Fiction: The Girassian Debacle Chapter 6: Time for Most

Previous Chapter 5: A Magnificent Flyby https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2022/10/26/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-5-a-magnificent-flyby/

Lieutenant Commander Song stood on the bridge of the London. Her bridge. She attentively listened to the interchange between her security team and Poseidon’s repair team which had just arrived at the breach caused by the collision with the Diomedes. The chief of Poseidon’s repair team was rebuking the sergeant of the marines over the patch the marines had put over an opening into a passageway of the ship. The seal was not complete and atmosphere continued to leak out around the patch. The repair team planned to remove the patch and dismissed the warning by the sergeant that the robot repair units should not use torches due to a nearby fuel leak. The marines’ warnings were being dismissed.

The Captain and Gray floated just outside the entry into the gaping hole in the hull. Song adjusted the cameras to a close up of them, the six marines in the background around their work on a patch. The other six marines of squad were off camera, securing loose equipment in the periphery of the breach.  The marines started to withdraw from the immediate vicinity they had patched.    

“What the…  Why are you not listening to us?” Song said into her com calling the Poseidon. “This is Commander Song of the London. Our marine squad has detected a fuel leak into the breach.”

When the flash occurred, it delivered a gut punch to Song. Blinding light, followed by a conflagration that spit out more debris including human figures visible for an instant. Captain Maureau hurtled past the London within a cloud of debris from the explosionand tumbled head over heels towards Alpha One. Pieces of rocket nozzles  spun around him. Song had to catch her breath to speak.  

“Yoshi?”

“Yoshi has a bearing on all of the London’s star-sailors,” Yoshi answered.

“A fix on the Captain?” she squeezed out in a barely audible voice. 

“Captain Maureau and Gray have been blasted past the London. Six marines have been enveloped by the explosion. Six marines are still off the breach regaining control of their flight.”

“The Captain’s bearing?” 

“Four hundred fifteen kilometers per hour directly towards Alpha One. Impact in forty seconds,” Yoshi said in a synthetic, computer voice, with no hint of emotion.

“Security. Whoever is there. Take stations in the air lock. We will have more incoming casualties.”

“Can we pick him up before he reaches Alpha One?”

“Yes, if London accelerates directly towards the Station. This action will not be compliant with safety regulations,” he said emphatically.

“Do it, on my mark.” She hit the red alert alarm. “All crew! Emergency! Brace for immediate acceleration with deceleration. Immediate action.”  

She waited and then gave the order, “Yoshi, execute rescue in mark three seconds. Two. One. Now!”

The London accelerated away from the Poseidon, precisely on the “now”of her command. The 2-G force of Yoshi’s acceleration threw many of the crew into a bulkhead, into their counsel, off their gurney in the Medical Bay. The London rocketed away from the Poseidon towards Alpha One.

 Thrown to the deck, Song was face to face with Yoshi who was secure in his jump seat. “Can we do it without damaging the Station?”

“London will stress the view port of the Station on stopping. The review delegation is in the view port’s amphitheater . The plastiglass of the view port will hold for two minutes and fifteen seconds before breaking. Time for most to evacuate.”

“Time for most?” Song said.

“Yoshi cannot analyze the effectiveness of the group’s evacuation.”

“Will we be able to pick up Gray?”

“There is a seventy percent probability that Yoshi can catch both Lieutenant Gray together with Captain Maureau.”

Song broke out into a sweat with sudden nausea. She switched coms to the Operations Center of Alpha One. “London coming in. Prepare for possible collision. Evacuate the viewing amphitheater!” She repeated this, ignoring the command coming in from the Poseidon to halt the rescue attempt. Admiral Rankin’s roar filled the bridge.

__________

The dignitaries gathered in the large viewing amphitheater of Alpha One looked out the large viewing port at the expanding cloud of debris. They could not discern the bodies of crew caught in the explosion. The corvette that had held its position near the damaged section of the Poseidon started to move towards them, accelerating away from the Poseidon seemingly in chase of the cloud of debris. No one could see Captain Maureau and Lieutenant Gray 

Senator Vastatis stared through the plastiglass viewing port in disbelief. He knew it was the London  headed directly towards the Station . He and Yeoman sat in the middle of the second row of the amphitheater. No one moved to get out of the hall, everyone frozen in indecision. Yeoman shouted as he realized the corvette appeared to be headed directly at the amphitheater.  The ship did not slow down, closing on them like a missile on target. Everyone joined him in screaming.

Rance Yeoman acted before the others in the amphitheater. He jumped up onto his seat and ran along the row of seats, grabbing heads and sometimes hair to maintain his balance. 

In the last instant before collision, the lateral trim impulse rockets erupted, their exhaust blanketing the plexiglass viewing port in flame. The force of the eruption against the plastiglass shook the amphitheater.  The London itself stopped meters away from the plastiglass hull of the Station, the force of the blast booming against the plastiglass spreading a web of fracture lines in the viewing port.

People panicked as they anticipated the cracked plastiglass would shatter with the atmosphere of the hall blowing them all out into space. They finally moved. Scrambling people wedged themselves into the rows of seats, shoving and elbowing one another to get to the passageway beyond the amphitheater. Vastatis futilely shouting into the uproar to restore order.

Yeoman had skipped along the row reaching the last seat in the row occupied by a woman who had been knocked back into her seat. He vaulted off her lap and fell onto the deck. Rolling upright, he limped into the passageway and stepped in the passageway out of the amphitheater. He tried to swing the hatch closed. 

__________

Marine Master Chief Petty Officer Nicholas Hall saved Lieutenant Commander Song’s career. In one way of thinking, he may have saved human civilization, but that is another story.  From his position of attention at the doorway to the amphitheater, he watched the London’s rockets fire and thunder against the view port of the amphitheater. He saw the fracture lines and knew immediately everyone needed to be evacuated.  The only way it would happen was if they left in an orderly fashion.  A wild looking man had stepped over and onto people in the second row and rolled up to him.

Hall reached down to help him up, but the man scrambled past him and bolted for the door. There was something about him that alerted Hall. The clench of the man’s jaw. The wild look in his eyes. The shaking of his head. Hall just knew this man would do something rash. He saw him start to swing the door’s hatch closed.

The heavy hatch snapped into the frame. Before a fatal click, Hall launched himself at the hatch, driving all of his weight with his shoulder. The heavy hatch opened before it locked, pushing back the perpetrator. There was no time for negotiation. Hall hit the man with an upper cut, dropping him to the deck. He plunged back into the amphitheater looking over his shoulder to make sure the panicked man remained on the deck.

“Stay calm! Stay calm!” Hall shouted above all of the screaming. “Follow me and you will be ok.” Hall lifted people and started to extricate them from one another. He recognized Senator Vastatis calming individuals and actually getting them to back off from pushing forward. The pileup eased after Hall literally pulled some people out and threw them into the aisle of the amphitheater. There were going to be some  bruised egos after this. He hoped there would not be another jam-up at the door. 

Another officer arrived and helped people through the opening, one at a time. On the other side of the hall, two more crew of the Station helped bring some order to the evacuation.

Glancing up Hall noted the plastiglass bulging. It would rupture soon and the only questions were how wide the hole in the fractured plastiglass would be, the vacuum force pulling the remaining members of the delegation out into space. He was not going to be able to get everyone on his side of the amphitheater through the door before the plexiglass ruptured. Hall heard voices of other Station crew shepherding people down the passageway. 

“A life line! A life line!” he shouted..

__________

“The Captain and Gray are secured! Both unconscious but we saved both.” The report from Security in the airlock bay came just as the retro-rocket blast hit Alpha One. Song had no time to be relieved as she saw the viewing portal plastiglass sprout a web of fracture lines. 

There never had been a question in Song’s mind whether she should order the London to accelerate towards Alpha One to prevent Captain Maureau from colliding with it. Her BDP, which had proven its capability several times, reported that the damage would not be substantial. She trusted Yoshi without asking him the chances of the ship hitting the Station.

But as she stood on the bridge watching the crowd trickle out of the amphitheater she recalled Yoshi had said that there would be “time for most”of the attendees to make it out of the amphitheater. 

“London, you better be able to rescue any jettisoned members of the delegation,” Admiral Rankin said over the com.  

“We can catch any people who are spaced,” Yoshi said. 

“Of course, of course. Catch all the people!” she shouted, angry with herself that it had taken the Rankin and the BDP to suggest the action.  The ship had to first back away from the Station in order to rotate and orientate its airlock bay to catch incoming people sucked out towards the London. Yoshi was executing the maneuver when she saw the plastiglass view port explode outwards. 

__________

Hall bought time for the handful of delegates and dignitaries remaining in the room. He grabbed the lifeline thrown out from the door. There were seven left on his side of the hall. 

“Grab this line. Grab it and hold on for dear life!” He took the line and stretched it out so that the remaining people could grab it. Hall anchored himself at the end.

The plastiglass seemed to bend outward, shiver, and then the center blew out. Instantly a force grabbed them and they lifted off the deck, a row of people desperately holding onto the rope. Crew in the passageway started to pull the lifeline in, but the grip of a few loosened and as they slid down the rope into one another, they bunched up against Hall at the end of the rope.

He had to hold. Untrained passengers would hold their breath if they left the ship and the vacuum of space would fatally burst their lungs . A fourth person slid into the bunched group at the end of the lifeline, pounding into him as they were unable to maintain a secure grip on the line. Hall remained a shield preventing them from being sucked into space. He held onto the rope until the last person used his legs to push off Hall and reach out for the passageway. Hall could not hold against the kick and lost his grip. He was sucked out of the amphitheater hall into space.

__________

When Maureau’s consciousness cleared, the first person he recognized was his XO, Song.  “Kristina, what are you doing here? You should be on the bridge. We have an accident to take care of.”  

She looked relieved, a great burden just taken off her shoulders. “Ahktar-Gatewood has the bridge. We are standing off the Task Force at five kilometers from the last ship in line. Rankin wants the London out of the way of the Task Force.”

“What? Why? Are we still at Alpha One?” 

“Yes, Sir. We are orbiting with the Station. Our line stretches fourteen kilometers. Poseidon and Diomedes are in dock. ”

He closed his eyes, overwhelming exhaustion took hold. His head swam and he lost consciousness. He awoke again after an hour and insisted on getting out of bed and sitting up. Dr. Gladman cautioned him to avoid over-exertion. Maureau would have tried to go to the bridge, but Gladman was adamant he needed to rest. 

If he had been honest with him, Maureau would have admitted he felt horrible sitting up in a chair in the Medical Bay. It took a lot of effort, but he forced himself to put on an affect of alertness and told Gladman he felt fine. The doctor looked unconvinced. 

Maureau called the bridge. Ahktar-Gatewood answered. “Lieutenant Ahktar-Gatewood, what is going on? Where is Song?” Maureau used the speaker system in the Medical Bay, unable to imagine putting on a headset and having someone speaking directly into his ear.

“I have temporarily been given the bridge by Lieutenant Gray. She is with her marines.”

“What are you talking about? Who gave her command of the bridge.”

“Admiral Rankin, sir. I defer to Commander Song to explain everything. I will send her back down.” After the effort to look bright and alert, Maureau was too tired to protest. He drifted back into sleep again.

When he stirred again, he saw that Song sat next to him, hands on knees, looking straight ahead, focussing on a distant point that would be past the bulkhead of the Medical Bay. He drifted off. Another hour passed before he woke up. Song had stayed with him the entire time. 

Dr. Gladman did a quick neurological exam, checking his pupillary reactions, assessing grip and ankle strength and reflexes.

“All of your scans are all right. No intracerebral bleed. No rupture in the liver, kidney, or spleen.”

“Thanks, thanks. Spare the details. All I need to know is if I am all right.  When can I go back to duty?”

“At least forty-eight hours at the very earliest,” Gladman said. “You must rest and not stress yourself, physical or mentally.”

“That is not possible. Won’t happen, doctor.” Maureau looked to Song who was still staring off into the distance. “What’s going on, Song. Don’t tell me I’m not able to make decisions.”

“Captain, it is my duty to clear you medically to take back command. I will let  you two alone,” Gladman dismissed himself.”

“Well?” 

“Ah, a lot has happened, Captain. As you may recall, the Poseidon and Diomedes ran into each other.”

“Kristina, I’m not confused. I recall what happened. Casualties?”

“We picked up all of their spaced crew, twenty-seven in all. Fourteen survived. Six of our marines died in the explosion afterwards along with four of their maintenance team. We picked you and Gray up before you hit the Station.” Song spoke rapidly, not letting Maureau interject any question. “A total of twenty-three died in this disaster.

“The Poseidon is so damaged it will not be able to leave with the Task Force. Rankin needs a new flagship. He’s called in the Athena.”

“Come on,” Maureau said. “I want to know what this is that Ahktar-Gatewood tells me about Lieutenant Gray now being the acting-XO?”

“I have been relieved of duty for my actions and Rankin field promoted her to acting-XO.”

“What!” The force of his exclamation hammered his head so that he saw stars.

“Sir, we’ve been blamed, in part, for the collision of Diomedes with the drifting Poseidon. For not using proper channels to communicate. The London’s marine teamis also being blamed for the explosion due to defective work patching the breach.” She sighed long and paused. 

Song slowed down, speaking very precisely. “I have been relieved of duty for disobeying a direct order from Admiral Rankin to stand down from my chase after you. You were heading straight towards Alpha One. I made a decision that put the Station and the dignitaries in danger. I did not collide directly with it but did damage it. Fortunately, no one died. We caught you before you hit the Station.”

“And saved me,” Maureau said softly. A wave of nausea accompanied the pain in his head. He fought back the urge to vomit.

Go on to Chapter 7: A Great Team https://onthebeachatnightalone.com/2022/12/28/fiction-the-girassian-debacle-chapter-7-a-great-team/