The Anvil of Dust and Stars (Dark Seas Series Book 1)

by Damon Alan

  Sarah stopped at a comm box, tethered her headset, and punched in the bridge code. “What is it, Mr. Corriea?”

  An excited voice crackled from the EMP damaged speaker. “Sir, I might have good news. I have a star locked with my navigation optics, although it's dim. Invisible to the naked eye, so I didn't see it at first. The good news is that I think it's close enough for our remaining fuel to get us there.”

  “Good work, Mr. Corriea. Once you have it pinned down, plot a jump and I'll get the details from you when I return to the bridge. If Science finds any other stars, plot for them too. We'll take our pick once we're fully informed.”

  Sarah smiled. Her luck hadn't completely failed her yet.

  “Will do, Captain.”

  “Let Science know this is classified. I will decide our destination once I have the facts.”

  “Aye sir,” he replied.

  She closed the link and continued her way back toward Supply. Sarah noted the grim faces of her crew as she passed them in the gangway.

  They think I've failed them. I failed my family. I won't fail this fleet.

  Chapter 45 - One Shining Hope

  28 MAPRI 15327

  Corriea greeted Sarah as she floated onto the bridge.“We have a good optic lock on the star.”

  “Let's see what you've got.”

  “The target is a K4 orange dwarf, eighty three light-years away. Initial computer enhancements of what the scopes have picked up indicate more than one gas giant planet, one is a doozy. That almost always means moons, sir. The star is traveling fast, and retrograde to galactic rotation, so we'll have one hell of a burn once we come out of FTL to enter the gravity well.”

  “I've never had to match up with a retrograde star. What's it doing way out here?” Sarah asked.

  Corriea thought a moment. “It could be from another galaxy, tossed out and caught by ours. That would explain why it's retrograde.”

  “Do we have the fuel to match it's movement?”

  “Yes, Captain, plenty. The burn is nothing that will tax the Stennis too hard.”

  “That is great news, Mister Corriea. Good work. You may have saved all of our butts.” Sarah pushed away from navigation and floated toward her command station. “It's not the same as going home, but it's better than dying in the cold of space. Did Science find any other stars within range?”

  “No. The nearest star they've found after this one is five hundred light-years out.”

  “Great. That makes our choice easy then.”

  Commander Gilbert steadied her as she floated toward him, and held her arm until she got a grip on the command station. “Sir, I have rebooted the Yascurra. Her helm is answering our commands, although she's sluggish. Lots of EMPed thrusters and control circuitry is my guess. The marines are about to enter the hangar through the airlock now.”

  “Visual?”

  “Putting it up on screen.”

  The main screen popped to life with two scenes from the Yascurra. One of the images from the helmet cam the marine carried was in visual light and one was in infrared. The massive hangar deck in the mid section of the ship was dark, with the atmosphere frozen out as precipitate on the deck. No sound accompanied the video feed, there was no atmosphere to carry it. The camera panned across the deck, showing a dozen ground combat insertion shuttles sitting in their cradles, covered with frost.

  This doesn't end well. That's nitrogen frost.

  “Where are all the bodies?” Seto asked. “The hangar deck is usually packed during a battle.”

  “That's true,” Sarah said. “Maybe that's a good sign.”

  Harmeen seemed to have similar thoughts. “Infrared says it's a cold ship Captain, although that doesn't mean they don't have a compartment inside that they've insulated and heated with a portable power unit.”

  “Sometimes people crawl into small places as they're dying. Maybe they had time to crawl away,” Gilbert offered. “I've found dead soldiers curled up in the fetal position in all sorts of small spots.”

  “Wait and see,” Sarah said. “We simply don't know yet.”

  The marines walked the length of the hangar, toward the front of the ship. Soft illumination reflected like iridescent prisms from the hoarfrost on the deck as helmet lights shined on the floor. Sarah held her breath. The ship was spooky seen on the screen of the Stennis, she could only imagine what it felt like to the marines of the rescue crew.

  The lights were on in one of the shuttles, and it radiated slightly on the infrared camera. Nitrogen frost covered the outside.

  “Sergeant Ebele, move closer to that shuttle,” Commander Gilbert said.

  “On it sir,” Ebele replied. His breathing was loud. Probably a sign of nerves.

  The camera jostled as the soldier moved across the deck in magnetic boots, then stopped by the airlock of the shuttle as Sergeant Ebele extended his hand to absorb his momentum. The sergeant laid his suited hand flat on the hatch control panel, and a thin layer of frozen gas wafted away from heat escaping his suit. Ebele plugged his comm into the panel. “Hail shuttle. Anyone on board?”

  After a short pause a gravelly female voice replied. “Yes! Yes, oh yes.”

  “Commander, I've found survivors,” Ebele said, then keyed the panel again. “How many on board?”

  “Four of us, we need food, fresh water... please.”

  “Okay, we have supplies, we'll get them to you, be patient a few moments longer,” Ebele said to the survivors. “Covas, take Wilkins and Barr, go to the shuttle, bring back four EVA suits, high energy bricks and water.”

  “Sure, sergeant.”

  Ebele keyed the panel again, “We're getting food, water, and suits for you. Once that's done, I'll come in via the airlock, get you all a bit to eat and drink, then get you suited. We're going to get you to the Stennis so medical can take care of you.”

  “I can't believe you finally came.” Desperation and gratitude filled her sobs.

  * * *

  Twenty minutes later the shuttle pilot flew the four survivors back to the Stennis while a shuttle from the Hinden flew to take it's place at the hangar airlock. Eight marines moved forward in the ship, into the living and working compartments. They searched hatch by hatch. In some areas the ship was oddly sterile, as if it was never inhabited. In other places the dead littered the ground, frozen to the floor. Much of the crew fell where they stood when the bomb irradiated them, but some lived long enough to be violently ill. This became more common in the inner compartments of the ship, where there was more shielding and death took time.

  “I'd rather take a bullet,” Ebele said over the speaker. Sarah sympathized as she heard the frustration in his voice. It was understandable. She'd hoped for more survivors as well.

  “Me too,” Gilbert silently mouthed to Sarah, agreeing with Ebele.

  The marines advanced forward in the ship, gangway after gangway. The last hatch along the central gangway was the bridge.

  “Entering the bridge.”

  The bridge had four dead crewman in their grav couches, staring vacantly from frozen eyes.

  That could have been my bridge crew if… Sarah patted the bulkhead next to her in fond gratitude. The Stennis's new heavy combat armor saved a lot of lives

  “That's Captain Lande,” Corriea said sadly. “I served with him on the Laciter.”

  Sarah watched as the marines looked over the equipment, following Lieutenant Harmeen's orders to check various consoles. The ship's computers scrambled when the EMP struck. All electronics, except for the hardened equipment deemed critical to the survival of the ship was either destroyed by the EMP or shut down. The captain's station on the bridge still worked, and once powered up revealed a lot of data about how the Yascurra died. Life support shut down immediately from the EMP despite being hardened, and environmental temperatures began to fall fast forward of the hangar. The hangar, being a larger volume and a greater thermal mass, took longer to cool. The majority of the crew died long before cold became a problem.

/>   The primary radio system was destroyed. Most of the bridge control panels were junk.

  Harmeen seemed optimistic despite the damage. “There's a lot of fried equipment, Captain, but my teams can repair most of it from hardened storage or filching spares from the other ships. The finished product might be a bit more crude than it was before.”

  Sarah shook off the specter of death and the memories that came with it. Seeing the dead reminded her of cleaning the Chimera on the jump to Mindari. “I guess that's some sort of good news, Mister Harmeen. Once medical has dealt with the dead, we'll get started on repairs.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Lieutenant, have the hangar deck on the Yascurra set up as a temporary morgue, and keep it cold. We will move the dead to the morgue on the Stennis as soon as we can. Tell Dr. Jannis I said to use the areas that are still in a vacuum if our morgue overflows. We'll have a proper memorial after we jump to the star system Science discovered.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” Harmeen said.

  Gilbert frowned. “Somber stuff. Captain, cleanup might be easier if we tethered the ship first. We can port power over from the Stennis and start the process of warming the ship, at least the front areas.”

  “If the wiring on the Yascurra is intact enough. But that's a good plan if she's flyable. Or we can use a tug.”

  “She worked well enough to hold position during the jump, so we should be able to move her to tether. I've linked the autopilot on the Yascurra to our bridge here. We will function as the Yascurra’s bridge during the maneuver.”

  Commander Gilbert was proving to be efficient in battle and after. Something she liked. “Very well, Commander, bring the Yascurra in close and tie her up.”

  “Right away, Captain.”

  Half an hour later the Yascurra was expertly tethered to the Stennis, and work crews began boarding her.

  Sarah felt the morale of her crew sinking. She heard it in the section reports coming into the bridge. Both from the Stennis, and from reports coming in from the other vessels. She understood, but couldn't let it happen. Rumors about their situation were flying, Sarah was sure. “Commander Gilbert, it's time we let the fleet know what's going on.”

  “I agree, people are going to get less cooperative if they feel it's for nothing.”

  “Let's fix that.”

  Sarah activated the intercom for the fleet. “This is Captain Dayson. I know the last few months were rough. We lost a lot of people. We just learned coming out of the jump that we are way off our original course. We're nineteen thousand light-years above the galactic plane. I imagine that would make some throw in the towel.” She paused to let the crew digest that, then brightened her voice. “But not me, and none of you either. That's not what Seventh Fleet does. Science has located one star system within jump range, and our course is plotted. As soon as we get the fleet repaired, we'll jump there. I'm naming the star Oasis, a name I chose because it's the only hope for us out here in the deepest and darkest desert any of us will ever be in. You have made me proud, when events tried to break you, you bent and bounced back instead. So let's get our jobs done and go to Oasis. Colonist, is sounding pretty good right now. Dayson out.”

  “Oasis huh? When did you come up with that?” Gilbert asked.

  Sarah smirked. “About ten seconds ago. A quick decision. Lately it feels like that's how I do things half the time.”

  “A bit corny, but it's a good name. I like it,” he replied. “That concept should lift the crew enough to get our business done here.”

  “One way or another, the job will be done. We're still Seventh Fleet.”

  “Of course, Captain.”

  Sarah felt thought about her dead crewmen. She thought about her lost ships at Hamor. About the Yascurra. She owed the dead her gratitude. She owed the living her service and leadership. She thought about the faces in the gangway, despondent. While she hadn't delivered them a way home, she had delivered them hope for a life.

  “Seto, get me a list of the dead. Hard copy, delivered to my quarters.”

  Seto was used to that order. “Right away, Captain.”

  Not only will my crews survive, we'll be free of the Hive. Humanity will have a future even if it's limited to one star system.

  Chapter 46 - Disaster

  03 MAI 15327

  Sarah stared at Harmeen blankly. He sat across the table squirming uncomfortably.“What do you mean we can't jump?”

  “The injectors on reactor two fused closed. They overheated during our last jump and that's that. The tips melted shut and we don't have spares.”

  Sarah wanted to explode. The repairs on the fleet were as complete as they could be considering their location. The Yascurra had a functioning crew and the new pilot recruits were in simulators training nearly every waking moment.

  “We can jump, we'll just explode when we get back to realspace. Subtle difference,” Harmeen said when Sarah sat silently.

  “The only difference is in what point we die and the method.”

  Corriea broke in, as uncomfortable as Harmeen. “There's another difference. If we stay here, the entire fleet dies. If we jump, it's only the Stennis that dies when we drop back to realspace. The other ships will be fine.”

  Sarah answered absentmindedly. A thousand ideas raced in her head, and none of them saved her ship. “Good point, Peter.”

  Gilbert, Jannis, Harmeen, and Corriea sat silently, thinking alongside the Captain.

  “Is there anyway to run a cable outside the ship to power the coolant systems?” Gilbert asked.

  “If we shut down most of the other systems on the ship that should be possible.” The look on Harmeen's face was of discomfort and reluctance. “Reactors one and three aren't nearly as powerful as two, because they don't actually do anything but power ships systems. The most power hungry system, by far, is the coolant system for the FTL drive. Even with both reactors shunted to the inputs for that system, the pumping system will be at seventy percent of optimum.”

  Gilbert must have noticed Harmeen's demeanor, he pressed the junior officer. “What will we need to shut down elsewhere?”

  A deep sigh from Harmeen. “I ran simulations on this. Every system in the ship except life support will need to be offline. We could set the bridge up to run on batteries for the maneuver.”

  Sarah jumped in. “You'll have to pardon me, Lieutenant, if that sigh doesn't fill me with confidence.”

  “Simulations estimate a thirty percent chance of success, mainly due to not having systems available for contingencies at jump termination.”

  Sarah shook her head. “Unacceptable. There has to be another way.”

  “I don't see it.” Harmeen wasn't taking that admission too well. Despite his use of ma'am and his public praying, he was otherwise the perfect young officer. Eager to please.

  “You're thinking about this wrong,” Gilbert said.

  Everyone stared at the XO. Sarah felt a bit guilty wondering why the grunt thought he could speak on the issue with confidence.

  Gilbert stared back, eyes wide. Probably wondering why his statement elicited such a response. “What? You're thinking about how we can fix the Stennis so we can make this jump.”

  Jannis laughed. “And you're thinking about…?”

  “What tools the fleet has so we can jump to Oasis. We did that in tanks all the time. Cannibalize one vehicle to make the one we needed to work, work.”

  Sarah stared at Gilbert a minute, then she was embarrassed when she realized what he was saying.

  I will not underestimate him again.

  She tossed a repentant grin at her XO before addressing Harmeen. “Lieutenant Harmeen, what are the fusion generators on the Fyurigan capable of?”

  “Several times our output, Captain, they're made to power the bases the Fyurigan builds until…” Harmeen paused as he clearly saw Gilbert's point. Then he added a rebuttal. “But that system is set up to power a station that is unmoving relative to the Fyurigan.”

  “Which is ho
w we jump,” Gilbert said.

  Corriea laughed nervously. “You want the Fyurigan to power our coolant system? That will take some serious navigation, sir. For over a month.”

  Gilbert wasn't going to surrender. “Which is your job, right?”

  “Which is why I'm not sure if it can be done. One idle moment and a bit of drift and it's over for us.” Corriea was polite, but he wasn't overly so. He didn't like Gilbert's plan.

  “Is there greater than a thirty percent chance you can accomplish it?” Gilbert asked.

  “I'd have to run sims. And no sim can account for human error.” Corriea looked at Sarah. “Captain, you can't seriously be considering this?”

  Sarah was starting to come on board with the idea. “Yes, I am considering it. Unless you can tell me why it won't work.”

  “Theoretically it's fine, but you're talking about putting the two largest ships in the fleet in close proximity for the entire jump. Ships are approved two-hundred fifty meters of drift inside the bubble for a reason, Captain. Gravity waves will move the vessels around, sometimes faster than the nav systems can keep up if we're talking about the distances you're going to need. Any contact will be disastrous. The Fyurigan is a dozen times our mass and three times as long.”

  “Why's that a problem?” Gilbert asked. “Connect the ships with a cable over five hundred meters long.”

  Silence.

  Sarah punched the comm panel in the middle of the briefing table. “Seto, get the Captain of the Fyurigan on the channel. Patch him through to me in the briefing room.”

  “Wilco, Captain,” Seto answered.

  A short while later a new voice joined theirs. “Fleet Captain Dayson? Captain Vargas.”

  Sarah leaned forward, toward the comm. “Captain Vargas, we have a proposition for you. Can the Fyurigan hold position relative to the Stennis during a jump well enough that your ship could power our coolant systems with a power cable?”

  “You're still having problems?” Vargas paused a moment, probably to consult with a crew member. “I believe we can. Our external power cables are all expandable to keep a safe distance. Shouldn't be a problem.”