Chapter 44: The Harris McAllister

5 Hours Prior:

Sena System, Harris McAllister:

A man in his 30s wearing grey overalls walked towards the bridge of the ship. He entered before walking and greeting the man sitting in the Captain's chair.

"Captain." The man did a military salute although a little off.

"Yes, engineer Jess." An old man spoke wearing an old army uniform as he smoked in his chair.

"The retrofitting has been done and we should have power." Chief engineer Jess spoke.

"Good, our clients have been waiting long enough." The captain spoke and quickly got out of his chair walking towards a microphone.

"But captain, there might be a few issue-" Jess was cut off by the captain.

"Are we able to take flight?" The captain asked the man.

"Y-Yes but-" The man answered nervously but again was cut off.

"No buts, if we can move then that's enough, we've kept them waiting long enough. If that is all, please return to your position." The captain spoke with no intention of listening further.

"Understood captain." The man answered giving an awkward salute before leaving the helm.

'This man is going to get us killed, making us do that stupid salute just because he served a few years in the army, bastard.' The man thought to himself as he walked through the halls back to his place.

The man entered the maintenance room where a few of his co-workers were waiting for him.

"And? What did he say?" A chubby short man in his late 20s asked Jess.

"Hah." Jess sighed as he placed his hand on his face.

"The old bastard said as long as she's running he doesn't care." Jess spoke with a tired expression.

"He should be lucky we were even able to fix the damn problem, the engines are like a hundred years old, where the hell did he even find them." The chubby man also wore grey overalls with the name tag 'Bale' written on it.

"I know, still, Captain's orders, as long as he doesn't do anything outrageous we should be fine so just monitor the levels alright." Jess answered as he went and sat on his chair.

"You got it, boss." Bale and a few others answered as they gave a salute.

"And cut that shit out in front of me. Don't embarrass yourselves too." Jess spoke hinting at the others doing the salute too.

A group of around 80 people sat in a comfortable and large room, the ship was designed as a semi-luxurious passenger vessel although its old age seemed to have worn a few things down.

The people who dressed and looked to be upper middle class had come from the outer chain of systems.

There were 3 main chains of systems, the inner ring, Sol and its surrounding systems represented the wealthiest and most secure part of the GOE. The middle chain was larger and represented the lower wealthy class and finally, the outer chain represented the rich and middle class and the first line of main defence of the GOE.

The GOE did a lot of expanding, in order to not be spread thin and have logistical and administrative issues, if a system was deemed worthwhile and secure by at least 5 of its nearest systems it would be integrated and heavily invested in and each system in the 3 chains had the capability to support itself completely in case of a disaster.

While the outermost borders were safely guarded, the chains were essentially fortresses in comparison.

"How long is this going to take Dad?" A young boy spoke to his father as they had been waiting for almost 3 hours since the cruise vessel encountered a problem.

"Don't worry son, I'm sure they'll finish up soon and we can enjoy the rest of the trip, we've already seen a lot too huh, how cool was the Rodez system, that red sun was cool right?" The father in his 40s tried cheering up his son.

A few minutes later the captain emerged, carrying a cane. He walked to the front and gave a short bow.

"My greatest apologies to you for the delay, we've fixed our systems and will be leaving any moment." The captain spoke politely and apologetically, a complete 180 in his manners and tone which he had with Jess.

"Yay, does that mean we're gonna go." The boy excitedly spoke.

"Yes, I promise that all our customers will be satisfied and thoroughly enjoy the experience." The captain smiled and spoke to the child.

"Now, shall we go!" The captain spoke loudly as the crowd cheered.

"Helmsman forward!" The captain shouted as the ship's large engines powered the 150m cruise vessel forward.

A few hours later:

The captain sat comfortably in his chair as the ship cruised along its intended route.

Suddenly Jess emerged appearing to be out of breath as he barged through the room.

"Captain, captain, it's urgent!" Jess spoke as he took a few breaths.

"What is it, Jess?" The captain spoke annoyed.

"We need to stop and do a few repairs, there appears to be a leak and we're having trouble controlling the power output." Jess explained.

"Bloody hell, can you do something right for once? We've already stopped twice, any more and they'll all be asking for a refund. Are you going to pay them, Jess?" The captain spoke angrily.

"But captain, the engines are old and we've found them to be extremely unreliable, it's too risky, we might have an hour maybe two if we're lucky before the engines die." Jess spoke to the captain.

"Then I guess we just have to get to the port faster then." The captain smiled as he spoke arrogantly.

"What? No, we can't increase our speed, we're barely able to control the power at this level." Jess spoke desperately trying to convince the captain.

"Who served in the Army Jess? You or me?" The captain asked as he stood up and walked towards Jess.

"You did sir, but I don't know how this corre-"

"And who's the captain of this vessel?" The captain asked him another question, cutting Jess off.

"You are sir?" Jess lowered his head and spoke in defeat.

"Good, now get back to your station and control the power, I don't want our clients experiencing any issues, I want a smooth ride, Got it?" The captain issued his final words.

"Got it, Captain." Jess spoke giving a salute with no expression before leaving the bridge.

"Fucking useless, Helmsman, push forward at 80 per cent speed." The captain ordered the pilot who quietly complied with the captain's orders.

The ship smoothly increased its speed, a few creaks and groans were heard from the hull but it travelled nonetheless.

"See, what did I say, no issues at all, fucking idiots, Helmsman I'm going to my quarters, tell me when we reach our destination." The captain spoke to the Helmsman before departing to his quarters.

Jess walked through the hallways, the rage in him visibly showing as he walked to the maintenance room.

This time all the men present had worried expressions on their faces and when they looked at Jess they felt even more down.

"Sir, what is the captain doing, even if we somehow control the engines, the hull cannot take it. It's not made for engines and speeds of this size and it's 50 years old too." Bale spoke.

"Just do your best Bale, if the engines fail it will be the last of our worries so just deal with it a little while longer." Jess spoke, tired of the captain already.

"Understood Boss." Bale spoke as he got back to his position.

An hour later:

The captain opened his eyes to alarms blaring and red lights flashing all over.

He quickly got up and rushed to the main bridge.

"What the hell is going on!" He shouted as a few crew members were desperately working.

"Sir, the ship's not slowing down!" The pilot spoke as he tried lowering the throttle and engaging the brakes.

"What do you mean?" The captain asked, anger and confusion on his face.

"Sir, while we were travelling through the Hyperlane, the power levels surged and are not slowing down, we've tried to use engine braking and shutting the engines  too but it's not responding." The pilot spoke.

"The engines are using a lot of fuel anyways, if we ignore it they'll run out soon enough right?" The Captain spoke, hoping his answer was correct.

"You would be right captain, if we're unable to release the fuel we just wait till it's out however, the ship's hull is not made for these speeds for this amount of time, the hull will fall apart before we run out." The pilot's words scared the captain.

"Shit, alert the authorities and move all passengers to the emergency rooms, I cannot have a passenger die. I'll be doomed." The captain spoke as he sat in his chair, his legs shook as he lit a cigarette.

A few minutes later a man ran to the bridge, "Captain, we've secured the passengers, however, there's a crack in the lower hull."

"What! Pilot, show me the damage." The captain ordered the pilot.

The camera panned to a crack near the first engine as a small flame was visible, slowly increasing.

The captain's eyes widened as he realised his worst fears had come true, a second later an explosion occurred in the first engine.

"Everyone get dow-" The captain tried shouting but it was too late.

The first engine completely ruptured, in a millisecond, the imbalance between the two engines caused the ship to swing portside, and the extreme forces and speed that the hull was subjected to caused the ship to break apart instantly dropping out of the Hyperlane into the Cellis System.