The ozone odor throughout the ship was nauseating to say the
least.
After the blast that took out the aft section of the ship, the smoke
ended up filling up the remaining sections of the ship with the smell of
burned electrical wires and other materials.
Captain Phillips and the rest of the bridge crew had been in the
after crews mess having a pizza pbust for the retiring Engineering officer.
It was a shame that they did not end the party before the blast. We lost a
lot of great crewmembers.
Now it is only myself and the communications officer with one of
his crewmen who are left to get the ship back to port.
I kept telling myself that this was not a good year to volunteer for
this mission. It had the smell of mistake written all over it.
Besides, I was due for a transfer anyway.
But, what the heck, at least i'll get paid good credits for this one.
“Chief! Do you want me to get what's left of the bridge set up for
your command orders? You will need to contact the base to take
command.” Relayed the Comms officer.
“Yes, let's go ahead and do that now Daniel, might as well get it
over with. They will want to know what happened. Being this far out
from Earth is not a good time to have problems.”
“Very well Chief, i'll get the comms charged and ready for you.
Think I should get Steve to secure what's left of the after section
hatches?”
“Yes, we'll do that after. Let's take a break for a few. Get some
coffee and gather our thoughts.”
As the Comms officer and his assistant looked over the
communication console, I sat and wondered how long it is going to take
us to get the ship back to Earth. I couldn't help but think of how horrible
it was for the crew when that rogue satellite struck the aft section. No one
saw that coming.
My mind was getting clouded with unwelcome thoughts and bad
visions.
Suddenly I felt a massive jolt. It took my breath away and I felt
that I passed out.
When I opened my eyes, I could see the communications officer
standing over me and shaking my arm.
“Chief! Wake up, your watch is coming up in a few minutes!
Come on, the Quartermaster has been asking about you again! This time,
you better not linger, I think the Captain has it in for you too!”
Opening my eyes and rubbing the sleep away, I looked around and
realized that I was in my cabin and then I looked at my calendar hanging
over my bunk. I looked at the photo on the calendar and then I
remembered that it was only saturday. I looked at the caption below the
calendar photo.
USS Arizona
Saturday, December 6,

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