Of Bravery and Bluster

by Scott Kelemen

  Makaio shook his head to clear away that painful memory, “Thanks, Garam. I could have easily gone years without bringing that up again.”

  Dianne snorted. “You both better get used to it. All of us are going to be linked back into hyperspace inside a week, and warships don’t do short hops. Every leg of every jump takes you near the limit.”

  Garam shrugged. “Maybe that was just a bad jump, and the next one won’t be so bad.”

  Sam laughed scornfully, “Don’t lie to yourself. The science speaks for itself. The docs can take the edge off, and people get used to it over time. But everyone feels it, no matter how long you serve in space. Hyperspace is trying to break you down, and your body is fighting that the whole time. Makes your insides all squeamish and crawling to be forced to go that fast through a dimension it was never meant to be in while it tries to disassemble you from the inside out. No wonder everyone feels sick!”

  Dianne waved away their concerns, “It wasn’t so bad.”

  The three men groaned, taking her bravado as one more sign of her typical one-upsmanship.

  Dianne tried to push past their disbelief. “Whatever, believe me or not. But they did jump a long way on that last one.”

  Garam smiled, “Think they were just trying to rattle us?”

  Dianne nodded. “They did promise us that they tested midshipmen even more often than cadets. And who knows what else they cancelled after the Trip-E got messed up? There was no real navigational reason to push it that far. Some of the class were bedridden near the end there! That’s the kind of thing that might make a couple people release from the Navy on the spot when they’re told they must do it again and again while running around the galaxy month after month. What if it wasn’t a mistake?”

  Makaio caught on just behind Garam. “You think they were already starting to weed out the weaker midshipmen? Before we even get to our ships?”

  “What else?”

  The argument continued, and Johanna sipped her drink as she shrank back from the heated exchange. Her friends loved conversations charged with hypothetical, unprovable opinions. She let them have their fun as her attention wandered again. Without really thinking about why, she noted a sick bay attendant arrive still carrying his medical bag. Idly, she hoped the attendant didn’t see that other nurse who’d arrived earlier stained with blood. Medical types were sticklers, and rightfully so. Johanna considered saying something, considering the risk of biocontamination, but she was new to the station. Was that even her place, as junior as she was? She continued to glance around aimlessly as her friends went on talking.

  Garam chimed in, “Well, test or not, the hyper-jumps on our new ships are about to have us for breakfast. I can only hope whatever the docs inject us with seriously works, or else I am going to have a hell of a career. Not that I intend to let that stop me. Someone needs to make Acting Lieutenant before Di, after all.”

  Dianne met his smirk with a sharp, challenging one of her own. “Now there is a sucker bet if I ever heard one.”

  Makaio grinned as well, “If I was a betting man...and I happen to be...I might just take that bet. Garam is what you might call motivated, you know. I like the underdog.”

  Sam shook his head, “Betting against Dianne’s career progression?” He whistled in low surprise, “Blindly the lambs go to slaughter.”

  A shudder rippled through the deck below their feet. It was barely perceptible, but they were wrapped in millions of tons of steel floating in pure vacuum. It took a significant impact to be noticed physically.

  Johanna had been silent, drifting on her thoughts when the shudder passed through the deck. From within her daydreams, an instinctual and almost subconscious part of her mind let her see the deck metal distorting as a small, impact-induced shock wave passed by. Even so, it was so mild that she sounded uncertain as she asked around the table, “Did anyone else feel that?”

  Dianne paused, looking even more unsure. “I - I think I did.”

  Sam, Makaio and Garam had felt nothing. Curiosity sharpened, they leaned forward to demand what their friends were talking about.

  Before they could speak, the station heaved mightily, kicked meters off its orbit. The violent shift was not enough to send it tumbling out of the sky, but enough to upset most of the glassware and some of the tables within the lounge. Makaio swore as his chair tried to take him down with it. He managed to catch his stocky weight on the table before his face went in for a hard, closer inspection of the floor. The lights of the lounge flickered, dimmed again, and then blinked erratically.

  Garam checked to make sure they were all whole, then muttered with dark humor, “I felt that.”

  The wardroom lights had finally steadied again, but at a much dimmer level. Confused murmurs rose up from every table. The first hints of panic were rising quickly.

  The mounting commotion was cut off before it could reach true panic as the general alarm blared to life with a two-tone, piercing warble. The powerful sound cut through the midshipmen’s chatter. They waited, knowing an announcement would follow that alarm and tell them what was going on.

  Indeed, after the alarm wailed on for five more seconds, it gave way to a strident voice edged with a touch of fear, “Set Condition One for Evacuation Stations, Set Condition One for Evacuation Stations. Emergency destruction of classified documents is authorized. All non-essential personnel to their designated evac points.”

  There was a long pause, as if the person on the PA could not quite believe his own announcement. The announcer regained himself and said, “All hands, this is the station watch officer. Just over two minutes ago, a rock fragment was missed by the projectile object detection and deflection grid. It struck the station’s main ring. The strike has damaged primary power runs, including those to the PODD grid itself.” The station rumbled again, a little less noticeably. From somewhere outside the lounge, there was a scream of surprise. “The object came from the tail of a minor comet, and we expect further micro-asteroids to penetrate the hull at unknown intervals for the next thirty minutes. The extent of the danger is considered extreme. Both secondary and emergency power will be lost within 15 minutes. The station commander has been alerted. He has ordered all personnel to proceed immediately to escape pods and follow evacuation procedures to the planet surface where you will report to pre-planned muster points. Proceed with orderly haste. That is all.” He unhooked the key on the microphone, and the room’s speaker fell silent.

  Garam recognized Jeremy Hermish who squawked out, “He can’t be serious! Evacuate?” They were all still young. In that moment, he sounded even younger.

  For a long moment, there was shocked silence. This was on a whole other level of terrifying! The station might be crumbling from right underneath them. A chorus of babbling uncertainty began to rise from the more nervous among them, and the panic started to spread.

  Sam righted a chair, then leapt onto it. He called out, “Belay that, all of you! Of course, he’s serious! We’re all checked out on the station’s emergency protocols! Nearest evac point is on this deck, two sections over. Let’s go! Smartly now! You, lead the way!” He pointed randomly, landing on Nadia Saltwind by the virtue of her being nearest the door, as spooked as a pigeon in front of an air car.

  Her first attempt to reply came out as a squeak. Her second try was better. “This way!” The door opened for her as she headed out, and a small tide of humanity began to shuffle for the exit.

  Sam jumped down, ensuring his friends were on their feet.

  Garam gave Sam a grim smile, trying to give the crowd room to flow around him, “Well done.”

  Sam nodded his thanks, adding, “It’s just the start. We have to keep them moving.”

  Makaio agreed, “We’re going to overload the nearest evac site.”

  Tanner Mathem appeared next to them, having drawn the same conclusion. “If you’d quit barking orders for two seconds, I could have told you that! I’m taking a bunch down to the next deck!” He waved a hand and peeled o
ff his Trinitian friends. They followed him out one of the smaller side doors, leading through the wardroom galley.

  Makaio sneered at his back. “The conquering hero, saving his own ass. Oh, and his own kind, if he has time.”

  Johanna responded with calm control, doing all she could to keep her emotions in check. Her clear voice reminded them, “He might be selfish, but he’s taking a group away and making the jam on this level better. We need to fill the ones on the deck up from us as well.”

  Makaio scowled. Johanna was right. “Hate giving that moron any credit, but you have a point. Let’s grab everyone we can and go out the stage entrance. We can cut up a deck at an emergency ladder out in the side corridor.”

  The others all nodded, and started to pick out any stragglers who would only make the crush at the main doors that much worse. Dianne and Sam led the way, pushing open the doors and trying to turn on whatever lights they could find to show the way while Makaio and Sam tried to point the stragglers in the right direction.

  Johanna paused in helping, noticing that she could still make out two station officers deeper in the room. One was the medic who’d entered earlier, undoubtedly doing his job to ensure lives got saved. Even now, he was helping a fellow officer pinned under a fallen table.

  A loud crack smashed through the lounge. A heartbeat later, a powerful whistle ripped at their ears and cut off Johanna’s thoughts. Everything from plates to handkerchiefs took flight, slashing towards the windows. Jo’s gaze streaked to the normally transparent panes of clearsteel that gave the wardroom its amazing view. A spidering puncture marked the point where one of the micro-comet-fragments had sliced into the station.

  Makaio saw the source, too. He sank his clawed fingers into the steel bulk of the bar, holding strong against the sucking wind of the deadly vacuum. He roared out, “Hull breach! Get everyone out!”

  More alarms wailed as durasteel plates rolled down over the windows to seal off the room. Over the grinding of the emergency shielding, someone screamed in pain.

  Johanna peered past the clutter of flying debris, knowing it had to be one of the two men she had seen earlier. The sucking wind had ripped away the table trapping the one man, but had dragged the two of them closer to the hard vacuum outside. One had propped himself behind the stage, but he was clutching his arm in pain. A knife had been flung across the room and was now sticking out of his forearm. Johanna recognized his face as he looked her way. It was the medical assistant, the one who had failed to clean up the blood already on his sleeve. Now, he had gotten himself injured. Jo dismissed any urge to judge him harshly. Being careless and unlucky didn’t change the fact he needed help. The medic who tried to help him had skidded perilously close to the window. He was hanging onto a support pillar, trying to hold on long enough for the emergency panels to close.

  The last hissing sigh came, and the vacuum was sealed outside. It had only taken a few seconds, but it ate into Johanna’s reservoir of strength. Her lower gravity heritage never fully left her, and she hadn’t been prepared for suddenly needing all her strength in such a sudden burst. She took a long three breaths to recover, then launched herself to the pair’s aid.

  At the door, Dianne and Sam were pushing and pulling people through. As the last pull of the outer atmosphere ceased, Dianne shouted, “I’ll locate the access port going up!”

  Sam kept herding the others out of the door, yelling at them to help her locate the ladder.

  Makaio appeared at Johanna’s side, seeing where her focus was. “Let’s have at it, then!” His bullish form forged across the room, clearing the way in a flurry of tossed chairs and tables. With him as blocker, Johanna was at the side of the injured technician in seconds.

  The medic had crawled back up the room. He got to his friend at almost the same time as Makaio and Johanna. Makaio pushed aside anything cluttering the area to give the medic room to work. Johanna searched quickly behind the counter to grab towels, rags, or anything that could be used to stop the blood. Her hands moved quickly, but her face was calm. Almost unworried.

  The medic pulled bandages and sterilization gear from his personal medical pack and immediately went about dressing the wound. Around them, the whistling vacuum had died and been replaced by circulation pumps whirring to life as they re-pressurized the space fully. The medic accepted the wet rags Johanna had found with a grateful smile, and then worked with the feverish haste to stabilize his patient. Once the bleeding was stopped, he unsheathed a needle of a ready-syringe of pain medication and injected it efficiently into the assistant’s arm. Deciding the technician was stable enough to move, he glanced up at the two midshipmen looking on. “Go, you two. Find your pods. I’ll take him out.”

  Makaio growled, reading the ranking insignia on the man’s epaulets, “No way, Lieutenant. We’ll hand you off to the crowd.”

  The medic frowned, not used to being questioned by a midshipman, but also not wanting to take the time to argue. Deciding to hold his tongue, they worked together to lift the injured technician between them, then hobbled to the main door. It was blocked, but Garam was already waiting. He shouted out, “Wounded coming through!” He broke up the crowd at the main door, getting them to help usher the injured man and his medic through toward the escape pods further on.

  Johanna paused, knowing she couldn’t add anything more. Still on her knees amidst the hastily used medical supplies, her eyes caught sight of the abandoned sleeve of the pain medication syringe that the medic had fed to the technician. She tilted her head pensively when she noticed the writing on the label. Her calm deepened, understanding now fully what had just happened. Now was not the time to follow up on it, but her memory filed it away for later.

  Makaio and Garam returned. “Ain’t got all day, Jo! They got out, but we should follow the others out the side door. That way is packed, and they’ll overload the pods for sure.”

  Johanna nodded without hesitation or argument. “I’m with you.”

  They ran into the corridor to find the other midshipmen scattered every which way. The initial panic was passing, and normal personalities were reasserting themselves. Every one of their peers was sure they had the right answer and were gathering groups of their friends to make for the best set of escape pods.

  Dianne had evidently found the ladder up. She was sending some other cadets ahead of her, but her patience was wearing thin. “Come on, all of you!”

  Sam came back from further up the corridor. “There’s another pod bay that way, but there are already twenty or so loading up there.”

  Dianne frowned. “I’ve already sent ten up the ladder ahead of me. Not sure how many the next deck can take.”

  Garam shrugged, “So we go up two decks. Just keep climbing until we find a hole to fit into around the station personnel. Let’s go!”

  Without any better plan, the five started to hoist themselves up to the next deck.

  Chapter 24

  Lieutenant Louisa Cravette cowered in a small corner, wedged behind the escape ladder three decks up from where she knew Johanna Summer had started to climb with her friends. She’d been shocked to find the tracking device the Academy had placed under her skin hadn’t been removed. The datapad she had tucked under her arm was the only device in several light-years capable of pinging the location frequency, but it was working perfectly.

  The Agent had been true to his word, having promised to arm her with the technology and weapons. If she had to make sure nothing happened to Johanna, and to protect her from this lunatic Sanders, having the ability to follow her through the station without being in the same room was a priceless gift.

  The first impact on the station had shocked her, believing at first it was a ploy by this Sanders fellow to strike at her. Now, she couldn’t see how that was possible. The PODD was down, and the entire station might collapse under the strain of the multiple hits it had taken! That was hardly the sort of play she expected from a professional assassin.

  For a few seconds, she hoped that mea
nt Sanders would stay well clear, biding his time. But she had just seen him! The vids, holos, and pics of him had been perfect, right down to the soft glow of his nimbus array. She had picked him out trying to stroll through the station decks, calm and serene and playing the role of a Navy pilot. He was here!

  She hadn’t done anything. For a heartbeat, she’d nearly shot him right there! It would have finished her career, for who would have believed her? What proof did she have? Even if they figured out he was an imposter to the uniform, it was a vague hope indeed they would identify him as a violent criminal. But the risk was almost worth it to ensure her family was safe from the TSU.

  She’d frozen. She’d watched him walk right by, searching for his target. Searching for the one Louisa was supposed to be protecting!

  Now, the station was evacuating, and she had lost track of Sanders completely. All she knew was that Johanna was climbing up towards her.

  What could she do? Help her? Stay near and watch? This wasn’t what she was meant to be doing! She wasn’t some sort of special forces operative skulking through stations that were falling out of their orbits!

  Frozen again, she clutched the ladder and tried to figure out what under the stars she could actually do!

  ***

  Having scaled two decks up, the friends paused before heading up again. Voices were echoing along the hallways down by the escape pods on this level too.

  Dianne wasn’t pleased. “Up one more?”

  Garam shrugged, “Maybe these ones are only half full. We should check. If we keep assuming the pods are full because we hear a few people, we’ll never stop climbing.”