Josiah West 1: Kaleidoscope

by C. T. Christensen

  “During the descent, Ensign West opened an access panel on the center console and manually shorted a relay that connected the emergency capacitors to the GS lift system with an antique metal knife that he carried in an equipment pouch on the leg of his survival suit. He was then able to level the shuttle and reduce the impact speed in the few seconds he had left. The impact was still severe enough to tear Admiral Jacks loose from the grip of Commander Hoffman and Lieutenant May-Reynolds and throw him against the center console between the pilot’s seats causing severe life-threatening injuries. Injuries were minor among the rest of the occupants.

  “Within seconds of the shuttle coming to rest, Ensign West ordered everyone to mount their helmets saying that the shuttle was venting atmosphere. Captain Beltozi, who had been sitting in the right-hand pilot’s seat, moved to put his own helmet on Admiral Jacks. He was stopped by Ensign West who said loudly, ‘No, if we die he dies’. After everyone had secured their helmets and made a routine function check, again under the stern and demanding orders of Ensign West, we attempted to place the helmet on Admiral Jacks. At this time it was found that his impact with the console had bent the neck ring at the front of his left shoulder and caused a tear in his suit just below the neck ring; the explosion had also caused damage to the left side and back of his suit. Ensign West ordered Lieutenant Ataxis to get a suit repair kit from the rear cargo compartment. He then ordered Commander Hoffman and Lieutenant May-Reynolds to blow the stern cargo hatch after Lieutenant Ataxis retrieved the repair kit and had sealed the forward hatch. They were then to remove the large orange box that contained a survival tent, take it at least 20 meters from the shuttle, find a suitably flat surface and activate it. He then repeated his order to ‘blow’ the cargo hatch and not attempt a normal depressurization cycle because it would take too long and seconds were critical.

  “While everyone was carrying out their assignments, Ensign West checked a cabin pressure reading and then pulled two replacement oxygen bottles from a side locker and vented them into the cabin. When Lieutenant Ataxis returned with the suit repair kit, Ensign West spread sealant around the several tears in Admiral Jacks’ suit and applied patches. He then mounted the helmet as well as it would fit and had Captain Beltozi and Lieutenant Ataxis hold the helmet and lower neck ring together while he spread sealant and wrapped tape around the joint. After sealing the suit, Ensign West observed that the Admiral’s lips had a bluish color and stated that he was going cyanotic because of the dropping pressure in the cabin. He then partially vented the suit pack oxygen bottle directly into the suit, bypassing the regeneration unit. Because of the damage to the neck ring the automatic systems were not functioning and Ensign West was using the manual override.

  “Ensign West then ordered Captain Beltozi and Lieutenant Ataxis to carry the Admiral to the rear of the passenger compartment. He then opened the weapons locker, removed a Mills 3mm service sidearm and fired one binary round into the right side eyebrow port. The shuttle decompressed in seconds. He then replaced the weapon, went to the cargo hatch, and manually opened it.

  “Ensign West then instructed Captain Beltozi and Lieutenant Ataxis to get the Admiral into the survival tent and them with him. He brought a tool kit and a med kit to the tent where he ordered Lieutenant May-Reynolds to take them into the tent and ordered Commander Hoffman to retrieve extra power cells and the two large oxygen tanks from the shuttle.

  “After Captain Beltozi and Lieutenants Ataxis and May-Reynolds were in the tent and the extra tanks and power packs were hooked to the external connectors, he and Commander Hoffman returned to the shuttle to examine the damage.

  “Within a few minutes it was determined that the control system relay panel had been destroyed when the power conduit shorted. Ensign West was able to run a low-level alignment check on the drive coils and confirm that they were misaligned due to the crash. Further discussion led to the conclusion that their situation was grim. They were deep in the Melas Chasma with near vertical walls. Even though the ELT, the suit radios, and the emergency hand radios were working, it was improbable that any of the signals were being heard. While it would be possible for someone to climb to an area where a suit radio could be heard, the time required would be far more than Admiral Jacks seemed to have left.

  “At this point, Commander Hoffman states that, as he sat on a nearby rock, Ensign West stood at the open rear cargo hatch for at least five minutes just staring into the shuttle. Ensign West then turned to Commander Hoffman and ordered him to empty the remaining contents of the cargo compartment onto the ground. Ensign West then picked several items from the storage compartments and went into the passenger section. After finishing his task in the cargo compartment, Commander Hoffman joined Ensign West in the forward section.

  “The following section is the single narrative of Lieutenant Commander Hoffman and audio from his suit recorder system.”

  “I found Ensign West on the deck beside the co-pilot’s seat. He had removed panels from the right side of the center console and a deck plate just aft of the console. He had a portable logic pad set up and wired to the console and was watching it while he worked on something below the deck. He looked at me as I approached.”

  “Commander, watch the cross-connect slave icon and tell me when it activates.”

  “I was very confused as he stuck both arms into the open deck and began working on something. What he appeared to be doing was a normal maintenance procedure for checking mirrored coil response times. I then glanced at the series of icons further up the screen. The right side coil data channel was inoperative so there was no reason or even any way to check response times. At this point I saw a small flash come from the area he was working on; I realized he had just welded something in place. At the same time, the cross-connect slave icon lit.”

  “Ok, slave is active. What are you doing?”

  “He rose from the deck and checked the readings on the screen.”

  “The only thing left to do.”

  “He then disconnected the pad and replaced the deck plate and console panels, handed me the pad, turned to the main control panel and turned on the drive activity screen. Most of the indicators showed zero activity or offline, but the cross-connect icon was illuminated as was the drive-active icon. I remember that my brain froze for a moment. That was impossible; the interlocks wouldn’t allow it; you couldn’t apply power to a drive system with the cross-connect check system active. Then it hit me – he had bypassed the safety interlocks.”

  “You’re insane! You can’t do that!”

  “If I don’t explode in your face, wait one hour, then begin making your plans for walking out of here. I’m not quite sure if the capacitors have enough left to get me to escape velocity. If I don’t, I will have a short time to attract attention. I’m not one for sitting around and watching someone die if there is a chance, no matter how small that chance is. Now, get off my boat.”

  “The next thing I clearly remember was standing back near the tent with Captain Beltozi looking out through one of the side ports and talking into one of the hand radios demanding to know what West was doing. I was still holding the pad.

  “I turned back to face the shuttle just as it slid backward then sideways before it started to lift off. It got too close to an outcropping of rock and hit it hard enough to dent the bow section. It then started to rise; wobbling badly. It was around 200 meters up when something near the center of the right stub wing started arcing. The shuttle suddenly shot upward at high speed, and I lost sight of it. Forty minutes later, a Marine assault boat arrived.”

  Admiral Jacks looked up from the pad and scanned across the line of officers in front of him, “This ends the direct event narrative of Lieutenant Commander Hoffman.”

  He resumed reading, “The successful attempt by Ensign West to control a misaligned drive system without active logic control and through a back-channel maintenance circuit in order to save the lives of Admiral Arthur Jacks, Captain Carlos Beltozi, Lieutenant Comman
der John Hoffman and Lieutenants Kofi Ataxis and Simone May-Reynolds at the extreme risk of his own life stands as an act of desperation and heroism far above and beyond the call of duty. Therefore, with the thanks of the Congress of the United States, the Department of the Navy and, especially, the aforementioned personnel, Ensign Josiah West is awarded the Bronze Cluster.”

  Josiah felt his eyebrows head for his hairline; the Bronze Cluster???

  As Admiral Jacks was reading those last lines, Chief Shepard had stepped up next to the Admiral, picked up a small case from his desk, and opened it. She was still smiling.

  The case contained the 5 centimeter diameter bronze representation of the sun with nine (Pluto had been reinstated), flame-like, arms tipped with small colored gem stones approximating the basic coloring of a represented planet. The Bronze Cluster was the highest award for bravery that did not involve armed conflict. The Admiral traded Chief Shepard the pad for the medal and then set it into place above Josiah’s right breast pocket. He then took the pad back.

  “With the deepest heart-felt thanks that cannot ever be expressed in words, Ensign Josiah West is awarded the Admirals Star for service of an unusually conspicuous and, in this case, dangerous nature while serving at the pleasure of Division One Admiral Commanding, Arthur Jacks in that, at the risk of his own life, he did save the lives of those personnel listed above in this Statement of Commendation.”

  Again he traded the pad for a 4 centimeter gleaming gold star set on a round red background that represented the red background of the shoulder boards worn by the staff officers of Division One. It went next to the Bronze Cluster. Josiah was starting to feel light-headed. This day was not going anything like he had imagined.

  “In closing this ceremony I would like to note that the Congressional Medal of Distinguished Service was awarded to Captain Sebastian Allen, First Officer Tia Ward, First Engineer Edward Dees and Second Engineer Rose Allen; the crew of the Triad class tug ‘Hat Trick’; for their heroism in doing an atmospheric dive in order to get a mass-lock on the shuttle that Ensign West was in which had not achieved escape velocity and was falling back to the surface.”

  Admiral Jacks lowered the pad and declared, “These proceedings are now closed.”

  Captain Beltozi once again stepped out and commanded, “DETAIL-L-L-L...DISMISSED!”

  The immediate result was a lot of back-slapping, handshaking and words of congratulations as everyone pressed in to express their feelings. Josiah was a bit dazed and happily confused. All he could do was stand there getting his hand squeezed, back pummeled, and repeating, “thanks-thanks-thanks!” He was starting to feel idiotic when things calmed abruptly and the crowd around him parted.

  MCPO Shepard was standing there with her hands clasped together looking at him. Admiral Jacks was still standing in front of his desk behind her. It startled him when he realized she had tears in her eyes. Everyone got very quiet even though they were all smiling as she began to speak.

  “Ensign Josiah West, I have been in the Navy for 35 years. I have seen many brave and heroic men and women in those years, but I have never looked upon the likes of you. I have never met a person that actually laid their life on the line to save another, apparently without even thinking about it. I cannot imagine a mind and a heart that could do such a thing. I stand in awe of you, and maybe it is the tears in my eyes, but I see a glow around you.”

  She then moved and reached for his hands and stretched upward. She kissed him on the cheek and left it streaked with her tears. She moved back but stayed very close and whispered, “Thank you for bringing my Admiral back.”

  Josiah felt another element of confusion growing in his head. There were people that really liked their commanding officers, but this seemed a bit....

  MCPO Shepard was wiping her face with a tissue when Admiral Jacks placed his hands on her shoulders from behind, “Mister West, I would like you to meet my wife, Molly.”

  Ohhh...so that’s.... He abruptly came to life as he realized what was going on. He jumped forward, grabbed her hands again, and shook them almost uncontrollably, “I am so glad to meet you...I was a bit confused there...I must have looked like a proper idiot just standing th--”

  At this point she shook off his hands, threw her arms around his neck, and started bawling outright. He was stunned again but couldn’t think of anything better to do except put his arms around her and hold on. After a moment, Admiral Jacks stepped up and placed his hands on her shoulders again, “Come on, Molly, you’ll tarnish his medals.”

  Between the sobs, a muffled voice, “Go away Arthur. I have a tall, handsome hero and I’m going to milk it for all its worth.”

  Admiral Jacks looked over her head at Josiah with a soft look in his eyes, “You have to understand that for the last couple of months she has been something of an emotional wreck but kept it mostly bottled up. You know, the Master Chief thing.” Josiah just nodded.

  Admiral Jacks finally coaxed her away, but as she was about to turn away dabbing at her eyes she gasped and pointed at his shirt; there was a rather significant wet spot above the Admirals Star, “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  Josiah looked down then reached and pressed her hands together with his. He looked into her red, sad, and happy eyes, “It’s just the third medal of the day. I will keep this shirt forever and never clean it again.”

  Her eyes went wide and a big grin finally appeared, “Why, Josiah West, you silver-tongued devil, you must have the girls climbing all over you.”

  The sadness that had dominated suddenly evaporated as Josiah rubbed his hands together with a shifty-eyed conspiratorial air, “Well, I don’t like to brag but--”

  The laughter cut him off. Captain Beltozi came up, clapped an arm firmly around Josiah’s shoulders, and gave him a friendly shake, “There’s one thing that you have to remember about this situation. If you save the life of a four star admiral, the medal he gives you and a ten credit coin will get you a cup of coffee. However, if that admiral is the husband of the Division Administration Master Chief Petty Officer then you own the Division.”

  The laughter was cut off by Admiral Jacks waving his arms, “Wait, wait, how come nobody told me it was up to ten credits?” The question was accompanied by a stern look at his wife.

  Josiah laughed with everyone else but an odd thought hit him as he looked at the happy group around him. Catharsis, he thought, these people just went over some emotional hump.

  The Admiral came forward, took Josiah’s hand, and put his other arm around his shoulders, “West, you earned those medals and my deepest gratitude and a lot more than a ten credit cup of coffee. But first I want to formally introduce you to my staff.” With that he let go of Josiah’s hand and started waving people over, “Captain Beltozi is my Chief-of-Staff and one of our resident experts on military tactics.” Josiah shook the captain’s hand and said, “I’ve read all of your books, sir. I was especially hooked on ‘The Last Submarine War’.”

  Captain Beltozi was a good ten centimeters shorter than Josiah but was built like a Hikiball guard. He had straight, black hair and a brown skinned Mediterranean look. He smiled broadly as he crushed Josiah’s hand, “Oh, so you’re the one that bought it. Don’t worry about that ten credits, I’ll buy you your next cup of coffee and…allow me to be the first.” He then stepped back, braced to attention, and saluted.

  That familiar feeling of confusion started to creep back when Josiah remembered that the Admirals Star carried one curious little perk; the wearer rated a salute from everyone below the rank of admiral beyond normal military courtesy protocols. He immediately came to attention and returned the salute. “Thank you Captain, I have to admit that I had forgotten about that.” They shook hands again. From that point on it became SOP to salute and shake hands as the Admiral introduced everyone.

  “Commander Rebecca Scott is our legal expert: Commander Stewart Locke is in charge of material logistics. Lieutenant Commander John Hoffman you have already met; he handles maintenance and supply log
istics issues. Lieutenant Commander Sara Sun is our personnel logistics officer. Lieutenant Commander Steven Phelps is my usual pilot, when he’s available, and a drive systems expert. Lieutenant Commander Braun Marks oversees anything that has to do with weapons systems. Lieutenant Kofi Ataxis handles protocol. Lieutenant Simone May-Reynolds is our librarian and also a military historian; wait ‘til you see her and Beltozi go at it. Lieutenant Jesse Edwards is our communications systems expert and, finally, Lieutenant Cissy Janecks; she handles questions of foreign diplomacy.”

  With the introductions finished, the Admiral put his arm on Josiah’s shoulder again and steered him toward the large seating area, “There is one more thing I would like to talk to you about, have a seat here.”

  He indicated a comfortable looking straight-back chair across a low glass table from an identical chair. Everyone else picked chairs from other tables and formed a solid ring around Josiah and the Admiral. They left one opening through which Molly now walked carrying a stack of data pads and another case, a larger case, and placed them on the table. That smile had returned.

  The Admiral spread the pads across the table. He picked one of them, “For the last couple of weeks, ever since I got out of that damned hospital, we,” he indicated his entire staff, “have been examining your record.”

  Josiah saw things going downhill again. He put his left hand over his new medals, “I do get to keep the medals, don’t I?”

  Everyone grinned and Admiral Jacks got a surprised look and then grinned, “Yes, you get to keep the medals.”

  “What we have been wondering about was the rather abrupt transition. You were sixth in your class of one hundred and eighty-seven at the Academy, and then, as soon as you are assigned to the Caldwell,” he waved the pad he was holding, “you turn into a waste of skin. We would like to hear your explanation for that.”