Truth and Beauty 14-7

Truth and Beauty updates (most) Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays
First Post|Previous Post|Next Post

“Have any of you any salvage experience,” he asked, once he had their attention again.

To Jack’s surprise, Sergeant Strasser saluted and spoke. “I served on a first-entry crew for Chapham Recovery, off Sirius, then on a sweep team for Coventry, eventually leading an S team myself.”

“I see,” said Jack, to whom none of this made sense. “Well, I suppose this is a first entry mission, so why don’t you start your remarks there - for those who may not have been on a mission of this type, before.”

“Plastite,” said the sergeant without hesitation. "The plastic thermite cuts right through the hull, just like butter. You preload it onto a forced-entry sleeve, stand back, and ‘boom,’ you’re in. Assuming, of course, that you can’t just access an airlock - ‘try before you pry,’ you know. Then, once you’re in, it depends on the nature of the catch,” he went on, falling back into the jargon of his old profession. Stephen noticed a certain relaxation to his posture, too, which somehow made the marine seem more dangerous.

“If it’s a strait RA - roadside assistance - then the crew typically let you in and show you what’s needed. Coveralls’d be all you’d need, and work boots and a hard hat. Dead ships, they’re fairly straightforward, too. Everything has to be started up, perhaps repaired, but it’s all balanced, and of course you’re in survival suits until you have the life support back up. The half-dead ships, those are the widow-makers. Some of the compartments are pressurized, others aren’t any more, see. You get these pressure differentials across the bulkheads, and they can blow out without warning. That can be deadly no matter which side you’re on,” he said with a grim smile. “Survival suits, of course, though that isn’t always enough, if a blow-out catches you."

First Post|Previous Post|Next Post

Truth and Beauty 14-6

Truth and Beauty updates (most) Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays
First Post|Previous Post|Next Post

He met his team in the hangar, along with one of the gunner’s mates checking over their small arms. In the background, their shuttlecraft pilot wiped down all of the control surfaces as he worked his way through his pre-launch checklist. “Doctor, how do you do?”

“Very well, sir, and you,” said Doctor Russ, transferring his bag to his left hand so he could salute with his right. This revealed one of the Roth’s pistols in a holster on his right hip, Jack noted as he returned the salute, handle foremost.

Pulling his attention from this unexpected detail, Jack surveyed the rest of the group. Three men (one a woman, actually) wore the heavy gloves and helmets of a forced-entry team. The road box at their feet do doubt held their equipment. Two marines under Sergeant Strasser held their rifles in a stiff, at-ease posture, their bayonets sheathed in thigh holsters. Five other men held their weapons uncertainly - though basic training included small arms training, the knowledge had clearly not stuck; Jack made a mental note to begin training when the storm settled down.

“All right,” said Jack, and the away team fell turned their attention to him. “We have an unknown vessel, seemingly adrift. She don’t respond to hails, shows nothing on the IFF, so she could be derelict and therefore fair prize, or she could be a trap, so don’t lose your heads,” he added; at the mention of prize money, an almost unheard of thing for a transport’s crew, his team had broken into an excited babble.

First Post|Previous Post|Next Post