章 17: Emergency Departure
I went to find a covenient place to call Commander Mei. I got to the Navy spaceport next to the headquarters and sat behind a shuttle waiting on the landing pad.
"Commander Mei?"
"Yes, sir?" she replied curiously.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"At my mother's house, in Etherce." she replied.
"Okay." I said. "Leave whatever you are doing and get aboard Lodos as soon as possible."
"Is there something wrong?" she asked. "I just came here, and Lodos' repairs were said to-"
"There is a change of plans." I said. "We have a short window. Please hurry."
"Why don't you do a 'Call for Arms' then?" she asked. A sensible question...
"Maintain secrecy, and just trust me." I said. "I know where Tachibana is!"
"You could just tell me that at the beginning." she said. "I am on my way... in secrecy."
A sound nearby startled me.
"Commander? Were you looking for something here?" He was one of the ground service crew in charge of the shuttles.
"N-no." I said. "Actually, I need a shuttle to get to the Pavonis shipyards."
"Oh, you are lucky." he said. "There is one scheduled for lift off in about an hour. The shuttle is over there. Maybe you can take that one."
"Thanks." I said. The sooner I could get to Lodos, the better.
I quickly got myself some snacks from the canteen and got on the shuttle that would bring me to Pavonis orbital shipyards. The shuttle rose into skies just like my anxiety. As we approached the shipyards, I didn't take my eyes off the huge hole at the aft section of Lodos. A small portion of it was repaired, but it wasn't a simple structural damage. The repair teams still had to redo all the pipings, wirings, reinstall the electronic circuits and heat management systems... This could take months! And yet... We had to leave tomorrow morning at latest.
As soon as I got off the shuttle and entered Pavonis orbital, I went to find Aris. I saw him near the shipyard administration, talking and arguing with his superiors. I waited for him to finish the heated conversation, then went to talk to him.
"Aris!"
"Kagan! You travel a lot, don't you?" he said.
"You could say that." I said. "I actually came here to ask for a favor."
"Of course." he said without hesitation.
"I need you to unlock Lodos' docking ports and cut off the external energy supply on my order, later today." I said.
"Eh!? WHY?" he said in confusion.
"Just do." I said.
"This is a security issue." he argued. "People will ask for a reason."
He was right. He would keep his word, but I couldn't just let him get yelled at for a 'security issue'. However... I could give him a good reason to emergency detach the ship if the ship became dangerous to the station.
"Okay, okay." I said. "Just do it when I say it. You will have a good reason once you do. Trust me."
"Fine. I hope you know what you are doing..." he said.
"Aris, you are the greatest." I said and left the administration to board Lodos.
At the door, a security guard saluted me.
"Here, sir. A list of people going in and out through security gates so far." he said. I remembered asking him to do that.
"Thank you." I said and took the list. I boarded Lodos through the gate as the guard looked at me with slight confusion and awkwardness.
I made my way to the aft section of the ship. Repair teams were doing their job as the Chief Engineer Scott was overseeing the process and organising his own team.
"Chief!"
"Commander!" he said and saluted.
"How are the repairs going?" I asked.
"We are on schedule, but it is still going to take a long long time." he said.
"I see." I said and sighed. "Are the tactical thrusters operational?"
"Fortunately, the only damage was to the pipings and the fuel tanks" he said. "We replaced the tanks with entirely new ones and connected everything together again. The fuel tanks are now being refilled as we are installing the control circuits."
"Could we use them if we tried to fly now?" I asked.
"Yes, but with limited effectiveness." he replied. "We didn't test the sensor packs yet. The internal pressure isn't regulated. We could end up losing it again."
That was good enough in my mind. Engineers tended to overstate every risk.
"Okay, Chief; please tell the repair teams to clear the area." I said.
"But why?" he asked.
"No 'why', Chief, just do it. I'm hereby retaking the command of the vessel. Return to the main reactor and start it up when ready." I said. He was about to ask 'Why?' again, but he stopped.
"Yes, sir." he said with a frightened look on his face. He was afraid of the possibility of the entire ship blowing up the moment he started the reactor.
*beep beep - beep beep*
Commander Mei was calling me.
"Commander, I am now in Pavonis shipyards. I will board Lodos in a few minutes." she said. She had came here amazingly fast.
I went to the bridge. Lieutenant Karl, Ensign Katyusha and Ensign Aziz were there, but the rest of the crew was missing.
Ensign Aziz saw me rushing into the bridge.
"Commander!" he said in excitement. Katyusha and Karl looked at me too.
"Where is everyone?" I asked.
"Mr. Dave is on some other deck, Mr. Sungho is having a bit of fun in the shipyards. I don't know where Commander Mei is." said Aziz.
"Mr. Sungho is doing what!?" I asked.
"Telling war stories to the poor souls sitting around doing nothing in the shipyard." he explained.
"Call him back." I said. "Also tell Mr. Dave to come to the bridge."
"Aye, sir." he said and turned to his console. Just then, Commander Mei came to bridge. She saluted me.
"Commander Mei, reporting." she said. At that exact moment, an imaginary bullet went through my head. I was going to find a replacement officer for Mei's duty on cruise-nav, but it was too late for this now.
I approached her. She stepped closer herself when she understood my intention.
"Tachibana has been marked M.I.A. by the Navy. I am now the CO of Lodos." I whispered.
"What?" she replied.
"I will make you the XO of Lodos, but unfortunately, we don't have any replacement for your position at cruise-nav." I said. "This will be a little hard on you."
"You can choose someone else as the XO. I wouldn't get bitter just because-"
"It is not the problem. You are the only chioce, Mei..." I said. "There is no one else suitable and capable."
Mei didn't reply.
"Look, you have lots of free time during long space flights. Besides, you don't really need to touch your console during combat." I said.
Mei sighed. "If this is the case..." she said and paused. "I'm willing to help."
"Thank you." I whispered, then looked around. The whole bridge crew was here now. Ensign Aziz had already informed the crew of my promotion to Commander as the CO of Lodos.
"Commander Mei is now the new XO of LC/M Lodos." I said. "However, she will have to continue his duty at cruise-nav station for the time being."
Everyone congratulated me and Mei on our new duties.
Suddenly, alarms started wailing. The damage control station went crazy. Our Chief Engineer was starting up the main reactor.
Just a few seconds later, the shipyard's alarms started wailing as well.
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