Aeolus Investigations Set 2: Too Cool To Lose: The Continuing Evolution of Lexi Stevens

by Robert E Colfax

Ron grunted. “Really, it’s up to us. What we do need you to ensure is a clear corridor from whatever our current position is all the way down. We’ll need a location to fly the hardware to. We have your people packed into our troop transports, but we’re all riding the base down. We need the tractor beams on those four ships to help hold things together until we’re. So we’re going to crash. It would be good to have rescue ships headed for our splashdown point. Ideally, we won’t need them. But we are going to have to offload your citizens somewhere safe.”

  He paused. “Admiral, you’re not going to like this, but just so we’re clear from the start, all of the warships parked on this platform belong to my team. Once we’re all down, we’ll negotiate with your governments about leasing them to your people for the defense of your planet. Any assistance rendered in getting them to dry ground will certainly be taken into account.”

  Chapter 27

  Falling With Style

  The flight deck was hurtling toward the surface harder and faster than any of them would have liked. The anti-gravity field, with two of the aft nodes collapsing the instant the hyper-bubble was dismissed, couldn’t handle the massive load Urania was supporting. Instead of falling with style, they were arrowing in. It was a pretty steep angle at that. If the ships hadn’t been bound to each other and the flight deck by tractor beams, they would have lost all of them off the trailing edge. Based on Urania’s orientation that would have been her nose as she dove into the atmosphere rear first. As the flight deck plunged, buffeted by the increasingly dense atmosphere, the rock along the leading edge burned. Viewscreens on all of the transports showed rock melting from the friction while the air around it incandesced. It was very pretty. It was very deadly.

  Lexi didn’t waste time wondering why she thought this would work. Danders was right. This plan was insane from the start. Not only were they going to lose all of the hardware they were trying to save for the Ostrieachians, although the six-hundred captives would survive, they were going to create a civilization-destroying tsunami when they plunged into the ocean. She had only eleven minutes to figure something out. “Urania, we’re going to hit too hard. See if you can come up with any ideas. I’m thinking the n-space drive.”

  “We are shooting in ass first, but inside a planetary atmosphere?” Urania remarked. “We’ll poison the immediate area around where we hit. It’s not going to do the atmosphere any good either. Besides, we’re carrying too much mass for it to have much effect. Same reason we couldn’t shove this rock into orbit.”

  “It’s either that or the hyper-generator. We’ve got to dump velocity somehow.” The hyper-generator would negate the momentum of their fall. This close to the planet, after the stresses of getting the flight deck here through hyperspace, there was a good chance it would more or less burn out the generator immediately.

  “Hyper-generator is a better option. Hold tight.” Urania broadcast to all four transports, “Brace. Massive turbulence.” Six seconds later the entire platform jolted as the hyper-bubble momentarily formed.

  “What was that?” Ron asked. “What did we hit?”

  “That was the hyper-generator, hon,” Urania answered. “Lexi, that helped. We can do that three more times, maybe four, before I need a new hyper-generator. You’re faster with the math than I am, tell me what to do. Ron, Geena, Danders, we’re coming down too fast. We’re doing damage control. We need to shed velocity. I’ll keep you looped in on the transports’ comms.”

  Lexi was thinking furiously. She had the results of the kick from the hyper-generator coming onto her transport’s readouts in real-time. Urania was scrolling more accurate measurements from her sensor array up the side of Lexi’s contact lens. As soon as Urania disengaged the generator, the slab began accelerating toward the surface again. In this case, gravity wasn’t their friend. The slab was still angling in, possibly at a steeper angle than before. At least it wasn’t tumbling. “On my mark in 79 seconds. Kick us again.” She watched her read-outs as they fell the allocated time, knowing Urania was counting down as well as waiting for her command. “Mark.”

  Crazy. Maybe we won’t flood out everybody. Ostrieachia might survive my effort to save her people after all. When they used the hyper-generator escaping the pirate’s base, they had zero velocity relative to the moon. That was far less taxing on the overstressed hardware than using it to brake their fall. She gave it another two minutes and said, “Again, in sixty-four seconds.” Just over a minute later, she said, “Mark.”

  Recomputing the effects of the hyper-bubble, Lexi said, “It’s not going to be enough, Urania. We’re still going to splat when we hit. Follow the next one with an eight-second burn on the n-space drive at ninety-one percent power. One-hundred-twelve seconds. I don’t expect the drive to slow us much but it should alter the angle of our approach slightly. How’s the anti-grav holding?”

  Speaking English with a decidedly Scottish brogue, Urania stated. “I’m giv’n’ it all she’s got, Cap’n. It’s holdin’.” Shaking her head, Lexi spared a glance at the monitor graphically portraying the status of her flight deck. It was in so many pieces now she was surprised Urania was able to hold them all in place. As she watched, a chunk the size of a small car separated from the forward edge and began its own independent journey, flaming down to the ocean. In her normal voice, Urania added, “I think the crystals in the two inverse-gravity nodes we lost must have fractured. You know, it might be nice to get me some self-repair remotes for those times when I’m the only one on board.”

  At least she didn’t call them dilithium crystals. “Mark.” The platform again jolted, shedding the momentum it had picked up since the prior kick.

  Their efforts were working. In no way could their approach be described as falling with style, but the platform was definitely slowing. Lexi had three minutes left before splat-down. “Urania, I need quick three-second pulses on the ion drive, eighty-percent power, five of them twenty seconds apart. On my mark.” She had time to take a breath, and then said, “Mark.”

  That wasn’t as effective as she expected, although it did slow them enough that they still had two minutes left. “Two minutes to splashdown. We’re going to need another pulse from the hyper-generator. I’ll give you a countdown from five. After one comes mark. Pulse it then. After that, we’re going to get wet people. Pipe me through to Orgiazz.”

  “You’re on, Lexi.”

  “Admiral, we’re going to kick up a significantly larger wave when we hit than we previously predicted. Expect coastal flooding. Out.” Damn. I should have told him that ten minutes ago.

  Lexi reran her calculations and got the same result. Urania had plenty of time to catch up and hadn’t offered any objections. And just when did I become faster at this than she is? We’re going to need to talk about that comment. “Ready. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Mark.”

  The hyper-generator kicked in, killing the slab’s remaining velocity, the flight deck dropped the last four feet supported only by what was left of the inverse-gravity nodes, slipping under the surface of the ocean. Displaced water surged out all around it toward the distant coastlines. They made less of a splash angling in than a straight, saucer-on drop would have caused. It didn’t reduce the quantity of water they displaced, of course.

  One of the considerations, when the flight deck was carved from the base, was how much water it would displace when they came down. The upward force exerted by the displaced water was significant. It still didn’t float to the surface but neither did it drop like a rock would have. The very salty Ostrieachian ocean water helped. Urania forced the platform back to the surface on just the inverse-gravity generator leaving the deck itself awash in only a few inches of water. As she stabilized the platform, Urania griped, “You know, guys, recently I’ve been a submarine, starting with Grammin and now this, almost as much as I’ve been a starship. Swimming is not a sport I ever expected to take up.”

  Ron chuckled over the com. “I think what you’re doing now is called ‘treading wat
er.’ What’s the damage, Urania?”

  “Everything still works. It wouldn’t hurt to spend some time in a service bay when we have a chance. I believe we should rebuild the hyper-generator from scratch before we try to use it again. I can’t believe it’s not in flames already. How did our passengers do?”

  “They’re shaken, but not stirred,” Geena said. “I’m on the comm with the Admiral now. He’s sending us coordinates of where they want us to take our charges.”

  “Some of mine were crying and screaming on the way down,” Danders remarked. “I’ve let them unstrap for a few minutes. They’re checking on the ones still moaning. I imagine we have some sprains back there. One little girl back there is literally screaming her head off. I’m not too concerned about that since she’s screaming, ‘Do it again.’ I think you have a future fighter jockey, Lexi.” He paused. “On the other hand, I smell both urine and vomit. I’m pretty sure it’s not mine.”

  “We all hope you’re right,” Geena remarked dryly.

  Chapter 28

  After the Fall

  With Urania holding the flight deck stable, the rest of the team began the process of rescuing the hardware from being lost on the bottom of the ocean. As soon as the four transports lifted, Urania used the tractors on the other ships to clump them more toward the center, filling the gap left by the transports. Pieces of the shattered flight deck were steadily crummbling into the ocean with the removal of the supporting tractor beams. Once they landed the transports, Ron and Danders expected to be flown back out by a jet utilizing VTOL technology. They would fly the remaining ships starting from the periphery of the deck. It was going to take many trips. The Ostrieachians’ vertical takeoff and landing jets were going to get a workout.

  The four pilots lifted each of the transports under its own power. Following an escort of jet fighters, they proceeded to an isolated military base. The flight took fifty minutes. The plan was to quarantine the rescued Ostrieachians in barracks. Until they could be sorted out, they would be kept under guard. By the time the transports landed, the Ostrieachian military had a chain-link fence set up around the interim living quarters. Soldiers patrolled the perimeter. The commissary set up tables with several varieties of wraps, fresh fruit, and water bottles. While she didn’t like the fact that the place looked like an internment camp, Lexi knew she needed to interview each of the people her team rescued to determine if any were in league with the pirates. They all suspected at least a few would have to be. Oddly, for now, at least, the only one Lexi could trust was Danders Y’Trothe, the man she knew worked for Unity.

  No was allowed to go home yet. No one was even allowed to call home yet. The base and everyone on it was under a complete communications blackout. The Ostrieachian Navy, under Admiral Orgiazz’s direction, proved acceptably efficient in getting the refugees organized. Following a brief discussion with Orgiazz, Lexi was handed a bullhorn. “Could I have your attention, please? You may recognize my voice. I’m Lexi Stevens. This facility is probably not what you expected when I told you we were taking you home, but you are safe and we are on Ostrieachia.”

  She paused. Despite everything, she felt a sense of relief underlaying the understandable confusion and anger coming from these people. “Part of the problem,” she continued, “the reason you’re being held here, is that the authorities didn’t know you were coming. We had no way to notify them ahead of time. My ship and crew were on our way here from Ackalon when we diverted to the Unity base. This wasn’t a planned operation. Ostrieachia didn’t even know any of you were still alive; that you were being forced to serve Unity. Admiral Orgiazz, who is in charge of this base, assures me that the barracks are relatively comfortable and that the food is pretty good. You’ll all be here for a few days while we sort you out. You’re from many different nations and we want to get you all home. We’re asking for your patience and your cooperation. Admiral?”

  She handed the bullhorn back to Orgiazz. “Welcome home, citizens. My name is Admiral Orgiazz. I am the ranking officer of a multi-national military organization supporting the One World Council. For the rest of the day, please take it easy. I understand the trip here was arduous. I’m afraid we’re going to have to torture you with paperwork starting tomorrow. We have reading material in several languages in each of the barracks and sports equipment in the center shed. Please don’t try to leave the compound. We will keep the time we hold you to a minimum. I promise you that.”

  He paused, growling slightly. “We will have counselors available in building “K” to talk with you about, I suppose, anything you want to talk about. We also intend to do whatever we can to convince the governments of your respective nations to support you as you transition back into normal life. Some of you may need lawyers. We’ll see that you have them. In other words, we wish you the best and will do what we can for you. You have my sincerest apologies that for the time being, you are basically prisoners here.”

  Lexi spoke softly, asking for the bullhorn. Once she had it, she said, “Over the last year my team has rescued two other groups of people held as slaves by branches of Unity in other systems. I know what you’re going through. The best thing you can do for now is to find your friends, find your family. Talk to the counselors. We brought back a number of children. Hopefully, their parents are here. If not, I need you to take care of them for now. The plan is to get you to more comfortable quarters as soon as we can.”

  She paused as there was a brief round of cheers. “I met a woman while we were boarding the transports. I would like Sedima Shi to meet us at the compound gate. Thank you all for your cooperation and understanding. We’re here to help.”

  ***

  Admiral Orgiazz himself was relatively tall for an Ostrieachian, tall and dignified. He accompanied Lexi, Geena, Sedima, and Kalia to the OWC while Ron continued coordinating the recovery operation with Orgiazz’s second in command.

  The Ostrieachians didn’t have tractor beams. They knew of them, of course, but it was a technology requiring science they didn’t yet possess and so far, at least, hadn’t been able to steal. They were working on that. In order to get the team’s captured collection of hardware somewhere safe, Ron and Danders had to use one of the Raiders to sky-lift the other Raiders to the base one at a time.

  The fighters were powered up one by one and the two flew them to the base, only to be shuttled back by one of the Ostrieachian’s VTOL craft to the flight deck for two more. The larger warships, like the fighters, they flew to the base, with both of them at the controls.

  The fuel depot posed a problem. It couldn’t be lifted, attached as it was to the granite substrate. They were forced to wait for a barge with an industrial-grade derrick to arrive. Once the crane had the structure, Urania would carve down the granite to which it was it was attached to be as small as possible and help the crane lift it from the water. No one needed the thing, but it came with the flight deck. They didn’t want to drop it into the ocean.

  Thirty hours passed before Urania was finally able to set down at the base near to the other ships. Both Ron and Danders had been awake the entire time. They fell asleep as soon as they got to their rooms. Danders, feeling very uncertain about his future, was pleasantly surprised to find Sedima waiting for him in the room he was assigned. He figured that must be a good sign. Ron was not at all surprised that Lexi was off, still interviewing the people they rescued. He had been in comm contact with her off and on the entire time. She had been awake as long as he had.

  When he woke up, Ron had the relatively unusual experience of finding Lexi still asleep in the bed next to him. He remembered rousing up in the middle of the night as she snuggled in next to him. They almost always went to bed at the same time, but she never, in his experience, slept longer than four hours and was always up for several hours before he rose. He smiled. Sometimes she came back before he got up and spent a couple of hours with him before they both got out of bed.

  He lay next to her for the next twenty minutes, listening to her
breathe. Then he watched her face break into a large smile as she said, “I know you’re awake, lover.” She rolled toward him and spent a few minutes kissing before she pushed back, saying, “It’s going to be a busy day. We have a lot to do, starting with a late breakfast meeting with a few of the Ostrieachians.” She paused. “It will be interesting to see how that goes. I’m afraid I threatened them at the Council.”

  “Really?” Ron asked. “What did you say to them?”

  Lexi switched to Lidun, the Grammin language. She expected the room was probably bugged. Those on her team were the only people in the Accord who had met the Grammin and learned their language. “I gave them a choice. They could either accept help from Ackalon and get this place cleaned up or I would get an Ackalonian fleet in-system to retrieve our property and to knock them back to Level-Two. They believed me. For one thing, they’re kind of impressed with what we’ve done so far. Kalia, for some reason, thinks I have Jis in my pocket. I’m not sure Jis would violate the Accord protocols and go for that, but the Council wasn’t either. Besides, Kalia has them convinced that Urania can do the dirty all by herself. I realized she’s right about that, lover. Scary, isn’t it? Our single scout ship can take out a Level-Three Accord world. This one, at least.”