Blood Impulse

Part 33.2 - DRIVE DISABLEMENT

Paleon Sector, Battleship Singularity

When Chief Ty reported his orders to the bridge, Zarrey cursed louder than Ty had ever heard him. "Are you fucking kidding me?" A clatter came through the comm. line, as if something had been thrown. "That's naddlethworfing insane!"

Ty had distanced the handset from his ear, a small crowd of technicians standing around him in their orange coveralls. "What do you want us to do, sir?"

Zarrey mumbled another stream of curses. "That's going to leave us stranded here." Without the FTL drives, they couldn't retreat through subspace or hyperspace.

"Well, yes and no, sir." Chief Ty rubbed the stubble on his face. "We can't jump if the drives are disabled, but the easiest way to disable them is to just disconnect them from the power grid, and if we're not disassembling them for inspection, that doesn't take very long."

"What does it matter how long it takes?" Zarrey snapped. "It's insane."

"Colonel, disconnecting the drives is a very short process both ways. It doesn't take long to implement, and it doesn't take long to reverse." Those drives were designed to disconnect from the grid to prevent them from being damaged in power surges.

"So," Zarrey realized, "this won't maroon us here?" It wouldn't leave them stranded at sub-light?

"No," the Chief said. "It'll delay an escape, but it won't make it impossible. To go to FTL, we would only need to reconnect the drive and charge it as usual." These weren't dooming orders, but they were very strange. "However, is delaying our ability to retreat worth following the Admiral's orders?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Zarrey growled, raising his voice again.

Ty leaned away from the handset. "That's why I called, sir." Below decks, the engineers did everything they could to follow directions without an explanation. They usually weren't given one. But this was beyond odd, and they all knew it. "Do you want us to carry out those orders?"

"Do I want-" Zarrey cut himself off with a sharp intake of breath. "What the hell are you saying, Chief?"

Ty swallowed, too aware of the ears that surrounded him. "With all due respect, you know those orders were out of line, even for him."

"No!" Zarrey said. "Damn it all! Just do as he said!" This was no time to be contemplating a mutiny.

"Colonel, you have to realize this doesn't make any sense," Ty argued.

"So what?" Zarrey replied. "Half the shit that happens on this ship makes no sense!" Nobody questioned it then. "Follow your damn orders, Chief. The Admiral had to have a reason. He must know something we don't." Zarrey had to believe that. "And one of these fucking days, I'm going to get him to explain before he up and leaves."

Ty shrugged, "Yes, sir." He hung up the handset and turned to the crowd. "The order stands. Take your teams and get to it. But, for the sake of the stars, stay nearby once you disconnect those drives!" If the order came down, they'd need to reconnect them so the ship could jump. Proximity to the drives would be the difference between a successful retreat and a failed one.

"Aye, Chief!" they chanted, breaking up into predetermined pairs of two and three.

Chief Ty rubbed the dark stubble on his chin as he watched them go. This is madness. For the sake of the stars, they were the most wanted ship in the worlds. Disabling any of the ship's critical systems was the last thing they ought to be doing. What was the Admiral thinking?