Ringship Discretion (20 page)

Ben turned and grabbed Attie's good leg to pull him back in, but bullets were ricocheting off the bulk heads as the marine continued to engage the boarders. Ben looked down the corridor as he tried to pull the captain into the stairwell. The marine was starting to pass out from lack of oxygen, but still firing. A second later a second set of hands grabbed the captain and they both pulled him into the stairwell. Ben climbed down and waved for Angela, who had helped him drag the captain in, to lower him down. As they got the captain down, Ben heard the clang sound of a grenade hitting the deck. He screamed
"Lieutenant!" She dove head first into his arms and they both fell to the floor as the grenade exploded above.  Ben rolled her off and got up as fast as he could to seal the hatch. Once he turned the wheel shut, he took the captain's M24 off his back and jammed it in the wheel. "That should hold them for a bit. Let's get to the hangar!"

A cry came from Amelia. "Attie....Attie..."

The Lieutenant bent down in front of her. "Are you alright?"

Amelia focused her eyes. "Yeah. My shoulder. I can't.." She screamed. Then she said "What about Attie?!"

The  Lieutenant asked "Who's Attie? The captain?"

Ben took the shoulder strap off the M24 and wrapped it around the captain's leg. "Yes....Amelia, Attie, will be OK. He got shot, but we can fix him up good." He then whispered to himself. "Come on Captain, stay with us."

As Ben finished tightening the strap, the M24 he had jammed in the wheel moved. "They're trying to come through. We have to go now! Drag her or whatever you have to do!"

Ben dragged the captain to the next hatch and started opening it. As soon as it opened he looked up to see Angela struggling to pull Amelia, so he jumped over and helped. When they got her to the hatch, Amelia actually began lifting herself with her right arm.

She rotated herself to see Ben and the Lieutenant lowering Attie through the hatch. Attie's eyes were closed and his mouth open. Amelia pulled herself toward the hatch, then Ben grabbed her.  She said "I think I can climb down with my legs, just help me." They got her into position and she lowered her self down. As she reached the bottom, sparks were bouncing off her helmet. She looked up. "Ben! They're burning through!".

Ben looked up. "Shit!..Grab the captain.  Which way to the airlock?!"

Angela grabbed him and pointed with her head. 

Ben turned and tried to take Amelia's rifle off her back but she screamed in pain.  He grabbed his knife off his suit and cut the strap. He reached up shut the hatch and jammed it with her rifle.  As he turned back to grab the captain he heard "What the hell is going on guys? Captain? Ben?"

Ben stopped. "AJ?!"

AJ responded. "What the hell is happening? Are you alright?!.."

Ben interrupted. "AJ, we need help! Meet us at the airlock at the end of the hangar. Grab a vehicle or something. The captain and Amelia are wounded."

AJ said "OK. On my way!"

Angela and Ben dragged the captain down the corridor, while Amelia limped and braced herself against the right wall.  They were about half way down the corridor when it began lighting up with flashes.  Angela looked back. "They're burning through!."  Ben and Angela increased their speed and their helmets started to fog up from the heavy breathing.  When they got to the airlock, they opened the hatch and put the captain in. Ben turned to see Amelia still half way down the hall, with sparks flying behind her as they burned through the hatch.  Ben ran down the hallway and ran into her half bent over, lifting her on his shoulder in a fireman carry.  She screamed in pain, but he ignored it and began running back.  Angela ran half way to help and then she saw the hatch behind them fall to the deck. "They're through!!.  Ben turned to look, unclipped his shotgun, gave it to her, "Here. Cover us!" and started running again.

Angela cocked the shotgun and walked backwards awaiting the first one to come through.  She saw a grenade drop. "Grenade!!"  She immediately jumped behind a bulkhead and looked at Ben, who was putting Amelia into the hatch.  The corridor lit up brighter than the sun and there was a deafening explosion. 

Ben yelled "Come on Angela!!"

She whipped the shotgun around the corner and fired two blasts into the smoke and ran.  As she approached the airlock, she looked back and saw one man down and another stepping over him around the corner.  She turned and fired while backing up.  The space-suited man instinctively backed into stairwell, but stuck his rifle around the corner and began firing. Angela saw sparks hit the transparent hatch and felt the tug of a bullet on her spacesuit.  Ben pulled her back and slammed the hatch shut. Bullets continued to ricochet off the transparent metal.

Once the hatch was closed Ben grabbed the shotgun from her and turned it toward the outer airlock. "We don't have time for this shit!"

She yelled "Wait! I can do an emergency instant depressurization." A second later, Ben felt his suit puff up and he almost dropped the shotgun. Angela said "Go!" 

Just as Ben opened the outer door, AJ drove up in an aircraft tractor. Ben looked at him like "What the hell is this?"  AJ said "It's all I could find!"

Ben pointed to the captain "Help me!."

AJ jumped out of the vehicle and as he came around, he saw two space-suited men walking up to the other side of the transparent airlock. "Ben! Behind you!." 

Ben looked. "Its OK, let's just get them loaded.  They won't be able to open the hatch with the pressure differential."  Ben and AJ put the captain on the back of the tractor while Amelia hobbled over. They lifted her onto the back next to the captain.  Ben grabbed a set of chocks off the tractor and jammed them in the open hatch door.  He jumped into the driver's seat. "Let's go."  AJ, with his M24 drawn, backed up into the passenger seat and Angela jumped on the hood. She yelled "Go!"

As they drove away, AJ could see them burning through the airlock.  Ben headed for the Discretion, but in front of him, the far hangar wall was lit with sunlight. He turned his head suddenly realizing that the hangar door wasn't there anymore.  As he drove past a half melted fighter he realized that the hangar had been raked with laser fire. He looked out into space.  There were huge chunks of starship floating past and massive flashes were erupting in every direction.  Amelia yelled "Hey!..HEY! STOP!"

Ben hit the brakes just before he hit the Discretion's landing strut.  Angela slid off the front of the tractor, but landed standing up. The captain and Amelia slid into the backs of Ben and AJ. Angela yelled "Where the hell did you learn to drive?!" Ben shrugged and then turned to get the captain.

AJ yelled "They're through!" and he started firing his rifle at them. 

Ben yelled while pointing to the deck. "AJ, get behind the vehicle while giving us covering fire!"

Ben and Angela hauled the captain up the ramp and put him in the airlock. When Ben looked back he saw that Amelia had fallen off the tractor.  Ben ran down, patted AJ on the shoulder as he went by and grabbed Amelia.  He hauled her up the ramp and put her in.  "AJ! Get in the airlock and give me the rifle."  AJ, stopped firing and handed him the M24.  As AJ got in the airlock, Angela grabbed another M24 that was inside the door and ran down next to Ben. She said "AJ, close the hatch and pressurize.  There isn't room for all of us. We will come in on the next go round." AJ complied and shut the hatch.

As the airlock pressurized. Amelia reached out to Attie's helmet. She put her helmet against his. "Attie...Attie! Don't leave me! I love you Attie. Attie! Can you hear me!?"

Ben and Angela kept firing. They could barely see the dark suited men at the other side of the hangar but they could see that they were taking cover.  They hadn't realized that the men were even shooting back until a piece of the hood on the tractor suddenly flew up.  That made both of them duck for a second. "Shit Ben, that was close!" 

Ben looked at her and he put his hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for helping me with the captain." She nodded, looked up over the hood and fired another burst. 

Ben did the same, but something was different.  The hangar was getting dark.  He looked out the huge hole into space to see a massive ship blocking the Sun.  "Shit! It's a BB cruiser!"  The front of the ship was almost parallel to them and its long crossed membered central shaft was moving from left to right. "Come on, we have to go! If they bring those lasers to bear, we're dead!"

AJ came of the radio. "We are in! And the hatch is shut."

Ben and Angela ran up the ramp and opened the outer door.  Angela jumped inside and when Ben felt the tug of a bullet hit the hatch, he jumped in too.  Ben yelled "GO! We are in!"

Amelia came over comm with the sound of constriction in her voice. "Give me a second to get to my seat.  Helen, help me!"

The thirty second alarm went off, but was silenced, and Ben and Angela found themselves on the floor.  Amelia rotated the ship at lighting speed and hit the throttle.  AJ and Doc were trying to help the captain, but they couldn't hold on and slid across the floor.  Doc yelled "Jesus!".

Amelia was looking forward through the front window, when an armor piercing round flew right through it.  Air started gushing out. She heard more rounds hitting the hull and yelled "Everyone get their helmets back on.  We are venting." 

Doc grabbed AJ. "Come on, let's get the captain to the galley and shut the hatch!". They proceeded to drag him to the galley and through the hatchway, shutting it behind them.

Amelia looked in front of her as they headed out of the massive hangar.  She altered course to avoid the superstructure of the BB cruiser. Helen looked past her from the co-pilot's seat, to see if she could see the massive lasers.  As she looked, she saw a huge explosion and a large blur went right across the view-screen.

Amelia yelled "Holy shit!....Damn fighter jocks!"

Amelia looked to her left as they passed the bridge of the BB cruiser.  She saw debris where their lasers had been. She looked forward again and as they passed the bridge of the cruiser, she could actually see the faces of the men.  They were pointing at them and yelling. 

Then another flash and the central pillar of the BB cruiser collapsed in on itself and the bridge twisted.  Amelia turned the ship hard to starboard and faced straight down towards Oberon.  Helen instinctively tried to back up in her seat.

Amelia flew straight down for 30 seconds until she cleared the carrier and cruiser.  She then whipped the ship around 180 degrees and reduced thrust. Helen asked "What are we doing?"

Amelia hit a few controls. "We have to land. We are venting like mad and we can't stay up here!..I mean..Look!"

Helen and Amelia looked out the window.  Ships and debris were everywhere.  Fighters were making high speed passes on the cruisers and the cruisers were trying in vain to hit them. Amelia pointed. "Looks like most of the Oorter fleet has been destroyed...but it doesn't look like the BB ships are fairing any better."  As they watched, the carrier opened up on the BB cruiser they had been so close to and its bridge disintegrated. 

Ben and Angela finally came to the bridge.  At first they didn't say anything and just watched the fighting.  Then Ben asked "How is the captain?" As he asked the cockpit lit up. Part of the carrier grew bright and flashed as a huge chunk broke free.  When he looked back at Amelia, she shook her head while trying not to cry. She then forced her self to look back at the controls and concentrate.

As the large ships and the explosions faded into the starry background they began to feel the buffeting of Oberon's thin atmosphere.  Amelia reached over and throttled up the drives. They started to slow and the buffeting stopped.

Thirty minutes later they were approaching New Freedom City.  There was smoke coming from most of the city and it was only partially lit. Amelia got on the radio. "Mayday Mayday.  This is the Discretion. We are requesting emergency landing clearance. We have lost internal pressure and have wounded."

A minute went by and the radio crackled. "Discretion you are clear to land. We are uploading the coordinates and approach vector. We will see what we can do on the medical help.  The city has suffered severe damage from the orbital attack.  After you land, you will be towed into a pressurized hangar. Over."

Angela responded. "Roger that. Coordinates received. And thank you. Over."

As they approached the given coordinates, Amelia turned on the view-screen to see a rear view, so she could land.  She could see swaths that cut across the city where lasers had hit.  Something flashed out the window that caught her attention and she looked up.  Thousands of small meteors and large bolloids burned across the sky. "Look Helen.  All the ship debris entering the atmosphere." 

Helen leaned forward and watched, but said nothing.

As soon as Amelia touched down on the landing pad, she jumped up, stopping for a second as she winced in pain, and hobbled back to the galley.  The hatch was closed, so she looked through the portal.  There was blood everywhere. Doc had removed the captain's suit and they were working on his leg.  She pushed her helmet against the glass trying to get a better view. In a broken voice she came over the suit radio "Doc. How is he?!".  Doc looked up toward the hatch. "I really don't know yet.  He's lost a lot of blood and he has depressurization trauma."

Amelia tried to ask a question but her throat was so tight that the only thing that came out was "I.I...I.. I..". The ship jerked and Amelia tried to grab the door seal, but her left arm didn't move and she screamed over the radio as she fell. Helen, Ben and Angela all ran to see if she was OK.  She was laying on her back as Ben got to her.  He looked at her face and could see that she was screaming inside her suit in pain.