller than a full-fledged destroyer. However, that was because it was all cargo and mining lasers. The nature of a mining ship meant that it really had no defensive capability save for a rear kinetic turret and the mining lasers. The crew all had access to arms for protection against boarding, but not while they were outside mining. There was a two-fold reason for that. First, it kept the ability to mutiny relatively low. Second, most pirates waited until a ship finished mining before attacking.
    Ivan thought about the ship on the asteroid beneath them, if they’re pirates they’re an odd sort of