Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 16: And You And I Part I - Cord of Life
Scene 12: Broken Cords
Cords are broken, locked inside the Mother Earth …
16.12
Broken Cords
“Greg and Ki weren’t kidding when they were talking about taking this ship apart. I think this bridge is the biggest piece that remains.”
Captain Ronald Howard, XIV’s voice was somewhat distorted. He stood behind the command throne on the bridge of the U.S.S. Escort, which was currently occupied by Commander Rhonda Carter. All about the bridge, the touch screens and fine control panels had been replaced with large buttons and switches and dials. Every control had to be operable by crew wearing EVA suits. The buttons and switches, dials and levers were all designed around the bulky, pressurized space suit gloves. There was no air on the bridge.
Commander Carter’s voice was also somewhat distorted coming through the EVA communication system. “We buried the frame of the ship and most of the structure fairly deep inside the larger moon. But it’s been stripped of everything we can use. There’s a transporter down there and the industrial replicators and a basic gravity net. A couple of bunks and the medical center. And those rooms are the only parts of what is left of this ship that are pressurized. My people are in Extra Vehicular suits on average 12 hours a day.”
“That is a lot more than recommended,” Skip Howard observed.
“You get used to it,” Carter rejoined. “If my people are going to do battle wearing these bulky suits, I want them to feel like it’s a second skin. Can you believe the early astronauts wore nothing else while they were in space? Gennady Padalka was one of my distant ancestors. Makes me feel closer to him.”
Skip Howard smiled and nodded. “So walk me through the architecture of Fortress Escort.”
Rhonda Carter turned her command throne back toward the front of the bridge. “Lieutenant Singleterry, let’s give our captain the presentation.”
A complex schematic was outlayed across the primary viewscreen and expanded across adjacent viewscreens, providing overviews of the defensive installation in orbit of ASA 4. “We have appropriated the junk that was left in orbit of this planet by a much earlier civilization. Probably those squid gods we’ve caught glimpses of. They seem to be aware of what is going on in orbit, but we have not seen any evidence of any ability on their part to enter orbit. We have also brought in a significant number of asteroids to build a gauntlet. We have 389 asteroids large enough to support a phase pulse cannon and 41 pulse phase cannon installed on various asteroids.”
A number of the asteroids displayed on the schematic, were highlighted “Small batteries on each asteroid will provide signals to indicate each asteroid is armed, whether there is actually a cannon there or not,” Carter continued. “And immediately after a cannon fires, both its asteroid and several nearby asteroids will automatically reposition. All these installations are unmanned and will be remotely controlled from this bridge.” She gestured to the stations around the bridge, all of which had been rebuilt and redesigned for their new purpose – controlling remote weapons installations, using redesigned control surfaces to be operated by crew wearing bulky EVA suits.
More locations were highlighted. “John Jr. and my other godchildren manufactured for us single-shot torpedo launchers,” Carter said. “Only one torpedo in the tube, which means the tube does not have to either survive the launch or reposition. These launchers are so small they will barely register as more than rubble within this field and they can remain dark, so they can be launched at point blank range.”
“But you’re not going to be sitting in this chair, running the show?” Howard asked.
“We need a war master in this chair,” Carter replied. “General Krank has agreed. I’ll be in the Escort’s now liberated tactical launch, doing what I do best.”
“That being?”
“Killing.”
Carter paused and looked at Skip Howard. His face was unreadable behind the visor of his EVA suit.
“Let’s take a walk to the other sections of this command center,” Howard offered.
“That’s a short walk,” Carter observed. She led Captain Howard first to the engine room, then around the perimeter of the facility, which included the impulse engines, rear facing torpedo tubes, phase pulse cannon (now mounted on turrets a top and underneath what was a heavily armored, very small ship. “We swapped the primary and secondary shield generators out with the tactical launch. With the launch operating separately, it doesn’t need the primary generator. We layered all the ablative armor on this much smaller ship and with the primary operational areas already depressurized, dramatically reduced the potential impact of a hull breach.”
Carter led Howard back inside, then into the medical center, which was the most protected part of the mobile installation. It was much larger than the Escort’s tiny medical center and also served as a break area, and was the only part of the installation that was pressurized. The two officers removed their helmets.
“Smells good,” Howard observed.
“The scrubbers have only this small area to keep clean.” Carter sighed heavily. She led Howard to one of the break tables on one side of the room and sagged into a chair.
“There’s so much more to do, primarily figuring out how to keep the holy landers from simply flanking the entire installation instead of entering the gauntlet to face us.”
“That’s what klingons would do,” Howard opined. “Romulans.” He raised his eyebrows and made an amused noise. “Star Fleet. But not, I think, these holy landers. From everything I’ve learned about them, they have a sort of odd chivalry that will draw them right down the maw of this gauntlet. But that’s not what’s bothering you.”
“Yeah,” Carter agreed. “Fog of war. No plan survives contact with the enemy. This is our best option, so we run with it. I’m used to thinking on my feet in battle. And I’ll be in the tactical launch. Best place for me to face the situation head on.” She sighed even more heavily and looked down.
“Escort is broken, Skip. I know you’ve been charged to put this ship back together, but I just don’t see any way that can possibly happen.” Rhonda Carter looked up, emotion evident on her face. “Everyone says you’re the smartest captain in the fleet. Maybe I should have more faith…” There was nothing disparaging in her tone or expression. She was seeking reassurance.
Captain Skip Howard laughed lightly. “You’re buttering up the wrong genius. I’m a biologist, not an engineer…”
“How about Commander Holland?”
“Dutchie can take a communicator pin and a piece of glass and make a rudimentary phaser. I’ve seen him turn an engineering tri-corder into a full spectrum holo-generator. He can turn a pack of transport enhancers into a short-range transporter.” Howard gestured widely around him. “But this, this mess is well beyond him as well. He’s a genius, but what you need for this job is a GENIUS spelled with a capital genius.”
Commander Carter looked crushed.
“I’ll get Sakura on it,” Howard said, lightly.
Carter looked up. “I didn’t know she was an engineer…”
“She’s not. Sakura Nakamura Holland is a people person. And her people are engineers.”
16.12