Short Fiction: the Orville - Pickle Jars and how to open them

 Part 13: Pickle Jars and how to open them

"I am..." Kelly Grayson hugged Isaac hoping that some small part of him was capable of understanding what it meant. "...so sorry."

"Captain?" Bortus hated to interupt the moment but it was urgent. "Unidentified Alien vessels approaching."

"Have they spotted the Orville?" Kelly was interrupted by Isaac. "Six vessels at the furthest edge of the debris field."

"They are harvesting the debris for salvage." Isaac looked down at Captain Grayson. "I recommend returning to the flight deck immediatly."

"Isaac?" Kelly disengaged and headed toward the holographic simulator exit. "What's happening?"

"Drones are deploying a filament linking debris at the outer edge." Isaac paused before quickly moving forward towards the flight deck. "They are constructing a web to contain the debris field."

"We dont want to be caught in the web." Kelly picked up her pace to a run. "How far are we from the edge of the field?"

"We are still close to the centre of the debris field." Bortus matched Kelly's speed. "It will take some time to reach the edge."

"Captain Grayson to LaMarr," Kelly entered the lift with Bortus and looked back at Isaac who was only now approaching. "Can we get under way?"

"Still repairing the Ring Captain." Chief Engineer LaMarr's voice seemed oddly focused. "At least an hour on that."

"There is an alternative," Gordon Malloy inserted himself into the conversation. "I can go out with the remaining shuttle."

"All right Gordon," Kelly Grayson contemplated the idea of being towed. "Try and tow us as close to the edge of the debris field as you can."

"It's not actually my plan to tow the Orville," Gordon picked up the pace toward the shuttle bay. He had to do this before the Captain could object. "And its probably not going to be pleasant."

"Lets hear it Gordon," Kelly really wanted to be under way. "what were you going to do?"

"The planet Kaylon came through before we did so its actually like an inverted shell." Gordon reached the shuttle bay and crossed to the shuttle. "My plan is to brush the interior at FTL in a loop and make it spin realy fast."

"Thats insane." Isaac reached the lift joining Kelly and Bortus. "Isaac, what do you think?"

"It is highly likely the planetary debris ring will undergo stellar fusion as it forms a rotating toroidal." Isaac contemplated the outcome. "The Orville wil be exposed to very high levels of Radiation."

****

"Okay, hit me with it." Captain Mercer rested an ice-filled Scotch glass against his forehead. It did little to affect his headache. "How bad is it Chief?"

"You see just there..." Chief Newton pointed at a void on the display of nearby Stars. "There was a Star there yesterday."

"Well?" Ed sipped at the ice water in his glass and rejected it as a foul concoction. "How significant is the displacement?"

"Not sure." Newton looked at the nearby Stars. "It's definatly gone FTL. That much is certain."

"Is it going to hit something?" Ed got a Scotch refill from the Ops Synthesizer. "Which way is it headed?"

"There." Chief Newton pointed at a nearby Star. "That one has moved."

"Okay." Newton dragged in a path projection cone from the toolbar across the star chart screen into position and pointed at a second star further along the path projection cone. "Once it exerts a force on this Star here we should be able to narrow its projected path further."

" And..." Chief Newton adjusted the projected path cone to a narrower course focus. "There goes the second Star."

"And that means?" Ed Mercer looked at the fat end of the path projection cone. "Oh God... Its headed for Krill space."

"Well," Newton was shaking his head in disbelief that he would ever see such an epic level of bad luck in his life time. "Technically its headed for Krill Prime."

"How long?" Captain Mercer contemplated using the only craft at his disposal. "...will it take to get this station under way?" (660)

...

"What am I going to do Claire?" Alara stood by a medbed, her upper body bent at the waist, face down in a pillow. "Captain Mercer hasn't spoken to me since I charged him with Genocide and shot him for resisting arrest."

"Well, he was exhausted so he did need the rest." Claire stared at the overly anxious fruitcake having a meltdown in her new medbay and shook her head. "And that whole relationship you had with him on the Orville was... weird."

"What do you mean?" Confused, Alara turned her head to look at Doctor Finn "What relationship?"

"Alara, Captain Mercer only makes references to food when he is attracted to someone." Claire lifted Alara's head off the pillow and having coerced her to stand upright, replaced it with a clean pillow. "How many times did he bring up the pickle jar thing?"