The Cagliostro Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page A

everything is good. The ship ’s humming like a bird. We’re good to go.”
    “Nevertheless Danny, I want it all gone over. Especially engine dynamics, structural integrity and , most especially, weapons and shields. If we have to pull out of there at a moment’s notice I want to make sure everything is taken into account. No one will be coming to rescue us if things go badly.”
    “Uhh , Mark?” Ariel interrupted, “You better look at this.” She punched a few buttons on her console and the view screen shimmered revealing a ship heading directly towards them also at hyper-warp speed.
    “How long till we intercept it , or it intercepts us actually?” Mark asked icily.
    “At the rate we are both traveling, ten more minutes. It knows we’re here too. We were just scanned.”
    “No doubt it’s coming to meet us. This is probably friends of whoever was in those three ships we disabled.”
    “I think that’s a safe bet, Mark.” Red replied as he went over the readouts before him, “This thing is huge too. It’s almost a mile long, and loaded with weapons. I’m getting all kinds of readings, and they do have weapons powered up as of now, shields too. They’re looking for a fight.”
    “If they want a fight, I have to assume they know exactly who we are as well.”
    “Are you going to try to talk to them?”
    Johnson smiled , “I’ll make the effort, Ariel, but I’ll bet you lunch it’s a waste of time.”
    She returned the smile and activated the controls on her console, then nodded to him. “This is Mark Johnson of the USS Cagliostro. We send peaceful greetings and look forward to talking to you. Please respond.”
    Silence reigned aboard the command deck as both ships hurtled towards each other. Mark looked at the view screen first, then over to Ariel, “Resend that message one more time. I’m not going to waste my breath repeating myself.”
    Ariel nodded and resent the message. The response was immediate this time and telling, as energy beams raked across the Cagliostro’s hull, setting off emergency klaxons immediately.
    “Mark!” Shouted Red instantly, “That thing just dropped our sh ields and power levels by thirty five percent. More importantly it dropped us from hyper-warp to normal space.”
    Mark leaped from his seat and hovered over Red’s control panel. “They drained our energy stores? How is that even possible?”
    “You’re the engineer, boss, you tell me?” Red answered.
    “Dan, evasive maneuvers, ” Mark shouted, “don’t let them hit us again. Prepare to return fire at will. FIRE!”
    Sledge turned the smooth lined ship in a tight arc, and flipped it over, avoiding two streams of energy that blasted space near enough to the ship to elicit rumbling vibrations throughout it.
    Eddie began firing the ships solar cannons repeatedly, scoring direct hits multiple times across the hull of the much larger ship.
    “Any damage?” Mark asked.
    “Minor, boss. Nothing to speak of.”
    As they spoke the larger ship fired again and this time they struck pay dirt, as their energy weapons seemingly exploded across the Cag’s shields and hull, sending the ship careening lopsidedly through space.
    “Red!” Johnson shouted as emergency lights blinked across every console, and sirens blared.
    “Shields and power down to twenty five percent.”
    “Okay, time to try something different and unorthodox. On my order, fire two non-nuclear high yield missiles at that things engines, but first sweep the hull with the cannons. After the cannon sweep, activate the magno-disc powered tractor beam and pull the thing off its trajectory. Let’s see if we can shake them up.”
    Eddie look ed at Mark for an instant, incredulously, and then a smile began to form on his lips as he turned back towards his controls. Red nodded seriously at Mark as he turned back towards his control panel, as well.
    “You’re up first, Eddie. Red, as soon as the solar cannons rake its hull, grab it with the tractor