Board Thread:The Company/@comment-24930445-20140615054833/@comment-24866242-20140620053729

“What’s it going to take to get off this god damn landing deck?” Sandra yelled up at the techs working in hangar control above the Darwin. The glass hadn’t been replaced so she knew they could hear her, but she’d been raging at whoever would listen for the last twenty minutes so all she got was an apologetic shrug from one of them. The others kept right on working.

“Vextis computer control is still scrambled. Takes a lot longer to rebuild a starship computer core than it does to image a navigational computer like ours.”

She whirled around to find Jarrid peering at her while he checked the readout on an external access port. She shook her head and put her hands up to brush the hair out of her eyes. Halfway through the motion she clenched her fists and pulled the hair on the sides of her head in her frustration. “So?”

“They can’t operate the force fields yet.”

Sandra laughed angrily before moving back to the opposite access port and rechecking it for the third time. Jarrid was on the fourth time checking his side. The Darwin was ready to fly. They were just looking for things to keep them busy.

“New Oregon didn’t discover pressure fields until about a hundred years ago,” she muttered angrily. “You know what they did before that? They pumped out the air before they opened the doors.”

Jarrid nodded and pulled the console cable before moving to the next point. “Yeah, that’s doable, but there’s a lot of people working in here trying to get this ship ready for combat. That would slow them down by about two hours while they pump the air out and back in. That’s also an extra two hours those crewmen outside in the shelters are going to have to wait for rescue. Or we can just let them work.”

Sandra let out a long breath and rubbed her eyes. “I can’t do this, Jarrid. I can’t. I need to get him back.”

“We will,” he promised. “All of us.”

“You’re not usually the voice of reason, Jarrid.”

Marissa stomped down the metal ramp from the interior of the ship, pulling down an empty grav cart behind her. “Medical supplies are all stowed,” she announced, slipping an arm around Jarrid and casting a worried glance at Sandra. “When we get him out we’ll be able to take care of him in any case.”

Sandra tossed her test set onto the cart between her and Jarrid and leaned back against the landing gear before sliding down and sitting on the skid. Marissa walked over and sat next to her, sliding an arm around her shoulder. “He’s gonna be okay, honey. Don’t ever doubt it.”

Sandra nodded. “Where’s Becky?” she asked, suddenly realizing that if Marissa and Jarrid were both coming with her the girl was going to be alone.

“Shuttles from the surface started docking about half an hour ago,” Jarrid told her. “We put her on the first one out. Jeff and Chico are going to pick her up when they land.”

“You should be with her, Marissa. If something happens out there…” Sandy trailed off.

Marissa shook her head, “Don’t talk like that. We’re coming home. And you need me.”

A commotion in the hall outside the hangar bay suddenly had their attention, and apparently the attention of every worker in the bay. Everyone was on edge after the attack. One man actually started inching towards the doors on the other side before the source of the ruckus made itself apparent.

“Son, if you don’t get the fuck out of my way right now I’m gonna break yer other arm!”

Chaz Billith stormed through the doors, a young security guard with his arm in a sling trailed after him. Chaz saw them under the Darwin and stopped suddenly, putting his clenched hands against his hips in a heroic pose. The guard walking into him and yelping when his broken arm compressed against Chaz’s back spoiled the effect. Chaz turned and glared at him before pointing back at the hall. “Go! Guard something.”

He turned and faced his friends, taking a moment to look up in admiration at the Darwin. “Nice,” he said, looking back at the three of them. “Now tell me why I can’t leave you alone for a month without shit like this happening?”

“You’re early,” Jarrid said. “We weren’t expecting you for another two week.”

“The Vextis techs and equipment were helpful. We got the inertial dampeners fixed and poured some speed back on. Seems to me I’m late though. When do we leave?”

“Hah!” Sandra blurted. “That’s what I want to know.”

“Well what are we doing in the mean time?” Chaz demanded. “Feeling sorry for ourselves while we wait? I hear Ben’s double is on the ship and he knows all about this tech. Why the hell aren’t we beating the info out of that little weasel?”

“He seems significantly less weasel like than the weasel I remembered.” Jarrid opined. Chaz glared. “Not that he was really that weasel like…” Jarrid muttered.

“I don’t think I can look at that man right now,” Sandra said.

Jarrid nodded, but Chaz shook his head. “What the hell kind of talk is that, girlie.” He strode over to the landing strut and pulled her to her feet. There was no roughness in it but there was stern fatherly scolding in his voice. “You’ve got a good head on yer shoulders, kiddo, I’ve always said it, but right now yer’ talkin nonsense. If this Lenits bozo can help us get in and get out safely with Ben aboard then we’re gonna find out what he knows. I don’t care what he looks like. I spent time with the man before he went on the run. Trust me, he’s nothing like the man you love.”

Marissa and Jarrid glanced at each other nervously but Sandra clenched her jaw and nodded her head before striding angrily for the hall.

Jarrid watched her go. “Chaz,” he said. “Lenits really does seem different from what we remember. Time changes people. Now you’ve got her all fired up, and in the mood she’s in…”

“She needed firing up,” Chaz answered. “Don’t worry, I won’t let her break him.” He waved and jogged after her.

“Power output from all three singularities halted for the duration of the attack.” Vextis’ chief engineer Mishrean Petryna was midway through briefing the scientists gathered in the archeology lab with Korbin and Lauren and Lawrence, when Chaz and Sandra slipped in.

“Out of curiosity, why wasn’t artificial gravity affected?” Korbin asked.

“Gravity doesn’t feed directly from the power cores, but draws from the energy reserves. Surprisingly few systems draw directly from the cores. Weapons and the engines do. What killed us was the effect on the computers.”

Lawrence nodded his agreement while Lauren answered. “Based on the device the medics found implanted in Daisy we think it was designed to suppress and scramble neural energy in addition to the defensive properties. That’s consistent with the work I reviewed by Doctor Alexander early on in the project, and it’s the reason cyberneticists like myself were so over represented on the other teams. The same effect could be used to scramble the computers.”

Mishrean scowled. “However it was done, the power suppression was pinpointed to the power cores. Any systems that were drawing from the power reserves kept functioning, but the computer suppression was a blanket effect. Every single coprocessor on the ship stopped talking. Without computer control we couldn’t reroute power. Force field control, dead. Internal communications, offline. Plenty of systems stayed on but we couldn’t do anything with them.”

“There was a report of a cyborg among the attackers,” one of the scientists called. “The types of implants described would require some computer control.”

“Interesting,” Korbin agreed. “The computers in here also continued operating. At least once Mr. Lenits wired up one of our test devices to them.”

Lawrence raised his eyebrows and glanced at Lauren who bit her lower lip thoughtfully.

“Could the pedestal’s effect have something to do with that?” one of the scientists asked.

“That seems unlikely,” Korbin answered. “The enemy’s researcher’s didn’t have access to any information about the pedestal. From our translations thus far it seems the pedestal was not intended to disrupt the effect of the suppression field, but rather to act as a sink for the energy being gathered.”

“It isn’t having that effect on the devices we’ve built here though,” Lawrence argued.

Lauren shook her head. The three of them had been down this circle a few times now. “Our devices are different somehow. That’s why they keep overloading if we don’t dump the energy somewhere. No, I think it’s the devices themselves that are interfering with each other. That could be why Daisy short circuited. Dylan’s room is right on the other side of the test chamber.”

“If we can prove that effect, can we use it to defend the ship from another attack like the first one?” Mishrean asked.

Lawrence looked suddenly thoughtful. “Possibly. If we can build a big enough field to cover the entire ship. That’s a lot of energy to dump off if we absorb a big hit, but I’ve got some thoughts on how to redirect it.”

“What about the smaller ships?” Sandra called out.

Chaz nodded in agreement, his arms crossed as he loomed behind her. He was still in “brute” mode.

The engineer glanced at them. “The main computers are still offline, but peripheral systems are coming back online a few at a time. I should be able to direct some computing power down here to get some more fabricators online. If you can figure out how to make them into some sort of defense then start making as many as you can.”

“We’ll need to get several units built to start testing,” Korbin mused. “How long until Vextis can leave?”

“Probably still about twenty-six hours. And another two days to get there so you’ve got some time. I’d like to have some time to install whatever it is you come up with though, so don’t dally.”

Sandy hissed under her breath at the delay. She had been hoping to get the Darwin out of the hangar sooner.

Mishrean glanced at her before turning back to the assembled scientists. “Let me know what support you need. I’ll do my best, but we’re as swamped as everyone else is so don’t expect miracles. Excuse me, I’ve got to go brief Captain Ryax.”

“I’ll come with you,” Korbin said and they left the lab together.

The other scientists went about their work. Sandra and Chaz finally had a clear chance to speak with Lenits. Chaz gave her a nudge. She glared back at him but took a couple of steps forward. Lenits and Lauren were speaking softly in the corner and she suddenly felt as though she were intruding. Lauren looked upset about something and Lawrence pulled her into an embrace. The moment was tender and private and Sandra was overwhelmed by how much it reminded her of Ben. She started to turn away before the tears could start flowing. Sandra wasn’t a cryer. She was a rational calm person, but this situation was too strange. The man in front of her looked like the man she loved, and though Ben and Chaz and Jarrid all denied it she could see something of Ben there, even though she knew it wasn’t the one she was missing now. Seeing them together was enough to put her over the edge and she didn’t want these people to see that.

But it was too late. Lawrence noticed her before she could change course and Lauren turned around soon after. Sandra quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve and nodded to them. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to intrude.” Chaz was by her side before she realized it, a hand on her shoulder. Lawrence apparently recognized him and nodded coolly.

Lauren seemed more sympathetic, but didn’t press her. There were a lot of teary eyed people on the Vextis today. “Our friend Daisy… She was taken by Joslynne’s people before we could get out. She was one of the attackers. She tried to kill Dylan before she suddenly blacked out. Dylan just told us they’re getting ready to take her into surgery. They found… something… wrapped around her brain stem. They’re going to try and remove it.”

Sandra understood. They were worried about their friend. That didn’t make the next part any easier. “You’re going to need to test your devices on a real ship,” she blurted. Her threatened tears were now dry. Steely resolve had replaced her anguish. “I’m offering the Darwin for that purpose.” She felt Chaz’s hand tighten on her shoulder.

Lawrence suddenly understood that something was not right. “Where is Ben?” he asked.

Chaz growled under his breath but backed down when Sandra glanced back at him. She was in control of the situation now. His role as father figure took a back seat.

She turned back to Lawrence and Lauren. “He was taken in the attack.”

Lauren’s hand went for Lawrence’s immediately, squeezing it tightly. Lawrence glanced at her and Lauren raised her eyebrows. The unspoken words between them shouted to her, but Sandra wasn’t sure she knew the syntax. Lawrence turned back to Sandra. “You should know,” he told her, “I don’t have a lot of love for your Stinel. I spent a lot of years trying to help Jos hurt these people. But I’m trying to change.”

“He has changed,” Lauren interjected.

“If we can get something that works, I promise you’ll get the first one.”