“What about the destroyer you docked with? I'd say that looked pretty functional.”
“You mean the half that was left undamaged? We managed to get the engines running after the Eden Fleet caught us fleeing the system.”
“So General Lorne runs away instead of remaining to coordinate his forces in their time of need. You serve your people better managing matters of finance.”
“Most of our fleet was out of the system, going after Regional Galactic assets. Our intelligence indicated that there was no threat, their nearest battle group was over a week away. No one saw the Eden Fleet coming, no one could have.”
“So you try to take my ship.”
“This is an Earth ship, how could it be yours?”
“That's not for you to question,” Captain Valance said as he let go of his throat and took the collar of the uniform firmly in hand. He dragged him towards the front of the bridge, yanking him hard whenever he tried to get his balance.
“Now you're taking me captive?”
“Why not? I need options, and if I can take you hostage for a little more leverage, what's the harm?” The door to the forward observation room opened and he pushed him inside. “Seriously, I'd expect a better solution from you. You're known for striking a good bargain. What the hell were you thinking?” he didn't let him answer, but pressed the manual close button and locked the door. “Computer, disable everything but life support in that room.”
“I'm sorry sir, all AI driven automation is inoperable in this section.” the computer replied.
“I've got it sir.” Frost announced as he moved to the security station, right beside tactical. “Won't be able to use the computers, materializers or open doors. Just put a communications block on the room. Even his own comm won't work.”
Captain Valance went back to Stephanie, she had been shot one in the throat and several times down the torso. The punctures were small, but there was a lot of bleeding before he had managed to put her into emergency stasis. He extended his left hand and took a medical reading. “She won't last more than a couple hours like this. Frost, check those rifles and see what they fire.”
He ran over and picked up one of the fallen soldiers rifles. “Looks like they use a kind of needle ammo.” he checked the clip and opened a small servicing compartment. “The shots are razor thin and low velocity.”
“So the needles are probably twisted up inside,” Jake concluded. “We have to get her down to medical.” He looked to Ashley, who was hanging on his every word while holding Stephanie's hand. “Can you make sure we don't veer off course and check our power levels?”
She just looked at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
He stroked her cheek, wiping some of the wetness away. “Ashley, you need to pilot the ship. We can't help her if we end up smashing into a moon.”
“O-okay.” She nodded as she put Stephanie's hand down carefully at her side. Ashley wiped her tears as she sat down at the helm beside her navigator, who was shaky at best.
“Medical.”
“Yes Captain?” Replied Grace.
“Can you spare a stretcher and two trained people to get Stephanie to the nearest stasis pod?”
“I'll go up now with my best. You're only one express car ride away. What's her condition?”
“She was shot with some kind of needle rounds. There are no exit wounds. I put her in emergency stasis. Sending you the scan results now.”
There was silence for a moment as Grace reviewed the results. “She's full of micro shrapnel. You saved her life Captain. Don't know if I can patch her up but I might be able to put her in deep stasis so she'll keep until we can get real doctors aboard.” He could hear her getting ready in the background.
“That's what I was hoping.”
“Sir, a transit vessel is trying to dock with us. I can't raise them on comms.” Cynthia said as she sat back down at her station. She was rattled, had taken refuge under her station during the firefight but was making a quick recovery.
“I see them. They're locking on to a mooring point,” Ashley confirmed.
“Get us away from them. We aren't in a position to help.” Ordered Captain Valance.
“I'll try, but main engines are offline, I can't force a restart. I'm down to thrusters.”
“Do your best. What's going on in engineering?”
Liam shook his head. “We had two power plants running until just a minute ago. Someone's down there shutting things off. We're already on emergency power.”
“How much time do we have left at our consumption rate?”
“About three and a half hours, then everything powers down. I can't do anything from here, someone's disconnected the main lines.”
Captain Valance scanned one of the guards who were shot during the firefight and shook his head as his readings confirmed complete brain death. “We have to get control of something, let's start there. Frost, make internal sensors your priority. I want to see what's going on.”
“Aye sir,” Frost brought up the holographic overlay that explained all the internal security station controls as his hand moved over them to help him work faster. “Can't believe Wheeler never trained anyone for this. Someone with a wee bit o' know how would be a saviour right about now.” He muttered to himself as he changed the bridge's main holodisplay to a cross section of the ship and brought up another image detailing several of the engineering compartments. The live feeds showed several soldiers working at one of the main power plants.
“Liam, can you do anything to stop them or give us more power from here, anything at all?”
“This ship's hull is one big solar and gravity reactor.”
“Gravity reactor? I didn't see any arms out there.”
“The hull responds to pressures and shifts in the gravity influencing it and generates power. We could redirect some of that power to the command and life support systems.”
“All right, that's a great place to start.”
“I can't do it all from here, I'll have to go down three decks, almost right below us.”
“Check that route Frost.” Captain Valance ordered.
He turned and focused in on the route Liam had highlighted and didn't see anyone stationed there. “Clear, don't know for how long though.”
“Ramirez, where are you?” The Captain asked through his communicator. He waited several long moments but got no response. “Can you find them anywhere?” He asked Frost.
He floundered at the controls for a moment, looking for something then his eyebrows raised and he said; “Ah! There you are, little bugger.” to himself. Several button presses later he focused in on a dozen people huddled next to the outer hull above the main doors to hangar two. “There's most of them, all sealed up in their suits enjoyin' the view.”
“Now how did that happen?” Captain Valance asked as he looked at the image on the main holographic projector. “Cynthia, open a line to Price's private comm.”
“Aye sir,” Cynthia replied, turning back to her station.
“In the meantime, how are we for avoiding that transit ship?” Captain Valance asked Ashley.
“Not very well, they're keeping up with us fine, the only problem they're having is docking. If I stop manoeuvring they'll lock with us for sure. They nearly collided with us on a couple tries.” She was doing much better than just minutes ago. Having something to work at was keeping her mind off her best friend's condition.
“Okay, can you lock them out if they dock, Frost?”
He looked over the control panel again then turned a holographic representation of the ship until he could see the mooring point they were aiming for and selected it. “Aye, I can.”
“Good, stop manoeuvring Ash, watch the bigger picture, make sure we're not headed for a bigger collision or worse trouble. Frost, lock 'em out.”
“Aye sir.”
“I have Agameg Price on the line for you sir,” Cynthia reported. “Sounds like he's glad to hear from you.”
“Price, what are you doing outside the ship?” Asked Captain Valance.