Proving True
Chapter 26

I’m the last to arrive in the tank room. I seal the door as I enter. One of the benefits to having a Debi class android is that once she’s interfaced with the central control systems of the ship, she need not be on the bridge to execute them. “Athena, verify this room is sealed, once you’re satisfied pressurize it, please.”

“Wilco.” There is a pause of only a few seconds. “The room is sealed and pressurized.” The original plan was for the SDB to fire the missiles. The addition of the tractor field required Star Chaser to move closer to the planet. The missile firing chore now belongs to Star Chaser. We’re not really happy about that, but beggars can’t be choosers.

“Thank you.” I change to the command channel, “Star Chaser Fire Control this is Gallagher. We won’t get any readier. You have icebreaker missiles targeting this vessel. You are cleared to fire when ready.”

“Gallagher, this is Star Chaser Fire Control, we have you targeted with icebreakers and tractor field. Confirm Danger Close.”

“Confirmed.” They know that friendly forces are within the danger zone and we have done all we can to minimize fratricide.

“Shot, over,” announces Fire Control.

“Shot, out.” I answer. The missiles are on their way.

“Athena,” she looks at me, “when the missiles impact, fire the charges.” That functionality has been relegated to the command systems of this ship; hence she has control of the detonators.

“Wilco.”

Dear Gods above, I hope this works!

I know it seems like a lot longer than it actually is, but eventually I hear, “Gallagher, splash, over.”

The missiles are five seconds away. “Splash, out,” I answer before I mute my microphone and yell, “Prepare for impact!”

If there’s an upside to being fired on by supersonic munitions, it’s that we don’t hear them. As the ship is in atmosphere, and sound carries in such, we would hear the hellish din of the approaching missiles as they scream towards us if they were slow movers. But at several times the speed of sound, we are spared that.

We do, however, feel and hear the impact. The targeting data was precise and the missiles are accurate. The lake surface cracks, I’m told later, in spider web fashion from Gallagher. Regardless we still reel from the missile explosions, the terror of which I’ll be honest is more mental than anything else. Athena fires the shaped charges ringing the ship. A salvo of missiles also broke the ice over the front half of the ship. With a sickening lurch, Gallagher falls from its angular position to more or less horizontal but then begins to levitate as the tractor field pulls it into the sky. The internal gravity field keeps everything more or less in place, but we do feel the impact and a momentary shift as the angle of the ship changes with respect to the planet’s surface. There are so many ways in which this operation could have gone horribly wrong!

Freddie tells me what I desperately want to know, “Star Chaser, this is SDB One. Gallagher appears to be in one piece. It’s got water flowing out of it.” That’s hardly a surprise. Half of the ship has been underwater for quite some time.

“Star Chaser, this is SDB One,” I hear Shawna say. “The pinnace has arrived, so we have the maintenance personnel aboard and we’re following Gallagher to orbit.”

The operation is flowing nicely. We have the ship out of the ice, we’ve managed to not kill the intelligent psionic whale, and mechanics will soon be swarming over the ship patching its holes. But I can’t help feeling I’ve overlooked something. It’s like there’s another shoe to drop. My private perCom light is flashing. I answer it, “MacTaggert.”

“I hope you enjoyed isolation,” it’s DuQuois, “it looks like you’ve got another dose coming.”

“I don’t understand, why? Once the holes in the hull get patched…” Oh crap!

“Once the holes get patched, we can pressurize that ship. Only then can you come out of there. You were in such an all fired hurry to save the whale once you found out that compartment could be pressurized, that you didn’t check for an airlock. Get used to that suit, sweetie. You’re going to be in or near it for at least a week. DuQuois out.”

Oh, this is so not good!

But there’s nothing for it now, “Athena, bilge pumps are on line?” They were portable units brought over from Star Chaser.

“They are,” she answers, “at this rate, the ship should be void of water, aside from what is in the tank here, in four minutes…alert, alert, alert. We have a new hull breach on the Flight deck, area seven, seven meters of seam failure. So far it appears to have stopped. Which is remarkable.”

“Is the tractor field the cause of the hull failure?”

“Insufficient data to determine at this time. Once the mechanics and maintenance bots are back aboard that can be ascertained. But that is the most likely cause.” Without further investigation, there’s no way to be certain. Perhaps there was some defect in the material in that section that the ice made excessively brittle. Rather than flex with the oscillation of the ship, it stayed too rigid and tore. I hope it doesn’t tear more. But there is no reason to believe it won’t.

“SDB One, this is Gallagher, we’ve detected a tear on the flight deck, area seven approximately seven meters in length. Keep an eye on it for us, please?”

“Gallagher this is SDB One,” Freddie answers, “wilco. Once you’re in orbit, about three more minutes, we’ll be able to send the welders your way to initiate repairs.”

“About that,” I ask him, “are they forecasting how long it will be before we can pressurize the ship?”

“Seven days, Squats. After that, how long before the engines come on line?”

“I don’t know exactly, but maybe two days after that. I’ll know more once I get out of here.”

“Roger that,” he says. “We’re working on a way to put an airlock on that compartment.”

“Negative,” I tell him. “Anyone that can use a welding torch needs to be patching the hull. That’s the Captain’s priority, it’s Chief Engineer DuQuois’ priority, and so it’s my priority. We can wait. We have a case of field rations, there’s some food for the ALF. All we need is a deck of cards.”

“This is the Captain,” a new voice interrupts. “The priorities have been altered. The Transit drives need not be made functional immediately. Gallagher will berth inside Star Chaser for our voyage to Dubus III. But you will get the maneuver drive functional. The ship will be pressurized. Chief Engineer DuQuois has been notified. Have you any questions?”

“None sir,” I answer. And thank you.

DuQuois’ voice enters the conversation. “The Captain has charged me with commanding Gallagher. As her mission will be scientific, the nature of the command will require more administrative abilities than it will leadership. I have therefore delegated command to you, Chief MacTaggert. There are better uses for my time and abilities.”

She is praying this will go south on me. I wonder if she’s even read my file!

“Of course, ma’am,” I say. “When will that go into effect?”

“When Gallagher reaches her berth aboard Star Chaser,” she says. “And not a femtosecond before.”

“Yes ma’am.” I can’t help smiling and I don’t care if she can hear it or not. “My crew?”

“You will be assigned two scientists. As I said, the job is mostly administrative so you’ll double hat as Chief Engineer.”

As Da always said, I could never keep my mouth shut. “Begging your pardon, ma’am. But as Gallagher has a small craft, I’m going to need at least one pilot. I believe the recommended complement is pilot, navigator, medic and two engineers. And that’s just command crew. I already know two scientists, one physicist and one biologist. In fact, I can recommend a small vehicle pilot. For engineers, I have no desire to take away too much experience from you. Perhaps you can recommend someone from another department.”

“If you think for a second…”

The Captain interrupts her, “That will be enough. MacTaggert, you will be allowed to submit a dream sheet to the First Officer. Do so within the next four hours. Channel closed.”

And that is the end of the conversation.

“You know they are married, do you not?” Athena says.

“What? Have you discovered humor? Irony as well?”

“They are,” Leka supplies. “The Captain and Chief Engineer DuQuois have been married for a long time, decades perhaps.”

“Really?” I can’t wrap my head around that.

“Really,” Athena says, “I came across the information as a matter of interfacing with the personnel records for Star Chaser foreseeing your request of available personnel to crew Gallagher.”

“I can’t imagine,” I say, “that it’s anything other than a marriage for convenience.”

And for his sake, I hope it’s unconsummated.