Proving True
Chapter 23

A week later, the medical section declares the ship to be prion free. Which comes as a relief to everyone. The damage that was inflicted is, in most cases, correctable by the medical team. Sadly, not everyone recovers.

The Operations officer for the Gallagher mission did approve my plan, so I got real busy real quick outfitting the robots. There’s a message waiting for me when I get to work. It’s from the Captain.

The mission to neutralize the creature and release Gallagher from the ice will launch at 0800 tomorrow. We have been hurried by business that is not for dissemination. Execute.

No ‘Are you ready?’ I suppose by now, if we aren’t I’ll be fired at our next port of call. I can’t help notice he used “neutralize” not “kill” or “eliminate” the creature. Perhaps he agrees with Leka that it’s possible to establish communication and persuade the creature not to kill us.

I type out a brief reply of, “Aye, sir.” My next message is to my team what the go time is and a directive to alert me when everything is inspected, packed up, and ready to go whether I’m there or not. The Engineering members and materiel of this mission will be ready to depart by 0800.

I go down to the small craft bay to oversee the loading. I can tell the protective coating on the ship has been reapplied, I’m sure it has on the pinnace as well. While I’m there, Freddie walks in. I grab him for a quick conference, “I know the good idea window is closed, but would it be a good idea for us to split the personnel and take a second shuttle?”

“Just like you, Squats. To recommend a mission amendment that stands the thing on its head at execution time. But just to satisfy your curiosity, that was suggested and the Ops chief shot it down. The advantage to not having all the eggs in one basket was trumped by flight difficulty. Just like before, Shawna will pilot the SDB, Athena will fly the pinnace. There aren’t any better pilots aboard. And there aren’t any androids that can be detailed away from their current assigned duties. So what we have is what we take. Now if you’ll excuse me,” he gestures towards a collection of people in marauder suits putting their gear together. “I’m going to pull a PCI on Demo Team Charlie.” His pre-combat inspection will either satisfy him that they are ready to go, or point out discrepancies that they need to correct.

We exchange a few more bits of information couched by insults before I board the SDB. From the hatch I can see that the missile rack is now loaded for the precision ice crack. I can only imagine what the missiles are programmed to do, that wasn’t part of my problem to solve. My problem was the robots.

On the flight deck—I’ve never understood why a room is called a deck—Shawna is all business. Her flight suit is zipped up to her neck, her hair arranged in a bun to stay out of the way until she dons her flight helmet. She’s loading flight profiles and checking various instruments. Usually we’d engage in some kind of light banter but she’s way too busy right now. She barely acknowledges my presence. I continue into the cargo hold. The big doors are open, as the pinnace hasn’t been loaded yet.

I see the robots being moved into position. There are the WARBOTs that Freddie wants and what we have dubbed the Talkbot that Leka wants. Leka is preparing her robot for action. I tap her on the shoulder, “I know breakthroughs don’t follow time lines, but how long should we wait for communication? I hate to be a bitch about it, but we do have a clock to watch. We certainly haven’t bought ourselves some time by being forced to leave early, but I don’t feel like I can give you the full eight hours. I’ll split it with you and give you four.”

“You’re right, there’s no way to know. But I agree with you. If we can’t get anything going in the first four hours, I don’t think the next four will make that big a difference.”

Over time, the remaining equipment is loaded. The team is ready to leave before time. The last item on the checklist is to load the pinnace into the cargo hold of the larger System Defense Boat. The SDB will be a midpoint between Star Chaser and us so they’ll already be in space when we are ready for extraction. Or we scream for help.

As the SDB takes up its overwatch position, the rest of us board the pinnace for the very bumpy ride down. We have a better understanding of the local area so we land closer to the wreck site. It’s still a fair hike, but it’s not as long. The ride is pretty similar as it was the first time, only this time I tell everyone to turn his or her microphones off except for emergency. It’s a decision that pays off. I’m the only one that gets sick on this trip. Did Beebles fast knowing she was slated for this trip? Clever girl. I wish I’d thought to do that.

Freddie comes over our headset. “The missiles are tasked and targeted, but I don’t want to have to break that beast loose twice. Sonia, you’re the away mission commander. What’s your plan?” He knows it as well as I do, but I humor him.

“Once the pinnace is down and secure, the away force—basically us minus a spacer we brought to let us know if something horrible happens to the pinnace—will make our way to Gallagher. Leka sends in her Talkbot with a WARBOT as an armed escort, Athena stands by to take control of that one. The rest of us stand by observing the ship. If Leka cannot establish communication in four hours, the WARBOT kills whatever is in that tank. Either way, once the biologic problem is solved, we fire up the ship. I will lead the engineering effort in the power plant and engine room. Athena will prepare to do the pilot stuff from the bridge. Once we have power flowing and the engines warm, we evacuate to just outside Danger Close, Athena signals the SDB to fire the missiles. They should break up most of the ice holding the ship. Once Gallagher is free, the smart kids then move in and we get the beast airborne. While that’s happening, Team Charlie moves around removing any ice the missiles missed. Any questions?”

“None,” Freddie says. ”Your mission is a ‘go.’ Good luck. SDB out.”

We have an advantage this time; we know exactly where we’re going so getting to the lab is not the task it once was. The forkbots and spacers had to work a bit to get the robots into the ship, but we have enough muscle in the armor to get them off loaded much faster.

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