by Robert Culp
“Roger that, advise me when you’re aboard.” I do not want to have to worry about this ship. I want to destroy it. I want to fill it with oxygen just to watch it burn. But if Gallagher is unavailable, our options are limited if we want to keep interstellar capability. And we do.
“Wilco.”
Cooper and I enter the drive area. It looks like an axe-wielding maniac had a party here. Conduit is mangled and coolant hoses are slashed. There is easily a month’s worth of work before this vessel will be capable of interstellar travel again. But what is of interest to me, other than the engines, is a very large machine of some sort. Cylinders surround it. Each of them is roughly a meter in diameter and a meter and a half tall. At the center is a chair with arm and leg straps as well as a headrest.
“Coop,” I ask, “how well do you remember pre-interstellar travel history?”
“If you’re asking me if that looks like a Throne of Execution, ma’am, my answer is ‘yes.’” The Throne of Execution was used by primitive societies to put condemned citizens to death. The victim was put into the chair, immobilized and then electrical current was passed through their bodies. The goal was to stop the heart, but sometimes other things happened. That resulted in a switch from electricity to chemistry. Rather than cables, intravenous catheters were used to introduce a collection of poisons to the condemned. The humanity of such arrangements was debated for centuries. I maintain decapitation—when done quickly—is the most humane form of execution. Or a bullet to the brain. One worked on Sherri very fast.
I recognize the purpose of the cylinders. They are batteries. Powerful ones, if what Angus taught me is accurate. There is a gap large enough for a person to walk through between two of the batteries. To one side of the opening is a control panel. This looks like it must be the teleporter that Jack used. I press the button labeled “lamp test” on the panel. Nothing happens. Apparently, the batteries have been completely drained. That does explain why when Padilla appeared and disappeared from his ship Jack wasn’t overly panicked. He had some familiarity with the process. Even at the time I thought he was more surprised than alarmed.
“Captain, my shuttle has docked. We are transferring aboard.”
“Roger, Athena. Go to the bridge, I’m going to do what I can to get primary power restored. When I do, I’ll need you to bring the systems back up in an orderly fashion. When you get that done, search the computer and see if you can get those drone transporters to reclaim their little drones and come back here. Hopefully, we can figure out how to use them in the future. They are clearly a pretty potent weapon system. But only if there’s a way to ‘safe’ them.”
“Agreed.”
Soon familiar faces from Gallagher begin to enter the drive room. Someone brought the mechanic Cooper and I found. I can’t help but laugh, her hands are tied in front of her and a leash is attached to her back. I approach her, signaling her and her “keeper” to stop. “Okay, little girl, it looks like your lot is cast with ours. I don’t know your name or your story and right now I don’t care too much about either. When I found you, you were up to your waist in a pinnace giving the appearance that you know something about turning wrenches. It won’t hurt my feelings to cut you loose, it won’t hurt my feelings to stuff you into a TMOD and it definitely won’t hurt my feelings to toss you through an airlock without your APE suit. My preference is to cut you loose and put you to work because I’m going to need some help getting this ship functional again. But as I’ve lost a very good friend today, if you make a move against us I’ll pay someone to toss you to my troopers as a training aid. So what’ll it be? Meaningful employment, three hots and a cot, or a long cold sleep preceded by explosive decompression? Tick tock.”
She doesn’t hesitate. “My name is Cecilia. I don’t want any trouble. Neither do the people in the TMOD area. We were all shanghaied from Rigg’s Station, I’m sure you’re familiar with it. My specialty was GMVs, but I’ll help you here any way I can. If you’re heading in the general direction of Rigg’s I’d appreciate a lift and I’ll work off my passage.”
“I can live with that.” I look over her shoulder to the trooper holding the leash. “Free her hands but stay in her shadow. If she’s fixing something, that’s marvelous. If it looks to you like sabotage, kill her and we’ll sort it out later.” I cut my eyes back to Cecilia. “Your priorities are ship critical, life support, then propulsion. Get busy. And he’s not an engineer, he’s a trooper, but he knows sabotage when he sees it.”
I hear Athena in my headset, “Captain our pressure test is complete. This vessel has two hull breaches currently sealed off. Section D and the maneuver drive units are without atmosphere until the patches are in place. Additionally, we are getting an encrypted message from Oedipus but more importantly, you are needed in the landing bay.”
Landing bay? “Why the landing bay?”
“Lieutenant Landers is with Sergeant Major Call’s body.”
That would do it. “On my way. Decrypt the message from Oedipus and relay it to me.”
“Wilco.”
I get the message from Oedipus before I get to the landing bay. It boils down to our people on the surface contacted them when they couldn’t get anything from Gallagher. Oedipus advised them to all vacate the colony and find places to hide in the woods with the understanding someone would come looking for them when Silver Saber left the area. Unless we had been destroyed in which case Oedipus—provided they were still able—would retrieve or support them until Star Chaser’s return. On the whole, I can’t say it was a bad idea. Unless the theropods find and eat them. Outside the door to the landing bay I call Athena. “Advise Oedipus of our situation. If they have a way of doing so, ask them to sound the recall for the people at the outpost, at least that way they’ll all be at the colony site. And if they will come top off this vessel’s fuel tanks I will greatly appreciate them. We can also put their doctor to work.”
“Yes, ma’am. I took the liberty of making the refuel request already.”
“Very well. I’m about to enter the landing bay.” This might take a while.
“Roger.”
Entering the shuttle, I see Freddie’s body has been put on one of the makeshift stretcher holders. His helmet is off and his face has been cleaned, there’s still some blood here and there, but I have a feeling it was a lot worse. A sheet covers the rest of his body, but just looking at the way it’s laying I can remember all too well that his armor is chewed to pieces. I know it failed him, but it was never meant to take an assault like that. I take my own helmet off and set it to the side. Shawna is on her knees beside Freddie, rocking back and forth while she strokes his face. She’s keening. I touch her shoulders then stand her up and turn her around. I would have preferred to strip off my armor, but time and the situation don’t allow it. She falls into me and begins to wail. “I got you, sweetheart,” I tell her. “I loved him, too. We’re going to get through this.”
Her speech is broken by sobs. “He. Was. My. Best. Friend.”
“I know, sweetie. C’mon, let’s take a walk.” I’m crying with her.
“No!” she says. “I can’t leave him alone. He wouldn’t leave us.”
“No, he wouldn’t. He would make sure we were out of Harm’s Way first. But he’s out of any danger now. He’s as good as he can be.” I take her hand in mine and lead her from the shuttle. I grab my helmet with my other hand. We walk to Medical, when we get there one of the Physician’s Assistants takes a quick look at Shawna and injects her with a mild tranquilizer. It doesn’t take long to take effect. I don’t know exactly what he gave her, but she was already being treated for another injury, perhaps some of that sedative is still in her system.
She tries to focus on me and slurs, “I’m ready to go back to work, Captain. I can function.”
“Right, you need a while for the buzz to wear off and I don’t need any piloting done right now. You are relieved for the next twelve hours. I don’t care what you do, but stay out of any small craft and
stay off the bridge.”
“That makes me the only goldbrick around here. Everyone else has something to do.”
“My problem, not yours. I have a ship to get back together. We’ll talk later.”
As I leave the med bay, Jenkins, one of my engineers, is waiting in the corridor for me. “Cap’n, do you want me to put the new girl to work? How much of a leash does she need to be on?”
“Her name is Cecilia and as far as I’m concerned she’s at your disposal. She alleges she was a captive on this tub. As we can neither confirm nor deny, we’ll take her at face value but be prepared to put two rounds in her skull if need be. I gave her a priority of effort, in particular ship critical systems, life support and propulsion.”
“Respectfully ma’am as those are mission critical systems, I’d rather have someone we know and trust doing that. I’ll put her to work on the lower priority systems. Patching holes in interior walls, general clean up, things like that.”
“SLAP, like I said, she’s at your disposal. I do still want someone—not necessarily a trooper—watching her. Just for fun.”
“Not a problem ma’am. Update in six hours?”
“Unless something that needs my attention comes up. Would you like me to grab some wrenches?”
“Uh…”
“Understood. Away with you!”
My perCom trills, “Yes, Athena.”
“Captain, Oedipus is in the area, refueling operations should commence within the hour. Captain Rankin, Oedipus Actual, sends his compliments and requests permission to board Silver Saber.”
“Thank Captain Rankin for his services and relay that he is welcome to board provided he brings engineers, mechanics and medical personnel with him.”
“He has been so advised ma’am and informs that he is also bringing members of his kitchen staff and enough food for three days.”
“That should give us enough time to get things sorted out here, and make sufficient cannibalization runs to Gallagher I just hope the pieces we need for here aren’t broken there.” I start walking towards the shuttle bay. It’s like I can’t get away from that place today.
“Roger that, ma’am.”
No sooner does she end the call than my perCom trills again. “Captain, Sergeant Drake. We’ve completed the security sweep and passed on the damage report to Jenkins with a copy to the XO. He made some noises about maintenance bots, but to be honest I wasn’t listening to him anymore.”
That’s typical between trigger pullers and wrench spinners, but I’m not in the mood to deal with it. “Roger that, if you’re guaranteeing our safety, you’re clear to execute a sleep plan. For the short term, the troopers will be assisting in the cannibalization operations. The engineers will be identifying and removing any components needed—“
“And the troopers will be doing the manual labor. No worries, ma’am. That’s historically one of our ancillary missions.”
By the time I get to the shuttle bay, the launch from Oedipus has arrived and the personnel are disembarking. Captain Rankin isn’t hard to detect. The man looks like he just stepped out of a fitness advertisement. I was a runner before I got into space. This guy is too bulky for running so I guess he’s a weight lifter type. And he’s quite beautiful. He has that complexion that looks like he’s never had a pimple. Or worn a frown. And I swear you can read by his teeth the way they gleam. My armor protects my hand, but I’m guessing his handshake is firm, but not painful. “Captain MacTaggert, I presume. Adam Rankin. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, but I would have preferred to do so under less…dramatic circumstances.”
“Sonia MacTaggert, Captain. Welcome aboard Silver Saber. And I agree. I wish we could have met prior to Star Chaser leaving the area. In fact, I’m a little surprised we didn’t meet aboard her before this mission started.”
“Call me Adam, please. And I will agree that we’d prefer Star Chaser to still be in the area. I have a feeling that you’d still be in command of Gallagher and it wouldn’t be a target for cannibalization, am I right, Captain?”
“Call me Sonia. And yes, quite right.”
“So, how are you doing? You personally.”
“Nothing a warm shower, hot meal, and a cold beer wouldn’t help. And thank you for your assistance and support.”
“Oh, think nothing of it. I can only imagine having your ship shot out from under you. I figure any assistance I can provide—meager though it may be—will be welcome. And it’s customary for those in the universe in which I live to help when they can. Who’s to say our fortunes won’t be reversed in the future?”
“I’m just happy they didn’t target you. The initial plan was for you, by which I mean your ship, to stay on the far side of the planet to make both ships less likely to be targets. I think that plan is successful in that Oedipus took no fire.”
“I agree whole heartedly. And if Gallagher can be reclaimed, it’s going to need fuel as well. That’s what we do. And while I’m thinking of it, we have relayed your message to Star Chaser. We hadn’t heard anything by the time I left Oedipus. Do you think Gallagher can be salvaged?” Rankin asks.
“There’s no way for me to know that without inspecting it, but my staff seems to think not. Those were some nasty little drones that infested it.”
“Oh?” his blonde eyebrow curls up over his blue eye. “I knew you came under fire when you thought the battle was over. I suspected it was missiles and secondary explosions.”
“So did I, but those weren’t missiles they were containers, initially mistaken for small craft. After they penetrated the hull, they spit out numerous—I really don’t know how many—independent poltergeist bots that started cutting through practically everything. In theory, it’s an intriguing system. As its victim, albeit separated from the actual carnage, I can tell you it’s as demoralizing as it is devastating. The ship was being cut to pieces around the crew, and there wasn’t a thing they could do about it.”
“Except leave,” he says with just a hint of smugness. He must see the flash I can feel in my eyes. “Which was the right decision.” He rubs his palms together, anxious to change the subject. “I brought medics which are already tending to your wounded, I brought cooks who are heading to your galley, and I brought engineers. To whom should they report?” I look over—okay around—his shoulder at a half dozen people with various tool belts and materiel sets.
“I’ll have my engineer, Chief Jenkins, put them to work.”
“And Gallagher?”
“Once this ship is operational, I’ll worry about that one.”
“Good enough, I don’t think there’s anything else I can do for you here, so I’m going back to Oedipus. If you need me, just give me a holler.” And he boards his shuttle. Then my perCom trills again, Dear sweet Isis, now what?
It’s Shawna, “Cap’n Baby, I need something to do. I’m not injured and this lying in bed alone is driving me nuts! And before I forget, I want to apologize for my break down in the…you know. It was less than professional.”
“Since you asked, I’m going to assign you something. Freddie isn’t the only crewmember we lost. I want you to organize and orchestrate the memorial service. I’ll do the speaking unless you or someone else want to, but as far as scheduling it, finding a place for it, my first thought is on the planet, and all the nitnoid stuff that goes into making it happen. And as close as you and Freddie were, I know you’ll do it up right.” Not only will it give her something to do, it may give her some closure.
There is a long pause. “I…I…I will do the best I can,” she finally stammers.
“I know. That’s why I asked you. And don’t call me ‘baby’ unless you’re looking into my eyes and we’re free of eavesdroppers. Now I have to do some of those command chores. I’ll talk to you later. Oh, before I forget, if you ever apologize to me for being human and having emotions again, I will kick your ass clean off your shoulders. Freddie was a very close friend of yours. And mine, while we’re discussing said subject. If circumstanc
es and personalities had been different the two of you would probably have been a couple if not married. If you hadn’t been upset I would have been concerned. Now, I love you and I’ll talk to you later.”
I thumb the conversation off before she can respond and call Athena. “Two things. The minor is: Jenkins has assumed the role of Chief Engineer, which is fine with me. Please make note of the date and time for the log entries then direct him to have Jose Raines get as many maintenance robots functional as possible. The larger point: My intent as commander is to concentrate on this ship for the moment, if time and resources allow, we’ll deal with Gallagher. And while repair operations are urgent, our mission has not changed. We will scientifically evaluate the flora and fauna of this planet in accordance with previously published directives. If that’s a bad idea, please tell me why.”
“It isn’t, ma’am. Gallagher is a total loss and will require a shipyard or orbiting facility to properly affect repairs. I will pass on the directive for Mr. Raines through Mr. Jenkins. Silver Saber is not as damaged as Gallagher and at this point in time is much more mobile. As you’ve pointed out, our mission has not changed. While we don’t have the bio containment devices Gallagher has, we do have numerous TMOD sarcophagi. Although given time, we can and should transfer those devices to this ship. On that, have you thought about waking the current occupants? We could certainly use their help. And they may be sympathetic to us as we’re unlikely to sell them as slaves.”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend? I think we’ll let them sleep for the moment. Once the situation stabilizes, we’ll make that decision a little more deliberately.” My track record of waking sleepers is not good.