Shadows of Golstar (29 page)

Owens’ thoughts cleared a little, as he began to catch
his breath. “Wait, don’t do just it yet, I have an idea. Are our shields and
inertia canceling fields strong enough to withstand the breakup of the
Saber
if we stay attached to her?

“I’m sorry Boss, if those ships continue to fire at
the
Saber
, then the answer is a definite no. Now if they were to stop
firing, the core would complete its automatic shutdown and the ship, with all
of its systems down, it would finish breaking apart. That wouldn’t put too much
of a strain on us, we’d look like just another chunk of debris. But I wouldn’t
count on it. I don’t think they want any prisoners. It looks like they mean to
keep firing until they fully breach the reactor core. If that happens, we
wouldn’t survive the explosion. Then we really
would
be a piece of
debris.”

“Damn, I was hoping we could ride it out; look like
part of the
Saber’s
wreckage. It might have bought us some time.”

“Time is something we don’t have a lot of right now,
Boss. Based on my damage assessment, I estimate we have sixty seconds, maybe
less, until the
Saber
blows.”

“Then get us out of here now, reaction drives to full
emergency. Try to rip us away from the
Saber.
If you’re successful, keep
the
Saber
between us and the other ships for as long as you can. I only
hope our hull holds together.”

Hec had fired the maneuvering thrusters before Owens
had finished speaking. The docking assembly must have been even weaker than Hec
had estimated because the dock superstructure was already starting to give way
before Hec fired the reaction drives. When Hec did engage the engines, the
process of separation accelerated. The sounds of tearing bolts and wrenching
metal became louder as the vibrations telegraphed from the
Holmes’
outer
hull and grated on Owens’ raw nerves.  

The ship shuddered from the stress of pulling away
from the
Saber,
tearing apart the docking structure’s last linked struts
that joined the two ships. They finally parted and suddenly all sound and
vibration ceased. Hec quickly determined they were no longer attached to the
Saber
and unnecessarily told Owens of their successful separation from the dying
ship.

Owens turned to Sharné. She had risen from the deck
and was sagging against a bulkhead, obviously feeling the heavier gravity aboard
the
Holmes
. He said to Sharné, “Let’s get to the bridge.” Then to Hec,
“Lower the gravity to one standard.” He turned and even with the now diminished
gravity, began staggering down the short corridor, leaving a trail of blood
from his still flowing shoulder.

Relieved by the lighter gravity, Sharné followed
closely behind him and said, “Owens, you are still bleeding, although it does
appear to have slowed. It looks to be a serious wound; you really need
immediate medical attention.”

Although the
Holmes
now provided firm footing,
Owens momentarily stumbled, then he caught himself. Without turning, he
mumbled, “I know. Just let me get to the pilot seat, then we’ll see what can be
done.”

His
voice sounded weak. She hoped he would make it that far. As big as he was, she
wasn’t sure how far she could drag him if he were to pass out. It seemed to
take forever, but they finally crossed the threshold into the bridge. She
watched anxiously as Owens barely had the strength to collapse into the large
pilot seat centered before an arcing bank of controls.

She
was momentarily distracted by a large holo-screen floating above the controls,
displaying the four ships in a three dimensional tactical grid. One green blip,
the
Holmes
, was moving away from a yellow blip. Further out were two red
blips. Together, the Golstar ship’s positions formed a triangle. Beneath each
of the colored blips were sets of numbers and equations, flashing with changing
data. Her attention was drawn back to Owens when he started to talk.

With eyes now closed, Owens said, “Hec, you have full
command and control; I can’t seem to think very clearly right now.” His voice
was fading. A small pool of blood formed on the deck beneath Owens’ dripping
arm.

“It’s alright, Boss. I have ship control.” Hec quickly
responded. The AI then addressed Sharné. “Madam, you will have to stop the
bleeding. I can’t help him in here. My manipulators are limited in this room to
the maintenance access-ways.”

“My name is Sharné. Where is the aid station?”

“There’s an emergency kit on the bulkhead directly
behind you.”

She spotted the large shiny metal case with the
age-old Red Cross symbol. She quickly released it from its mounting bracket and
found it to be surprisingly heavy. She took it over to where Owens sat, opened
the case and stared blankly at the interior.

“What do I do now?” she asked. “I’m not familiar with
these contents.”

Owens mumbled something she could not make out.

Hec took over, “Relax, Boss; I’ll take it from here.
First,” he directed Sharné, “take out the large gold box with the display and
keypad on the top; it’ll turn itself on when it’s removed from the case.” Hec
waited for Sharné to remove the mini-doc from the case. She carefully lifted it
up and away from the case. A low humming could immediately be heard coming from
inside of the mechanism.

 “Okay, now position it about three inches above
the wound. Make sure the display reads ‘Auto-Mode Ready’ and then press the
prominent, green pressure bar directly below the keypad.” She did as instructed
and the box now began to vibrate. It chirped to itself in musical tones and a
green indicator flashed on its top. “You can release it now,” Hec instructed.

“Release it?” she questioned.

“Yes. It’s okay, just let it go.”

Hesitantly, she removed her hands. The mini-doc
remained suspended over the wound. She could just see flashes of movement from
beneath the box and the musical tones changed in pitch and tempo. She was
mesmerized by the industrious little machine.

“It’s cleaning and sealing the wound now. You’ve never
used a mini-doc before?” Hec asked.

“No, no, we don’t use them.” Sharné was now frowning
at the busy little box.

“Well, we’ve only been using them for the last
twenty-five years or so. The military kept them to themselves for over half a
century before releasing them for public use. They’re really handy.”

“Yes.” She paused then finally said, “They are
indeed.” She tore her eyes away from the fascinating little machine and looked
up at the holo-screen. The yellow blip was gone from the grid and there was
more separation between the two red blips and the green one. A ragged sigh
escaped her lips. Her heart ached for the captain and her crew. The
Light
Saber
was gone. She wondered bleakly how everything had gone so wrong.

Hec answered her unasked question, “The core breached
a few seconds ago. They held on longer than had I estimated. I couldn’t detect
any escape vehicles. I’m very sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” Owens said. His eyes were still
closed but his voice was a little stronger. “Hec, what are those ships doing
now? Have they noticed us yet?

“They’re still stationary; I don’t pretend to know
what they’re planning to do next. But as a precaution I took our shields and
reaction engines off-line when we lost the
Saber
as a shield. We are now
tumbling without control, but our momentum is carrying us away from those ships
at a fairly acceptable rate of speed. Our internal gravity and damping fields
are compensating nicely.

“Good thinking, Hec.”

“Thanks. There are quite a few fair-sized chunks of
the
Saber
still out there, and with part of the docking assembly that
remains attached to us, it’s a good chance they’ll think we’re a just another
piece of the wreckage.”

“I hope so,” Owens said. His voice was beginning to
sound a little stronger. “Hec, give me your assessment of what went on out
there” Owens asked.

“Well, I’m pretty sure there was some sort of
take-over by what had to be some ringers planted in those ships’ crews. I don’t
see how it could have been done any other way. Another ship carrying the bad
guys couldn’t have snuck up on those battlewagons, so it had to an inside job.”

Sharné asked, “So, you believe it was a mutiny?

“I think that’s the only answer,” Hec responded. “But
it couldn’t have been the entire crew. Otherwise, why would they have waited to
attack? Had they attacked during our docking, the
Saber’s
secondary
shields would have been down and it would have been over a lot quicker. I doubt
if they would have received much return fire from the
Saber
if that had
been the case. No, it’s my bet it was a take-over by people planted within the
crews. It must have taken time execute their plan and then consolidate their
control.”

“Yeah, we’re on the same track,” Owens said. His voice
was almost normal. “Go on.”

“I think the mutineers are small in number, probably
less than half of the original crew complement remaining in each ship. Since
they moved to disable the
Saber’s
engines at the beginning, a
short-handed crew wouldn’t really matter to the attackers.”

“So,” Owens interjected, “they just sat there, firing
at a nice large immobile target, not having to worry about moving their ships.”

“Seems logical,” Hec agreed. “But you know firing
weapons is one thing and piloting a very large spacecraft is another. It had to
have taken a little time to organize. Right now, I would imagine they’re
feeling out the controls and AI interfaces. However, soon they’ll be ready. And
since they went to all of this trouble, I don’t think it will be too long
though before they begin to check out the larger pieces of debris.”

Owens sighed, “Unfortunately, I think you’re right.”
He opened his eyes and squinted at the holo-screen. “We really do need to get
rid of this docking rig. The sooner we can reach the protection of subspace,
the better.” He paused; his brow wrinkled in thought. He finally said, “But the
only way to get rid of that junk is to do it manually, outside on the hull. And
as your external grapples are positioned around the storage hatches, that task
falls to me. I’ll have to go outside. You agree?”

There was a brief pause before Hec answered. “I agree,
but with one condition… and unless you agree to it, I swear I’ll seal the
hatches. You’re the boss, but you’re going to have to do this one thing for me
before I let you go out.”

Owens frowned as he lifted the now inert mini-doc off
his shoulder. “Alright, what’s the condition?”

“I want you to go to the medical recovery capsule and
first get a transfusion. The mini-doc wasn’t attached to a blood synthesizer.
All you received from it was a little fortified plasma when it sealed your
wound. A transfusion won’t take that long and you really need some of the
serious life-juice before you go outside. Without a transfusion, you could very
well pass out and with no external manipulators at that area; I don’t have any
way of retrieving you.”

The meaning of their conversation finally penetrated
Sharné’s shock-fogged brain. She quickly turned away from the holo-screen and
gaped at Owens. “Outside, you are planning to go outside of the ship?” She felt
an irrational stab of fear.

Owens grunted and levered himself out of the chair.
With a slight grimace, he said, “Yeah, it’s unfortunate, but we really need to
ditch the wreckage that’s still riding our hull.”

“Why?”

“Our exterior has to be clean; it’s the only way we
can make it into subspace. A larger ship wouldn’t require a spacewalk. It would
have external manipulators or servitors that could do the job.”

“But,” Hec chimed in, “the
Holmes
is not
equipped with manipulators in the area where docking cleats are, and we don’t
carry a servitor. So, it will need to be done manually and that means the Boss
must physically go outside.”

“There is no other way?”

“I’m afraid not.” Owens sighed tiredly.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“No spare suits, so even if you were qualified to join
me, I’d still have to go it alone. There’s only one spacesuit onboard and it’s
tailored to fit me. I’m afraid all you can do right now, is to wait here.” He
saw the concern etched on her face. “Believe me, I’m not exactly keen on taking
a walk outside, but I’m the only one who can do the job. But, that being the
case, I also have to admit Hec is right. No external manipulators or extra suit
means if I lose consciousness when I’m out on the hull, I’m going to stay out.”

He extended his hand to Sharné. “Here, will you put
this away for me?” He gave her the mini-doc. To Hec he said, “You got a deal,
but while I’m in the capsule, I want you to keep me updated on our two friends.
I need to know the moment they start moving.”

Then he gingerly stood up. He felt a wave of dizziness
and he swayed on his feet. He waited for it to pass. It finally did and slowly,
carefully he made to leave the bridge.

Sharné wondered for a moment if she should volunteer
to accompany him to the medical capsule, then immediately suppressed the urge.
She decided not let him know of her continued concern. Besides, she
rationalized, he would probably prefer to handle it on his own and Hec would be
closely monitoring him. She kept silent but was puzzled by her unexpected
feelings towards Owens.