Noah - 21. Chapter 21

Date: 4th November 2419
Location: MMV Noah, Unknown

“Most of her systems have been ripped out, probably been looted by the other pirate ships.” Bodgit briefed me as we walked through the charred corridors of our latest prize. There wasn’t an undamaged panel in sight, we could only see thanks to torches, and the foul odour present on the small pirate ship we captured before hung chokingly in the air. “Fortunately, we’ve learned a lot from the Pallner technicians over the last few months and should be able to repair most of her systems to at least their original specification.”

“What about the weapons? That beam cannon was pretty impressive.” I asked. Noah’s armour could take a fair pounding, but the cannon had punched straight through the ship with ease.

“The Pallner techs were always reluctant to talk about their weapons systems. We got little bits of information from them here and there, but unless the ship’s computer contains information on them, it’s unsalvageable.”

“That’s a shame,” I said with regret as we entered the lift shaft and began climbing down the ladder. “I don’t think the Pallner will be giving us much assistance for a while.”

“I heard. Your little discussion with the ambassador didn’t sound too productive by all accounts.”

“How exactly did you hear that?” I asked, since such talks were generally not privy to the ship’s crew.

“Well, by all accounts, it was pretty hard not to hear in the surrounding sections.”

“I see. I want the meeting room soundproofed at the earliest convenience, Lieutenant.” I ordered. “What you heard is correct; the ambassador wasn’t too happy that we destroyed the station, or that we took ‘his’ ship.”

Reaching the bottom of the shaft, Bodgit swung across to the large opening and out into the corridor, followed by myself a moment later.

“Finders keepers, I say, sir.” He commented as we stepped into the engine room. The room was fairly large, and dominated by a larger version of the generators that had been given to us for use on Noah by the Pallner. Currently, the room was being illuminated by several free-standing beacons set up by the engineering teams, casting a clean white light over the charred and filth-covered room. It was a stark comparison to the crisp and clean creamy-white of the Horstur’s and Lahstey’s corridors and rooms. There were open spaces dotted around, where it appeared consoles should reside, but had been torn out and moved elsewhere, several portable atmospheric sequencers were currently sitting in their positions providing the ship with life support while its own systems were offline.

“One thing we do understand well is the Pallner generator technology. A few control systems are missing, but we should have the generator at operational within the hour.” A crewman walked up to Bodgit and handed him a holopad, leaving again after a brief conversation.

“Propulsion?” I asked.

“Starboard engine is a write-off. The good news, though, is that there is just enough left of the port engine for us to reverse engineer and salvage it. As far as we have been able to work out from studying the Lahstey’s blueprints, the engines themselves somehow stabilise the ship’s structure at superluminal speeds. With a little luck, we’ll be able to work out how exactly it works, once we rip it apart.”

“Send a copy of the engine schematic to SC Foster when you’ve got one; I’d like the science teams to try to apply the technology to our ships.”

“Aye, sir,” he agreed, viewing the holopad that the crewman had handed him. “The teams are ahead of schedule. They’re just finishing up a few of the last systems and we should be ready to try firing up the generator in about five minutes.” He smiled proudly. He had quickly picked up the old Engineer’s methods; including overstating estimates on repairs.

“I’ll stay out of your way then, let’s see this thing in action.” I replied, stepping back and letting him take control of the repair teams. He effortlessly juggled incoming status reports from all over the room and ship while simultaneously dishing out orders and preparing for power up.

A few minutes later, he finished wiring up a small control box to the ship’s control system and walked over to me.

“Would you like to push the button, Captain?” He asked, holding the small black box out to me.

“You’ve done all the work here, Lieutenant; I think you’ve earned the right to do it.” I refused, eliciting a smile from him. Quickly, he turned away and stepped over to another console.

“All hands, prepare for generator start-up,” he transmitted over a limited frequency being used aboard the ship. “Stand clear of any consoles and open circuits”

After hovering over the button for a moment, he pushed it. A bolt arced from an open panel to the wall as a dim orange glow emanated from the generator. As the glow pulsed repeatedly, a number of panels blew out in a shower of sparks, leaving small fires, which were quickly extinguished by the repair teams. The glow intensified as the pulses became more and more frequent, slowly going from one every couple of seconds until it appeared to turn into a solid, bright light.

All over the room, consoles flickered and illuminated, some seeming to come on as if the ship had just left dock, while others fizzed and blew out. Those that were working were soon set upon by a crewman, reporting the readings back to Bodgit.

After a couple of minutes, Bodgit seemed happy with the way the generator was running and turned back to me.

“We’ll put that one into the ‘good news’ pile,” he said with a smile. “I don’t want to put too much stress on the generator yet; it looks like it’s seen better days, but it should be enough power to initialise the ship’s basic systems, at least until we find some way of tying in Noah’s power supply into her. Hopefully, SC Long will be able to figure out how this Pallner computer works and recover some data. Then maybe we can fix the generator properly.”

“What do you think our chances are of getting anything useful out of the computer?” I asked. It was clear that the ship had been pretty badly neglected, and I doubted any exception had been made for the computer systems.

“I’ve not managed to look at the computer core yet; but chances are it’s going to be pretty badly damaged. Long knows her computers, but figuring out an alien technology would be hard enough when it’s in working condition. You’d really have to ask her what she thinks once she’s had a chance to look it over.

“Have her submit a preliminary report before she finishes her shift,” I requested, “What about the rest of the ship’s systems?”

Bodgit rummaged through a stack of holopads strewn over a burnt-out panel, apparently being used as a makeshift desk, pausing as he checked each one before handing me the one he was looking for.

“We’ve not been able to perform a full survey yet. A lot of areas are pretty inhospitable still. From the areas we’ve been able to check out, it seems that the life support system is pretty shot up. I don’t know how they’ve kept it running at all. The same goes for virtually everything else aboard; even the lighting barely works.”

Examining the holopad, I saw that it was full of the scans and jargon that made up most engineers’ reports. I’m sure that they didn’t actually say anything useful at all.

“Keep me up to speed.” I deactivated the holopad and slipped it into my pocket before heading for the door.

Given the Lahstey’s classification as a light frigate and its size, we had deduced that given its increased proportions and firepower, the Rolstan was most likely a destroyer or light cruiser. Compared to M vessels, Pallner ships were far more compact, and apparently much more heavily automated. An M Destroyer would be at least three times the size of the Rolstan, which had a mere eleven decks and was around 200 metres long.

There was a clear difference in military doctrine between our races. While we tended to use fighters and bombers as our primary weapons delivery systems and capital ships as fire support, Pallner capital ships seemed much more combat oriented themselves. Their hulls were very heavily armoured and, judging from the damage a single blast dealt to Noah, their weapons much more advanced. Had the Rolstan been properly crewed and maintained, the fight would no doubt have been much more costly.

Curiously, Pallner vessels didn’t seem to be segmented nearly as much as M vessels. Each deck consisted of just one or two sections divided by bulkheads, and though it appeared that the internal doors formed an airtight seal, they were far from sturdy. Unless there was something we were missing, a couple of hull breaches could cripple the ship. Combined with the exposed positions of the ship’s Bridge and Engineering section, at the extreme top and bottom of the vessel, there were a few peculiarities with the design that didn’t seem to make sense from a combat perspective.

It didn’t take me long to reach the middle deck, where the ship’s two sole airlocks were located, and I was soon back aboard Noah in the familiar, clean black and silver corridors synonymous with M design and used in every ship and colony for the last 90 years.

Walking through the ship, I felt a sense of being home. I wasn’t sure exactly when ‘home’ changed from my residence on Europa to my quarters aboard Noah, but it had happened. It was nearly a year since we had left dock and arrived here, and the crew, a mix of fresh recruits and seasoned veterans, had bonded well and were a family. Given our new surplus of energy and Sii’nour’s medical expertise, new faces were beginning to appear aboard, and I wondered how well they would integrate with the rest of the family.

We left dock with a skeleton crew for shakedown, and lost many in the asteroid impact. All over the ship, crewmen had been doing the jobs of officers, and young, inexperienced officers had been cast into roles of great responsibility; in many cases, like with Bodgit, thriving under the pressure and rapidly adapting to their new roles. Now, with the slow but steady influx of replacement crewmembers, many would have to relinquish their positions and go back to positions more appropriate to their rank. Though a replenished crew was clearly a good thing for everyone aboard, it would be quite understandable for many of the crew to begin feeling resentment towards the ‘newcomers’.

Currently, we were filling high priority positions such as pilots and engineers, but it would only be a matter of time until we began replacing crewmen who had performed admirably, but were simply too low a rank to remain at their current posting. I made a note to speak with the Admiral about the possibility of running some form of review to ensure everyone aboard who had over the last year earned a promotion got one, though if it were up to me every single crew member would be going up a rank or two.

As I walked, I flicked on one of the holopads Bodgit had given me before showing me around the Rolstan, a report on the damage caused by the beam weapon. It had cut straight through the ship like a knife through butter, vaporising several sections and sending power surges throughout the power grid. Nothing we had on board, bar the Spinal Cannons, could do such damage, and they required a long charge time and the full length of the ship to fire. If we managed to reverse engineer such weapons and adapt them for use aboard Noah, or even the fighters and bombers, the boost to our combat abilities would be immense.

The engines too were a source of huge potential gain. Though Bodgit had already explained to me that Noah was simply too large and bulky for technology to be applied even theoretically, the support craft were another matter. If the technology could be used on new fighters, bombers and shuttles, we would be able to hit virtually any location with incredible speed and firepower.

Currently, our fighter and bomber craft relied on the same Omni to both power their engines and supply their weapons with ammunition. That meant that the further from Noah they operated, the less combat effective they were. The Pallner drive technology would hugely extend their range. With energy costs and maximum speed proportional to vessel size, a fighter could travel from one side of a system to the other in a matter of minutes, or even seconds, unleash hell and then return before the enemy had a chance to react.

The Holy Grail, as far as Bodgit was concerned though, was the generator technology. Though we had access to two generators for some time, along with the Pallner technicians, they had been careful never to go into too much detail about their operation or design, and without disabling one and dismantling it; we had little chance to discover exactly how they worked. The generator aboard the Rolstan was at least double the size of the ones that the Ambassador had given us. How that related to its maximum output was as yet unknown, but if that technology alone could be replicated, it would solve many problems. We could gain an indefinite battle endurance. Fighters and bombers could attack constantly without the need to refuel. We could clone an entire colony’s worth of citizens in just a few weeks. The possibilities were endless.

Reading Senior Crewman Long’s report was a major letdown. The Rolstan’s computer system was a mess. Large sections were missing, probably ripped out by the pirates. Others were completely fused and worthless. She had pulled a triple shift, 24 straight hours, trying to get it online, but eventually had to call it a day. She had managed to get her head around the basics pretty quickly, and within 6 hours had managed to put together a blueprint of the core, with most components and their functions identified. It was just too much though; too many vital parts were either missing entirely or damaged beyond recognition.

Bodgit and Chief Wye both believed the engines to be salvageable given time, but the weapons and basic premise behind the generators were both well beyond our current understanding. Without access to the computer system, both were lost causes. Bodgit said he could fix up the Rolstan’s damaged generator somewhat, but it would never operate at near the capacity of even the smaller ones fitted inside Noah, and would probably only barely be enough to maintain the ship’s core systems. In order to make the ship truly useful, space would have to be found somewhere for several of our own generators and some Omni stores. Without the advanced Pallner weapons, or space to carry any additional fighters or bombers though, the Rolstan’s combat effectiveness would end up being lower than that of even an M frigate. Its main value now seemed to be that of a long range, high speed scout.

Ambassador San-louur had contacted me several times in the last 24 hours, expressing his displeasure at how I handled the situation with the pirates and the Rolstan. Right now I was seriously considering letting Bodgit and Wye get all the information they could from the burnt out husk of a ship, then giving it back to them. Without any decent weapons systems or energy, the ship was of little use to us.

It was a chance mention from San-louur of the Lahstey that suddenly reminded me of its presence. The sealed compartment that the Colonel’s team had been unable to breach on their first visit coincided with the location of the Rolstan’s computer core. As the ship hadn’t been looted, there was a fair chance it would still all be present, and given her basic knowledge of the computer’s design, it was a possibility that SC Long could get it back online.

The problem was, though, that the Horstur had been keeping a close eye on us since the battle, and would soon figure out where any shuttle leaving the ship was heading, causing more problems for us.

Meeting the colonel in one of the briefing rooms, we discussed the problem for several hours, considering possible ways of slipping a team past the Horstur’s sensors and on their way to the Lahstey. Aside from the small scanning device initially recovered from the first visit, we had no information on the basis or abilities of Pallner scanners, which was a major setback to any plans we came up with. As far as I could see, there was only one way that we would be able to get to the Lahstey without arousing suspicion. Reluctantly, the colonel agreed with me and we both headed to the admiral to propose the plan.

She was preparing for her duty shift on the Bridge, something she wasn’t required to do at her rank, but demanded to do regardless, to keep her in touch with the goings-on aboard ship and to give herself something to do. After opening the door to her quarters, she invited us in, sitting at the small table, here for just such informal briefings.

“As you know, ma’am, getting access to a Pallner computer is going to be vital if we’re ever going to gain full access to their technology,” I stated as she nodded her understanding, “The problem is, the Rolstan’s computer is totally unsalvageable, but there is another, unguarded one nearby.”

“The Lahstey?” She correctly guessed.

“Yes, but getting to it without raising the Horstur’s suspicions is going to be very difficult. Since the battle, they’ve been watching us like hawks; we’d have no chance of sneaking a shuttle out without them figuring out what we’re doing. Relations are already strained and I don’t think they’d like us poking around the ship without their authorisation. The only way we can see of getting what we want is giving them what they want.”

Handing her a holopad outlining the plan, the colonel spoke up.

“We tell the ambassador that we’re very sorry for how things turned out with the battle, and that to make it up to them, we will resurrect the Lahstey’s crew now. That will be our cover for flying over to the Lahstey; to collect the heads of the crew. Senior Crewman Long will go along with the ‘collection’ team and with the assistance of some of my men, break into the computer room.”

“From analysis of the bulkheads aboard the Rolstan, we believe that a small charge could break open the door without damaging anything inside,” I added, “While the rest of the team ‘searches’ the ship for the Lahstey’s crew, SC Long will be getting to work dismantling the ship’s computer and loading as much as possible into the shuttles. We don’t want to risk activating it there, as we don’t know if it’ll send any signals out, or how the ambassador would react if he found out.”

“Once we get the computer back here, SC Long should be able to use it to repair the Rolstan’s system. It is my opinion,” I continued, earning a disagreeing look from the colonel, “not shared by the colonel, that once we have recovered the computer, we should continue to resurrect the crew. We don’t know what other obstacles could be awaiting us, and having the Pallner on side is still in our interests. Resurrecting the crew as promised would help patch things up between us.”

“According to your reports, the last time you tried that, the consciousness took control of a number of the ship’s systems.” The admiral stated, looking uncertain.

“Doctors Shen and Danielson both assure me that they have developed a way of generating a neural map without waking the consciousness. That won’t happen again.” I said, her face retaining its uncertainty.

“I’ll give the go ahead on the plan for now; we’ll decide what to do with the crew once we get back. When can you launch?”

“We’ll have to build a second Caravan in order to fit as many components in as possible. Three days should be enough time to get everything ready.” I replied.

“Very well, gentlemen, you have a go. Do what you have to,” she confirmed, rising to her feet. Taking our cue, the colonel and I did the same before leaving the room.

“You think this will work?” Atkinson asked as we walked along the corridor towards the nearest grav lift.

“I hope so. I don’t really like being dependent on others any more than you do.”

“Could have fooled me.” He chuckled as we approached the opening. It took a few seconds for us to reach the level we wanted, leaving a pause until we stepped out and could continue the conversation.

“Right now, we need the Pallner. We both know they’re holding certain things back from us. If this plan works, we won’t have to depend on them for much longer.”

“So you are one of us after all,” he laughed, putting his arm around my shoulder. Over the last few months, he had mellowed towards me significantly.

“You mean I look out for us? You ever doubted it?”

“For a while there, I thought that the thrill of being the first human ambassador to a group of aliens had gotten to you.”

“I’m M, that’s all that matters.” I replied proudly. I may have bent some rules and protocols occasionally, and gone along the more diplomatic route, but everything I did, I did for the good of my crew and the M Military as a whole. “You coming to the bar?”

“I don’t see why not. I think you need another lesson in losing at pool. Or darts. Or anything else you care to think of.”

“And what better teacher than you? You’ve had so much experience, after all.” I joked.

It took us about ten minutes to reach the bar, by which time it was just beginning to fill with crewmen coming off duty. It was odd; as first officer, the crew treated me as one of them, joking, drinking and gaming all night long. When I assumed command, it was as if I suddenly changed in their eyes. I was the Captain, someone to be obeyed, not socialised with. Though things were better after a few months, there was always an air of good behaviour when I walked into the bar. Oddly, the day the Admiral was put in charge, everything changed back to how it used to be. The bar was a much more jovial place: singing, dancing, lots of drinking, all carried on around me when we entered. I much preferred this to the tense atmosphere when I was in command.

The crew had even gotten used to seeing the colonel here of late. Normally, Marines would rarely socialise outside of their barracks, but several weeks ago I had managed to convince the colonel to join me, and since then, he had become a regular.

The young ensign on bar duty tonight wore the blue uniform of an engineer. I wondered whether serving the rowdy crew would be a break from repair work for him or a rather unpleasant shift. Every crewman and junior officer was expected to occasionally pull a shift behind the bar. It was a busy facility aboard and served an important role in preserving crew morale.

Ordering a couple of drinks, we made our way over to one of the HoloPool tables. As we approached, a pair of cues appeared along with the balls, ready and in position. I offered the colonel the first break, which he turned down, saying he preferred to pick off the easy shots after.

Picking up a cue, I mentally moved the cue ball into the position from which I liked to break, lined up the shot, and hit it with a good pace. Nothing fell into the pockets, which meant the colonel had his turn, easily pocketing three solids before missing a fourth. The game was on.

“Yes, Ambassador; I apologise for how we handled the pirates. We really should have informed you first…” I stood in front of a mirror in my quarters, practicing for the arranged meeting scheduled to go ahead shortly. Frankly, given the choice again, I wouldn’t have changed a thing about the way I handled the situation.

“To make it up to you…to, uh, help make amends, we have decided to forgo, no, to, ahh, resurrect the Lahstey’s crew as soon as possible. We just have to go and collect the bodies from the ship; then we’ll be able to get them back to you….”

My thought process was cut off by a message from the lieutenant in charge of the Bridge informing me of the ambassador’s shuttle approaching. Ready or not, it was show time. The ambassador may not be human, but he seemed to have picked up the ability to read peoples’ body language quite accurately. For the plan to have any chance of success, I would have to convince him that we were honestly trying to make reparation.

I arrived at the meeting room a few minutes before the ambassador, giving me a little more time to go over my apologies in my head. Before long though, the door slid open and the ambassador walked in. His ‘expression’ was completely neutral; none of the telltale signs of Pallner emotion were showing up at all.

“Ambassador,” I greeted him with an open hand, which he shook after a moment’s consideration, before moving to his seat. “To start with, I would like to sincerely apologise for the way we handled the pirates. We really should have informed you as soon as we detected the Rolstan among their vessels.”

“Yes.” The ambassador simply replied. Still his state was hidden.

“We value your cooperation with us, and realise that we placed that in jeopardy by pressing on with the attack.”

“Yes.” He again interjected. His voice was not as colourful as Pallner speech normally is. There was no elongation of the word or elegant harmonics. He was speaking merely to get the message across.

“We would like very much to take a step towards making amends. As we speak, Sii’nour is preparing a number of Pallner null bodies, and we are preparing teams to head to the Lahstey to recover the bodies of the ship’s crew. If all goes well, we will have the first of the Lahstey’s crew back to you within a couple of days.” His aural canals blushed a very faint pink for a moment as he considered the proposal, before they turned back to the plain natural grey.

“And?” He asked plainly, implying that the crew alone would not be sufficient.

“And we will endeavour to have the wormhole generator repaired as fast as we possibly can. We will have you home before the end of March.” I boldly added.

The ambassador was silent for a few moments as he considered.

“We find your proposal acceptable…for a first step. If you have nothing else?” He rose from the chair. Standing, I took his hand again before he turned and left the room.

As soon as the door closed, I sent a message to both the admiral and colonel;

‘So far, so good.’