The Tudrussel Platform [closed]
OOC: If you're not on Manium, and not invited by me, please do not post here.
IC:
The Tudrussel Platform looked more like a sandwich then anything else. The thick metal plates of its “upper and lower” working areas were mostly featureless for the moment; the modular living areas, science labs, and six hangers – four to house twelve Dostanuot Loj designed YF-100 Glaive Interceptors, one for emergency shuttles, and one still empty - were set between the thick armored plates. More would be slid between or added externally as projects called for them.
For now, the Tudrussel Platform was happy to be alive. A new QPNR-6 Reactor unit had been installed days ago, and the malfunctioning QPNR-5 it replaced had been taken aboard the Seymour reentry vehicle slated for staff exchange. For now, Tudrussel would carry more then a normal compliment, but getting the leaky and unstable reactor clear of the station was priority.
Dr Melinda Liu had included her first packet of “space veggie seeds” in the downward shipment – eggplants and turnips, but the technology was promising to feed the masses of Vastiva at far less cost. Then again, mused the Doctor, where else can you find people who can eat a four pound eggplant at one sitting?
She considered the display in front of her. Sisu Arshu’s branch of the VAA had brought in an income of another sixty billion through regional arbitrage – a “quick and dirty” method which was sucking overall funds towards Vastiva at a horrifying rate, yet entirely legal if not completely ethical – which would be used to fund the project further. She noted funds gained from mining, from use of the VAA’s patents, from speculation on the wealth to be gained from her and other projects.
Tudrussel was in no danger of being dropped for lack of funding anytime soon. She brought up her daily notes, project notes, daily schedules, crew rotations. Time to get to work.
Far below her, several engineers watched the receeding descent vehicle with trepidation, still in their armored EVA suits.
~"Well, there goes that problem."~
~"We hope. Once its clear of us, I'll stop worrying."~
~"You never stop worrying."~
~"How can I? Its such a long walk home."~
A metallic object hovered above a blue sphere with splotches of green and brown, as well as smatterings of white. The object revealed more of itself as it grew larger and larger, displaying windows, fuselage, two barrels under its left and right wings, a large rear compartment, and a white haze at its rear end. To the casual observer, the object appeared to be hundreds of miles long and wide as the object began covering more and more of the blue sphere. The view through the windows of the flying object revealed its true scale as it revealed people inside.
A medium built man, with a neatly trimmed beard and the typical military type buzz cut tapped several consoles, while keeping an critical eye on the instruments. He looked across the cockpit towards another male, similiar in build, but without the beard.
"Navigator, my instruments are reporting a large object several thousand kilometers away. I'm reading several radio wave frequencies spiking up here and there in that general vicinity. I believe it is prudent to investigate this object and its apparent radio activity. Plot us a course immediately."
The Navigator nodded.
"At once, Captain Kelano Bre'wee."
The Navigator began accessing his hardware, and began inputting several commands into the console. The computer began processing the commands, and merging information gathered from the vessel's sensors. Several milliseconds later, the computer began displaying symbols and graphics on the screen in front of the Navigator. He began analyzing the data, and added several computations of his own.
"I have the course set in. Beginning manuevers."
The Navigator pressed a lever, then began manipulating a hybrid of a joystick and a steering panel. A subtle roar is heard as the vessel's engines flared to life, and began pushing the vehicle forward at ten thousand kilometers per hour.
The captain turned his head the other way, to face a slender built female, with long brown hair and well defined cheekbones.
"Status?"
The female locked her green eyes upon the Captain.
"Our four railguns are fully operational. Our cargo bay is empty, as we have just delivered a cargo of food and medical supplies to Veristek Station. Should anything befall this Sharina vessel, we will be ready."
The Captain nodded.
"Very good, Laorina Jal'vaca."
He turned his head to gaze upon the starscape, while continually glancing at his instruments. The Sharina vessel made its way towards the mysterious structure and its radio signals.
"Commander, we have an unidentified on an intercept course."
Commander Akhgar Yashar al-Shahab drank from his coffee, unconcerned. "Specs, speed, information."
"Aye, sir." The technician played with her keyboard. "Smaller then us, powered craft. It appears to have stable magnetic bubbles in place in its wing-formations, could be weapons of some sort. By its vector displacement, we believe the mass to be hollow and powered. Current speed, eight thousand kpm and increasing."
"Very good, ensign. Keep it under surveillance. Alert the hanger decks, code yellow only. We're not here to fight."
"Aye, sir."
"Comm, hail that craft."
The lieutenant nodded and keyed in a greeting. "Hail, approaching craft. This is Vastivan Orbital Tudrussel. We are a science and research station. We ask that you identify yourself and your intentions." Another key added a normal NATO call-sign and greeting, encoded but readable by any other NATO nation; a third did the same for the TAPRES codings. He set the greeting to repeat three times then pause.
***
On the other end of the stations, the technicians began their trek back into the safety of the station itself.
~"... this ain't good..."~
~"Sipensky, what's the problem now?"~
~"Forgot to air up again? Need a tow?"~
~"No, sir, my geiger readings, they're increasing."~
He pointed the flashlight-like device towards the still-dropping reentry vehicle.
The meter sprang upwards instantly.
~"...oh hell...."~
~"GET THROUGH THAT DOOR NOW! EVERYONE, INTO THE STATION, NOW!"~
~Below, and still falling towards NSEarth, the Seymour re-entry vehicle continued its drop. Minimally crewed, the Seymour's method was to fall and arrive safely enough to make a sea landing, allowing recovery later and removing the need for many land-landing devices.
This time, however, it was likely to fall over a much wider area then predicted in it's flight plan.~
Captain Kelano Bre'wee heard the communication console begin beeping. He took a deep breath to relax his slightly frayed nerves, which he has gone through great pains to conceal from his fellow crew-members.
He flicked a switch to enable a playback of the apparent transmission.
"Hail, approaching craft. This is Vastivan Orbital Tudrussel. We are a science and research station. We ask that you identify yourself and your intentions."
Kelano nodded.
Vastiva, a mysterious and enigmatic ally. Sharina has made contact several times with Vastiva, though. The contacts have been in conferences and the like, as there has been very little informal, commercial, and military contact with Vastiva.
Kelano took notice of two encrypted signals, and he ran it through the Communications Computer onboard. The C.C. analyzed the signals, and ran several decryption sequences on it, based off all known encryption patterns that Sharina has came across.
Two squences began displaying on the computer screen.
NATO.
TAPRES.
Kelano nodded once again.
Makes sense. Vastiva is in the same alliances as we are in.
Suddenly, Engineer Huska Le'orge looked up sharply and began speaking rapidly.
"Captain, the transport's sensors are detecting a massive energy build-up somewhere in the vicnity of the apparently Vastivan space station."
Kelano took another breath to relax himself before composing a response to an engimatic friendly nation.
"Greetings. This is Captain Kelano Bre'wee, commanding Sharina Star-Void Transport 011.
We acknowledge your message. I am honored to speak with the nation of Vastiva.
I am enclosing our own signature in NATO and TAPRES encryption to provide confirmation of our identity.
My engineer has just informed me that sensors have detected a massive energy build-up in your general vicinity. We are fully prepared to provide support and aid if necessary.
I will order my Navigator to maintain course to dock with your station if possible.
Sharina Star-Void Transport 011 out."
Kelano looked around the command center of the transport. Several crew-members locked stares with Kelano, realizing the potential of the situation at hand. Kelano began speaking softly.
"You know what we have to do.
Prepare Contact Protocols, ready our bays to provide support if any disaster is to befall the Vastivan space station, and also make preparations to withstand any explosion, should that energy build-up erupt.
Each and every one of you have your duties. See to it that they are carried out."
The captain turned his focus back to the star-scape while his officers and subordinates began a frenzy of action.
History was to be made.
Commander Akhgar Yashar al-Shahab looked at the readout, his face now wearing a slight frown.
"Greetings. This is Captain Kelano Bre'wee, commanding Sharina Star-Void Transport 011.
We acknowledge your message. I am honored to speak with the nation of Vastiva.
I am enclosing our own signature in NATO and TAPRES encryption to provide confirmation of our identity.
My engineer has just informed me that sensors have detected a massive energy build-up in your general vicinity. We are fully prepared to provide support and aid if necessary.
I will order my Navigator to maintain course to dock with your station if possible.
Sharina Star-Void Transport 011 out."
"Energy build up? Tach, are we running any high energy experiments?"
"Negative, Commander. Nothing scheduled for today - board shows yellows and greens."
Green was normal, but... "What shows yellow?"
"The new reactor still isn't fully online. And one of the hangers is partially disconnected for..."
Outside, the small crew of technicians had just enough time to get the outer barrier door slid shut and locked in place. Training and "sof-tach" boots had allowed an appreciable rate of speed into the station proper.
~"Depart Crew to Bridge, STAT! We have readings off the..."~
Elsewhere in the station, the hurried comm call rang through halls and living areas, mischanneled and causing curiousity, particularly to the Agricultural Lab where Dr Melinda Liu tore herself away from her update notes on sample #GG-646-TDR-001(b) (carrots, purple pigmentary variant).
She had just time to bring her head up in wonder when the flash appeared~
The immediate sign something was going wrong was the simultaneous ejection of the three escape pods on the Seymour.
Seconds after they flung themselves away from the doomed vessel, it erupted in flame and anguish - and from there to a brilliant fireball.
In the semi-particled upper atmosphere, the blast wave could be seen by any observer; the EMP charge flashed ahead, outpaced only by the brilliant light and gamma radiation the reactor gave as its final offering.
Analysis would later show the burst as a fizzle, measuring less then tenth of a megaton overall; but in space, where there was no atmosphere to quench the strength of the blast, the effects were immediate and widefelt.
The Seymour was completely incinerated in the blast; ashen debris would fall over many thousands of square miles, much of it atomic in size and harmless.
More significant as the accelleration caused to the three escape pods, each at a heading 120 degrees from each other - the blast wave caught them and hurled them forward, at speeds sufficient to fling them out of the Earth's gravitational pull.
Tudrussel Platform suffered the sudden impact of the explosion scant seconds after its lower plate was bathed in gamma radiation; it was sheer positioning luck for the stations main defenses to be between the blast and the people inside.
How lucky was still be seen.
The station held together; the plates were more then enough to endure the heat and radiation without significant effect to those inside. Only two of the hangers suffered from thermal damage, both minor and to the outer doors.
What would concern crews, once the shock and sudden jump were understood, was the destabilizing of Tudrussel's orbit - or rather, its sudden accelleration towards a possible lunar orbit... or deep space.
Even as the massive complex began to spin like a top, Akhgar was calling out orders.
"Helm! Get us stabilized! Use station keeping thrusters first, then altitude - we can stop ourselves in time... Comm, get tracks on those pods, see if the Sharinans can grab them... any fighters launch? Who shot at us?"
"Negative, sir!" Comm fought against nausea, "That was our Seymour going up, explosion definitely nuclear but small. 98% probable our own reactor going, it'll take some time to restart and recalibra... urk.."
The view window on Sharina Star-Void Transport 011 darkened slightly as photo-sensitive chemicals activated as the brilliant explosion erupted several hundred kilometers from the Vastivan space station.
Captain Kelano Bre'wee began shouting out orders to the crew personnel in the front command module of the vessel.
"What the hell was that?! Give me information, and I want it yesterday!"
Engineer Huska Le'orge went into a frenzy of action and his hands were scrambling all over his engineering and sensor consoles. Text and pictures rapidly appeared and disappeared from his three console flat-screen displays.
He read the information several times to double and triple check the countless gigabytes of information being presented to him.
"Captain, the sensors have determined that the explosion was a nuclear one, from a reactor or device that went supercritical.
I am also detecting three small objects flying away from the explosion zone. It appears that these objects are pods of some sort, possibly escape pods."
Captain Kelano Bre'wee looked at his Navigator as he was listening to Huska's report.
"Establish a course to intercept these three pods. Begin with the one closest to us, then work our way around, then resume course to the space station.
Extend grappling hooks to snag these pods as we do not have the time to determine if their docking is compatible with ours, and we also don't have the time to bring them into the cargo bay as time is of the essence."
Navigator Saria Jan'nae nodded once as she turned around to input the necessary course computations and corrections in her consoles.
Captain Kelano Bre'wee flicked his communication switch and opened a channel towards the Vastivan space station.
"This is Captain Kelano Bre'wee. We are going to attempt to rescue all three of the small pods that our sensors have picked up. Afterwards, we will circle back and make an attempt to dock with you.
I am also going to send a transmission to Veristek Station, so that additional Sharina aid may arrive.
May fortune aid us through this trial."
Kelano cut the transmission, then flicked another switch labeled 'Base Communication Frequency'. He began speaking rapidly, after providing identification.
"Veristek Station.
This is Sharina Star-Void Transport 011, the Hakan. Indentification code A03-JE2-87L-11G.
Captain Kelano Bre'wee here. We have discovered a Vastivan space station, and it is in need of emergency aid. There has been a nuclear explosion near the station, and I am attempting to rescue three Vastivan pods.
We will need to establish a base of operations, so that we can provide aid and support to Vastiva in her hour of need.
I am transmitting the coordinates of the Vastivan station and the location of the nuclear explosion."
A beep signified an response from Veristek Station.
"Acknowledged, Hakan.
We will send aid as soon as possible. We can send several vessels and material barges to the Vastivans within a couple of hours, once we send information to Ground Control."
"Thank you. Kelano of the Hakan out."
Kelano Bre'wee flicked the communication switch off before returning his attention towards the approaching Vastivan pod several kilometers distant.
At 10G accelleration - following the blast - no one remained concious inside the escape pods.
Alive, yes. The Vastivans had designed for most eventualities, and the bubble-pads decreased most of the G-shock to each inhabitant.
Automatically, the hazard beacons on each came to life, signalling an SOS in plain english and open frequency.
Unfortunately, at that speed...
***
Aboard Tudrussel, all available power was going to vent thrusters, in an attempt to slow down the stations twists first, movement second.
All twelve YF-100 Glaive Interceptors slid out of their hangers, swinging around to defend the spiralling station.
It was five minutes later before the two cargo shuttles wobbled out and parabolaed back.
Engineer Huska Le'orge began shaking his head as he read his displays. Several arrangements of symbols and pictures in the Sharina language began scrolling all over the displays, giving vital information regarding the closest Vastivan escape pod.
Captain Kelano Bre'wee took note of Huska's behavior, and became slightly worried.
"Report, Huska."
Huska looked up, with a mixture of hope and worry in his eyes.
"Sir, the Vastivan pod is sustaining extreme speeds thanks to its 10G acceleration. The hooks on the Hakan won't be able to grab objects running at these speeds, unless we employ a cargo net system used to grab cargo loads from the Veristek Station."
Kelano nodded.
"Do it."
The Hakan altered its intercept course inperceptibly, by several meters as a large net mesh comprised of inter-weaved titanium strings began rising out of the cargo hold near the vessel's rear. The net slowly began spreading, as the Hakan approached the runaway escape pod.
The escape pod slammed into the titanium mesh, and the Hakan shook violently as its structure groaned under the stresses well over tolerances. Time began to draw out for seemingly an eternity as it appeared the Vastivan pod would tear the titanium net off the Hakan, causing significant damage. Milliseconds seemed to take years to pass.
The net held.
Huska looked up sharply towards the captain, excitement and concern rising in his voice.
"It held! The escape pod is secured, however this strained the net system considerably. We won't be able to pull the same stunt again for the other two escape pods. We will have to devise a new strategy to bring in the other pods.
The pod is now being brought into the cargo bay."
Captain Kelano gave a rare smile, acknowledging the feat. He turned towards Saria Jan'nae and began giving her instructions in a quiet voice.
"Begin course corrections to intercept the second pod. Make sure we are flying parallel to the pod, as I have an idea how to pull this off."
Saria nodded, as she began undertaking the necessary and difficult tasks.
The Hakan swerved from its original heading, and began its long glide towards the second Vastivan pod screaming through space.
Nearly crashing into the upper "deck", the two shuttles clamped on hard, using their magnetic bases to adhere themselves rather then cargo.
Full burns followed moments later, cutting the station's movement - slowly at first, then faster, then...
"Sir, we're at full standstill."
Commander Akhgar Yashar al-Shahab nodded, once, picking debris out of the air. "Status reports?"
"Still coming in. Everyone is well shaken up, looks like we've lost at least half the experiments...."
"BAH!" That got everyone's attention. "Stuff is replaceable. People are not. Status - crew - how many injured, how many casualties?"
"Aye sir!" came the hurried response. "Uh, all decks have not reported in. We have one blown suitseal on the departure crew."
"Bloody hell."
"Uh, no, sir, he's reasonably well, they were in the airlock and pressurizing... but the inner and outer doors are stuck."
"Better stuck then breeched. Hull?"
A panel brightened. "Hull intact. Our lower hull has sustained immense radiological exposure, but no penetration. Upper hull secure." She tapped the screen. "Initial readings on the pylons say they're intact, but we'll want a crew out there."
"Will they hold?"
"Aye sir. For now, they'll hold."
"Good enough. Deck reports?"
The slim, flexible screen changed again. "Initial reports, no fatalities. Six injuries, one critical but stable. Medical is already on scene. Of our crew of eighty-five, we have reports on... seventy-eight, including all pilots."
"Find those other seven."
"Aye, sir!"
"Then find out what the hell is going on out there."
"Sir, I can't raise the Sharinans."
"Keep trying. What of all decks?"
"Damage control is still doing section by section, it will take some time, sir..."
Final Report
Initial explosion was caused by a catastrophic failure of the QPNR-5 reactor being downtransported, in favor of the QPNR-6 pebblebed reactor.
The explosion vaporized the Seymour transport vehicle. All crew were able to get to their escape pods and were later picked up by Sharina Star-Void Transport 011. Of the six crew, all were wounded owing to 10G accelleration, but none fatally.
All crew aboard the Tudrussel facility survived with 42% injured in some fashion. The platform itself sustained minor damage, resulting in the need to for replacement of 20% of its modules.
The design, however, is still considered a success and space exploration continues.