Sending you the scan results now.”
There was silence for a moment as Grace reviewed the results. “She's full of micro shrapnel. You saved her life Captain. Don't know if I can patch her up but I might be able to put her in deep stasis so she'll keep until we can get real doctors aboard.” He could hear her getting ready in the background.
“That's what I was hoping.”
“Sir, a transit vessel is trying to dock with us. I can't raise them on comms.” Cynthia said as she sat back down at her station. She was rattled, had taken refuge under her station during the firefight but was making a quick recovery.
“I see them. They're locking on to a mooring point,” Ashley confirmed.
“Get us away from them. We aren't in a position to help.” Ordered Captain Valance.
“I'll try, but main engines are offline, I can't force a restart. I'm down to thrusters.”
“Do your best. What's going on in engineering?”
Liam shook his head. “We had two power plants running until just a minute ago. Someone's down there shutting things off. We're already on emergency power.”
“How much time do we have left at our consumption rate?”
“About three and a half hours, then everything powers down. I can't do anything from here, someone's disconnected the main lines.”
Captain Valance scanned one of the guards who were shot during the firefight and shook his head as his readings confirmed complete brain death. “We have to get control of something, let's start there. Frost, make internal sensors your priority. I want to see what's going on.”
“Aye sir,” Frost brought up the holographic overlay that explained all the internal security station controls as his hand moved over them to help him work faster. “Can't believe Wheeler never trained anyone for this. Someone with a wee bit o' know how would be a saviour right about now.” He muttered to himself as he changed the bridge's main holodisplay to a cross section of the ship and brought up another image detailing several of the engineering compartments. The live feeds showed several soldiers working at one of the main power plants.
“Liam, can you do anything to stop them or give us more power from here, anything at all?”
“This ship's hull is one big solar and gravity reactor.”
“Gravity reactor? I didn't see any arms out there.”
“The hull responds to pressures and shifts in the gravity influencing it and generates power. We could redirect some of that power to the command and life support systems.”
“All right, that's a great place to start.”
“I can't do it all from here, I'll have to go down three decks, almost right below us.”
“Check that route Frost.” Captain Valance ordered.
He turned and focused in on the route Liam had highlighted and didn't see anyone stationed there. “Clear, don't know for how long though.”
“Ramirez, where are you?” The Captain asked through his communicator. He waited several long moments but got no response. “Can you find them anywhere?” He asked Frost.
He floundered at the controls for a moment, looking for something then his eyebrows raised and he said; “Ah! There you are, little bugger.” to himself. Several button presses later he focused in on a dozen people huddled next to the outer hull above the main doors to hangar two. “There's most of them, all sealed up in their suits enjoyin' the view.”
“Now how did that happen?” Captain Valance asked as he looked at the image on the main holographic projector. “Cynthia, open a line to Price's private comm.”
“Aye sir,” Cynthia replied, turning back to her station.
“In the meantime, how are we for avoiding that transit ship?” Captain Valance asked Ashley.
“Not very well, they're keeping up with us fine, the only problem they're having is docking. If I stop manoeuvring they'll lock with us for sure. They nearly collided with us on a couple tries.” She was doing much better than just minutes ago. Having something to work at was keeping her mind off her best friend's condition.
“Okay, can you lock them out if they dock, Frost?”
He looked over the control panel again then turned a holographic representation of the ship until he could see the mooring point they were aiming for and selected it. “Aye, I can.”
“Good, stop manoeuvring Ash, watch the bigger picture, make sure we're not headed for a bigger collision or worse trouble. Frost, lock 'em out.”
“Aye sir.”
“I have Agameg Price on the line for you sir,” Cynthia reported. “Sounds like he's glad to hear from you.”
“Price, what are you doing outside the ship?” Asked Captain Valance.
“Four of the emergency shuttles were filled with Aucharian soldiers. They began firing on us right away and caught Ramirez and most of his team by surprise. I decided we should retreat. I would have told you but our comms were jammed.”
“We need to regroup in the command section. Can your people get to the bridge?” Captain Valance walked over to the secondary holographic display where an exterior view of the ship was being shown, it was as tall as he was. He looked at it carefully, turning the image with his hand so he was looking at the command section of the ship.
“We can if we go from the outside.”
“Fantastic, make your way almost to the observation room. Just beneath it you'll find an emergency airlock. We'll let you in there.”
“Excellent, we'll see you in a minute sir.”
Liam opened a compartment under the engineering station and found a tool kit. “I'm glad whoever had this ship before didn't pillage all the supplies,” he commented as he walked to the front of the bridge and knelt down.
“What are you doing?” Captain Valance asked quietly.
“I'm looking for the latch that'll open this hidden access panel. There's an entire flight control room beneath us according to the schematics in the computer, the access point to external power generation is there. If we're going to reroute power I'd best get to it sooner rather than later.”
“We'll wait for Price and the rest of the security team. I'd rather be safe than sorry.”
“Well, then we may as well open things up for them,” Liam insisted calmly as he opened the hidden panel and pressed a few buttons. Meter wide sections of the floor turned transparent in a radial pattern underfoot and lights came on below. There was what looked like an entirely different kind of bridge just beneath their feet. Ramps lowered on either side of the bridge for people to move back and forth between.
The holographic projectors and stations turned on, each showing different tactical grids of the area. Stations were set up with high stools, all made to command groups of starfighters, gunships and larger vessels.
“This is a carrier Captain, and as soon as we get things running right I'm sure you'll do something incredible with her. That's why I want to help you get her back in shape,” Liam said with a smile. “That is, after you've taken it back.”
The Fastest Indirect Route
“Soldiers, bloody everywhere we turn more soldiers,” Grace grumbled as she peeked around a corner to find the last hallway between her and the bridge guarded. “This is the only way to the bridge now that they managed to lock down the primary express cars.”
“Unless we go outside,” Gary, one of the volunteer nurses commented. He had triage training, which was better than most, and had arrived on the starliner.
“Well, two of us are in vacsuits.” Fiona whispered with a shrug. “If we can find one for you we could actually go around.”
Gary looked to her wide eyed. “You're serious?”
“Yup, why not? Probably almost as fast.”
“She's right. It's not like we're armed or trained for a direct firefight. Going around makes sense,” Grace agreed. She walked quietly back down the hallway to a meter wide space between doors. “Show me the emergency escape equipment and facilities in this hallway.” She whispered to the computer. She didn't know for certain if it would work, but since she was able to ask for directions effectively before, who knew what else the ship could do?
