Repair Bot Pilot's Story by Dan Cicon
Published on Kiith Iopia on the 23 July 2003
The trickle of sweat off of the handle brought Koxan Manaan out of his light gaze. He checked the temperature of the class D-34 repair bot. It had been slightly rising for the past few hours as the current battle raged on. This was the third hole he was patching up on the massive “Armageddon” Class Dreadnaot since the battle had started a day ago. Koxan’s shift was almost over, but the battle was so intense that he doubted anyone would think to let him come back in the small hanger. Koxan flinched as he felt the roar of the particle-charged beam that ripped open yet another hole in the cruiser’s flesh not a half-kilometer away.
The small screen in the cramped cockpit buzzed, then focused, “D-34, there’s another rupture on the starboard side, can you patch it?” the hesitant face asked. “Yeah, sure, I got it,” he replied shifting in his seat with a centimeter of padding. “I need to head back soon though, my oxygen supply is at 23%,” Manaan suggested with small anticipation. “Roger D-34, after you stitch up the new hole, head back to hanger module-R, I’ll report your condition to them, eh…. And I’ll tell’em to watch out,” the lieutenant added with a grin. Koxan laughed remembering the incident three days earlier while he was returning to the hanger with bad recoil rockets and he crashed into the hanger control room. There were no injuries, but the bot D-34 was now a name known across the vessel. “Aye lieutenant, and thanks. D-34 out.” Manaan smiled in relief as he finished with the current newly patched hole.
A few minutes later he made his way over to the final hole. It was the smallest cavity he had seen all day and that he was thankful for. Only 3 meters wide. Maybe an hour,… two hours tops.. he thought. As he started the welding Koxan’s radio buzzed again. “Mayday mayday!!!……. Thi-……-ot D-26…… I’ve lost contro-……” Manaan was surprised, but he knew what to do. “Bridge, this is repair bot D-34, please respond,” Koxan spoke over the emergency link. “Roger D-34, we read you, go ahead,” a voice responded. “I got an emergency call from repair bot D-26. He seems to be out of control and tumbling on the top-starboard side, requesting assistance.” “Yeah, we see him. A rescuer pod is now being dispatched. Thanks for the call, Bridge out.”
Koxan hadn’t realized it, but the danger was just starting. As the towing pod brought back the bot in distress, Manaan noticed a familiar shape out the small, grapefruit sized side window of the small craft. “That looks kinda like an …..X….,” his mouth opened as he faded into silence.
20 kilometers away was a squadron of twenty Tiidani interceptors in a commonly known formation backed up by two assault frigates. “Remember squad, fleet command says that our mission is to harass and distract, but not to destroy the cruiser. The capture squad will come in soon. Report in,” explained the captain of the squad in his ancient tongue. All of the squad reported back with affirmative reports. The squadron was overflowing with rage and adrenaline to do their job and perhaps willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. “Command reports attack is a go, ENGAGE!!!”
“Bridge, this is repair bot D-34, we have multiple fighters closing in at vectors 56 and 94, suggest immediate action,” Koxan reported with a little worry. The frigates couldn’t hit the broad side of a greenhouse, but Tiidani Fighters were known to target the small defenseless bots as a dominant strategy to prevent repair of the massive threats. “Roger, D-34-,” the radio stopped. “All repair bots immediately cease all unessential repair and report to the hangers ASAP. This is a code yellow, repeat, this is a code yellow, report to hangers immediately.” Manaan hesitated as he only had a decimeter of welding left. That was all the enemy needed. A shower of magnetically accelerated shells bombarded his little ship, one of which skimmed his hair and made its exit out his windshield. The 10% of oxygen he had left was now dramatically dropping as he went full burn back to hanger R. The bot shot into the small hole that scientists called a hanger, that was just big enough for three bots. He spun around to dock just fast enough to see three of the fighters scream by. All the oxygen was almost gone and the bot was over heated. Koxan’s vision faded as the rescuers struggled to get him out. The last thing he heard that shift was the fighters proudly drowning out all sound.