Running With Argentine (40 page)

In
Orbit At Asperia

When Argentine
walked back onto the bridge Barry and Sami were huddled at her station.

"Captain, it’s starting."

He looked up sharply and Barry said, "No, no, no… not
the extinction; the panic."

"Yeah, some of the ships that have arrived in-system
are carrying survivors from systems that have reportedly been destroyed. They
are saying everything just dissolved!" Sami elaborated.

"They've downloaded some video onto the worldwide
net," Barry continued. "I think
dissolving
is a good way to
describe it. It looks like the air itself has turned to acid. People are
freaking out and the local authorities all over the planet are reacting."

"
How
are they reacting?" asked Argentine.

"In different ways," he responded. "In some
places it's martial law and in others it's just crowd control… But the planetwide
authority has issued a quarantine – all orbital transfer traffic has been
suspended."

Argentine looked sharply to Sami…

She shook her head slightly.

"She's still down there," was the somber response.

After only a second of hesitation Argentine asked,
"Where's the chief?"

"He's on board. He's supervising the stowing of some
supplies."

"Tell him to delegate that and get to the bridge. Who
else is not on the ship and where are they?"

"Marco and some of his family are still on the station.
Except for them and Mandi everyone else is on board."

"What about the transports? Have they all made it
aboard?"

"No, a number of the personnel transports are still
holding in queue and we have one last provision shipment that just made orbit
and is heading our way."

"Okay everyone, listen up," he said aloud to
everyone on both levels of the bridge. "We're putting out an emergency
recall! Our first priority is to get our people back aboard.

"Our second priority is to get all the currently
inbound transports safely aboard.

"After that, if there's still time, we'll take aboard
that last supply shuttle… But under no circumstances will we allow anyone else
aboard the ship! Except for those exceptions this ship is now effectively
quarantined!

"Is that understood by everyone?"

The bridge crew all voiced their assent and Argentine took a
deep breath…

"Sami, make sure that Mandi gets the word. It's up to
her now."

ΔΔΔ

When the chief
walked onto the bridge the first thing Argentine did was to ask him about
pilots…

"Chief, who are the best two people you've got to fly
one of those military shuttles and operate her weapons?"

Without hesitation he responded, "Rory and Dundee are
the best pilots. I've got a couple of weapons operators that can hold their
own… Do you need them?"

Argentine nodded.

"Have them prepped and in their shuttle… No, on second
thought I want them already launched and ready to intervene if we need their
help."

"You mean you want them on CAP – Combat Air
Patrol," sounded a new voice as Lieutenant Stark walked onto the bridge.

"No," Argentine corrected. "I don't want them
in the atmosphere; I want them in orbit with us."

"Yes, I understand," the lieutenant said with a
grin. "That's just what the ship’s computers call it – I have no idea
why…"

After a moment of thought he added, "Captain, my
intuition
seems to be telling me that we need to have a couple of backup teams ready to
launch if needed."

Argentine nodded and watched the chief comm additional
orders to his people. At some point in the future they were going to have to
reorganize this whole thing between the pilots and ship's security, he realized
absently.

"I'm assuming you’ll also want me to deploy the ship's
defensive shields?"

"Can we do that while ships are still coming in?"

"I'll have to lower them each time, but yeah… It's
probably worth it."

"Make it happen."

"What do we do now, Captain?" Barry asked.

"You need to be ready to break orbit at a moment’s
notice. Make it a military burn; let's see how fast this ship can make it to
the top of the gravity well…

"And Sami, you'll need to be ready to slip into
Dreamspace as soon as we get there."

They both nodded in assent.

"Until then, people… We keep our fingers crossed."

ΔΔΔ

"Captain!
The planetary net just went down!" Sami declared.

Argentine wasn't surprised.

For the last forty minutes they’d been watching the system
fall apart. There still weren't any overt signs that the plague, or acid gas,
or whatever was causing the event had arrived in-system, but just about
everyone knew it was coming.

Ships had been fleeing the system helter-skelter, paying
little attention to traffic protocols or system regulations.

More pointedly, all the military ships in the system had
declared a lethal threat defensive zone – continuously broadcasting that they
would fire on any ship that got too close.

Argentine had ordered the Roosevelt to make the same
declarations. Unfortunately, no one had thought to change the name of the ship
in those automatic announcements… For those that might still be paying
attention, they now knew that the T.L.S. Roosevelt had returned.

"That's the last transport, Captain," Sami said.
"Everyone except Mandi is on board."

"What's the latest word on her?"

"Nothing since the net went down… Thirty-two minutes
ago she was still planetside but didn’t think she could make it back to our
shuttle. She was heading for some kind of private orbital shuttle she claimed
to have access to."

"Any launches at all from her last known
position?"

"No… There aren’t."

"Frank…" the chief said quietly. "It's time
to leave."

Argentine's friend had come up to the upper bridge to stand
beside him.

He knew the chief was right; staying any longer was
certainly risking the ship and crew…

"Captain! We're being hailed," Sami announced.

She then shook her head…

"It's not Mandi, but the transmission is being directed
to the Roosevelt, not the Salamander… And they're claiming to be the Asperian
planetary government."

"Which one?" the chief asked rhetorically.

"Throw it to the dome, Sami."

"I presume I'm speaking to the Captain of the
Roosevelt?" the figure on the screen started.

"You are," was all Argentine said.

The figure on the screen was obviously giving him the once
over and just as obviously didn't know what to make of him.

"Sometime in the near future, Captain, I would enjoy
having an explanation of where your ship has been for the last couple of
centuries, and more specifically, how you came to be her Captain… But for the
moment I'm just glad you're here.

"I'll be transferring our government to your ship
immediately. Please prepare to receive us and then we’ll depart
posthaste."

Argentine didn't react… And didn't respond.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence the figure
said, "Captain, do you understand my message? Please acknowledge."

"Oh, I understood it. But I'm trying to think of any
reason at all I should acknowledge a message from someone who hasn't even
identified themselves."

The visage of the figure turned stern…

"Very well, Captain. Since time is short I will indulge
you. My name is Anton Popovich and I am the head of the somewhat private
organization that runs this planet and this sector.

"There are those that believe I am a good friend to
have."

"Yes, I'm sure there are… But if I am to understand you
correctly, you're saying that you head up one of Asperia's Secret Societies. Do
I have that right?"

"More like Asperia's
only
Secret Society," he
replied deadpan.

When Argentine once again didn't respond, he reiterated…

"Prepare to receive us, Captain."

"Negative on that, Anton. We've already taken on our
share of refugees."

Anton blinked an obvious surprise…

"Do you understand who we are?"

"I know who you say you are. And if it's true I'm sure
you won't have any trouble ordering one of your military vessels to take you
aboard. Our ship, however, is full."

"This is absurd. I know the Roosevelt has the capacity
to receive us. You need to realize that if you refuse I can have my military
vessels blow you out of space."

"You could try. But even if you succeeded we’d take a
whole lot of your ships with us… Leaving you no escape at all."

"Captain!" Sami whispered urgently. "There's
been a launch from the capital city."

In the meantime, Anton was still replying…

"… and you will receive us. We'll continue this
discussion on your ship."

Argentine motioned for Sami to cut the connection and then
said, "What's going on? It sure didn't seem like he launched during our
little talk."

"He didn't," Barry clarified. "That manky
bastard was broadcasting from a ship that just launched this very moment. It
looks like we have two ships on the way to us."

"Did they launch from the same site?" Argentine wanted
to know.

"No. It was the same city, but they were miles
apart."

Argentine couldn't allow his hope to interfere with the
moment…

"I need to know more about that first launch," he
declared. "Somebody talk to me…"

"It's not a transport or any other type of large
ship," someone announced.

Someone else added, "She'll clear the mesosphere in
three minutes."

After what seemed like hours…

"Okay, she's clear… Captain! We have a
transmission!"

Without waiting to be told Sami threw it on the dome screen…

"I just knew you wouldn't leave without me…"

Argentine barely heard the small cheer from the bridge crew.

"Captain!" Barry almost yelled… Platform 12 is…
It's coming apart!"

"No, it's like they said," someone else added.
"It's dissolving!"

Suddenly, three, then four new screens appeared on the dome
– all showing bizarre scenes of people in agony and structures collapsing or
suddenly venting to space.

Without hesitation Argentine said, "Pilot, take us out
of orbit."

Sami spun around at her station to stare at Argentine in
astonishment…

"But she's…"

It was all Argentine could do to nod; he didn't trust his
voice.

From beside him, the chief said aloud, "Everyone man
your stations! You have your orders."

Mandi’s face on the screen had turned sheet white.

"Sami," Argentine said. "Put me back on with
her."

"Mandi…"

"I heard, Argentine. You're doing what you have to do.
I get it," she said stoically.

"Mandi, I want you to break orbit and had out
system."

"What? Argentine, this isn't a spaceship; it's an
orbital shuttle."

"For once in your life I want you to just shut up and
follow orders," he said with force. "Aim your shuttle out system and
give it as much power as you can for as long as you can. When you run out of
fuel just coast…

"Have you got that?"

"I won't get very far; this ship just isn't that
powerful… And you know I'll eventually fall back to the planet and burn up in
the atmosphere?"

"Would you rather dissolve into a screaming
death?"

"Ah, you might have a point there…"

"Just do it."

He motioned for Sami to cut the connection.

"Argentine?" the chief said sternly. "What
are you thinking?"

"Captain!" Barry yelled out. "Some of the
ships that we were in orbit with, they're starting to have catastrophic
failures! I've got maydays going off all around us!"

"Our status?"

"Shields are a full strength and no anomalies
detected," he responded.

"Argentine?" the chief asked insistently.

"I'm thinking I'm going to need your help to do
something… And I have to do it fast…"

Argentine raced from the bridge and, shaking his head, the
chief raced after him.