Chapter Three: In the dark


    Hirota led as the two commanding officers made their way to the bridge by way of the emergency ladders located directly next to the ship’s elevator. “Nice of you two to join me” Miya remarked as Rai and Hirota entered the bridge. “Status report Miya” Captain Hirota requested. “Well Cap, there was a loud bang and we lost power” Miya said sarcastically. “Now is not the time Miyazaki.” Hirota remarked sternly. Miya backed off, “Sorry sir, I do not know our current situation, my station has lost power and communication is down ship-wide.” “Rai, get down to engineering, report back to me when you find out what's going on” “Yes Sir” Rai responded while exiting the bridge at a sprinting pace.


    Rai flew down the emergency ladders and made it to deck four in record time. The engineering door was half way closed and a small fire had broken out behind the door. Rai conformed to the position of the broken door to pass. On the other side of the door he found Yash using a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. Engineering was bustling with the sounds of men yelling back and forth to each other, the engines however had been shut down. The emergency lighting was better down here then in most other parts of the ship. “Yash? What the hell happened?” Rai enquired. “We have been hit sir! We think it was another ship!” Yash yelled back toward Rai. “Whatever it was it severed our main power supply line and we are trying to restore the generators. Life support and anti grav are unaffected”. “Alright, where do we start?” Rai asked Yash, determined to get the ship back up and running and to start a full damage control.


    The entire crew worked restlessly to get the power restored and after a few hours of hard work, they were able to get main systems back online. Rai was back in the bridge working on the helm. He removed the access panels and had to lie on his back to replace two power relays that short circuited from the impact. Miyazaki stood over him handing him tools. “So, what do you think hit us?” Miya asked while handing Rai a wrench. “I do not have enough information to make an educated guess. Hand me the new relay.” Rai said focused on the job at hand. “Oh come on Rai, you have to have a guess. Nothing, absolutely nothing came up on my collision avoidance screen.” Miya pried.   “Well, I am sure we will find out soon enough….there we go” Rai stated as the helms display lit up and started going through its self check software. Rai stood up and walked to his station. “Let’s see if Yash got communication back up.”


    Yash was down in engineering working on the communication panels. As he twisted the last two wires back together the speaker right next to his ear rang out: “YASH! YOU THERE?” He fell back surprised and responded “Yes Sir, I can hear ya loud and clear.” “Great work! Only a few more systems to go.” Rai said unaware that he just scared his friend half to death.


    Captain Hirota entered the bridge after making his rounds throughout the ship. “How is everything going up here” Hirota asked Rai, winded from climbing the service ladders. “Helm is back up and Yash got Comms online.” Rai reported. “Great, let's send out a mayday to any ships in the area.” Hirota ordered, still catching his breath.


    “Mayday-Mayday this is the Shusake we are broadcasting our position and require some assistance. Mayday-Mayday” Rai recorded the message and set it to loop on the communication channel until another ship responded to the plea for help.


    Yash’s voice came back up over the intercom. “Rai, exterior lights should be working now” “Good news thanks Yash” Rai replied then turned to Captain Hirota, “Now we can see what hit us” Rai turned on the exterior lights from his station. All of the ship lights turned on in a slow cascade from Bow to stern. Rai, Miya, and Captain Hirota anxiously looked out the port side windows. The lights started to reveal a shape embedded in the side of the shoebox. It was a ship. Another cargo vessel, completely cold and dark. The lights grew nearer to the vessel and the crew were finally able to see the name of the ship that was printed in fleet colors on the side. “Jian Seng”. “Holy Shit” Hirota exclaimed not believing his own eyes. “The Jian Seng has been lost for 15 years.” Rai looked closely at the ship, “Other than the impact damage it looks completely preserved. I wonder if the had a life support failure.” Rai speculated.


    “Rai, I want you and Miya to take two EVA suits and go check her out. I’m sure it will be a few hours until we get a response from our Mayday, we need to figure out what happened.” Hirota ordered with his eyes still scanning the ship. “Yes Sir, come on Miya, let’s go for a walk” Rai said excited, as it’s not everyday the Extra Vehicular Activity suits get broken out for a space walk. Miya not as excited as Rai replied “How the hell did I get signed up for this?”


Chapter 4 will be coming soon. Please leave some feed back for Mr. Ironfary88.