Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  “Hey Molter!” Bounce called cheerfully.

  Sparks turned around and smiled at him. “Hey Matt. How’s it going?”

  “Tired. How ‘bout you two?”

  “Not bad for a first day.” Sparks replied as she swiveled around on the bed. She kicked her bare legs over the side of the bunk and pulled her oversized flannel shirt back down. “I get to fly third seat on the supply drop tomorrow.”

  “Well that ought to be fun.” Matt answered non-committaly as he put his sidearm and comm unit on the shelf of his locker.

  “Fun? Hell, it’s going to be great. I’ve waited for a chance like this for years!”

  Matt stopped pulling his coveralls off and looked at her. “I’m sorry Sparks. I’m just whipped, and I need to be ready to go early tomorrow.”

  As Matt returned to his undressing Sparks replied. “It’s ok. I guess I wasn’t really thinking about how late it was.”

  “Hey, no problem.” Matt said as he finished tossing his clothes in the locker. He closed the locker door and walked over to the bunks. “I really need to get some sleep though.” He said as he started to climb up on his bunk.

  “Hey, no problem.” You can sleep in my bottom bunk, then the light won’t bother you.” Sparks said.

  “We could hang an extra blanket off the side of the top bunk to curtain it off if you want,” Bounce added.

  “Ok by me, if you don’t mind me using your bunk.”

  “No problem. Hit the sack and we’ll take care of the blanket.” Sparks said.

  Matt rolled onto the lower bunk as Sparks and Bounce jumped down and pulled the blanket from Bounces bunk. It was hard to ignore the view of both ladies mid sections moving before him, as they worked at hanging the blanket. Several times he was sure he saw bare skin peek out under their shirt tails as they stretched up to secure the blanket.

  “Hey what happened to Pete?” Matt asked sleepily.

  “He got stuck with the mid watch in security. He probably won’t be in ‘till after three.” Bounce answered as they finished smoothing the blanket out. “There you go. Sweet dreams hero.” She said as they climbed back onto the other bunk.

  Before they could even get back to their game, Matt was fast asleep.

  The insistent beeping kept nagging at his brain. His foggy mind tried to pull itself out of the depths of some dream that was already fading from his memory. He heard a voice bark roughly. “Sparks.”

  “This is communications. Is Ensign Molter there?” The voice continued.

  “Yes, but he’s still asleep.”

  “Please inform him that Commander Haskel requests that he report to the suit room at zero five forty five.”

  “Affirmative, oh five forty five.”

  Moments later he felt his shoulder shake. “Matt. Get up!”

  “What is it?” He asked the shaking hand, still not sure whether it was a dream or reality.”

  “You have to be at the suit room at 0545.”

  “What time is it?”

  “0530”

  “Oh, ok. Crap! Thanks.” Matt answered groggily. He tried to move, but was trapped against the wall by something. It took several seconds to realize that the warm obstacle was a body. He pushed the covers off and started to climb over whoever it was when he realized that his handhold wasn’t the side of the bunk, but a fairly large warm object. In the dim light of the comm panel by the door he could make out the face of Lisa Briggs, and that the nice warm handhold was her bare breast sticking out of her partially unbuttoned nightshirt. Matt moved his hand off and climbed the rest of the way across her, stepping into the isle. He pulled the blanket back up to cover her and headed to the shower. He looked at the comm panel and saw that he had less than ten minutes to get to the suit room.

  Matt stepped into the head as he was pushing down his boxers, stepping out of them as he stepped into the small cubicle. He turned on the light and stepped into the shower tube, closing the door behind him. Matt hit the water flow control and forced the temp down on the override at the same time. The cold mist swirled around him, almost shocking him awake. As soon as the mist cleared he stepped out of the shower tube and headed out of the head, drying the bulk of the water off as he walked. He opened his locker in the light coming from the open head door and pulled on a pair of tight nylon briefs. As he was bending over in the dim light pulling on his socks, he heard a quiet wolf whistle. He looked over toward the bunks without stopping his dressing and saw Bounce’s head sticking out from under the blanket hung from his bunk.

  As he quickly pulled on a blue jump suit, he whispered at her. “I’ll take care of you later!”

  “Is that a promise?” she whispered back.

  “Not the way you mean it.” He whispered back.

  “Would you two love birds quit squawking.” Sparks hissed as she crawled out of her bunk.

  Matt turned and flicked off the head light before he opened the door to the passageway and headed out, his deck shoes still in his hand.

  Matt ran down the passageways and ladders taking every shortcut he had learned so far to get from his upper deck cabin to the suit room on the lower level. He nearly collided with the Commander as he rounded the last corner.

  “Not bad Mr. Molter. Your only ten seconds late.”

  “Sorry sir, I only got word fifteen minutes ago.”

  “Yes, well I’m sorry about that. I was going to supervise the EVA, but the Captain has something else for me to take care of. I need an officer to handle the container load.”

  “I don’t know anything about loading cargo containers sir.” Matt confessed.

  “The Master Chief will be out with you. He knows everything there is to know about it. Watch him and learn.”

  “Aye sir. When do they go out?”

  “At zero six hundred. Your suit has already been repaired, serviced and pulled. It’s in rack 20. The Chief assured me it was fully pre-flighted and ready to go after the inspection yesterday.”

  “Aye sir.” Matt said saluting before dashing off into the suit room.

  Matt found his locker and stripped off his overalls and pulled on his cool suit as fast as he could. He had less than ten minutes left before they were to go EVA. Matt ran down the row of lockers and pulled up short at the lock. He punched the button and waited for the door to whine open. He hit the close button and the grav switch at the same time. As soon as the door whirred shut he was punching the open button on the outer door. He waited anxious seconds before the gravity was stabilized and the outer door started to open. Matt didn’t even wait for the door to open all the way before he launched himself into the rack room. Matt bounded past most of the racks in long hops, hoping that no one stepped out of a suit rack in front of him. He came to a halt in front of 20 only by grabbing the front screen. Down the line he could see four other suits being donned. Matt punched his code into the pad on the rack and watched the mesh door slide up. He jumped into the air and grabbed the bar over the suit bottom in one motion. Matt was surprised himself at how fast he was donning the suit. He had the cool suit connections made and hit the button to lower the upper half before the fully suited Master Chief stepped in front of his rack. Matt knew he wouldn’t be able to say anything until he was almost fully suited and had comm fired up. He wiggled his arms into the sleeves of the suit as it lowered down. A soon as his arms would come down low enough he pushed the suit halves together, aligning the couplers . Matt felt the two halves snap together as the connectors mated. Matt pushed the locking lever over and checked to see if it was latched down. It sure wouldn’t help for that to come loose in deep space. Matt pulled his helmet over his head, and twisted the lock into position. As soon as it was in place the status board lit up and began displaying self-tests. As soon as the comm light blinked green Matt called to the suit standing before him.

  “Master Chief?”

  “Aye sir, Master Chief Wallace. Head loadmaster.”

  “Sorry about the delay Master Chief. I’m a last minute substitution.”
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  “No problem sir, the oxygen is almost free.”

  Matt had only heard that line once before, when he was in basic. The Chief was waiting for one trainee to finish suiting up at the time. Matt got the impression it was not a favorable comment.

  “Almost there Chief. I didn’t get to preflight yet. Would you take a look at my pack once I release?” Matt asked as he pulled his last glove in place and sealed it to the suit. Matt reached his gloved hand across to the buttons and hit the green release. The motors in his legs whined as they adjusted to the change in mass. Matt stepped out into the isle and turned so the Master Chief could inspect the pack.

  “Looks good here, Ensign.”

  “Ok Master Chief. Let’s go then. No point in wasting more oxygen.”

  “Aye sir!” the Master Chief answered with an appreciative grin that Matt couldn’t see inside his helmet.

  Matt followed the Master Chief to the airlock where three other suits were waiting to move into the lock. “Has the comm check been completed Master Chief?” He asked as they approached the lock.

  “Yes sir. All suits checked and ready except yours.” The Chief replied as the door to the lock slid closed.

  “Very good Master Chief. Let’s get at it.” Then hitting the primary comm key on his command suit he radioed “EVA Team one to control”

  “Team one, go ahead.”

  “Team one, group of five. Ready to go.”

  “Affirmative Team one. You are cleared to the outer lock.”

  “Thank you, control.” Matt replied as the pressure fell in the lock. His suit ballooned up as the pressure continued to fall to near hard vacuum. The Chief opened the outer door as soon as the pressure stable light blinked on. All five men stepped into the outer lock and the door slid shut behind them. The Chief hit the control panel and the gravity bled off to zero.

  “Ok. Everybody test and check please?” Matt radioed to his group.

  “One” a female voice responded.

  “Two” A deep male voice called as soon as the first was done.

  “Three” another female voice called.

  “Four” the Chief called after his three charges had checked in.

  Matt wasn’t surprised to hear two females in the group, more than half the troops in the space corps were female. “All checked. Stand by.” He confirmed to the team, before switching to the command frequency, “Command, Team one ready for EVA”

  “Outer door opening Team one. Have a good flight.”

  “Roger Command. Team one clear of the lock.” He radioed as he cleared the outer lock door. The team knew their job and had done it before. Matt flew in behind them and watched them go to work un-securing a large box shaped pod below the ship. There was light chatter among the team as they worked. Matt jetted around the container, checking the work the team, his team, was doing. He rolled down the side of the container and over the bottom edge. He froze in his suit as the moon came into view. He had never seen it so large and close. He instinctively reached out toward it, feeling as if he could touch its textured surface.

  “Sir?” the Master Chief asked.

  “Yes Chief?” Matt answered, snapping back to reality.

  “We’re ready for the shuttle. Have them hold a hundred meters starboard.”

  “Ok. Chief.” Matt replied. “Team one to Command.”

  “Command, go ahead team one.”

  “We’re ready for the shuttle, Command.”

  “Roger team one. They’re standing by at one click starboard. Contact them on button four when you have them in visual.”

  “Thank you, Command.” Matt swiveled himself around until he was looking out the starboard side of the ship. It took a minute, but he located the blinking collision lights among the stars.

  “EVA team to shuttle.” Matt radioed after selecting the correct frequency button

  “Shuttle Rivera here, go ahead EVA.”

  Matt thought a second about what he needed to do and say. “You are cleared to close to one hundred meters and hold.”

  “Close to one hundred and hold. Roger.”

  Back on the team channel he radioed, “Ok team, shuttle is moving in.”

  “Rog” he heard one female voice say.

  Matt watched the shuttle slowly slide through space, looking like some kind of grotesque insect, its bulging head and long legs sticking out of a long skinny body. Little winks of light popped and flashed around the shuttle as the control jets nudged the shuttle into position.

  “Shuttle to EVA one, holding position.”

  “Affirmative shuttle.” Matt answered. He reached down and pushed the team frequency button again and passed the instructions to the team. “Ok Master Chief, the shuttle is holding.”

  “Aye Sir. Ok team, lock free.”

  Matt heard each of the team answer in clipped tones. A little sliver of light appeared from nowhere and slowly grew as the container floated free of the locking clamps on the side of the ship. Each movement was painfully slow as the team maneuvered the huge container free of the ship and nudged it toward the shuttle. One quick move and the container would spin out of control, beyond what the four crewmembers could handle. Matt backed away from the container and let the team slowly work it under the cargo shuttle. The container slid between the shuttles landing legs as if it was custom made to hold it, which of course it was. The team worked the container more slowly as they positioned it into the shuttles locking clamps.

  There was an imperceptible bump inside the shuttle as the container locked in place. Six green lights appeared on the status board between the two pilots.

  “Shuttle to EVA team.”

  “Go ahead shuttle.” Matt answered

  “Six green indicators on the locking clamps.”

  “Affirmative shuttle. Master Chief did you copy that traffic?”

  “Affirmative Sir. We’re making the last connections now.”

  “Very good Chief. Let me know when you finish up.”

  “Aye sir.”

  Matt listened to the chatter on the radio as the team ran its safety checklists. He tried to follow along on the data pad on his arm as the team worked down the checklist. He saw the last item come up and clear off as the ships computer kept all the checklists in sync. The only items left on the list were the command items. Matt waited as all the team members moved clear of the shuttle. “EVA Team to shuttle.”

  “Shuttle.”

  “Confirm all safety checks complete.”

  “Affirmative all lists checked and complete.”

  “Very well shuttle. Loading completed, you are free to depart to starboard.”

  “Thank you Team. Good job.”

  Matt smiled to himself “No problem, my team aims to please.” Clicking over to the primary frequency he gathered his troops. “Good job team. Let’s head for the lock.”

  “Aye sir.” Matt heard the Chief answer as thrusters blinked and fired on the suits.

  Matt thrust toward the ship and aimed toward the flashing port lights on the lower deck. “EVA Team to Command.”

  “Command here.”

  “Open the outer lock please.”

  “Affirmative, outer lock coming open.”

  Matt watched his team disappear into the gaping maw of the number two air lock, after which Matt maneuvered into the huge lock area as well. The number two lock was bigger than the number one lock, designed to handle cargo, and made it easier for them all to enter the lock and maneuver around. After he made a last check that everyone was inside he punched in the codes on the control panel to close the door and apply the gravity. Matt slowly settled to the deck with the rest of his team as soon as the large outer door closed. The motors whined and hummed in his suit as the weight of the suit and support pack was taken by the leg units. Matt punched the internal door open button as soon as the green light blinked on. The team stepped into the inner lock and waited for the door to close. He felt the now familiar sensation of the suit deflating as pressure in the lock climbed, waiti
ng for the green light on the inner door to blink on, indicating full pressure was restored. Matt punched the appropriate codes into his suit to allow it to come to the outside pressure and twisted off the helmet as soon as the display blinked green. The inner door of the lock slid open as the team was pulling off their helmets.

  Having never unsuited in the powered racks, Matt followed his team as they walked through the reduced g bay of the rack room. He watched as each member selected an open rack and backing into it, their support pack mating with the holding clamps. Following suit, Matt selected a rack for himself and backed in, twisted off his gauntlets when he felt the clamps lock the suit in place. He placed the gauntlets on the rack with his helmet and reached down to unlatch the suit bottom from the top like the rest of the team was doing. The computer recognized the status and started a slow lift of the suit top. Matt wiggled his arms and head out of the suit as it was lifted off him. Once it was clear he unclipped his cool suit and hoisted himself out of the now stiff bottoms. Stepping out of the rack he hit the close button and joined the rest of his team heading for the gravity lock. All five easily fitting into one lock for the gravity step back to normal. He felt the familiar butterflies as the gravity came back up, along with a certain amount of satisfaction.