Rescue Challenges
06 Jun 2023Ryuko Ntsikana
Rescue Challenges
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The Orca had weapon mounting points, but I never found the need to include them. She did have a reconnaissance vehicle hangar installed. This allowed me the freedom to explore whatever suitable planetary surface I cared to visit.
Making a profit in two directions was always a good policy when the opportunity arose. Like the side of a coin, there was more than one side. This same applied to profit. It took different forms, depending on how you viewed it. In this case, it was raw materials and coded data. Useful when you wanted to upgrade or engineer anything.
Being on the rim of human-inhabited space had its pros and cons. One of the advantages was the lack of traffic, making the resources abundant. The con was in the event of trouble. The same lack of traffic meant that help might not be available.
Sometimes the stars align. This was the case of a returning mining exploration ship. They had run into some difficulty, just a shade under five hundred light years distant. At that range, their transmission would be a minor background anomaly at best. A regular ship’s sensors would never detect it. A capital ship, with its far large receivers, could.
Fortunately for them that my carrier had detected the signal, which was analyzed by the ship’s AI, then triangulated to the system of origin. Avery notified Rex, who in turn notified me. Had the ship determined to ignore the background anomaly, the chances for rescue would be astronomically stacked against them.
My Orca was the perfect ship for such an adventure. She could sustain herself across the breadth of the Milky Way if so desired. In dwarf regions, where refueling might not be an option for some distance, she could go almost a thousand light years, before needing to refuel from larger star classes.
Topping up my tanks from the local star, I plotted a route to the system of the signal's origin, making sure I would be in the range of at least two appropriate stars for refueling. This would give me a chance to top up once again, upon arrival, and if needed, on departure. I wanted to go in with full fuel, for those “just in case” moments, that fate liked to toss on the path.
The trip to the system lasted less than an hour. Scanning the system took less than five minutes. The planet of the signal’s origin was far removed from the system’s main host star. The voyage to their location would take longer than the trip to the system itself.
By the outward appearance, they were traveling back from the Veil Nebula region. That placed their source a shade over two thousand light years. When I worked for the Federation, I had been part of a team that went on a service call out there once. It took our pilot fifty jumps to get out there, and fifty to get back.
The repairs were minor, for those traveling in densely packed human-inhabited space. Out in the middle of nowhere, minor issues quickly became terminal.
Halfway to the moon, I began to notice the waveform of the signal began to separate indicating more than one. By the time I had reached the moon itself, I noted that it contained a pristine mineral-rich ring around it. The downside was that its gravity was 2.6 times normal, and there were active volcanism sites. On its surface were three distinct signals. Each site was separated from the other by a respectable distance.
Launching a series of probes, I began to map the surface and isolate the signals below. The data being sent back indicated a series of expected debris fields and the total number of pods. Fortunately, there were only 20. My Orca could hold 48, so no one would be left behind. Of the three sites, one was located in an active volcanism zone.
I sent a message back to Rex, letting him know what I had discovered and what my intentions were. I marked the coordinates for each site. There was one on the moon’s lighted side and two on the dark side. One of the two on the dark side was near an active volcanism site. This would be my first stop, as it held the most hazard to the survivors.
The Orca was a large heavy ship, but her passenger-centric design afforded her above-average thrusters, which would make my job of getting safely on the surface, that much easier. I would still need to watch my approach and be cautious when approaching. It wouldn’t do anyone any good if I ended up needing to be rescued myself.
A trick I've learned when descending with large ships onto bodies with higher gravity is to utilize the landing gear and cargo bay doors. By opening either or both of them, the flight management computer can regulate the ship's velocity, limiting engine output and preventing boosting while still allowing full thruster controls.
Finding a suitable landing area on a surface covered in active volcanic vents proved to be a challenge. It was crucial to avoid landing on top of one, as it wouldn't make for a pleasant start to the work day. While landing further away was an option, it came with a catch. If the distance exceeded 2 kilometers, the ship's hardcoded anti-theft hardware would activate, sending it into a low stationary holding orbit.
Although the flight computer was efficient and had redundancies to prevent gate errors, it struggled with landings in higher gravity. Many skilled mechanics and software engineers had attempted to mitigate this performance feature, but their efforts proved unsuccessful. While the ship could still touch down, it often resulted in a harder landing than desired. To circumvent this issue, I had to ensure that I remained within the acceptable range, preventing the ship from launching on its own.
Fortunately, I managed to locate a reasonably safe area, despite the rough terrain. It provided stability for the ship without placing it over any active fissures or vents. The clearance underneath allowed me to raise and lower my Scarab ground vehicle, as well as access the further aft cargo system to gather and store the escape pods I would be returning with.
Suiting up, I made my way to the vehicle bay and strapped in for what promised to be an exciting time. Due to the gravity, I wanted to get these people rescued as quickly as possible. While my design could withstand the increased gravity for longer than a full human body, I didn’t want to overdo it.