Ringship Discretion (6 page)

He looked at her again. "Exactly!" and they exited the ship and started their way down the superstructure. 

Helen came on. "Hey guys! You're back!  I was getting worried." 

Amelia responded. "Helen, AJ's been hurt, but doc says he'll be OK.  As for us, Ben is low on air pressu..." Helen interrupted "What do you mean?! What happened?! Are you going.." Amelia raised her voice over Helen's. "Helen! I need you to pressurize the cabin first.  Ben is out of air! I will explain everything as soon as we get there".  Helen paused, then acknowledged. 

Amelia was watching the cross members float buy when something caught her attention. "What was that?"

Ben asked "What?"

She pointed. "I saw a flash and sparks. It came from.." Ben grabbed her and swung both of them into a girder. "Muzzle flash! SHIT! We are taking fire! Amelia hold on to me!" She grabbed the girder while wrapping her arm around the O2 tank and held him with her other hand.  He pulled the M24 off his back and loaded it.

Everyone started trying to talk on the static filled comms at the same time and the captain yelled "Quiet dammit! Ben, what's zzz sit...tion?" Ben swung his head and the rifle around the beam and a spark lit up the insides of his helmet. "We're under fire from small arms on the superstructure. He saw the next muzzle flash and fired a burst at it. The burst made him spin around the beam and Amelia's grip slipped.

Amelia yelled "Shit! Don't let go!"

Ben grabbed the girder with his right hand just as Amelia lost her own grip.  In a bit of panic, she reached for the girder again and the O2 bottle slipped away. 

Ben pulled himself back up against the girder. "Whoa! That was a bad idea!"

Amelia then pulled herself to him. "I lost the bottle!"

Ben turned his head and could see it floating down away from them. He looked at his air. "6 minutes. Captain, we got ourselves in a bit of a pickle here". 

The captain tried to reply "We are..zzzz way zzzz..zzz.be.zzz.oon". 

Ben pushed talk again. "Say again? We did not copy". 

"On zzz way... zz ....ere soon.."

"Roger, that sir.  I only saw a single muzzle flash, so it may just be one guy.  He is on the opposite side of the superstructure from us." He looked at his gauge. "Five minutes. Amelia, can you get above me, but stay behind the girder.  I am going to try to get a better grip so I can at least return fire".  She maneuvered above him, careful not to expose herself past the edges. Ben pushed his feet against the left and right insides of the I-beam and held on with his left hand.  He peeked around the right side and took aim. Again he saw muzzle flashes.  There were three in a row and after the third, he felt a slight tug on his suit. He pulled the trigger for a single shot.  The recoil kicked him back and he lost his grip. He quickly hit the thruster buttons to get back to the beam. "Shit! This isn't working!"  He started getting light headed and his O2 alarm went off. He looked down at his gauge "0".  "Oh shit!" He turned and looked for the spare tank. It was now about 20 meters down.  He pushed off the girder and leapt for it.  He bear hugged it as he hit it, his rifle swinging around and smacking the back of his helmet. 

Amelia yelled "Ben!" 

Ben grabbed his emergency connect hose and tried to snap it on the tank, but things were getting fuzzy.  He tried again, but still couldn't get it. "Dammit, I..this isn't..it won't.."

A hand reached around him and snapped the connector on, while a second opened the valve. Amelia's  voice came over the comm. "I got you Ben!" She grabbed him tight and fired her suit thrusters in the direction of the Discretion and kept firing them.  She could see more muzzle flashes as they accelerated and then there was a second set of flashes from further back on the ship. 

The captain came on. "Got the bastard! Get to the ship! I'm going to take care of those assholes once and for all! Give them a little taste of their own medicine!" 

Amelia let up off the thrusters, and then she realized how fast she was going, and hit reverse to slow them.  As Amelia and Ben approached the ship, Ben's head started to clear and he said "Thanks! I owe you one.  Damn that was close!" Amelia turned her head to respond just as all the dark areas of the Discretion and the superstructure lit up.  They both turned to look back at the BB ship.  The power was back up.  "Captain? Is that you?" 

He replied "Yes."  Then an intense white light appeared in the direction of Orion, and that's when Amelia saw traces of a beam coming from the rear of the black hulk they had just left. There were several flashes as the detached bridge of the black ship disintegrated under the intense heat of Atticus's laser fire. Then the blackness of the sky returned to normal as the Sun-like glow faded. 

Amelia asked "Attie?" There was no response.  Amelia and Ben floated into the airlock and shut the outer door.  They could hear the whoosh of air filling the airlock. 

Helen banged on the inner door and her face appeared in view-port. "You guys OK?!".  Ben gave a thumbs up. 

Helen said "I set the inner pressure to only 40 kPa, so you guys can come in as soon as the lock equalizes."

Amelia said "Thanks Helen!" Then the lock lights turned green and they opened the inner door. 

Ben detached his helmet and let it float free. "Damn it's good to be out of that thing!  Jesus, I'm hungry! And he grabbed one of the chocolate bars from his pocket. 

Amelia took off her helmet and tried to contact Attie again. "Attie, you there? You OK?" 

Attie's response was "Yes, we are on our way to you.  Get those modules installed.  We don't want to leave AJ too long". 

Helen's face was horror stricken and she looked at Ben and Amelia for answers. 

Amelia said to her "He is OK. He's in a pressurized shuttle.  He cut his suit and arm, but your husband says he'll be fine in a few days" 

Ben started to take off his suit and Amelia stopped him. "No, we still have to install these modules" as she pointed to her pocket.  "And remember there's no atmosphere in the engine room."  His face sank and he took a deep breath and blew it out. "OK, let's get this shit done". He shoved the rest of the chocolate into his mouth and put his helmet back on.  He tested the integrity of the seal by upping the pressure of the suit by 5 kPa, but it quickly dropped again. "Damn, I really must have a hole somewhere"  He looked at the spare tank he had been using. It read 10%. "Whoa! I was almost out of air again!" 

Amelia started looking around his suit.  "Oh my god! You've been hit!" 

Ben's face turned to surprise. "What?! Where?"

Amelia chuckled. "It looks like your ass!" 

Ben was trying to twist his body to see, but it was no use. 

Amelia radioed "Captain, Ben's been shot.  We have to get him out of his suit". 

He replied "We are at the outer hatch now.  See you in a second". 

Ben took his helmet back off and they began removing his suit.  As they slid the suit past his waist he jerked. "Damn! Felt that! I think the adrenaline is wearing off."

As the captain opened the inner hatch, he found Amelia floating behind Ben holding his pants down, while Ben was squirming to see. The captain asked "What the hell is going here?  What kind of kinky shit you pullin' Ben?!"

Ben and Amelia suddenly realized how stupid they must have looked and lost it!  The captain couldn't help but laugh as well.

Doc squeezed through. "Let me take a look".

Ben replied "Sure, why not! Everyone gather round and stare at my ass!". As a committee formed behind him, Ben reached for another Chocolate bar. 

Doc pulled the regenerator out of his pouch. "It's just a graze. Hold still and I'll fix it."

The captain piped up. "OK, that's enough ass watching! Amelia, you're with me.  Let's go get those modules installed". 

Doc applied the regenerator. "OK, it'll be sore for a few days, but you'll be fine". 

Ben looked back and with a mouth full of chocolate. "Thanks doc! I'm heading to the galley." He pulled his trousers up and floated off towards the galley. 

Amelia and Atticus got to the engine room and looked in through the hatch portal. "We're going to have to seal this deck and depressurize the whole thing".  She nodded "Yeah, I'll grab the stairway hatch".  She floated up the stairs and pulled the hatch down, sealing it. "OK. Helen, can you release the pressure on the engineering deck?" 

Helen responded. "Doing it now". 

When the pressure hit zero, Atticus opened the hatch to the engine room. "Ben, is there anything special we need to do here?" No response. "Ben?"

Helen came on. "He's in the galley gorging himself! Try your 'in head' comm". 

Atticus thought "Call Ben" 

Ben answered and his first thought was "I love these implanted comm links, cause you can "talk" and eat at the same time.  You in the engine room?" 

Atticus thought of where he was and the conditions, and Ben thought back to him what to do.  As Ben's thoughts came across, Atticus started getting really hungry. "Dammit Ben, concentrate, stop sending me your thoughts on the chicken your eating!" 

Ben thought back. "Sorry, but its so good". 

Atticus chuckled to himself and grabbed the specified set of cables, disconnected two connectors and pulled out the old module, which didn't looked damaged.  He looked at Amelia and thought "Is this the one? It looks fine." 

She stared at him and finally asked "What?". 

Her voice made him realize that he was trying to "think" to her, and he clicked the mic. "Amelia, is this the one? It looks fine?" He could hear Ben's thoughts of laughter.

She answered "Yes, they got fried on the inside.  There was a power spike when the plates were vaporized. She took a new one out of her pocket and handed it to him.

After a few minutes, they had replaced both the port and starboard modules. "OK. Helen, Check the engine status."

She said back "Looking now.......Hey! I can see the four plates on the starboard side and they are showing green.  The port side is reading two plates, but they are yellow and the two other spots are flashing red." 

Atticus thought this to Ben.  Ben thought back "Check the breakers here".  Atticus floated to the other side of the engine room and lifted the breaker panel.  His hands flew down the panel to where Ben was thinking. Atticus thought "Bingo, we've got several popped. Should I just reset them?" Ben confirmed and Atticus pushed reset on them, one at a time.  The room started flashing red. Ben sensed his thoughts and thought "It's fine! It's just the depressurization alarm. Ask Helen to shut it off."

Helen came over the radio. "We are getting a depressurization alarm...Atticus interrupted "Just turn it off, it's only from before.  What do you have now as far as the panels?" 

Helen said "Oh. Whew....OK, we are showing four steady green lights for the port side panels, and the two new ones on the starboard side are flashing green."  Amelia looked at Attie. "Yeah! We got it, we just need to calibrate the new starboard panels.", and she hugged him.

The captain said "Great! We are coming back up, let's go get AJ".

The captain and Amelia floated to engine control display on the bridge and they removed their helmets.  Amelia set her helmet on the edge of the control display, but it just floated off.  "It looks good, but let's try it. Everyone brace yourself." She powered up the modules.  The transition alarm went off and 30 seconds later she had panel control.  Ben came out of the galley and joined them.  Amelia tapped the control for the four starboard engines and she applied the smallest thrust she could. The ship lurched and strained, and she shut them down. "Those are good. OK, let's try the new ones.  The ship jerked hard and everyone heard the grapple cables bang under the strain.  She shut them down ."Well, that was weird.  They're all working, but those new panels are definitely putting out more thrust for the same amount of power.  Hmmm..that might help us.  Maybe we won't need to put all four of the panels on, and since one of the connectors is destroyed anyway, that would fix that problem." 

The captain responded. "Great. Let's get unhooked and go get AJ." 

Ben floated over and retracted the auto grapplers. "OK, we are free."

Amelia looked around at the crew. "Everyone hold on, here it goes.  She set the port panels to minimum for 1 second and that turned them away from the superstructure.  She then set both sides to minimum and they glided away from the wreckage, but the Discretion began to turn to starboard.  She upped the power slightly to the starboard panels and it straightened out. "OK, I think I got it.  I'm telling the computer that this ratio is equal power, at least at this thrust level. Since we have no thrusters, we will have to spin to maneuver by using differential thrust or the starboard engine gimbaling." 

The captain asked "You think you can really get her into that hull breach?" 

She responded. "Lets find out." She turned the ship 180 degrees, stopped their motion relative to the wreck, and slowly applied thrust in the direction of the hangar breach.  The Discretion gracefully passed into the breach. "OK Ben, fire the grapple hooks.".

He tapped the panel and the hooks fired.  They felt the slight deceleration as the cables became taught. 

Amelia said "We're in."