Isaac nodded. His own insight told him that Richard was right. The image of the ship's identification being reduced to only 'titan i c.' would catch and fuel the public imagination. Like the real Titanic, it would probably become a legend that refused to ever fade away. He thought some more about Richard's idea to let every team member move independently. It was a big risk before they knew of the image he sat with his eyes transfixed upon. It was too much of a risk he knew at last. He couldn't accept the idea no matter how bad the circumstance was when they arrived. The minimum would have to remain pairs of team members though he knew he couldn't order Richard to have anyone accompany him.
Shelly glanced away from the monitor to study briefly the faces of Richard and Isaac. She was absolutely certain that her trainees weren't ready to make life and death decisions on their own. However, Richard's recent words about the Liberty becoming a legend made her realize that anything they did wouldn't be enough. She wasn't sure, but it might be better for everyone if they did attempt something radical under the circumstances. Still, she worried about whether she might be creating three more Richards with nightmares haunting them in their sleep because they couldn't save everyone. She glanced at Amanda, Irving, and Sheila momentarily. She could see it in their faces that they were scared about what they would be facing soon. They didn't have near the experience that Richard had on the Southern Pride and he was nearly a wreck after living through his ordeal. How would they fare trying to corral scared passengers possessing less sense than a green merchant crew? She didn't like the odds against them alone, let alone in pairs with someone else from the SRO. There was only one way to protect them. They could only be paired with other team members. She knew she'd have to oppose Richard no matter how much she loved him.
Suddenly, she realized she had the answer to her own problem. At last, the answer stared her in the face. She got up and walked around to stand behind him. She bent down and whispered, "Can you and I talk privately?"
He looked up at her as he replied, "Sure. You lead, I'll follow."
Shelly led him back to Isaac's quarters since it was closest. She pushed the hatch closed as soon as they were both inside. Shelly said, "I do love you. I just needed a crisis to discover that I did and that my love is strong enough for you. I want to be your wife."
Richard felt his eyes tear up and blur his vision of her. He knelt down and said, "I promised I'd ask for your hand properly if you decided that you really wanted to marry me. Now I'm asking. Will you marry me?"
"I will. With all my heart and soul, I want you, Richard, as my husband. Can we marry today?" Shelly answered.
"I guess we can. At least it'll provide everyone with one bright spot to remember."
"Fine, then let's tell everyone else and marry in about an hour. I have a feeling that we're not going to have a very long honeymoon," she said.
"I'll try to make it up to you later."
Shelly said, "I'll hold you to that promise," as she opened the hatch and walked out arm-in-arm with Richard. As they reached the table, Shelly said, "Isaac, could you turn the volume down for a moment. I have an announcement to make."
Isaac glanced up at Shelly to see her holding arms with Richard. His insight didn't fail him in the least as he took in their stance and behavior. He knew then that she was forever Richard's. He reached over to the monitor and manually lowered the volume.
"Richard asked me long ago to marry him. I wasn't sure until now. I just accepted his proposal. We'll be marrying each other in about an hour," Shelly said.
As expected, her announcement temporarily lifted the gloom from the faces of the team members as they responded to the good news with congratulations and expressions of joy for both Richard and her.
***
Richard and Shelly stood in their dress uniforms in the ready room. For once in his life, Richard wore his awards proudly on his uniform rather than letting those rest among the ghosts in his travel chest. As well, each wore some confetti strewn upon them in place of flowers by some of the crew as they approached the First Officer when the ceremony began.
The First Officer stood in front of them reading from his Bible. Despite the disaster they raced toward, he managed to smile often during the ceremony as he intoned the solemn words to bond the two people together in matrimony. Around them, the rest of the rescue team members and some of the crew stood and watched as two people they respected spoke their vows. Chief Dickson stood beside the Captain as the best man. Somehow, he came up with a ring for the occasion and held it at the ready for Richard to give to Shelly. On the ready room table behind them, a small bottle of bourbon whiskey missing only two shots stood at the ready for the toast that would be given shortly to their health and happiness.
Richard and Shelly managed to blurt out their "I do's" to each other and the universe just before the First Officer concluded the ceremony by pronouncing them husband and wife. More confetti flew through the air to land gaily upon them as they turned to face their friends.
After a quick toast that emptied the bottle, Richard and Shelly made their way from the ready room to his quarters, accepting the congratulations from more friends as they passed them in the corridor. Richard stopped at the hatch to his quarters and faced Shelly.
"Well, it's customary for the groom to carry the bride over the threshold. I guess this is the threshold," Richard said. He opened the hatch before scooping her up in his strong arms. With ease he entered his quarters carrying her before setting her down gently on her feet. He planted a kiss on her before the hatch closed fully.
***
Richard and Shelly glanced up at the closed hatch as the gentle knock came from it.
"I reckon our honeymoon is over," Richard said.
With sadness in her voice, Shelly said, "Seems so. Know what? I forgot to bring my robe. Hand me one of your towels to wrap around me. I'll see you in the shower."
"Sure you don't want my robe?" he asked.
She answered, "You use it. It's not very proper for the Captain to answer his door while naked."
Richard stood and slipped on his robe before he realized that he could cover himself with just a towel. He dropped it back off his shoulders and tossed it to Shelly before he took a towel and wrapped it around his waist. "I think I'm presentable enough this way. Here's a towel to dry on," Richard said as he tossed another to her.
He glanced back to see that she had his robe on before he opened the hatch just as the knocking repeated.
"Captain, I'm sorry to disturb you sooner than you asked. I thought you could use a little good news."
"Yes, First Officer?" Richard asked.
"The war on Earth is over. The allies won. We just received that in the midst of the transmissions concerning the Titanic," the FO said.
"It's actually the Liberty, but I understand why you called it that. No need to apologize. Anything more concerning the Liberty?" Richard replied.
"Yes, sir, some good news, some bad," the FO answered.
"Give me the bad news first," Richard said.
"Confirmed fatalities total three hundred so far. As well, the ship is still breaking apart. There haven't been anymore life pods ejected since the one we know of. That's about the extent of the bad news. There's not much good. So far, one life pod has been picked up by a freighter with two people alive in it. Transmissions continue to come from the, uh, Liberty. They show that people are still alive on board but we're unable to get a count from them. Apparently they don't know how many are alive, either. Oh, the Captain of the Liberty is alive. He's one of the few officers who survived. There don't appear to be hardly any crew members around. Not the kind who know how to run a ship, anyway."
"I wonder why he isn't getting anyone into the life pods?"
"Sir, he's not in any shape to command. The one time I saw him he looked like the walking dead. I guess he knows his career is shot to hell over this," the FO replied.
"I think you're right about his career. Still, he should be doing . . . um, yeah,
he must be in severe shock. I take it that they're still not receiving any transmissions," Richard replied.
"Correct, sir."
"Okay, Shelly and I are going to shower and freshen up now. If more information comes in that appears important, just send someone there to find me. I'll probably be in the combined rescue teams' ready room afterwards. When we reach the Liberty, I'll put you in charge of the SRO so that I can lend a hand with the rescue operation since I'm qualified," Richard said.
"I understand sir. Thank you for your confidence in me."
***
"Hope you both had a good honeymoon, brief as it was," Isaac said.
"What we had was heavenly, Chief," Shelly said.
"Thanks, Chief. I've thought about when we enter, we better be in armored suits. A lot of the passengers are going to be in a panic. We're less likely to be hurt by any of them if we're wearing armor," Richard said.
"I agree. We could take our flex suits with us to give to anyone cut off from their own suits," Isaac said.
"Seems reasonable. We may have to take additional air tanks along with the Air Link. It's my guess that some of the passengers suited up early and don't have anymore air for their suits. It wouldn't surprise me to discover that they've fought each other for any spare air tanks or whatever suits they could reach. We certainly don't want them trying to fight us," Richard replied.
"We've got the blueprints now. I've thought about your idea. I'm still against it," Isaac said.
"I've already been brow beaten by my wife into agreeing that my idea was a crock. We'll go inside in team pairs, though that leaves me with no partner," Richard said.
"You could act as backup for any team pair that gets in trouble. Otherwise, we won't have any," Shelly said.
"That sounds good to me. You're the one person I'd most prefer backing me up if I get into trouble," Isaac said.
"The worst trouble I foresee is someone on board having a weapon. I think all our regular technicians should be armed. I suggest laser sidearms. We don't want the noise from guns creating a panic should any of us have to use a weapon," Richard said.
"You don't want the trainees to have a weapon? Why not?" Isaac asked.
"I don't think they're ready to be faced with taking a life should it become necessary," replied Richard.
"They won't be able to back up their partners then. I don't like that idea," Shelly said.
"Shouldn't we be asked if we're willing to carry sidearms?" Ceriga asked.
Isaac glanced at Ceriga's eyes, seeing in them an image of himself years before. "She's right. We should leave this up to them."
"If I run into trouble, I'd like to know that my back is covered," Ashika said.
"Okay, okay, have it your way. Everyone will take a sidearm. I just hope we don't have to use them," Richard said.
"We all hope that, Richard," Shelly stated.
"Okay, besides laser sidearms, we're going to need Quik-Cut and Quik-Seal since the ship is still breaking apart. We'll need the Quik-Cut to free anyone who's trapped under anything and we might find a need for the Quik-Seal. Anyway, I'd rather have it on hand than not," Isaac said.
Shelly and Richard both nodded.
"Okay, entrance assignments. I'm going to send the pairs with trainees in them to the stern of the ship where the least damage took place. The rest of the pairs will make their entries at intervals along the remaining length," Isaac said.
Richard asked, "I presume that you'll be with a trainee, Chief? You'll be in charge then at the stern?"
"Uh, yes. Ceriga and I will make our entry near where the comet left contact with the hull. Shelly, you take the rear most entrance," Isaac replied.
"You don't have anyone in charge near the bow. I'll start from that end," Richard said.
"You're not going to be our backup?" Isaac asked.
"I've thought about that since you mentioned it, Chief. There's no way I can reach anyone in time to back them up if the passengers panic. We're more likely to stop or prevent a panic if we show up in as much force as possible. What they need is leadership to keep the situation under control. With you and Shelly in the stern area where many of the passengers may have fled, we'll have a reasonable chance of maintaining control. I'll provide the necessary control at the bow," replied Richard.
Shelly stated, "Isaac, he's right. He won't be able to reach any of us in time to be of much use. Besides, he can't back us all up if more than one pair gets into trouble. I think we should enter the Liberty with the understanding that we're all operating on our own."
"Okay, everyone. Much as I hate to admit it, they're right about this. We're all entering on our own. None of us will have any backup. You'll have to deal with the situations you encounter according to your own estimates and judgments of what's required. The best I can promise anyone is that if you can contact someone else by radio, we might be able to give you some suggestions or advice," Isaac said.
"What do we do with the passengers when we reach them?" Amanda asked.
"Try to lead them to the life pods first. Go for the nearest pod and get it filled before you permit it to launch. Once they're in a pod, they should be relatively safe," Richard answered.
"You're going to have problems with families that are separated. Don't accept no from them unless it means a fight. Try to avoid a fight whenever possible. Unfortunately that means we might not save everyone. Remember, it's not your fault that some people act like idiots once they panic. Just do your best and let the chips fall where they may," Isaac said.
"Space tugs are nearly there! They're reporting a visual sighting on the Liberty!" Jimmy exclaimed.
"Okay, we just received one more factor in our favor. At least there's going to be someone there to retrieve the life pods," Isaac said.
"We might be able to get some of them near enough to the entrances to use their Air Links for refilling air tanks," Richard said.
"Are we going to sneak up on the Liberty, Richard?" Isaac asked.
"It depends on the Liberty's hull condition. The views we're getting right now seem to preclude that. There's too much jagged metal sticking out blocking any chance of slipping our ship around theirs properly. As well, they still have some engines running, probably for life support. One slip and we could find ourselves getting roasted. Based on these facts, I have to state that I don't think we'll attempt to sneak up on them to connect our ship to theirs," Richard answered.
"Okay, that means space leaps. Everyone will need full jet packs as well. Unfortunately, that means we'll be moving slower once we get inside," Isaac said.
"Can't we take off the jet packs once we get inside?" Amanda asked.
"Use your own judgment on that. We've seen incidents before where there were open places inside exposed to space that we used the jet packs to cross quickly. Since you'll be near the stern, you're not likely to encounter those. You probably can remove your jet packs if you want. Those of us up front will probably keep ours on," Richard said.
"There's also the chance that you might be in a section that ruptures. The air pressure alone can toss you far from the ship. Without your jet pack, you'll be nearly helpless to return on your own. If that happens to anyone, get on your radio immediately or flash your suit lights to attract one of the space tugs so we can get you back in one piece. No matter what the circumstances, don't remove your helmet for anything!" Isaac said.
Chapter 22
Richard activated his jet pack breaking his contact with the hull. He angled himself expertly toward the bow of the Liberty. For him, it was an easy hundred meters as he approached the area where the "titan i c." was visible. His own words echoed in his mind that the disaster would soon take on a mystique of its own that would somehow live on and on far beyond his own lifetime. As he crossed the distance, he took in the panorama of freighters and space tugs surrounding the doomed ship, most of them helpless to do much more than stand by in hopes of being useful. He was glad that one ship succeeded in taking on a single life pod with two peo
ple on board. However, he didn't want to be in the shoes of either of the two survivors who were both crewmen from the Liberty. Unless evidence surfaced to exonerate them, they'd likely be charged later with desertion and dereliction of duty.
He glided to a smooth halt on the hull of the Liberty. Richard glanced around first to see that the team pairs were reaching the hull as well. So far, the rescue effort was proceeding as planned. However, he knew the rest of the mission wouldn't be nearly so kind as to fit into their plans. He raised his arm to signal that he was fine rather than tie up the radio channel with useless chatter. Richard then glanced at the opening in the hull and selected his entry location. He pointed down with one arm to indicate that he was entering.
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