Slackers of the Inner Sphere
Chapter 10: Treasure Hunt
DropShip Bulldog
Pirate Point
Uninhabited system
Federated Commonwealth
3rd September 3064
"Sixty seconds until soft dock." The DropShips pilot reported, "All hands standby for contact."
"Suck it in people!" Swindelli looked at his soldiers, all dressed in light weight spacesuits, "Now we think this ship has been dead in space for hundreds of years, but take no chances. Stick with your lance-mats and keep in constant radio contact with the DropShip. Command and Biggles lances will take the bridge, Wolf and Fire lances will take engineering. I want a quick assessment of what happened to this ship, and if she can be salvaged."
"Contact in 3...2...1...contact!" the entire ship shudder as it made contact with the warship, "Magnetic locks secure. Opening the outer airlock."
The sound of metal grinding against metal filled the air as the massive airlock door slowly opened. There was a momentary rush of air as the atmosphere vented through the imperfect seal. The powerful halogen lights illuminated the hull of the unknown warship.
"Something's written on the hatch." Swindelli shone his flashlight over the metal, "I can't make out what it says..."
"It is in Russian." Dimitri leaned closer, "The way is shut...it was made by those who are dead...and the dead keep it. The way is shut."
"Bugger this for a game of soldiers." Baker turned and started to walk away, "I'll be in my bunk."
"Sergeant Baker: front and centre!" Swindelli hissed, "You're the closest thing we have to an expert on warships, and you are going to inspect the engines whether you like it or not!"
"Oh man!" Baker complained as he turned round, "Just who do I have to shoot to get out of this chicken-shit outfit?"
"Did I give you permission to bitch, soldier?" Swindelli smiled as two crewmembers pulled the airlock open, "LET'S MOVE OUT!"
"Nothing on motions sensors." Lieutenant Andrew 'Blaze' Reid, Steele's 2IC reported, "Then again, I'd be more than a little worried if we did pick something up..."
"Indeed." Steele nodded before turning to Baker, "Which way?"
"That way." The NCO pointed down a dark passageway, "I think."
"You think?" Reid asked.
"I've never been on a Tracker class Surveillance ship, no one alive has." Baker looked at the small computer screen built into his suits wrist, "But the schematics I downloaded from the Vital Spark seem to indicate it's that way."
"Then we proceed." Steele nodded.
"SIR!" Cadet Drake 'Duck' Brandt, the junior most member of Taplin's lance called out as he pointed his laser-carbine through a hatchway, "There's something in here!"
"Make a hole!" Swindelli pulled himself along the handrail, "What you got for me boy?"
"Look's like a cargo-bay, sir." Brandt pulled himself out of the way.
"Could be something of value." Swindelli pulled a couple of light sticks from a pouch on his belt. Bending them sharply to activate the chemical reaction, he tossed them into the cargo-bay. The room was instantly lit by a soft green glow as the two luminous sticks drifted end-over-end. "Captain Taplin." He called out over his shoulder, "I want you to take your Lance and go see what we've got here. I'm not asking for a full inventory, just a rough guesstimate will do."
"Aye-aye, Sir." Taplin nodded as he pulled himself through the hatch, setting his halogen lamp to wide dispersal before letting it trail behind him on a tether.
"This should be the place." Baker pointed at a massively reinforced hatched covered in warning labels. He looked at the Geiger counter built into his suit, "Look's clean. Give me a hand with this."
With great effort, the seven members of the team managed to pull the door open enough for a pry-bar to be slipped into place. Planting his legs on the opposite bulkhead, Baker pushed as hard as he could, slowly opening the hatch far enough for Steele to point his gyro-jet rifle through.
The flashlight attached to the weapons barrel illuminated a room filled with computer displays and keyboards.
"Sergeant." He looked at Baker, "After you."
"Thanks..." Baker stepped past, already taking in what he saw, "Looks intact. What ever happened to this ship, it wasn't a reactor overload: the radiation levels would still be too high for us to enter."
"Can you restore power?"
"I don't know: main-power is completely offline, but I may be able to bring emergency power back online as long as there is surfactant charge left in the batteries."
"Then I suggest you get started."
"This looks like the bridge." Dimitri pointed his heavy laser pistol at a partly open hatch.
"Ok; I'll open it, you two stand ready." Swindelli pressed his feet against the bulkhead and, taking a secure grip on the hatch, pulled it open. Dimitri and Humansquish pointed their weapons through the hatch, but the room as completely vacant.
"Looks like no one's home." Humansquish pulled himself through the hatch, "Look's intact."
"This is really setting of my spider-senses." Swindelli shook his head as he activated his radio, "Someone, please tell me we're going to have power soon."
"I hear and I obey, sir." Baker responded over the link, "And the Lord said 'Let there be light'!" As if by magic, the emergency lights came on, illuminating the bridge with an unearthly red glow.
"Very nice." Swindelli nodded, looking round, "How about everything else?"
"All good things, Major, all good things. I'm going to need some engineers over from the Vital Spark if I'm going to get anything else up. The good news is that there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the reactors. We need to restart them, but that's very doable."
"Time-frame?"
"A day, maybe two; can't tell until I run a full diagnostic of the control systems. There's enough power in the batteries to keep the emergency lights going for a while yet, and I should be able to get the atmospheric scrubbers up and running. It'll be a lot easier to work without an environment suit."
"Get started." Swindelli changed frequencies, "Talk to me Biggles."
"It looks like she was carrying supplies for a SLDF unit out in the Periphery." Taplin reported, "We've found something I think you'll like."
"Very good; I'm on my way." Swindelli cut the link and turned to Dimitri and Humansquish, "You two stay here and try and get some of the other systems online. Find the log if you can: I want to know what this ship was doing out here and what happened to it."
To Be Continued…