Holt finds the lockers are all unlocked. Most are empty. However, 3 along the wall have suits in them, but all are light suits, such as the shipboard suits. They weigh less however, about 2/3rds as much. Four of the lockers had mounts for hard-suits, but all are empty, as if they were in use.
Stepping into the engine room, holt finds the crew, or what is left of them. Mostly what is left is cooked hamburger fried to the back wall of the engineering compartment. It is a good thing the air is toxic at this point.
Holt finds a damaged console that still works. It appears to be the engineerin DC (Damage Control) uplink. It shows that over 80% of the ship is gone, and only 30% of what is left is online.
The ship is out of fuel, and appears to be running on a damaged AI frame. Holt is able to pull up the central core, what is left of it, and open a link to the Hawk.
When she's done, the picture from her suit snaps into clear focus, and there is limited access to the core. If it was not well into a core logic meltdown, she would have been unable to bypass it's security.
Yes, repairs will take at least another half hour.
Holt returns to the ship, and must spend 32 minutes in decontamination to either go back out or trade suit with someone.
Holt is dismayed as she searches through the lockers and finds nothing of value except a few light Vac suits.
"Captain, I'm not finding any data devices here, but there seem to be some semi-advanced Vac Suits. I'll bring them back with me when I return, but in the meantime I'm going to try and get the computers and comms online."
Holt scrambles to the engine room, but gasps when she sees the state of bodies of the crew. "Dear god. Captain, I've found some remains of the crew. It's kind of grisly, Ma'am. It looks like the radiation or something cooked them."
Regaining her composure, Holt continues to the control panels, trying to find one that is salvageable. Finding one that is... mostly... intact, she brings the systems online. "Ok, computers and comms up. It looks like the damage is extensive, but some of the systems are still operational... barely. Linking the systems to the Hawk."
Seeing the comms in her suit strengthen, Holt knows that the connection has been made, and checks her remaining time. There isn't much left, and she begins to head back, grabbing the suits she found on her way.
When she makes it back to the Hawk's airlock, she reports in, "I'm back on board Captain, and going through decontamination. Estimated time, 32 minutes. What is the plan Captain? Do you want me going back out to see what else I can find?"
She had made her way up to the flight deck. sat in the dinning area, Lady Annara looking over the images of Holts trip.
Even from what she could see, the level of tech as higher, the bad news was the damage on the other ship. But not they had a link to the failing AI, they could if lucky get something of real use.
"Doctor, do you think the AI has a core dump or back up we could down load, any technical or logs world be of use. There could even be in say deck plans a smaller craft or life pod. If you can locate it on the plan I could try and remote view it, to see if its still there and intact before Holt heads back."
Vathan follows Annara to the flight deck. He continues to fidget with his vac suit failing to get comfortable. All the while feeling utterly useless.
"Yes, that would prove optimal. You already got your bearings on the ship. A new person might waste precious minutes. As long as you feel up to the task ?" Ceres responds to the ensigns querry. The radiation shouldn't affect her... and she gets some rest now. Besides, if the suit is compromised better to lose only one ... She shudders a bit, as if suddenly cold.
"Doctor, can you access the AI trough the uplink ? There should currently be no risk of radiation exposure, so you may remove your suit. Considering the state of the AI, it is better to ask well thought out rather then hasty questions, correct? And see if you can't wrangle some plans or something for Lady Annara and us to ponder."
Finally she takes the internal com and hails Fernán. "Give me an update on the situation - is the damage located yet ?"
Holt, taking a deep breath, responds to the Captain, saying "Yes Captain, I can handle it. Two questions though, if I may."
"First, Ma'am, how many more excursions do we have time for? Second, are my retrieving the engineering manuals still me top priority on the next excursion?"
"With a decontamination cycle, atleast three. And hang in there - we are attempting to access the AI. There might be new developments that take precedence."
"I will be happy to remove this infernal contraption!!" Doctor Ziirkaa has been loosing patience with the protective covering for the past several hours of trying to work in it...
Pulling at the clasps of the suit he continues, "Thanks to Ensign Holt, we should be able to link from here. In order to keep the computer as stable as possible, I would like the assistance of mwfs wf ss fros t. AGGGGH HELMPH!! HELMPH!!!"
Moments later, after the bridge crew helps get his head unstuck from one of the arm holes in the suit he repeats himself, "Pardon me. As I was saying, I could use the help of anyone with computer training to help keep the AI as stable as possible."
"Perhaps we should start with this query and see how the computer responds: "Computer: Upload all plans and schematics for your vessel and its subsystems. Label and highlight all sections that still have power, all sections that are still functional, and the locations of all physical backups of ship and crew data." Conversation with the computer may help us assess the damage and state of it's program.
"Hey I know you Navy types all love your toys, but maybe you should ask something about politics, or the state of Galaxy. Like, that is a big old warship; was it in a big old war?"
Ceres watches Ziirkaa crawl out of his suit, glad to have some amusing (and not life-threatening) distractions. When he is finally rescued, she notes "Glad I didn't need to fetch the cutting torch..."
"I'll give you a hand doctor - but this will be your operation, so just tell me what to do!"
//
"The state of the greater galaxy is valuable but without a way to interact with it, it is merely trivia. First we find the jump-point, then we'll try to catch up as much as we can. We have lost almost 500 years - so we might just scratch the surface..."
Fernán replies, producing his words slowly and ignorant of any radio discipline. "Yes, this is true. But Capitán, did you not yourself note that learning about the jump point muy importante? Maybe the Telthani Navy has jump drives that still work, just nowhere to jump to?"
He pauses for a moment. "Also, if I was un loco AI, I would not tell any catetos my mighty military secrets; but I might tell them where I came from."
"Yes, jump-point first." She pauses and then continues, her voice now solemn and 'official'. "As for the whenever the Telthani Navy has jump drives or not, I am not authorized to either confirm or deny it." Truth to be told, she wasn't sure herself. Perhaps there are some moth-balled somewhere?
The AI gurgles a bit and then begins transmitting data. The deck plans come through, although a lot of systems are marked with lurid red 'CLASSIFIED' labels. But things like 'engineering' and 'mess' are all labeled. Same with the plans, most of them come through as 'CLASSIFIED' on anything military (engine design, for example, or compensator).
Locations that are still powered is basically engineering, lower hold, CDC (Combat Damage Control), Boat Bay 12, Boat bay 13, 28 crew quarters, a dozen heads, life support 18, life support 19.
The massive amount of data retrieval takes 20 minutes to download, and the AI degrades massively from trying to handle such a massive data download.
Lady Annara looks over the data as best she can.
Lady Annara makes her mind up,
"I am going to try and see if a boat is in each of the pays. With the
diagrams and knowing our location to them now. I can target area. Please give me a moment. If I find one in a bay, My recommendation is that Ensign Holt make her way there. Doctor hold off asking any other thing until I am done."
She closes her eyes and moves her minds eye to each of the Boat bays.
Sweat runs down her face. In the vacc suit its hot, it smells and close. But she keeps her mind steady. She could feel outside the cold emptiness of space. It send a shiver down her spine. All their lives could end in a moment, she placed that out of her mind.
After she is physical and mentally drained.
Ceres nods at Annara, awaiting her verdict anxiously. A shuttle or craft would be jackpot - they should contain tech and logs that would help them greatly! But then, they needed to find the jump point. "Doctor, do you believe you can coax the ship's logs from the AI? Or perhaps locate the 'black box' on these schematics? Either would help our efforts greatly in pin-pointing the jump point - and determine exactly why there is a wrecked battleship at our doorstep."
Port Boat Bay : Heat, boiled blood, burned and frozen meat, broken bones, shattered metal, no air, sparking wires.
Starboard Boat Bay : Heat, blood, burned meat, toxic haze, sparking wires, large metal object.
She is reppelled, she can feel rpthe death, the cocked flesh of the crew.
"The starboard bay,! something large and metallic in there, the other is empty, just full of death."
She blurts this out then gos silent, she trys not to be sick in her suit.
Vathan looks over a shoulder at the schematics trying to judge distances and time. How much can investigate? Are they too far apart? He tries to organize a pattern of close locations if multiple groups would be better.
After Annara blurts out the results of her psi scan, Vathan wordlessly helps her to sit in the lounge and hands her a hot, relaxing drink. When she is settled, he returns to the schematics.
She thanks Vathan, sits and takes the drink.
you can tell she's not going to be much use for a wile.
She drinks then places the empty cup down and sets back,
closing her eyes she lets herself rest.
Then she opens them for a moment and whispers to Vathan with the last of her strength.
"In the bay with the large metal object Vathan, I felt also with the Heat, blood, burned meat and sparking wires, a toxic kind of haze, warn them to be careful of the haze, Vathan"
Exhausted she closes her eyes once more she falls back into an light sleep.
After Fernán finishes the patch job he heads over to join up with Doctor Ziirka.
Hola, Doctor. I have a certain way with computers. Do you wish my help; I am glad to lend a hand.
"Very pleased to have your help... umn... Lady Annara's bodyguard fellow... I assume you can watch the gamma sub-processor and keep it from stealing cycle time? I think that may be destabilizing the ontological decision making sub-frame...
Honestly Captain, I don't know for sure we can get the Astrogation data and logs, but I don't see that we have a choice but to try."
Computer: Upload Ship's Logs and Navigation Data. Start from current time and work backwards to 1 month ago.
"Fernán, Señor. I can watch any cycles you want; just let know what subroutine to execute when it redlines"
Ensign Holt drops to her knees, resting on her heels, listening to the hiss of the decontamination procedure. The hard suit is still warm, but is cooling now.
I can't believe that in my first week in actual space, that we have discovered an alien, to us at least, ship and that I am responsible for examining it.
She shakes her head, trying to clear the sweat from her forehead without the use of her hands.
The radiation from this thing is incredible! Did it melt because of exposure to a dieing sun? Or maybe because of an atomic weapon? Or maybe this is what happens when the truly modern ships are critically damaged?
She takes a spare washer from her tools and begins to flip it across her suited fingers, an attempt to train her dexterity in the suit.
Will we be able to recover enough technology to get out of this solar system? To explore other worlds? Or is this just a reminder of how stuck we are? Of how the rest of the galaxy is progressing?
Her suit readings are begging to drop into the normal range, and she knows that she will be heading back soon, back to the greatest finding of the last 400 years, back into a tomb from the future.
The computer attempts to upload a log, but it goes haywire partway into it, and the download is garbled and garbaged, it'll take weeks to try to descramble it and get usable information out of it.
As Holt steps back into the ship, the lights are beginning to flicker, and the artificial gravity is half what it was before. This makes it easier to get around, but the gravity isn't steady and stable anymore, it is up and down through out the ship. The lights are also unstable, flickering and brightening. It appears that as the AI becomes more and more unstable, the ship's systems are degrading faster and faster.
It takes her nearly 20 minutes to make it to the boat bay, due to having to double back a couple of times due to damage, but she makes it with 10 minutes left on her clock. Knowing how to get back, it'll take her about that 10 minutes to get back to the Dawn. However, in the boat bay, she sees one ship.
With no time left, she can only glance over it, noting that it appears undamaged from external view, and then hurry back to the Dawn for another decontamination cycle.
A shuttle. The thought had echoed in her mind for almost twenty minutes now, ever since Holts video feed revealed it to them. It was a grand prize - the largest sort of salvage they had dared dream of. And there it was ... But time was sort. This is the only chance we will have on this - so can we really afford not to try? With one more look at the frozen image she made up her mind.
With a determined look she grabbed the comlink and hailed Holt. "Ensign, I would need to take a look at that shuttle - I will need you to start mapping the route that you took asap. If we are going to salvage it, I will need to find my way quickly. Doctor Ziirkaa will help you." She pauses for a moment, continuing in a softer voice. "You found your way to the second greatest discovery in nearly five centuries. Good job Ensign!"
Turning to the rest of the crew on the bridge, she quickly snapped some orders at the deckhands. "Al-right! We can't be certain of the presence or edibility of any supplies aboard our price. Fill one of the secure boxes with as much food, water and repair-tools one can carry. Prioritize tools and water, fill out the rest with adrenaline shots, vitamins and caffeine pills if you have to. Get to it!"
"And someone inform Lady Annara. If she could see the interior conditions of the shuttle, it would be of great help!"
Lastly she turns to Fernán with a thin smile. "You knew how to fly a plane, right...? Since I can't be certain to come back, let me give you a brief overview. No pressure ..." She spends most of the time left until the change of suits hammering in the lift-off procedures. He will have weeks of remote courses with Station if he needs for the 'landing'. Now he needs to take the ship up and back...
Vathan gently awakes Annara and relays the request to her.
He then contributes collecting secure boxes, food, water, repair-tools, adrenaline shots, vitamins and caffeine pills.
Hearing the Captain’s order, Holt is both relieved and disappointed, though the accolades of the Captain help somewhat. ”Yes Captain, I’m on it. And thank you, Ma’am.”
Well, at least I won’t have to deal with wearing this thing anymore. I’ve probably lost five kilograms in water weight from this. And I’ll be able to scratch my face!... But there is so much cool stuff over there...
Holt opens a comm channel to Doctor Ziirkaa, saying ”Doctor, can you pull up the map of the ship and have it displayed on one of the monitors down here? Better to begin immediately and to not waste time.”
It doesn’t take long to find the shortest course to the ship bay, especially with the help of the playback of her previous trip.
Before she knows it, the decontamination is almost complete. ”Captain, two minutes until decontamination scrub down is complete and we can transfer the suit.” Holt reports.
When the suit is clean and others are allowed in the airlock, Holt quickly salutes the Captain as she removes the hard suit. How harsh the trip is, even with the suit, becomes apparent when Holt removes the helmet, a plume of steam that had been trapped in the suit arising out of it. Holt’s clothes, as light and thin as they are, are soaked through.
Holt helps the Captain into the suit, trying to make the process more efficient, to save time. But as she does so she does make on request, a grin on her face, ”Ma’am, I am now strongly requesting an extra unit of shower time, to be taken immediately upon your departure.”
Annarra senses emptyness, and dead bodies. But the bodies seem to be intact, rather than destroyed like the ones in engineering.
Ceres changes into the suit, noticing that it smells very much of Holt after being worn for 2 hours. Supplies are quickly gathered and stored in the heaviest chest they can find, and then that is wrapped in as much radiation sheeting as they can find. Ceres will have to hope it's enough.
Once out of the airlock, Ceres get's the same treatment Holt has been having, with the suit temperature shooting up for the minute it takes to get to the ship's airlock. Once inside the airlock, and into the ship itself, the temperature drops back down toward normal.
Checking the radiation sensors inside the crate, it seems they managed to avoid exposure during the minute they were exposed, thanks to the extra sheeting.
Dragging the crate through the ship slows Ceres down a bit, so it takes her 15 minutes to reach the boat, rather than 10.
Checking the airlock, she's pleasantly surprised to find it unlocked. Cycling into it, she comes face to face with the first corpse. Or rather, corpses. Two hard-suits are in the airlock, each locked into the cycler. In one, an older woman with steely grey hair is suspended, some burn marks on her skin, but otherwise intact. The metallic slap-patch on the suit's breast is like the one Ceres wears. Her's reads 'Captain Ceres'. The one on the steel haired woman reads 'Rear Admiral Travis'. The other suit, which has a man who looks about the same age as the Rear Admiral reads 'Ambassador Trellaine'.
The gravity inside the small ship is rock steady, and the lights fully powered. It appears the ship's systems were active when the main ship's inertial compensator failed, and it's still active, which explains why the two corpses are not jelly.
Radiation readings inside the smaller ship are 0.
As captain Ceres instructs Fernán in the fine art of shuttle piloting he puffs up his chest with excessive pride.
"Capitán, it would be my humble pleasure to fly this vessel in your absence. I assure you, I have hundreds of hours of flight time in some of the most... unusual conditions. But space! ¡Qué asombroso! A feather in my cap, as they say. I swear before God that I will see this crew safe and sound back home."
Vathan gently awakes Annara and relays the request to her.
He then contributes collecting secure boxes, food, water, repair-tools, adrenaline shots, vitamins and caffeine pills.
Lady Annara wakes, the hears Vathan out.
she nods, the takes her last vile of Bust, two on one day was bad, lucky she did not have a 3ed, one more and it would course real damage.
She drank the vile, and let it do is work, expanding her mind. She concentrated on the metal object she had sensed earlier. She senses inside it hull.
"Certainly Ensign Holt. I will add your location tracking data as a layer on the file."
"I will hold you to it then, Helmsman Gómez. Good luck and I pray you won't need it!"
//
Ceres returns the Ensigns smile. "I understand. Granted without hesitation." Her expression turns apologetic as she carries on. "But it will have to wait until next decontamination cycle. Your expertise is too valuable to pass up while we have an active operation." She grabs the last piece of the suit - the helmet - and gives Holt what she hopes is an official looking nod. "And you are second-in-rank on the ship only for a minute more. Take care of it while I'm gone."
She puts the helmet on and turns to face the airlock. *Deep breath* Gently she taps the visor and checks all displays and gauges. All ready to go then... The HUD showed the map generated by Ziirkaa and Holts combined effort - her path to the grand prize. And not my tomb, all the spirits willing! "Ceres to the bridge, I'm ready! Engage the airlock as soon as Ensign Holt is clear."
//
Ceres flinched as she came face to face with the two suit wearing corpses. The trip to the Macguffin had been fraught with burned blood and torn corpses, but they had done nothing to prepare her for this. They had only been inanimate objects and shattered parts - as inanimate as a broken pipe or an patch of spilled oil. But these were real. They looked peaceful, almost sleeping - it looked like they could wake up at any second now. Any second now... Ceres blinked and forced herself to turn her gaze away from them. With another great effort of will she pushed them to the back of her mind. What mattered now was the mission.
Well inside the ship, she was delighted to see that atleast some of the systems seemed operational. And there was no radiation - which meant her stay was limited to her oxygen supply. More precious minutes. She placed the locker with supplies just next to the airlock, but not yet opening it. She wasn't 100% of what contaminants that were present in the air just yet, if any. "Bridge, I am inside the ship. The geiger counter picks up null radiation - a good sign that our haul is intact. I will attempt to first check the atmosphere and then do a diagnostics of the ship's systems and stores. If that is all positive, I will attempt to access the hangar doors."
Onboard the ship, Ceres finds more corpses scattered around, all wearing ship suits. Thirty corpses in all. Two of them stand out though. They are not human. Looking at their shapes, the legs are obviously different, the knees bending in the wrong direction, and the helmets shaped oddly. Looking in through the faceplates, Ceres sees a canid form, with an elongated muzzle and fur. One is solid black, the other mixed brown and yellow. The atmosphere reads breathable, temperature slightly warm, 34.5875 C.
Finally, making it to the cockpit, she finds one person sitting in what is obviously the pilot's seat. Checking the copilot's seat, she begins to try to bring up the systems to see what the status is.
The ship's lights turn a lurid red. The cockpit door slams shut with the sound of locks being engaged.
"Doctor, any space laws for legal salvage, search, or rescue? Quick!" Gomez hisses.
Doctor Ziirkaa sputters, "There is far too much interstellar law on the subject. But no way to know which ones the anti hijacking program will recognize... Captain, Your best bet is some sort of navy code. You are imperial navy after all!"
Holt stares in shock for a moment at the Captain’s words.
I’m… I’m running the ship… Okay, deep breath…
Holt gives another salute, replying ”Yes Captain. And good luck.” before leaving the airlock, watching as the doors close and the airlock depressurizes. Not wanting to waste time, she grabs her uniform shirt from a nearby peg and places it over her drenched tank top, not bothering to button it up. Still barefoot, she heads up to what serves as the command deck and says ”Alright everyone, we need to be at the top of our game. The Captain is counting on us.”
- - - - -
Holt watches wide eyed at the images being sent back from the hard suit. She is amazed at just how intact everything is, especially compared to the damage that was all around it.
This is it… we can probably bring it back with us… this is amazing!
But when the alarms start going off Holt begins to examine the scene for anything that might be of help. Thinking, she asks to both the crew and over the comms to Ceres, ”Is their Navy code anything like ours at this point? What about the deceased Admirals ID patch? Could that be used to identify yourself?”
Lady Annaras was weak, she had never done some much in such a short time. Once she had passed on the information from her scan, she had to grab a back and was sick. Offer another drink of water, she lay back breathing hard.
"I need to rest for a short wile, wake me of any thing changes"
And with that she classes her eyes and falls into a deep coma like sleep.
Ceres wracks her brain trying to remember the proper procedures. Her crew was right, it had probably been mentioned passingly in one of the courses - and she prayed that standard procedures hadn't deviated much in the last five centuries or so ...
I could use the Admiral's name - but odds are they got voice recognition. I could *hmh* invoke emergency procedures perhaps?
Steeling herself, she summoned her most authoritative voice. Not that she though the computer would care, but because she needed the reassurance herself. "Captain Viktoria Ceres of Telthani's First System Fleet. This is a rescue operation and I thus evoke the proper protocols. Run self-diagnostics and check logs to confirm calamity, and transfer commanders rights to me until further notice." She pauses to catch her breath, trying to see if she missed something ... "And stand down anti-personnel countermeasures." With an afterthought she adds in a softer voice. "Label crewmember/passenger 'Rear Admiral Travis', 'Ambassador Trellaine' as dead in action. Label all previous crewmembers/passengers as presumed dead, identification pending."
With a bit of luck this might just work!
"PROCESSING. PROCESSING."
Time goes by...
"UNABLE TO CONFIRM SITUATION WITH PARENT SYSTEM, SYSTEM FAILURE. FALLING BACK ON LOCAL CONTROL. TELTHANI FIRST FLEET NOT RECOGNIZED. TELTHANI SYSTEM PICKET RECOGNIZED. SCANNING. SUIT DESIGNATION 38ADSK24374DJK2347F CONFIRMED VALID DESIGNATION SOLOMANI FLEET, OBSOLETE. LOST COLONY PROTOCOL INITIATED. PURGING DATABANKS. PURGING... PURGING... PURGING... PURGE COMPLETE. SYSTEM RESET INITIATED."
The lurid red lights flicker and then slowly return to normal. Every panel and screen in the cockpit does the same.
A female voice cuts through the silence. "SSS Lightbearer active and in local control. Salvage protocols engaged. Lost colony protocols successful. Ownership transferred to Captain Ceres Telthani complete. How may I assist you Captain Ceres?"
It worked! She struggled for one moment with deciding if she should giddle in happiness or sigh in relief first, before deciding that they were both unworthy of a captain. On the other hand, Purgeing seems unnecessary.... "Please complete self-diagnostics and check fuel, air and supply status." she replies to the computer.
To her crew, she radios. "It worked! I be darned!" She can't help but sound like a happy little girl when she states what they already know.
"Diagnostics complete. Fuel at 87%. Radiation scrubbing complete, interior returned to safe operation levels. Life support offline due to loss of biomass. Life support can only be maintained for 2 weeks on canned air for standard crew compliment. Food stores contaminated by radiation."
Holt had held her breath while Ceres took the lead. But when she hears that the ship has given itself over, she lets out a long held breath and laughs lightly. ”Good job Captain! Do you think that you could connect systems with us? Then we could provide you with flight data to get back home.”
Hmm, the air should last much longer with a skeleton crew... And we got our own food supplies. She nodded in agreement towards the computer voice. Or, more specifically, towards the instrument board. She caught herself halfway trough, wondering softly if that was really the appropriate way to communicate with the ship. "Affirmative. Is it possible to attempt remote access to hangar bay doors?"
Expecting a negative answer she readied herself to leave. "And is there a cold storage or similar available? For the corpses ..." She wasn't sure if the clarification was needed, or if the computer even cared. Probably not. Lastly, she repeated Ophelia's request.