Distress and relief

Posted on Saturday July 28th, 2018 @ 3:11pm by Brigadier General Aidan Thornton & Lieutenant JG Niklas Blom M.D. Ph.D & Lieutenant Sarah Pine & Crewman Recruit ISS Oracle Hull 2274-DS7D & Thorn Ironhart

1,873 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Season 2: Mission 1: Day after Day
Location: Deep space
Timeline: Oct 14, 4566 afternoon

"Flight log of starship hull 2274-DS7D, ISS Oracle.  Flying through Rift Space in an attempt to find the Free Spacer mother ship supposedly stationed here.  It's beautiful, the blue of the Expanse shining off of spatial anomalies out here.  But I have to be careful.  These things will tear my ship apart if I get too close."  The woman in the camera turned to the blue light washing over her ship, smiling as it seemed to wash over her scars.  The lense of a flashlight where her ear should have been flashed as ripples of light cascaded through the canopy.  But then something caught her attention and her head snapped to the screen again.  A beeping took over and a red light flashed in the upper corner of her screen.  "Something just locked on.  Alright, time to roll!  Fifty percent burn, evasive maneuvering, ho.  End log."

The ship as hilariously tiny as her Captain lurched as reactor plasma was spun to high pressure, a small dose of fuel being injected to give a two kilometer plume of electromagnetically enriched nuclear fire that shunted the ship almost immediately out of range of whatever had locked on, pushing anomalies out of the way, until one formed inside of the reactor, and Thorn instructed her ship to jump to a safe range.  The anomaly wouldn't let her go so easily, and the probabilities shifted.
The ship let off a mighty shriek with her pilot, almost in pain as it was ripped apart, kicking its way out of space and time, and somewhere, space seemed to ripple for a moment.  Something formed under normal space and time, the relativistic blister growing before it ruptured with a flash of light and radiation, wide enough to hide a moon, the eight meter ship was flung tumbling from the spacetime rupture as it collapsed with another flash of light, damaging exotic particles, and radiation.

And so the ship would tumble through space, the burst of radiation washing over the fractured frame and anything within fifty lightyears detecting a moon jumping in.  But they would find nothing save this little ship.

"May-- --day, m----y!  Hull 2274-D---* Orac-- -equesting imm**te tow and --- repor--- ssive systems failures an* ----* #-normalities.  Life support o**ne, main --gines offline.  ical cam---s and navigat ----nsors offline.  If some--- can hear m, I don't know wh** I am.  Please triangulate --------.  Set-------- to repeat and activa--- -ryogenic susp---on of----**."
The signal faded in and out as though the communications array was damaged, but the voice was scratchy, small, distinctly identifiable as human.  The face on video was heavily scarred, her green eyes piercing through the screen and static as though she could see and plead for help through the repeating, automated broadcast.  Her brown hair floated as though there was no gravity aboard the ship, but it was distinctly a distress call.
 
Aidan was on the bridge in the command chair when the call came in. " Helm, plot a course and get within teleport range.

"Aye Captain." the helm officer said. 

"Security to the teleport room. Damage control and Medical on standby."
HarperMadi, Queen of CaffeineToday at 7:51 PM

The small ship would be immediately identified by the awkward angle of the central beam, one of the pods almost hanging off, and the reactor wall ruptured, spewing radioactive plasma into space.  But there was still power, and the beacon was still blaring, much clearer, now.  Though if one actually measured, the ship was too small to board, a mere eight meters in length.  Barely a manned probe.  Covered in organic growth, and the sensor boom snapped off and drifting, held nearby only by cables.  The engine wall appeared sheared off at points, and something was hemorrhaging liquid hydrogen into space.
 
"Bridge to Engineering. Any way we can disable the pollution. Would be nice to save the ship if we can." Aidan asked. ( Invent something Harper, I can work around it.)
 
As the signal cleared in proximity, several things would become clear, from the picture of a woman with black hair and blue eyes floating across the camera, to the flashlight on the remains of the pilot's left ear flickering.  The distress signal repeated, "Mayday, mayday, mayday!  Hull 2274-DS7D, ISS Oracle requesting immediate tow and aid, reporting massive systems failures and jump abnormalities.  Life support offline, main engines offline.  Optical cameras and navigational sensors offline.  If someone can hear me, I don't know where I am.  Please triangulate mayday call.  Setting call to repeat and activating cryogenic suspension of pilot Thorn Ironhart."
 
The Lavie dropped into normal space. "Mister Raven, can we get a tractor beam on that." Energy lances out from the emitters, and it takes a few seconds to slow and stabilize the small craft.  "Engineering to the Bridge. "If we can get leak under control, bringing it aboard won't present too much trouble."

"Acknowledged, Stand by." Aidan said. "Oracle, I am Colonel Aidan Thornton from the DFS Lavie. Can we be of assistance?"
 
The signal only repeated, the pilot being under cryo.  But the ship felt itself slow, and it understood the intent of the signal it received.  In stead of borrowing a voice, it sent a databurst of diagnostics and the status of its pilot, including her last thought, of a woman she missed.  Someone by the name of Sarah Pine.

It also sent the last thirty hours of video logs to show what had happened in the Lavie's attempts at rescue.  But then it just shut down.  Fuel stopped flowing to the reactor, and the ship went into dormant battery power, the stream of radioactive plasma sputtering out.
Two things would be apparent by the databurst.  One, that Thorn was not the only crew member in need of rescue, as the ship was acting on its own in her interest, and two, that she was from the same place as someone else on the crew.
 
"Colonel. The ship is now on battery power. The threat to the ship is minimal. " Trent commented. 

"Bring it into cargo bay two." Tapping the com, he said. "Security and Medical teams  to Cargo bay two." He got up. "Mister Raven, resume course, and you have the bridge." Getting into the lift, he adjusted his uniform. Getting off on the correct deck there were three armed guard and Niklas Blom showed up from Medical. Scanning the ship, he declared, "One life sign, very faint.  Computer, erect a biohazard forceshield and commence decontamination."  Energy lance into a column around the ship and several drones beamed in and worked for few seconds. The energy disappears, and Niklas popped the door open. Scanning the interior, he started the thawing process.
Scanning the occupant, the cryo chamber opened. Niklas reached in and applied a hypospray to the woman's neck.
 
It would take a few moments for Thorn's eyes to flutter open, her body starting to shiver in the cold.  She started to move slowly, pushing off the grogginess that always came with cryo.  Yawning widely, she stretched, the whine in her chest betraying the turbine buried deep within.  Then she froze, staring at the unfamiliar face in front of her, and the expansive cargo bay she sat in.  "Where... Where am I?"
 
"You are safe." Nik offered. Aidan put his hand on Nik's shoulder. Nik got up and he took his place. "I'm Colonel Thornton, you are aboard a Galactic Federation ship. He looked over and saw a picture. "How are you feeling?"
 
"Cold, kinda groggy.  Is my ship okay?  She's... last I remember, she was hurt bad."  Thorn's eyes moved over to the Colonel as she absently picked up the picture and put it under her space suit's chestplate.  "Galactic Federation?  I'm... I'm not in the Kikyo sector anymore, am I?"
 
At the mention of that name, Aidan asked, "Kikyo...okay too coincidental. Is that a picture of Sarah?"
 
"Ahm... Sarah... Pine? Yeah.  She was... Don't worry about it.  Is the Oracle going to be okay?"  Thorn seemed to shrink in on herself and lock down at that subject, changing gears in an attempt to save some awkward conversation.
 
Aidan tapped his combadge. "Sarah Pine to Cargo bay 2 on the double."
 
["Yes sir."]
 
Thorn suddenly lurched out of the pod, nearly falling over as the stiffness in her legs faded.  She walked a short distance away to see her ship, or at least the rent hulk that used to be her pride and joy. 

Covering her mouth in shock, she could only whisper, "Oh, Goddess..."
 
Sarah came jogging in, but froze when she saw the familiar looking wreck. The two men blocked the small woman from view however.

"Sir......what...is this? Where did you find this?"
 
Aidan offered, "Distress call. Calm down and do not rush the craft." Aidan got up.
 
"What do me not rush, and calm down?! That's Thorn's ship.", Sarah said trying hard to hide her panic.
 
Aidan backed off and said, "I suspect you two know each other."
 
"Sarah?  Oh, my God, Sarah!"  Thorn turned and ran to the taller woman, jumping up for a flying hug with a squeal of delight.  "I thought I'd never see you again!"
 
Niklas winced from the shrieks as did most of the men. He noted the effect and added a noise cancellation reminder for when he was programming next.
 
Sarah embraced the hug happy her fears had been misplaced, "Thorn what are you doing here? I thought you were in Kikyo?"
 
"I don't know, I hit a spacial anomaly and tried to jump out and the Oracle's hurt.  She's hurt bad." Thorn buried her face in the crook of Sarah's neck and took a deep, shuddering breath.  "I thought I was a goner..."
 
Niklas interjected. "You keep referring to the ship as she which I normally associate with  affectation. Or are you implying it really is alive?"
 
Something suddenly made a scraping sound within the hulk of twisted metal, a camera gimbal swivelling around to try and focus on something.  Anything.  A beating fuel pump sucked air as the hydrogen finally ran out.

"She's... Maybe.  She can act on her own and has a lot of living components.  Her AI also has a stronger will to live than I do."  Thorn didn't pull her head from Sarah's shoulder, choosing in stead to relish the reunion.
 
NIklas got up. "You two, commiserate somewhere else. She's my patient now. Looking around the room, he advised, 'if you aren't Medical or Engineering, find someone where else to be, please."
 
 Sarah stroked the woman's hair as she had done long ago, "How about we go to my quarters where you can rest as the doctor works, and you can tell us everything that happened if you're up for it."

"Yeah...  Don't let her die on me..."  Thorn's whisper faded as she relaxed into Sarah's arms.  Sarah's picture fell from her breastplate and fell, the laminated aluminum bouncing off the ground a few times.

"No fear. The android is here." Nik offered with confidence.

 

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