Exiles
Page 24
Chapter 10 Lost in Space
The Sultan was drifting silently through space, to the casual observer she would appear to be nothing more than a derelict, obsolete warship, abandoned in deep, deserted space. Inside the ship hummed with life. As the crew members and their families, along with a handful of staff from the military hub, who’d been fortunate enough to escape Jasper’s attack, struggled to stay alive and considered their next move.
Admiral Faiz had assembled what senior staff he had left in the briefing room, to review their options, which appeared severely limited.
“Tell the Admiral what you just told me.” said his XO Viqaas to Franklin and Hobbs.
Hobbs went first. “Well the good news is our blind jump didn’t put us in the middle of something unpleasant like a sun, but we can’t stay here indefinitely. We’re operating on 50% power and only have two, maybe three, jumps left at best in the wormhole generator. Then we're sub-light till we get more fuel.”
“How so? said the Admiral.
“The ships reactors were being run down prior to decommissioning, three are off-line and the other three are going to need refuelling sooner rather than later. We don’t have enough power to run shields. I could give you ten, maybe fifteen, minutes of operational power for the ships point defence lasers, but that would cost you a jump.” sighed Hobbs.
“Good enough for me.” said the Admiral. “The shields were a retrofit anyways. This ship was built to take a beating like no other. What about you Franklin?”
Franklin looked dejected. “All the gun batteries are fully functional. Assuming we had our full complement of gunnery personnel on board to operate them, and ammo in the magazines, but they were stripped bare by the decommissioning teams the day before the attack. So the only ammo we have left on board is what everybody is carrying in their guns and on their person, plus what we manage to scavenge off the hub before we left. So we could probably sustain a fire fight in the event of being boarded for maybe twenty minutes tops.”
“Still at least the CO2 scrubbers, oxygen and water recycling tanks are running at ninety percent capacity.” added Hobbs.
“Thank the gods no one decommissioning the old girl thought to drain the water tanks.” Viqaas muttered under his breath.
“But we’re running on emergency rations food wise and low on meds.” They’ll be gone in three days, five at half rations, meds will be exhausted in six, assuming we don’t sustain any new causalities.” retorted Franklin.
“So we won’t suffocate or die of thirst, we’ll starve first and we don’t have any viable means of defence?” asked the Admiral.
“That’s about it in a nutshell.” said Viqaas nodding.
“But on the plus side we have six fighters in the launch tubes the decommissioning team over-looked. Fully loaded and ready to go, with another twelve mothballed on the hanger deck, alone with six assault shuttles.” said a young squared jawed, clean shaven pilot, with short cropped brown hair and vivid green eyes, walking into the room.
“And you would be?” asked Admiral Faiz
“Tyler, he’s the most senior pilot left on the boat.” said Viqaas before he could answer.
The Admiral nodded and ran a critical eye over Tyler before turning to Mendez and Reynolds. “You’ve both been quiet up to now got anything to add? Want to tell me how you think the crews holding up?”
They looked at each other before Reynolds's nodded and Mendez spoke. “The civilians are scared sir. They think we’re going to die out here, and the crew, well they want to know when we are going to start fighting back.”
He studied the star charts spread out in front him before responding. “Well here’s how we’re going to play it. First off Hobbs, seeing as the chief didn’t make it back on board, you’ve earned a promotion for not getting us killed executing a blind jump.” he clasped Hobbs hand and shook it. “Good work son, now go find yourself an assistant at least half as good as you are. Tyler as the most senior pilot on board I’m promoting you to Flight Commander with immediate effect. I want the six best pilots you’ve got ready to fly those birds in the tubes at a moment’s notice and pilots and support crew ready and waiting for the other birds when we get them back in the game.”
“Yes Sir.” said Tyler saluting.
The admiral saluted back and continued. “As for you Mendez and Reynolds's, most of these people wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, so I’m putting you in charge of ships security. Mendez you’ve in change of the civilians, Reynolds’s you’ll be looking after the crew.”
“Anything you‘d like me to do?” asked Viqaas.
“Plot a course for the Nova-7 free trade hub. We need to find a way to earn some money, to arm the ship, feed the crew and civilians.”
Viqaas frowned. “We’ll have to traverse Raider infested space and go dangerously close to the Anterian buffer zone.”
“Hobson’s choice, it’s the nearest neutral settlement of any significance and the only one in range.” sighed the Admiral
“Hobson's choice it is.” said Viqaas as he double checked the course co-ordinates and gave the order to execute the first of three wormhole jumps that would take them there. “Let’s hope we don’t meet any hostiles on the way.”
“If it’s the Anterian’s you may want to save the last bullet for yourself.” said the Admiral quietly checking his sidearm.