Dauntless- Exploration Class Read online

  "You care more about this ship than about the people on it!" Virgil huffed as if what Herra had just said was exactly what she wanted. "Did you even hear what I just said?"

  "That's not true." It hurt her that anyone would think that, let alone Virgil. She took a step back, hitting the metal door. The coldness touched her deep to her spine. She spoke a level above a whisper. "I wouldn't..."

  "I bet if you would have made it back to the Dauntless without us you would have taken off. Left us stranded there to save your precious ship." Virgil stood his ground.

  "I think that's quite enough, Virgil," Sanford said.

  Virgil whirled on Sanford. "Don't tell me you have had the same thoughts cross your mind, Doctor." He spit out that last word like a curse.

  "Sometimes I have wondered too." came the meek voice of Chen. She had joined them in the galley unnoticed. She had a gash on her head, which was leaking blood.

  Herra's gut burned like someone had punched her or she had taken a laser blast there. Could they all really think that? She thought she had their respect. She stepped away from the bulkhead.

  "I've heard enough. If that's how you all feel, I'll drop the whole damn lot of you off at the next colony. I bet I can find a better crew." She walked through the crowd of them back towards the bridge. "I'm going to go do something useful. I'm going to get the Dauntless going again."

  Herra walked into the adjoining hall, stopped, and turned around. "I expect all of you to still perform your duties as you have signed up for in your contracts. You'll start, Sanford, by cleaning up that wound on Chen's forehead." There. I showed them. I do care about my crew. "Virgil, Zayan. Get your asses back to your post. I want a detailed report of the damage we've taken and where in the galaxy we are. I want it in five minutes."

  With that Herra turned again, plopped back down in her flight chair, and crossed her arms over her chest. Outwardly, she projected confidence and anger. Inside, she felt crushed.

  Virgil stood over Herra's shoulder. He talked to her in a stilted manner, as if every word took an unbelievable effort to get out. "Main power is shot. You know what that means."

  She did. Right now they had life support, sensors, and the most basic of internal functions. The battery that powered those systems would last them about two hours. After that the Dauntless would become as dark and cold as a tomb.

  "I'm going to have to go outside to assess the damage."

  "Okay." Herra stood up.

  Virgil looked her up and down, disgust twisting his lips. "Why are you getting up?"

  "So we can go look at the damage."

  Virgil laughed. "Can't you just let us do our jobs? That's why you hired a crew, right? You don't have to do it all yourself."

  Herra was getting damn tired of Virgil's insubordination. Sure he always was interjecting his ideas, some of which were good. He wanted to get his own ship so he could be in charge. He said that was his big plan. She didn't know if it was the situation they now found themselves in or what that had led him to flat out challenging her so much and so rudely.

  "If I want to go on the outside of my ship I can. I'm in charge here. It's mine you little-"

  "That's it right there," Virgil said, talking over her. "See I knew it. Why do you think I want to leave so bad? That attitude right there. It's your ship. You're in charge. You can tell people what to do. You have all the ideas. What you need to do is hire some robots!"

  Herra gave him a cold stare. "I thought we were done with this, Virgil. You want out of your contract? I'll get you out. I'll even waive the penalty if it will get you out of my face. You're wrong, by the way. I fought my way back onto that alien ship so I could save you all. You don't even know."

  "Ha. You think you are the mighty Commander? We wouldn't even be in this situation if you were a real leader and listened to your crew. I told you we shouldn't go on that ship. If you would have followed Chen's idea of the probe in the nebula, the Dauntless wouldn't even be in pieces now."

  Herra shook with the fury of a white star. She couldn't believe him. "Virgil, you've gone too far. Turn around and head outside before I fire you on the spot." She pointed to the hallway. He looked at her with pridefulness mixed with shame. He probably also realized he had stepped over the line, but was too proud to admit it. "Get out on the hull, take your robot with you, and make sure you have full feed running. I want to see what's been done to my ship." She slapped her chest as she spoke the last two words.

  He turned to go. She thought it was done. But instead he doubled down on his course of action. "You know it's true. Only I'm brave enough to admit it. I wish you could hear yourself. Like ordering the doctor to do his job just five minutes ago. You don't even realize it." With that he left.

  Herra wanted to bash her console. She stopped herself though. Her poor ship had been through enough already. That stopped her line of thinking. Could there even be a sliver of truth in what he was saying? Of course she was protective of the ship. It was all she had. She had no family now. Her parents were both long gone. Her brother had died in a senseless docking accident. She still owed a big debt to flight school that was going on sixteen years old but she made sure the Dauntless had been paid off as quickly as possible. Could Virgil have the tiniest point and maybe she did come off as borderline obsessive about her ship?

  With a sigh, Herra rose and left the bridge. She went out the into the galley then headed to see Sanford in his medical room. Herra couldn't help but glance at the bulkhead leading to the damaged part of her ship. She sighed again.

  "Knock, knock," Herra said, standing in Sanford's doorway. He was in the middle of running some kind of medical tool over Chen's forehead. Sanford looked over his shoulder.

  "Herra." He didn't seem surprised to see her. "Give me just a moment to finish up here."

  Herra took two steps inside and slid along the far wall. "How's it feeling, Chen?"

  "Sanford's magic touch has worked again." Chen started to raise her hand up as she talked. Sanford intercepted it and gently pushed it back down. "Sorry doctor. Habit."

  Sanford rechecked Chen's vitals. Once satisfied that she was okay, he released her. Chen hopped down from the table. Herra stopped her as she passed. Putting a hand on her shoulder, Herra looked down at Chen so that their eyes could meet. "Sanford does great work. I can't even see the cut."

  Chen kept darting her eyes like she was embarrassed now by what she had said earlier. "The doctor does good work. He's a valuable member of the crew." Chen was practically blushing by the end.

  "I'm happy you're okay." Herra patted her shoulder once and then let go. "It has been a wild day hasn't it?"

  Chen gave Herra a wan smile. "I didn't know it was going to be so interesting."

  "If you're patched up, then I need you to figure out where we are. Can you do that?"

  Chen gave Herra a simple nod before sliding past her out the door.

  "Doctor." Herra gave him a head nod.

  "Before you go, Herra. Can I have a moment?"

  She didn't want to, but with morale the way it was right now, Herra decided to humor him. "Sure. What is it?"

  Sanford put all of his equipment down before coming over to stand close to her. He leaned against the shelving. "I want you to know that not all aboard share Virgil's feelings. You have to make the tough decisions. Sometimes they are just plainly the wrong ones."

  "That sounded like a backhanded compliment," Herra chuckled. She wasn't hurt by it.

  "When I first signed up for duty on your ship I thought to myself: Why did an exploratory vessel need a doctor? You've certainly showed me why over the years. I've seen you lead the crew through some other tough situations. Remember Tigel seven?"

  "I sure do." Herra had to smirk at the memory. That was the first and the last time she ever took on illegal cargo to make ends meet.

  "You've challenged them and me more than I think any of us realize. That is not always appreciated. Fact of the universe." Sanford smirked. "And this thing we find ourse
lves in now is worse than anything we've faced before. Virgil spoke out of fear. I just hope you don't take his comments too personal."

  Herra didn't know how to take this sudden outburst from Sanford. Sure, he was always friendly enough, but he was the definition of reserved. After all this time working together she still didn't know that much about him. Herra knew that Chen had made a game of it for years, asking into Sanford's background. One, because that was just Chen, a ball of curiosity. Two, because she found him attractive. Secrets were hard to come by on a ship as small as Dauntless. Still, somehow, Sanford had his.

  "Okay, sure. I'll mull that over." Herra wasn't one to pry and had given Sanford his space. It must have been his sudden outgoing nature that caused her to ask him a question that had been on her mind for a long time. "Sanford. You know I've come to realize you're way over qualified to be riding on my dinky little ship. Why do you stay aboard?"

  Sanford gave Herra a knowing look. "Now come, Commander. Don't abuse my generosity. Besides, didn't I just make it clear I like being on your ship and I like you. Don't give me any reason to change my mind. With power down, I need to find some of my manual tools."

  That sounded like a dismissal to Herra. She took it as one and left after giving Sanford a little mock salute. He turned and bent down, rummaging through a lower cabinet. Herra walked back to her cabin. That little talk and distraction has bolstered her spirits some. As she sat down at her desk and loaded up the feed that at any moment Virgil's camera would give her, those feelings dried up. Her shoulders slumped. She thought she was a good leader. Was she not? Or did Sanford have the right of it? The next time her and Virgil had a talk, it was going to be awkward. She wasn't looking forward to that.

  A grainy view of the hull of her ship came into view on her screen. She could see the straight line sheer which had cut off one of the engines. Herra closed her eyes and slid down further into her chair.

  "Obstinate, stubborn, headstrong...just errr." Virgil was mumbling to himself as he manual opened up the emergency hatch to the tube that would lead outside to the hull. He didn't trust the ramp at the moment. For all he knew it could be holding on by a bolt. He'd know more once he got outside.

  Virgil couldn't believe he was going back out to the hull again. What if, while they were sitting ducks, those aliens came through to finish them off? Well, if he was honest with himself, he'd be dead if he was inside or outside Dauntless. Which led him back around to the thought that they wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for Herra.

  He continued talking to himself as he closed the hatch below him and then opened the hatch to the hull. "She thinks she has all the best ideas and the only one that's capable of command. Ha. We'd be safely on our way to another planet if it was me in charge of this ship. Or if she would just listen." He had turned on his suit's camera feed but muted the audio.

  Connecting his tether to the steel beam inside the outer hatch, Virgil stomped his way on to the hull of the Dauntless. He had come out near the ramp, by the engines. He stood, looking left to right and back again. He whistled to himself.

  It was like the galaxy's biggest laser welder had cut a diagonal slice off the Dauntless right off. Stepping closer, Virgil looked down over the edge of the cut. It looked as if the intense heat had melted the side of the ship closed, like a wound on a person that had been cauterized. Virgil looked up towards the wormhole. It's bright colors reflected off his helmet. They were drifting farther from it. Fast enough that his eyes could detect the movement. The lightshow flashed brighter for a second. Like it always did when something was coming through.

  Virgil could see a shape but couldn't make out what it was. He enhanced his viewscreen to maximum. The missing piece of the Dauntless had come through. Around it was some smaller pieces of debris that he didn't recognize. Maybe parts of the alien ship they destroyed right before getting hit themselves. Switching back to normal view, Virgil leaned back down. He made sure to pan across slowly so Herra could get a nice, clear look at what her decisions had caused.

  When he finished gloating, Virgil set about seriously looking into the problem before him. They had one engine and it might be possible for him to reroute all the power system through the single engine. Get it up and running enough that they could use it to limp home. He was going to have to look at it first, see how damaged it had gotten. Then he needed to calculate if he would have enough time before life support failed. Before even all of that he would have to look at the ramp. Without his bot, there was no chance of him getting all the work ahead of him done in time.

  Virgil methodically walked along the slice in the ship. Pacing himself so the magnetic boots wouldn't wear him out. He didn't have enough of a break since the last time he had to use them. He got to the ramp, went to his knees, and looked over where it attached to the hull.

  After about ten minutes, Virgil felt satisfied that the ramp was intact and in fact would open. Some good news for a change. Using his gauntlet he scanned for the next break in the power grid. He found it a few meters away. Using the outside access port he knelt, found the busted power conduit, and welded it back togther.

  Standing, he gave his timer a glance. He had a few minutes left before thing became dire. He jumped to the next spot that had access and rewired the life support system to run off just the one engine. He called over his bot, Dido, who'd been welding another conduit over by the ramp. It trundled over to where he commanded it. The bot cut off some debris lodged in the hull. The moment it finished, Virgil watched it fly off into space, powerless to stop it.

  "Virgil, how's it going?" Herra called over the comm that moment. Instead of an acknowledgment, Virgil let out a curse.

  "What happened? Is it that bad?"

  "Damn it, damn it, damn it," Virgil exclaimed. "There was an air pocket or something that Dido hit. It gotten blow out into space before I could reach it."

  "Sorry, Virgil," she said. She sounded sincere, which only made him madder. She continued on. "There's nothing we can do for it now. We need these repairs finished."

  "You owe me a new robot when we get back," Virgil vented.

  "Right. I'll let you get back to it."

  Once done, with sweat pooled on his forehead, he looked at his oxygen. He figured about thirty more minutes. At least now they wouldn't suffocate out here. That pressure released off his chest, he felt as if he could breathe. After a deep breath, he went to see if he could get the Dauntless going.

  Virgil floated off the side of the ship, reworking a junction, when he noticed the brightness of the wormhole flickering. He pulled on the tether and clamped on the hull with his boots. He looked up at it. It looked like a raging storm of color. He had never seen a wormhole act or look like this one was before. The light show died down and the wormhole went back to looking like it always did. Then, with a single wink, it was gone.

  Herra was in her cabin. The screen was still on and the feed was still going. She wasn't looking at it though. She wasn't looking at anything in particular. Her eyes unfocused as she stared off at the far wall. It was a struggle but she was trying to keep her mind blank. Not thinking about the damage allowed her to not also think about how much debt she was going to have to go into to fix her ship. The helplessness she felt was not something she was good at dealing with or even use to.

  Virgil's voice blared out of the speaker suddenly, snapping her out of her trance. "Herra, you there? I need you to see this!"

  Herra turned and peered closely into her screen. She pushed a button on her keypad. "Yeah I'm here. What am I looking at, Virgil? All I see is space." And my poor broken ship.

  "That's the problem. You should be seeing the wormhole. I'm looking right at the spot where it was. It flashed brightly, like something was coming through, and then it was gone."

  Herra furrowed her brow. That was impossible. Wormholes don't close. Was Virgil trying to play some kind of trick on her? Making her feel incompetent? "Really Virgil? This isn't like you. If you're trying to pull something now, while w
e're in serious trouble, that's a new low."

  Virgil's exasperation came through the speaker clearly. "I'm serious. It collapsed. It's no longer there. Have Chen do a scan. You should have enough power for the short range. We're royally screwed."

  Herra shot up out of her chair. She didn't think he was trying to pull anything on her now. She breathed out one word. "How?"

  "I have no idea. I've got life support tied into the remaining engine. I'm coming inside." The view on her screen started to jostle. Herra couldn't believe he was serious about coming in and giving up on the repairs that would keep them alive.

  "No. You have to finish repairs. We need to get underway." She was on the verge of shouting at him but dialed it back.

  "Why? That's it Herra. Game over. We're stuck. We're not getting out of this one."

  Herra growled at him over the comm. She couldn't believe the man. "We can't just give up! We'll just find another wormhole out of this system. I've already got Chen working on figuring out where we are. I don't want to see you inside until the Dauntless is able to move. Understood?"

  She cut off the feed entirely before Virgil could argue even more. Herra plopped down in her seat to give herself a moment. The shock was heavy. How could a wormhole collapse? That had never happened before. Ever. Not with all the mining around them or the huge amounts of energy being released from ship accidents near them. Nothing ever affected the stability of a wormhole. Then her mind jumped to maybe it was something the aliens that attacked them had done. No, that was impossible. Wasn't it? Right now wasn't the time for speculation. She needed to talk to Chen. She didn't know how but maybe Virgil was wrong.

  Herra burst onto the bridge and rushed out what she needed. "Chen, I need you to do a scan of the wormhole. Virgil said the scanners should be working good enough that you can take one."

  "Sure, Commander but don't you want my find-"

  "I want you to scan the wormhole now," Herra was firm. "Please." She added on when she saw Chen look at her like she had lost her mind.