Impulse Burn (Part 6)

Posted on 11 Apr 2014 @ 8:15am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Riley Cameron & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Crewman Ash Rowe & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov

3,180 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Sol System - Main Asteroid Belt
Timeline: MD 57 - 1505 hrs

Previously, on Impulse Burn (Part 5)...

"Too many rescuers suffocate the driver; we keep going," Ash said firmly, her eyes on the controls and then up at the view as she edged them harder, pushing the little vessel as much as she dare in the chaotic ribbon of rock.

Theron felt that the Pisa was in good hands and refocused his efforts to the forward shields and sensor display.

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Shuttle Galilei

From his position at the co-pilot station, Cameron was perplexed when he watched the other sensor blips start to drop away from the Galilei, allowing it to move clearly in front of all it's competition. For a moment it felt like they were assured victory, but the next set of sensor data to hit his console shot that particular thought from the sky.

"Mr Darius - I'm reading minimal power output from Pisa - she looks dead in the water to me."

"Oh yeah?" Lamar hadn't been paying attention to the other shuttles, but instead had been intensely focused on piloting their craft through the solar system's main asteroid belt without colliding with anymore cosmic rocks. "What happened? Power failure?" he asked, curious to know what had happened to the other Type-9.

"Looks like they took a whack from a few rocks - there's hull damage but she's intact. Impulse drive is shot, so she's not going anywhere fast."

Cameron ran his eyes over the scans looking for anything more severe. Warp containment looked stable and their power distribution system hadn't fractured, all in all, it looked like a lucky escape.

"Hull damage...hope it's not too severe," the support craft pilot remarked, privately cringing at the thought of running into more rocks and compromising the shuttle's thin hull plating. "Should we stop and turn back to help, or is the pace runabout taking care of them?"

"Most of the competitors have come about and are heading to assist - think we should double back?"

The engineer was watching as most of the other shuttles changed their courses and cut their speed. Victory was in their grasp but Cameron almost felt sick at the idea of winning under these circumstances.

"Uh...no idea. Let's check in with Padua, they can probably advise us." Lamar answered. It was hard to gauge the severity of the incident, and without knowing whether the pilots were injured or not, he needed more information. Thumbing the comm switch on the auxiliary console to his left, he opened up a channel to the runabout.

"Padua, this is Galilei, requesting status update on Pisa. Any casualties? Should we turn back?" he asked.


Shuttle Padua

Tricorder in hand, Asahi glanced over at the console as he continued his duties as field nurse. Eyes off of said tricorder for only the most minute of moments, he cleared his throat. "Galilei, this is the Padua speaking. We should be alright. The injured are being cared for the and the Pisa is going to be towed to safely. You're free to finish the race as you see fit."

"Copy, resuming the race," came Lamar's curt reply over the comm before the channel cut out.


***Approaching Jupiter Station***

Shuttle Galilei

Darius and Cameron's Type-9 punched its way out through the final edge of the asteroid with some careful course corrections, then set its sights on the bright glowing gas giant in the distance. Even at long range, the jovian planet was massive, and it dwarfed the Jupiter Station complex with its immense size.

"This is it, the final leg," he informed Cameron. "We're on course for Jupiter Station...how's the engines looking?" he asked, wondering how much more abuse the reactors could take before the shuttle exploded into a thousand tiny pieces.

A few odd beads of sweat had formed on the flame-haired engineer as he surveyed the damage, having spent the majority of the race desperately attempting to keep the reactor operational, against it's preferred state of scattered halfway to Neptune.

"We're gonna be crossing on fumes here Mr Darius. Reactor is running way too hot for my liking and containment isn't exactly peachy!"

"If I can free up some more power for the containment fields, can you give us a final boost for the next few minutes?" Lamar asked. It was Jupiter Station or bust at this point, and the support craft pilot wasn't very pleased with the prospect of losing the lead in the final leg of the race.

Nodding in agreement before he had even checked the power utilisation curves, Cameron was confident he could do what his pilot was asking. It would be risky, and would involve overriding half a dozen safety features on the intermix chamber, but it should be possible.

"Aye...I can give you three minutes at 115% thrust, after that we're on inertia only - just give the word!"

Lamar smirked and nodded at the confident engineer, then looked back over his shoulder and pointed towards the aft cabin utility lockers. "Sounds like a plan, I'm going to shut down life support which should free up some more power for the containment field and whatever else you need. Can you go grab us a couple EVA suits from in back?" It was a rather unorthodox technique and Lamar wasn't quite sure if gloved fingers would be able to manipulate the helm controls as precisely, but for him it was worth the risk. Besides, if their shuttle's engines exploded from containment failure, at least they would be protected from the vacuum of space. Well, what was left of them.

Riley paused for a moment, trying to think how sane an idea his pilot's decision really was. However, if the containment field failed, it would at least save them time preparing for an emergency beamout if they were already in their EV suits.

Jumping from his seat, the engineer rolled open the container hidden under the seats in the rear of the shuttle and pulled out the two seats, throwing one to Darius as he proceeded to pull his own suit over his uniform.

"I'll set the emergency transporter up just in case...you never know eh?"

"Good idea, nothing like a little space walk to do some Jupiter sightseeing, right?" Lamar teased, then waited for Cameron to suit up before getting out of his seat to put on his space suit. "Take the conn for a sec, will ya?"

"I have the Conn." The engineer replied, tapping the controls to swap over the two console operations in front of him so the helm became his companion instead of the Ops panel. It took him a second to remember where all the various controls were, but knowing that he would only be flying the shuttle for a few minutes helped.

It took a little longer than expected for the former Marine to pull the bulky suit and helmet on, but finally he rotated the cuff locks for his gloves and the collar lock for his helmet until they clicked into place which signified the completion of the process. "I'm all set, kill the life support," he instructed to Riley.

"Aye aye." Riley replied, activating the comm unit inside his EV suit knowing that once the life support had shut down and the atmosphere was depleted, there would be no way of communicating inside of sealed suits without it.

"Life support offline, venting atmosphere and transferring power. I hope these suits were made properly....."


Shuttle Ostillo

With the asteroid field behind them, only empty space lay before them. Theron checked all shuttle systems, then reported to his pilot, "We have impulse engines at 102%. One of the 12 cooling coils has been shut down, because of a leak. Shields have been reduced to 35% on the forward shield only, with an angular deflection of 20 degrees. That should deflect anything that comes our way. We are in 2nd place with the Galilei forward by 2 kilometers at a baring 357 mark 12.

"Not for long if I can help it," Ash said through gritted teeth, body and face tense with concentration and the sheer will she was pouring into the machine under their control. She edged them on, pushing it to its limits. It only had to last a little longer, after that it could be fixed, she didn't care if she went too far. You didn't win if you didn't take risks.

Theron glanced over at Ash. He was concerned about her. She was so focused, so determined. He thought, Will she disregard safety when the time arrises?


Shuttle Livia

Allyndra had followed the sensors, but they were far away when the accident happened and the pace shuttle was already on the way. She felt bad about not being there, but then Mott would be on board.

The remaining shuttles were now heading for the Jupiter station and she monitored the engines and flow. "We are doing good, remaining fuel should allow us to use full to emergency power the rest of the way. I am starting to get some indications of heating on port but think we will be alright."

She looked over at Keval. "Thus why we saved the engines. The rest of the way is clear and in your hands."

"Well, then let's push it. I've got the the fusion mixtures slightly over balanced. Still within 115% of normal. That should give us a little extra ummph. Hang on tight! Going form maximum impulse now."

Allyndra grabbed the arms of the seat as the compensators were again slightly compromised. She kept a wary eye on that port engine.

She could visually see the remaining shuttles and this would definitely be a neck and neck race. There was nothing more she could do to help Keval. This was nothing more than piloting skills on his part and hoping nothing mechanical went wrong.


Shuttle Ostillo

With a concerned voice Theron said, "Ash, we have another EPS unit going out. Rerouting power. Our power grid is now down to a single line to each of the engines." His hand flew across the console checking and rechecking the power, shields, and control systems to make sure everything was still communicating.

Ash swore loudly, trying to compensate, but so unwilling to relent on the final push to the line. "Keep her held together! We're almost there! It can fall apart all it wants after!"

Theron looked at the display with concentration, then looked behind him right, then left. "I could run a physical bypass using some sublincage cabling. That would at least give us a back up?"

Ash gave a sharp nod, but was focussed straight ahead. "Do it! I need every last ounce of strength we can squeeze out of this girl..."


Shuttle Galilei

Jupiter Station was now in sight and looming larger on the horizon. The three shuttles raced towards the finish line almost neck-and-neck, and inside Galilei, Lamar looked out of the cockpit to his left just in time to see Livia's silver hull appear close to them in quasi-race formation. With his EVA suit on, he waved a gloved hand at Allyndra and Keval in amusement.

His antics were disrupted by a loud caution siren which began to blare from the overhead console, signaling that something was malfunctioning. "Shit, I'm reading system overloads in the propulsion matrix...let's punch it before we lose the engines completely!" he said

Taking a deep breath of the EV suit's air supply, Riley thumbed the control to set off the chain reaction of commands that he had set up for just this eventuality. With one last burst of indignation, the impulse engines powered up to maximum as the flow regulators were allowed to open entirely, releasing a huge volume of hydrogen into the fusion reactor and giving the shuttle a final kick from it's struggling engines.

Unbeknownst to Lamar, an energy overload was in the process of cascading through the shuttle's computer systems, and suddenly his navigation console began to pulse brightly and flicker as it revealed it's intention to explode. "Get down!" he covered his face with his arm and pulled Riley out of his seat to the floor just as the primary conn console erupted with a shower of sparks and debris. Thick electrical smoke began to pour out of the exposed ODN lines and secondary and tertiary consoles began to explode throughout the cockpit.

Cameron of course had next to no time to cover himself, thankful that Lamar had grabbed his arm at the last minute and pulled him clear of the console, just as it erupted into flame. The engineer had to take a minute to steady himself as his ears adapted to the alarms and sirens that signalled the death of the main console.

"I can't get to the helm!" Lamar yelled, barely able to see amidst the foggy haze of smoke and flames which were now licking the front of the cockpit's controls.

Ducking into the rear compartment, the Scot grabbed the portable fire apparatus and began working through the smaller fires that had erupted in the cockpit, before tackling the main blaze at the front of the shuttle.

"See if you can cut off the power tap to the forward console! Auxiliary controls are in the back, above the storage bay!"

"On it!" Lamar clumsily got to his feet then looked around in an attempt to locate the auxiliary system controls where Riley had indicated. Just as he found the appropriate panel and began to remove it, the lights flickered inside the shuttle and suddenly the craft's main power went offline, including the auxiliary backups to the Type-9's anti-gravity plating.

"Uhhh..." Lamar began to float up in the air now weightless, and tried his best to reach out at the last second and grab on to something to secure himself. The fires which his co-pilot were attempting to extinguish now had the freedom to burn in zero-G, and liquid-esque balls of rolling fire began to spill upwards over the windshield and lap against the ceiling like calm waves in the sea. Lamar's eyes went wide when he saw the scene unfolding in front of him. "Cameron, I think we gotta get out of here. Is the transporter still working?!" he called out over the comm in his helmet.

As the gravity net collapsed, Cameron felt the typically uncomfortable sensation of weightlessness. Dropping the extinguisher, or rather, allowing it to float free from his hand, the engineer pushed off towards the auxiliary panel.

"Aye...there's enough juice left in the emergency circuits to put us off the starboard bow. We can recover the shuttle later. Jettison the distress beacon and prepare to transport."


Shuttle Ostillo

Rhodes was looking forward out the viewport toward the Galilie, when he saw a flash of light from within side the cockpit. "It looks like Galilei has an issue." He looked to Ash and back out the viewport.

"Another fly's dropped?" she tsked and shook her head, but never took her attention off their speeding sprint. "They still breathing?"

Theron scanned over the sensor readings, "Yes. And their EV suits are functioning fine."

"Then all's well that end's well," Ash shook her head lightly, jaw set as she pushed on.


Shuttle Galilei

"Ready for transport!" Lamar yelled back at Cameron, now wanting to get out of the shuttle sooner rather than later. The fire was a lovely yet deadly sight, and it was spreading faster than it would due to the null gravity environment. The only thing keeping it from consuming the entire interior of the shuttle was the dwindling lack of oxygen which, thanks to the idea of shutting down life support, was dwindling in abundance. Regardless, Lamar didn't want to take any chances, and he quickly grabbed a pair of small maneuvering thruster belt attachments and sent one floating towards Riley. "Don't forget to strap on your thruster pack!"

With a nod, Riley grabbed his pack and threw it around his waist, securing it firmly before pushing off from the wall to move towards the emergency transporter with Darius. With one last deep breath he slapped the palm of his hand against the pulsing red display as the shuttle's transporters engaged.

As the transporter cycled, Cameron looked down on the strange sight of the shuttle he had just been inside of a few hundred metres below him, and the blackness of space surrounding them.

"Darius! You ok?"

Now floating in space after materializing outside of the shuttle, Lamar glanced around from side to side in an attempt to orient himself. Riley's voice sounded in his helmet comm and it took a few brief moments before he located the fellow warrant officer who was relatively close to him. "Yeah, fine," he answered. "Guess we have time for a little spacewalk. Oh look, there goes the shuttle..." His eyes were now fixated on Galilei which was still heading towards the finish line under its own inertia. "If it crosses the finish line, but we're not inside, do you think we still win first place?"

Riley couldn't help but grin at the thought of the shuttle being pushed over the finish line by it's crew. It was an unorthodox way to finish the race, but amusing at least.

"Well...this far from a gravity well that shuttle doesn't have any weight..just mass....soooo...these thruster packs have a fair bit of oomph aye?"

"Yea...Let's do it!" Lamar thought it was a crazy enough plan that it might actually work, and he gave Riley a quick hand-signal to indicate for them to proceed to the shuttle and catch up with it. With a few inputs on the thruster pack controls, the gaseous propellant jets began to fire putting Lamar on a pursuit course with the runaway Type-9. "You take the port-side nacelle and I'll take the starboard side one? Then we can give it a push together?" he suggested.

With a laugh the Engineer pulsed his pack and sent himself moving towards the shuttle. The exterior was obviously ice cold, not that he could feel it through the EV suit, but once secured, he looked towards his co-pilot.

"Let's see just how mad we are eh?"

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

WO Riley Cameron
Engineer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Holliday]

CPO Keval Grayson
Operations
USSGalileo
{PNPC Nicholas}

LT Asahi Kita
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

CN Ash Rowe
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

Lt. Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo

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