Tatum's War

Tatum raced from the bridge towards the Zero tube. The volume of species traveling through the tube increased as he headed down towards the lower levels. Crew zipped by him at rates of speed he’d never dream of trying, and knowing his limitation, he kept his speed at a manageable rate. Flexi beeped for him to get off at the next stop. Tatum swung around and exited. Flexi showed him that MeerRhonda was down on the lower observation deck. Jumping into a vertical Zero tube, he raced down, exited, and then headed towards the observation room. Narrowly missing a few crewmen racing the other way, he entered the room to find MeerRhonda observing shuttles heading towards the wrecked frigates.

“Hey, let’s go and help.” He stopped beside her.

She turned and relief was clearly visible in her eyes. “We need to stay here. For your safety”

Tatum stepped back surprised. “No. Captain Dulutce said I could go and help. Let’s go!”

Tatum walked off towards the door but stopped when MeerRhonda didn’t follow. Her normal stoic look said otherwise.

“He told me to find you. So he had my safety in mind. Unless you would rather have Iyara look after me.”

Upon hearing Iyara’s name, MeerRhonda eyes narrowed and her feet moved purposely towards him.

“The Captain put you with Iyara?” her eye twitched.

“Yep. Guess my awesome engineering skills must be the talk of the ship.” He told her as they walked towards the Zero tube.

“Unlikely. You have no skills.” She told him.

Tatum smiled. “That’s my instructor. Always got my back.”

They jumped in the Zero tube and headed towards the shuttle deck.

Large groups of crewmen were exiting the Zero tube at the shuttle bays. Luckily, the Zero tube had many exits along the enormous length of the bay. Tatum appreciated that someone was thinking when they build the shuttle bay because there was plenty of room to evacuate the entire crew if a need arose. Flexi beeped and an arrow appeared on his forearm leading him towards Iyara. They pushed their way through crewmen and equipment being readied and loaded onto shuttles. Soon they came to Iyara barking orders to several groups that were gathered around her.

“I want teams one and two to assess damage and start repairs on any bulkheads that are in danger of being breached. If you need assistance, coordinate with Buccaneer Twolins on the Tashfin. His engineers are currently trying to restore power, so only contact them if you are in dire need of help. Teams three through seven. Your job is to get any hull breaches closed and seal off any sections that cannot be saved. Eight through fifteen, get any control systems power up and running, then contact the other teams to assist.” Buccaneer Iyara looked at her forearm.

“Buccaneer Iyara, ma’am.” A crewman called out.

She looked up. “What?”

“What about survivors?”

Her face grew hard. “Administer aid, slap them with a tracker, and get on with your job.” She looked at Tatum. “You are going to see a lot of ugly over there. Friends, crewmen, and maybe even family. And know that you can’t save everyone. If you waste time on someone, who is beyond help, you put some else who could be saved at risk. That Habitation ship could reappear at any time, or even a fleet of Conclave ships could show. We are not equipped to handle a large fleet. So, do your job, help who you can, but you MUST get that ship up and running so we can get her back to the fleet.”

The somber message wasn’t lost on anyone. Even Tatum understood what she was saying. He wondered if he would be able to just leave someone behind.

“Okay, I’ll be on deck to help. Don’t be ashamed to ask for help, but understand that help could be a long time coming. For the Trifectoric!”

“The Trifectoric!” They yelled.

The crewmen broke into their groups, started sorting out equipment and began loading it onto the shuttles. Buccaneer Iyara smiled as she sauntered over to Tatum and MeerRhonda. MeerRhonda’s eyes narrowed.

“And what do I owe this pleasure to?” Iyara purred. “Come to give me a goodbye kiss?”

Tatum heard MeerRhonda growl behind and hurried to offer his help before something happened. “I was told to report to you.”

This raised an eyebrow on her perfect face. “The Captain sent you?”

“I asked to come.” Tatum said.

Iyara’s eyes grew wide with admirations. “Our babies are going to be brave and geniuses.” She placed her arm around him and guided him towards a locker by the shuttle bay opening. The launch doors were beginning to seal themselves from the other shuttles and Tatum watch them fly towards the frigates.

“Here.” Iyara threw a wetsuit looking thing at him. “This is a gravity suit. It will keep you safe if we accidently enter an unpressurised compartment. Your flexipad unit will integrate itself into the controls and provide support.”

“Do I need to take my clothes off?” he asked.

“Yes…”

“No!” MeerRhonda interrupted Iyara.

Iyara gave MeerRhonda a seething cold look. “No. But it won’t be as comfortable.”

MeerRhonda stepped past Iyara, but managed to knock her away from Tatum as he was putting on his gravity suit. He zipped it up, and the material melted over the zipper to seamlessly seal the suit. He pulled the hood over and his vision was engulfed in darkness. The hood felt stuffy and his breathing quickened until the hood seemed to magically disappear and his vision was three hundred and sixty degrees. A small red light blinked in the upper corner of his vision.

“Flexi?”

“Right here. The suit is self-contained and has an artificial gravity field built in to it. So you don’t have to worry about floating off into space.” Flexi almost sounded smug about it.

“And if I have to pee?” He asked sarcastically.

“Then pee. The suit will filter it, so you can drink it later.”

Tatum grimaced at that notion. “I’ll pass.”

He turned and saw that MeerRhonda was suited up, but Iyara appeared to be purposely going slow as if waiting for him to notice her. She seductively ran her hands over her chest to smooth out an imaginary wrinkle, then winked at him. Tatum turned his head.

“Noticing an increase in blood pressure.” Flexi announced.

“Thank you.”

“There is increase blood flow in the inguinal region between near…”

“Thank you!” Tatum shouted.

“Did you say something?” Iyara asked, now suited up.

“Uhm, no.” But Tatum couldn’t help but notice how tight fitting both MeerRhonda’s and Iyara’s suits were. He looked away and tried to slow his breathing.

Iyara took his hand. “Come on. Our shuttle is ready to go.”

She guided him over to the shuttle and entered. They took the last three seats available, and Iyara purposely pushed him into a seat and sat next to him. MeerRhonda was forced to take a seat further down the aisle. Tatum noticed that the other gravity suits worn by the other crewmen were not as close fitting as Iyara’s and MeerRhonda’s.

Iyara gave the thumbs up to the pilot, who turned back around, and flipped some switches. The lights dimmed and the shuttle gently lifted off the deck and headed out into space. Tatum was too preoccupied with watching the Alinnora receding in the distance to notice Iyara snuggling up to him. Tatum was also surprised that he didn’t hear any engine noise, but only felt a slight vibration through his butt.

“What propels this?” Tatum asked Iyara.

“A smaller version of the gravity drive on the Alinnora. Did you notice any movement when we took off?” She asked.

Tatum shook his head.

“That’s because the gravity drive envelopes the entire ship in a field of magnetism. Inertia is cancelled because of it. It was why you didn’t feel anything when we entered the Streem. Though it sounds like you wouldn’t have noticed anyway.” She laughed.

“I guess so.” Tatum nodded.

“You know, you should go and apologize to Daryiha. She didn’t mean any harm, she was just trying to further her knowledge. Hell, everyone has stared into the Streem before.” Iyara skootched closer.

Tatum would have moved, but he was now pinned in on the opposite side by another crewman, who seem uncomfortable that Tatum was so close to him. “She used me as an experiment. Without asking. But I should apologies to her?”

“Yes. Telling her you don’t trust her is a very serious offense in her culture. You should be cognizant of other cultures customs.”

“What about my customs. You just don’t use someone as a lab rat without asking first.”

“She didn’t mean to harm you? Come on. Be nice and apologize. She has been sulking around since then.”

“Since this morning.” Tatum reminded her.

“Yes.” Iyara placed her arm around him. “Play nice. And I’ll play nice with you?” She ran a finger along his chin and then caught a piece of rod in front of his face. She held the clear piece while Tatum turned to see MeerRhonda snarling at him. He feverishly hoped that was meant for Iyara.

“We are approaching the Tashfin. We’ll be docking in their shuttle bay.” The pilot’s voice spoke inside his suit and the lights turned red.

Iyara placed the rod down. Her demeanor switched to all business. “Okay, Tatum. Stay by me. No heroics and this time do exactly as I say.”

Tatum nodded. He watched the damaged ship come into view; piece of hull floated by but he didn’t see any bodies. The ship landed and the crew began to systematically exit. The three of them were the last ones off. Moving in the suit was like walking through the sticky remains of his sister’s spilt juice. Every step stuck and released. When he grabbed the handle to exit the shuttle, his palm stuck and released. It was odd and annoying with each step, but in the back of his mind he knew it was the only thing keeping him from floating off the ship into space. Until they got the gravity back online inside the frigate, he had to be careful and not do anything to sudden. The debris field floating just outside of the breached shuttle bay was impressive. Basketball sized chunks floated and collided with smaller chunks, which flew off into whatever orbit gravity let them. It was mesmerizing and a deadly reminder.

“Tatum!” Iyara’s voice thundered over his comm.

He turned to see her motioning him to follow. The hanger appeared to be in tatters. Beams hung down, and power cords floated lifelessly in no gravity. He pushed aside containers and conduit to follow Iyara. They moved through the shuttle bay doors and into the corridor. Destroyed towns from tornados didn’t give justice to the carnage that they waded through. Bodies were absent so far, but Tatum knew it would only be a matter of time. He pushed aside objects as his comms were continually inundated with continuous updates. Iyara barked orders back. Tatum listened to the commands and was impressed with the completely different Iyara before him than the one that tried to seduce him all the time. They turned a corner and discovered a body floating in the corridor. The Stixrgata’s body was bloated and its eyes were bulging. The only thing keeping its eyes in its body was the hood from his gravity suit. Tatum looked deep into the eyes and saw the emptiness of a lifeless body. Again, the horror or astonishment that he thought he should feel wasn’t there. He didn’t know if it was because of the many movies or the bad special effects look of the body. But the floating corpse didn’t fill him with any feelings other than the sadness at the loss of life. Just as if he had seen it on the news. Once passed the body, Tatum followed Iyara to a Zero tube. They entered and pushed off.

“Cadet MeerRhonda, we are going to go to the bridge. I need you to go and assist Team two, they are having trouble with some control panels. They could use your expertise with Ermeerka tech.”

“Captain said to stay with Tatum.” MeerRhonda replied.

Iyara stopped and turned around. “I don’t care! I’m ordering you to go and help Team 2. Understand, Cadet!”

MeerRhonda gave a curt nod, pushed off back down the Zero tube and disappeared. The hard features on Iyara’s face softened. Tatum appeared surprised.

“Your look is because she didn’t tell you she was an expert in power controls or because of my sexy stern expression.” Iyara winked at him.

“The expert. Definitely the expert.” Tatum quickly said.

“Liar, you are just playing hard to get. I like that.” With that last statement, Iyara’s all business face reappeared and they moved off towards the bridge.

Moving through several more levels, they had to float up a section of bulkhead for the Zero tube was completely mangled and impassable. They entered a section where the life support was operable. The gravity suit hood released his face with a gentle suction sound and his vision went dark. He pulled the hood off and the smell of burnt electrical, metal and other odors he didn’t recognize assaulted his nose. Clearly the gravity suit had a built in filtration system that was keeping the odors from him. Iyara barked more orders while they moved down the corridor towards the bridge. Just listening to the comms, he wasn’t surprised at how destroyed the bridge was when they finally arrived. This time though, the dead, and bleeding bodies along with the smell of bodily fluids, made Tatum gag. The realness of the situation finally fought its way through his disbelief and understanding to give him the experience that he thought he needed. But once the cries and moans of the injured, the bodies that were torn in half or missing limbs, and the horror of it all was in full view, he wished he’d never set foot in Mr. Chance’s yard. He moved off behind a console and dry heaved himself to tears.

Iyara came over and rubbed his back. “Do you want to go back?”

Tatum wiped his mouth and the tears from his eyes as he stood back up. “No.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Help.”

“Our babies are going to be gods.” She kissed him on the cheek and they got to work.