/Katie, I wanted to apologize for how I stormed off after our date. I know you’re dealing with issues like I am, and my pout-fest didn’t help./
I finally got enough sleep in our four-day break in maneuvers that I remembered how thick our emotions were at the time and how I just up and left after saying “see you in a month”.
/I won’t say it’s okay. You left me feeling pretty worthless after telling you how much I feel for you./
/I was so scared you were going to break up with me, abandon me, I just couldn’t face it then. I'm so sorry it made you feel that I don’t value you Katie. I do love you./ I’m reviewing my team’s ideas for mitigating the high temp risk on a couple sections of piping, trying not to feel the emotions of that night again.
/You were right, I was going to. To protect myself. I felt like I needed you in my life, and it reminded me of memories I’d rather not relive/
Shit. Feeling attached to me triggered her? What the hell do I do with that?
/I have other things to focus on now, but I don’t think I want to see you for a while. With the feeling of worthlessness combined with feeling a need for you, it’s too much at once./
It feels like a kick in the chest. I immediately get dizzy and have trouble breathing. She really just broke up with me. The realization that I basically stacked two of her triggers on top of each other worsens the nausea I already feel.
/Okay, hon. Whatever you need. I’ll hope that this is just a break, and when the hurt fades you’ll let me make it up to you/
She doesn’t respond after that, but I still have to move my ass and my brain into prepping for the maneuver tomorrow. I try to reset myself with a pack of toaster strudel, but it only helps a little. It’s still hard to think through the daze and I’m utterly exhausted now.
Like how much do I know about Katie? We spent an amazing week together and then it’s been rough for the next year?! Stop it Pen Pen, just because she can’t handle your drama, doesn’t mean she’s the devil. Universe, I would like to request that we make up and she cuddles me with a little teeth dragging. Por favor.
“FUCK!”
The six people at the engineering briefing look at me.
“Look. I know I seem emotional right now but the truth is, there’s a larger than zero chance one of us dies tomorrow. We’ve got the liquid air canisters, but if one of us has to hose that fucker down, we fill our whole atmosphere with superheated steam. We’ve got the best suit mods and procedures we can, but if we have to use the hose, everyone in engineering aft is at risk. If that call is made, you will hook into your station in preparation for venting of the space. Vacuum is the highest danger.”
“And what will you be doing, MM1?” I wasn’t paying attention to who was talking, but it feels relevant.
“Huh, I’ll be doing three people’s jobs while you save the lives of more than two hundred people.” ET2 flinches back like I took a swing at her. I sigh, “sorry. I’m not thrilled that the risk lies with us, but if we don’t use main propulsion we would burn through around 80% of our chem thrust. Third option is to drift until we fix the hotspot but that puts us at least two weeks into unexplored space and likely into the Oort cloud.
“More specifically, if those two sections go into a thermal runaway, it will be before we finish the burn maneuver as we will be attempting to create plasma, antimatter, and Annihilation Thrust at the same time. So it is important that every moment during this maneuver that you anchor your tether constantly while moving. Any more questions.”
I look around and see my team shake their heads. “Okay, then helmets on and foam up.” The extra air tanks and the advanced version of the Naval Firefighting Thermal Imager (NFTI) Make moving around more cumbersome, but still manageable. The electronics in my contacts allow me to ignore visibility and still link with the console, so I at least don’t need the imager.
Command and Engineering ask for custom insets for our trouble spots for their HUD and I push what I’m using including liquid air cooling thresholds and firefighting recommended alarm. Luckily it takes command authorization to put Sailors at significant risk.
The CO initiates with /Helm, align the ship with course vector CHARLIE, chem thrust only./
We have been turning slowly for four days, so the thrust correction is short.
/Engineering, Report conditions for main propulsion burn./
/CO DE EA, Conditions YELLOW with mitigation measures in place. Ready to answer ahead 2/3/
After the shutter-stutter of the last main burn, I looked at the anti-matter release profiles and saw that it was the same profile that we first discovered translocation warps. We also discovered through further testing that almost all unintended warps ran out of energy before transferring the entire apparatus. I don’t fancy warping solo, so I put a limiter on answering all ahead full while over 60% antimatter inventory. The CO wasn’t happy, but once he understood the risk he accepted it.
/Copy, EA, Helm execute maneuver CHARLIE ahead 2/3/
The deafening percussion and lurching begun immediately. Good thing I briefed my team on the change of timings. Even with cooling and magnetic fields at 125%, it only took a minute before the temperature rose high enough to trigger the liquid air sprayers. With plasma being sent and created constantly, our air inventory was emptying ahead of schedule.
/Command, DE Propulsion, air inventory depleting faster than predicted, request to stage firefighting and have them engage at 5% inventory/
/Copy Propulsion. HOLD./
At 25% air inventory I order tether protocol and to test independent air systems. At 10% I give the order to get on station and pressurize hoses.
/Propulsion, firefighting authorized at 1% inventory/
If I had waited until now to put my team in position, there would have been a plasma leak before firefighting could be applied.
/Engineering Aft, engage independent air systems and prepare for low visibility, fight hotspots at 1% inventory/
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One percent comes with two whole minutes left on the maneuver. Superheated steam fills a space quickly and in less than a minute it’s 50C in the compartment.
/Engineering, Recommend isolating engineering aft to prepare for venting to space/
/Copy, Propulsion. Isolate Engineering aft. Wait vent execution./
/Sir, personal thermal mitigation limited. Please advise/
/Advise wait, Propulsion/
Well fuck that.
/Propulsion team, tether check. Engage mag boots. Firefighting, if your feet leave the ground. Turn off the hose and re-engage when stable./
With a minute left, my firefighters are sitting in a 78C cloud of water vapor and their vitals are becoming erratic.
/Safety override PAPA ALPHA MIKE, venting Engineering aft via port and starboard emergency hatches. Brace for impact/
I punch the impact alarm and pop the airlocks to space. I used to wonder how venting a compartment to space would go. With a compartment full of hot, wet steam It’s fast, heavy, and feels life threatening. My boots slide across the deck until my tether engages and then my feet are pulled from under me and I sink to the ground on my hands and knees. I notice a spike in temperature when my feet leave the ground, but my team recovers quickly and the water vapor continues to feed out of the ship.
When the maneuver stops I order my team to disengage but stay on isolated air until life support can catch up. I go to check on each of my team-mates and find that the main firefighters vomited from heat exhaustion, so much that they had to vent it from their helmets. They both still look pale and I suspect they need to see medical after their temperatures are brought down. After we get engineering to open our hatches to the rest of the ship my male teammates escort one of the firefighters to crew berthing, and I escort ET2 to the chief’s mess showers.
Pulling her out of her suit is like watching a lobster come out of a pot. I kick on the shower and she fucking screams and tries to escape, but the water is tepid, I tested it, she’s just too hot. “Hunsaker, Hunsaker. . . Mellissa! Fucking stop!”
She alternates staring at me and the wall while she hyperventilates.
“It’s okay, Mellissa, you’re okay. You’re safe. You survived and you saved your team and your crew.” She nods at me but doesn’t really seem to understand, but she gradually calms down as the water pours over us. “After this, I’m going to escort you to medical and you’re going to be monitored for a while. Which means you get to skip out on a boring after action report.”
She spins in my arms and hugs me, her hands clasping around my Airpack and composite suit. “Unfortunately you have to have to miss out on me getting yelled at, which I hear is super entertaining. One of the guys will have a recording though.” I get a little laugh out of that, which gradually turns into crying. I hold her under the water until she stops and releases me. After a suit rinse and a quick-dry (low pressure and towels, not heat—duh—we get her suited up and escorted to medical.
/EA, DE Propulsion. ET2 Hunsaker and MM2 Tomlin admitted to medical for suspected heat stroke. Remaining team members received minor bruising./
/Copy Propulsion. AAR in Engineering Wardroom/
/OMW Sir/
If there is anything I don’t want to be doing it’s talking about shit I didn’t want to do in the first place. I deserve a comfort strudel with congratulatory Horchata. These two things provide so much comfort that I walk into the Wardroom with half a smile on my face, even though my actions will be under the utmost scrutiny.
I walk into the room, and it seems that everyone is waiting on me. Shit.
“MM1 Mercer, how are my Sailors?” Captain Morris asks.
“We brought their core temps down and sent them to medical for follow-up and monitoring. Two other members of my team are in medical for sprains.”
“Good to hear, Mercer. Next time, I want you to connect with Medical and determine how we can display warnings for critical crew member vitals.”
“Aye aye sir.” I honestly hadn’t thought that the CO would want that. I had it for me, which is why I acted in accordance with my briefed emergency action procedures instead of waiting for approval. I’m amazed that doesn’t get addressed at all in this meeting.
I get out of that meeting with my punishment being another meeting in the CO’s quarters and some programming homework. Damn, not bad Penny, not bad.
“MM1 Mercer, reporting as ordered Sir.” I snap to attention in front of his desk with Commander Nugget seated in the chair next to the one I’m in front of.
“Take a seat.” He alternates looking at me, Nugget, and his data pad. “Frankly, this data and situation sucks. Can anyone tell me why this sucks?” I open my mouth to answer. “It’s a rhetorical question Mercer! It sucks because I supposedly have this fantastical propulsion system that can’t help but strand us in the outer solar system! I now have no other options but to engage in a scientific mission for however long it takes you both to fix said fantastical pile of dung well enough to take us back home for extensive repairs and perhaps a re-design of the whole line of ships! Unless one of you two has a magical Unicorn in your pockets to save our qualification run?”
Engineer looks at me to produce both of our unicorns. Ass.
“Sir. The programming on the Main Propulsion system reeks of Hauptman leaving lab assistants to liaison with the Navy and rubberstamping the certs. Not putting limiters on bell order verses anti-matter inventory is only the most alarming of what I’ve noticed. I’m reasonably sure that I can fix the hotspot problems we are having with the plasma system.
“Sadly, we’re stuck with the thrust limits as it would take me a decade to fix in space, or a shipyard to fix. If my estimates are correct, of course.”
“How long for the plasma system fix?” Morris asks.
I huff loudly, venting some heat from my brain stem. “Best case scenario? Six weeks. For a full fix if the problems I suspect are present. We could do today’s maneuver in maybe two weeks. If we tack on a full Propulsion check, another six weeks?”
“You want me to sign off on 12 weeks of only having thrusters to maneuver?”
“Only a week of which should be without main chem thrust.” It’s then that I see the CO’s eye twitch.
“The atmo reclamation mission at Titan from the civiallian scientists is scheduled to last six to eight weeks. I won’t give you more than ten. If I don’t have a green prospectus from Engineering in eight weeks, we head toward Uranus under chem thrust and table the Main propulsion problem for two to three years. Extending our deployment a minimum of a year. And with out main propulsion, 10-15 years to return to Earth.”
“Can I make a request sir?” he nods “I’m going to need to abuse the fabricators for this to work. It would help if we could get a ground sample from Titan to see if our reclamations can handle natural rock formations if additional materials are needed if we end up needing to extend our mission.”
“I’ll ask the science team to see what they think. This is their mission. How much would you need?”
“Uh, 10-15 kilo? I’d prefer 60+ to test rare earth compatibility, but nice to have not need.”
He palms his face, “I might rent you out to the science team if you finish your maintenance. You certainly think like them.”
That is the nicest thing he could have said to me. I blush and giggle a little, despite the setting. “I volunteer to be sent to the moon on a cable with a bucket!”
His unamused eyes deny my request. “Engineer, you have authorization to do anything within reason to repair the main propulsion system. Don’t forget to do the paperwork afterward. Dismissed.”
I get ordered to submit a maintenance plan tomorrow and to begin two to three days from now, emphasizing that my team specifically need the time off. I start thinking of using the fabricators and start getting stupid excited about being in a lab again.
/Penny, are you okay?/
/Katie? Hey hon. Yah, I’m good. Two of my team members have heat stroke and two others have heat exhaustion. Not great, but everyone lived. I’m kinda surprised you texted/
/You may have hurt me, but I still love you/
Oh. Oh!
/Sorry. I also got called in front of the CO and now have a maintenance time crunch and I’m irritated. Enough about me, how’s the HAB?/
/We appreciated the brace for impact warning. Otherwise, I get a lot of complaints about snack availability. I fear for the Penny Mercer emergency strudel allowance/
I cackle in the middle of the hallway as I drift back to engineering. /Don’t distribute my strudels! Do you accept bribes?/
/Excuse me?! I am an elite member of the US Navy and my morals are above reproach!/
/If you sell my strudels, I will come to the HAB and find you/ I say in my most menacing text voice.
/To quote my favorite rapscallion: Don’t threaten me with a good time./
Oh, my, genesis. Is Katie flirting with me again!? Squeeeeeeeeeeee!!