by David Smith
Where Tiger was a construction of elegant curves, the Tana vessel looked as if had been hewn from rock with nothing more sophisticated than a sledge-hammer. Essentially a series of blocks welded together, a pair of thick sponsons each side of the ship held two stubby near-cylinders parallel to the sides, containing the ships warp engines.
With no power, the drive coils were dark, as were the ram-scoops at the forward end of the engines. Soon they were close enough to see dozens of tiny windows dotted around the vessels surface, almost randomly, but like the engines, they were darkened. With no internal lights or running lights, and no engines, the huge dark grey bulk would have been invisible if not for the torrent of solar radiation being blasted out by the blue-giant star.
The harsh glare cast deep shadows behind every protrusion making the surface a chequer-board of black and grey. Even under the ferocious blue-white sunlight, she looked icy-cold.
Dave saw a port on the Tana vessel, but decided against docking at it. In the full glare of the sun, the surface temperature of the vessel was well over a hundred degrees, and the air-lock behind the portal might be uninhabitable. Instead, the two shuttles looped over to the far side of the Tana battleships’ hull, and turned on their lights to illuminate the shadowed side of the vessel.
As the pool of light swept over the seemingly endless grey mass, Chief Belle spotted another docking portal.
“Another docking port ExO” she said pointing it out. She checked her console display, “Computer says it’s going to be damn cold, but it’s survivable.”
“OK, Chief, bring us around. Get ready people, anything could happen” said Dave.
Chief Belle brought them in closer, and the protrusions that cast such sharp shadows on the light side of the ship became towering black cliffs invisible except where the shuttles’ spot-lights swept across them.
Spinning the shuttle on its axis, the Chief delicately backed the shuttle the last few meters onto the docking port, until with a clang she announced “Docking clamps latched on sir, but there’s no internal power to open the door.”
She looked over her console again, focusing on a row of red, amber and green lights. She began making adjustments to the ships power supplies “Trying to configure our power outputs, sir. I think…..yep….got it!” she said as the row of lights turned all green.
Chief Belle sprang out of her seat and ran to the hatch at the rear of the shuttle, tricorder in one hand and drawing her phaser with the other. She was joined by the other two security guards and they opened the hatch, taking an involuntary step back as icy cold air swept past them from the inside of the Tana vessel. Cautiously they leaned through the hatch into the pitch black interior of the alien ship, phasers poised, tricorders waving in front of them.
“Clear!” said Chief Belle, her voice echoing off unseen hard, bare surfaces. “18% oxygen, 81% nitrogen, 1% trace gases including argon, krypton and carbon dioxide. Air temperature is minus thirty Celsius, humidity only 18%, but then that’s probably because the outer hull of the ship is down to minus 80, and still dropping. Don’t touch any hull surfaces.”
She reviewed the readings on the tricorder “No life signs, no power sources in the immediate vicinity.”
They stepped into the darkness, each lighting a personal torch as they did. On the other side of the small compartment was another hatch “No power here either” said Chief Belle “Henderson, get the emergency power pack out of the shuttle”
Henderson hurried back to the shuttle “This is going to be hard going if we’re going to have to manually open every door on our way ExO” said the Chief.
Dave thought about it. They couldn’t risk putting power back on generally, the Tana vessel was still relatively intact and far more than a match for the Tiger.
“We don’t have a choice Chief. Commander Mengele, any thoughts on the easiest way to save the crew of this ship?”
She thought about it “The first priority should be to open a corridor through the ship to try and equalise the temperature from the light and dark sides of the ship. I suspect that many of the Tana trapped on the side facing the sun will already have been killed by the excessive temperatures and high energy radiation. From Lieutenant L’Amours biological summary I assume we will find more survivors on the dark side of the ship”
“Ok we split up. Chief Belle and Larkin, try to work through to the other side of the ship. If it gets too hot for you, forget it and double back. Try to find a route where you don’t have to deal with any Tana. It’s best if we free them a few at a time. Henderson, contact Stavros and swap 10% with Fer-God-Sake at the docking port, we can fit more survivors on her. Izzy, medics, with me. We’ll go forward to try and pick up survivors. Let’s move people, the slower we move, the more of them die.”
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The signs weren’t encouraging. O’Mara was still scanning the ship from on-board Tiger, but the number of life signs was dropping.
Dave, Izzy and the medics headed forward, assuming that the most heavily populated part of the ship during combat would have been the Bridge and the weapons compartments. The docking port had led in to a long corridor that seemed to run the length of the ship. It was sub-divided by numerous air-tight doors, but was wide and relatively clear, indicating that this was some kind of main thoroughfare.
There were many doors on each side of the corridor and they paused and opened each in turn. Dave was glad of his Aran sweater and cardigan, the air temperature was still well below zero even though they’d moved into the ship and away from the outer hull, but some of the larger compartments on their left opened with an accompanying blast of icy air, and Dave guessed these compartments had a bulkhead that was on the outer hull of the ship
Chief Belle called to say that the compartments were getting much hotter as they travelled from port to starboard, and that they’d found their first Tana. Two of them had been caught in a very small compartment and had suffocated.
It wasn’t long before the medics found their first Tana. A group of four of them were huddled in what seemed to be a weapons control room. They were all unconscious and Mengele deduced they were suffering from the later stage of exposure, but at least they were still alive. The next few groups they found were in compartments against the outer hull, and they had all clearly frozen to death. They came across another six in the next compartment to their right, also unconscious but alive.
“Ok team, we have enough for the minute, lets evacuate these then come back for more.”
He called back to the shuttle “Stavros, we have survivors, prepare for dust-off.” Changing channel he called the other shuttle “Henderson, soon as 10% is clear bring Fer-God-Sake back in and prepare to receive casualties”. Another change of channel “ASBeau, we have Tana survivors inbound. Get Chen and the rest of the medics down to the Rec-Deck, we’ll treat them and hold them there. Make sure there is a major security presence, we can’t be sure how the Tana will react as they recover. Co-opt extra personnel if you need to.”
They moved through the ship compartment by compartment, carefully mapping out the route they’d taken and the spaces they’d cleared. Dave was still overseeing the transfer of the unconscious Tana when Izzy tugged on his sleeve and whispered “ExO, we have a live one!”
Peering into the compartment Izzy led him to, Dave could see a single Tana hunched over an open console, conscious, but apparently suffering from hypothermia. He appeared to be dazed and confused. Dave drew his phaser, set it for stun and nodded to Izzy. Gathering herself, she stepped into the compartment, hands held out in a universal gesture of friendship.
Hoping that the universal translator had picked up enough to translate accurately, Izzy approached the Tana “I am Lieutenant-Commander Isobelle Grosvenor of the Starship Tiger. We come in peace and bring the greetings of the Federation. We are here to offer assistance to any and all survivors.”
The Tana slowly looked up. Although almost completely human-looking, it was bizarrely grey. Pale grey skin,
pale grey hair, slightly lighter grey eyes with slightly darker pupils. A dark grey uniform with dark grey insignia and rank markings that were barely visible in the wavering light of their torches.
“I am Centurion Hak Don Ta. Have you come to repair the navigation system?”
Not the response they had expected.
“Err…..no. We’re from the Federation We come in peace”
“Oh. Which pieces have you brought? I need a fifty-decibel amp circuit for the ships comms, but I suppose I need a temporary power supply most. The dratted computer has locked us out of everything…..”
Izzy tried again “Your ship is crippled…your crew are dying. We’ve come to offer assistance….”
“Oh that’s nice… I could do with a hand….. there’s so much to repair….” he sighed.
Izzy’s arms dropped to her side, and her shoulders slumped “Shall we just sedate him?”
Dave tried. “Centurion Hak Don Ta. Stand to attention when I address you!!”
Startled, the Tana reacted by instinct, springing to his feet, none to steadily.
"Who is in command here?" asked Dave sharply.
The startled Tana replied, closed his hand into a fist and folded it smartly across his chest, which Dave took to be some kind of salute "Legate Chak Do Ha, sir, although I suspect he may have expired. He was in the Bridge at the forward end of the ship and has probably either frozen or been cooked by now.”
The Centurion seemed to slump before he continued.
“No great loss really. He was a bit of bastard if I’m honest" he said with what appeared to be a note of apology in his voice.
"Who is second in command?" asked Dave with as much authority in his voice as he could muster.
The Centurion seemed to have to think fairly hard about this: "Err........I suppose……that would be me then. Sorry."
Sorry? Not exactly the words of the aggressive and confrontational Tana officer he was expecting.
"Well then Centurion, pull yourself together and follow us. We are evacuating all survivors immediately and you will be in charge of them. Is that clear!?"
"Yes Sir!" and with that Dave strode off, the Tana Centurion following meekly in his wake.
The established pattern continued. Compartments against the outer hull were invariably full of unfortunate frozen Tana, while the few survivors were found in the inboard compartments to their right.
The chances of rescuing large amounts of the crew were dashed when Chief Belle called shortly after.
"We're somewhere about the centre-line of the ship sir, and it’s hotter than Hades. We might be able to go further, but the last compartment we checked had a serious radiation count. That Blue star has fried everything this side of the ship. Unless the Tana are descended from cockroaches we aren't going to find any more survivors"
Damn, thought Dave.
"Ok, thanks Chief. No point in taking unnecessary risks. You and Larkin pull back to our entry point. I'll send a couple of medics to meet you there. You take them aft to pick up survivors there" said Dave.
"Aye sir, on our way and mighty glad of it" replied the chief.
Still heading forward they came across more handfuls of conscious survivors, all of whom seemed as timid and confused as the Centurion. In each case they'd mumble odd things about fixing their equipment until the Centurion very politely reminded them that they'd been told they had to evacuate. The fact that they had no idea who Dave or the Federation was didn't seem to affect their decision making process, and before long they'd gathered a considerable herd of cowed and docile Tana.
Reports from Chief Belle indicated that the rest of the crew in the engineering areas were no more troublesome. Dave thought he detected a note of disappointment in the Chiefs voice as she reported that the Tana were meekly following her without her having to resort to force. Even the most reluctant ones quickly acceded when Dave instructed the Centurion to order them to follow the Chief.
In all they managed to rescue eighty-six Tana from a crew of three-hundred and three. Dave was surprised that the crew was so small, but with such a small population, the Tana automated everything they could. This had been disastrous in this vessels case: When the computer cut out, everything automated went with it, isolating the crew in tiny pockets of the ship without life-support or even communications.
With much of Tiger in a state of dilapidation, Dave located the survivors in the Rec-Deck as a temporary treatment bay apart from the most serious cases, who were treated in isolation in the sick-bay. Although the Tana were behaving themselves impeccably, the Security Team provided armed guards to keep them in order, posting a pair of guards at each entrance and several more at points around the perimeter.
When they finally returned from the Tana vessel, Dave headed immediately to the Rec-Deck to make sure the Tana were contained. He got there to find PO Sorenson in charge, and the Tana arranged into neat rows in the centre of the large room on chairs taken from the various tables.
"That's a bit draconian Sorenson, as long as they're behaving themselves, I'm happy for them to have the run of the Rec-Deck" he said to the Security man.
"Don't look at me, sir. That's how they arranged themselves. They came in, took the chairs, put them in neat rows and then sat down according to rank and department as far as I can tell" replied Sorenson with a shrug.
"Never seen anything like it" he continued, "they seem perfectly content to just sit there and wait for further instructions. They don't ask for anything, don't speak unless spoken to, and do everything they're told to without a murmur. You'd be just as well off with a sheep-dog as a security team."
Dave wasn't sure what to make of it, but he noticed Centurion Hak Don Ta sat in the front row of the chairs on his own. In the brighter light of the Rec-Deck he could make out the rank insignia on his shoulders, three simple bars, and noticed that the four Tana in the row behind all had two bars on their shoulders. Rank and file, he thought.
Dotted amongst the Tana, the medical team were treating various minor wounds, often assisted by staff from A&A or supply. Dave was really surprised to see Chief Money among the Tana, checking a lesser member of the crew with a medical tricorder.
"Hello Chief, what brings you down here?" he asked, wondering what angle the Chief was working.
"Good evening, sir. We're at a bit of a loose end down in supply, so when the medics asked for volunteers to help out I thought I'd offer my services. I do have a first-aid qualification you know" he said with a slightly defensive tone to his voice.
"No slight intended Chief, I'm just glad to see everyone pulling together. Keep up the good work!" said Dave, still suspecting that the Chief had probably already arranged several exclusive supply deals with the Tana.
He wandered off back to the Bridge, letting Sorenson know that he was to keep the Security Team present, and that he'd be back later. He wasn't sure what to make of the Tana apart from the fact that they were completely and totally different from how he'd imagined them.
He'd expected to have to weed out trouble-makers and put them in the brig, and keep a watchful eye on all of them, but they seemed almost unreasonably compliant. What the hell was going on?
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Returning to the Bridge he took his seat and realised he'd sat in the Captain's chair as a matter of habit. He'd settled into the routine of being in charge without even realising it, and it would probably come as something of a shock to the system when the skipper came back on duty.
For now, though, it was still his show, and he had many, many worries that weighed on his mind.
The worst ones were the ones he could do nothing about. They'd defeated the Tana battleship more by luck than judgement, but still acting alone, Tiger was very much out on a limb. If the Tana threw more ships at them, they were done for. He thought he'd sorted the Sha T'Al out, but according to Izzy, the central government wanted nothing to do with the infected border areas, and bizarrely hadn't moved a muscle to prevent the Tana incursion t
hemselves.
And then there were the Tana. An aggressive, territorial race that acted like sheep. How did that work? Not only did he now understand them less than ever, there were eighty-six of them on-board and he hadn’t a clue what he was going to do with them. They couldn’t stay on the Rec-Deck indefinitely, and he certainly wasn’t going to cross into Tana space to repatriate them. He wasn’t even sure what other options he had.
His old granny had once told him that the road to hell was paved with good intentions. But then his old granny also told him to ask for male jelly-babies when he went to the sweet shop “because there’s that little bit more jelly”.
Dave had a feeling that as metaphors went, “look before you leap” might prove relevant in the circumstances, but that was only because he couldn’t think of a metaphor along the lines of “Only a complete imbecile invades alien territory, gets into a shooting match with another species then rescues eighty-six of said species without having the faintest idea of what to do with them.”
On the positive side, they could breathe the same atmosphere as the crew of the Tiger, and even eat the same food. Bizarrely, the Tana actually seemed to like haggis. Dave couldn’t begin to imagine what the food on the Tana ship must have been like for that to be the case. The very thought sent a shudder down his spine.
Rubbing his temples, he decided to shift his focus onto the things that he could do something about, and called the senior officers to the Officer’s Mess.
Chapter 16
Dave started the meeting. “Ok, team let’s take stock. Lieutenant-Commander Romanov? How are repairs progressing?”
Romanov looked and sounded every bit as tired as he knew she must be.
“Hull plating as been patched more thoroughly, and Kandampully has been ransacking every circuit on the ship to try and find components to fix more power relays. He figures that by cannibalising the duff units we can get enough working relays to power the drives, deflectors and integrity fields. Him and Deng have also had a brainwave about the phasers. If we deliberately limit their output power to around fifty percent we can alter the power circuits to accept smaller capacity relays. Even at reduced power, they should still have some effect on Tana shields and structures."