The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception (12 page)

Further speculation was cut short by a massive surge of energy spilling forth from the hyper drive wake. It was off the charts. His active shielding was overwhelmed
and as he was considering an emergency uncalculated jump, the shielding failed. His hull plating, which was many times stronger than that used by the humans, lasted for perhaps a few hundred milliseconds before it was ablated away. The warrior known as Three of Nine barely had time to acknowledge he had been beaten when his life came to an end.

The blast, radiating from the hyper field wake
, lasted barely three seconds. The energy spilled in those few seconds couldn’t be equaled by the total output of the Earth's sun in a comparable period of time. The frozen atmosphere that surrounded Pluto instantly flash evaporated, leaving only the hard rocky core and even that was superheated.

The out gassing buffeted the USC Bowman but protected, albeit barely, by the shadow of Pluto, the Bowman was generally safe from the SJ's wrath.

When the buffeting finally subsided Cat called for an 'All Systems' report. The only major change in status was a marked, but nonfatal, increase in radiation exposure. Earth-based nanite systems were adept at treating radiation exposure so Cat made sure the entire crew was properly inoculated.

Once a complete scientific survey of the area surrounding Pluto was completed in a couple of hours, the USC Bowman set course for earth. However, even with a maximum speed of roughly 230 kilometers per second, the journey to Earth would be just under thirty years.

***

Ken Kirkland along with the entire crew and staff of the Bowman were in the recently patched shuttle bay. Much of the repair work had only been complete for a couple of hours. He was dressed in the same red vestments Cat had first seen him in so many months ago. For what would come next he was no longer the Bowman's First Officer and Chief Engineer. He was their chaplain. Eleven friends and coworkers had made the ultimate sacrifice... Not for their country but for their species.

"Father in heaven..." Pastor Kirkland began "we who are finite can never really know your infinite plan of creation. It is enough that we were blessed to know these fine men and women for an all too brief period of time. We thank you, Lord, for the gift of theirs lives and the intersection with our lives that knowing them has meant.

We ask that you, in your mercy, provide comfort for their families. These eleven brave souls will forever be remembered as men and women who gave their lives, not for an idea or a country, but for our
very right as a species to exist."

In the background
the comms started playing a very low and melodic rendition of 'Flowers of the Forest' on bagpipes. Ken paused for a moment and then continued.

"It is written...
'By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.' Our friends are now returning to the dust from which they sprang. But in the midst of our sorrow we must also rejoice in the knowledge that the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Cat reflected on the memorial service. She was thankful Ken was there. To have a chaplain was not unusual, but to have a Chief Engineer who doubled as a chaplain might well be unique in the annals of the space service. Ken called it a tent maker ministry along the lines of the Apostle Paul. Being in the thick of things with the rest of the crew certainly meant Ken had developed a tight rapport with the them. Of course, Cat knew this was a double edge sword... The loss of these eleven individuals was being felt at a
very real level by her friend.

After another prayer
the Pastor invited Cat, as the captain, to say a few words. She looked out across the shuttle bay. For the most part the crew held stoic expressions... burying their pain. A few of the civilians, including Rebecca Kirkland, were having a harder time restraining their tears.

"What can I say to make a difference?" Cat asked the crowd. "What can anyone say? These eleven men and women, including our captain, lost their lives in a senseless act of aggression by a race bend on the destruction of any intelligent life other than their own.

Does it make sense... No. Is it fair... No. Most importantly it does not change who they were and who we are. You and I are humanity's best chance for a future. Analysis of transmissions and the activities of the D'lralu ship prior to our final engagement seems to indicate it sent a message into hyperspace. We can only assume it was to their home world."

There was a general muttering in the crowd as they digested the implications behind this revelation.

"We must expect..." Cat continued "that the D'lralu will return, only this time in force. Our fallen comrades may have died in this first battle for our collective futures, but they died that we might fight on... That their loved ones might live another day... That their species might claim the very right to exist in this universe."

Cat paused for a moment to look each and every one of them in the eye.
"Our obligation to them and to our future is to fight on... and to win. I expect the best out of each of you. We are crippled. Our air supply is limited and we are decades from home if we cannot repair this ship's drive and environmental systems. I need each of you, regardless of your military or civilian background, to reach deep within yourselves for that last measure of strength... Find a way to do more with less... Get this ship fixed so we can get home and get about the business of saving Earth. May God bless each of you... Now go and do great things... That is all."

Cat was enjoying a Rubin sandwich in the main mess with a tablet held in her hand, reviewing status reports, when a tentative cough sounded next to her. She had been so engrossed in the depressing details of the report that she had failed to notice the person next to her... It was Rebecca Ann Kirkland.

"Hey Becky... I'm sorry I didn't see you there."

"Captain... “The stocky brunette started to say.

"Please..." Cat pleaded, "I had the same discussion with your husband... Please call me by my name"

Rebecca smiled, "Of course Cat.  I wanted to talk with you about Environmental."

Cat waved the report in her hand. "I'm reading about it now... It doesn't look promising."

"I had an idea that might help."

"I'm listening"

"As I understand it, our biggest immediate problem is CO2 scrubbing, followed by O2 generation. The plumbing systems that fed the hydroponics as, well as most of the biomaterial were destroyed or lost in the attack.  I think I know how we can replace both." When Cat began to ask how, Becky held up her hand to interrupt her question so she could finish. Cat smiled at the civilian's cavalier, if accidental, disregard for protocol.

"We have massive military grade storage bladders..." Becky continued. "They hold something like 16 million gallons of water.  If we set one, or two if they will fit, in the shuttle bay we can fill them with some of that
special bioengineered algae from environmental. If we inject some of our heat sterilized septic refuse in with the algae... it should act as a fertilizer. We can then bubble our air supply through the bags... The Algae should convert the CO2 to O2... We can run the result through filters to remove any contaminant gases..."

"Like sulfur," Cat laughed.

"Like sulfur," Becky agreed.

"It could work. It would not be nearly as efficient as the
capillary exchange system it's replacing, but that would be made up for by sheer volume..." Cat mused.

"And the bioengineered algae is specifically designed to eat anything and grow quickly... It would take a few days to get up to speed
but I've done the math, and in theory it should be able to handle the load before we run out of O2 candles... Especially if we can get two of the bladders up and running."

"I like it... How is
it you know so much about environmental?"

Becky winked at Cat with a smile... "I earned my doctorate in environmental sciences before going to culinary school... I even played with the idea of a career in Space Command but ah... Well you might have noticed I like to eat a little too well."

Cat laughed as she triggered her comlink... "Ken?"

"Yes Cat?"
came the near instantaneous response from her First Officer/Chief Engineer.

"I'm promoting your wife... Effective immediately she is Chief of Environmental with an effective rank of First Lieutenant. She is going to be stopping by in a few minutes, as soon the quartermaster fits her for a uniform... She is working on a priority one project. See to
it she gets all the manpower and material support she needs. Everything else is secondary."

"Already on it... Captain, she briefed me before coming to you. The Bladders are in the shuttle bay... Ready to be filled on your orders... And I'm assuming you're giving them."

"That I am" Cat said with a grin. She keyed off her comlink before turning to the other woman with a mischievous grin "You're out of uniform, Lieutenant."

"Yes, Ma'am!" The new head of Environmental said as she saluted. Cat shook her head... They were going to have to work on that whole military protocol thing.

***

With Becky's leadership, the environmental team, which had been struggling after being decimated by Three of Nine's attack, finally managed to address the Bowman's most pressing environmental problems.

At the same time Lt. Kirk, from engineering, with help from the android named Bob and her AI Cal, managed to bring the ship's full array of sensors and shields back online. This was no small feat, which required an EVA by Bob with Cal riding along as a secondary AI. The two manually recalibrated the external arrays... Doing in a few hours what would have taken a space dock a full week. Cat was duly impressed.

Meanwhile
she and Ken addressed communications. They rigged a hyper drive missile with a radio transmitter and recorder. Cal quickly programmed the missile for a jump to near earth orbit. Instructions were included so that the missile could be rapidly shuttled via hyper-jumps between Earth and the Bowman. The result was a nearly 40AU communications link with a two second latency.

This allowed Cat
to easily brief the Admiralty on the situation with the Bowman, and the impending threat to humanity. Admirals Faragon, Chelsea and McMullen were video linked with the Bowman.

“Admiral,
Sir…” Cat began as she addressed a question McMullen had asked repeatedly over the last twenty minutes of their conversation. “I don’t believe Captain Ramchandani made any tactical mistakes. The attack was unprovoked and sudden. The simple fact is - their ships have bigger guns. “