by William Wood
There was a collective deep breath.
“We made it,” Calvin said. “I’m almost afraid to ask, but what damage did we sustain?”
“It’s not good I’m afraid,” Astra said. “We’ve sustained heavy damage. Where do I start?”
“Is it that bad,” Calvin asked.
“I’ll start with the big stuff,” Astra said. “Shields, cloaking generator, main power is offline, life support, weapons,”
“Are you just listing all the main systems?”
“Those are the ones that are down,” Astra said. “We’re running on backup systems, but even some of those are offline.”
“There are hull breaches on decks two and three,” Ion said. “Emergency force-fields are in place. The fires on deck one and two have been contained. I am activating the repair robots. If you need me, I will be directing repairs.” He didn’t wait for an answer. Ion got up and hurried out of the room.
“I’m gonna help,” Astra said, and then keyed the comm system. “Nils, can you please help in engineering?”
“What do you want me to do?” Calvin asked.
“Someone needs to stay on the bridge, do you mind?”
“No, of course not,” Calvin said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
The door whooshed shut after she left the room. Calvin was left alone in the silence.
Everyone worked through the night. For the next two days, no one got very much sleep. On the bridge, two nights after the attack, Astra and Ion met Calvin on the bridge.
“I think we’re in pretty good shape now,” Astra said. She looked very tired. “We’ve repaired most of the ship, but even with the modified power cores and shield generators that the segments provided, we were still hurt badly. The best we can get out of the shields is fifty percent, and the cloak is permanently damaged. The only way to fix it is to replace it, so we’re out of luck there. Add that to the loss of the long range sensors and we’re rapidly losing our basic capabilities.”
“So we’re no longer invisible, and we can’t scan the area ahead to see what’s waiting for us when we drop out of hyperspace. That about sum it up?”
“Yeah, that covers it. But, not only can we not see what’s ahead, but we can’t see if anyone is following us.”
“Great,” Calvin said sullenly. “But we already know they’re following us.”
“Well, no, not exactly. We don’t know for sure who’s following us. It would be nice to know how many ships, and how much time we have until they arrive. It could mean the difference between surviving and getting caught in a vulnerable position. But you’re right, we can be sure at least some ships are following us.”
“We can almost guarantee something is following us,” Calvin said. “They watched us jump into hyperspace.”
“True,” Astra said thoughtfully. “But we’re not out of options.”
“What do you have in mind?” Calvin watched her think. He could almost see her mind work by watching her facial expressions.
“The sensors are shot,” Astra said. “But the receiver is still working.” She rubbed her forehead. “Uh,” she moaned. “I can’t think right now, I’m so tired. We could drop something behind us; a probe; something with a powerful sensor and signal generator.”
“How about a Sipper?” Calvin asked. “It has a powerful sensor. Can we send one of those? How many do we have?”
“No, Sipper wouldn’t be a good choice. I think I can modify a probe to do everything we need it to.”
“OK, I’m glad I could help.”
“You have good ideas, once and a while,” she smiled playfully.
“Yeah, thanks,” Calvin said. “I’m surprised the shields buckled so easily. I thought they were stronger than that, or should have been.”
“Our shields are the most powerful shields ever placed on a spaceship,” Astra said. “But they weren’t designed to handle that kind of punishment.” When she finished talking, Astra rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“Are you hungry?”
“Yes, but I think I might be too tired to eat,”
“I don’t even think that’s possible,” Calvin said, smiling. “Come eat dinner with me, and then go get some sleep. You’ll sleep better if you eat something.”
“I’m too tired to argue,” Astra said.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN:
THE ASTEROID BASE
The next eighteen hours were brutal. Nobody slept, and they barely ate. The ship was in worse condition than Astra led Calvin to believe, and it was remarkable that Azure Frost was able to stay in hyperspace.
Even though he felt like he was in the way, Calvin refused to stay on the bridge; he wanted to help wherever he could, so he found Wexton, who felt equally as useless. Wexton agreed to man the bridge while Calvin made sure everyone else had what they needed. To reassure Wexton, and calm his fears, Calvin told him he was just a quick call on the intercom away.
Damage was seen throughout the ship. The main elevator was showing a fault, so Ion shut it off as a precaution. Main power was still offline, so the lights were dimmed in order to conserve energy. Debris covered the floors; glass from blown out panels, bits of broken metal and plastic. The worst news was that the repair and fabrication unit had been damaged beyond repair. That was significant because it was the mechanism that fabricated all of their spare parts and replacements systems. They still had access to tools and equipment, but now repairing systems would take more work and creativity. That would mean cannibalizing parts from less important things.
The next five days passed slowly. Calvin couldn’t stop thinking about the space battle they’d escaped from. Who won and who lost. But his biggest fear was that either the Goremog or No’Rath tracked Azure Frost when it jumped into hyperspace. Worse, maybe they both did.
Were they able to calculate their trajectory, and would there be enemy ships waiting for them when they arrived on the edge of the asteroid field? Uncertainty quickly turned to dread, and fear over what would happen next. If there were ships waiting for them, Azure Frost would be visible, and not able to defend itself with so many systems destroyed, damaged or running at reduced capability. Fear drove them to work themselves into exhaustion. They rested for short periods and ate when they were able to.
“At least the food computers still work,” Calvin would say, trying to cheer everyone up. But everyone was too tired to laugh.
The only positive thing happened late in the evening, two days after they left the battle area. When Calvin was in the medical section, MD71 informed him that Dev’s condition had improved drastically. He was no longer in a coma, and his vital signs were much stronger. The night before they were due to arrive at the asteroid field, everyone met in the library. They sat at the large oak table at the top of the room. Everyone was there, even Dev. They all had grease, dirt and oil stains on their clothes and faces.
“Dev,” Calvin said. “It’s good to see you up and around. How are you feeling?”
“I’m still weak, and tired,” Dev said. “As long as I’m sitting, I’m OK.”
“Well, you’ve been goofing off in the medical section for almost a week now,” Wexton said playfully. “It’s time to get back to work.”
“I’d love to!” Dev said. “Anything’s better than being stuck in the medical bay. I’m not going back. I’m ready to help.”
“I’m glad you feel better,” Calvin said. “But a little surprised MD71 let you out.”
“He didn’t want to, but I promised I would take it easy.”
“Let’s talk about repairs first, “Calvin said. “Nils, how are the engines?”
“The engines are operating at full capacity,” Nils said. “We had to steal parts from all the combat fighters, but I can give you one hundred percent. Just try to take it easy,” he looked at Calvin. “Some of the repairs are, shall we say, delicate? If you push the engines too hard, too fast, you could zap the whole thing.”
“OK,” Calvin said. “No combat fighters. I hope we don’t need them.”<
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“You have to take it easy,” Nils reiterated.
“OK,” Calvin said. “I will, I promise. What’s the status of the main power plant?”
“Sir, the power plant is now operating at seventy-five percent. We were able to repair engine three, but we couldn’t repair engine four. It’s irreparable.”
“OK, good job on number three.”
“Thank you sir.”
“What’ve you got, Astra?”
“Life support is online,” Astra said. “Weapons are all online. The shields are a different story. We lost three of our primary generators in the attack. The best we can get is fifty percent.”
That was not good news. Silence dominated the room for a minute.
“Hey, we have fifty percent,” Astra asserted. “That’s not bad.”
“You’re right,” Calvin said. “It could have been a lot worse.”
“Yeah. It was a lot worse. You should have seen the damage.”
“OK. So, let’s get a look at what we have to deal with tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Astra said, refocusing. “This is the asteroid field.” She pointed at the monitor on the wall. “We don’t have long range sensors so we can’t pinpoint the exact location of the base yet. We’ll have to wait until we drop out of hyperspace, and can find it with short range sensors. For now, we’ll have to rely on the old records. According to them, the base should be over here, and this is what it looks like.” She zoomed in on the base, and went right to the internal schematics. “The lab is here, and this is where we dock. We have the codes that will deactivate the security system. Wexton, will you please give us a run down on how you want this to go.”
Wexton stood up and walked to the monitor. Calvin had asked Wexton if he would plan the mission to get the next segment, since he was more of an expert in that area than anyone else, and considering how past missions had gone, Wexton was happy to do it.
“There really isn’t much I want to add to the way we did this before,” Wexton said. “Except that I want everyone to go in, except Ion. He’ll be on the bridge. I want everyone fully armed in combat gear at the door before we exit hyperspace. That way, as soon as we dock with the base, we can open the door and go in; no delays. We’ll send Sipper in first. Then the combat robots will secure the airlock area. Calvin, Astra, Nils and I will go in next. I’ll follow with Calvin and Astra to the lab. If all goes well, we’ll go straight for the segment, and get out. If not, we’ll have lots of firepower on hand to deal with surprises.”
“At least we’re not in a hurry this time,” Calvin said. “We should be able to take our time and get the segment.”
“Yes,” Wexton said. “But that depends on what’s waiting there for us. Anyway, I want to assume we don’t have all the time in the world and spend as little time there as possible.”
“Fair enough,” Calvin said. “I like your plan. Just be aware that Astra and I will be on the bridge when we drop out of hyperspace. Assuming there’s not an enemy fleet waiting for us, we’re going to have to find the asteroid and dock with it. Once we dock, we’ll go down to the airlock as quickly as we can. That shouldn’t affect your plan anyway. We’ll need a few minutes to get an internal scan from Sipper, and the combat robots need time to secure the area.”
“All right,” Wexton said. He didn’t seem happy. “But can you at least put your gear on first, so you’re ready to go?”
“Yeah,” Calvin said. “We can do that.”
“Then let’s meet at the armory at four tomorrow morning to gear up. Does anyone have anything else?”
“I know you don’t like delays Wexton,” Astra said. “But we should collect thorough scans of the base before we go in. It’s been abandoned for sixty years, but we don’t know what we’ll find in there.”
“Just out of curiosity,” Nils said. “If the base has been abandoned that long, do we assume there’s no power, or life support?” Nils said. “If that’s the case, how are you going to get the vault door open?”
“Under the best circumstances, the base has deep space energy collectors capable of maintaining minimum amounts of power for critical systems. There should be life support and power for the doors. But if there’s not, our suits will give us the oxygen we need, and the doors have a long life battery in it that should still have a charge. If not, there is a manual release valve. It’s no different than any of the other vault doors.”
“We also have remote battery packs,” Calvin said. “We shouldn’t have to open them manually.”
“So if we need to fight, is the ship cleared for combat?” Wexton asked.
“Let’s just say we should avoid combat,” Astra said.
Wexton started to respond; Astra preempted him. “You have to understand, we lost three shield generators. The remaining three have to work twice as hard now to provide half as much protection; get it? Fifty percent.”
“Right, that’s why it will be more important to get in and out before anyone shows up unexpectantly,” Wexton said with a softer tone. “And the cloak is down?”
“The cloak was destroyed. We can’t repair it,” Astra said.
“So everyone can see us now?”
“Yes, everyone can see us,” Astra said. Nobody said anything for several minutes.
“Maybe we can contact the Alerians,” Nils said. “We could rendezvous with them; get the ship repaired and get a new cloaking generator.”
“I tried,” Astra said. “I haven’t been able to reach my people in quite some time.”
“Then what are we supposed to do?”
“Nothing has changed,” Astra said. “Our instructions are to find all ten pieces of the weapon and rendezvous with all my people at the Alerian outpost in the center of the galaxy. We’re almost done. We only have to find two more pieces.”
Suddenly the monitor switched to an image of Ion on the bridge.
“I am sorry to interrupt,” Ion said. “But I have news. As you know, I began dropping remote sensors behind us ten hours ago to find out if we are being followed.”
“That was a good idea,” Calvin said.
“Because it was yours?” Astra said, smiling.
“Actually, it was yours,” Calvin said. “And so far, nothing is following us.”
“Unfortunately that is not true any longer, Master Calvin,” Ion said. “Take a look at this.” The image changed to the long range sensors. The star-map was darkened in all directions, except for a dozen spherical shaped areas, directly behind. What they showed was clear, and disturbing.
“No,” Astra breathed.
“They followed us?” Nils asked.
“They sure did,” Astra said.
“Are those Goremog ships, or No’Rath?”
“Both,” Ion said. “There is a No’Rath fleet three hours behind us. They will catch up to us first; two hundred and twelve ships. They are being pursued by a Goremog fleet. They are only ten minutes behind the No’Rath fleet and comprise three hundred and fifty ships.”
“It sounds like the No’Rath are losing,” Astra said.
“So, from the time we exit hyperspace,” Calvin said. “We will have three hours to get the segment and get out of there.”
“If we get the segment and go to hyperspace before the No’Rath or Goremog show up, will we lose them?” Wexton asked.
“No, they’ll know where we went,” Astra said. “They have long range sensors, and now that they can see us they’ll have no problem following us all the way to the last segment. Except for the time we spend on the base.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Calvin said, understanding exactly what she meant. “Every minute we spend on the base will mean that much less of a lead we have; less time to get the last segment.”
“That’s it,” Astra said. The last segment. Calvin was thrilled at the prospect of finally having all ten pieces. The end of the mission was finally in reach. It felt so close, yet so far.
“That’s it then,” Wexton said. “The original plan stands. If we follow
the plan, we can get in and out of the base in a few minutes, and hopefully maintain our lead over the enemy fleets.”
“Then I suggest we all get some sleep before tomorrow,” Calvin said. Everyone agreed that was a good idea.
Calvin was feeling very tired. They walked out into the corridor to find MD-71 waiting by the door.
“Master Pike,” MD-71 said. “I would like to escort you back to medical.”
“Back to medical?” Dev cried, clearly not happy about it. “Why?”
“I need to scan you again.”
“No, I’m really tired,” Dev complained. “You can scan me tomorrow.”
“No sir, you are still recovering and I need to know your vital signs.”
“Just use a handheld,” Dev said defiantly.
“No sir, I need to use the full unit. Since I can’t bring it to you, I will have to bring you to it.”
“Calvin,” Dev said. “Can you tell this robot I just want to go to sleep?”
“Sorry Dev,” Calvin said. “You should never argue with the medical robot.”
Calvin knew MD-71 was not programmed with emotions, but for some reason it seemed happy for Calvin’s support.
“Yes sir,” Dev said sullenly and followed MD-71 to the medical bay. Calvin walked Astra to her quarters. When they arrived, Calvin paused, and smiled at her.
“Good night,” he said. “Sleep well. I have a good feeling about tomorrow.”
“Me too,” she said. “As long as we’re together, everything we be all right.” She reached out and touched his arm, and kissed him on the cheek.
“Good night.” *
Calvin woke up early the next morning. His alarm went off at three, but he was already awake. As always, he was too excited to sleep the night before a mission. Knowing that two enemy fleets, committed to destroying them, were only a few hours behind was a source of anxiety. But worse, they would have only three hours to find the asteroid base, get the segment, and get back into hyperspace; not a lot of room for the myriad of things that could go wrong. That was why he couldn’t sleep. His mind was working at light speed and he couldn’t shut it down.