by T J Bryan
As Samulson frantically struggled to get the ship under control Marx grabbed Mary May with his good arm and dragged her to the doc box. She had been without air for over two minutes and worse she her lungs had been exposed to the void. He shoved her dead weight into the cylinder and closed the lid. He cursed at himself for not practicing on the unit enough and was now wondering exactly what sequence of operations he needed to input. The vid screen was streaming data and most of it was red. He looked again at the display and the actuator buttons. These things he knew were built for exactly this situation and then he saw the large red button. "Auto' it read. He pushed the button and the doc box sprang to life. There was nothing more he could do for Mary so he left the doc box and climbed down the roundabout and onto 'B' deck. Going forward he opened the hatch to the weapons bay and the bay appeared intact but the port side was a shambles and he thought he could see stars in the void along a broken seem. Two droids appeared to be working within the weapons bay but their movements were so swift that the could not determine what they were doing. Better to seal the hatch and check out the cargo hold that still held mines.
Turning down the 'B' deck passage and toward midships he entered the cargo bay and was relieved that the mines were still securely fashioned to their slide launchers. He had seen enough and he knew his engines were intact so he returned to the bridge. Looking at the MS he saw fewer red flashing lights, but still too many.
Looking again at the vid screen he saw that the tumbling had decreased. Again the view of the station passed by and now not only was she burning, venting plasma and atmosphere, but he could see numerous small explosions throwing portions of the spinning system in all directions. Probably capacitors for plasma cannons Marx realized, but any moment now he knew the entire station and everything on this side of the planet was about to become residue of a matter anti-matter annihilation.
Marx would cross his fingers, but he left arm would not respond. His ship suit had undoubtedly injected the arm with pain killers, but while they reduced the pain to something painful but bearable, the arm was useless. With a well trained crew performing damage control there was little a captain had to do, so Captain Marx went to his chair, sat down, and pulled hard on his seat restraints and then pulled again.
Soon he saw that Samulson had reduced the tumble significantly but the ship still had a slight tumble.
Samulson turned to the captain, "I'm going to pulse the engines to gain some stability. Hold on."
Samulson's fingers danced across the keyboard and then he placed his hands on the flight controls and jammed his feet down hard on the engine actuators. Captain Marx did not feel the acceleration but the vid screen stopped tumbling. Samulson cried out a whop and moments later said in a much calmer voice that the slingshot point was dead ahead. Just as they passed the curvature of the planet and placed the station and its' fleeing fleet behind the entire void lit up in a brilliant flash of white light. The station had died and probably taken a good portion of the Megra fleet with it.
Chapter Ninety One
Jamon System - Admirals Office - Year 3247. Nov 17 ET: 22:21
Assembling the resources to travel to Eleos had taken Abel, with the help of Emmitt and Helen, far too long. He had to balance the need to defend Jamon, Wu, and their allies, with the expedition to Dong Son and the defence of New Horizons and the Theans, as well as scrape together an expedition to Eleos. A quick review of Eleos in the EG had said nothing other than it might be a mineral rich system circling a dead star. The location of Eleos was not provided by the EG and the EG suggested that the system might simply be speculation or a ruse created during the Great War.
However the memory cube provided by the Theans gave a precise location as well as tantalizing hints at what might be found at the hidden Greayson ship yards. Unfortunately travel to Eleos was long and fraught with risks. The shortest route which took more than seven months lay through a complex set of knot lines many of which passed through old Unity space. The current status of the systems along the knot lines was unknown. There were two exceptions.
On the memory cube had been short vids which depicted a damaged ship yard at Eleos, but not damage from battle, rather damage inflicted as the yards were abandoned and ransacked. Most of the vids portrayed the habitat portion of the interior and had likely been taken by Theans on one of their expeditions and Abel caught only glimpses of the yards themselves, but he could see in one vid what appeared to be an intact Greayson repair ship and the value of that ship to the fragile OCN was impossible to calculate. The repair ship alone was worth the trip, even if the ship proved damaged, its' command core would likely be intact given that Unity had never taken Eleos.
Abel decided to assign Greenland with Captain Meg Asgeir and the newly recommissiond SAR Olrun captained by the newly appointed Nieve Vilulf to the voyage to Eleos. The lack of one armed freighter at Jamon was going to hurt Abel realized and with Iceland yet to return from Thean space his concern was deep.
Emmitt had offered, in fact wanted, to lead the expedition, but Abel needed Emmitt to remain in the Commonwealth to manage what they all now called Nomi's Project. Critical to the success of any scavenging of the shipyards at Eleos would be someone who knew technology in its' many forms, even forms that might well be disassembled or even broken. Only one person fit that description; Helen Rebbah. Helen reluctantly agreed to head the mission to Eleos. Helen had argued that she had interrupted her quiet academic life at the Collegium for too long to create and then stabilize the OCN. But she also knew that Abel was right in that she was needed to both lead the mission and to retrieve any Greayson technology that might prove to value to the Commonwealth.
Before what Abel was calling the Eleos Expedition several of Nomi's experimental apparatus were loaded into the spacious hold of Greenland. Knowing that there were risks on the voyage and that there might well be risks at the Eleos station itself Abel assigned 35 OCN Marines with lieutenants Wain Peters and Jerry Renner as their officers. Abel was quite proud of the progress of the OCN Marines, but apart from one engagement at Wu station he knew they were very green and inexperienced in combat. He hoped that upon their return to Jamon they will return just as green and inexperienced.
Sand casters were beginning to be in short supply and Olrun would run with only 30 casters instead of her usual complement of 64. To make up for this shortage an additional 34 'K's were loaded. Greenland with her two tubes went with eight of each type. Given the length of the voyage and the opportunity to train green but qualified recruits he added a supercargo crew of 12. Each had recently qualified but simply lacked real experience sitting in a bridge seat. Abel had come to realize that time in a station chair at the command con, even if on a long and boring voyage, was critical to seasoning a crew and the giving them valuable experiences.
The Eleos expedition would begin at Wu and then travel on to Timmons Rock. From Timmons rock they would travel through two additional systems that the EG noted were dead systems, and then across old Unity space and through six Unity systems. The recent update of the EG contained a current assessment of only two of those systems; Eyre's Vassal and Voman's Servant. Both were described as pre-industrial and highly fragmented medieval societies. As for the others nothing was known. After passing through Unity space two further systems needed to be transitioned before entering Eleos. The EG had little to say about the systems other than they were uninhabited by human kind and were considered of little value.
Prior to departure Greenland took aboard another load of pre-fab assemblies for the growing Holgata Station at Wu as well as several hundred mines of a new type to add to Toni Hamilton's stores.
Once again Abel found himself standing on the cold Navy Dock and asking the crews to do their duty. At 23:00 the crews boarded the two ships and departed. As Abel walked back to his office he wondered if he might never see them again, but quickly put the thought out of his mind. He had a navy to run and a growing alliance to protect.
...
Pop
e Leo to Cranmore Tunnel - Sigrún - Year 3247. October 7 ET: 09:55
Somehow Paul Samulson had managed to hit the exit portal that led back to Cranmore. The bleeding ship still had a slight tumble and many of the manoeuvring jectors had been blown away by the anti-matter explosion. They hit the portal entrance at enormous speed and if the had missed they would never have been able to return given the damage to Sigrún. Mary May had died within hours of the explosion as well as Bob Menendez and Phillip Norlick. The pain in Captain Marx's arm was becoming intense and he found some sticky vac tape and had Brandy Haverson wrap the tape around his arm and then wrap the arm to his body. It seemed to help but only momentarily.
The bridge was still open to the void and the two droids seemed to have given up and moved to another priority. Brandy Haverson was working the maintenance station with frantic haste. Captain Marx could easily see dozens and dozens of flashing red signals on the vid screen, but at this moment he decided to let Brandy do her job. Marx looked at his ship suit energy pack and the telltale was yellow. He looked at both Brandy and Paul's packs and they too were yellow. Lars Arant, who had yet to recover consciousness, was now safe in the doc box. Terry Manford and Tony Madson had gone forward to the weapons bay to see if they could do anything to help patch the gaping splits in the ships side. However with two of the large droids working with sheet steel and plasma welders there was little they could do so they returned to the bridge where they had even less to do.
Marx stood and told the crew on the ship suit comms that he was going to inspect the damage. Moments later he exited the bridge and went to the purser's station to retrieve additional energy packs. The station was a shambles and the energy packs lay smashed against the far bulkhead. The 02 bottle recharger looked functional but that was only its' looks. However with Greayson redundancy he headed to the roundabout and to 'B' deck where he knew additional energy packs were stored. Just inside the weapons bay hatch he turned and where the packs had been there now was nothing but stars and the void. He climbed the ladder from the roundabout with difficulty and went to the storage lockers that held the vac suits, but that side of the ship was gone. Only stars and the void.
Captain Marx returned to the bridge. "Brandy can you give me a status?"
Brandy tried to speak as she frenetically worked her station. "It's not good," she said. "The MS reports that the major damage to our hull can only be repaired in a yard. The damage that has caused us to vac we may not be able to seal. System projection with what we know of the damage says droids need at least 9 days to repressurize the bridge, but the system says other damage may prevent pressurization of the entire ship. Our weapons systems are off line. Two of our tubes have been blown away and the other two I wouldn't trust. Engines are operating within parameters and we do have control almost. But with most manoeuvring jectors gone she is almost impossible to control. Most of the environmental systems are down, mess, toilets, air recyclers." At the mention of 'air recyclers' Brandy paused a moment to look at her energy pack. Then she looked directly at Captain Marx.
"Energy packs are gone," said Marx. Brandy shrugged her shoulders and returned to working the maintenance system.
Marx frantically reviewed the status of the ship. The weapons bay was open to the void and a portion of the bridge above the vid screen was also open. The crews quarters was also vacd. And it was getting cold. The engine compartment was fully functioning and the cargo hold, thank god, still held the mines securely in their launch sliders. As for 'C' deck, where the GWP systems were located he had no idea since no one in the OCN had ever been able to access the closed deck.
"Can we pressurize the cargo hold?" asked Captain Marx.
A few moments later Brandy replied. "Possibly. I'm not sure the hatches from the bridge and roundabout to the cargo hold are any good. I have yellow status on all four. Auto hatch controls don't seem to be working."
Marx was beginning to feel the cold.
Terry Manford the environment specialist was sitting at the ES station but there was little he could do until major repairs, even make shift repairs, could be completed.
"Mr. Manford, check out the hatches to the cargo hold. Try closing them and seeing if the seals are good."
Terry stood and hurried to the hatch and ladder leading to the roundabout below. As he passed Marx saw his energy pack was blinking yellow."
Moments later on the comm Terry called out. Two hatches, those from the bridge to the first in the passage way won't close. They are bent and nothing short of a replacement will do. I'll go check the others."
"Mr. Haverson, If we can seal the hatch to the Cargo Bay can we pressurize the bay?"
Brandy took almost a minute to reply as her fingers danced across the keyboard. "No. The auto pressure systems won't work without the forward air recyclers and the transfer switch to the aft recyclers is kaput."
Then Tony Madsen reported that the last hatch to the cargo hold was mechanically good, but that the seals had been peeled off in the onrush of air as the ship vented. He also reported that the engine room hatch looked functional but was sealed against the cargo hold vacuum.
"Brandy will the engine room hold pressure."
Brandy replied, "I think so. That section seems undamaged, but I don't know. The MS sensors and commands don't give me readings that make any sense."
"Ok," said Marx. "Try pressurizing the engine compartment."
"Aye sir," replied Brandy.
Marx continued, "Ok, Brandy, can we heat the cargo hold."
Brandy again typed frantically at the MS station. "No. The heat conduits are blown. Both fore and aft. The backup is blown as well."
It took Captain Marx half an hour to come up with a plan and one that if it didn't work would simply be the end of Sigrún. "Crew of Sigrún. Listen up. We are going to abandon the bridge in a few minutes and head to the cargo hold. Before we leave I want everyone to go to the pursers one by one and refill their 02 bottles and take every spare they can find and fill it also. Tony as we leave grab all the emergency food packs you can find in the mess and bring those along. Brandy grab some of those thermal blankets from stores. We are going to set up camp in the cargo hold."
Tony Madsen entered the bridge from the roundabout. "How do we fly the ship? And what about Lars. "
Captain Marx replied. "Flying the ship is a problem in seven days when we exit the tunnel, not now. Right now we are in the tunnel and nothing happens here. Once we exit at Cranmore we can work the challenge of flying this ship, but that's not our problem. As for Lars the doc box is self contained and with no one to attend to him the system will keep him sedated and warm." Captain Marx paused a moment. "All right everyone let's head to the cargo bay one by one."
Moments later the bridge was abandoned. Captain Marx was the last one standing on the bridge. He looked about at the ship he had come to love and realized that she would never be a functioning ship again. One glance at the maintenance board told him all he needed to know. It was not the individual items that were flashing red, but the sheer volume of red lights that told him everything he needed to know. The bodies of Bob Menendez, Mary May, and Phillip Norlick had been placed in one of the ships crew compartments and Captain Marx entered and took a look at his three dead crew members. They looked to him like kids and they didn't belong here. He was beginning to feel guilty and responsible for their deaths. But there was no time for sentiment and he reached down and detached the energy packs and the O2 bottles from the dead crew. However he found that he could not carry the bottles and energy packs in his single working arm. He looked about for something to carry them in and then settled for simply pushing the bottles and the packs against the sticky tape that bound his arm to his body. Then he returned to the bridge, opened the floor hatch, jumped down the passage to 'B' deck, and entered the passageway leading to the cargo bay. He stopped momentarily at one of the lockers lining the passage and pulled out two rolls of sticky vac tape and again stuck the rolls to his taped arm. Then as he entered the carg
o bay he pulled the hatch closed, tightened down the dogs, and began to try to seal the hatch sills with sticky tape. Brandy Haverson appeared and took the tape and completed the seal. The pain in Captain Marx's arm was excruciating, but he was the captain and he pushed on.
He turned to face his crew. All the energy pack telltales were now blinking yellow. The three packs in his hand were full green. "Ok crew of Sigrún, we are going to blow open the hatch to the engine room. If it is pressurized we will have partial pressure here in the cargo hold. In addition we may have some heat as well. We may take turns in the engine room if needed to stay warm, but I don't want anyone remaining there for more than an hour or two for each eight hour shift. Our engines are still running hot and I don't want all of you to survive this battle only to expire from radiation sickness."
Marx was unsure if he could actually blow the hatch to the engine room and if he could he had no idea if the automated systems might shut down either the air recirculators or even the engines themselves. But it was their only chance and he could see on the faces of his crew that dread had been replaced by faith in their captain. Now all OM Marx needed was faith in himself.
The heavy duty tools suitable for human use were stored in compartments in the cargo hold and Marx stepped to the one he knew contained the plasma welders and cutters. Turning the d-latches with his good hand he opened the locker and found two plasma welders and four plasma cutters. The energy telltales were green. At least this part seems to be working Marx thought.
"Excuse me sir," said Tony Haverson. "My dad was a fabricator and I think I know how to use a plasma cutter."
Marx stepped aside as Tony pulled out the bulky cutter. The cutter was the size of a mans leg and at one end were two prongs across which an intense electric arch would flow and cut through almost anything. At the other end was an obvious energy pack, but unlike the energy packs on the ship suits it supplied very high voltages at very high output rates. The energy pack itself was about the size of a four liter paint can from a Habitat hardware store. Marx took a quick look back into the locker and saw eight additional plasma cutter energy packs as well as a charger station. The telltale on the charger station was green, but he knew that the output of the station would simply blow up their ship suit energy packs if they even could make a connection. The voltages were simply different.
