The Rescue of Admiral Zheng

"London we have synched our rotation and are beginning docking approach now. Approach speed .5 meters per second distance 100 meters. Still no contact with Unity IV crew."

"Affirmative Pegasus London copies docking approach."

News Release: The International Space Agency's Mission Control Center in London announced today that the rescue ship Pegasus will rendezvous on schedule with the International Space Ship Admiral Zheng. The space ship Admiral Zheng is on the return leg of its Unity IV mission to Mars. It is one of four international space ships. It like the other 3, the Armstrong, Kepler and Gagarin, were constructed in low Earth Orbit. They are of modular design and can be configured for specific missions with crews as small as 4 and as large as 200. The Admiral Zheng had an international crew of 117. The ship had completed a personal transfer to the Mars base Olympus as well as research missions to the Mars moons Phobos and Deimos. Approximately 100 members of the crew were in space sleep or hibernation during the return trip.

From what the agency has been able to determine the Admiral Zheng was struck by a piece of uncharted space debris or a very small asteroid that sliced through the ship knocking out several systems and causing severe structural damage. As a result of the damage the ship was put in an uncontrolled rotation. The primary communication array was damaged and is supplying only system telemetry but no voice or audio communications with crew. This is only possible through a secondary array that because of the ship's uncontrolled rotation it is only in position to transmit to earth once every 21 to 26 hours for a maximum of 20 seconds.

The number of casualties is unknown though it is believed there are some survivors both among the on duty operational crew and those in transit sleep They have no exact numbers or names except for the one crew member who is operating the communication system. He is Alexander Spesivtsev. He is Russian, a ship facilities technician, specializing in water systems. It seems he was working in the auxiliary systems facilities module which was sealed off from the rest of the ship at the time.

It had been a difficult maneuver, attempting an almost direct intercept of the Admiral Zheng from earth. It was still on course for a close pass to Earth but it was too far and fast to be trapped into an earth orbit so the Pegasus had to be equipped with extra fuel along with some strap on boosters so not only could it overtake the Zheng as it passed Earth but be able to make a direct return after effecting rescue. Orbital mechanics can be a bitch.

"Distance 50 meters, approach slowed to .25 meters per second," announced Pegasus pilot Henry Hudson.

"Looks good, still no sign of life from the crew, just the same 20 second burst transmission, Boarding crew to your stations" replied Commander Fa Xain.

"You think we will find anybody still alive?" asked the pilot.

"At least one person, somebody has had to be making those transmissions."

"But after all this time? It took them 6 months to get this point, mission control only estimated they had a one month supply of food that was not destroyed even if Spesivtsev was the only crew member who survived. They did have plenty of water left."

"I am more concerned about mental state. If Spesivtsev was essentially alone for six months what type for shape would he be in? His transmissions were not of much help, for the past 5 months they have consisted only of the ships environmental status and to announce the nationality of the person who hibernation pod shutdown and died, Italian, Chinese, German, Japanese, French etc. For the past 5 months 39 of the pods have gone offline and the occupants have died according to telemetry and also gives no reason for them going offline."

The agency had been extremely closed mouth about the content of the transmissions continuing to state that all they knew was that there were some casualties and some survivors. The Space Agency withheld the information about hibernation pods gong offline and the death of the occupant allegedly to avoid quashing the hopes of family members and the public at large.

""30 seconds to docking" announced the pilot the he started the countdown to zero. Commander Xain moved down to join the boarding party at docking airlock.

"10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1. contact" There was a loud clanking sound followed by a bang as the dockings ports locked . "Docking ports locked, air lock shows positive" announced the pilot.

"Boarding Party ready, turning on video and audio feed to Mission Control, London do you copy?" stated Xian as all member turned on helmet mounted lights and cameras.

"London copies Commander proceed as you see fit."

"Roger London preparing to test Admiral Zheng enviros."

At this point a boarding crew member hooked up a meter to a valve and electronic connection that linked into the Admiral Zheng's airlock.

"Air quality is low but livable, atmospheric pressure matches, gravity is on," stated the crewman as he read his instrument.

"OK open the air lock" ordered Commander Xian.

Two crewman pulled open the hatches and the air pressure equalized the boarding party was almost overcome by a foul odor. It smells like a sewer stated one crewman.

"Everybody go on oxygen" ordered Xian as they all closed their helmets and activated their oxygen feed.

As they entered Admiral Zheng Xian noted immediately two things there was nobody to greet them and that there were bags and containers stacked against the walls of the corridor as they moved toward the center of the ship. The corridors were illuminated by recessed LED lights set to low and other than the whirring noise of environmental fans and the clank of their boots on the artgrav floor plates there was no other sound.

"London are you getting this?" asked Xian.

"Affirmative Pegasus, transmission is good."

At the far end of the corridor there was a bright light coming through a wide open door. This was module access hatch that was wide enough for the 4 man boarding crew to enter abreast. As they entered the brightly lit module two of the crewman vomited inside their helmets while another gripped the bulkhead and bending over with dry heaves.

News Release: The International Space Agency made public its final report on the rescue of the Admiral Zheng. While the agency mourns, as everyone does, the loss of life as well as the loss of the Admiral Zheng itself we also praise the efforts of so many who saved so many lives and the demonstrated ability of the Agency to perform this difficult rescue mission. We should all take this an opportunity to renew our commitment to space explorations so that those lives lost not be in vain...

Extract of Classified Report on Rescue of Unity IV mission ship the Admiral Zheng, not for public release:

Only one of the crewmen not in hibernation survived the catastrophe. All the rest were killed when the ship's hull was breached by the space debris. Crewman Alexander Spesivtsev was essentially alone on the ship with a 1 month supply of food for a 6 month journey as the means to safely awaken those in hibernation was in an inaccessible part of the ship along with the bodies of dead crewmembers.

The containers and bags lining the ship's corridor were filled with is human waste and when he ran out of containers he used storage closets which accounted for the stench of the ship

When the boarding crew found Alexander Spesivtsev he was sitting naked unwashed and unshaven in a chair chewing on a human leg. Spesivtsev had resorted to eating the bodies of the crewmembers in hibernation. Spesivtsev admitted to purposely taking the units offline thus killing the occupants. The transmissions he made including his victims nationality were was really him announcing his menu, Chinese food, Italian food and so on.

Officially Alexander Spesivtsev died with the rest of the crew and the transmission were automated transmissions. Unofficially he held is being kept in secret psychiatric facility for study. The crew of the Pegasus have all been given the appropriate rewards sworn/warned to secrecy and sent on a deep space mission to Titan.