“Why are we in full EVA if the station has power?” Lieutenant Ray asked from the back of the cargo bay.
Irritated Thompson took a breath before he answered, “Because we don’t know what happened. We are not 100 percent sure they have full power and atmosphere. That is why.”
Before Ray could respond, the pilot’s voice came over the speaker in the back. “Major Thompson, can you come back to the Flight Deck?”
Thompson stared down Lieutenant Ray as if to say, “Don’t test me.” Then he turned and made his way back to the flight deck.
“Yes?” Thompson said as he entered the flight deck.
“We have an issue,” the pilot responded pointing out the main window to the station.
Thompson ducked down to look over the pilot’s shoulder to see what he was pointing at. He could see they were lined up in front of the station’s docking bay door. It was shut and none of the usual navigation lights were on.
“The door is unresponsive. We can’t dock in the main bay,” the pilot stated.
Thompson lowered his head for a moment and then looked up. “Great. Can we use the shuttle’s docking collar and latch onto one of the side hatches into the docking bay?”
“Yes. It will take a little more finesse but I think we can,” the pilot answered.
“How long will it take to get in position?”
“About ten more minutes,” the pilot replied.
“Do it. I’ll make sure my people are ready. Also update the Little Rock on our status,” Thompson said.
“Aye,” the pilot said nodding to the co-pilot to call back to the ship.
Thompson knew that the Little Rock was tapped into all the video feeds from the shuttle to include the suit cameras. The ship’s communications tech was able to get a link established on the system’s network satellite. This allowed for a real time stream of video and communications. This meant every conversation was sent simultaneously and would have to be filtered through to the bridge. By sending the message, the comm tech wouldn’t have to pick that part out of the stream to show the captain.
He left the flight deck and reentered the cargo cay. He surveyed everyone there. Everyone had their helmets on and had buddied up and doing final checks on each other. Thompson keyed in his headset to talk to everyone. “Listen up, everyone,” he said, and at once all the personnel in the cargo bay turned to look at him. “Change in plans. Looks like we won’t be doing a standard docking and deployment from the station’s docking bay. We will be using the docking collar to soft dock to a hatch on the exterior. I want standard boarding procedures on this one. Sergeant Craig, I want you to take Lance Corporal Peters and Private Milton and enter first. Make sure nothing bad is waiting for us on the other side. Then the corpsman, techs and Lieutenant Ray will enter followed by the rest of us. If for some reason we meet some resistance, group two will stay on the shuttle and group three will enter to support. Understand?”
A chorus of affirmatives came across Thompson’s headset. Then he nodded in the direction of the loadmaster. The young enlisted man walked toward the entry way of the flight deck. He pressed some commands on the keyboard next the door and with a hiss the door the flight deck slid closed. The door made a clunking noise to indicate it was locked.
Thompson walked over to where he was initially sitting during the trip, grabbed his helmet from the hook and placed it over his head. He twisted it and it locked into place. Cool air ran into the helmet as the life support system engaged. Sergeant Craig came over and checked Thompson’s helmet to make sure it was sealed and gave him a thumbs up in approval.
Thompson then brought up his left arm to access the suit controls located on a flexible computer panel under his wrist. The panel was lit up and he pressed in the commands to bring the suit’s HUD on line. The glass on his helmet came alive with info. In the right corner it displayed his O2 levels. On the lower left was a small indicator for his magnetic boots. It displayed OFF in red lettering. In the left corner was the current ammo level in the magazine loaded in his SM-3. The indicator just displayed a straight line to show he did not link to the weapon yet. He grabbed the pistol grip of the SM-3 and the indicator displayed the number 50. Also, a small red circle with a dot in the center appeared at the bottom of his HUD. This was the targeting reticle for the weapon. The red meant that the weapon was pointed out down and away. With his finger off the trigger, he turned and faced the wall, brought the stock of the weapon up, and the reticle followed where he pointed the muzzle of the gun and changed to green. This indicated it was ready to fire. He returned the weapon to the safe position and the indicator changed back to red. He then used the magnet on his suit to secure the carbine in place.
“We’re in position to dock,” the pilot said over Thompson’s headset.
“Affirmative,” Thompson replied.
The shuttle jarred slightly as the docking collar latched onto the side of the station’s hull. Thompson observed the loadmaster as he walked over to the starboard side hatch. He turned to everyone and made a broad announcement. “Everyone ready? Magnetic boots on?”
Thompson reached down to his control panel and pressed the command to turn on his Mag boots. The indicator in his helmet changed from a red OFF to a green ON. He tested it by trying to take a step, and it took a little more force to take a step as the suit’s computer would briefly disengage the magnet on that boot so he could step forward and then reengage once he put that foot back on the ground. Then he followed suit with the other foot.
After everyone was sure, they all gave the loadmaster a thumbs up indicating they were good to go. The loadmaster then turned to the shuttle’s door. He pressed a few buttons and the door slid open. He stepped aside to let group one move into position. Sergeant Craig allowed Peters to go first. Lance Corporal Peters was the tech specialist of the squad. She secured the weapon to her chest and produced a data pad from the left side of his suit. He walked through the door and onto the center plank structure of the docking tube and traversed it to the outside door of the station. Peters opened the cover to the door control panel; the screen was blank. She took her left hand and pulled out a cord and plug from the data pad. She plugged it into a port at the bottom of the control panel. She pressed in a few commands on the pad and looked at the data coming across it.
“Major, the information from the station’s CPU is indicating zero atmosphere in the docking bay,” Peters said over his headset.
“Copy. Standby,” Thompson replied. He turned to the loadmaster. “I need you to equalize the pressure in the shuttle’s cargo bay with that of the docking bay.”“Yes, sir,” the loadmaster nodded as he replied.
The loadmaster turned back to the terminal and entered in another command and Thompson could hear air rush out of the cargo bay as it equalized. Seconds later the sound was gone. The loadmaster turned back to Thompson and said, “Good to go, sir,” as he gave him a thumbs up sign.
“Okay, Lance Corporal, you can proceed to open the door,” Thompson said.
Peters inputted some more commands into her data pad and the door made a loud clunk and then slowly opened. She quickly disconnected the data pad from the wall panel, secured it, drew her SM-3 and stepped in. Sergeant Craig and Private Milton quickly followed suit covering Peter’s right and left flank respectively. They stepped forward and disappeared from Thompson’s view.
After a moment he heard, “You can proceed with group two and three,” over the radio from Sergeant Craig.
“Copy that. Groups two and three, let’s go,” Thompson ordered.
The two groups filed into the cargo bay. It was dark. The only illumination came from the teams’ suit lights. Looking around, Thompson could make out two shuttles parked, in the center of the docking back, their rear cargo bay ramp doors were opened. Five empty EVA pods lined the far side of the bay. The whole scene reminded him of some old Sci-fi horror holo’s from when he was a kid. It gave him the creeps.
“Has anyone made it to the door to Operations?”
he asked.
“Just did, sir,” Craig responded waving.
Thompson looked over to where the figure was waving his arm high in the air to get his attention. The light from his suit seemed to flash as his arm passed between the light and Thompson. It was on the far side of the bay about ten feet to the left of the pods.
Noticing the groups were getting a little scattered, he ordered, “Everyone form up on group one.”
He watched as all the wondering points of light began to huddle next to Craig’s location. Once he was satisfied everyone was together, he fell in behind the team.
“We have a problem, sir,” Peters said over Comms as Thompson got approached.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Operations has atmosphere,” Peters replied.
“Great. So, what’s the problem?” Thompson asked.
“We will need to re-pressurize the docking bay and the shuttle. It might take a few minutes, if we are lucky,” she replied.
“What do you mean 'if we are lucky?’” Thompson asked.
“It would be better if one of our engineering guys told you,” Peters said pointing at one of the engineering techs.
“If what the lance corporal showed me on his data pad is true, the power grid to the rest of the station is unstable. We run the risk of shorting out the grid,” the tech said turning to Thompson.
“Odds?” Thompson asked.
“50/50,” the tech replied.
“Anyway to stabilize it from here?” he asked.
“No, we need to get to the engineering compartment to try to track down the issue.”
“So, damned if we do, damned if we don’t,” he said pausing for a moment. “Do it. Peters, coordinate with the shuttle and stand-by to pressurize all locations. Group two, be ready in case everything goes to hell.”
Thompson looked back at the hatch where they entered the station and noticed the light emanating from the door slowly went out as the shuttle’s outer door slid closed. He turned back to face the group.
“Shuttle is sealed up and standing by to pressurize. I am standing by for your order, sir.” Peters reported.
“Initiate,” Thompson ordered.
Peters turned and press a command on her data pad. Streams of cold air shot down from the sealing accompanied by a loud whooshing sound. The docking bay lights flickered as they tried to come on. The sound tapered off as the room was brought up to pressure.
“We have equalized pressure,” Peters reported as the lights still flickered throughout the room.
“And the lights?” Thompson inquired looking at the ceiling.
“Sorry. This is the best I can do with what I got, sir. We need to get inside to be able to do more,” Peters replied. Her face flicking in and out with the lights.
“Understood,” he began. “Let’s run the same entry procedures as before.”
The team lined up exactly as they did on the shuttle before they entered the station. Lance Corporal Peters opened the door and entered operations weapon drawn. Then Sergeant Craig and Private Milton followed and deployed as before. After a few seconds Craig yelled “Clear!” over Comms.
The next two groups followed into operations and Thompson, being the last to enter, entered the command to close the door.
Other than the boarding team, the small flight operations office was empty. Computer stations lined the far side of the room, screens blank. Coffee cups still sitting at terminals with various amounts of liquids still in them.
“What the hell happened here?” Lieutenant Ray asked.
“That is what we are here to find out,” Thompson started. “We are going to work section by section to—” He was cut off by the lights changing from white to red and a loud alarm began to wail.
“What the…?” he said.
“It’s the engineering system. The power problem must be worse than we thought,” one of the engineering techs said.
Thompson lowered his head took a deep breath then opened a channel to the team. “Alright everyone, new plan. Group one along with Lieutenant Ray and you, he pointed to one of the corpsman, quickly make your way down to the server room. Retrieve any data you can. The rest of us will make a break for the engineering compartment. Also disengage your Mag boots since we have gravity you will be able to move faster.”
“What about any survivors? Are we not supposed to be looking for them too?” Lieutenant Ray asked.
“If we find any, stop and treat them if you can. Right now, our main concern is getting group two and three to engineering and ensuring the reactor doesn’t blow up while we are still on the station. Now move it, people!” he yelled.
Thompson quickly deactivated his Mag boots and activated the map on his HUD and set a way point to the reactor room. Everyone filed out into the hallway. The hallway was lit up in red light. Thompson could make out handrails that were attach hip high to the side of the walls and stretched the entire length of the hallway.
Sergeant Craig’s team with Lieutenant Ray and one of the team’s corpsmen broke turned right and headed down the hall. Major Thompson’s group headed to the left. They hurried down the hall passing open and closed doors along the way. A beep came over his headset indicating he was getting a message from the Little Rock. He opened the channel and said, “This is Major Thompson.”
“This is Captain Stollar, Major. We are getting some anomalous readings from the station. Can you confirm?”
“Looking into it right now, ma’am. Stand-by,” he replied as they turned the corner and stopped right in front of the large doors that lead to the reactor room. He moved to the panel to the right of the and pressed the button to open. The door began to slowly open , making a terrible metallic scrapping noise as it did. Suddenly it stopped about two-thirds of the way open. Thompson slammed the open button again. Nothing.
“Well. At least…”
A person in a gray EDF flight suit burst out of the door clutching a large wrench. He took a swing at the closest Marine. The tool clanged against the Marine’s armored suit. The Marine reached out with his free hand and grabbed the wrench away from the individual. Another Marine slammed the man up against the wall. He pinned the man with his forearm, placing it across his chest. The man squirmed but couldn’t move.
Thompson approached the man. He was slight in build buzzed hair and face full of days-old stubble. The gray in the hair gave Thompson the indication he was an older gentleman probably in his forties.
“No! I won’t let you do it again!” the man shouted trying to break free.
Thompson activated the speaker on his suit and began putting up his hand palm out, “Easy now. We are not here to hurt you.”
“I don’t believe you! This could all be a trap. The others wore suits too,” the man exclaimed still squirming.
The Major reached up unlocked his helmet. He twisted it and it hissed as he removed it. The sound of the siren was no longer muffled and hurt his ears, causing him to momentarily wince. He regained his bearing and turned his head to the man. “Look, we are with the EDF, we are not here to harm you. We were sent here to investigate,” he said pointing at himself with his left hand.
The man seemed to relax. He started to look around realizing he had made a mistake and slumped back, head looking towards the ceiling. “Thank God,” he said.
“My name is Major Thompson. What is yours?” Thompson said, leaning in towards the man. His voice softer.
“I am Chief Reynolds. I am the lead engineering tech here on Canary Station,” he replied.
“Okay, Chief, my Marine here is going to let you free. You are not going to do anything stupid, right?” Thompson said nodding.
Reynolds nodded in response. Thompson patted the Marine on the shoulder, and he let the man go. Reynolds crumpled into a pile on the floor. Thompson gave a quick sign with his hand towards the corpsman and the he crouched down to examine the chief.
Thompson turned to the engineering techs. “Get in there and get an idea what is wrong and get me a
status,” he said, then turned to one of the Marines next to him. “Private O’Neil, watch after them.”
“Yes, sir,” the young Marine responded, and the three men turned and disappeared through the door.
Thompson returned his attention to the chief. He noticed the man had sat back up, but now he was sobbing. Thompson crouched down put a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It’s okay, can you tell us what happened?”
Reynolds looked up at Thompson, wiped his runny nose with his hand, and began. “I didn’t see much initially. It seemed like a typical shift. Most of everyone’s attention turned to monitors around the station. A ship of unknown origin had jumped into the system almost next to the station and Commander Jefferson raised the Alert status.”
“What did the ship look like?” Thompson interrupted.
“I don’t know. I was helping Specialist Crane with some confined space operations in tube B. We were suited up and had no view of the monitors. Suddenly we lost power. We had to use our suit lights to navigate out of the tube. Then there was a loud bang and a lot of screaming,” Reynolds said, breathing heavily, looking around.
“It’s fine, no one is going to hurt you. Continue,” Thompson said trying to ease the chief.
Reynolds took a breath. “I stopped moving. Crane kept going. I told him to stop, but he either didn’t hear me or ignored me because he kept going. I followed. He got out the tube first and cleared the way for me to exit. I stepped out into the room. The red emergency lights were on and I looked for Specialist Crane, but he was already in the hallway trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Then suddenly he was gone.”
“Gone? What do you mean gone?” Thompson asked.
“I mean gone. I took a step then I heard more screaming. I turned and entered the tube. Sealed the hatch and cut the lights to my suit,” Reynolds explained.
“What happened next?” Thompson asked.
“Nothing. I waited until my suit was almost out of air. Which was about ninety minutes,” Reynolds answered.
“After that ninety minutes?” Thompson inquired.
“I exited the tube. I removed my helmet. The emergency lights were still on, but it was quiet. The screaming was gone and the station was like a ghost town. Empty.”
Stollar's Gambit Page 12
