The Last Of The Brave - Divided We Fall [PIPBK]

Chapter VIII [2019]

Commander Barnes was looking out from the observation deck, as they came into range of the Excalibur. She had massive damage to her outer hull, and through 100 meters of her port side, they could see right through the super structure to her hallways. The entire ship was exposed, and from what scans had determined, all emergency bulkheads had failed to drop into position when she decompressed. They picked up minimal power onboard, and ship computers were offline. The only thing online was sensors which had probably become full of collecting just dusts and echoes.

Barnes turned his head when he heard Colonel McBatten step through the airlock.

"She's amazing." Johnathan nodded his head. "It shows how powerful these ships are."

"Yeah, only if she were still intact. We found debris from her primary hull, from what we can tell, a ship rammed into her, and sheared the side of her off. The rest is a mystery. I'm going to take an away mission, gather what ever information we have then figure out what to do with her. We can't blow her up. While on board, we'll see if she has any nukes on board."

"Aye, sir." Commander Barnes nodded before heading to the prep-room for pilots. There was already a group of officers who were gathering and getting into their environmental suits that were fully equipped to operate within a vacuum. As they all were getting in them, they all looked at Commander Barnes but remained silent. They knew who the Commander of the ship was. Barnes quickly took off the top layer of his uniform before getting into the claustrophobic suit. He hadn't been in a vacuum in years. No one except pilots get used to wearing the suits. After a minute, he checked all the seals, and gave everyone a thumbs up.

"Let's see what happened to her."

"Aye, sir." Commander Barnes looked up at the young Ensign who he had met on the way to the Endurance, a month ago. "We're taking a old raptor, she's small enough we can get her into the ships service area. The entire ships without power, so we have to wing it."

"Got, its Ensign." The six of them all loaded themselves onto the Raptor. Commander Barnes took the front seat next to her, and they were loaded up onto the launch pad. As he sat there, all he could think about was how the entire crew of the Excalibur died alone, away from space, with only a few ONI officers knowing their fate. The idea of dying in space due to the vacuum was terrifying to everyone. Freezing, getting an Ebullism, and your lungs very literally exploding was a horrible way to go. To most people in the Navy, it was a true reality. The average death toll in the navy was one in fifty, for every fifty people, one would die in service, and often than not, it was due to decompression, and fire injuries. The idea of dying that way made Barnes nauseous, it probably did it to everyone, but knowing it was probably the fate that his father met was worse.

As they approached the ship, the young ensign turned the search light on as she searched for a boarding point.

"There." Barnes said pointing to the wide aperture left by the large gash. "We can fit." The young ensign nodded and quickly began to maneuver the Raptor to within the Excalibur. When they landed, he looked forward, and saw the emergency bulkheads partially lowered.

"The hydraulics must have failed when the hull ruptured."

"Or the power loss shut down the pumps. Either way everyone on these three decks from approximately frame 2-400 were blown out into space or decompressed." Commander Barnes stood up, and quickly turned his magnetic boots on. He checked and his feet were quickly pulled to the ground. "Team 1 take the rear section. Team two, we are going to check the CIC." They all nodded and began to leave the Raptor. "Ensign. You keep post. I don't like the feeling of this." The young ensign sat there, and made sure her side arm was ready. "You see anything you don't like, pull us out."