Astronomicon: Icarus

21 - Rescue

With its stern pointing in its direction of travel, the Wagner's pulse drive gave a final blast of thrust, bringing its velocity down to a mere few metres per second. Once the flight crew were satisfied that the vessel's velocity had been successfully reduced to its target speed, they used the attitude thrusters to turn her gently through one hundred and eighty degrees until she faced the way she was travelling.

"We're within one hundred kilometres of the outer edge of the Trojan cluster, sir," reported Warrant-Officer Ewan Scott.

"Excellent," replied Captain Stirling. "We've got the data on the USS Oppenheimer's last recorded position, but see if we can pick up any transmissions from her. If we can get a signal from her it will make her a whole lot easier to find."

"Comms system shows no radio transmissions in this area. Nearest transmission sources are partway between here and the area of Callisto Station," replied the Warrant Officer.

"Okay, Mr Scott, we'll have to move in closer and start a visual scan."

"Yes, sir. I'll activate the optical system now."

He made several selections from the touchscreen on the console. Behind small portholes dotted around the exterior of the Wagner small, automated cameras began to visually search for objects that matched the Oppenheimer's hull shape. They would search continuously until deactivated, never tiring, never blinking. Even a fleeting glimpse of the Oppenheimer through the sea of asteroids would be enough for them to accurately locate her.

"I thought this area was busy with mining vessels?" said Captain Lee, head of the US salvage team.

"It is," laughed Captain Stirling, "But as the Trojan cluster is thousands of millions of kilometres across, you could stay here for months and not see another soul."

"I know that," replied Captain Lee indignantly, "But what about their radio transmissions? Surely we should be picking those up too?"

"No, they run silent most of the time," said the Colonel who was sitting beside him. She went on to explain, "Most of the miners have got their own favoured asteroids they like to mine and they don't want to give away where the richest deposits can be found. The easiest way to achieve that is to avoid transmitting anything while you're inside the asteroid field."

"At least that means that if Oppenheimer does transmit anything, it should stick out like a lighthouse on a dark night," said Captain Stirling.

The Wagner headed cautiously into the asteroid field, being careful to avoid passing close to any of the large rocks. The area she had entered was relatively easy to navigate as most of the asteroids were separated by dozens of kilometres. Ewan Scott had to keep a wary eye out for rogue asteroids, those not travelling in the same trajectory as the rest of the cluster, but even so he was able to maintain a good speed and it only took a matter of minutes for them to get within ten kilometres of the coordinates they had been given.

"Optical system still showing no matches, sir," reported Ewan Scott.

He slowed Wagner to a near halt, relative to the asteroid field, to give the cameras time to finish scanning the area around them.

"She's clearly drifted. Can we work out which way she was most likely to move?" asked Captain Stirling.

Lieutenant Walker, sitting to his right, spoke up. "If we move right on top of the coordinates, we'll have a better chance of detecting her. All we can say from here is that she probably didn't come this way."

"It's worth a try. Mr Scott, put us as close to those coordinates as you can."

"Yes, sir."

Using a combination of the thrusters and a small amount of thrust from the ion drive, he moved Wagner onwards towards Oppenheimer's last known position. The cameras continued to methodically scan the view. Wagner slowed again until she was just metres away from the coordinates they had been given.

They had barely been in that position for seconds before the optical search system announced in a smooth, female voice "Target vessel located. Bearing fifty-three by fourteen. Range estimated at twelve point four kilometres."

"Now that's more like it," replied Captain Stirling happily. "Take us there, Mr Scott."

Ewan Scott gently turned the Wagner to face the new position, re-engaged the main drive and accelerated them towards it. All the time, he maintained a careful watch for rogue asteroids on the radar display. It took them less than a minute before they could see the bright spot amongst the asteroids that was the stranded vessel they were here to rescue. Picking his path carefully, he skillfully brought the Wagner within a few hundred metres of the Oppenheimer so they could better see what they were dealing with.

"She's in one hell of a state," commented Captain Stirling, studying the view on the large screen.

"Flying a vessel that large into an asteroid field will do that to it," laughed Captain Lee.

"How did they come to fly her in here anyway?"

"That's classified," he replied dismissively, continuing to study the image on the screen.

"Looks like she's got power," said Colonel Miller. "There's light showing through the bridge windows."

"If they've got power," replied Captain Lee. "They could have life-support too. That means there's a chance of survivors."

"Let's hope so," said Captain Stirling. "Bring us alongside, Mr Scott, but be on alert. We can't risk contact with any of these rocks. Wagner's built more for speed than withstanding collisions with some of these monsters."

"Try to raise them on the radio," suggested Captain Lee. "It might be wise to find out what we are up against before we go on board."

Captain Stirling set the comms system to an appropriate frequency, then leant in towards the microphone grille that was positioned near the bottom of the console, closest to him, "This is Captain Brian Stirling of the EUSC Wagner. We have brought a US rescue and salvage team to offer whatever assistance you need or rescue if required. Please respond."

They waited anxiously for a few seconds but there was no reply. Captain Stirling repeated his message and they waited again, still with no reply. No-one commented on the obvious conclusion.

The Wagner carefully turned around and moved gracefully into alignment with the Oppenheimer, matching her speed and position perfectly before very slowly edging closer to the huge vessel. She was dwarfed by the Oppenheimer's sheer scale as she manoeuvred to line up with the main airlock. The Oppenheimer was more than three times as tall, almost eight times as wide and vastly longer. Judging by the external windows, Oppenheimer's bridge was probably larger than the whole of the Wagner.

Warrant-Officer Scott deployed the universal docking attachment, using the external cameras to line up precisely with the matching attachment around the Oppenheimer's main airlock. The two locked successfully together, then he moved Wagner the last metre closer to the Oppenheimer until clamps on the Wagner locked around the universal docking attachment to fix the two vessels directly together.

Unlike the Icarus, the Wagner was not fitted with a flexible tube to complete the seal, but instead, as she was a much smaller vessel, relied on the two vessels being in direct contact.

"Seal achieved," announced Warrant-Officer Scott.

"Excellent. I believe this is where your team swings into action," said Captain Stirling.

"Yes," replied Captain Lee. "We'll take over from here."