The Ship's bridge is a hive of activity when the INSO DWARAKA readies itself for a a speed burst thanks to its a Faster-Than-Light or FTL engines. Because of the intense energy demands of the FTL, it could only be employed for a short duration to reduce travel time - and in this instance that meant several weeks off their journey to Space station Sudarshana.
Space station Sudarshana would give the a crew the break they deserved. She was thinking of a 4 week stopover - the maximum she was approved for.
Mohini had also received information from the Central Command that the space station was going to be the last stop before their homeward journey. She couldn't wait to get to the station to hand over her resignation to her seniors and announce her departure to the crew over an epic party.
"All good at your end Lulu," Mohini said.
"Yes my lady," Chief Engineer Lulu Nagrik's gruff voice came through the comms lines from the Engine control room.
Mohini smiled. She always did, when she heard his deferential 'my lady' at the end of every sentence.
She knew what was coming next - a series of checks performed by Lulu, confirmed by his assistant Ravi Tandon who was in the instrument panel station closest to the engines.
Instead she heard Chief Miner Raghuram's laughter.
"You boys having a good laugh while we are prepping important systems?" She asked.
"Ahh err nothing of that sort my lady. Raghuram is here ..err. hmm because he is a wannabe engineer groupie," Lulu said.
It wasn't unusual for the mining officers to assist with engine room operations. A hallmark of INSO ships was their ability to run the heavily computerised systems with a small crew. But this also meant crew had to be cross skilled.
"Just don't mess this up because of your budding bromance with my chief miner," Mohini said.
"No my lady."
"Alright then."
"Yes my lady."
Chuckles rose in the bridge, including, unexpectedly from Sudhir, who was in a bad mood since their last conversation. She made a mental note to have a chat with him later about it. Given that her journey with the crew was a coming to an end in a few weeks time, she wanted to leave on happy terms.
"FTL Drives," Lulu said.
"Engaged" Ravi confirmed.
" Energy Transfer Conduits"
Check.
Hull schock stabilisers.
Check
Flux Compensator
Check.
FTL now warming up. Fuel rod Activation countdown.
Initiating.
Coolant rings.
Coolant rings??.
Coolant rings??. Come in Ravi.
<ALARM GOES OFF>
"There is someone in the engine section trying to access the coolant room." Ravi's panicked voice.
"What? Come again." Lulu thinks he has a misheard Ravi
"Someone is trying to force the way into the coolant room."
"Shit" Lulu said as he jumped out of the chair.
Mohini watched on in disbelief as the video feed showed assistant miner Tara trying to pry open the panel which controlled access to the coolant room. If you didn't have the access codes , you had to fry the circuitry - and it seemed Tara was in a hurry to get to the electronic components.
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Meru
Horror(Complete) Indian mythology inspired horror story set in space featuring a toxic love triangle. INSO Dwaraka, the Indian National Space Organisation's most advanced mining spaceship has had its share of tragedies, but when they retrieve a mysterious...
