Athena Lee Chronicles 7: The Martian Inheritance (6 page)

The young ensign looked over at me and stuttering a bit got out, “He’s the officer in charge of navigation and steering.”

“Ah yes, now I know who you’re talking about! I met him last night. Just stick with me. You won’t be late, I promise.” The lift ride was very short.

We exited the lit and approached the door guards. These Marines were some of the ones I'd met at yesterday’s mock fight. “Good morning Commander. Ensign, we need to see your access card. If you don’t have one, we need to contact the officer who issued you the orders to enter the bridge.” I looked questioningly at the Marines.

“Ma’am, Fleet reviewed security procedures orders after the Paney incident. The only exception to the new rule is an order from either the Captain or XO and only with a code word. We are allowing you only because Captain Gorshin already informed us of your presence.”

Ensign Tremblay looked scared to death. If I understood the situation, he most likely did not have an access card. Lieutenant Behm may not have known of the change in rules. I turned away for a moment. Sub-vocalizing I said, “Wilson, contact the Captain for me and have him issue orders for Ensign Tremblay to enter the bridge.”

I turned back to the guards just as one of them put his hand to his ear. “Repeat that please? OK, roger that.” The Marine pressed a hidden button, and the door swung inward. “Ensign Tremblay is cleared to enter. You too Commander.”

“Thank you Marine.” I allowed the ensign to enter first.

“Ma’am who did you just call? It wasn’t on the nets.”

“Heard that did you? Let’s just say that I have a small bit of help and leave it at that.” I smiled at the both of them as I walked through the door. A girl has to maintain a few mysteries.

I had to step around the ensign. He seemed to be frozen to the floor just inside the doorway. “Breathe Ensign. Everyone in here was once in your same position. They don’t bite.”

I spotted Lieutenant Behm. He was a large, bear of a man with a full beard. It was going to take a while before I got used to seeing beards. Motioning to the lieutenant, I got his attention. With a smile on his face the lieutenant approached me, he was so large that he loomed over me.

“Welcome to the Bridge, Ma’am. I see you picked up a hitchhiker. I can take him off your hands if you like.”

I had to crane my neck up to see the very large man. “Thank you lieutenant. The ensign needed assistance to get onto the bridge. Were you aware of the new access rules that came down from fleet HQ?”

“New rules? I don’t think so, Ma’am.”

“Please check into that. I had to get approval from the captain to allow him on the bridge.”

Lieutenant Behm glanced in the Captain’s direction. “Uh, sorry about that Commander. I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.” He turned toward the now gaping ensign. “Come along Ensign. I have just the job for you.” He led the ensign over to a large station down in front of the main screen. The ensign looked almost doll-like next the large man.

I saw the captain watching my interaction with the two junior officers. I turned and walked over to his chair. “Have a seat Athena.” He patted a chair that had been mounted just to his left near the XO’s station.

“Is this for me, Sir?”

“I had it mounted especially for you. Lieutenant Mutai is a Marine. They prefer to stay below and train. But you’re Navy through and thorough. Lots more to see up here than down in engineering, anyway.”

“Thank you, Sir. I don’t know what else to say.”

“Don’t say anything then. I saw what you did for the ensign. Lieutenant Behm is new to his position. He was originally in Fleet maintenance. His sister was killed at the ‘Farmers Union Day Massacre’ and he vowed to get revenge. Working within the system he cross-trained to navigation and steerage. He’s the largest officer that I have ever served with. He told me his nickname in his old job was ‘tiny.’ Anyway, if you stick around for a while we could make a pretty good bridge officer out of you.”

Not sure if he was serious or not, I just nodded my head. Bridge officer? Really?

“XO, make the announcement please.”

“Yes, Sir.” The XO threw a switch on his control console. “Attention all hands. Prepare for space operations. All personnel to their posts. Set condition one!” Commander Blomkvist looked to his captain who nodded to him.

“Retract all loading ramps and seal the ship.”

“Sir, the ship is sealed.”

“Close all airtight doors and test pressure systems.”

“Sir, Engineering acknowledges and pressure test is green.”

“Detach all station lines and power.”

“Sir, all lines have been secured. Engineering confirms we are on independent power.”

“Lieutenant Behm, move us away from the station please.”

“Sir, activating lateral thrusters now.” The was a screeching sound, followed by a faint thump from the starboard side of the ship.

Uh, oh. That wasn’t good. I jumped out of my chair and crossed to the unmanned engineering station console. I studied the screens as I typed in some commands. In the background I could hear the XO giving Navigation orders.

“Mr Behm, I’m waiting.”

“Sir, engineering reports that the lateral thrusters have malfunctioned and will not activate.”

“Contact engineering and tell them to get those thrusters back online immediately! We have a schedule to keep.”

I approached the Captain. He was carefully watching his bridge officers without intervening. Just this action showed what a good teacher the man was. He was allowing his people to help themselves before coming to him with problems. I leaned down to speak to him. “Sir, those thrusters are fried. I checked, the conduits have failed and the thruster engines burnt themselves out.”

Now he looked concerned. “Athena, can they be repaired without a shipyard? Can we fix it en route to Mars?”

“Sir, check with your Chief Engineer first, but he should have the parts. They’re standard for his inventory. Or at least they were when I was last on board. It’s a little tricky putting them in while underway but we can do it. Check with him first though. I don’t want to step on any toes here.”

“XO, what does engineering say about the thrusters?”

“Sir, they say that the ships readouts say that they’ve shorted out. The Chief Engineer says it’s a shipyard job, Sir.”

“Ask Commander Erlang if he has the spare parts on hand to repair the thrusters.” Captain Gorshin glanced over at me and smiled.

I smelled trouble right there. A picture of me repairing the ship flashed through my head. Just like old times.

“Sir, Engineering says that the parts are in storage, but they insist that it’s a ‘yard job.’

The Captain turned to me. “Commander Lee, do you feel up to a project?”

“Sir, I would be happy to fix your ship for you.” Hopefully, Commander Erlang wouldn’t try and kill me in my sleep as a result.

“Excellent! Now, XO, how can we get the ship moved away from the station?”

Commander Blomkvist stood ramrod stiff as he considered all the options. “Sir, we could contact the shipyard tugs and have them tow us away from the station. Because of our size it would take a little while.”

The Captain screwed up his lips in thought. “One problem with that Commander is that then we would appear weak to all of the visiting spacecraft from other nations. No, we need a better solution.” He looked around the room. I could think of a possible solution but was loath to suggest it. “Lieutenant Behr any suggestions from navigation?”

“Sir, I’m sorry but I can’t think of a thing. If we were pointed away or toward the station it would be easy. But to make the turn, we need the thrusters.”

I have been told that I have a terrible poker face. The Captain looked in my direction and smiled when he saw my face. “Commander Lee, I can tell that you have another suggestion. OK, out with it!”

“Sir, I have a crazy idea.” The Captain made ‘come on’ motions with his hands. “We need to employ a very old technique called kedging. It originates from the pre-space days of sail. We use one of the assault shuttles to place one of the emergency gravity anchors at the limit of our tractor beams. Lock the tractor on the anchor and use it to pull the ship around. Once we’re at 90 degrees, we can go ahead and use the impulse engines to leave the station. The shuttle can then pick up the anchor and fly back on board.”

A huge smile flowed across the Captain’s face. “Excellent idea Commander Lee! XO, alert engineering and have them break out the emergency gravity anchor. Contact Marine Commander Huggins. We’ll need a crew for the shuttle. Lieutenant Behr? Have you been listening to what we’ve been discussing?”

“Yes, sir. I have.”

“Good. When the Marines get the anchor into position, you need to lock onto it with the tractor beams. Understood?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Communications, inform the station that we have everything under control and are going to conduct a training exercise.” The captain turned back to me and called me over. “Come with me Commander.” He stood up and walked towards his Ready Room. “Commander Blomkvist you have the bridge.”

“Yes, Sir. I have the bridge.”

Captain Gorshin entered the door and sat down at the table. “Now Athena, tell me how you know about kedging?”

I smiled and told Frank about a trip that Dar and I had taken out to the ‘Lost Peninsula’ colony of fisherman. We had taken an island tour on a four masted sailing ship. The Captain and crew had demonstrated how the ship worked and various Old Earth techniques of sailing. After our vacation I had looked up some of the things that I had learned and compared them to current modern practices. Some things like Keelhauling were out of the question. But I could see cases where using the term ‘wear ship’ could be used. My studies had eventually led me to a classic sailing book series about this guy named Horn something. Some of the words the author used were ancient in their meanings.

The Captain and I discussed the topic for awhile but eventually his console alerted him that the XO was ready for him.

We left the Ready Room and returned to the bridge. Up on the screen the shuttle was standing by in orbit. “Sir, we have the anchor loaded and ready to be deployed. Chief Engineer Erlang has made a formal protest, sir. He believes that, quote: ‘The tractor beams are not strong enough to pull the ship,’ sir. I took the liberty of checking the spec’s sir. The weight of the ship is right at the max weight pull of the tractors. He might be right.”

The Captain looked at me. I shook my head no. He smiled and turned back to the XO. “Tell the Marines to deploy the anchor and then move out of the area.”

“Yes, Sir. Anchor is being deployed.” Commander Blomkvist had a very apprehensive look on his face.

‘Lieutenant Behr, activate the port side tractor and lock on to the anchor.”

“Yes, Sir. Activating now. Captain the tractor is locked onto the anchor.”

“Excellent job, Lloyd. Now slowly attempt to draw the anchor to us.” The Lieutenant had smiled faintly when the Captain used his first name. Watching his power controls very carefully he activated the beam.

The ship trembled for a moment and then began to slowly pull away from the station. We all watched on the main screen as the bow slowly pulled out of the parking bay. At 45 degrees we could see space. When the ship reached 50 degrees the captain ordered the process stopped.

“Lieutenant Behr, disengage tractors. Commander Blomkvist, tell the Marines to pick up the anchor and return to the ship.” He paused and looked the crew over. ‘Excellent work, people. Now, once the shuttle is back on board and secured lets get out of here.”

We were two hours late in launching but there were cheers when the impulse engines engaged and the James Cook finally left port.

“Commander Lee, get with Lieutenant Behr and write this process up. I will submit it to Fleet HQ for further review. Another ship may have something similar happen to them and need a solution that doesn’t involve tugs. XO, have Chief Engineer Erlang report to me in my Ready Room when his shift is over, please. Commander Lee there will be an intelligence briefing after we make our first jump. Dismissed.”

Chapter 9