by Lewis Dually
“Hull breach in the forward torpedo room Sir.” Barnes shouted. “I have no contact with the crew in there.”
“Send a damage response crew down.” I ordered.
There were four crewmen in that compartment. If they are following standard battle protocols they will be sealed in their pressure suits and might be alright if the shell didn’t come all the way through.
Gale called out. “Sir I’ve lost sensors. I don’t know where the last ship went.”
We were still backed up against the downed Krueg ship so I said. “Chaffey, take us down and under this thing and find me that third ship. Gale, where did the second one go?”
“It’s spiraling out of control and heading towards Neptune. They have about four minutes to pull out before they hit the atmosphere. I wouldn’t want to be on that ship right now, Sir.”
She could say that again. Neptune’s atmosphere was the thickest in the solar system. No amount of heat shielding was going to save them from an uncontrolled spinning entry into that. If they were lucky they would bounce off Neptune’s atmosphere but spinning the way they were it would probably tear the ship apart.
Just then Chaffey shouted. “Found her Sir. She’s full stop about two miles out.”
I looked at the view monitor. The third ship was parked just off our port side. She was just setting there waiting for us to poke our head out and that’s exactly what we had done. I was about to order the gunners to fire again but it was too late. The lights on the Krueg ship dimmed suddenly as if they had experienced a massive power drain. Then our own lights dimmed followed by a burst of static that seemed to radiate through the whole ship. Static electricity surged through my body and my hair stood on end. Then our lights died and the bridge consoles lit up with the same pyrotechnic display we experienced after the Wade’s EMP hit us. Our gravity dropped out and we were dead in the water. They had hit us with an EMP!”
“Switch out your coms badges” I ordered as I took my own out of its case and turned it on. Looking around the bridge I could see that everyone except me were belted in their seats. I on the other hand was floating out of mine. The only light was coming through the forward view port and it wasn’t much so I kicked myself into a spin and then used my inertia to float over to the rear bulk head. Turning on my gravity boots I worked my way down the wall and planted my feet on the deck. Then I walked around the bridge breaking the chemlight tubes and bathing the bridge in a green iridescent glow.
The coms came to life and reports started coming in from all stations.
I tapped my coms badge and announced. “All hands prepare to be boarded by a hostile force. Engineering get me some power. Chief of the Boat, do you copy?”
“Yes Sir.” Came a response. “I’m at the forward torpedo room hatch. All hands are alive in there. There’s a hull breach just left of the number two torpedo tube. It’s about four inched long and an inch wide. They’re all suited up and trying to seal the breach.”
“Ok.” I said. “Leave them to it and get down to engineering and assist Owens. We have maybe five hours before Neptune pulls us in. We need those engines.”
Chaffey, Barnes, Warren and Walters were pulling the helm console apart to replace the control panels. Antwon was trying to help them and Joydeus was looking out of the view port.
“What’s that?” He asked.
I turned off my mag boots and kicked over to look out the port. There, not more than four hundred yards away was a rock. A rock that was sneaking up behind the Krueg ship. Not fast, but deliberately.
“That’s the Calvary.” I replied. “Commander Sprite and his trusty space turd.”
In all the excitement I had forgotten about Sprite and Chief Hill. They must have had one heck of a view setting out there watching the battle in 3D. The turd had reached a point about three hundred yards off the port side of the Krueg Destroyer and we watched as it turned around so that the rear cargo hatch faced the side of the enemy ship. The Krueg hadn’t noticed the turd and obviously it wasn’t registering on their sensors. The rear cargo hatch opened slowly and I could just make out Sprite and Hill positioning the single torpedo they carried. For what seemed an eternity I watched as they just sat there. Finally I saw what they were waiting for. A shuttle bay door slid open on the side of the Krueg Destroyer directly in front of Sprite and Hill. The two of them pushed the torpedo towards the open door and then retreated into the shuttle. As the shuttle door closed the torpedo came to life and shot strait into the open shuttle bay. The Krueg defense system didn’t have time to react to such a close threat. The open bay erupted like a volcano and the force of the ejection hit the shuttle and sent it tumbling off into space. Cramming my face against the view port I tried to get a trajectory fix on the shuttle before it disappeared from sight. Then I looked back at the doomed ship just in time to see its bottom blow out and her upper deck buckle before the whole ship broke in half. The rear section of the ship tumbled back toward Neptune. The front section tumbled forward toward the first ship, and us!
I slapped my coms badge and yelled. “Brace for impact, now! Everybody suit up!”
Kicking back from the view port I grabbed my helmet. Slipping it over my head I latched it down and grabbed Joydeus to help him with his. Looking around the bridge I could see everyone else doing the same and Walters already had her helmet on and was latching down Antwon’s. I looked back to the view port just as the tumbling hulk of the Destroyer hit us. The impact threw me forward and I planted my helmet firmly against the viewport, and my face firmly against the helmet face shield.
CHAPTER 13: A Friendly Looking Ship.
“What the crap.” I growled. Someone was shining a light in my eye. “What is this?”
“Hold still damn it!” Hirsch growled as he stood over me with his pen light shining in my left eye.
“Where am I?” I demanded.
“You’re in sick bay. You took a hard hit on the noggin and broke your nose. Don’t worry it’s an improvement.”
Feeling a slight G-force pushing me against the wall I asked. “Are we spinning?”
“A little.” Hirsch replied. “Owens has the power on and the gravity and life support are working but we don’t have propulsion or inertia dampeners working yet.”
I sat up quickly and paid for it as my pulse played a drumbeat in my head.
“Don’t move too fast. You got a whopper of a concussion and I don’t think you’ll be up for much movement just yet.” Hirsch warned.
Walters was standing beside Hirsch and waited until he was done before giving me an update. “Sir we have hull breaches in the forward cargo and the port side shuttle bay. The reactor is online and Owens thinks he’ll have propulsion back in twenty minutes. We are drifting toward Neptune and our rate of descent is two hundred feet per minute. We have about fifty minutes before we hit atmosphere. Lieutenant Barnes broke his leg and pelvis.”
“Who has the bridge?” I asked.
“Gale and Warren. Chaffey is helping in engineering.”
I tapped my coms badge. “Gale, do you copy?”
“Yes Sir. Go ahead.”
“Gale you are hereby promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and will take over as First Officer. You have the bridge.”
Then I laid back on the bed as a sudden wave of nausea hit me. Closing my eyes to ward off the bright glare from the overhead light I started to recall the battle. Something was nagging at me. Somewhere in the depths of my concussed brain there was a synapse trying to kick a response out of my consciousness. The shuttle! Where was the shuttle?
I opened my eyes and asked Walters “Have we heard from Sprite?”
“Yes Sir. They were fine the last time we had contact. We were talking to them on their personal coms badges but they went out of range. We have a good idea of their trajectory and they have thirty six hours of air left but the shuttle’s propulsion system went offline when the explosion tore open one of its drive rails. We’ll go get them as soon as we restore our own.”
“How long have I been out?”
Walters looked at her watch. “Twenty six minutes.”
“Crap! Twenty six minutes. What about the Krueg. Any more ships show up?”
“No Sir. Not yet. We were expecting more but so far nothing.”
“Well they either don’t want to risk any more assets or they’re hiding and waiting to attack our rescue party. Have you heard anything on the coms or the subspace radio?”
“No Sir. But we don’t know if they are working.”
I tried to set back up but the nausea persuaded me to stay put. There was something about the battle. Something I saw, what was it? I grabbed Walters arm.
“Did you see what I saw?” I asked her.
Walters glanced around the room to see what I was talking about.
“No not here. During the battle. Something about the battle is nagging at me. I remember the Krueg ship just before it fired the EMP. She was dead stop and pointing directly at us. Just as she fired, her lights went dim. Before that they were firing while making high speed passes. All three of the ships did that. A sound battle tactic if your aim is good enough to hit a moving target while you’re moving too. And they were doing that alright but when they fired the EMP, they had to stop.”
Walters face lit up as she realized what I was thinking. “They can’t fire the EMP while moving!”
“Exactly! Either they can’t aim the thing independently of the ship or they can’t make enough power to fire it when the engines are running, or both. Is the first ship still in visual range?”
“Yes. We’ve been watching her for signs of life and we think they are trying to get operational again. Their rate of decent is less than ours and we’ve been slowly pulling away. The second ship tore apart when it hit Neptune’s atmosphere and the tail section of the third went in steep and burned up on entry. The nose section tumbled off into space after it hit us. It’s out of visual range now.”
“Get me to a viewport so I can look at her.” I said as I sat up slowly.
It took a few minutes for my head to quit swimming and Dr. Hirsch was pitching a fit but I left sickbay under my own power. Several of the crewmen were working on various parts of the ship and we had to dodge and weave our way around tool chests and replacement parts before finally making it to the upper deck viewing port where our Marines had set up an observation post.
“What do you see?” I asked.
“Not much.” Major Yukawa replied. “There is some activity on the aft section. We’ve seen lights through some of the view ports. I’m not sure if the crew is responsible for it or if there is a fire burning in it.”
“Mind if I take a look?”
He stepped aside and I peered through the telescope view finder. Adjusting the reticle to account for my vision, I scanned down the length of the ship. There on the top deck just forward of the conning tower was a long shiny tube maybe fifty feet in length. It was attached to the deck with what looked like porcelain or glass posts. Wrapped around the tube were hundreds of strands of cable crisscrossing in a mosaic pattern. It looked like a work of art rather than a weapon.
“That’s it!” I said. “Right dead center of the forward top deck. An EMP cannon.”
I stepped aside to let the Major take a look. He peered through the scope and said. “That May Poll looking thing attached to the deck? That’s the weapon?”
“Yes. I think it is. Do you feel like boarding the Alien ship and relieving them of that weapon?” I asked.
The Major answered with a hardy “Ooh Rah!”
“Good to know Major. As soon as we restore propulsion and recover the shuttle I’ll turn your Marines loose over there. We need that weapon along with as much intel as you can gather.”
“Sounds like fun.” Yukawa said. “There’s something else you should look at Sir.” He motioned to a telescope looking back towards Neptune off the port side. I leaned in and looked through the scope to see what appeared to be a very bright unusually large star. Just on the edge of Neptune’s horizon where the upper edge of atmosphere can be seen as its curved surface reflects light into a rainbow of color. The convex shape of the atmosphere was acting as a magnifying glass and causing the star to look much bigger and brighter than it really was.
“I straightened up from the scope and said, “The lens effect on that star, is that what you’re talking about?”
“Yes Sir only I don’t think it’s a star. It hasn’t moved for twenty minutes. With our orbital speed around the plant that star should have disappeared by now. It’s pacing us in our orbit.”
“What’s our orbital speed?” I asked Walters.
She evidently didn’t know so she tapped her coms badge and asked Gale.
“Two point nine nine miles per second Sir. That’s why we’re falling. At this altitude we need four per second to maintain orbit.” Gale explained.
“Well it’s not a star and it’s too big to be a satellite. It’s got to be another ship. They’re probably waiting to ambush our rescue party. Keep a close eye on it and scan for any others that might be hiding just on the edge like that.”
We left the observation deck and headed to engineering where we found it quiet with only one crewman manning the station. The engines were still off line and according to the engine diagnostic panel the problem was a big one so we ducked into the long narrow corridor leading to the starboard thrust rail. The thrust rails were two long tubes that ran the entire length of the ship. Each one was comprised of a three foot diameter core of Quartz crystal pressed into a tube made of Metallic Hydrogen. A hole drilled down the center of the Quartz core was filled with liquid mercury. When enough power was applied, the rail would begin to move directed pulses of gravity along its length. Entering the rail chamber I saw Engineer Owens working with fifteen crewmen trying to lift the rail back into its cradle.
“Do you need more hands down here Chief?” I asked.
“NO.” He answered sharply. “It’s too crowded. More morons would just be in the way. We about got it, won’t be much longer. The impact knocked both rails out of their cradles. If we had been under power they would have torn the ship in two. When they come out of the cradles like this they want to spin across their axis to align their opposite polls. Good thing we were dead in space when it hit.”
“Well if we hadn’t been dead in space then we wouldn’t have been hit but it’s good to know that kind of collision can knock them loose.” I said. “I’m going to the bridge. We’ll be waiting for your go-ahead on a test run.”
“Ok Skipper.” Logan said and then asked. “Who broke your nose?”
I held one hand up as a shield to hide the other hand which was pointing a finger at Walters.
Owens busted out in one of those belly laughs that are all visual but totally silent and then remarked, “Red heads Sir.”
We left the engine room and went to the bridge. I had been feeling much better until we got in the elevator. Walters punched the button for deck one and the elevator started up and I started down.
“Sir, are you awake?” Walters asked as she knelt down beside me.
“I’m fine, just dizzy from the upshot.” I assured her as I got back to my feet before the door opened. For the second time in a couple days I had taken a header in this elevator. Maybe I should start using the ladder tubes. On second thought that wouldn’t be a good idea. If I took a header in one those it was a long way to the bottom. We entered the bridge and Gale greeted us.
“Sir we are receiving a call on the subspace channel from the Shasta.”
“Finally!” I said, “Switch to a scrambled channel and put it on the viewer.” The viewer lit up and there sat Leland. “Good evening.” I said.
“Good evening yourself.” Leland replied instantly.
“Wow.” I remarked, “There’s absolutely no lag time in your reply. These radios are going to be a life saver. Speaking of life saver, I need you out here ASAP. Sprite and Hill are tumbling out of control in the turd and we have no engines to go rescue
them.”
Leland leaned into the camera and asked. “What happened? Is your nose broke?”
“Yes. We ran into the Krueg and they attacked us without any warning. The only weapons that have an effect on their armor are the tungsten steel rounds. Their armor won’t stand up to them. They have their own version of Sea Wiz that stopped our torpedoes and the APX rounds aren’t much use either. We took on one ship and disabled it before two more showed up. We took out the second and finally blew the third in half but not before they hit us with an EMP. We should have our engines on line shortly but the turd, that’s the shuttle we tested the shield on, is tumbling out of control. We’ve lost contact with them but know their trajectory. It won’t show up on your sensors so you’ll have fun finding it.”
“The shield didn’t work?”
“Oh it worked fine. The shuttle was damaged when Sprite and Hill snuck up to the Krueg Destroyer and fired an MTT into their open shuttle bay.”
Leland chuckled as he said, “Well I guess that’s one way to do it.”
“Sure enough.” I agreed. “We think we’re being watched by another ship. They’re probably laying wait to ambush our rescuers so be very careful. They have an EMP cannon affixed to the upper deck. They have to aim it with the ship and then shut down engines to fire the thing. You’ll know they’re firing when their lights go dim so don’t get caught in front of the thing when they shut down. After you recover the shuttle give us a call before you come back.”
“Got it. Stay out of the cross hairs, rescue the shuttle and call you.” Leland agreed. “I’ll let Albright know the shield and tungsten steel rounds work and update him on your status. He has ordered the entire fleet to alert status and we are currently installing subspace coms on the Constellation. As soon as she’s fitted they will come out to assist. I have one hundred tungsten steel rounds on board. Do you need any?”
