Upon a Savage Shore Ch. 21

"An arms locker just outside of the crew bunks," she said. "As you enter through the starboard side airlock it will be on your right. It will be open already. We were in a rush when departing, as I'm sure you can imagine. The grenades will be in a case in the bottom of the locker. The deq'istles will be in a similar case just above them. Ammunition will be stored on the top shelf above the qui'istle rack."

"Is there anything else in there we might want?" he asked. "I only have one purge kit. We won't be going back."

"If you have time, there are additional medical kits in a locker on the opposite side of the ship. I suppose you could also get the other crate of emergency rations from the galley. We only had time to take the one, you see."

"Anything else?"

"No," she said with a shake of her head. "Everything else will be contaminated. Useless now."

"Will there be any power?" he asked.

"Perhaps. Likely it will be minimal. You will have to open the hatch manually," she said. "When you get to it, I will explain the procedure."

"Alright," he said. "Wish me luck."

Before he could close his visor M'pel E'kmel grabbed him and planted a kiss on his mouth. What she lacked in practice she made up for with intent. Liam kissed her back, savoring the strong, wild scent of her.

"For luck," she said and nipped the tip of his nose.

It took only a few minutes for him to cross the debris field to the starboard side airlock. On the keypad entrance plate a warning light flashed dimly. He couldn't read it, but there was little doubt the message was a warning to any who might want to open the hatch.

"Alright, Commander. I'm here. My rad counter reads high but non-lethal levels," he said into his suit mic. Liam stripped all of his extraneous gear - gun belt, musette bag, cargo pockets and the like - dropping it in a neat pile a few meters from the ship. "I think someone would have to stand here a day or two to absorb enough to hurt them. Over,"

"That's good. The hull integrity isn't as badly compromised as I feared. Can you see the keypad to the right of the hatch? Over," she replied.

"Yes. It's flashing a warning. Over."

"Good," she said. "That means there is still internal power. The ship's capacitors have not yet been depleted. Insert the card into the slot on the keypad. Below the entry plate you will find a handle. It should come out when you press the blue button on the pad."

Liam did as she instructed and waited. Nothing happened. He told her so and she frowned before repeating her instructions.

"Nothing happened again," he said. "What now?"

"It must be jammed," she said. "Is there some way you could pry it out?"

"Hang on a second," he said over the radio and from all the way across the field of shattered stumps M'pel E'kmel heard a loud bang.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I kicked it," he said. "Handle's out now. What's next?"

"You will have to pump it up and down until you have enough room to get through the hatch."

"Got it. Give me a minute."

Liam pumped the lever like an old fashioned jack handle. Gradually the hatch swung back on its hinges until he had enough room to pass. He paused to catch his breath and then asked what to do next.

"Inside the airlock you will find a similar lever," she said. "It's the same process. Once you get the lever out, though, you will need to close the outer hatch to keep from contaminating the area. You should be able to push it shut. It's designed to close manually with little effort."

"I understand," he said. "Will I be able to receive your signal when I close the hatch?"

"I don't know," she said. "I never used one of these handsets until I came here."

"Alright," said Liam resignedly. "Commander, look, if for some reason I can't get out of this ship, I want you to go and recue Clot'ilda. Tell her..."

"You will tell her yourself," M'pel E'kmel said sharply. "I did not come all this way on one of those damned, uncomfortable beasts, wearing the fur off the insides of my thighs just for you to get stuck inside a derelict scout ship and leave me to clean up your mess, Sergeant. Now quit wasting time."

"Yes, ma'am," he said with a chuckle and went into the airlock. He repeated the procedure and this time the lever popped out as if it were spring loaded. Liam closed the outer hatch and began opening the inner one.

"Can you hear me, Commander?" he panted into his mic.

"I read you," she said through crackling static. "Signal is strong and clear. Over."

"Your signal is weak and broken, but I can still hear you. I'm almost through the door," he said. "I'll contact you as soon as I get to engineering."

"Understood. Out," she said and began to pray to the Forger and Builder.

Liam got the inner hatch open and was greeted by dim, green light. His rad counter spiked and a warning barked in his ear, but he had expected that. The ship itself seemed all too still and silent. Nothing moved. No sounds came to him. It was like walking into a tomb. He found the arms locker right where M'pel E'kmel had said it would be. It was standing open, the door half ripped off its hinges with what looked like claw marks in the paint. Those were probably put there by the captain he had killed on his first day. Strange now, he couldn't remember the captain's name. He made a mental note to ask one of the females when this was all over. The captain had been a tough bastard and he deserved to be remembered.

Liam ignored the remaining fero-plas rifles and snatched up the spare ammunition, the grenades and the extra case of pistols, stacking them in the airlock. He moved quickly to the opposite side of the ship and found the case of medical kits, adding that to the stack. Entering the crew berths, Lam found the first bodies. Two petite Pah'Thts, one laying in the other's arms, silent and still. Because of their fur, they did not look as though they had been dead for more than a month to his eyes. It so shocked him to see them like that he almost couldn't breathe for a moment. Carefully he stepped around them, wondering if they had been friends of Clot'ilda and wondering if they had guessed what plans their government had made for them. Further along in the next crew compartment was another body. This one was a male dTel'Qohar. He looked young, with his slim frame. Liam could see it hadn't been the radiation that had killed him. His fatigues were scorched and his head rested at an odd angle. Killed in the crash or perhaps the battle. From the galley Liam could see into the electronic warfare compartment. There two more females sagged in their crash frames, killed during the fight. They looked like younger versions of M'pel E'kmel and could have been twins. Was it possible these two were her daughters?

As he was pulling the crate of rations from under the sink in the galley his radiation alarm chirped, reminding him that there was a limit to the amount of radiation his purge kit could neutralize. He had been telling the truth about how he had fought boarding actions on ships with leaking reactors, but what he hadn't told M'pel E'kmel was that he had been decontaminated by shipboard facilities. If he stayed in the scout ship too long, he would have to discard his armor.

As quickly as he could manage, Liam set the ration case on the deck inside the airlock and moved to the engineering compartment's door. He examined the entry plate and slid the plastic card into the slot below the keypad. Instantly the door jumped in its frame. Liam put a hand on it and pushed. It swung open on smooth hinges.

"I'm in the engineering compartment now, Commander," he said into his mic as he opened the tool locker. "I found the wrench and I'm going for the scuttling charge."

"Und...od...areful... Re...er the ca...les need t... detached fir..." she replied.

"You're breaking up badly," he said as he rounded the back of the small but powerful drive. "I'll call you as soon as I'm out of the ship. Over."

Liam stepped over the remains of a jZav'Etch engineer. She had probably been attractive when alive. Her long mane and slight frame was that of a Thahn 'Den, only a few of which had Liam ever encountered. He stepped up onto a built in ladder and mounted to the top of the drive. Right in front of him was a large box that fit the description M'pel E'kmel had given of the scuttling charge. It took little effort to get the cables off and remove the bolts. He almost forgot to bring the wrench with him when he got the box down to the deck, but remembered before he left the compartment, shoving the wrench into one of his cargo pockets.

With all of his loot stacked in the airlock, Liam squeezed in and closed the inner hatch. His suit chirped again, indicating it had absorbed fifty percent of the purge kit's capacity. The outer door was easier to open from inside and he quickly emptied the cases of their contents. The scuttling charge was another matter. The wrench wanted to slip off the bolt heads, but he persisted until all six were out. The actual bomb was a stout thing that reminded him of an old fashioned cinder block with red plastic filling the cavities. He hefted it out of the case and set it in the grass and foliage next to the ship. After that Liam had to spend a minute throwing the contaminated cases back into the airlock and then sealing the ship again.

"Okay, Commander," he said into his mic. "I'm clear of the ship and about to do the purge. This is your last chance to get anything from inside if you want it."

"I can think of nothing except the things we discussed," she replied and her voice came through more or less clearly.

"Purging now," Liam said and breathed a sigh of relief as the suite dispensed foam from tiny nozzles all over its surface. The foam oozed and slithered almost lovingly, coating every millimeter of armor and equipment in a fluffy white froth. Liam watched his HUD and tried to remain perfectly still through the process. Once fully dispensed the foam began to change color. It solidified and expanded, even lifting him slightly off the ground from the coating on the soles of his boots. Eventually it became brittle. Sound from outside the suit was damped down to almost nothing and then Liam heard crackling. Pieces of the purge foam fell away from him, tinkling like broken glass as they hit the ground. He checked his readings, finding that the armor had been completely cleaned of any residual contamination.

"It's done, Commander," he said in a more relaxed tone. "I'm clean."

"Thanks be to the Forger and Builder," she said reverently over the radio. "Hurry back, Sergeant."