| Jovian APAworks | Volume 1, Number 4 | March, 2001 |
With the Retaliator launched, all Master Sergeant Galen Pax’ tech crew could do was wait for its return. The purpose of their existence on the JSS Vigil was to make sure that the exo-armor was kept in top shape. Of course with it out of the hangar there was not much for them to maintain.
In most instances they were able to monitor the performance of the exo using an encrypted frequency that was linked to the Retaliators diagnostic computer. This allowed them to provide assistance to the pilot should she need it. Todays battle was different. They had tried to communicate with the Retaliator but received only static. The diagnostic link could not be established. It was not the most reliable tool in the maintenance arsenal and was easily jammed. The technology was new and just being rolled out for evaluation by the exo-squadrons on the Vigil. With the diagnostic computers unable to link up it was fairly certain that there was a lot of ECM being used outside.
"Keep your Helmet on, Bea." Galen instructed one of his team. The crewman in question had pulled off the helmet to her pressure suit and was cleaning the inside of the face shield.
"Sorry Chief. I sneezed a good one." She rubbed her nose. "My allergies are starting to act up."
Galen sighed. Corporal Beatriz Halmique was a top notch electronics technician but she was somewhat susceptible to dust. The enclosed environment of a pressure suit did not help matters much. "Did you get a new filter?"
"Brand new. Picked it up from supply."
"Supply must be putting used filters back into circulation without properly cleaning them." Sergeant Jena Patterson stepped into the conversation. "This isn’t the first time."
"I’ll have a talk with Lemell. He should know better." Galen leaned against a table and glanced around at his crew. Beatriz sneezed again before putting her helmet back on.
They were supposed to be in full pressure suits during an attack, even though they were all sitting in a room that was surrounded by thick armor. Should there be an emergency with the exo-armor getting into the hangar, or once it was in the hangar, they had to be ready to spring into action. There would be no time to don their pressure suits.
The eight member crew milled about the armored ready room. Galen just leaned against the table and was quickly lost in his own thoughts. He had served in the Jovian Armed Forces for six years and had been in crews under many Exo-Armor pilots. Lieutenant Liliane Cymri was the first pilot that he actually found himself worrying about. He had been with her through her assignment to the Vigil and was present back when Rose Flight was still using Pathfinders. She was a skilled pilot, even rivaling Captain Desrosiers on a good day and he was acknowledged to be the best pilot on the Vigil. Galen was certain that Liliane could handle herself in a fight. So why was he thinking about her now?
Galen never had time to wonder further on this. His orderly world of white-washed armored walls and dust free control panels suddenly exploded into a chaotic symphony of bright smoke and light. The explosion was deafening for the brief moment that it took the detonating anti-warship torpedo to use up the atmosphere in the small room.
Galen was disoriented. He could feel himself tumbling over and over but all he could see was bright flashes dancing across his eyes. His arms and legs flailed in any and all directions and several times they hit on something. His ears were assaulted by a hissing sound and he began to feel cold.
Galens spinning stopped as he collided with something a hard and immovable. It took him a few seconds to clear his eyes, his hands kept trying to rub the lights out of them but could not get through his helmet face shield. "Six Crew!" he shouted into his comm., "Sound Off! What the hell just happened!"
The hissing sound drowned out Jena’s reply, and it suddenly became of great priority for him to find out where it was coming from. An experienced spacer, Galen quickly checked over his pressure suit and found several tears that were leaking out his internal atmosphere. Pulling out a small patch kit, he deftly applied the emergency patches to the tears. He was starting to feel cold, having lost a lot of atmosphere. A part of his side felt sticky. Whatever had torn the suit there had also ripped open some of his flesh. The pain was beginning to build.
His vision was still a little spotty but he still looked around for his crew. He had heard Jena reply so she was still conscious. He saw the upper portion of Linda’s torso floating out of the hangar. The explosion must have torn her apart, her face frozen in shock. Galen squeezed his eyes shut against the sight. "Damn." He whispered to himself.
Looking around some more he saw what was left of the armored room that they were all just standing in. It resembled more of a crater in the side of the ships hull. He checked for his grapple gun, the line shooting device that EVA personnel used when maneuvering around outside, and found it still by his side. He pushed off and floated back towards the Ready Room. "Jena!" he called again. "Where are you? Andersen! Bea!"
A body floated near him, also stopped from floating away by the catapult assembly. The body wasn’t moving and when Galen turned the crewman around he saw the smashed face plate. ‘Benders’ his nametag read. The face was twisted out of proportion by the vacuum of space and even Galen would have been hard pressed to identify the corpse.
That was two down. Galen had never lost crew before.
Another body floating nearby caught his attention. This one was moving. Slowly but the arms were moving. He pushed off the catapult assembly and reached for the new body. Pulling himself up the length of the body, he was glad to see the intact face of Giscard Andersen. Galen could not hear the mutterings the man was making but the dazed look on his face said everything. The maintenance chief checked over Andersens pressure suit and patched up the small tears on the mans leg. The atmosphere integrity safe Galen pressed his faceplate to Andersens. "You’re going to be alright Andersen." He said hoping that the other man could hear.
At that moment a large shape passed quickly overhead. It was silent and Galen would not have even seen it had he not been looking up at the time. It was an Exo-armor, that he could be sure of, but he could not identify the model but it wasn’t Jovian. This meant that the fighting was still going on and that they might be hit again.
Galen drew his grapple gun and fired a line into the ruins of the hangar. The line connected with the Retaliator acceleration frame and he pulled himself and the still dazed Andersen to the assembly.
"Chief!" Jena voice burst over his intercom. "I need help! Bea’s been hurt bad!"
"Where are you Jena?" Galen called back, trying to sound calm but he couldn’t. His crew was in shambles.
He saw Jena waving from near the remains of one of the hangar doors. He didn’t have to get very close to see the sharp, jagged piece of metal sticking out from Beatriz’s chest. "She’s bleeding bad!" Jena cried out. Galen checked the womans back. The fragment was a thin piece of the armored hangar door and it was still attached to the remains of the hangar wall.
Bea’s body jerked suddenly. "Hold her Jena!" Galen said as he moved to the womans face. Beatriz was conscious and coughing up blood. She was blinking rapidly, fighting back the pain. A glance from her told him that she recognized Galen.
"We have to pull her off." Jena said as she moved to the other side of Bea.
"No." Galen said as he started to look around the hangar. "We remove this and she’ll be bleeding internally. We have to leave the shard. Patch up her suit around the shard."
A figure lifted itself out of the far wall. "That you Jack!" Galen called. The figure waved affirmative and then indicated that he couldn’t transmit. "Find the torch in the mobile kit and bring it. Fast!" Jack waved affirmative and brought over an arc-welding torch and power supply.
Jack helped Jena hold Beatriz in place while Galen used the torch to burn through the fragment. It seemed to take an eternity but they were finally able to cut apart the shard that Bea was impaled on. Galen looked around for an airlock. Bea was not losing atmosphere but she was still coughing up blood and who knew what other internal bleeding there was. They had to get her inside as soon as possible. The main entrance had been blow apart and was most likely useless. The other two airlocks were in about the same condition.
That left only the emergency airlocks that were along the catapult. The group slowly moved along the catapult assembly, using hand rungs that were imbedded in the hull. The airlock that they came to was large enough for a small crew to go through at once. Jack and Jena held Bea while Galen punched his command code into the entry control panel. A red light blinked fiercely in response, and Galen tried several more times. It was no good. Security procedures meant that external airlocks were locked down during an attack situation to prevent invaders from sneaking aboard.
"Give me a hand here Jack." Galen said as Jena moved to take care of Beatriz. The two men began to take the control panel apart. It was not a very difficult task as they were used to handling systems such as this. With the external panel off Jack shorted out the manual override lock while Galen dug out the manual release handle. The handle was inserted into a small opening on the other side of the airlock and Galen started to turn it. The handle resisted but slowly moved.
Jack backed away from the now sparking control panel and helped Galen to turn the handle. Each full turn opened the airlock door slightly. Millimeter by millimeter both men worked the handle. The opening was almost enough for one person to fit through when Beatriz started to convulse. Her body jerked wildly almost knocking Jena off.
"She’s going into Shock!" Jena cried out as she fought to contain the flailing limbs of her injured co-worker. Galen could not hear what Jack was saying but he was mouthing a stream of curses. Each crank was an eternity. Both men worked as hard as they could. Too many of their comrades had disappeared today and they were not going to lose another.
As soon as the opening was big enough, all four of the crew piled into the airlock. They had to be especially careful with Beatriz and the chunk of door sticking out of her chest and back. Jack started to close the door while Galen looked to the control panel on this side. He glanced back at Jack who almost had the door closed and at the Bea’s faceplate, which was now covered almost entirely in blood.
Through the opening in the door, he saw the exo-armor from before streak past again. The hull of the ship shuddered.
Editors Note: This is a Jovian Chronicles serial piece by Grizzly Bryan Lee. You can read the previous part, Incoming Unknown, or the next part here, Down to the Wire.
| Jovian APAworks | Volume 1, Number 4 | March, 2001 |
Jovian Chronicles is © 2001, Dream Pod 9, Inc. All rights reserved. Jovian APAworks is not affiliated with Dream Pod 9 in any way. Submitted material remains the property of the creator.