“I’m sorry Petty Officer. The Captain has me taking care of a few other things. Would you be willing to take care of the training on these suits for all the pilots? I have six more groups to go.”
“Well, I did tell you I would help, but you’ll owe me.”
“I’m sure you’ll find a way to collect, but don’t forget, some of the new ensigns are men.”
“In that case, I’ll be happy to do the training for you!” She said with a wink.
“Thank you Petty Officer. I’ll pass the training schedule to your e-mail and let the Master Chief know that I re-tasked you.”
“Aye sir.” Jenkins said crisply as she snapped a salute to him, the smile never leaving her face. He shook his head at the thought of what those poor ensigns were going to have to go through as he turned and left for the armory.
Matt was hard at work in his office and didn’t think it was possible that so much time had elapsed when the intercom beeped for him again. He looked at his watch and realized that he had been working for over an hour and a half as he reached over to the intercom on the desk and answered it.
“Lieutenant Molter here.”
“Please report to the bridge.”
“Aye.” He said, clicking off the intercom and headed up to the bridge.
“Mister Molter, I thought you should be here when your team goes EVA.” The Captain said as he strode onto the bridge.
“Yes ma’am.” He said, not wanting to admit that he didn’t realize that it was time for that already. Matt sat down at the weapons console, while the ensign from security vacated the seat for him. Matt brought the rail gun menu on line, selected the one which showed the fault and made sure it was safed and offline before deploying it in service mode.
“EVA one to command.” He heard the radio say.
“Command, go ahead.” The communications officer answered.
“Ready to go EVA for repair to rail gun number two.” Ensign Forester’s voice came across the radio.
The communications officer looked over at Matt.
“Gun is safed and deployed for maintenance.” He said to her.
“Rail gun two is in safe mode and deployed for maintenance. You are clear to proceed.” The communications officer radioed to Trina.
Matt was a bit nervous for Trina. This was her first EVA since she had the accident the first week they were on board, but her voice didn’t give any indications of being nervous.
“EVA one to command. We have cleared the lock and are proceeding to the rail gun.”
Cameras on the outside of the hull tracked the team of four as they proceeded down the spine of the ship, arriving at the rail gun after several minutes of careful maneuvering, the control module being carried along between two of them.
“EVA one, we are at the gun port and beginning replacement of the control module.”
“Affirmative EVA one.” The communications officer answered.
Matt watched as they worked, removing the failed module, about the size of a small refrigerator, and positioning the new one. The whole process took nearly an hour before they were ready to power it up.
“EVA one. Ready for systems checks.” Trina radioed.
“Affirmative. Powering up.” The communications officer said, looking over at Matt.
Matt pulled up the menu and brought the controller online. It did its safety checks and then began its functional checks. The bright red flashing indicator on the tracking self-test told the bad news. “I still have a fault on the tracking interlock,” Matt said.
“EVA one. We have a fault on the tracking interlock.”
“Affirmative.” Matt heard her radio. He watched while one of the suited figures maneuvered in under the rail gun and opened the controller cabinet access panel. The suited figure reached inside the cabinet. Suddenly the light blinked green for a second and then back red again. Matt looked up at the screen and saw that the gun had swiveled down to its lowest angle and trapped the suited figure between the gun and the control cabinet.
“EVA one!” the radio shouted to the bridge. “MALFUNCTION MALFUNCTION. Power down the rail gun immediately!”
Matt hit the menu buttons as fast as he could, taking the gun offline again. “Gun down!” Matt called.
“Gun is down EVA one!” the communications officer said.
Matt watched as the other three suited figures moved in and pushed the gun up and out of the way, and pulled the obviously injured figure away from the cabinet.
“EVA one! We have a medical emergency. Returning to lock one. Have medical meet us there!”
“Affirmative EVA one.” The communications officer radioed. Then she switched to an internal frequency. “Sick bay. Medical emergency. Report to lock one. This will be a class one suit emergency.”
“Affirmative, can you give us anymore?”
“Stand by one.” She said as she looked over at Matt.
Matt punched up the appropriate monitor screen and found the suit readouts. “Suit is leaking slightly, Vital signs look ok.”
“Infirmary. There is a slight suit leak; patient vitals look good on indicators. Patient was trapped, possible crush injuries. ETA to the lock about two minutes.”
“Thank you command.” The infirmary said before the intercom went dead.
All Matt could do now was wait.
“Mister Molter.” The Captain said from behind him.
“Yes ma’am?”
“I want a full report. Find out what happened and why.”
“Yes Ma’am.” He said as he got out of the chair and headed to the suit room. He got there about the same time as the medical team.
“Well, Mister Molter. Why am I not surprised to see you’re involved?” The doctor said quietly.
“I’m sorry doctor?” Matt asked, more than a little confused.
“Nothing really, just that you have been good for business.” He said with a smile.
Finally Matt realized he was just kidding. “Oh, ok.” He said as the airlock door cycled and the three suited figures appeared carrying the fourth. Matt went to work hitting the emergency disconnects on the suit, and starting to pull parts off, the low gravity helping the process. He got the helmet off and saw that it was specialist Endez, one of the load techs he had worked with during the meteor shower.
“Sorry sir” she said gritting her teeth. “It was my fault.”
“Let’s get you taken care of first.” Matt said as the medical team moved in. “Then we can worry about whose fault it was.”
“Looks like maybe some broken ribs.” The doctor said. Let’s get her out of the suit as gently as we can.
“Hang on doc. I can make that easier.” Matt said. He motioned to the controller in the window high above the room. The gravity began to bleed off until there was just enough to keep things from floating away. He eased the top half of the suit gently over her head, sliding her arms out as he sat on the bottom half to give him the advantage he needed. With her out of the top, one of the nurses held her body up as he swiveled around and reached into Endez’s suit to find the connection points for her cool suit and unplugged them. Next he gently reached down between her legs and pulled gently on her body, lifting and pulling her as she wiggled her feet to disengage her legs from the suit legs. Finally free she practically floated out into his arms.
“Gee sir. I didn’t know you cared that much.” She joked through gritted teeth as he laid her gently on the stretcher.
He held up his hand and circled it, and the gravity returned back to one fifth gee.
“Ok doc. She’s all yours.” Matt said.
“Ok let’s go.” The doctor said with a nod to the two orderlies that were with him. “Let’s give her a smooth ride.”
“I’ll be down to see you soon Endez” Matt said before turning to Trina. “What happened?”
“Well sir. She though she saw a loose connection. She said it looked like the data fiber didn’t seat right, and when she wiggled it the gun suddenly slammed down on her.”
“Ok. You’re still suited. I want you to go back out and inspect the connection, fix it if you can. I’ll leave the gun deactivated until you’re done. No one goes close with it powered, understood?”
“Yes sir.” The three of them said almost in unison.
Matt watched them disappear into the still open air lock. Then he headed back up to the bridge.
“Well Mister Molter?” the Captain asked as he sat back down at the console.
“Specialist Endez was injured when the gun suddenly swiveled. She thought that the tracking data fiber connector wasn’t seated. I have sent the team back out to inspect it.”
“Very good Mister Molter. Carry on.”
“Aye ma’am.” He said. Matt watched as the three figures approached the gun and one of them moved down to look into the cabinet. Some time passed before they radioed in.
“EVA one to command.”
“Go ahead EVA one.”
“We have located the problem. The tracking data connector is broken. It’s allowing the fiber to slip in and out. It’s probably why the first controller failed. We’re going to have to find a replacement.”
Matt looked over at the communications officer. “Have them button up and come back in. We’ll stow the gun until they can get a replacement ready.”
The communications officer clicked on the radio. “EVA one, you are instructed to button up the controller to allow the gun to be stowed. Return to the lock as soon as you’re done.”
“EVA one. Roger.” She said as the figure closed the door and latched it down. All three backed away from the gun a safe distance.
“EVA one, ready to stow rail gun two.”
Matt selected the proper menu and the gun disappeared into the ship, the hatch door sliding into place over it.
“EVA one, heading back to the lock.”
“Affirmative EVA one.” The communications officer said.
“Go see to your people Mister Molter,” the Captain said quietly.
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said as he stood up and headed off the bridge. He walked down to the infirmary to see about Endez first. He walked into the infirmary and was greeted by the short blond nurse that he had met before.
“Well, hello again,” she said with a grin.
“Hi. How is Endez doing?”
“She’s resting comfortably.” The doctor said as he stepped out of the back. “She has two cracked ribs. She’ll be good as new in a few weeks. She can have visitors, but she’s pretty doped up on pain meds.”
“Thanks doc.” Matt said as the little nurse took him back to her room.
“Hey Endez,” Matt said as he stepped into the room with the nurse.
“Hey LT. What are you doing here,” Endez asked?
“I’ll leave you alone.” The nurse said quietly as she stepped back out of the door and let it close behind her.
“I came down to see how they were treating you.” Matt said as he stepped over to the bed and rested his hand on hers.
“I appreciate that LT.” she said. The Doc says that I have to take it easy for a couple weeks.”
“That’s what he told me too.”
“Sorry about screwing up sir. I should have waited until the gun was shut down again.”
“It was an accident. Those things happen.”
“I’m still sorry I let you down sir.”
“You didn’t let me down, don’t worry.”
“Yes sir.” She said dreamily, leaning her head back and drifting off to sleep after a few minutes. Matt stayed with her till she was asleep and then headed back down to the office to work on the never ending pile of paperwork that just got bigger, and wait for Trina to report in.
It was dinner time when Matt finally made his way out of the Armory for the mess hall. He loaded a plate of food and sat at a table alone.
“Hey Lieutenant!” Kevin Ridel called as he walked over. “How are you doin’?”
“Pretty well Kevin, how about you?” Matt said tiredly.
“Couldn’t ask for no better.” He said. “I ain’t never been laid so many times. It’s like getting locked up in a cathouse.”
“I know what you mean. The women really get affected by this high velocity travel for some reason. Even the Captain said she doesn’t know why it happens, but it does. I guess they keep it kind of quiet outside the fleet. Even the married women go at it, although I’ve met a couple that have been trying to keep true.”
“That seems to be hard. I walked into engineering the other day and there was some huge titted Petty Officer bouncing like she was riding a horse at trot on top of some guy. I thought she would be upset at being seen, but instead she just bounced harder, almost like being watched made it better or something.”
“Yeah. Some of them get a bit exhibitionist.” Matt said as he ate the pie he had picked. “One of the girls in my room said that they tried drugs, but it messed them up in other ways, so they just let it happen and make sure they’re all on birth control”
“One of the girls in your room? How many do you have?” He asked incredulously.
“Three.” Matt said simply.
“Damn. What a lucky dog!” Kevin said, shaking his head. “You just keep getting all the luck.”
“I don’t know how lucky it is. Hell, I have to work with so many naked crew it’s easy for things to get out of hand.”
“How many naked crew do you work with?” he asked.
“Well, in the suit room it’s mixed. We all get naked or close to it so the cool suit works right.”
“Man are you lucky. That must be, what ten or twenty women!”
“Something like that. We also had to train most of the new Ensigns. Come to think about it, I don’t remember you going through.”
“I couldn’t. I was on bridge duty.” He said glumly. “And to think I missed all that T and A.”
Matt chuckled. “You guys from Texas. Always looking for more tits and ass.”
“Hey, what fun is life if you don’t get to see some once in a while?”
“I don’t know Kevin. I suppose that’s what makes it all go around.”
“Damn straight it does.”
“Well, get your fill, we start slowing down tomorrow and the cornucopia will come to an end.” Matt said as a matter of fact.
“That’s a shame. I hear the Captain opened up the zero g gym for sex. We had to go in and take out the cameras so couples didn’t get filmed. Some poor guy got caught doing it on a shuttle way back at the beginning of the trip. It’s one hot vid! But I pity the poor guy.”
“Why do you pity him?”
“Are you kidding? For at least three days after we hit coast that’s all the women could talk about, trying to figure out who it was and get a piece of him. I wonder if they ever did.”
“They did.” Matt said quietly.
“Oh really? Who was it?”
“Kevin, you’re in security right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Remember Pete?”
“Yeah, he’s working the galley now.”
“You know why?”
“I heard something about he was the one who released the vid.”
“Why do you think he would do that?” Matt asked him
“Well, he didn’t make any money at it, so it had to be some kind of revenge thing.”
“Uh huh. He was angry because he wasn’t getting bridge time.”
“Oh I get it… He did it to pay the sucker back for getting more time in the lime light than he did.”
“Yep. Now who do you suppose got the most limelight this trip?”
“Hell, that’s easy, you. Hey that means…”
“Yep. I’m the poor sucker that has been the target of all these terribly horny women. I would have thought a security type like you would have put that together a bit faster.” Matt said tiredly.
“Damn. You sure do get lucky don’t you? Hell I was thinking about letting myself get videoed on the trip back, just to get them all talking about me!”
“I don’t recommend it. Even a Texan will get worn out on all the attention after a while.”
“I don’t think that’s possible. I mean you have women throw themselves at you what, two or three times a day?”
Fleet Academy Page 20