Reckless Faith VI, Chapter 5

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was 10:30 by the Fox’s clock, and Jim Penrose had decided he needed another cup of coffee.  He had been spending his time almost exclusively in the medical bay since the mission to the Swan, emerging only to sleep in his quarters, attend briefings, and take meals either in the galley or occasionally on the bridge.  It was in the galley where he currently found himself, brewing a cup from an Earth pod-style machine modified to work with the Fox’s power system.  It was placed next to the ship’s corferic machine, a beverage that Arthur Dent would describe as “almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.”  Containing ample caffeine, it served the same purpose for those used to drinking it.  Penrose didn’t like it, hence the replacement.

When the machine was done gurgling the brackish liquid into his well-worn Navy mug, he returned to the medical bay.  The object of his study these past few weeks were alien anatomy, knowledge of which had changed from nice to have to indispensable after Aldebaran’s grave injuries required surgery.  For the most part, the races represented on the crews of their ships and those they might encounter had only subtle, but critical, variations from human anatomy.  Though a human doctor would find their major organs where one might expect them, the vagaries of millennia of isolated development had resulted in plenty of other deviations that could mean the difference between life and death when receiving medical treatment.  That was Penrose’s particular challenge; not just for surgery, but for medications and proper dosages.

The Fox’s medical bay was well-appointed, with technologies beyond anything he’d encountered before, adding to the difficulty of becoming the best ship’s doctor he could.  It would take months for anyone of reasonable intelligence to make use of all of it, and Penrose only had a few weeks.  In fact, he had since learned that he could have prevented permanent injury and disability to Aldebaran, had he only known what was at his disposable.  Though it was regrettable, it wasn’t his fault.  That Aldebaran’s life was saved at all was still a minor miracle.

So, Penrose had dedicated himself to the task, aided to some degree by Evangeline whenever she was available.  She was also working with Christie and Dana on the neptunium mystery, dividing her time between that, Penrose, and her friendships with the rest of the Fox’s crew.  Penrose might have dedicated some time to helping them figure out why the peculiar neptunium isotope they’d acquired had different properties than expected, but he had plenty of his own research to do.  Still, the conundrum fascinated him, and he would’ve appreciated another reason to spend time with Eva.

He had just settled back into his chair at his desk in the med bay when Reveki’s voice came in over the intercom.

“All hands, report to the bridge for a conference call with the Rastaban.”

He sipped from his mug, got up, and entered the central corridor.  He rode the lift to deck one, then entered the bridge.  Vecky, Cane, Talyn, and Evangeline were there, along with Miriam.  Though young, the girl was a quick study and was adamant about learning how to be a useful member of the Fox’s crew.  Penrose thought having her along on missions like this was borderline irresponsible, but Vecky was just about the same age and she was captain of her own ship.  Of course, the two of them were worlds apart in terms of experience and temperament.  One thing was for sure, Miriam wasn’t going to be volunteering for ground combat any time soon.

When he got there, Captain Marcon’s visage was on the main screen.  Despite everything he had seen, Penrose still wasn’t used to seeing what was, essentially, a seven-foot-tall talking panther.  He took a seat in the back.

“Our research has hit a dead end,” Vecky was saying.  “We still only know for sure where there’s element 93M; Umber, Residere Alpha, The Eagle, Earth, and the Reckless Faith.”

Marcon replied, “We had heard that Mister Venator got some in the neighborhood of Matesia.”

“Correct,” began Cane, “but my sources said it also came from Umber, originally.”

“Any luck on your end?” asked Eva.

“Potentially,” said Marcon.  “One of my troops has been to Vastus, a planet thirteen light-years from here, and he reports that there used to be a large scientific center there dedicated to cutting-edge nuclear technologies research.  About ten years ago, there was a disaster at the facility, contaminating the entire continent.  News reports at the time, referring to the daunting environmental cleanup that would have to happen, mentioned large quantities of fissionable material there, including element 93.  The latest word is that the facility was simply evacuated, and is too dangerous for any cleanup.  So it’s possible that the stuff you’re looking for is still there.”

“Considering that’s only a five-hour trip, it’s certainly worth investigating.”

“I agree.  The only question is whether to send both ships, or leave one here.”

“What would be the point of leaving a ship here?” asked Cane.  “A rescue mission to Eniph is impossible right now.”

“I’m just asking the question, Mister Venator.”

“I think the Faith would agree that we should both go,” said Vecky.  “I’ll contact them and let them know our plans.  If they don’t object, we’ll leave at your earliest convenience.”

“I’m ready when you are, Captain Kitsune.  Just give me the word.”

The transmission terminated, and Eva opened a channel to the Reckless Faith.

“You’re live with Christie,” she began.  “VLF.  Audio only.”

Christie’s voice came in, sounding distant.  “Hello, Fox.  How’s it going?”

“We have a lead on some possible neptunium,” said Vecky.  “How about you?”

“Same here, though it’s very unlikely there will be enough to fix our reactor.  Ferro’s getting ready to go check it out.  Other than that, I’m still trying to figure out if I can mitigate these gamma rays so we can at least get off the planet.  Worst case scenario, we can jettison all of our neptunium, but then we’re stuck looking for sixty kilograms instead of one, never mind the horrible environmental disaster we’d cause.”

“Understood.  The Rastaban and the Fox are ready to go investigate our lead.  It’s a five hour trip.  Do you want us both to go, or leave one ship behind in case you need help?”

“It makes little sense to me to have one of you hang back.  Neither of your ships have invisibility shielding, and I doubt the Rakhar would let you anywhere near the planet.  I’ll confer with the others and get back to you, though.”

“Fine.  We’ll await your reply.  Fox out.”

“I’ll get started on seeing what I can find out about Vastus on the ‘net,” said Eva.

The conversation turned to idle topics while they waited for a response from the Faith.  After about ten minutes, Eva let out a long sigh, alerting the others.

“Bad news?” asked Cane.

“It’s not great.  So I can confirm the story from Marcon’s crewmember.  The research facility, called Elysium, did suffer some sort of accident, rendering it and large portions of that continent uninhabitable.  The true nature of the incident isn’t yet known, because despite an extensive investigation by the planetary government, information about it is under a gag order as Elysium is still tied up in litigation.  Only until the case is resolved in court can any effort be made to clean up the site and render it safe.  Until then, the entire site is off-limits.  The good news, if there’s any, is that the rest of the continent has been cleaned up, and repopulated, with one notable exception: a city called Saffron Canyon.

As the name implies, the city was built at the bottom of a canyon just to the east of Elysium.  Due to prevailing jet stream patterns and the depressed terrain, Saffron Canyon suffered terrible effects from radioactive fallout.  Most residents were evacuated, but thousands refused to leave.  The planetary government hastily constructed a series of force field emitters on the rim of the canyon, preventing the problem from getting worse, and then told the remaining residents that they were on their own.  Since the city government also evacuated, the place has become a refuge for criminals and anarchists.”

“I’ll cross it off my list of vacation possibilities,” said Talyn.

“No shit.  Anyway, freelance traders still make supply runs there, and those that care to talk about it reported an ad-hoc government run by an unsteady collaboration of gangs, syndicates, and religious nuts.”

“So stay out of Saffron Canyon, got it,” began Vecky.  “Is there any information about whether or not we can safely investigate Elysium?”

“I’m getting to that.  Reports also indicate that reckless canyon residents have been trying to loot Elysium of anything of value.  Whether they’ve taken any radioactive material is uncertain, but radiation levels detected from the outside have been decreasing faster than one would expect through natural processes.  Which implies they have.  We may end up exploring the city whether we want to or not, Reveki.”

“Will our EVA suits afford us any protection?” asked Cane.

“They’re effective against alpha and beta radiation, but not gamma.  So, maybe?  Marcon’s troops have power armor that may be better, we’ll have to evaluate the situation and find out.  Oh, and the Faith just responded.  No updates on the ship situation, but they’re giving us their blessing to go to Vastus.”

“Very well,” replied Vecky.  “Inform the Rastaban, we’ll leave as soon as they’re ready.  Let’s see what kind of man-made hell awaits us.”

__________

Once again, Arianna Ferro found herself sneaking around someone else’s property, cloaked in her personal invisibility shield.  An ability unique to her, she had quickly learned to hate it, though she was never reluctant to volunteer for a mission that required it.  Powered by her own body’s caloric output, she had to stuff herself with food prior to leaving in order to keep it working for even a few hours.  She could never seem to consume enough, and it always left her feeling exhausted.  Add a little combat to the mix, and it had the potential to be the most grueling thing she could possibly imagine.

It was 0300 local time, and three hours to sunrise.  Ari and the others hoped that the time of night would lessen the chance of her running into a Rakhar patrol, if they were patrolling at all.  At the moment, she had just nabbed the security guard’s keycard, a task made all the easier due to the fact that he was sound asleep.  She made her way to the back of the lobby, which led the way to the most obvious entrance to the rest of the building, and used the keycard to let herself through the door.

The first area was full of cubicles, stretched out across almost the entire floor.  A directory on the wall indicated that all three floors were corporate offices.  She had studied satellite photos of the complex prior to leaving the Faith, and this didn’t surprise her.  Anything of use to them would be in the research labs or industrial areas beyond.  She headed north, and exited the offices.  She crossed a small courtyard to the next building, which had a much more utilitarian design and appeared to be several decades older.  She yanked on the door handle before remembering to use the keycard, and let herself in.

To her left, she immediately noticed a massive horizontal tube, at least thirty meters high.  To her right, flanking the central corridor, were metal fabrication workshops.  She followed a set of stairs that ran up the side of the tube, and opened the door.  At first met with darkness, she found a light switch, and the tube revealed itself to be almost completely empty.  There was a small structure at the center which sort of resembled scaffolding, but it was too far away to be sure.  The space didn’t look like it had been used for anything in a long time.  Her best guess was a derelict wind tunnel, or perhaps a space for testing engines.  Satisfied, she went back down the stairs.  After giving the workshops a little bit more attention, and finding nothing of interest, she moved through another doorway and discovered the cafeteria.  She made note of the vending machines, and moved on to the next building.

This structure was newer than the last, though still older than the first.  Now her work was cut out for her, as this was the home of the company’s laboratories.  Unable to read the local language, the next half an hour went by in the same methodical fashion: pull out her PDA, take a picture of the signage outside a lab, and send it to Christie for a translation.  Fortunately for them, the area had been set up with visitors in mind, and included a brief summary of what was going on inside.  If the experiments seemed to be of the type that would use radioactive materials, Ari made a note of it for further investigation later.  One room made her decide to enter, after hearing Christie’s translation of its purpose: the Uranium Hexafluoride Zero-Emissions project.  The security guard’s keycard didn’t work, so she used her PDA to bypass the panel.

Inside, in addition to a wide variety of equipment, most of which she couldn’t identify, she found three massive cylindrical storage tanks with a plethora of scary-looking warning signs.  She snapped a picture and sent it to Christie.

“It’s gaseous Uranium Hexafluoride,” replied Christie.  “Each tank contains one thousand liters.”

“That’s good news, right?” asked Ari.

“Yes.  As we discussed, worst case scenario, we can retrofit the Faith with a Cooper Industries stardrive based on the one on the Fox.  That’s more than enough fuel to fill us up, even accounting for transportation attrition.  As long as we also create a well-shielded storage space for our remaining Neptunium, we could reconstruct our original drive system at a later time.”

“The Fox can do what, 22,500 c?  That’s certainly fast enough for our purposes, assuming we don’t have to shuffle refugees to Earth again.  Anyway, have you marked the coordinates?”

“Yes.”

“All right.  I’m moving on, then.”

Ari exited the lab and moved down the corridor to the next one.  She took a picture and waited.

“Here we go,” began Christie.  “It says ‘Element 93 Research.  Element 93 is a fissionable material with many applications similar to Elements 92 and 94, but usually in larger quantities that make producing it less cost-effective.  As such, it is a poor choice for all but the most specialized roles, and of little interest outside of the research community.  However, interesting meta-states have been observed, and STC hopes to expand the role of Element 93 in energy production applications’.”

“It sounds like STC has caught wind of Umber’s success with Neptunium.”

“It’s probable, yes.”

“Okay.  Stand by.”

Ari used her PDA to let herself in, and began to poke around.  This lab was smaller than the last, and contained less equipment, but what was there appeared to be the height of available technology.  Everything, except for the old-fashioned clipboard and papers hanging from a secured storage locker.  She sent a picture to Christie.

“It’s a sign-out roster,” Christie said.  “It has names of employees, time in and time out, and the quantity of Neptunium used, going back six months.  The amount used is never more than a few micrograms.”

Ari’s stomach growled angrily at her.  “Makes sense for research purposes.  Any idea of the total amount?”

“I can’t say from the sign-out sheet alone.”

“Fine, give me a minute.”

Ari scanned the storage locker with her PDA, and was unsurprised to find that reading anything inside was impossible.  She searched the rest of the lab, eventually finding a file cabinet with some old documents.  She took pictures of all of them and sent them to Christie.  She replied a few minutes later.

“Good news and bad news,” she said.  “There’s a receipt in there from Matesia Heavy Industries for the purchase of two grams of Neptunium, dated about six months ago.  There are more receipts for other items and equipment all the way up to last week.  It appears this particular project was only initiated six months ago.  If there’s more Neptunium elsewhere on the site, it’s not indicated there.”

“Shit.  Oh well, at least we have a Plan B.”

“Are you up for searching around a bit more?”

“Yes, but I’m going back to the cafeteria for a snack first.”

“Okay.  Stay frosty.”

Ari back-tracked until she got to the cafeteria, and walked up to the vending machines.  She picked the one that looked like it had food similar to chips or crackers, only to find no obvious way to interface her PDA with it.  She tried tipping it over, but it got away from her and crashed forward onto the floor.  She swore at herself, and remained motionless for a few minutes.  No one came to investigate, so she righted the machine, not a small effort for her.  Fortunately, her error had caused most of the snacks to fall to the bottom.  She selected a package that looked and smelled like cheese crackers, and ate seven of them before calling it good.  Refreshed, she headed back toward the labs.

At the very end of the long central corridor, a trio of Rakhar soldiers had just entered the building.  Ari unlimbered her knife, and walked up to the first adjacent hallway.  She stood at the corner, and watched them.  They didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry.  As they grew nearer, she could see that they were dressed in black and dark blue, wore light-weight armor, and had unfamiliar rifles in their hands.  One of them spoke.

“Okay, so once we’re done here, what would be your ideal assignment?”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” another replied, “thinking they’re actually going to be finished this morning.”

“Sure, but they’ve had a week to evaluate this place, and they said…”

“I know what they said.”

The third soldier spoke.  “Despite your learned opinion, private, it’s still entirely possible that they’ll decide this facility is worth guarding indefinitely.  This is what you signed up for, and if you don’t like it, try earning some rank.”

“How am I going to do that, if I’m stuck here?” asked the first.

“You can stop complaining so much, for starters.”

The first soldier stopped short, and gestured at the others.  He sniffed the air, and began paying more attention his surroundings.  All three lowered their helmet visors into place.

“I think there’s someone in here.”

Ari glanced down the hallway she was in.  There was no exterior door at the end.  She sighed and headed back toward the cafeteria.

“Hey, stop!” bellowed the first soldier.

Ari broke into a run, and was surprised to see a bright blue plasma shot pass over her shoulder.  It impacted the door in front of her, and she pushed past the smoking metal surface.  As soon as she entered the cafeteria, she glanced down at herself to see if her invisibility shield was still working.  It was.  Whatever those visors were augmented with, it had defeated her technology.  Between that and the shot that had crippled the Faith, she had to conclude that this enemy was far better equipped than any they’d faced before.

“Temerity, this is Ghost.  I’ve made contact with the Rakhar, and my shield is useless.  I may be coming in hot.”

John’s voice filled her ear.  “Negative, Ghost, do not lead them back here.  If you can, lead them to the east.  Do you know how to get to the receiving docks from where you are?”

“I hadn’t explored that far yet, no.”

“All right.  We’re dispatching a team along the eastern perimeter.  We’ll try and link up with you.”

“Understood.”

Ari made a quick evaluation of her environment.  There was no way she could make it back to the entrance to the office complex before the Rakhar entered the cafeteria, and she wasn’t inclined to rely on any further bad aim on their part.  Instead, she ducked into the kitchen, quickly searching for a good hiding place.  A moment later, the three soldiers burst in.  She hid behind a large steel refrigerator, and tried to control her breathing.  To her left was a cooking pot, so she picked it up.

“I guess we’ll do this the old fashioned way.”

The soldiers spread out and began exploring the cafeteria.  Inevitably, one of them headed toward the kitchen.  Luckily for her, his first turn was away from the refrigerator.  She threw the pot as hard as she could toward the opposite corner.  She was already moving when the pot hit the wall and clattered to the floor.  She grabbed the soldier’s helmet with her left hand, wrenched his head to the side, and buried her knife in his throat.  She let go, wrenched his rifle from his arms, and landed a front kick on his torso.  He hit the floor, gurgling obscenely.

The other two soldiers sprinted toward the kitchen.  She hefted the rifle to her shoulder, and was relieved when a broad swath of shots left the muzzle and impacted the soldier on her left.  The remaining man dodged to her right, and sprinted out of view.  She deactivated her invisibility shield, ignoring the brief wave of dizziness that washed over her, and followed him.  She got off a shot as he dove behind a vending machine, and missed.  Then she began to make a wide circle around the perimeter of the room, keeping the holographic sight of the rifle fixed on where she last saw him.

The soldier popped up, and quickly took a bead on her.  She hit the floor, which hid her from his line of sight due to the number of dining tables.  She scrambled on her hands and knees for a few meters before getting to her feet, and ran again.  This time, he took several shots at her, driving her to the floor again.  From a supine position, she let loose again on full-auto, knowing full well most of her shots would hit chairs.  She made a tremendous racket as several chairs were knocked over or pushed away, smacking into tables and the floor.  If any hit the soldier, it would have been a miracle.  She caught a glimpse of him retreating toward the kitchen, and noticed she only had a couple more meters to go to get to the courtyard.

She ran for it, stumbling as she got to the door and slamming painfully into it with her shoulder.  It gave way, and she fell onto the concrete pad on the other side.  Getting to her feet as quickly as she could, she continued into the office complex, and through that to the main lobby.  The security guard must have caught wind of the fracas, and was nowhere to be seen.  She exited the building, and headed toward the eastern perimeter.

“Temerity, this is Ghost, I made it outside.  Where are you?”

“In the woods, heading northeast.  There should be another gate about one klick that way along the perimeter fence.  We’ll meet you there.”

“Roger.  I think we may have overextended our welcome here.  We may have to move the ship.”

“We’re already packing up camp.  Christie repaired enough of the ship’s systems for us to move again.  A short ride will have to be worth the radiation exposure.  We’ll discuss it when we’re back.  Are you being followed?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Good.  Keep moving.  Let’s get the hell out of here.”