Star Wars: Crash on Kessel

Chapter 02: Damaged

"Voz," Rand instructed his copilot, "Walthen is no doubt already checking the engines to see what can be salvaged, so I want you to do a review of all spare parts in storage and find out which ones survived our landing."

"Will do," Voz accepted.

Swiveling around to face the woman seated behind him, Rand continued. "Miyari, the sensors say we don't have an internal hull breach, but they may have been damaged in the crash. I need you to do a complete inspection of the ship inside and out to be certain."

Miyari nodded.

"I'll be checking our life support systems," Rand finished. "I don't know how long we might be here, but we need to know we can survive for the time being. Let's get to work."

The meeting ended, and the trio filed out of the cockpit, going their separate ways once beyond the hatch. Miyari turned left, heading for the cramped machine shop on the next deck as she'd need tools to repair any holes she might find in the hull. Voz walked straight ahead and climbed down the ladder to the lowest level where all the spare parts for the ship were kept in the cargo areas. Rand took the right hand passage and strode quickly on the upward slanting walkway which curved back around to enter the life support center, almost directly above the cockpit.

The life support center was crammed with machinery, pipes, bundles of electrical wires, and the computers required to make them all work together in order to keep the crew alive in the emptiness of space. Rand removed several of the panels and looked over the circuitry inside, his superior vision eliminating the need for any additional light to see inside the dark interior. A few of the systems had overloaded, but the insulators and energy surge dampeners had done their job and prevented any damage to the systems themselves. After a thorough examination, Rand estimated the life support systems wouldn't present a problem during their stay on the asteroid unless something else went wrong. He left the room and headed toward the engines to see how repairs were coming along there.

   ***   

In the cargo hold, Voz had a monumental task before him. Exploring beyond known hyperspace routes into uncharted systems had its hazards, foremost among them being far from any ability to resupply. Damaged parts unable to be replaced could maroon ships until they were either discovered or their crews starved to death. To prevent such disasters, the cargo hold was filled with parts for critical systems such as the engines, hyperdrive, and life support in case they were needed to get the vessel back to civilized space where full repairs could be undertaken. Since the Starhopper never carried cargo, their parts storage was extensive, padded and insulated crates filling the space front to back from the floor to near the ceiling.

Voz took a data pad out of the specially designed holder on the wall and started with the first stack of boxes. In addition to keeping an itemized list of everything purchased and stored in the hold, the data pad also had controls for remotely using the cargo crane hanging from the ceiling. Pressing a few buttons, Voz moved the crane's four claws over the first crate and locked them into position. Swinging the crate out over the one piece of empty space on the floor, Voz lowered the first box down and released it.

Several latches rimmed the upper edges of the crate, but once unhooked, Voz was able to get a look at everything inside the cushioned interior. Satisfied all was in order, he tapped on the pad to select the appropriate item and highlight it in green. Closing the crate and locking it securely, he moved on to the next one.

   ***   

Miyari's job required meticulous attention to detail as the smallest of holes in the hull could compromise the entire ship. If she missed even one of them, it could lead to the death of her and her crew. Holding the square box of a portable scanner in her hands, she directed it toward the hull as she walked the corridors nearest the outside of the ship. A trio of tall antennae were extended upward from the top of the box, and the device made a series of trilling noises as it worked. When her walk-through of the interior was finished, she put on a spacesuit to check the outer hull.

The airlock cycled, and the outer doors silently opened onto the surface of the asteroid. Red-brown in color, the lifeless chunk of rock lacked any kind of atmosphere, but it had enough mass to provide a sufficient gravity field and prevent her from floating off into space. Above the cratered horizon of the asteroid, the vastness of space was filled with a host of stars. Nebulae and cosmic dust were being slowly pulled toward the black hole the Starhopper had barely escaped from, leaving a trail of brilliant colors across the sky.

While looking at the material swirling in the void, Miyari noticed there were at least three black holes she could detect, and they appeared evenly spaced from each other. Ignoring the odd phenomenon for the moment, she redirected her attention to the ship. Kneeling down beside the vessel, she dragged her gloved fingers through an ultra-fine powder of rust colored material the Starhopper had scraped loose during its crash landing. Her sensor unit scanned the dust intensively for later analysis with more scientific equipment in the lab.

The outer hull, according to the sensor unit she carried, had been completely sheared away in some places and severely damaged in others. None of it currently threatened the crew's survival, but it would certainly affect the ship's ability to fly safely as key support braces and vital components were now exposed to space. Radiation and space debris were normally blocked by the ship's deflector systems to the degree the outer hull could handle whatever got through, but with gaping holes in the hull, the ship's systems were vulnerable.

Like a dying flower dropping its petals, the Starhopper had left a trail of broken hull fragments in its wake. Miyari picked up one of the metal plates, shaking off most of the thick layer of particulate dust covering it, and carried it back to test see if it could be salvaged.