Brigit's Flame January 2011 Third entry: Guns and Roses
"Chandra."
...
"Chandra!"
"Hmm, what?" Chandra glanced up from the diagnostic console she had been examining. The yield from the missile's explosive head just wasn't hot enough to cut through the Ragulian's external hull. If she could just get the intermix of ...
"You have no idea what day it is, do you?" William chided her.
Chandra thought for a moment, tearing her eyes away from the readouts. "Thursday?" she queried.
William laughed. "Yes, it's Thursday, but what about the date and it's significance?"
Chandra's blank stare was her only reply.
"It's October thirteenth."
Chandra raised an eyebrow still clearly confused.
"It's been a year. One year ago today, we went out on our first date," he pulled a bouquet of long-stemmed roses from behind his back and handed them to her. "Happy Anniversary."
"Has it really been a year?" She gazed in wonder at the crimson beauties laying in her arms. "Wait a minute. Since when is an arraignment hearing considered a first date?"
William laughed again. "Close enough," he waved a hand dismissively.
"I still can't believe what you did for me, taking the rap for my...experiment."
William shrugged. "I was your commander. Technically, anything you said, did, or thought was my responsibility."
"But you never authorized the tests..."
William gave her a bland look. "What you did was still my responsibility," he said with considerable finality. "Besides, I would have authorized it had you asked. Neither of us had any idea of the explosive capabilities of 'Chandrium' when you started."
"But people died," her distress evident.
"Yes, people died. It was a damn-fool idea having human observers on the same asteroid where the test-firing was occurring. You'll notice they've stopped that practice now."
"But still...you lost your rank, your career, everything."
"No, not everything. They let me stay in the service."
"Sure, as a crewman!" Chandra spat the word like the taste was bitter.
"Yes, as a crewman. That means I get to clean the quarters we live in for a living, something I would have done no matter what my rank was." He smiled at the irony. "The important part was that you got to stay on in weapon's design. You're truly gifted."
Chandra snorted. "If I'm so gifted, why can't I find a way to get through the Ragulian's hull plating? No matter how hot I make the explosive, it just seems to bounce off. It doesn't even seem to be the material, though that is plenty strong by itself, but that I can at least damage, but when applied to their hulls, it does almost nothing."
"I heard a couple of engineers talking about the same thing. They think it has something to do with the shape of the hull," William looked over her shoulder at the read-outs.
"Really? I don't have the specs on the shape of the hull, only the material."
"Some of the extrapolated images should be in the computer core by now. Let's see if we can pull them up," William started to reach for the console pad to type in his access code and then withdrew his hand. "I guess you'd better do it," he smiled wryly.
"Old habits die hard, don't they?" She smiled gently back at him.
"You know it," he turned his face to hide the look of loss he knew must be there.
Chandra turned back to the console, pretending not to notice. "Hmm, these are great images." She flipped through the three different projections. These were images taken at long range and then enhanced. Any human ship that came close enough to a Ragulian ship to take good pictures never made it back. "Unfortunately, they don't have any real data," she clenched her fists in anger and then gasped in surprise. Opening her left hand, a bright red droplet of her own blood welled up from where she had squeezed the stems of the roses.
"Oh, I'm sorry, darling. These are real roses. I snuck a little space in the gardening bay and grew them just for today. I should have warned you about the thorns." He took the roses and laid them on the console and then reached for a cleaning cloth to use on Chandra's hand, but she stopped him, continuing to gaze at the puncture wound in her hand.
Slowly she smiled. "A thorn in the rose," she said slowly. "That's it, William. That's the answer!"
"What's the question?" William stood close and looked into her hand as well.
"How to take down a Ragulian ship. That's the question and the answer is so obvious. If the hull's shape is designed to absorb or redirect explosive force, then we blow them up from the inside."
"Uh, great idea. How do you get the explosive inside the hull if not by blowing a hole in it?"
"A thorn," she grinned, pointing at the roses. "We use something physical to make a hole in it in the first place, something like an old-style rail-gun with something really hard, depleted uranium, maybe, and put that on the nose of the explosive. If my theory is right, the nose will at least malform and possibly rupture the hull letting the 'chandrium' work from the inside. It's brilliant." She flung her arms around his neck and leapt into his arms.
---
Chandra's theory was correct. The impaling head of the rail-gun charges provided the first-ever victory of the human race over the Ragulians. It also brought the war to a halt. Once they realized that humans could adapt and learn, they ceased their attempts to eradicate what they had initially perceived as a vermin-like-race. And all this was accomplished because one man loved one woman enough to grow her roses.
...
"Chandra!"
"Hmm, what?" Chandra glanced up from the diagnostic console she had been examining. The yield from the missile's explosive head just wasn't hot enough to cut through the Ragulian's external hull. If she could just get the intermix of ...
"You have no idea what day it is, do you?" William chided her.
Chandra thought for a moment, tearing her eyes away from the readouts. "Thursday?" she queried.
William laughed. "Yes, it's Thursday, but what about the date and it's significance?"
Chandra's blank stare was her only reply.
"It's October thirteenth."
Chandra raised an eyebrow still clearly confused.
"It's been a year. One year ago today, we went out on our first date," he pulled a bouquet of long-stemmed roses from behind his back and handed them to her. "Happy Anniversary."
"Has it really been a year?" She gazed in wonder at the crimson beauties laying in her arms. "Wait a minute. Since when is an arraignment hearing considered a first date?"
William laughed again. "Close enough," he waved a hand dismissively.
"I still can't believe what you did for me, taking the rap for my...experiment."
William shrugged. "I was your commander. Technically, anything you said, did, or thought was my responsibility."
"But you never authorized the tests..."
William gave her a bland look. "What you did was still my responsibility," he said with considerable finality. "Besides, I would have authorized it had you asked. Neither of us had any idea of the explosive capabilities of 'Chandrium' when you started."
"But people died," her distress evident.
"Yes, people died. It was a damn-fool idea having human observers on the same asteroid where the test-firing was occurring. You'll notice they've stopped that practice now."
"But still...you lost your rank, your career, everything."
"No, not everything. They let me stay in the service."
"Sure, as a crewman!" Chandra spat the word like the taste was bitter.
"Yes, as a crewman. That means I get to clean the quarters we live in for a living, something I would have done no matter what my rank was." He smiled at the irony. "The important part was that you got to stay on in weapon's design. You're truly gifted."
Chandra snorted. "If I'm so gifted, why can't I find a way to get through the Ragulian's hull plating? No matter how hot I make the explosive, it just seems to bounce off. It doesn't even seem to be the material, though that is plenty strong by itself, but that I can at least damage, but when applied to their hulls, it does almost nothing."
"I heard a couple of engineers talking about the same thing. They think it has something to do with the shape of the hull," William looked over her shoulder at the read-outs.
"Really? I don't have the specs on the shape of the hull, only the material."
"Some of the extrapolated images should be in the computer core by now. Let's see if we can pull them up," William started to reach for the console pad to type in his access code and then withdrew his hand. "I guess you'd better do it," he smiled wryly.
"Old habits die hard, don't they?" She smiled gently back at him.
"You know it," he turned his face to hide the look of loss he knew must be there.
Chandra turned back to the console, pretending not to notice. "Hmm, these are great images." She flipped through the three different projections. These were images taken at long range and then enhanced. Any human ship that came close enough to a Ragulian ship to take good pictures never made it back. "Unfortunately, they don't have any real data," she clenched her fists in anger and then gasped in surprise. Opening her left hand, a bright red droplet of her own blood welled up from where she had squeezed the stems of the roses.
"Oh, I'm sorry, darling. These are real roses. I snuck a little space in the gardening bay and grew them just for today. I should have warned you about the thorns." He took the roses and laid them on the console and then reached for a cleaning cloth to use on Chandra's hand, but she stopped him, continuing to gaze at the puncture wound in her hand.
Slowly she smiled. "A thorn in the rose," she said slowly. "That's it, William. That's the answer!"
"What's the question?" William stood close and looked into her hand as well.
"How to take down a Ragulian ship. That's the question and the answer is so obvious. If the hull's shape is designed to absorb or redirect explosive force, then we blow them up from the inside."
"Uh, great idea. How do you get the explosive inside the hull if not by blowing a hole in it?"
"A thorn," she grinned, pointing at the roses. "We use something physical to make a hole in it in the first place, something like an old-style rail-gun with something really hard, depleted uranium, maybe, and put that on the nose of the explosive. If my theory is right, the nose will at least malform and possibly rupture the hull letting the 'chandrium' work from the inside. It's brilliant." She flung her arms around his neck and leapt into his arms.
---
Chandra's theory was correct. The impaling head of the rail-gun charges provided the first-ever victory of the human race over the Ragulians. It also brought the war to a halt. Once they realized that humans could adapt and learn, they ceased their attempts to eradicate what they had initially perceived as a vermin-like-race. And all this was accomplished because one man loved one woman enough to grow her roses.