Voyagers: SS Robert Heinlein

CHAPTER 28

 

DISTRESS

 

By Douglas DD       

Assisted by Zarek Dragon

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6

 

0730 Hours

 

Kyle was pleased that his little family could enjoy breakfast together, even if it meant the four of them getting up a little early. He, Danny, Koji, and Duskin had a table in the executive dining room to themselves. Since he and Ronnie were adoptive brothers Kyle had thought about asking Ronnie to join them, but because of the animosity Ronnie was displaying, Kyle finally decided it wouldn’t be a good idea. Kyle asked Ronnie to either have his breakfast served to him in his quarters or in engineering or eat in the dining room so he would be finished by 0730 or starting after the Robinsons were finished. Kyle was pleased that Ronnie readily agreed.

 

“Why can’t Uncle Ronnie eat with us?” Koji asked Kyle.

 

“Because we agreed it would be best for the family and for our plans that he does not eat with us this morning.”

 

“But I like Uncle Ronnie.”

 

“Me too,” Duskin said.

 

“We’ll all get a chance to eat together some other time,” Kyle said.

 

“When?” Koji asked.

 

“When I say it’s okay.”

 

“Why are you getting all bossy?”

 

“Koji!”

 

Koji looked over to Danny for help. Danny gave him a shake of the head, which Kyle didn’t miss.

 

“Sorry. I’ll be good for breakfast.”

 

“Thank you, Koji. You’re a good boy.”

 

“I know, but Duskin and I love Uncle Ronnie. Right Duskin?”

 

Duskin wasn’t sure what all of the fussing was about, so he simply smiled and nodded, figuring he couldn’t get into trouble by doing that and not saying anything.

 

“Uncle Ronnie will be eating with us again soon,” Danny said as he started in his ham and egg breakfast.

 

After the family finished breakfast, Duskin and Koji each received a hug from Kyle and Danny and headed for their quarters where they would brush their teeth before heading for class.

 

“You could have invited Ronnie to eat with us,” Danny said after the boys left.

 

“I know, but we agreed this was how we would deal with Ronnie and Ronnie agreed to it,” Kyle said. “The only reason Koji wasn’t told what was going on is that he tends to have a loose tongue. He needs to learn that keeping one’s mouth shut means just that.”

 

“I’m sure he will when he gets older. But he and Duskin really do love Ronnie, who has been a great uncle.”

 

“I know. They love his size, his glistening black skin, his strength, his sense of humor, his willingness to play games and laugh with them, and the fact that he loves them dearly. Everything a good uncle should have,” Kyle said. “This isn’t the way I planned on how this voyage would unfold.”

 

“I know what you mean. But, it’s time to get the planned drill work started. I’d like everything done by 1300 hours so you can get us going on some uninterrupted warp travel.”

 

“I love you, Danny.”

 

“And I love you, Kyle.”

 

Danny planted a quick kiss on Kyles lips as Steve and Brad entered the dining room. “You guys need to get a room,” Steve said. Danny flipped him a friendly bird and the Robinsons left for final preparations for the morning drills.

 

<Don and Everett’s Quarters>

 

“What do think about having the meteor alarm go off?” Don asked Everett and Jim Maxwell, his two assistants on the Guardian Executive Committee. The meteor alarm alerted a ship’s crew that a meteor swarm was in the vicinity of the ship and posed a potential danger. It was a rare occurrence, especially when the ship was a long distance from a solar system **, as the Heinlein was at the time.

 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Everett replied.

 

“Why, because it’s so rare? Rare or not, they do exist which is why we have a warning system.”

 

“I’m aware of that. The reason is that we are currently zipping along through warp space where we wouldn’t find any moving meteors since they don’t travel at warp speed.”

 

“As far as we know,” Jim said.

 

“Exactly. As far as we know they don’t travel at warp speed,” Don said. Don didn’t like being told he was wrong, even by Everett, the boy he loved and trusted more than anyone else. “No matter if it’s a false alarm or whatever, just the fact that it sounded should be something that shakes up our shaky captain.”

 

“There’s a way we can set off a false alarm and make it seem real enough that we would need to search for a nearby swarm,” Everett said.

 

“Do tell.”

 

“We will be having required drill work coming up today which will mean us dropping out of warp. Then the existence of a swarm of meteors within the range of our detector would be very real.”

 

“Fuck, why didn’t I think of that? Good job, Evy,” Don said, using his nickname for Everett. “It would be more than just shutting off the alarm. Precious time would be lost searching for a possible swarm.” Attention to detail wasn’t one of Don’s strengths. “Let’s do it. And do it when there are shuttles doing drills away from the Heinlein which will create all kinds of issues. Captain Baby will end up going nuts over this glitch.”

 

1045 Hours

 

<Captain’s Ready Room> 

 

Kyle sat in his ready room with his three senior officers: Devin, Steve, and Brad. “Brad told me he is pretty sure our Guardian friends might be trying a new glitch sometime today or tomorrow, which is why I called this meeting,” Kyle said.

 

“Any idea what it might be, Brad?” Devin asked.

 

“I know that something is being planned to happen sometime today or tomorrow, most likely during drills,” Brad told them.

 

“But we only have drills scheduled for today. Tomorrow’s drills haven’t been announced; they are supposed to be a surprise. So how would they know about them?” Kyle asked.

 

“The department heads know about tomorrow’s surprise,” Devin pointed out. I’ll let Danny know of the possibility of today’s drills having a surprise interruption. I think Ronnie should be informed as well.”

“Danny and I had planned on having lunch together at 1115 hours. How about you guys joining us,” Kyle said.

 

Steve and Brad agreed it was a good idea. Devin said he would join them after giving Ronnie a heads up on the potential alarm problem and the meeting came to an end.

 

1250 Hours

 

<Bridge>

 

Kyle entered the bridge and Brad followed him in. “I have the conn,” Kyle announced. Mituti was at the conn and stood up so he could turn it over to Kyle. He wasn’t surprised by Kyle’s coming on the bridge; that was standard operating procedure by the captain.

 

What was different was Kyle taking the conn. Mituti knew he would be commanding the Bubba Saur and left the bridge for the shuttle bay where he would prepare the big cargo shuttle for launch.

 

Kyle opened his communicator and called Danny, the drill commander. “I have the conn, Commander Robinson. You may now proceed to begin the drills.” At the same time Brad placed the system into drill mode. A failsafe device would turn off drill mode should it detect a real anomaly.

 

“Roger that,” Danny responded. He then switched over to an open frequency. “Bridge, we are ready to commence drills.”

 

The first drill would be responding to the sighting of an unknown spacecraft. Brad entered a starship silhouette on the main viewscreen. An alarm went off and the sighting was announced. “Ace” Cardiff was standing his watch in the shuttle bay control room. His duty in this instance was to head for the fighter ready room and don his flight gear. When the unknown spacecraft alarm went off “Ace” was on the move.

 

On the bridge, Kyle ordered the helmsman to take the Heinlein out of warp and set a speed of three-quarter standard speed. The astrogator on the bridge was to take care of the helmsman and navigation duties.

 

Ben Kennedy was the astrogator of the watch. He followed the proper procedures knowing that Kyle was watching him closely.

 

Down in shuttle bay control, “Ace” and Danny each headed for his fighter: “Ace” for the Red Baron and Danny for the Endou. Jesse Gross entered the shuttle bay control room and took charge. He had been instructed to not head for his station until the alarm went off. The other pilots had been given the similar instructions; they were not to enter the pilots’ ready room until after the alarm went off. The idea was to make the drill as realistic as possible.

 

A drone was launched out of the shuttle bay’s loading door. It was controlled by young Nelson Mirah, the assistant chief of engineering. He guided it to the location where Brad had placed the silhouette on the view screen. The silhouette was removed from the screen and was replaced by the outline of the drone, which was now identified as the unknown spacecraft.

 

Everything went smoothly. The Red Baron and the Endou approached the drone with their weapons armed. They demanded that it identify itself. When the drone sent out a signal identifying itself as a friendly, Kyle ordered the two fighters to stand down. Everyone understood that the finish of the drill was unrealistic since it assumed the unknown craft understood English. But the idea at this point in their training was to see how quickly Heinlein and its fighters responded to an unknown spacecraft. The Red Baron and Endou had given their quickest response yet.

 

Kyle reminded everyone that the next time training dealt with this issue the unknown spacecraft would not be able to understand English. However, their next problem in this training session would be to respond to a flotilla of unknown spacecraft.

 

The Red Baron and Endou returned to the shuttle bay. Brad and Nelson coordinated the launch of six drones which would be turned around and programmed to return to the Heinlein as unknown spacecraft. Once the drones were placed on approach routes, Kyle activated the unknown spacecraft alarm and announced that multiple unknowns were approaching the ship. Seven of the fighters launched from the shuttle bay with one fighter remaining behind in reserve. The alarm was shut down as soon as the ready room acknowledged that the pilots had arrived and were boarding their fighters.

 

Danny gave the fighter pilots their assignments. Three short-range shuttles, the Brahms, Mozart, and Holst, left the shuttle bay to provide support.

 

As soon as the fighters and shuttles had flown away from the Heinlein and heading for their targets, the Bubba Saur and the Bubba Lou, the Heinlein’s two cargo shuttles, flew out of the shuttle bay. Their training mission was for a generator unit to be transloaded from the Bubba Saur to the Bubba Lou. Their mission was not related to what the fighters were doing.

 

The procedure appeared simple, but the Bubba Saur and the Bubba Lou had to be properly aligned, which meant they had to be perfectly synchronized. Normally the generator would be unclamped from the shuttle and clamped to the starship for transport. However, for training purposes, it was assumed that the Bubba Lou was the starship in trouble. As a result, the generator was going to be connected to the receptors of the “starship” instead of being clamped to the hull for transport.   

 

The tricky part was connecting the generator’s connectors to the proper receptors on the Bubba Lou. The receptors were laid out in the pattern most starships would have. The generator had five connectors that were not evenly spaced while the Bubba Lou had eight receptors that were evenly spaced. The receptors were each a meter apart. To properly connect a Universal Electric generator to a starship built by Lockheed Star Craft, which was the assumption for the drill. The shuttle officers had to study the Space Fleet protocol manual and practice the maneuver in a simulator to be fully prepared to complete the drill.

 

Meanwhile the fighters and shuttles were commencing their drills. While the maneuvering around the Heinlein looked chaotic, every movement had a purpose and the training drills were actually functioning smoothly. “The crew is using their training perfectly,” Devin said to Kyle. “You should be pleased.”

 

“I am quite pleased,” Kyle said. “The basic training we did before leaving Earth is paying off. They’re developing into an outstanding crew and using that training perfectly to complete the next level of drills.” Before Kyle could say anything more a series of alarms went off, sounding throughout the ship.

 

“What the bleep is this about? We had nothing else planned for today,” Kyle said.

 

“Those are approaching meteor alarms. This seems to be the real deal,” Ben Kennedy said with trepidation.

 

“Unless it isn’t,” Kyle responded.

 

“Meaning what?” Ben asked although he knew full well what Kyle meant.

 

“Figure it out for yourself. You, more than anybody, should know what I mean.” Ben made a move to get out of his chair. “If I were you, I’d stay where you are if you don’t want to go on report.”

 

Ben glared at Kyle but didn’t leave his post. “Any orders, SIR?” he snarled.

 

“How about searching your screens for a meteor swarm, ENSIGN,” Kyle responded as if to say Ben might want to get his act together if he wanted to get the promotion he was working for.

 

Ben, who was manning the astrogation table, adjusted the controls so the ship’s power telescopes could scan in all directions for any fast-moving bodies. Meanwhile, Martin Lawrence, who was manning the Information Station, was in contact with Brad, who was at his desk in the information department. Brad was checking to see if there were any anomalies that may have turned the alarm on.

 

Brad’s eyes lit up as he discovered that the alarm system had received a signal from an unknown location. “Hey, Marty, I think we got something here.  Put Kyle on the horn.”

 

“Aye, Sir,” Martin said. “Captain, Brad says they’d discovered something. He wants to talk to you.”

 

“Thank you, Ensign,” Kyle responded. “Put it on bridge all-call,” Bridge all-call allowed everyone on the bridge to hear the conversation. “What have you found?” he asked Brad.

 

“The tracker says that a signal was sent to the master alarm from an unknown location. We’ve improved the system to tell us a signal was sent from somewhere on the ship, but we still can’t figure out the exact source. Anyway, we are convinced here that this is a false alarm.”

 

At the same time, Ben reported that the telescopes had detected no meteor swarms within the range of the ship’s tracking system.

 

While all of this was happening on the bridge the fighters and shuttles followed the proper protocols for the situation by breaking all formations, including pairings, which would keep losses to a minimum should the swarm come their way. Devin was taking charge of those movements and Caden Jamison, at the communications station, was keeping track of the locations of the fighters and shuttles.

 

The Bubbas asked for instructions on how to handle their training routine. Mituti Tudupe (Bubba Saur) and Gilbert Kirby (Bubba Lou) were the captains of the two shuttles. Mituti made the call to the Heinlein. Devin French ordered them to maintain their current status since it was likely they were dealing with a false alarm.

 

The movements of the spacecraft looked chaotic, but Devin knew it was organized chaos and that the pilots were responding perfectly. Things changed quickly when Kyle declared the alarms were false and ordered the spacecraft to stand down, come to a halt, and wait for Devin to reorganize them.

 

“Let’s end the drills and bring everyone home,” Kyle told Devin.

 

“Because of the prep work that went into their exercise, I’d like to see the Bubbas complete their transfer,” Devin said. “It shouldn’t take them more than twenty minutes to do so. They are out of the paths of the returning fighters and shuttles, so can commence immediately.”

 

“Make it so, Devin,” Kyle said.

 

Devin, who knew where Kyle had picked up that phrase, gave his captain two thumbs up and a wide grin. He then got on the horn and gave out the needed orders.

 

Caden and Jesse Gross, in the shuttle bay, worked together to have all of the fighter and shuttles return to the Heinlein as quickly and safely as possible. The organized chaos turned into an efficient operation. Kyle, Devin, Danny, Steve, and Brad were beyond pleased by how smoothly the operation worked out.

 

The Bubbas completed their exercise with perfect results. The generator was lined up so that the 2,4, and 5 connectors were connected to the 3, 6, and 8 receptors. The two shuttle crews along with the officers on the bridge couldn’t help but wonder why the system couldn’t be simplified so the connections matched. In the Space Fleet protocol manual it was explained because of the varying age and manufacturers of the fleet’s ships it would be more work and expense to create matching systems than it was worth.

 

“Whatever, they could do it if they were willing to get off their asses and work at it,” was the standard response of the crews of both regular space fleet and Explorer fleet ships. But the connection went smoothly and the Bubbas were soon tied down in their positions in the shuttle bay.

 

But within minutes of getting all of the shuttles and fighters tied down, the Heinlein received a universal distress call from a starship.

 

“What now?” Kyle asked irritably. “Don’t tell me this is another false alarm.”

 

“No worries, sir,” Caden Jamison, who was manning the communications station on the bridge, said. “Since the signal came from well beyond the Heinlein via FTL radio there is no question that this is the real thing.”

 

<SS Liberty>

 

1000 hours

 

Captain Eric St. Pierre sat next to Assistant Chief Engineer Nick Stephens at the engineering desk on the bridge. The lights had flickered ten minutes earlier. Eric had been working in the captain’s ready room when the anomaly occurred. He saved his work and headed straight for the bridge, which was closer than engineering.

 

When Eric stepped on the bridge Lt. Commander Sarah Penny, who had the conn, called out, “Captain on the bridge!”

 

“As you were,” Eric said before settling into the second seat at the engineering desk.

 

“I have Dennis on my communicator,” Nick said, referring to Chief Engineer Dennis McDonough. Eric set his communicator to the engineering frequency and let Dennis know that this would now be a three-way communication.

 

“Another generator surge?” Eric asked his top two engineers.

 

“Just a slight one,” Dennis replied. “The problem appears to be life support sucking up a lot of extra energy.”

 

“Appears to be sucking extra energy or actually sucking it?”

 

“Appears to be, although I’d say it’s a better than sixty per cent that it is. I can’t be completely sure because it was such a brief surge, but the Otto says that life support was the cause.” Otto was the name the Liberty main frame gave to its artificial intelligence.

 

Another brief power surge led to another flickering of the lights. This surge was longer and more powerful than the first surge had been. “No doubt that life support caused that one,” Dennis said. “Give me fifteen minutes. I want to chase the path of that surge. Carla will be helping me and will take any communications you might send over that time.” Lieutenant Commander Carla Hammond was an assistant engineer.

 

Fifteen minutes later Dennis was back on his communicator. “Eric, we have a serious problem. I think you, me, and Nick need to do a face-to-face.”

 

“Meet me in my ready room in ten minutes,” Eric said.

 

“I’ll be there and I’ll be sending Carla to handle the bridge engineering desk.” Ten minutes later, Eric, Dennis, Nick, Operations Chief Sarah Penny, Information Services Chief Sam Lewis, and first officer Arnie Baker were sitting in the captain’s ready room.

 

“What do you know about our problems and what’s your prognosis for the future?” Eric asked.

 

“I know that our biggest problem is the age of the ship and the fact we didn’t receive needed maintenance while on our mission,” Dennis said. “The issues with the generator are causing some other systems to become erratic, life support in particular.”

 

“Space Fleet should never have sent this ship on a long-term exploration mission. They justified it by saying most of our time would be in orbit, which wouldn’t put strain on our engines, but there was still strain on our other systems. The fact that we had to replace our generator illustrates that,” Eric said. “But what’s done is done.”

 

“Fortunately, we carried a backup generator; a brand new one at that,” Chief Engineer Dennis pointed out. “Considering that it’s new, the fact that it’s now failing is a major surprise.”

 

“Dennis and Nick will need to come up with a plan on how to handle a generator failure and life support system failure. Also, I’d like to know if our auxiliary backups are up to the job. Sarah, I want you to get Operations to come up with a plan for the crew to follow in the event of failures, or a full failure. Arnie and I will deal with communicating with Space Fleet to get a plan of action ensuring our safe arrival to Earth at best, or at least to Star Base 7 which is our closest outpost,” Eric said.

 

“There is a slight possibility we might need to abandon ship,” Sarah pointed out.

 

“Good point, even if none of us wants to think about it. Let’s schedule an abandon ship drill for 1400 hours tomorrow.”

 

“Consider it done, sir.”

 

“The Space Fleet Protocol Manual pretty much lays out how to deal with the problems we’re facing,” Arnie said. “Right down to multiple catastrophic system failures.”

 

“Up to a point,” Eric pointed out. “But we will still need to apply the protocols in the manual to fit our situation, which is a ship ready for retirement enduring compound failures at around the same time. But it is what it is, so let’s take care of business.”

 

By 1300 hours their communication with Space Fleet and Star Base 7 along with their work in applying the Space Fleet protocols to their situation presented them with a plan of action.

 

The Space Fleet Engineering Department at HQ used the Liberty’s readouts to help them come up with a plan of action. They were pleased to learn that their plan and the Liberty’s plan were in over ninety-five percent agreement.  That fact was indicative of the solid work being done on the starship. The Liberty was pleased that the few differences in Space Fleet’s plan from their own plan were all minor improvements.

 

The basic plan was for the starship that could reach the Liberty the soonest to head at full speed for Star Base 7 to pick up a generator and a life support controller. From there it would proceed to rendezvous with the Liberty.  That ship would then transload its cargo onto the Liberty where engineering and operations would replace the malfunctioning units. After the Liberty was returned to full operational status it would head to Earth with the starship escorting it.

 

Space Fleet also dispatched the maintenance ship Nikola Tesla to intercept the Liberty and its escort on their sojourn to Earth. The Tesla would be able to replace any malfunctioning parts from their meeting point to Earth. The only question was what ship would pick up the replacement parts at Star Base 7 and then escort the Liberty after they were installed. 

 

Eric knew what that ship would be but would wait for Space Fleet to make an official announcement before making a statement. He was hoping that his engineering and operations staff would get a handle on their issues so that the Liberty could at least plug along at the slowest possible warp speed until it could rendezvous with the Tesla. He told Space Fleet he wanted to speak with the Commander of Star Base 7 before they made their final plan official.

 

A half hour later Eric and Chief Engineer Dennis McDonough were on visual with Vice Admiral Nikita Ivanovich, the space station commander. After exchanging pleasantries Eric went into the reason for wanting to communicate with Nikita. “Surely there must be a starship close enough to your space station to be able to serve us,” Eric said.

 

“There are a couple of ships reasonably close as far as distance goes,” Nikita said. “But, using the Heinlein and its state-of-the-art warp drive saves a week. I understand that you’re not a fan of the Explorer Program and your not wanting to put your fate in the hands of an Explorer ship, but considering the condition your ship is in, the time factor is crucial.”

 

“With all due respect, admiral, I don’t see how the Robert Heinlein can assist us no matter how drastic things become,” Eric said. “The so-called captain of that ship is fucking thirteen years old which is proof that the Space Fleet brass has lost its collective mind. Seventeen, eighteen, maybe even sixteen-year-old captains at least have to shave in the mornings and have a modicum of experience. But thirteen years old? He’s lucky to know where the head is—although I’m sure he can find the mess hall twenty-four seven.”

 

“I have a possible solution. What if I took over command while the ship delivers the parts to you, assists with the installation and repair, and then to the rendezvous with the Tesla.”

“I like it. Have you discussed with HQ?”

 

“There is no need for me to do so. My rank gives me the authority to do so. I wanted to get your take on this idea since I knew you weren’t a fan of the Explorer Program.  I can see the issue goes deeper than that and you find working with Captain Robinson to be unacceptable.”

 

“It’s more than unacceptable. They don’t pay me enough to deal with a pubescent boy who should be hitting the books at the Academy when the fate of my ship and crew is at stake. Do whatever you feel you need to do,” Eric said.

 

“I understand HQ wants you to send a general distress signal if your condition drops to a certain level. How close are you to doing that?” Nikita asked.

 

“We’re coming to a point where we will have to decide to either maintain minimum warp drive or life support. I’m hoping we can last the seven plus days at our current levels until the starship arrives with a generator.”

 

Eric barely completed his statement when the lights went out, leaving the room dark for a couple of seconds until the auxiliary lighting took hold. “Damn, it’s as if the old lady was listening in on us,” he groaned. The ship shook violently as it dropped out of warp and coasted at sub warp speed once it was completely out of warp space.

 

Sam Lewis, the head of information services, quickly instructed his chief assistant to reconnect the Liberty with Star Base 7. “Our generator is done and we’re out of warp,” Eric reported to the radio operator on the space station. “Tell Admiral Ivanovich we will be sending out a general distress signal.”

 

Eric knew that sending out a general distress signal couldn’t produce ships that hadn’t already been accounted for, but he also knew that Space Fleet protocol called for it in this situation. It was felt that the more ships aware of the plight of a ship in distress, the more ships would be available to be of potential assistance should the distressed ship have to be abandoned.

 

Maybe some exploration ship hidden behind a star or a planet that was blocking radio signals would suddenly come make its presence known, Eric thought. But he was certain that the best he could hope for was the Robert Heinlein, carrying a new generator, arriving under the command of a vice-admiral instead of a captain who was barely into puberty. 

 

<Robert Heinlein Bridge>

 

“Set a course for Star Base 7,” Kyle ordered Mituti Tudupe, who was manning the astrogation table. “It looks like we will have a generator to deliver.”

 

“Just like the drill we ran—only we were all convinced that situation would never happen,” Devin French said.

 

“It just goes to show we know exactly what we’re doing,” Kyle grinned.

 

“Course is set,” Mituti reported.

 

“Maximum warp,” Kyle ordered.

 

The Heinlein leaped to its top speed and headed for Star Base 7, which was two and a half days away.

 

Next: Rescue Ship

 

** An alert reader pointed out to us that there is only one solar system, and that is the one we live in, since the planets in the system circle the Sun, aka Sol or Helios. Further research by us found that many consider the Solar System (with capital letters) to be the system we live in while the term solar system (with lower case letters) can refer to any stellar system. Since receiving that email, I finished reading Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir in which that issue arose, and the author gave the same explanation I presented from my research. We will use that system for the duration of the story. This is fiction after all. We do appreciate the reader pointing out the issue to us.