LPI Senior Dispatcher Cindy Danes had just started her shift dispatching LPI's finest when a priority alert came in that overrode all other traffic and was routed to her desk....
"This is Sergeant Hull O'Brian, I have a priority emergency, Harvester in Manhattan orbit! I need back up now!"
Cindy was momentarily stunned, then her training took over. On every dispatchers desk there is a red button under a plastic cover. It was named the Priority Alert Notification Information Control. The dispatchers just called it the Oh Sh*t Button. This button cut off all other dispatchers and linked her into a Naval Mutual Support Channel and into a rescue channel for the Liberty Cutter Service. Her voice would be the only one heard from here on out.
"This is a priority alert! All SWAT team members converge on Manhattan orbit! Officer in trouble, Harvester sighted in Manhattan orbit! Any Naval unit and Liberty Cutter support would be most appreciated." Cindy had tried to sound calm, but she knew there was a little panic in her voice.
Next thing she knew, she received a alert notifying her that....O'Brians ship had been destroyed. She thought "Oh god, I hope he can steer away from that mechanical mon......"
As quick as the alert was there, It was gone. The life pod's beacon was ......gone.
2 minutes later the life pod's beacon came back, but 10 seconds later, it was gone again.
"O'Brian, can you hear us? signal somehow..." Cindy waited, but nothing came back except the chatter of units moving in to deal with the threat........
Suddenly her console went into Priority download mode. A micro burst transmission from the Life pod! She started to decode the download, it was audio only, and some of the file was damaged. She listened to what was readable.....
The dispatchers at the next desk looked on as her hands started to grip the sides of her desk, her hands turning white, and her face turning red with anger. Cindy made a decision right then and there, ALL of the LPI on duty was going to hear this. Screw it, if she was going to get fired, so be it.....
She routed the audio to the Dispatch channels and the buildings internal speakers.........
HISSSSSSSSSS STATIC HISSSSSSSSSSSS Bang clang "You hear me you big metal oaf? My life pod has a Nuclear mine implanted in it and its going to go off in about a minute. I wont taste very good and your gonna have a sh*t load of problems......." More static....." can hear this, I ain't gonna make it out of this one. A harvester tractored in my Life pod. I have activated the Imminent Death option. I am not gonna end up lubricating some mobile trash compactor. About 30 seconds left. You hear that metal head? I am about to give you indigestion like you never had..." .......Static................. " 20 seconds left trash compactor. Ill see you in h*ll." "Whoa, wait a minute, he ejected my life pod. HAH! Didn't like the taste of me huh? 15 seconds to go, I can dis arm this any time I want to." .... Static...... "Hey he looks like he is going to fire on m.......... HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
<end of tape>
There was no sign of Sergeant O'Brians Life pod, he is currently listed as "Missing in action"
Excerpt from LPI Manual
Your Lifepod and you.
With the revitalization of the LPI and War looming on the horizon, serious effort has been given to revamping of life pods. LPI personnel will be doing more than ever before, one day running normal police duty, the next protecting Liberty Space on the front lines from an invading horde. Pilots take time to train and educate, even longer to get the experience needed to be a serious threat to those who seek to destroy our way of life. Pilots needed to be protected so that they could go out and perform their duties again.
Some of the areas that have been enhanced:
1. Armour Plating: Defensive plating has been doubled. This is to ward off weapons fire from those who would kill a helpless pilot.
2. Cryo sleep: This is so that a pilot that isn't retrieved right away can still survive and be located.
3. Bigger engine: Capable of extended flight times.
5. Individual Beacon frequencies: Programmable beacon frequencies that can be used to distinguish between friends and foe. Compatibility is 100 per cent wit all current communications technology (Including trade lane repeaters)
6. Imminent Death option: When faced with a no survival scenario, a pilot can choose this option. Guaranteed to take a few with you. Also fitted with an abort option.
7. Solar Power: Added to supplement the normal power source.
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Uh, my head... My mouth feels like I had someones dirty sock in it.......Can hardly move my tongue...
What is that beeping sound?
The Harvester!
I must be dead, it didn't work......
God I hurt. Your not supposed to hurt if you dead, right?
*** Blackness ***
**Consciousness**
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Ungh, what is that incessant beeping?
Am I in He*l?
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep....Beep...
** Blackness **
*** This is a Colony New service report.........
Today a life pod was found floating out in space 300K from any known trade lane or station. We at CNS have found out that it is the life pod of Sgt. Hull O'Brian of the LPI, who was presumed dead at the hands of a Harvester unit in Manhattan orbit days ago.
We at CNS tracked down the individual who found the life pod, who wishes to remain nameless, and asked him how he found it.
"Well, I was on my way to Roch....I mean, a meeting to drop off my load of Car.... I mean, uhhh, pharmaceuticals for those folks that needs it. I am a electronics tinkerer and a radio buff, so I always have a communications receiver running with some pre-programmed channels in it while I am flying. Some things you can here are really interesting......This one time I........, whats that? Oh, back to the story....."
"So I was on my run when the comm receiver stopped on the pre-programmed channel for the life pod beacons. I knew that there hadn't been any real action out where I had been, so I kinda dismissed it at first. Then It locked up on the same channel again. I thought I could here something way down in the static...."
"The signal was so weak I figured that the life pod was either defective and jettisoned as junk, or maybe someone was way out there. I have one of the antennas on the ship rigged up to be a directional antenna to I rotated it about until I found the strongest reading. I turned the ship in that direction and proceeded towards it."
"Now I kept looking, but I couldn't see anything on the radar, or with my eyes at first. Now heres the weird part, at first there was no pod where the signal was the strongest, but then it.... kinda.... appeared. Looked like ...it reformed right in front of me. I musta been tired and didn't see it right away. Maybe it had passed thru some junk and was just dragging it around and with it... yeah, thats it."
" Now I tractored it in and looked at it in the cargo hold. It had been thru he*l, all sorts of scorch marks, part of the bottom was missing, and a funny message that one of his fellow officers must have written on it as it was being installed in his fighter."
"It said, "Vero was here". "
"Well, I started on my way back and ran into the LRC Key West of the Liberty Cutter Service, who I graciously transferred it to them upon their request."
CNS has learned that Sgt. O'Brian has been brought back to Manhattan and is in Manhattan General. His condition is stable, but he is still unconscious. Doctors have high hopes that he will make a full recovery and return to duty.
Planet Manhattan
Manhattan General Hospital
5th Floor, "B" wing
Room 502
"Mr O'Brian, can you hear me?"
Unnnh, whats that? Somebody calling me? Can you talk if your dead?
"Sergeant, if you can hear us, wiggle your toes.."
Wiggle my toes? Ok, I didn't think that they had bad jokes in He*l.......
"Try opening your eyes..."
Well, seeing as I am going to be here for eternity....
I cracked open my eyelids ....Unnh too bright!. I must have groaned because someone remarked that I made a noise. Yippee, my introduction to the afterlife...
"Sergeant, My name is Doctor Navaro. You are in Manhattan General Hospital. Can you move your arms and legs?"
Lets see, Uh yeah, fingers on the left hand, fingers on the right hand, left toes, right toes.
"Good Hull, very good. Can you say anything?"
My mouth and tongue felt like it had been cemented shut by unprocessed Synth paste.
The most I could get out sounded like a croak, "Where am I again?"
"You are in Manhattan General Hospital. Your police ship was destroyed......"
"I remembered! "Harvester!" I croaked out.
"Yes, Sergeant. It destroyed your ship, but you were found a couple of days later and brought here. You are in one piece, but you have some minor injuries when you were brought in. Nothing serious, some cuts and bruises."
"Can I have some water?". I needed to get that nasty feeling out of my mouth if I was going to talk any more.
"What happened after my ship was destroyed?" I asked.
"The Navy responded and chased it off. I heard that they had destroyed it later on.", responded the good doctor.
Heh, so I made it. Don't quite remember how, but I made.
"Rest for awhile Hull, then we will get some food sent up. you'll be fit enough to return to duty sooner that you think."
Doc and the nurse left me to myself. Alive? Still alive? There is an old saying that goes something like "God protects fools and children". Maybe he likes LPI officers.
Formerly known as LPI Police Chief Hull O'Brien.
Creator of Sgt. V. Price, 207th Precinct out of Chula Vista Station
