“Evan,” Herzer said. “The ship.”
“Oh, right,” Evan muttered. “Uhm…”
“So we have to take the control room?” Herzer asked, standing up and flipping through the large schematic diagrams. He noticed that they were on some type of plastic and wondered where they’d come from and how old they were. The plastic had a brittle feel to it.
“That would be optimum,” Evan said. “But probably insufficient to guarantee success.”
“Any way to ignore it?” Herzer asked.
“Well,” Evan said, shrugging. “If you took all the shuttles, secured them, manned them and ensured their continued security, you’d get the fuel. But if you ignore the command center, New Destiny then has control of the ship.”
“Lots of personnel for that,” Herzer muttered. “Where’s the control center?”
“Here,” Evan said, pointing to the spot on the schematic. “Located between fuel blisters numbers one and two on the lower structural reinforcement ring.”
“These are the closest shuttles,” Herzer said, pointing to the spots. He was starting to get the arcane symbology on the schematic.
“Yes, shuttles three and four are closest,” Evan admitted.
“Pressurized the whole way?” Herzer asked.
“Pressure and artificial gravity,” Evan said.
“Alternate means of egress?” Herzer asked.
“Each of the pressure corridors, port and starboard, has airlocks, here and here,” Evan noted, pointing to the symbols. “There are two doors to the control room, port and starboard. Standard pressure doors.”
“Armored or what?” Herzer asked. “What are they made out of?”
“Memory plastic,” Evan said unhappily. “They’re rather easy to break if you squirt them with a cryogenic fluid and then give them a sharp tap with a pointed object.”
“Cryogenic?” Herzer said, wincing.
“Very cold,” Megan said. “Liquid helium would do.”
“Or nitrogen,” Evan noted. “It’s what the team was going to use if they had to force the doors.”
“No other points of attack?” Herzer asked. “What are the walls made of?”
“You’re thinking of cutting your way into the control room?” Evan asked, aghast.
“I’m hoping not to,” Herzer said. “I’m also hoping that New Destiny doesn’t. What are they made of?”
“Ceramo-metallic composite,” Evan said. “Very strong, very resistant including to chemical attacks and heat. I’m not sure how you would cut it under the conditions. Repair requires a plasma torch. There are some on the ship in the maintenance bay,” he added, pointing to a spot between the control room and the engine room.
“What are these?” Herzer asked, pointing to two spots on the reinforcement ring that were marked, he thought, as airlocks.
“Docking points for the space-only shuttles,” Evan said.
“Any way in there?” Herzer asked.
“The airlock for the shuttle is attached to the ship,” Evan noted. “Someone could cut in through the wall of the ship, but it’s composite as well. It does have a view port forward, diamond composite. That would be easier than cutting the hull.”
“I’d like to know what all these symbols mean,” Herzer said, running his hand over the schematic. “I can read a topographic map easily. This is… different.”
“There’s a legend on the second page,” Evan said, flipping to it and pointing at the massive number of entries.
Herzer looked at it and groaned. “This is going to take forever to understand. And we’ll want copies. A lot of copies. Are there any around?”
“There’s one other,” Evan said, unhappily. “How many copies?”
“At least ten,” Herzer said. “Preferably more. I’d like every team to have one. How were the Icarus teams set up?”
“The first wave was to be fighters,” Evan said. “Their mission was to take the control room. Then another wave of mixed fighters and techs would move in and take control.”
“That assumes that you can take the control room and don’t run into anything that your fighters can’t handle,” Herzer noted.
“Yes, but the strike personnel were cross-trained on limited engineering capability,” Evan noted. “They could figure out the basics of most of the systems.”
“We can’t,” Herzer pointed out. “Our fighters are only going to be able to fight, and I’m not sure of that in zero g and no pressure. Gag. We’re going to have to go with mixed teams. One computer tech, one engineering tech and four fighters per shuttle.”
“And on one of them there’s going to have to be a Key-holder,” Megan noted.
“Figure out if your specialty is going to be computers or engineering,” Herzer said. “You’re going to be studying like the rest of us. What about steering this beast? Navigation or piloting or whatever?”
“The navigation is simplicity itself,” Evan noted. “If you have the control room. All you do is tell it where to go in space and park itself. If you want to crash it, have it park on the Moon. If we gain full control, you can park it at L-5 or in geosynchronous orbit.”
“What is L-5?” Herzer asked. “Or geosynchronous orbit?”
“L-5 is a stable gravitational point off-set between Terra and Luna,” Megan said. “Geosynchronous orbit is the orbit around Terra where a body travels at a speed which maintains it in orbit and over a single point on Terra.”
“Is there any way to gain control of the steering if you don’t have the control room?” Herzer asked.
“Manual control of the thrusters,” Evan said, pointing to spots along the structural rings. “But actually steering it, even into a body as large as the Moon, will be difficult. It risks crashing it into Terra, for example. Or having it ‘miss,’ forcing us to keep scrabbling for it.”
“I’m scrabbling in the dark,” Herzer admitted. “Leave this copy and notes on the basic areas. I’ll come up with a list of questions over the next few days, each of which will produce more questions. Do you know anything about the personnel search?”
“No,” Evan admitted. “I suspect I’m going to have to go on the mission, though.”
“Why?” Herzer asked.
“Well, I’m familiar with the ship. I’ve been studying it off and on for the last year. I know how an ion drive works,” he added proudly.
“You’re right,” Herzer said. “You just got drafted. For now, though, get copies made of the other copy. And I’ll get started on a list of questions.”
After Evan had left, Herzer continued to pore over the schematic unhappily.
“So I’m going to be an engineering tech, eh?” Megan said after a few minutes of being ignored. “What are you going to be studying?”
“This,” Herzer said, waving at the schematic. “I’m going to have to be the expert at this thing. To know it like the inside of my mouth. To know every detail of every dimension. What portions are pressurized. Which have gravity. Which have both. Which have neither. Where the entry points are. What they are made of. How to disable a door. How to disable an airlock. How to fix one that’s been disabled. I’m going to have to be able to know exactly where someone is, based on this insane coding,” he added, waving at the map, “when a team reports they’ve hit heavy resistance at… Charlie One Three Five. To know, without looking at the map, if they’re fighting in pressure or out. And be able to keep track, partially in my head and partially on this map, where reinforcements are. And I only have a month. That and getting in shape again. Sleep is going to be optional.”