Captain
Calhoun unlocked the door to Lab 4, slowly opened it and floated through.
“Captain on
Deck.” Samantha stated almost bored while studying the hologram showing the
transport approaching the asteroid.
The captain
closed the door behind himself. “Carry
on.” He was almost bored with that
himself “Where is that transport?”
“Almost on
top of the asteroid, she just started up the main engine but I don’t get it.” Kim
looked up from her console and was genuinely confused. “She is about to hit that thing at a very
high velocity.”
“Pay
attention to her trajectory.” The Captain focused on the hologram. “I think I
know what she is going to try. It is
extremely risky but it just might work.”
“How do you
know that?” Tim didn’t even look up from his console.
“I’ll show
you shortly, just track everything that is happening.”
The four
watched as the transport slightly changed trajectory from a straight on course
to the asteroid to a slight angle and then started a slow helical path around
the long axis of the asteroid. The path
was very close to the surface as the craft rotated slightly to direct the
primary thruster toward the surface and the engine increased in power.
Chunks of
ice were thrown off the surface forming a spiral trench as the tiny ship
traversed the length of the body.
Unnoticed by almost everyone is that the asteroid was starting to wobble
from the thrust exerted on its surface until the transport was just over half
way down the length of it.
“Commander,”
Sam almost shouted “The asteroid is oscillating, and it is gaining in
intensity.”
The
commander pushed the button for the comm channel to the transport “Gwen, watch
it! The asteroid is oscillating and you
are awfully close.”
“I got
it. Just a couple more…” she hesitated
for a very long moment “Oh Shit!”
The
transport impacted the surface of the asteroid throwing a huge plume of ice
into space. The tiny craft broke into
several pieces that ricocheted off in several directions amid the cloud of ice.
“Gwen!” all
four of the officers shouted in unison.
The captain
went in to full command mode “Track that plume!
Find out where every piece of that ship goes! And find Captain Stewart!” He then muttered
under his breath “or whatever is left of her.”
“Aye Sir.”
The three other officers barked out.
The
commander punched the intercom “T-Ops, Lab 4.
Inform the other transports about the oscillation the asteroid is in,
I’m patching in the info now.” She checked another chart “And tell them their
first priority is to locate Captain Stewart.
I want all sensors searching for her.”
“Acknowledged,
Lab 4.” The response sounded confident.
The captain
was studying the hologram intensely “Tim, focus on the trench and get the images
patched onto this hologram as quickly as you can. Give me a rough look first and you can refine
it as you get better scans. Sam, keep
tracking that ship in all of its pieces.
Gwen is smart enough she was probably in a self-contained suit so if she
survived the force of the impact she is probably alive. Kim, keep on top of the other transports and
coordinate the rescue.”
“Aye Sir!”
echoed through the compartment.
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