Free Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) by Michael G. Thomas Page A

struck something. He reached out and grabbed a computer
console, but only just in time. A number of technicians flew past
him, their bodies spinning uncontrollably.
    Gravity is off!
    He pulled himself
close to the computer in time for the lights to all flicker and cut out through the CIC. Only the dull
red glow of the emergency lights gave any break from the eerie
blackness of the interior as they activated. Shouting and screams
echoed inside, and he was forced to bellow at the top of his
voice.
    “ Clam down, and find
out what the hell is going on!”
    Captain Raikes were
already adjusting to the low-level red lighting, and he could
already identify two people that were not moving. He assumed they
were unconscious, but there was no easy way to tell from his
current position. A technician managed to get part of his
diagnostic system active, but the main systems were still
down.
    “Sir, the power units are offline.
Somebody has shut them down.”
    “ What?” responded
the Captain, now furious that his vessel had been
disabled.
    “How is that even possible?”
    The Chief Engineer
nodded in agreement at the information from his technician.
Although his own display was out of action, there wasn’t a part of
the ship he wasn’t familiar with.
    “ That sounds right.
If the habitation ring suffers a catastrophic failure, the main
drives and engine units are shut down. It’s a safety mechanism to
ensure power isn’t routed to the heavy engineering, especially the
motors. I’d say we have a saboteur on board, and whoever it is,
they have a thorough knowledge of our systems.”
    Captain Raikes
lowered his head into his right hand; the weight of the problems
was bearing down on him, and he was running out of ideas. He
glanced about briefly, but most of the systems were still
offline.
    “ Sir, there is only
one part of the ship where the habitation controls and powerplant
conduits come close to each other. There’s a good chance the damage
was caused there.”
    “ And that’s where we
might find our saboteur. In the meantime, get me comms. I need to
speak with Admiral Anderson. If we cannot get our systems active
again fast, we will have to start a general evacuation to the
Rift.”
    “Already on it, give me a moment.”
    Lieutenant Davies pulled himself along
until he reached the Captain. He had gone through zero-g training
like most marines and moved through the craft quickly and
efficiently. He drifted at head height and was forced to shout for
the Captain to even spot him.
    “ Sir, my marine
comms system is independent of the ship’s. My entire platoon has
checked in, apart from one group near the habitation control
station. I think it might...”
    The Captain lifted his hand and
nodded.
    “Yes, that is where the problem is.
Lieutenant, how soon can you have a team there?”
    The young marine
paused or a few seconds as he visualised the route in his head. It
wasn’t a long distance and normally required the use of the
elevators to descend to the correct level. With no gravity, he
could simply drift there.
    “ About four, maybe
five minutes, Sir.”
    “ Good, get on it. I
suspect you will find our saboteur. Trust nobody and stay in
contact.”
    The marine saluted and turned to move
away before the Captain grabbed his arm.
    “ Leave a squad here.
T here’s a chance they might try and take
the CIC.”
    Lieutenant Davies nodded and then
kicked away from the wall to push himself towards the entrance to
the CIC. Captain Raikes watched in surprise as the man made quick
progress and faded into the blackness of the ship. He looked back
to his crew.
    “Where are my comms?” he demanded.
    Out in the corridor,
the small unit of marines were already using the grab handles to
pull themselves at a good rate along the walls and ceiling. To any
of the crew watching them move past, it must have looked as if the
ship had been infested with creatures of some kind. In just two
minutes, they were at the service elevator shaft and