Chronicles of Athena Lee (13 page)

Her frown turned upside down and I had a fun little shiver down my back. Our waiter was gone and we made small talk. She told me all about what she does in the marines. I had no idea the amount of sheer work that those men and women do on our ship. Everything from guarding the captain to boarding enemy ships. As engineers, we pretty much don't leave engineering unless we have to fix something. The conversation had turned to me and I was starting to tell about my building the station when my clutch started beeping at me.

“Oh, crap” said my date. She reached into her pocket pulling out her locator beacon. Mine was in my bag and the source of the noise.

“Why is this thing,” that was all I got out. At that point Wilson was echoing in my head. “Two ships just entered the system, they are all shot up, and screaming for help. It's an emergency recall of all personnel.”

Cocking my head I relayed what Wilson had told me.” Dar gave me a funny look.

“Athena? How is it that you know what is happening?”

Looking at the floor I muttered at her. “I'll tell you. Just not here.”

We grabbed our waiter and told him of the recall. We told him to give the food to someone hungry, as we hurried past him.” Dar pulled out a communicator and gave our location and ETA to the ship.

Ship’s crew were running in from all across the station. Station personnel tried to get out of our way as Dar and I hustled to the ship. Not everyday that you see two women, dressed to the nines, jogging down the hallways. We made it to the ship just seconds before they closed the doors. The captain of the ship was in a hurry. We quickly said our goodbyes and went to our separate quarters to change into uniform.

“Damn it Wilson, I didn't even get a chance to kiss the girl!” For once he was silent.

Chapter 5

Due to the emergency, I rushed to engineering as fast as I could. Would you believe that the assholes were sitting around eating pastries and laughing? I had a shocked look on my face as I entered the room.

“Lieutenant Lee, have a seat. Doughnut?” Commander Arthur tried to hand me a pastry. “We are organizing repair crews to help with the upcoming boarding. You have been selected to lead team one. Ensign Porter and the rest of your crew are in crew bay one getting loaded up. Have fun!”

Porter? Porter was the worst engineer ever. What are they trying to do, get me killed? The officers (all men) had continued with their conversation and were all chuckling about something. I was beginning to see how it was.Time to prove them wrong. I turned away and left engineering. Crew bay one was filled with small groups of officers and crew from most departments. Seeing the XO, I reported to him.

“Lieutenant, assume command of your engineer group. You will be group one. I'm sending you in with the initial rescue team. Saving lives is the order of the day. Do what you have to do. Understand?” At that he turned back to another group.

I found Ensign Porter and six crewmen sitting on pallets at the back of the room. No equipment or personal protection gear in sight. Seeing me coming, one of the crewman called for attention.

“Ensign Porter is your team ready to go?” I inquired. He just stared at me. “I don't see any equipment, did you think that this was a drill of some kind? No? THEN GET OFF YOUR ASS! FIND OUR EQUIPMENT AND GEAR AND GET BACK HERE!” The little idiot jumped to his feet, nearly falling, and ran off. I sent half the crewmen after him as help. All around us heads turned in our direction.

Lowering my voice, I asked the remaining crew “does anyone here have experience with something like this?” The three crewman just shook their head no. “All righty then. Here's the plan. When Ensign Porter and the rest of the crew get back, suit up. According to the XO, we go in with the first group. He wants us to focus on saving lives first. We will concentrate on life support and power. Use common sense, unless you hear different from me. “

Ensign Porter returned carrying his personal gear. The crewman were loaded down like pack mules trying to drag a repair cart.

I lost all respect, if any, that I had for Porter. Crewman were not slaves. I hurried over and took some of the load off the crew.

“Ensign Porter, help drag that cart over here. Crewman Bartleby, start distributing the equipment and gear. Give everyone equal amounts of gear. Take only what you are sure that you need. Remember, the ship is right here. It can always send something to you. Porter! Are you listening to me! Help with that cart!” He was starting to really piss me off.

“I don't have to listen to you.” Porter looked smug as he tried to tell me off. “Commander Arthur says you're not a real engineer anyway.”

That's it!

“Porter you are on report right now!” I looked around, peering at the small groups of crew. Ah ha, I spotted who I wanted.

“Master at Arms?” The somewhat portly officer approached me.

“Something I can do for you lieutenant?” He said.

“Yes, please put Ensign Porter on report and under arrest for failing to obey a direct order from a superior officer” The officer turned glaring at Porter. “What did the ensign do?”

I recounted what had happened and the comments that were made. Using my link I sent him a vid record of the event.

“She lies! She's making it all up.” Porter, red faced, shouted at the officer.

The MAA motioned to a couple of marines that were standing by.

“Ensign, I have vid of the charges. We are placing you under arrest at this time.” The marines grabbed the now struggling ensign and handcuffed him.

Seeing this the XO came over. Great, now I'm in trouble.

“Is there a problem Lieutenant? Why is the ensign under arrest?” Commander Wang, the XO, turned to the Master at Arms, “Charges?”

“Sir, conduct unbecoming, disobeying orders, and now, resisting arrest.” Sending my vid to the XO, the chief added his own.

“Place the ensign in the brig until this action is over.” Turning to me he motioned, “Lieutenant a moment?”

We both walked over near the wall. Giving me a half grin the commander smiled at me. “Is dealing with the other officers in your section similar to this incident? Tell me the truth.”

Hesitant, I replied “Yes sir. The other officers don't like having a woman in their ranks. Most don't even acknowledge me. I think, that they intended for me not to come back from this assignment.”

“Those are very serious charges, Lee.” I sent him the vid of the other engineers eating donuts. “Hmmm, I see your point. Well we don't have a lot of time. Make one of your crew a temporary midshipman. I will deal with engineering when we return.” The XO walked back to the center of the room.

“Your attention please!”

“LISTEN UP!” Commander Wang could be loud when he wanted to be.

“We are less than ten minutes out. Both ships appear to have serious battle damage. The larger one, a freighter called the Happy is in the worst shape. They both have fires in engineering and little or no life support. Teams are to take whatever actions are necessary to preserve lives. We need answers people! Dead sailors tell us nothing. Do your jobs! That will be all.”

We approached the Happy first. Using external cameras the damage was seen by us on large projection screens. It was bad. The Happy was an older ship of a design not used anymore. It had a central pod and storage area. The fusion thrusters were on pylons outside the ship. The aft area was the worst. The left outboard engine looked like it was still on fire. Laser burns covered the ship. From the scorching I could see that the weapons used were of an older style called ‘War’ shot. That was bad news for the ship’s crew. The older lasers did not have the frequency modulators that newer weapons did. Without them, the bursts were sharper and more concentrated. This caused burning through the hull and destroying whatever they hit. The second ship was called the Gilmore G. This sleek looking ship was newer. It had been converted to a convoy support ship sporting torpedo's and a pair of laser turrets for defense.

“OK people start loading the shuttles. Shuttle one is going to the Happy, engineering crews and rescue teams only. Shuttle two is going to the Gilmore G. I need the marine intelligence units, navigation, and security teams onboard that ship. Marine Lieutenant Dar is in charge of shuttle two. I will be on shuttle one with the rescue teams. Let's go people.” Commander Wang opened the hatch and watched as we entered the shuttle.

As our shuttle approached the Happy we could see sections where the hull was burned all the way through. How did they pilot this ship here? Having seen this kind of carnage first hand I knew that when we popped the hatches it was going to be like the lower depths of hell.

I turned to my engineering crew, “Masks on and ship suits sealed. Buddy check each other! If you have to vomit do it in your suit, do NOT unseal until ordered. Conditions are going to be really bad over there. Watch for plasma and fusion leaks. Report anything that looks like trouble, I mean it people, anything.”

The XO was watching me. “Seen something like this before Lee?”

“Yes sir. During the war.” I replied.

He nodded. Looking to the med teams he gave them similar instructions. The shuttle shook then a loud thump sounded. There was the sound of pressure equalizing and then the hatch opened.

Chapter 6

Calling this the lower depths of Hell was being kind. It was bad, really bad. As the hatch opened smoke and ash from the fires boiled into the shuttle. With smoke rolling around the bay we could see scorched and burned crewmen trying to put out one of the fires. My suit sensors said that oxygen was down to 18% and falling. We had to move fast. Our XO grabbed the nearest ship’s crewman and they started talking. A make-shift hospital had been set up and our med team sprang into action.

My team looked to me for guidance. On the flight over I had made crewman Bartleby a temporary Midshipman, by the XO's orders. “Bartleby, take half the group and make your way to engineering. Shut down that fusion engine. Short of ejecting it, stop it anyway you can. Call me if you run into trouble. The rest of you with me. Life support is failing, we need to get it fixed.” I led my team past the hospital and over to the ship’s access panels.

“On these older ships there is conduit access that runs the length of the ship. The life support panel is supposed to be located at the center of the conduit. It can also be accessed via engineering through a heavily shielded hatch. This, is a shortcut.” I opened up the tube and climbed in.

The tube was very tight and we were at close quarters. We came to a T-junction. Pointing to the right I said “ in that direction is medical.” I pointed the other way, “the armory, and weapons controls should be down there.”

Smoke and ash began to drift into the tube, making little swirls of dust. Life support was still functioning, if only barely. We reached a series of hatches on either side of the tube. One of these should be life support.

I could see a fire ahead of us in the direction of engineering.

“Jacobs, attach a heat sensor to the right hatch before you open it. Lets check for fire.” I watched as my crew gave Jacobs a little room. The sensor lit up with a red blinking light. “Crap. I sure hope that's not the room we need.” Motioning my crew to one side I checked the door. No lights. Jacobs gave the hatch a pull, it was either stuck or locked tight.

“Lieutenant Lee? We don't have access tools with us. I could go back and try to find some.” Jacobs looked worried.

I looked around the door frame as I talked “Don't worry about it Jacobs. On these older ships they used key codes to secure vital locations.” At that I uncovered a hidden key pad behind bundled wires.

“The navy is given master codes for all these pads by the manufacturer for situations just like this one.” I inputted a numeric sequence and the door slid open.

Peering into the dimly lit room I said, “and here we are, life support.”

“Ma'am?” Jacobs and the other two team members looked puzzled. “How is it that YOU know the codes and all of that information about these ships?”

I sensed a teaching moment coming on. “Why don't you know these things? You knew what kind of ships we were approaching a full ten minutes before we docked. All of the schematics and codes for most civ ships are located in our data banks. You just have to look them up.”

“Ma'am, you are the first officer we have worked for that knew all that.” Well, that explained a lot.

The life support panel control had been damaged in the attack. There was a six inch melted hole through the panel, wall, and deck. No way we could fix that. Looking at it I wondered how it was even functioning.