Salvage-5: The Next Mission (First Contact) Read online

  Hargrove and Samuels quickly made their way from the command center of the CSMO to the shuttle bay.

  “The ERV’s all ready to go...emergency take-off protocol...pre-flight check complete...the board is green,” the CSMO’s mechanic, Harry Nelson, greeted them.

  Harry had just been released from the infirmary, but was still recovering from the radiation Kurtis had put him through prior to the arrival of the Salvage-5 crew.

  “Kurtis will surely know something’s up now that we’ve stopped,” Samuels said, trotting alongside the lieutenant.

  Hargrove didn’t miss a beat with Samuels now on his heels, running single file down the narrow causeway leading inside the launch bay. They quickly boarded the small support craft, ERV Ingrid-1. These Emergency Recovery Vehicles we’re quick to launch but had limited seating. The two-seat ship had a small rear compartment that could fit five more people with limited equipment.

  The door lowered down and sealed shut, while the CSMO ground crew evacuated the landing bay area. A swooshing sound signaled the outer hatch had closed, sealing the ERV alone inside the upper deck of the launch bay. A red strobe flashed in time with a blaring klaxon as it spun around, alerting all personnel that the atmosphere in the launch bay was about to be evacuated. The bay fell silent as the opening of the launch bay doors evacuated the air.

  Hargrove clicked buttons on his keypad in front of him while Samuels flipped several switches, bringing life to the cockpit of the ERV.

  “CSMO 253 Mathilde, ERV Ingrid-1, launch bay clear and secured,” Hargrove reported.

  “Ion turbine and thrusters online...avionics green,” Samuels announced.

  “NAV check.”

  “Navigational gyros engaged, take off sequence. Course set and verified.”

  “CSMO, Ingrid-1, we are green for takeoff.”

  “Ingrid-1, CSMO, bay doors are open...you are cleared for takeoff...ascend to 50 meters and proceed to recovery coordinates.”

  “In 3...2...1...skids up!” Hargrove shouted, pulling the control stick back, “Z plus 50 meters at 25 KPH.”

  Ancient dust, raised by the engine’s exhaust, glittered in the starlight as it fell quickly back to the asteroid. The thrusters lifted the ERV up into the cold darkness of space and out of the CSMO launch bay.

  “We’re clear of the CSMO,” Samuels reported.

  Hargrove depressed the transmit button once more, “CSMO, ERV Ingrid-1, we are proceeding to the crash site. Accelerating to 25,000 KPH. Crash site ETA 15 minutes. Ingrid-1 out.”

  “Roger, Ingrid-1. Take care out there,” Dillan radioed across the wireless.

  Hargrove increased the ion engine thrusters to full power, accelerating to the designated speed. The sleek ERV flew across the asteroid’s landscape and then pointed upward from the asteroid surface, leaving the CSMO 253 Mathilde behind. Then they proceeded toward the Mag-ring coordinates.

  “ETA twelve minutes to crash site,” Samuels counted.

  “Can you pick up anything on the Liberator?”

  “Negative, sir. No communications.”

  “Keep scanning, Sarge. Widen your bandwidth and increase your beam...”

  “Wait,” Samuels interrupted, “scanners just picked up a ship on a course away from the jump ring...It must be them.”

  “Coming up on the Mag-Ring in five minutes.”

  “What’s the status of the Liberator?”

  “Near as I can tell, the ship is intact. The container cage is still attached to the ship. Their engines are still on-line...current speed: 5,000 KPH. I’m getting a tie-in signal from their ship’s computer, they’ve somehow managed to put her in a circular course that will bring them back to the station in a couple of hours...but still nothing on the comm link.”

  Hargrove depressed his transmitter, “UTS Liberator, ERV Ingrid-1, do you read?” He repeated the call once more, but the wireless only returned static.

  “Reducing closing speed to 100 KPH. Coming up on the ring now,” Hargrove looked out in front at the approaching 150 meter wide mag-ring, “Will you look at that...wow, they hit it alright.”

  “Yeah...from the looks of it, we’ll need at least a quarter section to rebuild the ring. It’s missing a huge chunk...I’m amazed that the Liberator is even still intact.”

  The two began to hear some light pinging followed by a few tinkling sounds on the pilot house outside the ship, “What in hell’s that?” Hargrove asked, looking over his head.

  The sound got louder and more frequent, like driving into a rain squall that would spatter hail on the roof of a car.

  “We’re in a debris cloud! Hard to port!” Samuels shouted.

  “Turning hard to port! Okay, collars up...we’re going helmets on...this dust is from the ruptured container. Ore is floating out ahead of us.”

  “I’m picking up some rather large pieces of debris,” Samuels said, “It’s the fractured section of the jump ring and lots of floating rocks on a trajectory away from the site.”

  “Record the coordinates of the debris field. That’ll have to be cleaned up,” Hargrove said, snapping his neck ring in place.

  Samuels slid his helmet over his head and clicked it into place, followed by the Lieutenant.

  “Yeah, the speeds a ship travels out here, one strike from any one of those rocks can punch a hole clean through,” Hargrove nodded.

  “Lucky that was just leftover mining dust we just flew through, and not one of those big chunks out there.”

  “I’ve launched a drone camera to record the damage to the ring. Plot us an intercept course to the Liberator.”

  “I’m plotting trajectory now. Increase speed to 10,000 KPH...course 1-5-6 mark 2-7-7...ETA 5 Minutes.”

  “Turning to course 1-5-6 mark 2-7-7, speed 10,000 KPH...CSMO 253 Mathilde, Ingrid-1, we’ve got a fix on the Liberator, they still have not responded...ETA 5 minutes...Dillan, dispatch a crew of scoopers to clean up the mess out here. Tell them to come in low and slow, there’s a pretty large debris field here....Ingrid-1 out.”

  “Ingrid-1, CSMO, roger that. I’ll assemble the team immediately...CSMO out,” Hargrove heard through the wireless inside his helmet.

  The ERV turned to its new course and headed away from the crash site, “It does appear that the ring’s docking port and control room are undamaged.”

  “Lieutenant, I’ll put a survey crew together once the debris has been cleared from the ring, once the clean-up crew gives the all-clear that it’s safe to approach. I’ll be on the first team over.”

  Hargrove gave Samuels his thumbs up, “Very well...look, we’re coming up in range now...Ingrid-1, CSMO, coming into visual range now...stand by,” then released his transmit button. “Adjusting course and speed to match the Liberator...reducing speed to 5,000 KPH, we’re 100 meters off her port side...using thrusters to bump us up alongside.”

  Samuels looked out the starboard glass as they approached the ship, “Coming up on the rear port now, adjust pitch Z+1...there...I see the damaged container. Passing the cage junction...hold here for a moment.”

  Hargrove adjusted their position with thrusters, “CSMO, we see the damaged container...What else you see there, Samuels?”

  “The container is mostly full, that’s good news...that’ll reduce some of the cleanup at the site...wait a minute,” Samuels strained to look forward, “Move us up about 5 meters and hold...there...Damn! I thought so.”

  “What is it, Sarge?”

  “The ship’s venting plasma, they have core leak.”

  “CSMO, we have a containment leak on the Liberator’s core...we have visual on a plasma leak at the T-42 junction to the pilot house...we’re going in to check for survivors now...stand by.”

  “Give me Z plus 5, X minus 10 meters and your hatch will be Y plus 15 meters and then down Z minus 2...I’ll secure a hard lock on the pilot house.”

  “Affirmative...making course adjustments...lining up with the hatch in one minute.”

  Hargrove moved the ERV up and over the contai
ner ship and flew forward fifteen meters. He held the Integra-1 above the top hatch cover of the Liberator.

  “CSMO, I see lights in the pilot house, it appears they might be alive...stand by,” Hargrove said, depressing his transmit button.

  “Ok, you’re in position. Z minus 1 meter and hold...stop...confirming positive lock...locked and sealing connection...confirmed...we have a hard seal.”

  “Powering down engines...CSMO, Integra-1, we have hard seal...stand by.”

  Samuels unbuckled and floated to the rear hatch and pressed the commands on its console, and watched the floor give way to an opening. He reached down and turned the wheel on the Liberator’s hatch. It released with a swoosh of air as the two compartments equalized in pressure.

  As he lowered the hatch, he was met with a very grateful looking co-pilot, “Well, it’s about time you came to rescue us,” O’Reilly said through his helmet’s wireless. “Better hurry, the captain’s injured and our core is venting...”

  “We know, we saw the leak already,” Samuels said leaning down the hole, “Is the captain able to move?”

  “Negative, he’s pinned in the pilot seat, I’ll need a torch to cut the panel...better hurry, we don’ have much time.”

  “Captain Hodges, do you hear? We’re going to get you out of here, “Samuels reassured the ship’s pilot.

  “It’s no good, he’s out cold. Had to give him some morph. We’re flooded with leaking reactor juice, our suit normally protects us, but his suit was torn by the plate that pinned his leg on impact...We barely got our helmets on before the containment leak started...need to get him back to the CSMO before he loses his leg altogether.”

  “It might be too late for him already, if he’s exposed to that plasma, he may not survive this long of an exposure.”

  “We have ta’ try, man...I’ve tried to compartmentalize the spill, he’s not had that much direct exposure yet, but we face an even larger problem now don’ we.”

  “I know, I know...” Samuels said with a look of distress, “If that plasma ignites, we all are goners.”

  “And I tell ya, I’m not ready to be blown to kingdom come by a plasma explosion...do ya got a cutting torch or not?”

  Samuels floated to one of the container bins in the rear of the ship. He took a portable cutting torch out and floated it down to the waiting O’Reilly, “Do not ignite the plasma...you got that!?”

  “You don’ have ta tell me twice, now...I got this,” O’Reilly said, disappearing down the hole to free his captain.

  O’Reilly hooked up the cutting torch, made the sign of the cross, and then cautiously lit the torch. A sigh escaped him when he verified that he wasn’t killed instantly. “That went well...” then leaned down he began to carefully cut away the panel that held his captain hostage from leaving the Liberator.

  Several painful minutes passed when Samuels leaned down part way into the Liberator, “How’s it coming there?”

  “Almost got it now,” O’Reilly noted, “There! He’s free,” he finished. Turning off the torch with relief, he floated it back to Samuels.

  He proceeded to unbuckle his sedated captain, and then passed him to Samuels through the airlock.

  Hodges began to stir when the piece of shrapnel, still sticking out of his leg, caught on the airlock door flange. Blood seeped out the tear in his suit, forming small red droplets that floated along beside him.

  “I was afraid of that,” O’Reilly exclaimed, “The metal shifted! We’ve got a bleeder. Quick, get him through and secure his leg with a tourniquet...I’m goin’ ta see if I can shut down the engines and bring us to a stop.”

  Samuels guided the bleeding pilot through the airlock toward the rear of the cabin.

  “You guys better hurry it up; she’s over heating now,” Hargrove reported.

  “It’s no use!” O’Reilly said, coming up through the air lock, “All the systems are smashed down there, there’re ain’t one good console. We can’t stop it! I’ll take care of my captain, Samuels! Seal us up and get us outta here!”

  The two wasted no time in switching places. O’Reilly took a line from the open compartment and tied it around his captain’s leg. Squeezing the femoral artery, he managed to stop the bleeding.

  Samuels sealed the hatch to the Liberator and then slid the ERV’s hatch closed.

  “Clear!” Pulling hard to seal the hatch, “get us out of here, Lieutenant!”

  Hargrove gunned his thrusters and put his ion engines back on-line, “Z plus 50 meters, turning to port and heading back to CSMO 253 Mathilde.”

  The ERV quickly separated from the Liberator and turned back to the base.

  “We’ve got a bigger problem, gentlemen,” O’Reilly said, removing his clumsy helmet, “In our emergency, we set our computer to plot a course back to the CSMO...if she don’ blow up before then, the Liberator is a huge projectile heading right for the asteroid.”

  “CSMO, Engrid-1, prepare CSMO for detachment! Repeat, prepare CSMO for detachment!” Hargrove shouted through his wireless.

  “Engrid-1, CSMO, hey, Dillan here. You’re asking an awful lot now...what’s wrong?”

  “Dillan, no time to explain. Get the CSMO ready, wait for us to land and I’ll take her up. The Liberator’s a runaway heading right for 253 Mathilde...the CSMO will never survive the impact if she’s on the surface when that thing hits! Now get all the teeth lifted, roll the elevators back inside and dock all the MECHS into their housings...Once we land, pull the anchors...I’ll take full responsibility.”

  “Okay, Lieutenant...I just gave the order. We’re scrambling here. Should be ready in twenty.”

  “Roger that, CSMO. We land in fifteen,” looking over at Samuels, now buckling in to his co-pilot seat, “When she gonna hit?”

  “If it doesn’t blow, ETA to impact is thirty minutes now.”

  “Not much of a window, you know what happened when we blew that alien complex.”

  “That was quite a ride alright, but the CSMO didn’t make it out, either.”

  “That’s because we didn’t have any distance from the blast, we should be safe if we park out by the jump ring and ride out the wave.”

  “As good a plan as any, I suppose.”

  “You guys always fly by the seat of ya pants?” O’Reilly asked.

  “Yep, pretty much standard procedure.”

  “Now, that’s my kind of flyin’ boys,” O’Reilly smiled.

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet, wait until our ride gets here.”

  “I’ve heard some of those stories...Colonel Petersen actually shot the Company CEO’s nephew?”

  “Yep, sure ‘nuff...” Samuels nodded with a smile, “I was there and watched him do it...never seen anything quite like it...then again, anytime Tucker’s involved, good chance none of us have seen it before.”

  “Can’t wait to meet him...that much I can tell ya.”

  “How’s your captain?” Hargrove asked.

  “He’s stable for now, we’ll need to get this suit off him and check that cut...you do have a medic on board, right?”

  “Yep, we sure do...” Hargrove answered, “CSMO, Ingrid-1, we’ll need the medical bay set up, we have a critically wounded patient here. Captain Hodges has a shard of metal in his leg. We’ve got a tourniquet set now.”

  “Ingrid-1, Dillan here, I’m sending word to the medical bay. What’s your ETA?”

  “We’ll be there in five minutes. Roll the launch bay doors open now.”

  “Rolling bay doors open...ready to receive.”

  “Dillan, you got those ion drives fired up and ready?”

  “Yes, sir. We’re all set for ya. There’s a clear path to the control tower.”

  “Good work, Dillan. We’re coming up on the asteroid surface now, stand by.”

  “Samuels, what’s the status of the Liberator?”

  “She’s still coming in hot!”

  “Do you know exactly what caused the accident, O’Reilly?”

  “All I know for sure,
is that we were having trouble with the port thruster pack. Then she fired full blast and knocked us off course. The captain couldn’t hold it, that’s when we diverted. I didn’t know we were goin’ ta hit the thing. I plugged in a return course just before impact and set the ion drives to the current speed. That’s when we hit.”

  “You couldn’t answer our hails?”

  “Nope, all our systems were out; radio, NAV, gyros...everything went offline. She just kept flying on the programmed course. It wasn’t until you opened our hatch to yours, that my wireless finally connected with your computers.”

  “Thruster pack malfunction?”

  “No, it was in perfect working order when we arrived. That much I know for sure. It was right after we left the CSMO that it failed...I’d review the security recordings of the landing bay...I smell sabotage.”

  “Sabotage? Not my crew...”

  “Hargrove, remember...they’re really not our crew. Tucker just put us here to clean up and get the station running again.”

  “You can bet there’ll be a thorough review once we get things settled...CSMO, Integra-1, we’re one minute out...”

  “Ingrid-1, CSMO, roger that, one minute...bay doors open.”

  “Slowing to 10 KPH...and full stop...we’re directly over the landing bay.”

  “Ingrid-1, CSMO, you’re clear to land. CSMO out, see ya top side, Lieutenant.”

  “Z minus 10 Meters at 10 KPH... and in 3...2...1, skids down, mag-lock engaged. Powering down systems...Sarge, take over here, we’ve only got 10 minutes before impact!”

  “You go, I got this!”

  Hargrove was already unbuckled from his restraints and heading out the side door, nearly before it was open all the way.

  He ran through the just opened airlock passage to the CSMO corridor. Turning left, he hoofed it double time, “Clear a path! Move it, move it, move it!” he shouted, alerting those in the way to give him room.

  He entered the conning tower on the CSMO, where Dillan was powering up the flight control systems, “Nice of you to join our little party, Lieutenant...raising the last anchor...we’re free of the asteroid now. She’s all yours, Lieutenant.”