Station 27 (A Starweaver's Tapestry Novella) - ONC '24

Chapter 3: Connecting Dots

Qerod stepped between the two, hands raised at both of them. "That's enough. We just lost a man and the rest of the team hasn't even had a chance to make their peace. Stand down, both of you."

Driscoll smacked his lips and turned around to walk to the opposite end of the bridge. The others had separated into their groups - soldiers on the left side and scientists on the right. Pirzy and Jat moved Takeo's body to the holotable so they could look him over. Javina felt trembles in her hands from the burst of adrenaline. The image of Yeno's death played over and over in her mind. She dug her nails into her gloved palms to halt the trembling.

"Takeo will hold for now, but we need to get him to a medical bay fast," Pirzy announced to the group. "Do we have any options on that end?"

Qerod moved to the terminals, tapped one and pulled up a map on the bridge's window. It flickered in and out. He walked to the center of the bridge and directed their attention to the red dot that blinked on the map. "Driscoll managed to land us three klicks away from 27-A. If we can get there, then we can see what resources and rations are left from the previous group. We can also check if the medical bay and communications systems are operational. From there, we reestablish our base of operations in 27-A and continue the job we were sent here to do."

"That's at least a thirty-minute walk, boss," Vhaz grumbled. "My ass is going to be frozen solid by the time we get there."

"Temperatures outside are reading around negative two-hundred-ten celsius, or negative four-hundred for you fahrenheit folk," Givety added.

"Yeah, no. Screw that," Vhaz said in return. "We could barely hold our heat back in that hull, and that was a slow decline. One of these science folk is already a popsicle!"

Javina watched Zec elbow her hard in the side. "What was that for?" Vhaz snarled. "It's true."

"Alright, listen up," Qerod stated loudly. "I understand the situation is a bit difficult. That may even be putting it mildly, but here's the reality: This bridge is the only thing that's left of the Durrigan and running on backup power. Once that's gone in what should be fourteen hours, the shield is going to drop and either the rapid pressurization that destroyed the hull and claimed Yeno is going to come for us next, or the residuals from the asteroid impact will instead. We have two, and only two, choices: we can stay here and wait for the end, singing songs and holding hands, or we can try our luck at making it out alive. I know the temps outside are dangerous, but if we can brave that, we can call for help. If we can't, at least we'll be in a much better space."

"What do you mean by 'residuals'?" Irys inquired.

Driscoll cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. Javina shook her head lightly. He always wanted to be the center of everything.

"Golah is, for all intents and purposes, falling apart. The impact caused a mass shifting of tectonic plates that is essentially ripping up the entire moon piece by piece. We're not sure if it will take hours or days but eventually we're going to be hit by a massive quake that's going to break our chunk of the planet off. We need to comm the UIFH and get a ride out of here before that happens."

The group became a low rumble of comments and conversations. Javina put her face in her hands. She needed a moment to process their choices. It seemed like, no matter what, she was destined to die on Golah. There was no way she was giving up without a fight, though.

"Maybe I'm just not understanding, but can someone please explain to me why we can't repressurize the hull to match the outside?" Jat asked with his arms outstretched. "That would give us time to think things through and keep us from being, my apologies for saying this, crunched up, right?"

"That doesn't get rid of the 'planet destroying itself' problem," Pirzy replied. "To answer your question, if we repressurize, that means we have to bring in the pressure from Golah to match the interior. With said pressure comes the cold air. Yes, we can do it, but we would just be turning this bridge into a freezer."

"So either way, we die," Jat concluded. Javina snickered. She could always rely on him to say what she was thinking, even in the worst moments. Javina glanced toward Qerod, but his eyes were glued to the map. He had a look of deep thought across his face and she wondered what he was thinking. She inched over to him and coughed to grab his attention. He didn't turn.

"What's on your mind, Halls?" He asked as he continued to scrutinize the map.

"Are you worried about us getting to 27-A?" She guessed. Either it was on the money or he would tell her what was really on his mind. At least, she hoped he would. Qerod looked down then turned to face her. His eyes burned with determination and he leaned in closer.

"Just between us, Halls, I've had a lot of questions," He confided in her. "Why did the UIFH not tell us about the oncoming asteroid? Surely they would have seen it well in advance. On top of that, with how hard it was to even get this close to the station, and considering our current circumstances, why did they let the first survey team leave so easily? We weren't given any notes or debrief that I'm aware of, either. The only information Driscoll and I received was word of mouth that everything and everyone was fine. We're essentially down two members of our team and something about this reeks of withheld information."

"You think that there's something about this place the Forces haven't told us?" Javina clarified.

"I just think it's best if we watch each other's back."

Javina crossed her arms and nodded silently. If Qerod, their fearless leader, felt that there was something wrong, it was definitely a reason for concern. She could see a small bit of steam had fogged up the bottom of her visor and felt a tiny bit of embarrassment from breathing so hard. "I'm always with you, Qerod. No matter what."

He smiled that bright, beaming smile that always managed to make her heart quiver, then changed the subject. "Did your family ever regale you with stories about the end of the war?"

"I was a celebration baby, Qerod. All I ever heard was stories. Why?"

"My father would tell me about the way the Kunar used to come through and crack whole planets up. Real nasty tactic. This asteroid impact made me think about that, I guess. It also made me remember a story he used to scare me with growing up. Did your family ever mention the Abeona?"

Javina searched the memories of her childhood for the name, but everything was fuzzy. If they had mentioned it, her mind had long since dumped the information out. "The name's not ringing a bell. What was it? Fighter? Cruiser?"

"Passenger vehicle, actually," Qerod told her. "It was one of the original three fleet ships that came into Atania. Think of it like a metropolis that held a third of all the Human settlers."

"So what happened to it? And what does this have to do with us?"

"It disappeared. It's been almost forty years and there hasn't been a single survivor that came through to tell the tale. My old man used to tell me at first that it was a ghost ship bound to come back for the souls of the living. Really scared me back then. But when I was older, he told me what really happened: It was scuttled."

Javina gave him a look of disbelief. The ghost part was already a lot to take in, but the idea that the UIFH would destroy a flagship of Humanity made absolutely no sense to her. "Why would they do that, Qerod?"

"Because there was something on there the Forces didn't want to be found or to get out. They felt it was worth that many lives to keep their secrets," Qerod explained. He pointed at a black dot on the map above them. "You see that little mass two klicks south? It kind of looks like a rock. I was going back through and comparing the geological data and topography we received with what we're seeing now. That dot wasn't there before, Halls."

Javina wasn't sure what Qerod was trying to explain to her. The story of the Abeona wasn't tying in with the dot he kept mentioning. There was no way that a massive UIFH flagship would end up as a dot that small on a tiny moon. She couldn't think of what else it could be. Suddenly, it clicked.

"That's not a rock," She pieced together. "It's what's left of the first team's ship."