Omoikane - Mumra
Posted: Thu Jan 16, 2025 7:40 am
Omoikane - 41 Oly Oly Oxen Free
We were at a concert. Tysig and Bendarri Musicians were washing us away with heartfelt waves of music. It was great.
It felt like a costume party. The event was formal, but the Omoikane was mostly shut down, so we were in Bendarri formal dress. We could have gone in dress uniform, but I figured hey, why not?
Afterwards, there’d be a reception. I’d stand back and watch Li’ira network, and try various treats.
We were with the Governor, in her first public outing since she was shot. I expected her to take an early night. Along with us was the Bendarri Local Forces Commander, and the Station Administrator for Kajadoro.
The music was winding down. It felt right, it had been a couple of hours.
The Governor’s communicator started flashing red and making an urgent noise. Looking around, I saw Bendarri government and military people in the audience were getting the same message.
The Governor got up and left in a hurry, followed by the General and the Administrator. Li’ira and I were right behind them.
We all piled into a wide hallway outside the main auditorium. One of Kellen’s administrative people was opening up a briefcase-sized communications station there.
We all looked over her shoulder.
A message played. It showed a Bendarri destroyer against a dark cloud. Possibly the dark nebula we were looking at earlier.
Inside the cloud, actinic white flashes. It looked to me like high-speed asteroids hitting shields. Then some sort of Pyramid looking thing pushed out of the cloud.
“Hail them,” The Bendarri captain said
“No response. I’m not reading anything from that thing. It’s like a black hole of sensor beams.”
“Shields up.”
The black pyramid grew a purple energy sphere around itself, and from that sphere, a bolt of purple lighting. The purple lighting hit the Bendarri destroyer and instantly chewed it into garbage. The destroyed remains of the Bendarri ship thought about it for a second and a half and then detonated from a warp core breach.
We heard a different Bendarri voice “Evasive!”
The screen changed to show a more distant scan. A third Bendarri ship, well out of weapons range, at the edge of short-range sensors. The Pyramid flashed another purple lightning bolt and two seconds later there was a bright flash. Another warp core detonating.
The repeater on the new screen showed a force of one light cruiser and 4 destroyers. The Icons for two of the destroyers were red.
“Keep our distance. Have the Shiirna hang back to look for escape pods. We and the Gravanta will shadow the unknown.”
The black pyramid stopped for several menacing minutes. Then it lept to warp. It was really moving.
The two Bendarri ships flogged their engines and didn’t lose any ground, but it was a near-run thing. Was the Pyramid running dilithium warp drives? Or was it playing with the Bendarri ships? I had no idea.
It was heading straight for Bendervar, the Bendarri homeworld.
Then came the Imperial seal and the Emperess herself “All units, go to alert, and take appropriate action. Pull all forces back to defensive position and stand by for further Information. The intruder is unknown and his intentions are unknown. But we will stand fast and protect the Empire.”
I turned to Li’ira “Round everyone up. We have to go.”
She looked grim: “The Omoikane’s not ready.”
I gestured towards the screen “We have got to go. We go with what we got. We’re wheels up in six hours. I’ll head to the Omoikane and see about buttoning things up.”
Governor Kellen looked at me “Do you think your sensors will help?”
“God, I hope so. Can we bother you for shuttles? My crew is pretty spread out.”
Kellen nodded towards the Panther-like General “Get these people to their ship.”
He came to attention and saluted.
I ran for the runabout. All of the Omoikane crew and several Bendarri folks came with us.
Sure. The more the merrier.
-*-
“We’re leaving dock in five hours and forty-five minutes,” I told Zola-Major. “Lives are on the line and we cannot be late.”
Zola-Major said “Captain, We have diverted all crews to finish the frame members and the power distribution system. We can have the ship mostly functional in twelve hours.”
“More people are coming in behind me. Put them to work. The deadline has no give to it. Let's make it happen.”
Zola-Major shook his head “We will do what we can.”
“I have faith in you and your people, Zola-Major. Maybe the crew will have better ideas about how to kludge stuff together.”
He sounded dubious “Perhaps.”
-*-
It was five and a half hours of madness. Most of the “Get broken stuff out” was done. Most of the new stuff to put the Omoikane back together was present.
So we had to look at what we had and what we needed and get just the bare minimum together to get moving.
The more we patched in a hurry, the more complex things got. I wound up in Engineering, grabbing things for Galaglan and her people, rounding up non-engineering people to be gofers and movers getting things in the right place.
We had to route around things and make up solutions on the fly. It was horrible. It was wonderful. I never want to do that again.
I was back on the bridge getting ready to go when Zola-Major approached me. “We have taken a poll. Most of the worker units will stay on the job and go with you. Launch, and go to warp. They have been backed up. If they get damaged or destroyed, they will live on in Damyip 17.”
I blinked. Zola meant to launch and go to warp with Damyip worker drones still mending our hull.
Being on a starship hull as it goes to warp and being outside looking at the warp bubble is something very few people can claim to have done. The environment might be benign. Or it might not. Extremes of heat, cold, and radiation are not uncommon. If the warp field impacted a body, then inside we’d see a rainbow streak. Outside you’d experience every band of radiation as the grain of sand or the pebble was converted to energy.
It was a suicide mission. They were artificial life forms. They had backed themselves up. But it was a suicide mission. It didn’t FEEL right. As I wrestled with the idea, it occurred to me that the Damyip had, indeed won me over. But I still had an intercept to accomplish.
Li’ira spoke to me quietly “Is Mi’ira right? Are you going soft?”
I glared at her. It felt like being pushed. I didn’t like it. Would my decision be mine or me reacting to Li’ira’s push?
“They volunteered. We trained for something like this to get our command rating,” She said.
I turned away from Li’ira “Galaglan, fire up the warp power system and run a level 5 diagnostic, please, state readiness for warp drive,”
The Omoikane’s warp drive systems came to life. I watched the diagnostic run on the bridge engineering panel.
**Warp drive system green across the board.** Galaglan said.
“Make a public countdown to launch,”
Varupuchu set it up. Ten minutes.
“When ready, release umbilicals and clamps. Request permission from Damyip 17.2 to undock and disengage.”
Varupuchu said, “Permission is granted.”
I looked at the strategic map displayed on the bridge. The unknown was still driving straight for Bendervarr. Our map showed an impromptu task force maneuvering to intercept in three hours.
“All departments, Signal readiness to undock and engage engines.”
Varupuchu repeated each department head's report.
At minus five minutes I said, “Begin undocking.”
The Omoikane unhooked the umbilicals one by one. Then the docking clamps released in a careful sequence. If one clamp hung the mass of the ship and the single clamp might come into conflict. Both sides would lose. The docking clamps released without incident.
The Omoikane was no longer physically connected to Damyip 17.2
“Back us away from the station, maneuvering thrusters only.”
Tarla carefully backed the Omoikane away from the masts and arms. The sun shades were reefed in, out of our way. I could see insect-like worker-type Damyip units crawling along the mast.
Once we were far enough away I said “Hail Tysig space control and request a course for the edge of the system.”
Varupuchu did so.
Tysig control immediately cleared us and gave us a path out of the Tysig system.
“Set course and engage, full impulse.”
The Omoikane turned and accelerated along the indicated path. Smooth as silk. I could feel a faint vibration of the deck.
I looked at the ships condition display. The top was still an angry red, where we were open to space. The main frame members were there. The workers were struggling to get enough of the infrastructure mounted so the structural integrity field could cover the open area and act like a virtual hull for the duration. I could see various bits of the affected area turn from red to yellow as the Damyip and drones worked.
On a different screen, I could see traffic in the Tysig system. It was different than when we arrived. Civilian ships were in a closer orbit of Tysig itself. The Bendarri military ships were in orbit around the gas giant, ready to intercept and engage any invaders. Convoys of supplies for the front were formed up, but were holding in position to see what would happen.
I took a deep breath. “Go to warp. Make warp one and then hold for five minutes and then increase to warp two. Continue that way until we’re at best speed to intercept the unknown ship.”
That way, if something stupid happened, we had a little time to hit the brakes.
The Omoikane went to warp. No problem. I could see the internal systems adjust to work around and protect our compromised area.
I watched like a hawk. As if I could do anything.
Radiation came and went. The temps never varied much machine terms. The warp field fluctuated a little, as it always does.
As we came to our best speed, somewhere north of warp 9, on our scale, I could see the signals of our synthetic dock workers blink red one by one. Some subspace ripple or blast of radiation got ‘em.
As we flashed across space at amazing speeds, I just watched them work. A race against time.
With a little more than half the Damyip left, they completed the work. The structural integrity field rearranged itself to cover the compromised section of the hull. They were now, functionally inside.
They kept right on working to finish up the work. I guessed the Damyip processed trauma differently than we did.
We were at a concert. Tysig and Bendarri Musicians were washing us away with heartfelt waves of music. It was great.
It felt like a costume party. The event was formal, but the Omoikane was mostly shut down, so we were in Bendarri formal dress. We could have gone in dress uniform, but I figured hey, why not?
Afterwards, there’d be a reception. I’d stand back and watch Li’ira network, and try various treats.
We were with the Governor, in her first public outing since she was shot. I expected her to take an early night. Along with us was the Bendarri Local Forces Commander, and the Station Administrator for Kajadoro.
The music was winding down. It felt right, it had been a couple of hours.
The Governor’s communicator started flashing red and making an urgent noise. Looking around, I saw Bendarri government and military people in the audience were getting the same message.
The Governor got up and left in a hurry, followed by the General and the Administrator. Li’ira and I were right behind them.
We all piled into a wide hallway outside the main auditorium. One of Kellen’s administrative people was opening up a briefcase-sized communications station there.
We all looked over her shoulder.
A message played. It showed a Bendarri destroyer against a dark cloud. Possibly the dark nebula we were looking at earlier.
Inside the cloud, actinic white flashes. It looked to me like high-speed asteroids hitting shields. Then some sort of Pyramid looking thing pushed out of the cloud.
“Hail them,” The Bendarri captain said
“No response. I’m not reading anything from that thing. It’s like a black hole of sensor beams.”
“Shields up.”
The black pyramid grew a purple energy sphere around itself, and from that sphere, a bolt of purple lighting. The purple lighting hit the Bendarri destroyer and instantly chewed it into garbage. The destroyed remains of the Bendarri ship thought about it for a second and a half and then detonated from a warp core breach.
We heard a different Bendarri voice “Evasive!”
The screen changed to show a more distant scan. A third Bendarri ship, well out of weapons range, at the edge of short-range sensors. The Pyramid flashed another purple lightning bolt and two seconds later there was a bright flash. Another warp core detonating.
The repeater on the new screen showed a force of one light cruiser and 4 destroyers. The Icons for two of the destroyers were red.
“Keep our distance. Have the Shiirna hang back to look for escape pods. We and the Gravanta will shadow the unknown.”
The black pyramid stopped for several menacing minutes. Then it lept to warp. It was really moving.
The two Bendarri ships flogged their engines and didn’t lose any ground, but it was a near-run thing. Was the Pyramid running dilithium warp drives? Or was it playing with the Bendarri ships? I had no idea.
It was heading straight for Bendervar, the Bendarri homeworld.
Then came the Imperial seal and the Emperess herself “All units, go to alert, and take appropriate action. Pull all forces back to defensive position and stand by for further Information. The intruder is unknown and his intentions are unknown. But we will stand fast and protect the Empire.”
I turned to Li’ira “Round everyone up. We have to go.”
She looked grim: “The Omoikane’s not ready.”
I gestured towards the screen “We have got to go. We go with what we got. We’re wheels up in six hours. I’ll head to the Omoikane and see about buttoning things up.”
Governor Kellen looked at me “Do you think your sensors will help?”
“God, I hope so. Can we bother you for shuttles? My crew is pretty spread out.”
Kellen nodded towards the Panther-like General “Get these people to their ship.”
He came to attention and saluted.
I ran for the runabout. All of the Omoikane crew and several Bendarri folks came with us.
Sure. The more the merrier.
-*-
“We’re leaving dock in five hours and forty-five minutes,” I told Zola-Major. “Lives are on the line and we cannot be late.”
Zola-Major said “Captain, We have diverted all crews to finish the frame members and the power distribution system. We can have the ship mostly functional in twelve hours.”
“More people are coming in behind me. Put them to work. The deadline has no give to it. Let's make it happen.”
Zola-Major shook his head “We will do what we can.”
“I have faith in you and your people, Zola-Major. Maybe the crew will have better ideas about how to kludge stuff together.”
He sounded dubious “Perhaps.”
-*-
It was five and a half hours of madness. Most of the “Get broken stuff out” was done. Most of the new stuff to put the Omoikane back together was present.
So we had to look at what we had and what we needed and get just the bare minimum together to get moving.
The more we patched in a hurry, the more complex things got. I wound up in Engineering, grabbing things for Galaglan and her people, rounding up non-engineering people to be gofers and movers getting things in the right place.
We had to route around things and make up solutions on the fly. It was horrible. It was wonderful. I never want to do that again.
I was back on the bridge getting ready to go when Zola-Major approached me. “We have taken a poll. Most of the worker units will stay on the job and go with you. Launch, and go to warp. They have been backed up. If they get damaged or destroyed, they will live on in Damyip 17.”
I blinked. Zola meant to launch and go to warp with Damyip worker drones still mending our hull.
Being on a starship hull as it goes to warp and being outside looking at the warp bubble is something very few people can claim to have done. The environment might be benign. Or it might not. Extremes of heat, cold, and radiation are not uncommon. If the warp field impacted a body, then inside we’d see a rainbow streak. Outside you’d experience every band of radiation as the grain of sand or the pebble was converted to energy.
It was a suicide mission. They were artificial life forms. They had backed themselves up. But it was a suicide mission. It didn’t FEEL right. As I wrestled with the idea, it occurred to me that the Damyip had, indeed won me over. But I still had an intercept to accomplish.
Li’ira spoke to me quietly “Is Mi’ira right? Are you going soft?”
I glared at her. It felt like being pushed. I didn’t like it. Would my decision be mine or me reacting to Li’ira’s push?
“They volunteered. We trained for something like this to get our command rating,” She said.
I turned away from Li’ira “Galaglan, fire up the warp power system and run a level 5 diagnostic, please, state readiness for warp drive,”
The Omoikane’s warp drive systems came to life. I watched the diagnostic run on the bridge engineering panel.
**Warp drive system green across the board.** Galaglan said.
“Make a public countdown to launch,”
Varupuchu set it up. Ten minutes.
“When ready, release umbilicals and clamps. Request permission from Damyip 17.2 to undock and disengage.”
Varupuchu said, “Permission is granted.”
I looked at the strategic map displayed on the bridge. The unknown was still driving straight for Bendervarr. Our map showed an impromptu task force maneuvering to intercept in three hours.
“All departments, Signal readiness to undock and engage engines.”
Varupuchu repeated each department head's report.
At minus five minutes I said, “Begin undocking.”
The Omoikane unhooked the umbilicals one by one. Then the docking clamps released in a careful sequence. If one clamp hung the mass of the ship and the single clamp might come into conflict. Both sides would lose. The docking clamps released without incident.
The Omoikane was no longer physically connected to Damyip 17.2
“Back us away from the station, maneuvering thrusters only.”
Tarla carefully backed the Omoikane away from the masts and arms. The sun shades were reefed in, out of our way. I could see insect-like worker-type Damyip units crawling along the mast.
Once we were far enough away I said “Hail Tysig space control and request a course for the edge of the system.”
Varupuchu did so.
Tysig control immediately cleared us and gave us a path out of the Tysig system.
“Set course and engage, full impulse.”
The Omoikane turned and accelerated along the indicated path. Smooth as silk. I could feel a faint vibration of the deck.
I looked at the ships condition display. The top was still an angry red, where we were open to space. The main frame members were there. The workers were struggling to get enough of the infrastructure mounted so the structural integrity field could cover the open area and act like a virtual hull for the duration. I could see various bits of the affected area turn from red to yellow as the Damyip and drones worked.
On a different screen, I could see traffic in the Tysig system. It was different than when we arrived. Civilian ships were in a closer orbit of Tysig itself. The Bendarri military ships were in orbit around the gas giant, ready to intercept and engage any invaders. Convoys of supplies for the front were formed up, but were holding in position to see what would happen.
I took a deep breath. “Go to warp. Make warp one and then hold for five minutes and then increase to warp two. Continue that way until we’re at best speed to intercept the unknown ship.”
That way, if something stupid happened, we had a little time to hit the brakes.
The Omoikane went to warp. No problem. I could see the internal systems adjust to work around and protect our compromised area.
I watched like a hawk. As if I could do anything.
Radiation came and went. The temps never varied much machine terms. The warp field fluctuated a little, as it always does.
As we came to our best speed, somewhere north of warp 9, on our scale, I could see the signals of our synthetic dock workers blink red one by one. Some subspace ripple or blast of radiation got ‘em.
As we flashed across space at amazing speeds, I just watched them work. A race against time.
With a little more than half the Damyip left, they completed the work. The structural integrity field rearranged itself to cover the compromised section of the hull. They were now, functionally inside.
They kept right on working to finish up the work. I guessed the Damyip processed trauma differently than we did.