Drafted-Stuck
Drafted 9 - Stuck
Stuck
Just as you enter the hangar you see Chiraq walking around, looking a bit frustrated. “What happened, I thought you went back to the station?” the Sergeant asks.
“The wormhole has collapsed, just before I entered it. We need to find another exit before we can get out. Fortunately we have enough probe ships, cruisers and battleships this side of the wormhole. So we should be fine.”
“Excuse me ensign” Aura interrupts “there is some activity in the main hangar we visited, apparently the AI ships are being constructed as we speak, ready to be launched.”
“What? Can you stop that from happening?” Chiraq almost shouts.
“Done sir. The AI ship launching and assembly has been stopped.”
“Thank you Aura, it would have been bad if we needed to fight those AI ships again.”
“You’re welcome sir.”
“Don’t call me that. Besides,” Chiraq says as he turns to the Sergeant “have you figured out something about that security setup?”
“Well we found out that this station repairs itself perfectly, keeps itself clean, can create any item you want from atoms, and the observation deck has a nice view of the asteroids and an Atron which has been parked outside. That and the fact that Aura is almost fluent in the Yan Jung writings.”
“Wow, you have been quite busy haven’t you. Well, if that observation desk is so good, then perhaps we can setup our new sleeping quarters over there. It’s getting a bit crowded here” without missing a single step he starts ordering people to get to the top floors. “Oh Sergeant, you better get those doors open to those business quarters. I’m quite curious why they are guarded.” After a quick meal with supplies from the station, not from the table consoles, the Sergeant decides that training can wait a bit more. You head down to the business section to get the door open.
“Can you help us out a bit Aura?” you ask.
“I have already started decoding the security system since this morning. I have made some headway already. I think I can open the door and shut down the automated defense systems. However, I’m not sure what’s behind the door. There could be auxiliary defense systems in place which can start shooting as soon as you get in.”
“Understood Aura, that means that the Sergeant can enter first, ‘cause he’s bulletproof” Simmons replies with a smile. A raised eyebrow of the Sergeant lets him know that his attempt at comedy has been heard and fallen short. Even more the eyebrow also conveyed the message that it would be Simmons who would be sent in first if the door was opened.
You reach the door and Aura opens it for you. Simmons is sent through first, but there is no sound of any turret firing on him. With a sigh of relieve Simmons reappears and motions you to follow. There is a long corridor with all kinds of doors with what looks like logos printed on the doors. No door is alike, and neither are the logos.
“Aura can you figure out what these logos mean, is there any business charter stating who owns which room and what that business entailed?”
“Yes I can, one moment please.” A few seconds later Aura returns with the information. “A lot of these business are focused on either trading or research. There is only one involved in spaceship design and manufacturing, which is the one with the flying comet as a logo. There are no other business types mentioned.”
“So it is either trade, research or spaceships?” you ask Aura.
“Indeed, there are no manufacturing or agriculture business on this station, just trade, research and spaceship design.”
“Well” the Sergeant decides, “let’s just do a door-by-door check. All the other locks have been unlocked as well?”
“Yes Sergeant.”
“Ok let’s find out the secrets of the Yan Jung businesses” he says as he opens the first door. Apprehensive of any automated turret fire he steps in, but nothing happens. Standing in the first office, a 10 by 10 meter block there is only a central console present. There is nothing in the room, no papers, no computers, terminals, just a single console, similar to the one in the hangar and observation deck.
“Well, I should have seen that one coming, it’s empty.”
“Indeed it is Sergeant, there is only a console present which is similar to the one you encountered in the hangar and on the observation deck.” Aura cannot help herself in mentioning the obvious.
“Anything specific about this console?” Ferrier asks.
“There are a number of specific functions, but most of it is quite standard.”
“I guess the other rooms are the same?”
“I think so, all content has been broken down because it wasn’t in use any more.”
“Well then, let’s check them and then report back to Chiraq.”
An hour later the four of you have checked every single room along the maze of corridors. Some rooms have a window facing the hangar, but most of them are just empty boxes. “I suspect there are corridors behind the walls for the robots to move in furniture and such.”
“You could be right Ferrier, didn’t one of the scientists started mapping out the station, taking exact dimensions of all the rooms?”
“I think his name was Fayette or something like that.”
“Well Aura, has he done anything useful yet? Are there any schematics available?”
“Yes, but no thanks to Fayette in the least. When I started connecting to this stations computer network, I found a set of maintenance schematics as well. From that I have been able to create a full map of this station and almost finished marking the names the Yan Jung used for the specific rooms.”
“And why haven’t you told us this sooner?” you ask Aura.
“Because I haven’t finished yet” Aura replies in a petulant voice.
“Never mind that, give that Fayette guy a copy of your map.”
“Alright, but it still isn’t finished, and finishing it will take much longer now I don’t have access to the computer network of the Ancient Section. When the wormhole collapsed the connection was severed as well.”
“Ok, but you have enough computing power to finish it, right?”
“Yes ensign, I had to resort to using the additional power of your ships, but I will finish it in the next hour.”
“Good” the Sergeant says “so we can continue our training. Any of the facilities available for that on this station Aura?”
“No sir, unfortunately not.”
“Mmmm then we have to do it the old fashioned way. A benefit of being stranded on this station is the fact that none of you can use those gizmo’s you bought, as they are still on the Ancient Section’s station.”
The next three hours are filled with ‘old-fashioned’ training, running, jumping jacks, sit-ups, push-ups and other torture exercises that the Sergeant came up with. Even the marine, who joined you after seeing you running round the observation deck, is having a difficult time with the Sergeants’ torture. “Bloody hell, is he kidding me?” he asks as the five of you take a small break.
“No not really, but he is a bit handicapped at the moment” you reply.
“How come?”
“He cannot fiddle with the gravity settings, yet” you reply with a smile.
“Gravity settings, what do you mean?”
“Normally he would start us running at 2G to warm up. Once he even got us doing these last exercises in 5G. He said it would make it easier to get to the ground for the push-ups.”
The marine looks at you and the others, then glances a look at the Sergeant, who gives him a winning smile. “Ok, when you’re done talking, we can finish up our training exercises with a couple of laps round the observation deck. Another 20 will do, but this time with a bit more speed.” He finishes, starting to run, nearly sprinting away. “Oh yeah, the one who finishes last will have to do 100 extra push-ups.”
This gets all of you going, trying to catch up to the Sergeant. Unfortunately, he knows you are coming and speeds up even more. The final laps are done sprinting at full speed, trying to be at least faster than one of the others. In the middle of the observation deck the scientists and marines are looking bemused at you. Some of them are even cheering you on, hoping that either one of you beats the other. Finally the Sergeant stops and turns around, the last ten meters are finally won by Ferrier and you and Simmons finish third and last. The marine was second, but that doesn’t matter to the Sergeant.
“Well, you guys are all slow, now I said something about the last having to do another 100 push-0ps, but as I couldn’t see anyone being the last, all of you have to do the push-ups.” The marine starts grumbling, but you nudge him with your elbow.
“I should have warned you about that, but if you are too slow, not giving your all, you would have to do another 5 miles and even more push-ups. He would have likely restarted the entire training session.”
The marine looks at you, then bows his head and replies “I should have known that, we had a drill instructor in boot camp who held the same idea as this Sergeant does. Thinking about him, he could have been his twin brother.”
“Ok, enough chatter, push-ups, now” the Sergeant interrupts and starts his own series of push-ups.
One scientist starts counting and soon is followed by the entire crowd watching you do your hundred push-ups. Even this becomes a race to see who finishes first. Tired, gasping for air you hit the floor after the hundredth push-up, you slowly get to your knees and get upright. There is applause from the crowd for the five of you. The marine is hauled up to his feet by his colleagues who start jabbing at his poor condition. The squad leader nudges the Sergeant, praising him for his training session.
“Well done, to be honest my men can use a bit of training as they seem to get a bit soft. Shall we combine the training for both sets of grunts?” he asks the Sergeant with a smile on his face.
“Sure, I think I can think of some other exercises to toughen them up a bit” the Sergeant replies still a bit out of breath. “Tomorrow morning at six?”
“Let’s do that, that is if I can wake them up” the squad leader responds.
“Oh no, what have I done” the marine says, walking up to you, Ferrier and Simmons.
“Nothing that they didn’t already thought up as soon as they found out we were stranded on this station” Ferrier replies. “I bet even that they thought this up before we even got stuck here. Two days ago he started about more combat training for the three of us, but not with a ship, but unarmed and with knives and such.”
“That won’t matter to my teammates, they will think I am the cause of this.”
“No worries, anyone giving you grief will be dealt with by the Sergeant, so much that he will never mention it again as long as he lives. I have seen him making grunts puke out the meals they had four days before. Besides, you can always become a pilot” Simmons adds.
“What’s your name again?”
“Bouchon, Eli Bouchon.”
“Well Bouchon, you have held your ground admirably. I thought that you wouldn’t be able to keep up after an hour, but you did nonetheless.”