CHAPTER 3

RESCUE

U.P.N. Nimbus – Over unknown world

Dan continued to fight with his dying fighter, but one by one his systems blinked offline. He reached for his ejector toggle but paused. It wasn't meant for use in a planet's gravity well. He didn't like the idea of falling to his death with little more than a pressure suit and a seat for protection. His manoeuvring jets still worked, and he used them to slow his ship as much as possible. He had no other options.

The planet's not too big, and I'm not at a bad angle. I shouldn't hit too hard, he thought.

He checked his sensor scope. It was showing the planet closing toward him.

He braced himself in the cockpit as the fighter slammed into the surface of the planet.

Force from the impact threw him violently to the side of the cockpit. His fighter bounced up off the surface and careened in an arcing roll. The wing of the fighter dug into the ground and pulled the craft sharply down, sending it tumbling across the surface.

Dan slammed against his restraints and felt something crash into his chest. A sharp pain shot through him as the fighter came to a sliding halt.

Dan gasped, his breath caused a wave of pain to wash over him. He tried to take shallow breaths, and that seemed to help.

Dan lay there and realized his fighter was on its side. He tried to activate the release mechanism for the cockpit, but the fighter's weight was keeping the canopy closed, pushing it into the ground. He tried his communications system, but nothing was working. His fighter was dead.

Dan looked up and couldn't see anything other than the grey surface of the planet.

He stayed in his awkward hanging position and closed his eyes. He took a moment to rest before he tried anything else.

***

'The Nimbus has come to a stop, captain. It looked like a rough landing,' reported Victor.

John didn't care to think about how rough it had been. He'd been in a few wrecks in his life. None of them had been his fault though.

Have to give Dan credit, it wasn't his fault either, and he went down swinging, he thought to himself.

'John, take us into position,' he heard Samantha say behind him.

'Roger, that captain. Bringing us into position,' he replied, moving the ship in low. John piloted the ship toward the fallen fighter. He saw the angle on which it had come to a stop, 'We better be quick, or Danny will have one heck of a headache ma'am.'

'That's the idea. How are you doing Ise?' Samantha said.

'I'm ready to disembark captain, just waiting for you to come to a stop,' Ise replied through the communication system.

John brought the ship where it needed to be and fired the manoeuvring jets to maintain position, 'We're good captain,'

'Ise, you're free to go.'

'Aye captain.'

'John, rear camera feed please,'

'Yes, ma'am.' John keyed a quick command on his terminal, and a rear camera feed displayed on the view screen. Ise was standing at the end of a ramp on the bottom of the ship. She wore no space suit, and her dark form stood out against the light grey surface of the planet, illuminated by the ship's lights. John marveled at the sight. She jumped off the ramp and disappeared below the camera feed. After a minute, she was visible trudging toward the battered form of the Nimbus.

'Approaching the Nimbus,' she said over the commlink, 'No sign of movement.'

John looked over his shoulder at the captain, she was riveted to the screen and seemed to be holding her breath. He turned back to the display.

Ise was standing next to the fighter now. She had bent over and knelt on the ground. With one of her hands braced on a wing, she knocked on the cockpit canopy. She seemed to be looking at something. She made a gesture with her hand and then stood back up.

'Dan's alive. He was just resting. His communication system was damaged.'

John heard Sam exhale and say, 'How is he doing?'

'Cognitive, but shaken. I will see if I can free him,' Ise replied.

'Do you need a hand?' Sam asked.

'No Captain.'

John watched as Ise walked to the back of the ship. She gripped the sides of the engine housing and heaved. The ship wobbled, and then rolled back upright, throwing up a cloud of dust that obscured the camera feed.

'Captain, I've got an odd reading on my sensors,' Victor said.

John checked his scopes. No sign of a ship. Not sure what Victor was seeing, he said, 'I got nothing on my scope Vick.'

Victor looked up from his console, 'It's not a ship, but there's something artificial out there. About forty klicks away on the planet's surface.'

'We'll investigate it later, right now we've got to get Dan back,' Sam said, 'Ise, what's your status, we've lost sight of you in the dust cloud.'

'The ship is upright, but Dan seems unable to break open the canopy. The weight must have jammed it,' came Ise's voice.

'Suggestions?' Sam asked.

'I don't think we're getting the Nimbus back Captain. She should just rip the canopy off.' John offered.

'You hear that Ise?'

'Loud and clear. I had the same thought.'

The dust was settling, and they could see Ise standing on the far side of the ship. She seemed to give Dan hand signs. After a minute of this, she got a grip on something out of sight, and with clear effort, pulled. Nothing seemed to happen, but then it cracked open. She repositioned and got a grip on the edge of the canopy and pulled at it again. This time the canopy came clean off of the ship. She threw the canopy aside.

'I'm getting Dan now.'

John watched as she reached into the cockpit and got a hold of Dan. Dan wrapped his arms around her as she lifted him away from the jagged edges left by the torn off canopy.

She pulled him out and walked around the ship. She started toward the Kanto.

'I am returning to the ship. If you'd be so kind as to land this time, I'll bring Dan aboard.'

'John?'

'Aye Captain, landing the ship.'

John started his descent, landing struts deploying from the bottom of the ship.

They watched the camera feed as Ise walked up the ramp and into the ship. She hit a button, and the ramp closed.

'Pilot recovered,' she said.

'John, take us up.'

'Yes Ma'am.' John grabbed his flight stick and activated the engines, and the Kanto leapt from the surface like a grasshopper. Soon they were high above the planet again.

'Now then, what was that about the strange readings you saw Vick?'

***

Ise carried Daniel into the small hold that was the ship’s medical room. There was one table and myriad of equipment. She laid Daniel down on the bed and took off his helmet.

'Lenny?'

'Yes, Advocate?'

'Run medical scans on Daniel Higgins.'

'Yes, Advocate.'

The equipment in the room came to life and moved over Daniel's body like the legs of a spider. They folded out from the walls, long tendrils of white metal, each with a different piece of equipment on the end. A few of them hung back, in standby mode, while the rest of the arms worked their way over his body. His chest moved with shallow breaths, and he was clearly in pain.

'The ship?' Ise heard him whisper.

'The ship is fine, Lieutenant. You did your job well. Now rest, we'll take care of you.'

He nodded the tiniest bit.

The arms danced for a little while longer before folding away from the bed and hanging at the ready.

'Scan is complete. Compound Fracture, Femur, left side. Cracked ribs, third and fourth ribs, left side, fourth rib, right side. Concussion detected. Internal bleeding detected. Recommend immediate medical evacuation.'

'Begin triage and stabilization procedures. What is the probability of stabilization?'

'Eighty-nine percent. Mobility will be greatly impaired until proper medical attention can be obtained. There is a possibility of further injury if left untreated.'

'Acknowledged. Begin treatment.'

'Yes, Advocate.'

Ise watched as the arms moved into position again. One of them injected Daniel with anesthesia, and the others got to work, holding him in place, setting bones, applying spray-on bracing for the leg, and treating him as best as it could.

Ise turned and left the cramped room and entered the bridge.

The others were talking. They stopped when Ise entered. Sam looked at her and asked, 'How's Lt Higgins?'

Ise bit her lip, 'He's not doing well. He's got a broken leg, broken ribs, internal bleeding, and a concussion. Lenny is working on him now. There's a high chance he'll be stable, but we'll need to get him some proper medical attention soon.'

Samantha looked thoughtful, 'We might have an interesting situation. Victor, why don't you tell Ise what you've found?'

Victor hit keys on his console, and an image of the distinct three-point scaffold array of a faster than light communication system, sitting on the surface of the planet, came on display, 'I discovered the source of the strange readings from before. There seems to be an FTL signaler on the planet's surface.'

'How does this help us?' Ise asked.

'There's more,' Victor hit another key. This time the image of a sensor array showed up, 'this is where the sensor ping that hit us and the Lobsters came from. Whatever is on this planet is currently active.'

'We are here looking for a Lobster base.' Ise pointed out.

'Yes, and that was my thought too, that maybe we had just happened to find what we were looking for. But then I found this, about four kilometres away from the sensor array,' Victor hit a button, and a new image came on screen. It was a building, a squat and narrow shack with double doors on the front and a sloping roof that seemed to vanish into the surface of the planetoid, 'And there's this,' he keyed another command causing the view to switch, and a circular patch of metallic material was visible on the surface.

'The circle is probably the entrance to some hanger or something, and the building is probably an man entrance. It looks a little too obvious to be a Lobster base though,’ Ise commented.

'That is because it probably isn't. The Linkal aren't known to be this obvious. Plus, they don't have FTL signalers of their own. What's more, as I ran a scan on the sensor array and the FTL signaler I realized something strange. I recognize them. The signaler is an obsolete model that hasn't been in use since my days in school twenty years ago, and the sensor array is only slightly more modern. The array should finish it, but throw in the signaler, and there's no chance this is a lobster base.'

Ise frowned.

'Lenny, confirm analysis?' Ise asked her Guardian over the uplink.

'Confirmed Advocate. The FTL signaler and sensor array are in my data banks. Would you care for further information?'

'Yes.'

'The FTL signaler was used by the U.P.N. logistics corps bulk freighters before being phased out by new designs allowing for greater bandwidth.

‘That sensor array was part of an older model U.P.N. scout ship, much like the Kanto. Its old though not obsolete yet, many ships still use the same array within the fleet. However, they are limited to core sector patrol flotillas.'

'Theorize, how did these come to be here?'

'Insufficient data to construct theory. Suggest closer examination of FTL signaler. That signaler has serial numbers on a plate beneath the control box at the base of the transmission towers.'

'Lenny agrees, the signaler and sensor array are both on record. He says if we examine the signaler we'll be able to find a serial number on it and he can use that to identify where it came from and why it's here.' Ise said.

Samantha nodded. 'This still doesn't get Dan his medical attention.'

'Captain, if there are humans here, they've probably got medical supplies we could use.' Victor offered.

'I'd have to recommend against that Captain, if this isn't on any of our charts, and command dispatched us to check it out, I can't think of it as anything friendly. It'll either be Pirates or the Anti-A.I. League,’ John said.

Samantha sat back in her seat, 'Open a channel on all human military and civilian channels, short range only. Focus on the array.'

Victor nodded, 'Aye captain, channel open.'

'This is the U.P.N. Kanto calling unidentified human installation. We are in need of medical assistance. We also offer a warning, a Linkal ship has been spotted in the area and is to be assumed as hostile,' Sam said, using the Lobsters official name, 'We have forced it to retreat for now, but this area will probably be swarming with Linkal ships before long. Please respond.'

The crew waited in silence. Nothing but static came over the channel.

'Cut the channel.' Sam said.

'Channel closed.'

'Ise, how's Lt Higgins?' Sam asked.

'Lenny, give me a status update on Lt Higgins.'

'Yes, Advocate. Lt Higgin's stabilization procedure completed. Lt Higgins condition is stable. Limited mobility will be possible in an hour though not recommended. Further medical attention recommended though is not immediately necessary.'

'Thank you, Lenny.'

'You are welcome Advocate.'

'Lt Higgins is stable. He'll be able to move in an hour. Lenny says he still needs further medical attention, but he's out of danger for now. I wouldn't recommend getting him into any fights.'

Samantha nodded again, 'There's still the matter of the lobster fighter somewhere out there. If we try to move away from the planet to make a jump, and it gets on our tail, we'll have a bad time of it. If he's still stuck on the surface, we can make sure he stays grounded. Victor, scan for its crash site. John set a course in the last known direction of the fighter. Let's be quick people.'

'Yes Ma'am,' Victor said.

'Aye Aye skipper,' John said.