“That’s not sustainable though, with the growth of Haven Shore? I heard you’re taking in thousands every month.”
“It isn’t, that’s true, but we’ll have five agricultural towers built in the sea next to Haven Shore soon. Seeding should be starting next month. They’re also working on a program to grow food in the home. When I left they were already installing aquariums in the walls of a few hundred apartments in the Everin Building. On top of those aquariums is a layer of dirt that provides enough food for the fish, which fertilize the dirt where vegetables and small fruit grow. The jungles will always have pickers in them, but never so many that the native wildlife will go hungry.”
“It sounds like an enlightened approach.”
“Many of the philosophies and methods we’re using come from Freeground. I’ve been through how Haven Shore works, how Triton Fleet works, and I’m always amazed at how well Freeground Nation practices mesh with the Sol System’s new philosophies. Haven Shore leaders have used a lot of the lessons those two cultures have learned over the centuries well.” Liara sent the Minister a file on Triton Fleet Code and Haven Shore Laws and Social Practices. “What I’m sending you has everything you need to know, it’s encyclopaedic in scale, so you may find it a little boring, but it will tell you a lot about us. I had access to this within minutes of being welcomed in by Haven Shore, it’s why I stayed.”
“Can I be honest?” the Minister asked quietly. She didn’t wait for an answer. “I wasn’t looking forward to this.” She tapped her personal control unit, and the slender silver device projected images of the Everin Building, the Haven Shore Council with the jungle behind the grand, animating images. With a few taps she was looking at the interior of one of the family homes inside the Everin Building. The balcony, aquarium adorned walls with a kaleidoscope of colourful fish, comfortable seating and sun lit space filled the transit car. Three of the Minister’s guards were agape, and the fourth looked away, intent on ignoring the projection.
“Not everyone in Haven Shore can live in the Everin Building, but that’s what the spaces should look like as a standard when I get back. I gave my apartment up to a small family of three when I left,” Liara said. “I get everything I need from -” she spotted a tear in the corner of the Ministers eye and stopped.
“I’ve seen the old plans for Freeground’s Theta Ring,” the Minister said, wiping her eyes clear daintily. “The founders wanted to implement nature into everyone’s home, to combine food production and living. It only lasted thirty years before that area became the food production hub for the station, and it never looked this beautiful. This is real? This exists?”
“That was one of the first apartments to get the aquariums installed. A family of four lives there, and they’re part of a larger unit that shares in taking care of a section of the Everin Building, looking after their children, and in daily meals. I didn’t spend much time with my social unit, but I got to know everyone well enough to miss them now.”
“I really have to put my request in for an apartment in one of the new cluster buildings,” Dotty muttered. When the Minister regarded her quizzically she explained. “They’re building six more on bare sections of rock along the top of Haven Shore island. They’ll all be bigger than the Everin Building, right?”
“That’s what I read,” Remmy said. “Haven Shore will be able to house one point five million within six months. They’re using a lot of Freeground fabrication tech to make it happen.”
“Oh, I can see that!” the Minister said, pointing at the ceiling of the projected image of the apartment. “The walls are a flexible skin before they’re finalized, it’s still how we start a lot of repairs on the outer structure here.”
All four of the Minister’s guards looked to the left side of the car as they passed a well-lit station with a crowd of people waiting on the platform. “That was Founder’s Station,” the tall one with a pointed chin said. “Something’s wrong, check the remote system,” she told her equally large companion.
“We miss our stop?” Remmy asked.
“Someone’s hijacked the transit system,” the stockiest of the Minister’s guards said worriedly as he rummaged through a small data projection above his command and control unit. “Are they doing this? We know they’ve been trying to contact people inside.”
“My people aren’t responsible,” Liara reassured.
“No, I think I know who may be responsible. Self-proclaimed outsiders, Nihilists,” Minister Obun said, looking worried. “I don’t know why they’d resort to this, whatever they’re planning can’t help them.”
The car began to slow with a lurch so sudden that Dotty had to brace Liara with a firm hand so she didn’t tip out of her seat. Her mind raced, searching for options as the Minister’s guards tried to get a better look ahead, one of them working on expanding the range of his tactical scanner. “I’ve got it,” he said. “Coming up to Eagleton Platform Two.”
“How many are waiting for us?” the pointy chinned guard asked.
“I’ve got at least fifteen armed militia on the platform, and two that don’t read at all. They’re there, but their weapons must be sealed under scan resistant material.”
“Those are the leaders, if this goes bad, we take them out first. You’d best get down, Minister.”
Liara looked to Minister Obun who was slowly lowering herself from the seat to the floor. “Violence can’t be the solution here, there can’t be such deep divisions aboard Freeground Alpha that you’re willing to have an open firefight that will get most of us killed.”
“We have protocols for this sort of thing, they’re in charge,” Minister Obun replied helplessly, nodding at the guards.
The light of the station a little further down the tunnel was growing brighter as Liara decided that it was time to do her best to ensure her own survival. She stood up, steadying herself on the railing and took the three steps to the main car doors, drawing the attention of the Freeground soldiers. “What the hell is she doing?” asked the pointy chinned one.
“Taking charge,” Liara said as Remmy and Dotty moved in behind her, their hands resting on their side arms. “This is not going to be a shootout. At best, it will be a successful dialog, at worst, I’ll be kidnapped and maybe learn a few things about your station. Either way, I’m on mission.”
The car slid into the station and stopped in front of the platform. The pointy chinned Freeground guard grabbed her shoulder and was surprised as Dot stopped him from whatever he planned on doing next. “Hands off the Lieutenant Commander.” Liara looked over her shoulder to see Dot’s sidearm pressed against the Freeground Guard’s cheek. “The Lieutenant Commander has taken charge, and you will follow her orders, even if I have to enforce them.”
The Freeground Guard let Liara go and stepped back. “I hear you,” he said quietly.
Liara returned her attention to the transit station platform to see an interesting pair in old looking heavy Freeground armour with scarred plates covering most of their bodies. They were two metres from the main doors. They were both tall, heavily muscled, and dark skinned. The woman was only a few centimetres shorter than her counterpart, a broad-faced man holding a heavy rifle across his chest. His grin grew until he was beaming at Liara. The transit car’s doors opened.
There were other soldiers in dark red armour watching from behind pillars and benches in the subway station. They truly did expect a fight.
“Houle, get to work on blocking their hack,” the leader of the Minister’s guards said urgently. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“Stop whatever you’re doing,” Liara said. “Cooler heads will prevail.” It took every bit of nerve she had to resist the wave of fear and uncertainty that threatened to overtake her as she stepped out of the transit car. “I’m Lieutenant Commander Liara Erron of Triton Fleet, currently leading an information gathering mission to Freeground Alpha.” She extended her hand towards the large pair of armoured soldiers.
The massive fellow took
her hand by the fingertips. All four of her digits fit on the front half of his index finger as he gently lifted and lowered them. “I’m Captain Sig Penn of Freeground Fleet. This is Commander Karmen Uba, formerly of Freeground Infantry.” He planted Liara’s hand in Karmen’s, who shook it firmly.
“I’m pleased to meet you both,” Liara said, looking up into Karmen’s deep brown eyes. “I have to admit, I’ve never heard of either of you, but by the response of the Tourism Minister and her people, you must be notorious.”
“We do our best not to be,” Karmen said.
“Why did you take control of our tube car?” Liara asked lightly.
“Sig believed it was important that our people have an opportunity to meet with Triton Fleet before our government had a chance to finalize any agreements on our behalf. Being honest, I was against this plan. This is too aggressive. I told him it would look like a kidnapping.”
“It does,” Liara said. “Is it?” A question that made the already grinning Sig laugh, and Remmy chuckle behind her.
“Would you like to stay with us for a while?” Sig asked. “I can’t offer the luxury apartment overlooking Founder’s Square like the Minister can, but you and your people will be taken care of while you are here.”
“We’ll return you to your ship once we’ve had our time to show you the inner life,” Karmen said. “You have my promise.”
“A day or two at the most,” Sig reassured.
“Release their car so they can run away?” Liara asked. “Then I’ll stay with you as long as these two can stay with me.”
“The Minister is welcome too,” Sig said loudly.
“Release the transit controls,” Karmen said, shaking her head at Sig.
He pressed a blinking red square on the screen of his battered command and control unit and the transit car accelerated down the line, the doors closing abruptly. “They’re free, and our station will be locked out in thirty seconds.”
“Thank you,” Karmen said. “If you’ll follow me, we have to leave the station before the security doors seal.”
Chapter 12
Barebone
The first few hours after the Pursuer III lost power were the hardest. Readouts on Minh-Chu’s crew, mission data, and scans made the space around him feel alive, but he knew that if he opened his vacsuit, hard vacuum would kill him.
He’d been adrift before, his strange luck stranded him on a station segment after the First Light destroyed a major enemy installation. There were times when he actually missed the home he made out of the place during his years of solitude, but those were sparse. It was easier to recall those first days, when he was always moments from panic, repurposing technology and salvaging whatever he could so he had what he needed to survive.
He heard that panic in the voices of several of his crewmembers. His efforts to keep them focused on getting the ship’s main power systems working again kept him focused. The only power anyone had was inside their vacsuits, which could keep them alive for a month at least along with some of the best recycling systems in the galaxy. All the power in the ship was gone.
“They left us for dead,” Carnie said minutes after the large ship that attacked moved on. The Pursuer III was adrift, passing into the rusty coloured iron cloud. By the end of the first day, they were so far into the thick iron particle cloud that no light could reach them. The fine particulates interfered with their efforts to seal the eleven hull breaches.
Thanks to contamination, it took four days for the whole crew to finish enough of a manual diagnostic to determine what they had to do to get the ship moving. Finn, having slept as little as Minh-Chu, was finally able to report. With everyone gathered in the crew quarters, drifting weightlessly around the table there, he explained. “When we were hit we only had point three percent energy shielding. The extended weapons modules didn’t have the right software version installed, so it reported that it had taken over shield power generation, and that they were at full charge when they were far from it. Our hull was taking nearly all the damage, and considering how hard that ship nailed us, we did extremely well.”
“What are you talking about? We’re dead in space,” Ike, one of Finn’s engineering team, said.
“Look around,” Carnie said. “We’re all alive. No shields, a big strike that would make a destroyer class ship think twice, and the hull held enough so we got a few small holes instead of a slag pile and a bunch of corpses.”
“He’s right,” Hot Chow said, nodding emphatically. “As soon as the lights went out, I wondered how many funerals I’d be going to.”
“We’re still dead in space,” Ike said.
“There’s a good chance we can get going again,” Finn said. “The problem is, all but one weapons module was completely burned out during the attack. A lot of the automated systems on board are dead too.”
“Avionics and navigational systems?” Minh-Chu asked.
“We’re going to have to make new connections between the flight control systems and half the thrusters on the ship. The fastest way will be to pull wire from the weapons modules before we jettison most of the components. We’ll be left with the missile launcher systems and our habitation pod.”
“Why would we jettison most of the weapons modules?” Minh-Chu asked patiently.
“They’re going to be in the way when we try to hot wire our last good battery set to the main fusion reactors. It’s going to take a couple days to build up enough of a charge in those to jump start, so the sooner the modules are out of the way, the better.”
“Then we’ll only have missiles?” Sticky asked. The smallest of them had also been the quietest, but Minh-Chu had watched her soldier on tirelessly.
“All the but one of the turrets work, Pearl,” Finn said. “It’s going to be surprisingly easy to wire them back in once the extended weapons modules are gone. The turrets are built into the basic weapons for the ship, so we don’t need anything from the modules to get them going again. I’ll even be able to turn up the juice quite a bit, so you can fire in beam mode, but I hope we don’t find ourselves in any firefights. The missile racks need to be checked and torpedo launchers aren’t trustworthy.”
“What about shields?” Minh-Chu asked.
“No problem, they’ll run as soon as the reactor is hot. They’re one of the only untouched systems on the ship. Since they were barely running before, they didn’t get stressed at all. That, and the lights, which we can get back online once we get the weapons modules out of the way. This battery will keep the lights on for weeks,” he said, holding up a centimetre long, slender cylinder.
“Thank God,” Sticky said with a sigh. “I feel like the dark is strangling me sometimes.”
“Life support should be back online about three hours later. I have enough portable batteries to prime then run everything for a few months. We’ll still be on reserve food until the reactor gets back online, but fresh air, water and heat will be enough until then. No gravity until the reactor is back online either.”
“What I’m hearing is that everything starts with removing the weapons modules,” Minh-Chu said. “How long will it take for you to salvage what you need so we can get rid of them?” Minh-Chu asked.
“If we all work on it, we can get it done in four hours, it’s not delicate work. My team will pull what we need, the rest of you can pass the components hand to hand through the corridors and store them here. Then we hand crank the module doors open and push the modules out. We may have to do some cutting if the metal has twisted.”
“Sounds easy,” Carnie said.
“Hell no,” Hot Chow said under his breath. Everyone looked at him, so he cleared his throat. “Sorry, it’s just that those mods are made to fit with the bays to within a millimetre, we’re going to have to do a lot of cutting.”
“Someone’s done the reading,” Finn said. “He’s right, we’ll have problems, but I know what I’m doing, we’ll get this done.”
“Let’s get to it,” Minh-Chu said. “We ne
ed to get this boat running.”
“You know, I had a nightmare that we got buried in iron particles, and I was the only one left when the Triton found us,” Ike said.
“Oh, God, why are you sharing?” Hot Chow said. “I’ll give you all the luxury credit I earn from this trip if you keep your doom-gloom to yourself, aye?”
“I was just sharing, it’s a good habit in stressful situations.”
“We’ll have a talk about that when we get back to the Revenge,” Finn said. “I’d take Hal’s offer and stop the dark talk for now. Let’s get the lights on.”
The crew set to work, and it wasn’t long before Minh-Chu realized that their main motivation was short term. Everyone understood how important it was to get the reactor charging, but the promise of having lights on throughout the ship was what people were really talking about as kilometres of thin cable, processing nodes and other components were passed up from the weapons modules. They managed to strip all the components they could in half the time Finn said it would take them, and only a few hours later, Minh-Chu, Finn, Sticky, and several engineering team members were working to crank the armoured module doors open.
The grit from the nebula made it difficult enough for the muscle augmentation in their vacsuits to activate while they were turning the emergency cranks, and when the sections of hull beneath the ship parted, they did so all at once, finally breaking through the fine iron particulate that was holding them back. To everyone’s relief, the large weaponry modules, each four metres long and two metres tall, slid free and out of the ship’s lower deck with almost no trouble. Only a little cutting was necessary to get the first one free. They were able to keep the habitation pod, missile launch system, and to everyone’s surprise, the manufacturing pod – a small tool and equipment room that was a part of the assembly but had to come out first so other sections could be extracted – fit back in with only a little extra coaxing. “We’ll need to make cables for this so it can be reconnected from here,” Finn said. “But we’ll be able to make parts. I didn’t think it would fit back in once we were done, so I didn’t mention it. Ike, start machining parts off the list, use a backup power cell.”
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