Chapter 30 - Emergency Measures

"You need to get that fire out!" I heard Timothy shout. "It's too close to your missile magazine."

"The magazine is empty!" a female voice called back. "We shot everything during our breakout from Ursus!"

"I'm not worried about an explosion," Timothy called back. "The smoke from that fire will be poisonous if it reaches the loading tubes. Those tubes contain heavy metals that you really don't want to breathe."

"Everyone here is in suits!" the voice cried back. "We haven't had atmosphere in most of our major compartments since we got jumped by two Sa'arm scouts during our raid on Ursus. How could we breathe your bad smoke in? Right now the fire isn't near anyone."

"We're just trying to keep as many people alive as we can," Ed replied softly. "This isn't an attack on you Captain"

"Captain Custer is dead. As is our navigation officer. This is Lieutenant Dawn. I was weapons officer," the angry voice replied.

"Dawn," James said calmly. "Please understand, we're trying to get your ship to a repair dock so we can fix it."

"I agree with that!" Dawn shouted. "But the only officers left are Ensign Rutledge down in engineering and me. We lost eight crew as well, and right now Captain Custer's concubine is driving. Fortunately the man was some kind of champion racecar driver and he's been able to evade the Sa'arm attacks. Better than I can at least."

I glanced over at Diana to see one of her eyebrows rise. Cassidy was staring at the speaker in silence as the others continued to speak.

James," I heard Linus call out. "We have four Sa'arm scouts in the system now. Two are definitely stalking the Cabo San Lucas. The others appear to be aiming for a gravity slingshot around Kali to give them speed for an attack run on us."

"We mined that route well enough, I hope," James replied. "And I hope we've done something about the timing of our system defenses so that we have a better chance to catch the scouts."

"We did," Reggie replied. "But Terrence is the best at this and he's sleeping. I'm covering and will try to time it right. We still need to get rid of the two after Cabo, and with Cabo's IFF not functional we can't use most of our automated defenses."

"I have Debby ready and Linus has Brad ready to go," Tyson said. "But they are still out of range."

"Can you get them before they get us?" Dawn asked. "We're down to about sixty percent of our maximum acceleration and it's dropping. Our starboard engine is starting to fail."

"I'm turning on a navigational beacon," Linus said. "Turn and head for that. Unless your acceleration drops to nothing you'll stay far enough ahead of the scouts to avoid any attacks until we can range on them and this should get them to line up nicely for our shots."

"Turning now," Lieutenant Dawn said.

"James!" I heard Michelle call out. "Admiral Himmel is calling for a report on Sahara."

"Damn!" James replied. "Put him through and then see if you can wake Captain Narvaza. Yvette do we have any status on the people in the medical pods?"

"Mieko!" A voice called out from the medical room. I turned to look and saw Gina stepping from the passage. "Let James know that all of Sahara's crew we put into pods are recovering nicely, and remind him that I need a couple helpers for when they start emerging. The first two should be out in about thirty minutes."

Before I could speak three children ran into the room. I glanced over and realized that Roge, Jose and Lupe had just entered.

"Auntie Marie told us to come here and help Gina!" Roge called out.

"Helpers for you Gina," Ingrid called out. "Meiko we have a crewman from Sahara incoming."

Lieutenant Cassidy looked over at the doorway to the main passage. "I'll talk to him," she replied.

I turned my attention back to the speakers. "James," Admiral Himmel gruffly said. "You have another of my ships there I hear."

"Two now," James replied. "The original report was for Sahara. She arrived from Wolf with severe damage to her port side. Originally we hoped we could turn her in a day, but it now looks like a four-day repair. We're having to cut away a lot of damage."

"And the second?" the Admiral asked.

"Cabo San Lucas jumped in about two hours ago," James replied. "She's being pursued right now, and we are trying to eliminate the scouts that are chasing her. The casualties on Cabo appear to be severe."

"How bad?"

"We haven't been able to get a full report as the ship is still trying to run from the Sa'arm scouts, but the weapons officer is in charge and she's said that the only other officer is the ensign in engineering. She's also reported at least eight crew killed," James replied.

"Damn," The Admiral growled.

"Admiral!" I heard a new voice call out. "This is Captain Narvaza. Sorry I didn't report immediately, but it was recommended that I get some rest while the full extent of the damage was determined."

"I'd rather that, than receive a half-baked report that contains omissions," the Admiral growled again. "I've seen the preliminary report and the combat logs. Your approach was masterful, but you should have paid attention to your navigation officer when she asked about the echoes."

"She's a navigation officer!" Captain Narvaza shouted. "How was I supposed to know that she'd found some new weapon?"

Cassidy gasped. I jumped over to hug her and warn her to be quiet.

James jumped in. "Captain, please remain calm. No one is accusing you of any fault. Take the Admiral's words as advice on how to handle the situation next time. Now, Michelle should have passed on the latest repair data."

"Yes," the Captain growled. "Four days. Can't you do it faster?"

"We have to cut through two layers of armor and several damaged decks to get at the communications relays that were damaged. It will take time to do that, and then more time because we basically have to rebuild the entire portside structure. Unless you want a ship that is almost defenseless on one side," James replied calmly.

"If he does, warn me now so I can arrange a replacement captain," Admiral Himmel barked. "I don't need commanders who throw away men."

Ishtar!" Dawn's voice cried out, breaking into the conversation. "The Sa'arm are firing on my ship and the starboard engine has failed."

"Don't panic," Linus replied. "And tell your helmsman to hold his vector a bit better. We have to hurry the shots and the more time the Sa'arm run in a straight line, the more accurate we can be. Right now he's jumping around too much and the Sa'arm aren't keeping a steady vector."

"We'll be hit!" Dawn replied. "And our armor back there is already battered."

"Not if we can shoot first," Tyson said. "Linus I have a solution. It's a risk, but I'm sending Debby up."

"Roger, I'll have Brad on backup! Check your suit's right shoulder, I'm showing a seal failure warning," Linus replied.

"What's the problem?" the Admiral asked.

"Cabo San Lucas is in system, but is being chased by a couple of Sa'arm scouts. We are trying to shoot them, but you know our atmosphere," James replied. "Linus, who else do we have who can armor up?"

"No one who can be ready in less than fifteen minutes," Linus replied. "Tyson?"

"Debby, I'm changing the firing plan. You'll have to take the calibration shot quickly and then two shots on the bearing I give almost immediately," Tyson called out.

"Let's go," Debby replied. "We have a ship to save."

The speakers went silent. It was clear that Tyson had cut Debby out of the communications circuit to help her concentrate. I stared up at the speaker, willing it to announce how Debby was doing.

"What's happening?" Cassidy asked in a whisper.

"One of our citizens is about to ride one of out defense lasers into the atmosphere and try to shoot the scouts," Diana replied.

"Is that safe?' Cassidy asked. "I viewed the information about the planet back in the room you have me in. I thought the air was very acidic."

I clenched my recently healed hand. "It is," I whispered. "And being burned by it is very painful. But she's wearing marine battle armor which should give her several minutes of protection."

We stood in silence. I glanced over and noticed that a young woman was standing next to Lieutenant Cassidy. This woman had her blond hair in a pixie cut. She was glancing around as we stood and waited.

Ingrid seemed to notice the tension. "This is the part I always hate," she muttered. "We just wait for more information."

"James!" Captain Narvaza shouted. "Why is everyone silent and how can I sit with my officers and go over these reports?"

"We are trying to kill a couple of Sa'arm scouts," James said. "Sorry about the silence. It is a tricky situation and no one was going to talk over Tyson or Debby."

"But I heard nothing," the Captain whined.

"Of course not," Diana muttered. "Everyone in the command post was probably listening in on Tyson and Debby. That's what's important at the moment."

"What about the Admiral," Cassidy asked quietly. "I'd think you wouldn't want to keep him waiting like this."

"Stopping the Sa'arm comes first," the other Sahara crew replied. "At least that's how it looks."

I nodded quietly. A cheer erupted from the speakers. "Nice shooting Debby," Tyson called out.

"I just aimed where you told me to," she replied modestly. "And please hold Vicki back. I know she wants to rush in and help, but the status reports from my armor say that the acid isn't washing away cleanly. It looks like we have found a new problem."

"What was the weather like on the surface?" James asked.

"The air wasn't as green," Debby replied. "But I noticed that the acid was forming crystals on my armor. I'm guessing that it was very cold."

"Exercise some caution when you get out of your armor," James suggested. "At least we can report that Cabo is safe and the scouts chasing her have been destroyed."

"Good," Admiral Himmel said. "You keep protecting my ships. And it's going to start getting busier."

"We'll get you a report on Cabo once we have her docked. It sounds like she'll be here for a couple of days," James replied. "Now I should meet with Captain Narvaza, while we expedite the repairs on Sahara."

"It's about time," Captain Narvaza said. "Now I understand that your planet offers amusements. Where are they?"

"He never reads anything," Cassidy moaned.

"The AI can give you a map," James replied. "There is a ice skating rink, an area set up as a lounge and bar, and a sports court for basketball that you can easily reach after a short walk."

"Good," Captain Narvaza replied curtly. "In fact, can you announce to my officers that there is a meeting in the lounge? We can do our debrief in there."

"On it," I heard Michelle call out.

I reached out and turned off the communications. Ingrid was laughing as Cassidy and the other crew from Sahara stood silently. Ingrid looked over at me. "We rushed over here and now we wait."

I shrugged as Cassidy looked over at us. She seemed extremely tentative. "Sorry, but Brigit here was telling me that she heard that someone with seeds from Earth can trade them for rabbits while they are here."

"I don't know how that might happen," Diana responded with a smile. "I mean, I haven't seen a rabbit since this morning when Heather was out walking her little bundle of fur."

"What?" Brigit cried out. "You mean there are rabbits here?"

I nodded. "We've had them since we landed. It was James' idea and the AI allowed it. Now we trade them for seeds, so that when the terraforming is completed we can have some plants."

We heard a series of heavy footsteps outside the room. Everyone turned to look as Brad stomped into the room wearing his battle armor. He looked up at us. "Oh good. Meiko, James told me that I might as well handle the teleporter since I'm in armor, but can't man a gun."

"What's wrong with your armor?" I asked.

He lifted his right arm over his head. The armor gave a loud groan of protest as his elbow rose to shoulder height and kept going upward. "The O-ring for the shoulder armor sheared off. It looks like I rushed a bit while putting the armor on."

Candi and Randi dashed in behind him. Randi quickly looked around while Candi ran up to Ingrid. "We're going to stand with Brad. You can relax and go home to Terrence," she said while holding out her hand.

Ingrid passed the flechette rifle she was holding as Diana approached Randi with her gun held in front of her. I stepped away from the teleporter control and started heading for the doorway. As I reached the door Brigit ran up and touched my arm.

"What about the rabbits?" she asked.

"Do you have seeds to trade?" I asked.

"Not yet," the blond replied. "I heard about the rabbits after I arrived on Borneo. I got in touch with someone serving near Earth in the hope they could get some seeds to me. They owed me a favor, but the seeds haven't arrived yet."

"I can't help you with that." I said quietly.

"Oh, that's not the problem. I'm sure he violated a bunch of rules, but he is from a family that farms peanuts. When I first told him about the whole thing, he wrote back that he'd find a way to get a supply of peanut seeds," Brigit replied.

"Um?" Cassidy asked as she walked up to us. "Wouldn't that just mean he's sending you peanuts?"

"No," Brigit replied. "Well, not exactly. The peanuts you purchase in stores are cooked, and won't grow. He was going to get some that would grow. We figured he'd be able to send them to me on a transport."

I shrugged. "Hopefully that won't take too long. I'm sure you'll like having a rabbit."

"Can we see one now?" Cassidy asked.

Just then Captain Narvaza's voice rang out of the speakers. "I want all crew of Sahara in the lounge now. We need to conduct a debriefing regarding our raid on the Wolf system."

"Damn," Cassidy swore. "We'll have to talk later."

The two young ladies dashed off. I looked at Diana and Ingrid had joined me in the doorway. Both shrugged. Then we turned back to wave at Candi and Randi before leaving the teleporter room and returning to our homes for some rest.