Jack took a shaky step toward the Captain. “Now listen here Captain. Your ship and crew were never in any danger. We were merrily running an obstacle course like I have run a hundred times before. So you will calm your ass down and do it now before you start affecting your crew’s moral and performance.” Jack starred down the Captain still shaking in his seat with rage. Then again fighting the fatigue. “Again thank you for the fine performance of your ship and crew.” Taking a breath as he started to leave but stopped as he held onto the nearest console. “But you are right Captain. It would have been impossible on any other ship. That is why I picked your ship Captain instead of one of the other 5 attached to the Red Pepper at the time. I knew they and you could give me the performance and professionalism I needed to pull it off or I would never have attempted it. I will see they get a unit citation for this little trip. Good day Captain.” Jack turned and left the bridge on wobbly legs as everyone tried to look busy but their faces beamed.
Suddenly Jack was wondering where the hell he had come up with getting them a unit citation and why. He could not believe he had tried to throw the Captain a bone to pacify him but the crew had performed flawlessly going way above the norm and deserved some recognition. But a unit citation? ‘Talking about stupid.’ Unit citations were only given for things like battles and unusual accomplishments by ships and fleets. But evidentially Captain Burk thought it was death defying but to Jack it was no big thing. Then on his way off the ship at the cargo ramp tube attached to the DD’s stern cargo hatch between the boat hatches, he caught up to the Doctors and medics getting off, Jack shook his head.
A Doctor turned to Jack. “I heard you are giving the ship a unit situation. They deserve it Admiral even if half my medical staff were not able to keep their meals down.” Then turned around and headed out the tube.
“Shit!” Jack said to himself. He had heard the phrase about Unit Citations in some stupid movie or a damn book but he had now idea of how to go about doing it or even if he had the power.
At the inner lock hatch into the Black Dwarf, after Jack saluted the flag and lock entry officer as he listened to the stupid “Admiral Turner boarding.” Along with the pipe tone finally cutting off as his foot hit the ship’s deck, another of the Doctors slapped Jack on the back with a big smile. “You got us here in record time Admiral. I hear you even did the piloting. It is all over the ship. You have saved a lot of lives. We were expecting it to take days longer. Thank you Admiral.” Then the doctor stepped on the sled with the rest of the medical staff and were rushed off across the hanger following the first two tank pods toward the Central core across the wide open hanger.
Looking around him at the half mile long walk to the hanger’s Operations Center at the Core, Jack’s exhaustion started taking over making it harder to place each foot in front of the other, which he couldn’t understand since he had lost track of time as he was piloting. He had taken several breaks with short naps as they flew along already well surveyed rivers and gorges the other pilots could handle. Jack shook his head looking at his watch. 12 or 15 hours wasn’t that long. ‘NO.’ His befuddled brain said. ‘How about 40 some hours total since he had boarded 1701 on the Red Pepper. No, that wasn’t right either.’ “Damn. I am getting out of shape.” Staying awake for several days at a time in bootship was common and no big deal after about the 10th or 20th time. Jack continued walking toward Operations in the core, patting one of the pieces of equipment coming out the lock behind him as it passed him. “You just help save a lot of lives here. OK?” Jack glanced at the other crews around most of the other DD and transport locks around the hanger and then the God fighters and bombers mixed in with the Republic fighters and bombers with the maintenance crews around them that were lot closer to the Operations Center. Feeling more exhausted with every step. Jack watched several fighters come out of one of the locks to his surprise until he remembered the lock that took the DD’s long mass/cargo tanks extending out long enough to get them in now making sense.
A Spider Scout Bomber came out of a lock and then raced across the hanger to make a circle around Jack as he slowly trudged along with his feet growing heavier by the step. Jack finally recognize the Lieutenant before it went over to land in front of the Operations compartment. Jack suddenly wasn’t as tired as he smiled at the pilot that dropped down from the bottom of the bomber a couple hundred yards away.
A cart loaded with missiles slowed up as it went by as the driver stared at Jack for a few seconds before he stopped the sled all together and started talking into his headset. The sled started following slowly behind after Jack passed it again, making Jack feel very uncomfortable. Slowly Jack became aware of most of the work around the hanger coming to a stop as people started headed his way. A cart packed with crewmen came racing across the hanger as more carts suddenly started speeding in his direction. One cart almost running down the Lieutenant as she stepped out of its way. Some with crewmen draped across ordinance or equipment or supplies trying to hold on. More and more seemed to be joining the masses and started jogging in his direction from the farthest side of the hanger.
Realizing that they all looked as pale as ghosts and as thin as the R-bots Jack stopped in amazement that they could even walk as he looked around the hanger. Not understanding why they were coming toward him, Jack started turning around to see the crewmen from all around the hanger headed his direction until the numbers of crewmen stopping a couple feet away started blocking his view as more arrived until there simply was no room left to see beyond the mass of skeletons and then someone stepped forward and reached out to touch him. Not saying anything but simply touching him for a few seconds before someone else joined her followed by more and more.
The crowd continued to grow and grow as more held their hands out trying to touch him without saying anything then letting someone else reach through to take their place. All Jack could do was stare baffled in shock. A woman suddenly grabbed his arm and pulled herself closer to take his face between her hands as she smiled from ear to ear and said. “You saved us.” Then she grabbed her chest with one hand while grabbing onto his arm with the other. Closing her mouth with a little belch escaping her closed lips she collapsed toward the deck and her gaze locked onto him with a smile. Her locked hand trying to drag him down with her but she was so light she just hung there for a half second as Jack grabbed and lifted her up in his arms. His eyes not normally able to see much in bright light suddenly saw her bright heart and the surrounding blood vessels inside the almost none existent chest falling apart as he watched. The tissue disintegrating along with the bigger blood vessels throughout her body.
Her nerve system and mind continued as if nothing was amiss. Not even pain for about a minute as she stared at him and her mind said, ‘Thank you Admiral for rescuing us.’ Again and again. Gushing with love before fading away peacefully. Holding her in his arms as her body quickly cooled he knew he had been too late. He had not been fast enough to save her. That even if she had been in sickbay on an operating table she would not have survived. The tissues of her heart and blood vessels had simple grown to week to even hold together any longer under the pressure of her beating heart though he could see nothing else wrong with her. Dead and growing cold in his arms he just stood there. But still he could not force himself to put her down as she kept smiling at him with her face and eyes that did not seem so vacant even though he knew they were.
Chapter 23; Long way to go and little time.
Admiral Spencer sat at his desk watching Admiral Turner get mobbed and then suddenly pick up a body in his arms and stand there. For a second he wondered why the Turner was just standing there instead of trying to get the crewmen to help and then the hundreds of autopsy reports flashed across his mind and he knew nothing could have been done for the crewmen. It was a myth that if they got to help in time they would be ok. A lie to help the crew cope with the possibility of sudden death. That somehow if it happened to them they would get help in time. It had even helped him cope
until he had read enough reports and talked to the Doctors that had finally realize that it was a lie. Which was why he had classified all the autopsy reports as top secret and even stopped performing autopsies. The crew needed the hope not knowing provided. Evidentially Turner knew. Though how since his Doctors hadn’t known until hundreds of crewmen had already died.
The Admiral’s Comm beeped with a name popping up on the screen. Taping the name. “Yes Doctor. Is this for real. Did Turner bring us something that will save my crews?”
“The People that came with the supplements think it will. Though they have not tested it.”
“What do you mean they have not tested it?”
“Admiral Turner’s Ex-slaves developed it at the Admiral’s request in only a few hours and they simply have not had the time to run any tests but they are sure it will work.”
The Admiral wanted to curse but held his lips. “How does it need to be administered?”
“It is a simple disk that is dropped into hot water to dissolve as a tea and taken with the pill three times a day with the 4th pill not taken after a few days. We can start fleet wide at the next meal. Three hours until the next pill issue should be plenty of time to distribute it to the fleet.”
“I don’t want to wait that long. Can the tea be given now and the pill on time or do they have to be taken together?”
Another person bent down next to the Doctor’s sitting at the console. An alien race that the Admiral had never seen before. “Yes Admiral. In fact the sooner we get the tea into the patients the better. But it has to be strictly regulated. Too much tea or going what you humans call cold turkey and taking no pills even with the tea will kill most patients.”
“Very well Doctor but you said it has not been tested. Why hasn’t it been tested?”
“Admiral. I am sorry for the wrong impression but this tea is not a pharmaceutical, not a drug but simply concentrated food broken down to allow the human body to easily absorb it as the body learns again how to process solid food. There is nothing in it that can hurt or is dangerous to humans.”
“So humans eat this all the time?”
“Well. No.” The alien Doctor bent down to talk to the screen. “What you call Ex-slaves eat it all the time but we only recently determined that it should be safe for humans to eat and not poisonous. As it turns out I am sorry to say that after months of work, it is one of the few foods we produce that humans should be able to thrive upon but no, we have yet to feed it or any of the others to any human. We were just planning to start trials on a test group for this food and all the possible others, nutritional value but we have full confidence it will not be harmful in anyway important at this time for the short term and will save lives.”
The Admiral buried his face in his hands. “How many humans do you need for a trial and can you tell me if it will do us any good or be poisonous to humans in only three hours.”
The alien stepped back as the camera zoomed out into a fish eye showing most of the compartment and started talking to others in a strange language for a good half minute then turned back to the Admiral. “Yes, in three hours by examining the tissues of 100 patients we can definitely determine if the food will do as we have said but we must start soon to make your deadline.”
“Funny you should use the expression, deadline. Where do you want the subjects?”
“Here in this medical complex would be best Admiral.”
“Fine I will have a hundred subjects up there in 20 minutes from the brig… No, you can go to the brig easier than they can be brought to you and it will keep them and you secure. Out.”
“One moment Admiral Please.”
The Admiral stopped with his finger over the cut off icon. “Yes Doctor.”
“We will have to do biopsies of the subject’s inner tissues from the heart and most organs including the brain of many of the specimens. Several of the subjects will not survive Admiral. If we had some kind of livestock or none sapient animals comparable to humans we would not need the biopsies from the human subjects for the initial tests.”
“These are combat ships we do not carry lab animals. Will taking a day or two change the need?”
“No. Even if the patients get better as expected, there may still be long term side effects only biopsies will see and confirm even if a long term study of months is performed. Without such a study there could be horrible long term damage leaving a small percentage of doubt without the biopsies. Even for short term use of only a few weeks until a normal human food source is found could have un-anticipated side effects though probably not lethal. Though what happens if such a reliable source is not found is not known at this time. I strongly suggest that you allow us the use of the subjects beyond the few hours for a long term study that will benefit all humans and ex-slaves alike. Allowing humans to use versions of most of our advanced drugs, pharmaceuticals and other healing devices and procedures we dare not administer at this time.”
“You can do that with only a hundred subjects?”
“While we realize that there is no substitutes for core species testing of drugs and hard medicines, we value life above all else since the Gods take it away so easily including test animals and have learned to use a minimum of subjects to their greatest potential. Yes we can clear the vast majority of our alien medical drugs and advances for humans with only 100 subjects including foods that we would not otherwise even consider. The reason it has taken months to even find this one food while we have watched the humans start to starve to death in front of us. Reluctant to even ask of such test subjects unless it became critical. Your crews have become critical though we feel this one food is of little risk we cannot be 100% certain but with half your crew facing certain death. We were willing to take that risk with the knowledge that we would be able to autopsy those that died before the supplements have had time work or do any permanent damage.”
“What do you mean time to work?”
“Some of your crew will die no matter what we do the first week because they are already dead but simply do not know it yet. The Supplement will not change that for possibly half of those that would have died anyway over the first week. It will help no one that is about to die in the first 6 hours after the first dose while as much as 20% will be strong enough to survive the next 6 hours that would have died without the supplements. With a higher percentage saved geometrically as your crews bodies recover and grow stronger with each additional does. There should be no deaths toward the end of the first week depending on human physiology. But then we do not know that much yet about humans to even be certain of that time line. Even that is a guess unless we do this 100 subject study first. Even 3 hours will allow us to be more accurate in all our projections with a 100% accuracy for short term effects. Though by then we will already know how many died the first few hours of treatment out long term predictions will be much more accurate.” The Ex-slave Doctor took a deep breath. “If what I understand as the brig is where you house criminals is correct, then I strongly suggest that you allow us to continue to use the hundred for the long term study of the effects of all our foods and medicines that will benefit all humans for thousands of years and save millions of lives even in the first years of our unity.”
“You want me to allow you to kill 100 humans for your long term study.”
“No. Killing them or even a large portion would ruin the study making it invalid for the long term. Only a few would be sacrificed over the long term and then mostly in accidents or normal rate of God executions or if the subject bodies react in ways we have not calculated. We believe that the majority would survive and live long lives after they recovered with the rest of your crew though they would have to be maintained in a clinical setting. Most of the subjects that die will be from their weakened conditions over the first few weeks but that cannot be helped no matter what we do.”
“Don’t you need to do autopsies of healthy humans to get a base line? How can you tell what is needed without at least one?”
&
nbsp; “We have already done base line autopsies on human Captives years ago, though we are already doing just that on those that have already died as we speak and learning what you humans call volumes that will make the short term study that you requested even possible and the long term study more effective. I am sorry Admiral but there is no substitutes for live core species subjects. Even thousands of none human but compatible animals cannot provide the highest degree of certainty this single human study can provide concerning the vast amount of knowledge it will open up for us to use concerning the human body.”
The alien body was quivering the Admiral looked him over. “So please forgive my excitement at the prospect of actually doing such a study at this time. It is a once in a life time opportunity that even the Gods would not have allowed simply because they would not have cared how many humans die or survived.” The ex-slave knelt down and bowed before the Admiral. “I, your most humble servant beg hour honor to please allow us to do the study as I have outlined for the good of all. I also ask that you allow us to bring additional researchers and tools from New Home to increase the effectiveness of our research for you.”
The alien swallowed and took a deep breath as his back straightened. “I am most ready to give you my life as payment for this one holy honor for such a great advancement for all humans and ex-slaves if you are even slightly displeased with the accuracy of our results. If you require hostages to die with each human I will be honored to be amongst those you choose. Simply give us the number of volunteers you wish to execute with each human subject’s death. Though I will require more researchers to be brought in to replace those executed honorable Admiral.”
Battleship Destroyer 2 (Battleship Destoryer) Page 88
