Project - Prometheus Ch. 04

"Been at this long?"

"About an hour, maybe," came the Khontaran woman's reply. "Took some more painkillers and did another scan. I'll be all right in about a day or two, provided that I don't push myself."

"Nats would hang us both out to dry if you did. You know how she is when it concerns family," Inari stated.

Chuckling to herself, Korsa finished the cleanup of the area and headed back to the med bay, to dispose of the remaining debris. Meanwhile, Inari sat back into the cockpit and ran another diagnostic, and a scan of the surrounding area.

"Seems like the storm has passed, but we're covered in snow and ice," Inari said as she looked over the readout.

"Any idea how thick?" Korsa asked as she finished wiping her hands on a towel, before draping it over her shoulder.

"I have a way to find out. Just a moment," the captain said as her hands danced over the controls. Moments later, the Darkstrider thrummed back to life, her engines firing, but not for long. The snow and ice that surrounded that cockpit's canopy melted. Slowly at first but soon, the snow and ice fell away as it turned into water, sloughing off of the ship.

"How did you do that?" Korsa wondered aloud as she saw a small sliver of daylight poke through the cocoon of snow that their ship was wrapped up in.

"Fired up the retro thrusters to maximum power for about thirty seconds, along with the engines. The resulting heat being enough to at least give us some room to dig ourselves out and wait for the Perseus to send a ship," Inari explained as the engines powered down.

"Now what do we do?" Korsa queried. The middle eastern woman opened her mouth to speak, but instead, a loud rumble emanated from her midsection.

Korsa giggled at Inari's rumbling stomach but without missing a beat, Inari said, "We have breakfast."

Smirking, Korsa went with Inari back towards the galley, to fix everyone something to eat.

*******************************

Groaning, Alex sat up as he blinked and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked over at his clock, another reminder and remnant of the Earth that he had left behind. Stretching out as he stood, the Captain of the Perseus walked over to washroom to do his morning business. Once done, he grabbed a towel off of the rack that stood right next to the shower unit.

The unit, like the rest of the washroom was small, compact and made from stainless steel, though being a high-ranking officer granted him some privileges. The shower unit was substantially bigger than most units, allowing him a fair amount of space to move about in the shower. Turning it on, the big man stepped under the hot needle spray, its comforting heat sluicing away his worries for the time being.

After soaping up and rinsing himself, Alex turned off the shower and dried off as he walked back out into his quarters. Stepping over to his closet, he selected a similar uniform to the one he wore yesterday, but it was less formal, as he was now introduced to the women that had stepped onto his ship.

As he got dressed, the Slavic man allowed his thoughts to wander to two specific women that were now part of the crew, if only temporarily. Both the massive doctor and the dark-skinned engineer were alluring and beautiful, he couldn't deny that. For once since he woke, his thoughts ran rampant with things he'd like to do with one or the other.

Before his train of thought got too carried away, he shook his head and finished buttoning up his tunic. Walking over to a standing mirror, with a comb in hand, he styled his brown hair in a professional manner just as it dried. Looking himself over and satisfied with his appearance, he put the comb back in his washroom area and stepped out to get himself some breakfast.

Moving at a brisk pace, he walked through the corridors until he made it to the officer's lounge. Walking in, he found that the other three crew members currently on the Perseus were already there and had made a start into their own breakfasts. Smiling, he moved towards the kitchen area and dialed in his selections.

Seeing the movement out of the corner of her eye, Kasumi knew that it was her captain and as per protocol, stood as he had just walked in. Raising a hand, he showed that she should sit, which she did.
"I hope you ladies plan on eating your fill. It will be a busy day," Alex said as he input his selections on the food dispenser and waited for the rest of the ingredients for his breakfast to arrive.

"Absolutely sir!" Natalya piped up as she swallowed a mouthful of fruit. "I am curious though, how is it you have so much food aboard this ship, sir?"

"We were situated with enough supplies to feed a crew of at least a thousand people for five years. Most of what we have was frozen in a form cryo stasis, like we were," the Captain explained.

"Five years? The vessels were gone for at least twenty! How is that possible?" Taal'ani wondered.

"Time dilation Talon. They were gone for twenty Earth years but for them, it would have been barely a year," Nats detailed. "Though this was before the advent of detailed hyperspace routes which make time dilation a non-issue."

"Oh! Right!" Taal'ani said as she facepalmed herself.

"Though we didn't burn our conventional engines the whole time," Kasumi added before taking a bite out of her waffles.

"How so?" the dark-skinned woman queried.

"Quite simply, our sensors are quite advanced and can map quite the amount of distance, when tasked properly," the big man said as he was busy scrambling his eggs and frying up some bacon.

"What is the maximum distance, sir?" Nats asked, her voice jittery.

"Approximately five point seven parsecs. Once the entire area was scanned and catalogued, we would make a brief hyperspace hop to the very edge of the known area, before doing it again," Jaesa supplied over the ship's comms.

"Thank you Jaesa," Alex said as he was finishing with preparing his breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns, toast and a pot of coffee.

"I think I'm going to have to get used to being surprised! The Darkstrider was an older Pioneer class ship before she was converted into a freighter!" Nats said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper. "The most we could pull out of her sensor grid was maybe point seven parsecs, and that was before Taal'ani threw together an upgrade for it!"

"Has Humanity lost so much?" Alex wondered as he finished cleaning the pan and utensils he was using. Scooping up his food, the big man lumbered over to the table at which the women were sitting. Setting down his breakfast, he dug in.

Looking over the mountain of food, Nats cocked an eyebrow, thinking there was no way he'd be able to put away that amount of food. Catching his attention, Alex met her gaze, before swallowing and saying, "What? I'm a big guy and I haven't had a decent meal in almost six hundred years. Leave me alone."

"I will, if I can have some of that coffee," Natalya giggled. Smiling, Alex stood and grabbed three more mugs, sugar and table cream, before returning to the table. He poured out the black, steaming liquid into the mugs and set one in front of each woman. Both Nats and Kas set theirs up the way each of them liked while Taal'ani sniffed at the beverage experimentally.

As both human women were enjoying themselves with their java, Talon went a took a few sips, before adding a liberal amount of cream and sugar, then tasting it again. She added more sugar before she found it to her liking. In virtually no time at all, Alex had devoured his breakfast before the women had finished theirs.

Standing up and collecting his dishes, the captain asked, "So, Chief Vostrikov, Specialist Taal'ani, I assume that you're heading down to engineering to pull more power out of the reactor then?"

"Yes sir! From there, I will effect repairs on the conduits and couplers to restore the Perseus back to what he should be," Nats replied as she finished her plate of chicken and waffles.

"Very good Chief. Commander, head to the brig and see if you can find a way to communicate with our prisoner. Any information you can glean, no matter how small, could yield some answers," Captain Tomisic ordered.

"Aye aye sir!" Kasumi saluted.

"I will head back to the bridge and try to raise the Darkstrider and get an update on their situation. I will inform you what's going on as soon as I know something," the captain finished, before leaving the lounge.

After finishing their meals and drinks, the women marched towards their respective areas, intent on accomplishing as much as they could.

"Good luck Commander. I hope you pry something out of that bitch," Nats said, clapping her newfound friend on the shoulder.

"That's the idea, though we'll see if it has to come to that," Kas replied, smirking. Chuckling, Nats shook her head as she boarded a separate elevator with Taal'ani, and parted ways with the red-headed soldier.

*******************************

Alex stepped back onto the bridge and made for the command deck. As he walked, he called out, "Jaesa, anything significant to report?"

"We are holding in a stable orbit at the moment sir, but without proper course corrections, we will soon begin an atmospheric entry with the planet below," the AI chirped.

"How long before that happens Jaesa?"

"Three weeks, four days and eleven hours' sir, providing that my calculations are correct," Jaesa responded as her holographic form appeared.

"Have the sensors finished calibrating?" Alex wondered.

"For the most part, sir. I am still running final tests and simulations before they are fully functional," the chipper AI answered.

"It will do. Open a channel to the Darkstrider if you please," the Slavic man commanded.

A few moments later the reply came through, "Channel open, sir. Go ahead."

*******************************

The three women aboard the Darkstrider were sitting in the cargo bay, enjoying some light banter as they suited up. Pree was just finishing helping Korsa with her armor plates, having removed the medi-mechanical bracers she had worn through the night. She set the armor to interlock and solidify like a cast around the Khontaran woman's injured arm and ankle, to ensure that she did not re-injure herself.

"Darkstrider, Darkstrider, this is the Perseus, come in, please. Anyone there?" Alex's voice came in over the comms. Priya, having finished with arming up Korsa, walked over to the console and set the comms to loudspeaker.

"Perseus, this is Darkstrider. We are still here, over," Pree responded.

"Good to hear your voice Gunnery Chief. I assume that you're feeling better?" came the baritone reply.

"Much sir, thank you for asking. How are things up there?"

"Any idea when we'll see a pickup happening?" Inari queried, before she put on her helmet and locked it in. After locking it in and booting up the HUD, she activated the communications so she could still respond while wearing her armor. Korsa had also done this, as both women were preparing to step outside.

"Chief Vostrikov, along with Specialist Taal'ani are in the process of repairing the necessary elements of the Perseus so that the shipwright sector can come online. Once they have done so, we will begin construction of a dropship immediately, though it will be a few days before it's ready for flight," came the response.

"Understood sir."

"What's the state of Darkstrider, Commander?"

"We're about to step outside and find out, sir. Standby," Inari answered. Gesturing to Priya, who opened the bay doors and activated the atmospheric field, before climbing up the ladder into the bridge area. Sitting down in the cockpit with a wince, the XO then fired up the engines and retro thrusters as Inari had earlier, setting for a thirty second maximum burn.

As the heat from the thrusters and engines warmed up the air considerably, to where it seemed as hot as furnace outside. Moments before killing the power, the icy cocoon that encapsulated the Darkstrider had cracked, with chunks of it falling down about them. A large section of the icy dome in front of the cockpit had collapsed, revealing clear blue skies overhead.

Hefting several mining tools on their shoulders, Inari and Korsa stepped down the ramp and out of the ship, checking the situation of their home. As their feet crunched on the semi melted snow, both women set their tools by the opening in the ice, before they began their inspection of the ship.

"Well, seems like we got buried by the snowfall, but the heat of the thrusters and engines melted most of it away," Inari reported as she circled the freighter, assessing the damage. Korsa climbed up atop the Darkstrider and gave her own analysis.

"That ice storm fucked up our armor plating pretty bad," she said as her eyes raked over the hull. She also took in the recessed docking area where Inari's Banshee fighter was locked in, or what was left of it. "Cap, your fighter is in bad shape."

"How bad?" Inari demanded.

"We'll need some time in drydock and have Talon go through its systems with a fine-tooth comb. You see this spike here?" Korsa asked, waving at her friends silhouetted form.

"Yeah?"

"Went right through cockpit. No way we're leaving anytime soon," the Khontaran woman said, giving the jagged shard a rap with her knuckles. Inari cursed silently in Arabic, Korsa shaking her head in amusement, letting her human friend vent. Cautious of her footing on the slick surface, she ambled to the aft of the ship where the engines sat.

"Damn! There is no way we will be able to save the engines at all. The only thing we can do is salvage whatever components are still intact."

"I can verify that from my vantage point as well Captain. Two of our thrusters will have to be removed and replaced, no question."

"Is there any way you can show me what you're talking about?" Captain Tomisic questioned.

"Linking my armor cam to the transmission signal. Wait one," Inari replied. "Should be coming through to you right.... about.... now! Are you seeing this sir?"

"Roger that Commander Sunara. I would have to agree with your assessment. You might be able to manage some degree of flight with her but there's no way she'll break orbit."

"Damn it!" Inari cursed as she moved around back to the front of the ship. "Is it worth fixing sir?" the middle eastern woman inquired, apprehension clear in her voice. There was a pause in the comm signal before a response came over it.

"Normally, I would say no, but there are several factors that sway my decision to fix it. The most primary of which is because your ship has the proper transponders and is registered among Alliance space as a merchant vessel," came the explanation.

"Ergo, it makes sound tactical sense to repair and possibly refit it. From what I've learned from your crew and my study of the Darkstrider's files is somewhat.... disturbing. If suddenly, the Perseus were to reappear after all this time, many of the various human factions would try to lay claim to it. By force if necessary, not to mention all the various, unsavory sorts of people and races that are out there," he finished.

Smiling to herself, Inari nearly capered about like an idiot, glad that her home for the past decade would be saved. Korsa dropped to the ground carefully, wary of the pressure she put on her ankle. The Khontaran woman tapped the side of her helmet twice, the sun shield of her visor clearing. Through the glass, Inari could see a broad grin on the red-skinned woman's face and was glad to know that she wasn't the only one who was attached to the old freighter.

"There's also the fact that after spending so much time on a ship, it feels like home. Believe me when I say, that I understand that feeling more than most," the baritone voice continued.

"Thank you, sir! We'll see about getting this ice and snow cleared," Inari said almost joyously.

"You have at least three days Commander. A dropship will be ready by then and we'll come pick you up. We'll get the Darkstrider out as soon as we can but we will need a Hephaestus class frigate to pull the Darkstrider out," he told them.

"Hephaestus class frigate?"

"A heavy salvage frigate Commander. Designed to lift and tow heavy amounts of resources and anything smaller than a mid-sized frigate," Alex detailed. "We will need considerable resources to craft one but from what Jaesa has detected on the scanners so far, it shouldn't be an issue."

"Good to hear Captain. Again, thank you!" Inari repeated.

"I should be the one thanking you Commander. If you and your crew hadn't stumbled upon the Perseus when you did, I would not be here right now!" came the earnest response.

"Indeed, sir! Well, we have work to do, sir. This snow and ice isn't going to clear itself," Inari said as she gestured for Korsa to start at the opening for clearing away the ice.

"Understood Commander. I'll leave you to it then. Check in again at dusk, just before you get some rack time."

"Will do Captain! Darkstrider, out," Inari replied.

Korsa had hefted both of the sonic mining picks, lobbing one to Inari as she took up position by the opening. "We'd better get to work!"

Nodding, the captain of the Darkstrider activated the sonic emitters on her pick, before driving it into the ice.

*******************************

After closing the comms channel, the captain of the Perseus leaned back in his command chair, wiping his face with his hand in a downwards motion. He had been trained and expected to take this role eventually as his ascent through the ranks of the Alliance military had been meteoric. It was a foregone conclusion he'd have made Commodore before he was forty, as his natural ability to lead and to turn bleak situations into victories had him on the fast track towards the Admiralty.

All of that was gone now. Earth, his friends, his family, everything he had worked so hard for. Taken, by a nihilistic alien race and their crazed black crusade of genocide. Calming his thoughts, he opened his command interface, the hologram springing to life by his right hand. Alex scrolled through the options until he found the one he wanted. Selecting the Captain's Log option, the interface booted and after three seconds; it was ready.

"Captain's Log of the Perseus, Captain Alexander Tomisic speaking. The remainder of the crew and I have come out of cryo sleep to find ourselves awakened nearly six hundred years after our initial encounter with the hostile alien race that attacked us. We would not have woken at all, had it not been for the actions of the crew of the merchant freighter, Darkstrider."

Breathing heavily, Alex Continued his log, "Despite winning the fight against the alien race, the Perseus was boarded and its crew was viciously attacked. The only survivors were myself, Commander Kasumi McKenzie and one alien, who had somehow overridden one of our cryo tubes to enter suspended animation with us. Commander McKenzie is attempting to establish communications with the survivor, to learn anything that could be of use."

"For some odd reason, we did not wake up in sixty years as was the initial plan I had devised," the big man went on. "I will have to have the Darkstrider's cyber warfare specialist, Taal'ani, look into this matter. We only awoke after the Lt. Commander Inari Sunara and her crew boarded the Perseus and booted up our Tertiary reactor, restoring full power to our ship."

"At the moment, I have given the crew of the merchant freighter temporary crew status, as they have agreed to do what they can to restore the Perseus to full functionality. Though there are many questions that need to be answered, and conflicts to resolve, I am confident that with enough time and patience, everything will fall into place as it should. End Captain's Log."

Rising from his seat, Alex paced for a few moments, before calling out, "Jaesa, why is it that we were woken from cryo sleep after so long?"