CHAPTER 17 - DECELERATION

DATE POINT: MARCH 25TH, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

CAPTAIN HENRY O’TOOLE

Henry looked across the CIC at the people assembled around him and smiled and gestured toward the officer of the watch, who nodded then spoke.

“All sections chiefs report ready, Captain.”

Henry nodded and then opened a Q-Comm line to the Fist of the Argonauts.

“Fist of the Argonauts, the Indomitable Will stands ready to synchronize reorientation and deceleration procedures. How is your status, are you ready?”

“Fist of the Argonauts is reporting status ready and awaiting orders, Captain.”

“Fleetwide directive, prepare for reorientation and deceleration beginning in T minus thirty seconds.” No sooner had Henry finished speaking than Paul strode into the CIC.

“Oh good, you’re here right on time. I’d hold on if I were you.” Henry said with a smirk.

“Fleetwide Directive, begin reorientation and deceleration procedures now. Lock in one point two-five gees deceleration when complete.”

Paul looked pale as he gripped the rail in front of him. Here in the CIC, they were still under the beneficial effects of the TK fields that worked to counter the extremes of inertia that would be felt throughout the rest of the ship. Nonetheless, the fields simply minimized the titanic forces, and acted to calm them. Henry felt his magnetic boots activate and he instinctively lowered his center of gravity as he calmly rode out the swinging change in forces. The ship finally completed its flip about, creating a short pause of floating microgravity before they were all sucked down against the deck as the TK field used for deceleration kicked in.

“Hey Paul, you aren’t looking so good man. You feeling sick?” Jenkins asked, staring at Paul in concern.

“Its my head, I've had a migraine brewing since this morning. Don’t worry about it.” Paul said, waving off the concern.

“This morning, you mean like ever since we entered the inside boundary of the heliopause?” Jenkins asked with arms folded.

“What are you implying?” Henry asked.

“Both him and Ariana are nursing low key migraines since we passed the inner wall of the heliopause, and both are waving them off and acting like its nothing.” Jenkins said flatly.

“Is this true, Paul?” Henry asked.

“He’s right about the timing but it has to be coincidence.” Paul said while mouthing something that looked like “keep secret”.

Henry rolled his eyes. “Jenkins, for the last time the crew are being superstitious about the heliopause being dangerous. Dr Rousseau has confirmed it's not dangerous, and since we are clearly not being roasted alive by cosmic rays in the past eight hours I’d say he is right. It’s no coincidence that the same people selling this line are the same ones we have already warned to stop calling the voyage cursed after turbo over here failed to break the bottle on the bow.”

“Hey! We’ve been over that!” Paul stood in sudden anger before his eyes bulged out and he looked pale and scared. His nose was bleeding, and a single teardrop of blood fell from his eye.

Henry stared, confused for just a moment before a pulsing, burning pain formed in the center of Henry’s brain, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut to try and manage against the onslaught. As quickly as it arose, the pain slackened to a dull throb, and Henry reopened his eyes along with the others that he could see around him. Groans and curses filled the room adding to a high pitched sound that only now had come into focus.

Paul stumbled away from the railing, screaming, his face contorted in pain. He then turned, puked on the floor, and fell to the ground in a convulsive mess. Jenkins leapt back before looking up at Henry in fear.

“I’ll go find Ariana!” He yelled out, Henry nodded and turned.

“Get me a doctor, you two, roll him over and keep his airway clear! Let’s get this mess cleaned up!”

A flurry of action began and a pair of forward-assigned hospitalmen burst into action by detaching from the wall and activating a hover gurney, which Paul was soon strapped to.

“Make sure you keep his head cool!” Henry yelled after their retreating forms. He then turned to the rest of the CIC.

“Get me another radiation hazard report,” Henry said as he began to browse the automated reports he had access to.

”Looks like the ox levels are good… no abnormalities in the air and life support system report. What the hell?” Henry began to trail off as the list of possible causes dwindled as he looked through his quick status checks on his screen.

“Radiation levels remain elevated outside of the ship, we are about halfway through the thickest radiation belt, but the outer hull shielding and layers of steel have been successful so far at keeping radiation levels inside the core of the ship at relatively safe margins.”

“Nothing else looks anomalous over here Captain.”

“Alright, thank you all. Keep looking for anything strange.” Henry replied.

An alert popped up on his screen, Jenkins was requesting a comm line.

“Captain, I found her. Ariana was passed out, just like Paul in the hallway by her room. I called the hospital before you, and help is on the way. So far it seems they are the only two affected like this, but they are getting swamped with calls about migraines from across the ship, so we had to keep the call short.”

“Just like in the CIC, strange. We just ruled out radiation or life support issues as the culprit. Keep an eye on Paul and Ariana for me. Comm me the moment there’s a major update.”

“Aye, Captain.” The comms link closed on his personal display. He then opened a comm to the Fist of the Argonauts.

“Fist of the Argonauts this is the Indomitable Will, do you read me?”

“Aye Captain, loud and clear.”

“Did any of you experience a short but intense spike of mental pain?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, we were actually getting ready to ask you all about it. Environmental levels are within safe limits, rads okay, nothing wrong with the scrubbers. We got nothing. Do you have any answers?”

“We also have nothing as of yet. Hey, listen… I know you all have an empath in your marine squad, you should check on them. Our telekinetics had it ten times worse than we did for some reason.”

“Stand by Captain…” Henry sat back, hoping for good news.

“Got an unread report here from med bay, he had a nasty migraine. He’s on ice right now bringing it down. Doc says he’ll live, good. Looks like we caught him right away. Thanks for the tip off though.”

“Good, you’re welcome. How is your status?” Henry replied..

“All system reads are nominal, and the Fist of the Argonauts stands ready and awaiting orders, sir.”

“Carry on with your existing orders, Commander. Keep me apprised of any changes, or if anything at all out of the ordinary happens.”

“Wilco, Fist of the Argonauts out.” Henry sighed; their crew were rock solid, dependable, he didn’t have to worry so much about them. He turned to look at the rather more chaotic scene in his own CIC where two dozen voices all vied to out-talk one another.

“Captain, is Paul going to die?” “My nose won’t stop bleeding!” “Pinch it and put your head back dude!” “That was a sign from the universe that we’ve gone too far! We need to go back!” “Calm down you morons!” “Let the Captain speak!” “Captain, what’s going on!?” “Are we going to be okay?!”

“ENOUGH!” Henry boomed. “Something just happened that clearly affected all of us right now. Something mysterious that may well be benign in the grand scheme of things. The worst anyone has felt was a headache, Paul and Ariana will be alright. We will all be alright.”

“Ariana was affected like Paul?” “Those freaks, figures.” “Am I going to get cancer or something now?” “We’re all probably going to get cancer just by our daily dose of radiation out here.” “All this steel around us blocks that out dumbass!” “Is it going to happen again?” “Can we go home?” “We’re never going home, don’t you get it yet?” “We’re all dying out here.” “You, maybe, I plan to live.”

Henry had enough, and he cut them all off, fearing a similar panic spiral may be starting elsewhere, too. A series of alarming thoughts spurred him to action.

“Fleetwide directive, All hands, this is your captain speaking. We just experienced a shared headache to varying degrees, there is a lot we do not yet know including the cause. What we do know is that there are a lot of people out there working dangerous jobs in small spaces that we need to check on urgently. Officers are to immediately organize a headcount, and search parties to find anyone missing. We know this was not radiation related, nor was it related to life support issues, nor is there anything wrong with the ship. We will have out best minds here and at home working on a cause, but in the meantime stay calm and focused on verifying the mutual safety and general health status of those around you. Right now, it is time for us to rise to the better part of our natures and make sure we are all safe. The CIC and I will check in with you when we know more, and in the near future to see to it that your needs are met."

Henry then looked to the now silent crowd in the CIC before he continued speaking to the crew.

“Right now, there are people who may have fallen or injured themselves that could need help. What we don’t need is people creating a panic through overly indulging their imaginations. The best thing we can do for them is to calmly do our jobs here and to be the rock to calm the nerves of those around us and elsewhere that may be panicking while we help those in immediate danger. We will face any threats and defeat any foes so long as we can keep that core of unity and calm within us, and aggressively take action to solve the problem that is in front of us. The truest, best part of the human spirit shows itself in moments like these. Now to those able, go and make us proud, and if you are trapped or in need of aid. know that help is on the way.” Henry closed the comms, hoping he had done and said the right things.

“Aye Captain! You heard him, back to work!” the officer of the watch called out.

Henry chuckled as everyone turned back to their stations and the chatter seemed to finally revert back to a more normal level as people returned to their jobs. Henry then opened a comms request to Chantal. He heard a tone ringing, but a lack of an answer began to gnaw at him. He dialed her again to no avail. He stowed his frustration and concern and remembered his duties to the crew at large and that he could delegate.

“Comms, I want you to try and raise C.L.A.P.P.E.R control, hell, lets get a medical team up there pre-emptively while we are at it.”

“Aye Captain! Connecting C.L.A.P.P.E.R control.”

“C.L.A.P.P.E.R control this is Captain O’Toole, how are things going up there, any injuries? How is the head count coming?”

“Good so far, just a few people that are having some secondary migraines start, but both of them already had a history of them so its not surprising. Nobody seems to be missing.”

“Have you seen Chantal? She isn’t answering her private line and she was on her way over to C.L.A.P.P.E.R control before the mass headache hit. Can you assign some people to look for her? I have a medical team heading up the spinal cargo lift to come check everyone out as we speak just in case.” Henry replied.

“No sir, nobody here seems to have seen her either, you’re on speaker by the way. You four, split up and find Chantal. This medical team you mentioned, will they be bringing pain killers?”

“Yeah,” Henry laughed, “those hover gurneys have half a pharmacy stocked in them.”

“That’s good, I can see some relieved faces already. We’ll find her Captain, don’t worry.”

“Good, let me know if there is anything I can do for you up there.”

“Thanks for checking in Captain, out.” Henry motioned to cut the feed.

“Comms, at your terminal I want you to check in with the remaining sectional commands and get a list together of their needs and of any injuries and how their head count is faring. I have to check in with the hospital.”

Henry opened a comm line and tried to reach Chantal’s direct line one last time and got nothing. Frustrated, but refusing to panic, he pivoted his attention to the next action item he could take care of. His hospitalmen would have their hands full by now, so it was best to not bother them. He grit his teeth, then called Jenkins who then picked up right away.

“How are things looking down there?” Henry asked.

“Bit of a mess down here, one person got their hand crushed by a falling crate, two people outright died to an aneurism or something, docs aren’t sure yet. Paul is out cold still laying on an ice pack. Ariana is… actually sitting up now, hang on I’m taking you to her.”

“Preston? What the hell happened?” Ariana sounded groggy.

“Easy, I have the Captain here with me on speaker. I’ll let him explain.”

“Ariana, glad to hear you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Like sunshine and rainbows, sir. Now can you tell me what happened?” Ariana asked with an edge to her voice.

“Approximately fifteen minutes ago, everyone onboard the Indomitable Will and the Fist of the Argonauts simultaneously experienced migraines of varying severity. It appears those with powers got hit harder. We’ve eliminated the obvious explanations but are just beginning to look into things.” Henry began before Jenkins jumped in.

“I think it has to do with the heliopause, you and Paul both were complaining of a brewing headache all day since we crossed over the boundary, and it spiked right as we passed the peak concentration of energized particles from the interstellar medium a few hours later. Bet you money on it that I’m right.”

“Can’t prove it right now Preston, but you may very well be right. Paul and I have a sort of mass sense that is intertwined with our telekinesis, I think we likely got hit by some kind of feedback and also why we got hit harder by the experience. His mass senses were always more sensitive than mine. You said it was simultaneous?” Ariana added in.

“Yeah, including on the Fist of the Argonauts. Whatever it was that came over us affected them the same way.” Henry replied.

“Whatever it was we will need to be wary of it whenever we cross stellar boundaries in the future.” Ariana said in a grim tone.

"There’s a big problem. What if we can’t shield against it? Paul, or you might not make it next time!” Jenkins cried out.

“I’ll be fine, Preston, you’re sweet, but I don’t need you worrying after me. Anyway, we can’t shield against something when we don’t even know what caused it to begin with.” Ariana said, shutting down argument.

“Right. So, the mission continues, the risk be damned?!” Jenkins asked slightly angrily.

“The mission continues.” Henry replied solemnly.

“Don’t look so glum Preston. You get to adventure and go to the ends of the universe, see amazing things, and you get to do it all with me. How very lucky you are. I am carrying the risk, and Paul, why would you care?”

Henry barely stifled his laugh as Jenkins stammered his way through half a response before Henry saved him. Best to step in before the poor sod began to get ideas.

“Alright already, leave the poor boy alone. Glad to see you alert and aware, if you need anything don’t suffer in silence, reach out, alright? Also, let me know when Paul wakes up.”

“Will do, Captain.” Ariana replied right before Henry closed the comms window. Henry focused his attention to the list of new notifications and started with a review of the damage control report as well as the individual casualty reports. Anything he could dig into and stay productive, on top of the situation he did, trusting his people to come through for him.

“Captain! We got word back from the medical team dispatched to C.L.A.P.P.E.R control.”

“Perfect, patch them through.”

“Captain, we found her at the bottom of the quick lift in the port side C.L.A.P.P.E.R. She must have taken a nasty fall after getting hit with her migraine near the top. She’s suffered some head trauma, a probable broken arm, and we have her neck braced. We have her en route to the spinal cargo elevator now. She’s in good hands, Captain, and she should recover just fine.”

“Thank god and thank you for finding her! Pass word along that I will come visit the hospital as soon as the situation stabilizes a bit.” A wave of relief washed over Henry, the crew seemed to be rising to the occasion all over, everywhere he checked. It was almost enough to get a bit optimistic. What if this was the warning the entity had been trying to deliver? Are we in the clear from here with a headache when we pass the heliopause of any system they travel to the prime risk?

Henry smiled, the war had now entered a new phase, once they had the first asteroid colony set up and self-sufficient with a drone mining operation and vertical farms, they could return to begin supply runs and expand the network to other systems. Secret, quiet, exponentially growing. In-system FTL travel would be a huge benefit to the war effort once the technology could be released to the Republic for sale to the Navy. Their first real chance in the war, and at expansion into the galaxy and it all starts with their Inversion drive. Henry snapped himself out of it, there was work yet to do.

“Comms, how are the check ins looking so far?” Henry called out.

“I have one last section chief to check in with, but so far we have three dead and seven injured, one person still un-accounted for in the electrical passageways.” An involuntary shiver went down Henry’s spine before he actively quelled the feeling. “Of course, an active search for them is in progress. I really hope they got the last of the traps out of there.” “Oh god, why would you say that man?” “You jinxed it!”

“Enough people, act like the adults you are, please! Thank you and carry on with your duties.” Harry’s attention turned to the hospital. He opened the comms app and called Alvarez.

“Commander Alvarez, what is your status? Where are you right now?”

“Good timing on the call, Captain, thank you for the intercom address, it helped calm things quite a bit down here. I was visiting reactor control and engineering when we got hit by the migraines. I helped organize the local head count and we have started a search for a young woman last reported to have been working in the tunnels on a filter replacement and air quality sensor cleaning maintenance work order.”

“Hope you find her alright, say, how sure are we that we got all of Reese’s traps?”

“I had my smallest marines playing tunnel rat to check every inch of that maze in shifts with a real steak dinner as the prize for finding an IED or trap. None of the vat-grown mystery meat for them, once the first trap was found and the first steak defrosted and eaten, it became a frenzied search top to bottom. Those tunnels are clean, don’t worry. We are worried she may have fallen into the tertiary fan unit with the filter housing removed. Thankfully the service procedure calls for the fan to be turned off, but if she is in there she will need to be rescued. I should have confirmation any moment now.”

“Very well, carry on. All is mostly well with the rest of the ship, as most people shrugged the headache off no problem. We have three dead and seven injured. Karst and Ariana got hit harder, something to do with their powers, and… Chantal slipped and fell down the quick lift shaft. She broke an arm and is unconscious with head trauma.”

“My god, Henry… Listen, I can set someone up in charge back here to finish up, now that there is a plan in place they just gotta get everyone to stick to it. Plenty of junior officers down here hungry for a chance to prove themselves. You need to get down to the hospital, I can take the CIC while you do that and coordinate the rest of the sectional check ins and relief efforts from there.” Alvarez replied sternly.

“Fair enough, it should help morale down there at least.” Henry replied.

“It should. I’ll be there in five minutes.” The comm closed and Henry felt some relief. They weren’t out of the woods yet, but with some luck they would make it through just fine. They had to, the importance of their mission demanded nothing less.

MEANWHILE…

DATE POINT: MARCH 25TH, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

LIEUTENANT PAUL KARST

Paul floated peacefully down the river feasting his eyes upon the immeasurable sea of starlight around him. The swirls of galaxies and gas clouds brought vibrancy to this place. To his sides, the land was engulfed in flames, or perhaps was made entirely of dancing fire. There was no sound at all in the airless void, nor did Paul feel the need to breathe, the first clue that began to wake his logical faculties to the oddity of his predicament.

“Where am I?” Paul thought

“You are in a deep recuperative dreamlike state induced by your organic brain in an emergency effort to save itself from rapid overheating.”

Something answered.

“Who are you?”

“Our name is of no consequence. We have been watching you, and believe you are the one most likely to help us.”

“You’re that entity that possessed Reese, aren’t you?”

“Indeed, we have recovered enough to contact you while your mental shield was down.”

“Very well, I remember you had an offer of advanced knowledge in exchange for a body. Can I assume this offer will be similar to that?”

“My, but are you a perceptive one. We do desire a body, for the taste of fleshly pleasures is a rare treat for our kind. Tastes, smells, experiences on the other side of the spacetime veil, carnal contact, we hunger for such things.”

“How the hell can I help you find a body?”

“We require one of weak will to be dominated to let us in, or a willing partner to share their body. Finding one brain dead with working neural connectivity and maintaining physiological functionality is a preference, but such a host form is difficult to the point of absurdity to acquire.”

“I don’t have the first one, or the second one, and I doubt we have a third option, so you are shit out of luck.”

“We had an offer for you, specifically, and you alone. We desire not control of your flesh; we desire in fact for knowledge of our pact to be kept in the strictest confidence. We will offer you wisdom when you need it, additional senses and insight, and some limited assistance in combat should we have stored enough excess energy. The more powerful emotions you can be in the vicinity of during their release, the more energy we can absorb for use in combat.”

“I hope you know that I know the secret to exorcising you.”

“We are well aware.”

“Then you have yourself a deal. Nobody will ever know. I will not bow one inch to mental control, so long as we keep this an even partnership we have a deal.”

“We never go back on our word. The deal is struck. Open your mind to us.”

Paul’s body jerked on its bed as he felt his blood run cold and his consciousness expand.

“There may be some pain in integration, but this bridge is essential, this will be the only time we will be required to rewire your synaptic pathways and the process takes time…and energy. Be not surprised at our silence, the greater your energy harvest, the faster our integration. Unlike before, we have no great reserve to draw upon. Thank you, have patience with us, and we will mind the terms of the pact.”

After a moment, the burning headache subsided, and Paul released the deep breath he had been holding as he opened his eyes.

“You’re awake!” Jenkins called out. Paul groggily rubbed his eyes. Was that real or a dream? Nothing seemed to be answering, so he left the topic a mystery as he examined the room to get his bearings.

Ariana was there, so was Jenkins, of course. Henry was fussing over Chantal, who was awake and sitting up with a bandaged head and her arm in a sling. He could see there were three lit up refrigerated morgue units through the door.

“What the hell happened?” Paul asked, his headache seemed to be coming back. Jenkins looked sheepishly over at Ariana who shook her head and rolled her eyes before she spoke.

“About an hour ago every person on both the Indomitable Will and the Fist of the Argonauts experienced a short burst of searing mental pain at the same time including you. Because of our NPCS and our mass senses, it appears we had a progressively more intense migraine. It is likely we are going to have to deal with this every time we cross a solar system heliopause boundary.”

“Well, fuck me specifically then. My head still hurts! I’ll live though, if this is the price of exploration I’ll just dose up before we pass the boundary and ride some firehose euphoria instead."

"How they ever picked you to be my handler is beyond me sometimes!” Ariana spat. She towered over him, storms written on her face and her arms crossed.

“Send Henry over here, will you? I need to talk to him, alone.” Paul asked. Jenkins and Ariana nodded and moved over to fetch Henry for him. Henry nodded and walked over to Paul, who checked to make sure they were out of earshot of others.

“Glad to see you awake, I was almost about to get worried about you.” Henry laughed.

“Harder to kill me than that, you’ll find! Anyway…” Paul motioned for Henry to get closer. “About these headaches, I think this might have been what the entity was trying to warn us about. Also, there was something else about the entity… shit now what was it...?” A sharp pain tore through Paul’s mind. There was something about the entity, something I need to remember…

“I think you are right on the money, I had the same thought myself. What else did you want to say about it?” Henry asked, whispering just like Paul had. Paul shook his head, unable for the life of him to retrieve the information.

“Nothing, I can’t remember it, anyway. I’m gonna rest a bit, let you know if I remember it later.” Paul said, grabbing a fresh ice pack from a wall cooler to his side. Brain boil recovery is the worst.

“Fair enough, Paul, get some rest, you have earned it. Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. I’m going to make another round to talk again with the rest of the injured before I head back up to the CIC.” Paul nodded, and then popped a couple of pills that had been laid out for him to dull the pain.

“Cool, you do that.” Paul replied flatly as he opened a fridge door in the wall to his side and rummaged about until he found a fresh ice pack. Paul heard Henry harrumph behind him and walk away in heavy stomps.

With a smile, Paul wrapped the ice pack in a cloth and applied it to his forehead as he stretched and found the perfect comfortable spot to rest. Oh well, whatever it was, I’m sure I will remember it if its important.