Evac
By Medeve. Filed in Scarab |
Getting the civilians off the ship was easy. They all understood the severity of the situation and what was at risk. The harder part was getting the rest of the crew on the same page as I was.
“They want to do what to the ship?”
“You heard me Sergeant.” Walters is a good man. He’s a younger man, came into the Navy after they made the changes. He may be new blood, but he acts and thinks like the old.
“They just want to throw the ship away? What about reclamation missions. We have yet to loose a ship that we weren’t able to reclaim later. We have no evidence that they can launch new eggs from ships.”
“I know the level of success the reclamation missions have had Walters. The decision is not mine to make.”
“Did you even try to talk to them about it?” Walters was trying my patience.
“No, I did not Sergeant. Its not my position to question a superior’s orders, nor is it yours. Do we understand?”
“Yes sir.” Walters walked away, visibly unhappy with what the task I gave him. Not that I can blame him. The natural reaction to ‘Prepare for an self-destruct.’ is ‘Why?’.
Not that I don’t agree with him. Out of the 20 ships that were abandoned due to Nest Egg hits, 18 have been recovered within 3 months of loosing them and the remaining two are scheduled to be reclaimed within the next month. Each time the Scarabs were all dead by the time the reclamation teams arrived with no evidence of new eggs being launched.
And while the Captain’s motives seem noble, I have my doubts. There is no evidence to support that the Scarabs are capable of launching nest eggs from ships.
Then there’s the nagging feeling I keep having that the Captain has other reasons for wanting the ship destroyed. However orders are orders and I have to follow them, regardless of how grim they are. And so does Walters.
So the evacuation of civilians went off with no problems. I called Sasha and Walters along with several other privates to assist me in preparing the ship for destruction. And that’s where I sat waiting for Walters to report.
“Has anyone seen Walters?” I ask the group in front of me.
Sasha’s small voice responds. “He was checking the the escape pods near Cargo Bay 3″.
“Did anyone go with him?” Uncertain murmurs fill the room. I see Sasha shake her head. “Dammit. All of you grab some flamers. I have a really bad feeling about this.”