Horsing Around in 13 Orionis
03 Jan 2024Edwore Golores
The battered hull of the TFS Visucius limped into view of Underwood Port, its frame shift drive sputtering after our harrowing escape from the Thargoid attack in Mahlina. While relief washed over me at the sight of civilization, unease settled in my core. Two of our refugee passengers carried hefty bounties, and our damaged ship demanded scrutiny we could not afford.I requested no passenger manifest upon boarding in Mahlina, urgency our priority over procedure. But low fuel warnings now blared, refueling unavoidable. Two choices lay before me: admit negligence, report our fugitives and probably get our ship impounded, or fall back to the smuggling skills my first officer and I had honed in Eranin half a lifetime ago. Duty to my passengers (and the will to keep my pilot license) left me just one path.
Patching into Traffic Control, I projected pure calm. "Visucius to Underwood Control, requesting docking and priority repairs. Attacked by Thargoids in Mahlina. We carry 136 souls destined for rescue megaship in Haritanis, some injured".
"Acknoledge Visucius. Are you declaring emergency? Do you carry hazardous cargo?" My knuckles whitened on the controls. Two faces flashed in my mind - no, their bounties posed the sole threat. "Negative on both".
Clearance arrived to continue approach at reduced speed for a full scan. Apprehension gripped me as a lone security force Eagle closed in from behind. First Officer Heath grinned, "Time for another Eranin run, cap". I nodded, silently praying our muscle memory and wits were still as fresh as his optimism.
The sensor panel chimed: SCAN DETECTED.
"Now!", I cycled the engines as Heath rebooted comms and dropped shields. Silent running... seconds ticked by as our ship's core temperature spiked.
"Visucius, respond! You've vanished from our scopes". A second scan attempt started and we repeated our rehearsed systems failure". Temperature alarms started flashing on our instrument panel. "I always loved this part, cap" Heath beamed.
I did not feel as enthusiastic. Memories of a life lived long ago, running illicit drugs and aid to Azeban, replayed in my mind's eye as the radio now stayed silent for a brief eternity.
Finally: "Visucius, our security team reports issues scanning and visible damage near your aft comms array. Continue to pad 38. Report for manual manifest audit once docked".
"Manual audit my supple ass cheeks", Heath protested. As we re-engaged power and cooling, he began to address the controller directly: "Underwood, this is the Visucius... uh... xeno-containment officer. We welcome your audit team upon docking. Note that as a Federation vessel leaving Thargoid space, we are required to follow FSO containment Protocol 27-989. Please confirm hangar 38 is 989-12 compliant"?
A long radio silence. 1000 meters to touchdown. Heath persisted: "Underwood, confirm 989-12 compliance or redirect? We can hold inside the mail slot while you prep the FB-67". Hold, in the mail slot? Is he mad? A long line of vessels was already forming behind us.
Now the controller came back, "Visucius, cancel that and proceed direct to pad. We are waiving inspection. No compliant hangars available at this time. Cleared to land, pad 38"
Miraculously, that seemed to do the trick and it was smooth sailing from there on out, all the way back to Haritanis.
That night, as the crew was enjoying some R&R at the Yamazaki's Falls bar, curiosity got the better of me. "How the hell did you know they didn't have a 989 compliant hangar today"?
He grins. "Did you even read this regulation 989-12"?
I started typing the query into my datapad. "I'm not really one for wading through legalese, you know. More of a get it done, and get out kinda person".
"I guess that makes two of you today, then", as he swirled the brandy in his glass with exaggerated smugness.
My datapad chimed with one result. I sat there staring at the heading in disbelief for a moment. FSO Code 27-989 Section 12: Processing Equine Semen for Cooled Transport
"To not reading", Heath raised his glass my way.
I felt a smile cracking and raised my glass too "And to the horses. May their liquids and our drinks stay perfectly chilled"!