With no way to enter Fort Unity, I was -in my shuttle- just standing still in front of the spaceport entrance. I was sure that many of those who were taking shelter in the spaceport had already noticed my shuttle and were begging me to do something to help them out, yet I couldn't figure out what that something could be.
The obvious first option was to wait until other ships responding to Fort Unity's S.O.S. arrived, but that could take a while, and my presence would make no difference in that case anyway.
The second option was to try to clear out the spaceport entrance in an attempt to create a gap wide enough for Lodos IV to fly through. However, the shuttle didn't have the capability to take the crashed vessel in tow to force it back out of the spaceport, nor to try to push it aside; both of which were quite dangerous ideas on their own anyway.
The third option was to create another opening to evacuate people through, but Fort Unity was essentially a gigantic armored pressure vessel with a hull thickness of at least tens of meters. Not even the Republic Navy cannon shells could penetrate such a wall, let alone my tiny shuttle with no hole-making equipment.
"Another opening..." I repeated to myself. "Hold on. I don't need to take the shuttle through any opening. If only people can pass through, that would be enough."
Looking at Tau Rubycon's crash site once again, I had an idea.
"That's an opening right there."
I slowly moved the shuttle closer to the crash site and approached the less damaged portions of the passenger liner. I aligned Lodos IV's docking port with that of Tau Rubycon's, and tried to perform a docking with the wrecked vessel. If I was successful, people waiting at the spaceport could first get onto the crashed ship and then board rescue ships from there, using the docking ports of Tau Rubycon. However, the passenger ship had it's docking ports stuck in stowed position, making docking impossible.
Suddenly, a flashlight from one of the windows of Tau Rubycon caught my attention. There was someone on the window, holding the flashlight towards me and waving their hands as if they were trying to tell me something. I waved my hands back to inform that I could see them, but understanding each other was very difficult. After a minute or so, a few other silhouettes appeared on the window.
I moved the shuttle slightly backwards and used the external lights of Lodos, hoping that someone on the other party knew Morse code. I signaled;
MORSE
The hand-waving stopped, and after about a minute, I got an answer back through the flashlight. It took them a while to complete the full message.
DOOR CONTROLS OVERRIDDEN. NEED FORCE TO OPEN.
"Need force to open doors, huh?"
The silhouettes pointed towards the docking port after seeing that I received their message. I aligned the shuttle's docking port with that of Tau Rubycon's again, and came in for contact at high speed. Lodos managed to force the docking port doors open, although not without deforming its own hull. Luckily, there were no leaks.
Through the docking port, three people threw themselves into Lodos. I got out of the cockpit to meet them. Even to my surprise, Mei was among them. She was looking ill and tired, but I could almost see some happiness behind her cold expression.
The other two people were a doctor and a young passenger. I would say that he was about 12 years old.
"I'm glad you all made it." I said.
"We three were in the infirmary, which is located at a fortunate position in the rear segments of the ship. There are many people still aboard." said Mei, interrupting me. "While the surviving passengers of Tau Rubycon were trying to get off the ship, lots of residents from Fort Unity came aboard the ship after the crash, thinking that it was still operational and would take them to safety."
"Maybe Tau Rubycon doesn't look as damaged from the other side." I said. "I can understand why they would rush aboard, they are fighting for their lives."
"Maybe." she said. "We need to tell them that Tau Rubycon isn't going anywhere and they need to leave the ship."
"Mei, I know, but wait." I said. "Tau Rubycon's docking port could be the only way to get people off of Fort Unity. The ship has blocked off the spaceport entrance before becoming immobile."
"Now, did I get this right; your plan is to evacuate people by having them get onto Tau Rubycon first and then taking them aboard the rescue ships via the docking port?"
"Exactly." I said. "Getting aboard a damaged passenger liner might be dangerous, but that's a risk worth taking if the other option is to fry to death inside Fort Unity."
Mei thought about it in silence, and replied.
"Okay. We need to let people on the spaceport know that they need to come aboard the wrecked vessel since we will be evacuating them through Tau Rubycon then."
"Yes." I said. "Which is another problem."
"Hey, kid." said Mei, turning to the young patient who was in the infirmary with her. "For how long have you been aboard Tau Rubycon?"
"A... A few days." he said with a barely audible voice.
"Do you know your way around the ship?" Mei asked another question.
"Uhm... I..."
"What is your plan here?" the doctor stopped Mei.
"Doc, you must have been serving aboard ships for a while." Mei then turned to the doctor. "Can you get back into Tau Rubycon, walk across the entire width of the ship, disembark onto the Unity spaceport and notify people of our evacuation plan?"
"I-I guess I can." said the doctor, who wasn't expecting to be given a task by his former patient.
"Great." said Mei. "Kagan, you are with me. We have something else to do. And you, kid!"
The kid got visibly uncomfortable.
"Stay there in the shuttle, don't move and don't touch anything."