“You better hurry up sir, or were going to collide.”
“Sorry Denner. I’m going as fast as I can.”
“I know sir. But I’m only a few seconds behind you, so don’t wait too long on that braking turn into the lock.”
“Roger.” Matt said, lining the crate up with the doors and hitting his pack with a long thrust to stop its momentum. He had it just about stopped and was turning it to change the trajectory into the air lock when the collision happened.
“Watch it sir!” Matt heard a shout over the radio. He rotated his suit just in time to get hit square in the chest by Ensign Forester. Trying to slow her load pallet, she had her back to him and her thruster firing full force. The two of them bounced off each other, upsetting the balance of both loads, starting them on a slow spin away from the ship.
“DAMN! Get those pallets!” Matt shouted into the radio as he tried to capture his pallet. He hit his thrust pack and nothing happened. Reaching out and grabbing the pallet with his hand, he hit the function keys again to no avail. Matt looked at the airlock, which was slowly sliding away from him as he and his load tumbled slowly away. “I’ve got a problem!” Matt called on the radio.
“I see you sir. You’re drifting away.”
“I know. I’ve got a bent suit. Thrusters appear dead.”
“I see it sir. It looks like Lights thruster pack did some damage to the control harness.”
“Ok. Well, it’s not getting fixed and I’m floating away here.”
“Stand by.” Denner said. “Tasha… Grab this pallet and hold it here!”
“Got it. Go for him”
“OK. On my way sir. Stand by.”
“Roger. I’m just a passenger here now.”
“I see it sir. I’m going to go on the far side and try to break the spin first and then nudge you and the pallet back to the lock.”
“Roger. Go ahead. I’m holding fast to it.”
“Command to transfer one.” Matt heard the ship call.
“Transfer one, go ahead.”
“The Captain wants to know what’s going on.”
“I have a non-functional thruster pack. We’re working the problem to get the load and myself back into the lock.”
“Affirmative. Do you see a problem making the scheduled transfer?”
“It’s going to be close, but I think we’ll make it.”
“Affirmative. Command out.”
“OK Denner, you get me back into the hold and I owe you one.”
“Careful sir, I might collect on that.” She replied with a laugh as she pushed the pallet and Matt toward the hold. Matt was most of the way into the lock when the alarms started going off in his suit. He looked at the status lights and saw that power was dropping fast. The suit cooler had kicked off into standby and the radio dropped to emergency power. The air flow fans also dropped to low speed.
“I’ve got a problem here.”
“What’s that sir?”
“I’ve got a power problem here.”
“Aye sir. We have you. Stand by.”
“Command can you hear me?”
“Barely EVA one.”
“Have the Master Chief take over the transfer team. I am declaring a suit emergency.”
“Roger EVA one declaring a suit emergency. Command to Master Chief Wallace.”
“Fuel two, go ahead.”
“EVA one has declared a suit emergency. You are to re-task to take over the transfer team.”
“Affirmative.”
“EVA two. You now have command of the EVA.”
“Roger, EVA two now in command. Does EVA one require assistance?”
“I got him.” Denner said as she pulled him from the airlock back onto space. “I’m going to take him in through lock three.”
“Very well. How far are you on the transfer?”
“We have two in the hold, two on the way and four more to go yet.”
“Very well. Go ahead and get EVA one into the suit room, we’ll cover the transfer.”
“Aye ma’am.” Denner responded as she jetted to lock three. Hitting the buttons on the outside pad she cycled the lock open, which seemed to take forever to Matt. His suit had bled enough power off so that the motors shut down to maintain life support leaving him frozen in an awkward position. Denner floated Matt into the man sized air lock and closed it on them, bringing the gravity on slowly so he would settle gently to the floor. The pressure was still building in the lock when the alarm lights blinked off and his suit went quiet. Matt knew it was out of power, but he still had several minutes of breathable air, so he wasn’t too worried. What was disconcerting was the lack of power meant he couldn’t even move his arms to take off his own helmet. The dead silence of his world changed to a gentle rumble as pressure in the airlock built, transmitting the sound of ventilation fans, where only dead silence had existed before. Matt watched as Denner pulled her own helmet off and then crouched down, as well as the bulky suit allowed, and rotated his own helmet off.
“Thanks Denner.”
“No problem sir… I seem to recall you owning me one?” She said with a grin. Then she reached down and gave him a huge wet sensual kiss, which he was unable to assist or stop with his suit frozen. She pulled away from his face when the air lock door began to slide back. “Thank you sir. I’ll take that as a down payment.” She grinned as two other suit techs came into the lock and hooked his suit up with a portable antigrav crane. Matt was unceremoniously pulled from the air lock, dangling from the crane by his suit mount points.
“Here you go sir.” One of the Specialists said as he lined Matt’s suit up to the hoist system and transferred the weight to the cage hoist. “Hang on a minute and we’ll pull the pack power and get you on an umbilical.”
Matt hung frozen from the hoist until the second Specialist got the bio pack disconnected from his suit and plugged in a service cable, allowing him to straighten his legs and stand again. “Thanks guys, that was getting a bit uncomfortable.”
“No problem sir.” The second tech said as he helped Matt unfasten the top section of the suit. In just a few more moments, Matt was out of the suit and standing in just his cool suit, inspecting the damage. “You got damn lucky sir. If that thruster had hit you just a few inches over farther, instead of burning out the control junction box it would have burned clean through your suit.”
“Yeah. It looks like I got away lucky again.”
“You must be a cat Lieutenant. This is what, your fifth life now?” Specialist Denner asked as she walked up behind them and looked at the damage.
“Well, he used up another of his nine then this time.” Specialist Anderson said as he picked away at the burned junction box, exposing several bare wires. “These shorted but didn’t burn through the suit either. I don’t know where you get your luck Lieutenant, but wherever it is, I gotta start shopping there. You really shouldn’t be alive sir.”
“Well, let’s just pretend it didn’t happen. How soon can you have it fixed?”
“Sir, this suit is toast. I wouldn’t send you back out in it. The material under the junction box is brittle and charred. It shouldn’t have held pressure as it is.”
“Ok. Go ahead and DX it and start working me a new one up. I gotta get to the bridge.”
“Yes sir.” The two specialists said almost in unison as Matt turned and walked as quickly as the half g would allow him to go, Denner moving to a suit rack to get out of her hard suit. As soon as Matt cleared the air lock, he headed straight to his locker, stripping off his cool suit as he walked down the aisle way. He tossed the suit onto the bench and walked toward the shower room, picking the first tube to step into, closing the door and starting the water. He was just starting to soap himself when the water interrupted and Specialist Denner stepped into the shower with him, closing the tube door behind her.
“I came to collect.” She said quietly.
“Not now, Denner.”
“My name is Doreen, but you can call me Dee Dee in
here.” She said sexily, rubbing her bare breasts across his soapy chest, her hands reaching down to a lower target. There wasn’t that much room in the small shower tube, so the best Matt could do was to press the water button and try to get rinsed off.
“Dee Dee. I need to get to the bridge.”
“I know, but you have a few minutes. They aren’t all back in yet.”
“I know.” Matt said, trying to rub the soap from his body, but ending up rubbing parts of her body at the same time. “But I still need to get to the bridge.”
“Not just yet. You owe me a ride on this.” She said huskily as she squeezed his rigid appendage.
“Well, it’s going to have to wait.”
“That sucks.”
“I know Dee Dee, but it’s gonna have to wait.”
“You still owe me.” She mumbled as Matt turned them both so he could step out of the tube. He closed the door on her and made his way to the locker room, the rest of the team coming in from the lock at the same time.
“What happened to you?” Commander Emerson asked as Matt stood at his locker, pulling his jump suit and briefs from the locker.
“I took a thruster in the chest. I guess I got lucky.” Matt replied, trying not to turn toward her.
“So I heard.” She replied as she stepped past him and sat down on the bench. “Damn.” She whispered, looking at his raging flag.
“Sorry.” Matt mumbled as he quickly bent over to put his briefs on.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for there.” She said with a quiet giggle.
“Sorry ma’am” Matt said as he covered himself with his briefs and began putting his legs into the jump suit.
“Like I said, there’s nothing to be sorry for. I think it looks pretty damn good.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said, trying to stay businesslike as he zipped his jump suit up and sat down to pull on his socks and deck shoes. “I really need to get to the bridge!”
“Ok. Stop by later and you can fill me in on the details. For now you need to know that all fuel was transferred and all cargo is in the bay and should be moved into an upper cargo bay within ten minutes.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said, sure that the invitation held double meaning. He closed the locker and took off at a light run, narrowly missing a young Ensign as he rounded the corner from the suit locker room. “Sorry Ensign.” He said, without even slowing down. Matt took the ladder at the end of the corridor two steps at a time, shooting up to the next level and then continuing his run down the next level. It only took him a couple minutes to reach the bridge, seven ladders above where he started. He stepped onto the bridge, breathing hard from his short sprints, and walked quickly to stand behind Ensign Light at the weapons station.
“Mister Molter” The Captain said from her bridge seat overlooking the pit below her.
“Yes ma’am?” Matt asked snapping to attention without thinking.
“At ease Lieutenant. I thought we discussed bridge decorum.”
“Yes ma’am. I’m sorry, I was distracted ma’am.” Matt said, trying to visibly relax.
“Now, would you care to report?”
“Yes ma’am. Cargo was in transit when I was hit in the chest with a thruster pack. My suit was damaged and I was assisted back into the ship. At this time all fuel has been transferred and all cargo is in the process of being moved to an upper cargo hold. That should be done within ten minutes.”
“Good report, except you omitted that the suit damage you suffered was nearly fatal.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt said, seeing Ensign Light look up at him with a horrified look on her face.
“It seems your luck nearly ran out today. Do you know how the damage happened?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Would you care to fill me in?”
“I was hit by a point blank blast from a thruster pack.”
“And?”
“And nothing ma’am.”
“I take it you are going to take appropriate corrective actions with the crewman wearing that thruster pack?”
“Yes ma’am that is my intention.”
“Very well Lieutenant. I will leave it in your hands.”
“Thank you ma’am.”
“Two minutes to course correction thrust ma’am.” The navigator warned.
“Very well. Put me through on the comm. please.”
“You’re on comm ma’am.” The communications officer said quietly, flicking a button as she finished her statement.
“This is the Captain. Secure all stations for a course correction. This will be a ten g burn to insert us into a loop around Neptune. Stand by for burn.” She motioned to the comm officer, who flicked the button back off, cutting the Captain off the main intercom. “Are you ready weaps?” She asked Ensign Light.
“I think so ma’am.”
“You think so or you are so?”
“Yes ma’am, I’m ready.”
“Very well. Mister Molter. You can unsafe the weapons as soon as we are a thousand meters away. Pilot, pitch us over for the burn.”
“Aye ma’am.” The pilot said, gently rolling the ship so the tail was pointed perpendicular to the direction it had been flying. The goal of the burn was not to lose any speed, but to change the trajectory so they could get caught in Neptune’s gravity well, using the gravitational pull to bend their trajectory back the way they came.
“Burn in thirty seconds” the navigator said in a monotone.
“Bring the stern rail guns online.”
“Stern guns have been deployed and are online and in safe mode.” Joan said in a clipped voice.
“Very good.” The Captain responded.
“Burn in ten…. nine…. eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two… one. Computer auto sequence started. Two minute burn executing.”
“Very well. Weaps, range to the target?””
“Range two hundred meters and opening. Four hundred meters, eight hundred meters.”
“Weapons release is free.” The Captain snapped.
“Weapons free. Weapons tracking. Gun one, firing. Gun two firing.” Joan intoned as she targeted the tanker with the two stern rail guns, firing at the tanker as it began to disappear from the veiwscreen, the trajectories between the two craft widening with each second. Two large blossoms of fire erupted where the tanker had been, leaving only an expanding debris field on radar as a testament to a tanker having been there only seconds before. “Target destroyed.” She said, trying to keep her voice even.
“Very well. Stow the rail guns. Good shooting Ensign.”
“Thank you ma’am.”
“Ok Lieutenant. Your teams did well today, even though there was a slight incident. Next step is to slingshot out of the gravity well in about ten minutes. Make sure that your load is secured, this will be a max thrust maneuver.”
“Yes ma’am.” Matt answered, as he walked quickly off the bridge, heading back down to the suit locker as the ships intercom began announcing the upcoming burn. Matt dropped down the ladders without even touching the steps, half running, and half walking his way down to the suit level. The Master Chief was just locking out the access to the cage room as Matt walked into the locker room. “Everything secure Master Chief?”
“Yes sir, Lieutenant. All cargo is stowed and the cage room is clear.”
“Good job Master Chief. Any problems?”
“No sir. But if you have time, can I see you for a minute in the suit repair bay?”
“Sure Master Chief.” Matt said, following him across the locker room to the entrance to the repair bay. Laid out on one of the tables was a hard suit and bio pack. “I was looking at the damage sir. I’ve never seen a suit get this kind of damage and not loose integrity.” He said holding up the burned junction box and charred suit. “I just don’t understand why it didn’t fail.”
“What do you mean Master Chief?”
Fleet Academy Page 31