Short Fiction: The Orville - Sargass9

 Part 3: Sargass9

"Captain?" Claire struggled to her feet and made her way to the body slumped against the shuttle controls, pulled her medical scanner from a pocket and examined his still form. The scan indicated he was alive. "Oh thank God."

An alarm sounded as the FTL Shuttle craft grazed the edge of a Star altering course slightly and dragged a massive trail of its hydrogen into space while the Star underwent a change in its orbital dynamics that would now see it pass through Krill Space in less than a year at faster than light, having abandoned its planetary system.

"Oh God that was close." Claire focused on the reality of her situation. The Shuttle was still travelling at FTL in an unplotted course. "Okay."

"I hope you wake up soon." Doctor Finn dragged the unconcious Captain off the shuttle controls and confined him upright with the seat harness before sitting in the other seat and searching the controls for the one she needed. "Lets see... I need to disengage FTL."

"That one." Claire touched the controls but the shuttle failed to respond to her request. Was the computer interface damaged? "No. No. No."

"Um...option b?" Claire maneuvered Captain Mercer's arm and touched the interface with his hand causing the shuttle to slow from FTL. They were on a course headed for a nearby Star that now loomed large in the window. The shuttle systems went dark. Claire exhaled. "Of course."

...

Sargass9 was a space station located in orbit around a star where numerous severely damaged and old starships from across the Union were placed for disposal and salvage. It had for the last year been under construction by a team led by Chief Engineer Newton and not even Conflict with the Kaylon had shown up at their doorstep. Their systems registered the unexpected arrival of a Union Shuttle.

"I'm up." The alarm desperatly wanted the attention of Corlis Newton and he reached for the station communications panel. "What is it?"

"Sorry to wake you Chief but a Union shuttle just dropped out of FTL close to the Star..." The voice of Security Chief Alara Kitan was concerned at the sitiation. "...and their systems powered down."

"Powered down?" Newton wiped the back of his thumb into the corner of his eye to remove something annoying him. "I take it that means you havn't been able to raise them on Coms?"

"They're dead in the water Chief." An exhausted Alara yawned. "I dispatched a shuttle to retrieve them before they enter the Star's gravity Well. And the medical unit is on Stand by."

"All right Alara, I'll be right there." Newton attempted to sit up only to hit his head on the top bunk for the three hundreth time in a year causing pain. He touched a hand to the side of his forehead and felt blood. "God... damn it."

...

"Thank you who ever you are," Claire Finn felt relief at the sight of the rescue shuttle waving at the crew of the other shuttle. The shuttle pilot held up four fingers and indicated a thumbs up at which Claire shook her head and responded with one finger and a thumbs up. "I hope you understand that means three are in a bad way."

The rescue shuttle turned and activated its tractor beam for towing pulling the dead shuttle away from the Star.

...

"Captain Ed Mercer," As soon as the technician in Shuttle bay began identifying the shuttle passengers Alara leapt from her seat in OPs and ran to the lift on the opposite side of the room. "Doctor Claire Finn, Marcus Finn, Ty Finn."

"Shuttle bay Now!" The lift sealed and moved sideways out to the shuttle bay. "Faster!"

"Chief Newton, the passengers on the shuttle are Captain Mercer, Doctor Finn, and her sons." The lift seemed to be at a crawl as it headed for the shuttle bay. "I'm in the lift headed for the shuttle bay."

...

"Understood." Corlis Newton pulled on his jacket as he rushed down the hallway from the habitat section toward the nearest lift, his morning coffee in one hand. "I'll be right behind you."

"Technician Halstead, you there?" Newton sipped his coffee as he reached the lift. "What was that about communications jamming?"

"We just lost contact with Union Spac..." Halstead paused and stared out the OPs window at the Star where a bright spear was piercing straight through the Star. "My God, what is that?"

"Halstead? What's going on?" The moment that Chief Newton was on the lift and the doors sealed he felt the station undergo acceleration in one direction, the artificial gravity in the elevator struggled to resist. His hot morning coffee hit him in the chest with the force of a hammer and he blacked out.

...

"Claire, what happened out there?" Alara's voice drew Doctor Finn's attention to the woman getting off the lift and she was overcome with relief at the sight of a friend. The station suddenly accelerated sideways and shuttles and personnel were thrown sideways. Alara resisted the force of acceleration intercepting Claire Finn's children as their medpods were thrown in her direction. Alara looked about for Claire and spotted her trying to desperately stop Captain Mercer's medpod exiting through the forcewall into space. "Computer seal the shuttle bay."