What happened to my Asteroid? Section 72:

Tim and Sam entered the bridge of the Albatross from the airlock.  Almost nobody noticed until Ensign Zhou spotted the admirals’ dress uniforms.  “Admirals on deck!” he announced loudly and nervously.

“As you were!” Tim announced.

“Commander Johnson!” Sam addressed the commander.

“Yes Ma’am.” He looked around to both of them “Sir.  Ma’am.  Sir.  Ma’am?” he was very confused.

“Take it easy sailor.” Sam addressed the commander “You haven’t ever seen us in uniform.”

“And there is a reason for that.” Tim added.  “But that is not why we are here now.”

“I don’t understand.” He looked really lost.

“You don’t have to.” Sam looked squarely at him and extended a small box. “Captain Calhoun is going home and this station needs a new captain.”

“Congratulations Captain Johnson!” Tim extended his hand “On your promotion and your new command.”

Sam opened the box to reveal the eagles to the new captain with a big smile.

The new captain looked down to the box and smiled.  He looked back up to Sam “Thank you Ma’am!” and then looked to Tim “Sir!”

Tim took one of the eagles out of the box, pulled the oak cluster from the new captain’s left collar and punched the eagle into that collar.  Sam took the other oak cluster from the new captain’s right collar and replaced it with the other eagle.  Simultaneously Tim and Sam punched down on the eagles to press them into the captain’s uniform and make sure he knew the responsibilities he now had.

Tim and Sam both saluted the new captain.

“Congratulations Captain.” Tim stated with a smile.

“Take care of your station and your crew.” Sam looked directly at him.

“I will indeed, Ma’am.” He looked to Tim “Sir.”

“Very Well.” Tim released his salute. “We need to get going.”

“And don’t tell the Reykjavik quite yet.” Sam winked at Captain Johnson “We have a surprise for them too.”

“Yes Ma’am.” He was still processing his promotion. He turned around to his staff “Ok people, let’s get this station back to operational status.”

 

Tim and Sam entered the Reykjavik from the airlock in their space suits dragging their bags with them.  The yeoman led them to their quarters without checking much else.  The pair just trudged along to the compartment and went in.  They stowed their bags quickly and climbed out of their space suits.  They checked each other and squared their uniforms, and then exited the compartment.  The yeoman froze a moment since she had no idea they were admirals “Admiral … s.” She muttered hesitantly.

“Yes yeoman.” Tim tried to sound reassuring.

“Don’t worry,” Sam chimed in “We don’t bite.” She smiled.

“We need to go to the bridge.” Tim looked at the stunned yeoman.

“Of course,” she slowly got back to business “right this way Sir, Ma’am.” She turned and launched down the zero G passageway.  Tim and Sam followed her to the bridge and stopped at the airlock.

“We can take it from here yeoman.” Sam grabbed the airlock handle “You’re dismissed.”

“Yes Ma’am, Sir.” She spun around and drifted back down the passageway as Tim and Sam entered the airlock.

They scanned the bridge as they were entering it, checking the operations and how well the crew worked together.  Gwen and Kim were talking to Commander Dunst at the navigating station.  Gwen looked up and saw Tim and Sam in full dress uniforms.  She announced “Admirals on deck!” and saluted.  Everyone in the compartment turned to look and saluted.

“As you were.” Tim announced as they both finished their return salutes.

“Commander Dunst.” Sam addressed the commander. “This ship is down one captain and will be for some time.”

“That is not a workable situation,” Tim added “As you are no doubt aware.”

“Yes Sir, Ma’am.” The commander responded.

Sam took a box out of her pocket and opened it to reveal the shiny eagles inside.  “Congratulations

 Captain,” She smiled “On your promotion and new command.” She picked up one of the eagles.

“We expect you will be able to run this ship as tight as Captain Grind did.” He picked up the other eagle and the two of them removed the oak clusters from the new captain’s collar, replaced them with the eagles they then punched down just hard enough that the pin tips just tapped his skin.  Some naval traditions will never die.

“Alright Captain,” Tim pointed out the forward observation port “Let’s get this beast underway.”

“We’re going to need a compartment to work in.” Sam pointed out “But first we need to get out of these uniforms.”

“Of course.  I’ll get one allocated.” He turned to his lieutenant “set aside one of the conference rooms with an observation port on the same side as our unusual cargo.” He turned back to the admirals “I’ll send you the compartment number to your quarters.  You probably want to grab a quick shower on your way.”

“That we will.” Sam smiled.

“Gwen, Kim, we will meet you in there and get our strategy figured out.” Tim looked slightly serious.

“Yes sir.” Gwen responded.

“Very well,” Tim saluted the new captain “Carry on.” Sam saluted as well.  They both spun around and left through the airlock.

As they drifted down the passage way Sam asked “Do you think they will mind if we take a little extra time getting there?”

“They are going to have to.” And they both laughed a little.

 

The Reykjavik slowly accelerated away from Albatross station towing the unusual cargo.  The shuttle was towing from the opposite side to balance the thrust and keep the asteroid clear of the thrusters of both ships.  They headed off on the 8 month journey to get back to earth quietly in the dark emptiness of space.

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 71:

“We’re gonna’ do WHAT?”  Commander Dunst shouted into the radio.

“The orders and plans are clear and there is no real danger.”  Commander Venkataraman tried to reassure Commander Dunst.

“What do you mean ‘no real danger’?” He demanded.

“Nothing happened until we started fiddling with the first one.” She insisted.

“So we are going to drag this one back home?” He really couldn’t believe what he was being told.

“Yes.”

“How?”

“It is all in the detailed orders I just sent you, but basically you hook up the cables to the ships and guide it back.  The experts will take it from there.” Her tone was almost condescending.

“Alright, we’ll get rigged up for it.” The commander got back to a professional attitude. “Who is going to connect things up?”

“Our crew will take care of it.” Commander Venkataraman checked the progress “They’ll be hooking things up in about 15 minutes.”

“Alright, we’ll be ready.” He was a bit uneasy but figured they would handle the connection “What about the trip back?  Do we have enough data and instructions?”

“The rigging crew is going back with you, and so are our experts on the subject so you will be well staffed in case of problems.”

“Is that the same team that launched the first one through the station?” He sounded a bit sarcastic.

“The very ones.” She tried to play with the other commander “At least they know what not to do.”

“Well then at least we have that going for us.” He wasn’t very confident. “We’ll contact back when the ships are rigged.”

“Acknowledged Reykjavik.  Albatross out.”

 

Sam was back outside, standing at the very aft end of the shuttle watching the approach to the Reykjavik.  She wasn’t even completely dry but was thankful for the shower and being able to clean her space suit.  After 6 hours the suits get pretty rank and she was going to have to spend several more hours in her suit to get the cargo hooked up for transport back to base.

“Alright Tim, that looks about right.” She was checking the distances and the orientation between the ships. “Bring the probe up close to the back of the Reykjavik so I don’t have to haul the cables too far.”

“Will do.” He started maneuvering the probe “I’m going to drift the shuttle a little closer to close the distance you have to travel.”

“I appreciate it.” She raised the camera and focused on the probe “Don’t get too close.  If you crash it that will make things difficult.”

“I won’t crash it.” He was slightly annoyed “I want you back inside as quickly as possible.”

“Don’t forget you need to top off the fuel tanks.”

“Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten” He quickly checked the cable orientations and the location of fueling connections on the ship.  He had to plot carefully to avoid tangling the tow cables and shredding Sam.

“I’ll get that done while you are hooking up the tow lines.”

“I thought you might need the reminder.” She smiled to herself as she launched off the shuttle toward the probe.  “Let’s get this done and get underway.”

The shuttle passed the asteroid and the two waved at each other as they set about their tasks.

“I’ll see you on the Albatross.” Tim blew a kiss to Sam through the observation port.

“That’s right, we have to stop there next.”  She blew a kiss back.

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 70:

“Reykjavik, this is Albatross.” Commander Venkataraman called the ship.

“Go ahead, Albatross” Lieutenant Trace responded.

“We are preparing to send your captain back to you.”  She punched some buttons to send them critical information “You need to have proper medical facilities available.  And you need to have them for our captain too.”

“What do you mean ‘for your captain too’?” the Lieutenant was a bit confused.

“Both of them are in medically induced comas.” The station commander quelled her emotions “And will likely need to be for the trip back to base.” She paused “You will also need to make accommodations for our captain’s wife and the admiral.”

“Will do Albatross.  When will they be transferred?”  Lt Trace started calling up berthing assignments.

“The captains are being loaded into the transport now, so expect them in 20 minutes.  We are still hunting down the admiral but it should be within the hour.”

“You lost the admiral?” the lieutenant was confused now.

“You will understand shortly.” The commander jested.

“Lieutenant!” the navigator panicked and shouted “That other one is moving!”

“What?” the lieutenant looked at the monitor “Put it on the big screen!” he activated the radio “Commander, take a look at that thing.”

“Will do Reykjavik, Albatross out.” The commander almost lost her cool.

 

Sam entered the shuttle cabin from the airlock and closed the door behind her.  She took off her helmet and shook her head around to free up her hair.

“Help me get out of this thing.” She announced to Tim “I need a shower!”

“Just a minute.” He fiddled with his console, plotting the path to the ship. “It sounds like somebody figured out we’re doing something out here.”

“Alright, just don’t take too long, I’m itchy!” She was grumpy as she started opening up her space suit.

“Albatross, this is shuttle 2.” Tim announced into the radio.

“Go ahead shuttle 2, and make it brief we have a situation here.” The voice was near panic.

“We are moving the second asteroid to be towed back to base by the Reykjavik.” Tim calmly stated.

“YOU’RE WHAT?” the voice was clearly in disbelief.

“The orders have been entered into the log.” Tim gave the operator a minute to get a grasp on reality. “We are moving slowly and will get configured for towing.  The flight plan is linked in the log, just keep everyone calm and this will go smoothly.”

“Does the Reykjavik know about this?” the junior officer really didn’t know what to do.

“They will when you tell them.” Tim paused just to make the poor girl sweat a bit. “All of the orders are linked in the log.” He was being reassuring now “Forward the flight plan and the order, and let both crews know quickly to minimize the panic.  The Admiral’s full orders are attached in the log.”

“Acknowledged.” The officer regrouped herself “We will get that forwarded and the message disseminated.”

“Very well, we will see you in 30 minutes.  Shuttle 2 out.”  He breathed a sigh of relief as he unlocked himself from the console and tumbled toward Sam.  “Ok Sam, let’s get you out of that suit.”

“You’re going to have to help me get clean too.” She smiled at him.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” He grabbed her and kissed her lightly on the nose.

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 69:

“Albatross, this is Reykjavik.” Commander Dunst signaled the station.

“Go ahead Reykjavik.” Commander Johnson replied.

“Let’s not try that again anytime soon.”  The commander on the ship suggested.

“Agreed.” The commander on the station got a bit of relief.

“How long until that shuttle can bring us our captain?” Commander  Dunst wanted to have everything prepared.

“That’s not the limiting factor.” Commander Johnson hesitated “Both of our captains are in surgery right now, and we have been told that we have to wait.”

“Wait for what?”

“Wait for what is indeed what we are waiting for.”

“Well that is about the best I can expect.”  Commander Dunst resigned himself to the realities of the situation “I’m going to get some rest, I’m sure my crew can handle things for a while.”

“That is what I keep telling myself.” Commander Johnson was trying to reassure himself as much as everyone else “I’m going to get some rest myself.  Talk to you in 4 hours.”

“That’s a date.” The ship commander lightened up “Just don’t tell my wife…”

They both laughed.

 

Shuttle 2 slowly departed docking bay 5.  With all of the commotion on the station, very few people took notice or even cared.  The shuttle looped around the station in a slow, lazy arc and headed toward the newly arrived block of “who knows what” and accelerated toward it.  The probe that was still attached to the asteroid activated and started moving around to a pulling position.

The slow dance of two small craft docking in the vastness of space can be breathtaking.  For all of the strength built in to space faring vessels, they are incredibly fragile when the velocity and energy levels involved are considered.

The shuttle gently pulled next to the probe and came to a relative stop.

“Go for it,” Tim told Sam “Get that probe refueled!”

Sam launched herself off the shuttle with the fueling hoses in hand.  She hadn’t done this in a long time so she was running the checklist like a rookie.  She assumed the right stance and had the hoses in the right position, sweated the entire transition and even relieved herself along the way.  Her contact with the probe was nearly perfect, the connection of the fueling lines was textbook.

“Fill ‘er up!” Sam announced.

“Topping off with premium.” Tim played back.

“How long do you think it will take for anyone to notice what we are doing out here?” Sam pondered as she looked toward the station.

“Probably not until we are connecting the cables to the Reykjavik.” They both laughed.

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 68:

The Reykjavik slowly approached the station while rotating around to point back toward Earth and to align the docking arms.  Albatross was not quite stabilized yet but the process was working.  Unfortunately stabilizing the station for docking and finishing the cargo transfer was consuming a lot of fuel, although the time saved to complete the resupply would be well worth it in the long run.

Transports buzzed around the station collecting cargo containers and searching for survivors or at least bodies.

The large ship slowly maneuvered into position along side the crippled station.  The station had a slight wobble due to the imbalance caused by a missing section of one of the rings, but it wasn’t too bad. The ship extended her docking arms and slowly moved them in between the rings toward the docking ports on the main hull of the station.
Station personnel watched the operation from every viewport that could see it and monitored very closely on their computer consoles from the cameras available.  The ship had personnel watching from every possible place including several people in space suits standing on the hull outside.  Each docking arm had a couple of people standing at the end of the fixes section of the docking arms and another pair at the end of the telescoping section.  Transport craft were stationed at critical observation positions between the ship and the station.  Nobody was taking any chances and all operations were going slowly.

The two craft slowly intermeshed with the docking arms of the supply ship moving between the rotating rings of the station.  Personnel on both vessels tried to behave as if this was a routine operation but there wasn’t a single person that actually believed it.  As the docking arms approached the docking ports the observing operators waved hand signals to each other indicating their observations of the approach.  Communications channels between the two craft were saturated almost to the point of being unusable so hand signals between the crew members was the best method.

The docking arms finally latched to their corresponding ports.  The crew of both vessels breathed a collective sigh of relief as resupply operations finally resumed.

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 67:

“Shuttle 2 is docking now.” Kim looked across the compartment “And they have our wayward captains.”

“How are they?” Gwen didn’t look up and was trying to keep calm.

“They’re both unconscious, and apparently are pretty beat up.” Kim looked back down to her console “I have a medical team waiting for them.”

“Good.”  Gwen looked up for a moment “How many are still missing?”

“We only have two unaccounted for.” Kim quickly checked another list “The bad part is we have 6 dead.”

“That’s not bad considering we were hit by a large missile.  How much of the ring is gone?”

“The spokes look to be undamaged but the section between them is completely destroyed.”

“Lab 4, Bridge.” The intercom lit up.

“Go ahead bridge.” Kim switched the hologram to show the station in its current damaged form.

“We have a possible solution to stabilizing the station and we want you to run some numbers for us.” Commander Johnson was a bit anxious “We really need to get the Reykjavik docked to finish the resupply.”

“Send us the data.” Kim cleared her console for some new calculations “We’ll get right on it.”

“How long before we can get the transports back outside?”

“They are being refueled and the new crews are briefing now.” Kim quickly sent him the schedule and the assignments “I’m sending the schedule now.  The first transport will launch in 20 minutes.”

“Very good.” Commander Johnson hesitated for a minute “How long before the shuttle can launch again?”

“The crew is assisting the medical team move the victims to sick bay.”  She looked at the progress report “And then the crew needs at least 4 hours rest before they launch again.”

“That works.  Let us know when you have your assessment of our solution.  The Reykjavik will be in position in less than an hour.”

“Will do Bridge.  Lab 4 out.”

Gwen looked across the compartment “He really doesn’t want to complete the resupply by transport, does he?”

“No.” Kim looked back “Neither do I, and you shouldn’t either.”

“I don’t.”  Gwen looked back to her console “I’m plotting the tow plan to hook up that other asteroid for towing by the Reykjavik.  Well take it back to base where we will have better facilities to deal with it.”

“What do you mean ‘we’?” Kim sounded suspicious.

“You’re coming with us.” Gwen kept working on her console “We need your help and your knowledge with this.”

“But my place is here!” Kim was slightly miffed.

“Admirals’ orders.”

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What happened to my Asteroid? Section 66:

The Reykjavik looped around and headed back toward Albatross station.  The station itself was shaking with an odd wobble caused by the missing ring section as the thrusters fought to stabilize it.  Shuttle 2 lead the train of craft from the errant asteroids prior location toward the station.  Every ship was actively searching for survivors in the path left by the activated missile and the crippled station.  The ships fanned out to form a search grid for maximum coverage of the area.  This was a normal procedure that all of the pilots and commanders involved needed very little coordination to make it happen.  It was very good that coordination from the station because the station personnel were completely occupied with stabilizing the station and locating those that were missing within it.

“Shuttle 2, this is Reykjavik.” Commander Dunst wanted to synchronize with the other ships.

“Go ahead Reykjavik.” Tim was slowing the shuttle to make it easier for all of the observers to scan the area.

“We will not be able to dock with the station unless they can stabilize it.” The commander sounded worried “And our schedule is getting tight.”

“That much is obvious.” Tim sounded confident “We’ll get a schedule figured out for the transports to handle the remaining cargo.  The real problem is the fuel and oxidizer.”

“We don’t have to fully dock to hook up the hoses.” He was not confident “It is very risky but I think we can get it done.”

“Very well.” Tim was maneuvering the shuttle around toward one of the survivors “We’re going to finish the sweep and dock ourselves.  We’ll contact you when we are ready for the next phase.”

“Alright, we’ll discuss it then.  Reykjavik out.”

“Ok Sam.” Tim rolled the shuttle over to give her a better view and a shorter distance to travel “Get you lasso ready, we’re coming up on a survivor.”

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