Chapter 43 - Visits Bring New Troubles

James jumped away from the laser and waved to Tina and me. "Head to the briefing room," he ordered us. Tina dashed off, but I waited among the hanging fabric panels that shielded the ready room from the spray designed to counteract the acid atmosphere as James walked toward the exit.

"Who was that?" the major snapped as James approached the exit. I slipped a bit deeper but remained close enough to hear the conversation.

"Sounded like Ulla," James said.

"I've looked over the list of all the citizens on Ishtar," the major said. "There is no Ulla."

"Ulla is one of the concubines belonging to Timothy," James said.

James had reached the panels, so I started to make my way through them. I continued to strain my ears to hear the major's response.

"What's a concubine doing calling out information? How can she know it so quickly? I know she's not in the command post."

I had to cover my mouth to keep a giggle from escaping. I was now out of the panels and darted over to the chair to sit for a moment.

"No, she isn't in the command post you have seen," James said. "But think about what I told you about how things were when the barbarians still roamed. Do you really think we could have safely manned the command post? Ask Alexis what it was like living on that side of the doors."

James appeared through the panels. I could see him shaking his head as he made it way toward the airlock. I ran over to put my arm in his as the major fought his way free of the panels. He was just emerging when Ulla's voice called out again. "James, the ship has finished emerging. We have a scan, but..."

There was a long pause and then Veronica spoke. "James, what has Ulla puzzled is that the scan doesn't really show us a ship. It looks more like a collection of corvette parts that haven't scattered across a solar system. I can't imagine... wait, I have an IFF signal."

"Another concubine?" the major asked with a snort.

"Of course," I said as I turned to look at the major. "You don't think Timothy would be in the command post without both of his concubines to keep him company?"

"James, the IFF is saying Cancun," Veronica informed us. "But I think we're going to have to send a tug to salvage the ship."

"Now why would I ask you to do that," the voice of Captain Gates called out. "I'll admit the armor is a bit beat up, but we can still maneuver."

"Captain Gates," Timothy called out. "Your ship has more holes in it than any piece of swiss cheese I have ever seen. Do you have casualties?"

"I believe Gertrude broke her wrist when the concubine barracks was hit," Captain Gates responded. "And Sergeant Reid will need some medical pod time. We had a problem in the missile feed. He went to fix it and a missile rolled over his legs."

"That's all?" Timothy asked.

"Oh, I think everyone has some bumps and bruises," Captain Gates said. "We were making some rather violent maneuvers and the gravity in the ship was fluctuating due to the hits, but nothing too serious. Why?"

"Because I can't believe your ship is still combat-worthy," Timothy said.

I noticed that James had stopped walking and looked around. The conversation over the speakers had captured my attention. We were standing in the airlock and the door to the hallway was opening, allowing us to leave the laser rooms behind.

"We aren't combat-worthy," Captain Gates said. "We have no more missiles and have run out of rail gun projectiles as well. And I wouldn't want to take too many more hits on what's left of our armor."

"Out?" Timothy cried. "But a Patrician carries almost two hundred projectiles for their rail guns, how could you run out?"

"Lots of big transports just waiting to be shot at," Captain Gates replied cheekily. "It was a veritable turkey shoot and the Sa'arm make wonderful turkeys. Now I'm guessing we head to the moons orbiting your lovely planet."

"Yes," Timothy said. "And welcome back to Ishtar."

"Welcome back?" Major Bonham asked.

"Captain Gates brought Cancun to Ishtar about a month ago," James replied. "Strangely enough, it was in just about the same condition last time. Why?"

The major just shook his head. "Never mind. I find that the more I hear, the less I want to understand. I better go alert my marines that we'll have visitors shortly."

James nodded. "You can head back through the doors. Just remember that only one door will open at a time."

"You don't suffer from too much paranoia," the major replied sardonically as he strode off down the passage. James took my hand and started to pull me toward the command post. I giggled and followed.

We had only gone a couple of steps when the speakers came back to life. "Private Rabb," the voice of Colonel Johanes called out. "I am listening to the chatter; it sounds like a ship has just arrived."

"Yes," James replied while we continued to make our way to the command post. "Cancun just emerged from hyperspace. The ship is heavily damaged, but Captain Gates assures us that she can bring the ship to the docks without help."

"I heard," Colonel Johanes replied. "What does this mean to me? Will it disrupt my research?"

"It shouldn't," James said. "I believe you have Linus helping you right now. He won't be required for a standard repair stop. And we can keep the crew out of your way."

"I can live with that," Colonel Johanes replied. "Just keep them out of the labs and out of my marines' way. These artifacts could prove to be very important and I don't need the research tainted."

"We'll do that," James said.

"James," Ulla's voice cried. "I have two more jump points. One in line with Ursus, the second in line with Wolf."

"With the Wolf System? Captain Gates, was there another ship visiting the system when you were?" James asked.

"More!" Colonel Johanes called out. "James, this will not do. I can't have the speakers calling out every ship arrival."

"You can tell the AI to turn off your speakers," I whispered.

"Our duty is to monitor the arrival of ships and to offer assistance as required," James reminded him. "This requires that all citizens be alerted when a ship arrives. You can work with the AI to reduce how much it disrupts your work."

"Just get this over with!" the scientist barked back. "I'm here to conduct serious scientific investigations, not nursemaid a bunch of broken ships."

"I thought we were supposed to nursemaid broken ships," I muttered. James and I had reached the door to the command post. The tapestry slid aside and we stepped through the doorway.

"James," we heard Veronica ring out as we entered. "What do we do?"

"First," James replied. "Captain Gates, was another Confederacy ship in the Wolf system with you?"

"Several," she replied. "Our current tactics are to try to blockade the system. I couldn't tell you which ships were there though. We work independently. Right now, the Sa'arm don't have any capital ships in the system, so we can spread out to catch more of their transports."

"Veronica?" James called out. "Do we have any idea who the two new ships are?"

"Nothing so far," was the reply. Veronica sounded a bit harried, but took a breath and continued. "The ship coming from Ursus has emerged, but I'm getting nothing. The second ship from Wolf hasn't emerged yet."

"Louis! Xavier! We're going to need you in the command post," James shouted. "Ed, get to the medical bay. Brad, you are on transporter duty."

Ulla sighed. "James, can you get the twins in here? The damage to the ships is extensive, and I'm not as good as they are."

"Citizens Tamara and Tiffany have been alerted and are on their way," the AI informed us.

Tina noticed us and ran over to give James a hug. "What was up with the major?" she asked.

"I have no idea," James admitted. "And right now we have a job to do."

"The second ship from Wolf is emerging!" Ulla screamed out.

Everyone was silent for a moment and then Veronica almost jumped from her chair. "Get me Maggie! We need a tug now! And get someone who can run a teleport pod! Ulla, can you get an IFF on the ship?"

"No chance! I don't have a close scan, but the main communications array is gone, and I can see three huge holes in the secondary one," Ulla replied. "Oh god! James, the ship's right railgun just overloaded."

Tamara and Tiffany ran into the room. Tiffany threw her body into an empty chair and started slapping at the controls. I thought she was out of control, but the displays responded to her rapid movements. "Does Cancun have a better scan on the new ship?" she asked. "They came in much further out, but they are closer than my nearest satellite."

Tamara had taken a seat next to Veronica. I noticed she had put an earpiece over her left ear. "Captain Gates? Did you hear the question?"

"I did," we heard Captain Gates reply. "And my tracking officer is shaking his head. We probably can't see much more than you."

Tiffany nodded. "Ah, I think it's Pebble Beach. At least the remnants of the engine signature match what we recorded during the ship's last visit."

"I've finally got a signal from the ship from Ursus, it's Cabo San Lucas," Ulla called out. "Veronica, can you get anything from Captain Dawn Travis? I'm seeing considerable damage to the left side engine."

"James," Major Bonham called out over the speakers. "I need to send a couple of marines to guard the command post. It's standard procedure."

"We don't have time for that!" James snapped. "And it's not like you haven't already got a guard at the closest thing there is to an entrance."

"Captain Travis," I heard Veronica call out. "Can you give me a report."

I noticed that Tamara stiffened for a moment. She quickly hit a couple of switches and then looked up. A scratchy voice began speaking.

"This is Captain Toms of the Pebble Beach. Ishtar, if you can hear me, we need evacuation. We took a couple of hard hits from a Sa'arm rail gun, and the damage has caused severe fluctuations in our gravity controls. Everyone has multiple broken bones from being tossed to the ceiling after the first gravity reversal," the strained voice began. "The gravity on Pebble Beach is now switching directions and power randomly, and can get as high as triple normal. Most of my crew will not be able to walk."

We all looked at each other, wondering what to do. Then Alexis' voice called out. "James, I'll go. Have Tracy and Monique meet me at the armory and help me into armor. Brad can transport me to the ship and I'll carry everyone out."

"Alexis," James said quietly. "We don't have any armor fitted to you."

"I'll wear an unfitted one," Alexis said. "I just need padding in case the gravity throws me to the ceiling."

"It won't protect you if you get hit by triple gravity while carrying someone. That could kill you," James warned.

"Die now or later," Alexis replied. "Those people need help and I can do something."

I glanced around the command post to see everyone looking at James. He stared directly at Tiffany for a moment and then nodded. "Brad, we'll be using the transporter to send Alexis to Pebble Beach. I'm also going to send David, Tom and Nathan to handle gurneys. Be ready."

"I'm still powering up over here," Brad replied. "The marine they had stationed here didn't want to step aside."

"Brad," James said slowly. "You didn't do anything..."

"Nothing my Irish Great-Uncle hasn't done in a bar a few times. The man didn't want to listen and I didn't have time to hunt down his commander," Brad said. "Don't worry, he's just sleeping it off in a medical pod."

"Ed! Are you in on this two?" James asked.

"Stupid idiot demanded time with our concubines to let us do our jobs," Ed said. "He'll be fine."

"Not good," Tina muttered. I put my arms around James to give him a hug. Meanwhile, more information was coming in.

"I have news from Captain Travis," Veronica said. "Four dead, seven injured with four in critical condition. They had the port engine overload. Right now, Sergeant Brigit Folsom is their only engineering trained crewperson and she's desperately trying to keep the starboard engine stable. They can't maneuver."

"Did the second tug get built?" James asked

"Affirmative," the AI intoned. "There are two more tugs available for use."

Maggie was standing in the doorway. "Get Paula, she was practicing on them last week. And why isn't Tina running the transporter to Pebble Beach?"

"Oops," I heard my sister concubine say. "I'll get to the controls." She rushed from James' arms and disappeared into the briefing room. We soon could hear her cursing as she tried to get the remote transport platform to power up.

"Just another day in paradise," James mused as he grabbed me and pulled me against his chest. "Tam, do we have communications working?"

"Communications with Cancun is working. Captain Gates has reported no serious casualties and the ship will be able to make it to Astarte. Pebble Beach is a wreck. I'd have Veronica talking to them now, but they have no antenna to receive with. From what we can tell with scans, the ship has no control or power. Cabo San Lucas just lost their portside engine, and has some serious injuries," Tamara reported. "We're looking at several hours to get her to the dock."

"Three hours for Cabo," Tiffany confirmed. "It looks like Pebble will be longer. The gravity fluctuations they are having are going to cause problems for our tug. I recommend that we evacuate all of the crew and then bring the ship in. I would expect it to take twelve hours to get the ship to the dock. We might be able to shorten that by cutting power when we take the crew off."

"Tina," James shouted. "How long for the transport unit?"

"I'm boosting it at full," Tina said. "Based on the ship's current vector, I need another thirty-five minutes and then I can initiate docking."

"Make sure that Brad and Alexis are kept informed," James replied. "Alexis, did you hear about the power problem?"

"Why don't they cut the power now?" Alexis asked.

"I checked that," Veronica said. "We won't be able to cut the power. Scans show that the engine room is flooded with lethal levels of radiation. We'll have to have a drydock remote perform the shutdown."

"Can we send a remote now?" James asked.

"They don't work that far from the docks," Xavier said as he entered. "James, which ship should I look at first?"

"All three have severe damage," James said. "I think Cancun can be returned to service fastest. Check her first and then Cabo."

"Can do," Xavier said as he walked to the repair station and began examining the displays.

Just then the governor's voice broke in. "James, can I get a report? If I understand the procedures, I need to contact Borneo."

"Three corvettes, all patrician class. Cancun is battered, but appears to be functioning and the Captain reports no casualties. Pebble Beach has had a serious engineering failure and is a dead stick. We have to evacuate the crew and tow the ship in for repairs. We don't have a casualty count. Cabo San Lucas lost engine power as well, but is in much better condition. They have had four deaths. We are working to retrieve the ship. Right now, we have no estimates on repair time for any of the ships."

"How soon will we have estimates?" the governor asked. "And should I be prepared to answer that question?"

"We need the ships in the repair docks to know for sure. I have someone examining the scans we are taking of Cancun to see if we can start to plan the repairs," James said.

"I shouldn't have to deal with this," the governor hissed. "I'm supposed to be studying the artifacts."

I could feel James shrug as he continued to hold me. "We'll try to keep it from disturbing your work."

"Excuse me," the AI interrupted. "A probe sent out to Halifax has returned. Initial signals indicate that it found a sealed room on the moon where the artifacts were found. An analysis of the atmosphere within has been obtained."

"Transmit it to the lab immediately," the governor said. "James, you handle the call to Borneo, this is more important."

"Thank god," Tiffany muttered. "With him not interfering, we might actually be able to handle the situation."

"James," Tina shouted from the briefing room. "I have the transport unit on its way, but when I try to start planning the docking I'm receiving errors. The system tells me that the two rear airlocks are unusable."

"Tif?" James called out.

"One moment," Tiffany replied. "Let me check the scans. It probably is due to the radiation leak. The airlocks might be danger zones."

Alexis stepped back into the command post. She was wearing the full marine armor, but carrying no weapon. Instead, a strange device that looked much like a stretcher hung on her back. She waited for a moment and then called to James.

"James, the AI revealed that there is a medic's equipment package for the armor. It comes with a stretcher than can be operated by one person. The other end has a wheel. I guess it's a lot like a wheelbarrow," the woman said.

"Good," James said. "That should help quite a bit. You can head to the transport room, but it will be..."

James paused. I looked at him for a moment and then turned my face toward the briefing room. "Tina, how long to get the transporter into position?" I shouted.

"I need more than an hour. I can probably get close in that time, but something is causing the ship to change directions occasionally."

"It's the engine problems," Tiffany called out. "All of the controls must be out, but the engines are still running, so the ship is jumping around as the output fluctuates. It's part of why it's going to be hard to tow the ship into the repair dock."

"Is Paula here to run a tug, and would the third tug help?" James asked.

"I'm here," Paula called out as she ran into the room. She immediately vanished into the briefing room.

Xavier turned to face us. "A second tug would be a terrible idea," he said. "We are going to need to allow the ship to jump around until we can turn the engines off. With one tug, we can make adjustments to compensate for the fluctuations. With two, we might be late and have the ship tear itself apart trying to get free from the tugs."

James nodded. He gave me a gentle squeeze and then whispered in my ear. "Go and feed your daughter and then bring Tolwin here so that Tina can hold him."

"But..." I protested.

"Don't argue," James said firmly. "We have at least an hour before we can do anything more. Let's take advantage of that. Once things get busy, there might be problems."

"I should bring everyone," I muttered as I squirmed out of his arms.

"Jamie, Jerome and Kristi are a bit young to be in this environment," James replied. After that, he walked away from me to start a whispered conversation with Xavier. It was clear that he was going to be occupied for a time, so I dashed out of the room, thinking to send Janice and Bethany as soon as I reached our home pod.