Salvage-5 (First Contact)
Page 14
“There is no need to assist,” she said closing her eyes, she concentrated only for a moment before the clones, turned and retreated.
“What the devil?” Tuck exclaimed.
“What just happened?” Cass asked.
“I instructed the cyborgs to leave.”
“Okay, but how?”
“I was able to access a critical section of the main computer complex.”
“You tricked it?”
“Yes, but I am not sure for how long.”
“Hopefully, long enough to get out of here.”
* * *
Salvage-5
Location:
Kirkwood Gap – Asteroid 15 Eunomia
Alien Complex
Earth Date: Sept. 4th, 2064 1900hrs
Samuels climbed the ladder to the second level, “Come on you softies, only one more level to go and then we can make our way to the exit.”
“Right behind ya, Sarge,” Rhodes said. Sam followed next while Hargrove brought up the rear.
“Do you think they’ll make it, Sarge?” Hargrove asked.
“Not a chance in hell…but if anyone had any chance at all get to make it back out, it’s Colonel Tucker Petersen. Come on now, stop the chattering. We have 45 minutes to get back and prep the ship for take-off…not a minute later than 2045 hours.”
“I wasn’t kidding about getting a long way out,” Sam agreed, “We’ll need that fifteen minute flight time to get away from the blast zone.”
The team continued up the last level and then prepared to enter the corridor.
“We might just encounter more of those clone things. You can bet they know we’re making our way back to our ship,” the Sergeant nodded, as he pointed the way through.
Sam turned the knob on the toner attached as an exit point and led the team into the corridor.
“The exit is only a few corridors away, move out,” the Sarge whispered.
He led his team down the corridor, and then Sam motioned to take the next left.
“Roger that.” Samuels turned down the left corridor. Hargrove continued to bring up the rear, checking behind him as they crept their way to the next turn.
“Take another left, then the last right, the exit will be straight ahead,” Sam instructed.
But after taking the next turn, Hargrove took a stance, “Cyborg, six o’clock!”
The team turned and joined Hargrove as he open fire on at least fifty cyborgs heading toward them.
They ducked around the last turn for cover and returned fire while darting out and around, hoping to get off a lucky shot.
“Come, on!” Samuels shouted, “We’re cuttin’ it a little too close!” What’s our time?”
“Time is 2040 hours!” Hargrove shouted over the weapons blasts.
* * *
Salvage-5
Location:
Kirkwood Gap – Asteroid 15 Eunomia
Alien Complex
Earth Date: Sept. 4th, 2064 2010hrs
“Hey, guys!” Gus exclaimed, “I got my feelings back,” he said, wiggling his fingers and toes.
“Okay,” Savage said, “He’s ready to be released.”
She again set her arms on the rests and grabbed the handles of the computer interface and then closed her eyes.
The mechanism that held Gus to the table began to release one by one until all the braces had popped lose. The nozzle at the back of Gus’s head pulled away, and the cage his head was in retracted, freeing him from the confines of the table.
Gus sat up, a little woozy and shaking his head.
“You sure you’re gonna be able to walk out of here?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Come on then, let’s move out. The clock is ticking,” Tuck said, motioning to the two.
“This way,” the Lieutenant motioned.
Cass gave her a glance as she walked through the entrance to the level four corridors, ensuring her eyes were really still brown.
“Don’t worry Cass, I’m still on your side.”
“Still…that implies…”
“Enough you two, let’s get going...”
The four made their way to the access corridor that Sam had made.
* * *
Salvage-5
Location:
Kirkwood Gap – Asteroid 15 Eunomia
Alien Complex
Earth Date: Sept. 4th, 2064 2043hrs
Tucker rounded the corner and raised his hand motioning the others to halt.
“Gun fire!”
“Come on!” Tucker said, swinging his arm.
They doubled back to come to the cyborgs rear position where Cass took the floor and slid around the corner, “I don’ know, Tuck…there’s an awful lot of em,” she said through her headset.
“Savage, can you turn them off like you did before?” Tuck asked.
Melissa closed her eyes for a moment, but then opened them again, “No, Tuck. They’ve locked me out already.”
“Okay then, we’ll have to open fire.”
“You guys gonna start your assist already?” The Sergeant said though his com link.
“We thought you had things under control,” Tucker mused in return.
“Heh, yeah…I didn’t think you’d ever get back up here…come on, time’s a ’wasting.”
“Gus,” Cass instructed, “Take my last sonic grenade and lob it over there. When it goes off, they’ll stop to turn…don’t let them open fire on us!”
Gus kneeled down and unzipped her flight suit and pulled out the grenade, pulled the pin and tossed it down the corridor.
“Geez, Gus… Tuck, where’d you find this guy…at least give me a count down.”
“Okay...1…zero!”
The blast echoed in their ears stunning the cyborg. They stopped firing, and in their confusion, began being taken down by both sides firing at the cyborgs. There were still so many and the ones who remained, set up a shield perimeter in defense and opened fire in both directions causing the two teams to have to duck for cover.
Then the ground began to shake, “Commander!” Hargrove said through his headset, “Something very big is heading our way,” the vibrations seemed to continue, seemingly with every step.
“We don’t have any more time for this!” Tucker screamed
Then in everyone’s headset, Calvin’s voice was heard, “DUCK!”
Instinctively everyone hit the deck only to hear the sound of rockets firing, and then shooting down the corridor. The missiles impacted the group of cyborgs causing them to fling into hundreds of pieces.
“Calvin!” Tucker said with a smile, “Bout time you got off your fat ass and helped us.”
“Any time, Tuck,” Cal said from his MECH.
“Come on!” Samuels shouted, “Time!”
“2053!” Hargrove shouted.
“We’ve got seven minutes before this place blows! Move out!” Samuels instructed.
“No, wait!” Cal urged, “There’s a little problem.”
“Now what!” Tucker asked, rather disgusted.
“I sort of blew a hole in the dome, there’s no oxygen. Gravity, yes…but no other environmental support…that’s the main reason I came out here in this thing…the next person who stepped through that energy field, would have been sucked out into space.”
“Well…thanks for the warning, but how do you suppose we get to the ship and take-off in what…” looking at his chronometer, “Five minutes?”
Savage spoke up, “I believe I can heal the damage to the dome.”
“Okay, Lieutenant. You’re up!”
Savage ran to the entrance to the landing bay and stepped through the opening. A vacuum immediately took hold of her and tried to pull her out into space, but her new ability kept her feet firmly planted on the ground. She raised her hands to the gaping hole in the dome and shot out a wave of energy. The dome began to seal. In two minutes time, the hole was sealed and environmental control was restored.
Savage stepped back through to
give the all clear signal when another batch of cyborgs rounded the corner.
“Cal!” Sam shouted, “Your virus! Send it!”
“Oh yeah…I brought that little jewel with me.”
Cal sent the command codes to transmit the code, all the while, taking aim and launching another missile at the cyborgs.
This time, however, they raised an energy field which absorbed most of the two missile blasts. But it was enough time distraction to allow the team to make their way to the ship.
Calvin turned the MECH and began trotting back to the cargo bay and then gave the word once he was on the platform, “I’ve lowered the door!”
The team ran at full speed to the ship. Calvin clomped his MECH the quickest he could back to the ship, but it was still too slow going, even at its top speed.
“Cal, eject out of that thing, you’ll never make it!” Tucker ordered.
“You got that right, “One sec!”
He stopped the MECH and set the auto-fire command at the entrance. Then he pulled the eject code, hurling him several feet into the air.
Letting out a yell, he hit the deck, making a thud and then rolling three times. He stopped face up and unconscious.
“Tucker! Hargrove urged, “We’ve got to go: two minutes!
“I’m not leaving him behind!” Tucker shouted as he darted back toward Calvin.
He slid to his knees before Cal, and looked up at the MECH, standing ten feet from him. More cyborgs flooded the landing bay and the MECH fired its last round of missiles.
Tucker quickly looked at Cal, then lobbed him on his shoulder and ran back to the cargo bay door.
The missiles took out several cyborgs, but hundreds flooded the bay.
“They must have hatched!” Cass shouted from the cargo bay door, giving Tucker fire cover as he carried Cal.
“Hurry Tucker! We’ve got one minute!” Hargrove counted.
Then the cyborgs’ behavior changed. Instead of chasing the crew of Salvage-5, they began firing on one another.
Tucker reached the cargo deck and Cass pressed the door sealing sequence, “Cass, help me get him into this jump seat!”
The two strapped him down in record time, and then shared the next jump seat and strapped in together. The door rose and sealed with a whoosh as the air pressure difference between the two environments separated.
“Its launch time people, we’re strapped in back here!” Tucker shouted.
Sam engaged the full thrusters, while Hargrove began firing all of the ships ordinances at the dome to fracture an exit hole.
“We’re not going to make it!” Sam shouted. “The sphere’s detonated!”
Hargrove’s explosives fired, lighting up the center of the sphere with a massive flash.
“Sam,” Tucker shouted in her headset, “Bust through the dome, and engage your locking skids to the CSMO, then rotate our position 45 degrees from the blast wave: we’ll use that to shield us from the blast!”
“Well, I hope it can withstand those forces ‘cause I don’t have a better idea!”
Hargrove’s weapons fire penetrated the dome, sending debris down on top of them. The ship passed through with several hull strikes, but Sam kept on course.
The blast wave shot out with the collapse of the alien complex and traveled toward the Salvage-5, but Sam masterfully slammed into the CSMO, locking the landing skids. One of the skids collapsed under the ship, which caused them to list toward its lower left, striking the CSMO.
Sam continued to maintain control and rotated them, locked onto the CSMO, to block the blast wave as it passed by them.
The ship shook with the blast wave and bounced the crew against their cinched straps.
“The CSMO is breaking up, Tuck!”
“Ride it out for as long as you can, Sam!”
“Holding it together!”
“Just a few more seconds and the wave will pass,” Hargrove reported.
The CSMO ship could no longer support Salvage-5 as it broke apart at the forces of the blast wave.
Sam engaged her ion drive and thrusters. The crew heard the quick whine of the ship’s engines spinning up. She released the mag-locks on the skids and quickly turned the ship in the direction of the blast wave.
The shaking and shimmering finally died out as the wave passed.
“Status report!” Tuck ordered.
“We suffered structural damage to our left rear skid. But that’s all. We’re green across the board.”
“Great job everyone!” Tucker congratulated. “Savage, reestablish the wireless link to the SAT and transmit our mission logs.”
“Right away, Commander,” Savage began, “Wait…I can’t locate the SAT.”
“It’s likely it was either damaged or destroyed by the shockwave.”
“How long before you can transmit our signal?”
“There’s too much interference, I can try to transmit, but it won’t make it out. We’ll need to wait several hours before the static clears.”
“Captain, circle around to inspect 15 Eunomia.”
Sam turned the ship in a circular pattern and headed back to the asteroid, “Commander, the CSMO is completely destroyed. The mag-ring they held has been lost…the alien complex has been destroyed…the asteroid itself is now in three sections.”
“Well, if they have a trained eye on it, they’ll see that we succeeded our mission.”
“They’ll see we destroyed the complex, but unless they hear our pretty little voices, they’ll assume we’re dead,” Tuck said. “Captain, plot a course to the closest mining ops with a mag-ring.”
“Aye, sir!” Sam shouted, “With pleasure.”
Missions Objectives Completed:
CSMO RECOVERY
INVESTIGAT ALIEN CRASH SITE
AQUIRE ALIEN TECH
FIND & RECOVER SURVIVORS
DESTROY ALIEN VESSEL
New Mission Objective:
RETURN TECH TO EARTH
* * *
Chapter 14
Salvage-5
Mission:
RETURN TO EARTH WITH TECH
Location: Kirkwood Gap
Earth Date: Sept. 4th, 2064 2110hrs
“Well that was fun,” Tucker said, smiling with Cass in his lap.
“Yeah, I’ll bet it was fun…for you.”
“Ah, come on…you have to admit, you enjoyed riding with me…you know…it was a tough escape an’ all…”
“Just because we sat in the same jump seat, doesn’t mean…”
“…doesn’t mean what, Cass…what is it you’re gonna say?” Tucker asked, cupping his ear toward her.
“I saved your butt, Tucker…who gave you cover while you went on your hero mission for Gus?”
“…and you were such a great big help there too,” Tuck said, pulling the hook to unbuckle them.
Cass floated into the cargo bay, and Tuck floated over to Cal. He slapped him a couple of times on the face, “Wakey, wakey my friend.”
“Where…where am I?” Calvin asked, his eyes still blurry from coming around.
“Rhodes, Samuels…we’re all present?”
“All present and accounted for…we didn’t lose anyone and we gained one,” Samuels said, smiling at Gus.
“So the mag-ring is destroyed?” Tucker said, making his way forward to the pilot house.
“Yes, it was still stored in the CSMO in eight sections. We could have had it assembled in two days…now, we’re five days from the nearest mining operation.”
“Which is?”
“Sorry, Commander,” Sam said, “I just figured you’d already know which ones are out here.”
Tucker climbed in his right seat, next to Sam, “Well, ‘News Flash’, I don’t.”
“That would be 253 Mathilde…of course.”
“Oh, of course its 253 Mathilde…” Tuck nodded, “Now why would you assume I would know that?”
“Mathilde is a C-Type asteroid, mainly made up of carbonaceous chondrite…that’s what the mine
rs are after.”
“Native Nickel Alloy…that’s cool,” Hargrove chimed.
“Yes, and the fact that these CSMO’s can extract the frozen water from these and turn it into the air for the workers to breathe…” Sam said.
…”not to mention the hydrogen to burn as they carve up its surface, that’s utterly remarkable,” Cass added.
“Course set and engaged, Tuck.”
“How soon before we get there again?”
“Five days, six on the outside.”
“Savage, when do you think you can transmit our signal?”
“I would hope that we would pass the range of static from our blast, in about eighteen, maybe twenty hours…roughly.”
“Can you go any faster?”
“Sorry, Tuck…we just don’t have the acceleration that a mag-ring provides, it’s the best option we have.”
“Hargrove, Cal, you think we got em all?”
“We got em…don’t worry.”
“How would you know, Mr. I forgot to respect gravity after ejecting and losing our MECH.”
“Hey, that’s not fair, Tuck…the way I see it, I saved your butt.”
“He did, Tuck,” Cass smiled,” you have to admit, he did play a major role down there.”
“Let’s not forget the outstanding performance by Lieutenant Savage…who, by the way, I’m sure is bucking for promotion,” Tucker winked.
“Thank you, Tuck, er Commander.”
“No, you’re fine. Mission success, you can call me Tucker now.”
“We’ll be in radio range of the CSMO 253 Mathilde in four days. We can have them prep the jump ring for our return trip.”
“Excellent, Captain…say, you can’t buck for promotion, you just made Captain.”
“Sorry sir, just doin’ my job.”
“What job is that? Irritating me?”
“Now that’s the Tucker I remember,” Cass said, swatting at his arm.
“What? Wow…tough crowd…” Tucker said, shaking his head, “Savage, program a message to HQ that our mission was successful. Have the message tag our present location at the time it’s sent. Tell them we are heading to our final objective. Set it to auto transmit as soon as we’re clear of this field.”