| Jovian APAworks | Volume 1, Number 9 | November, 2001 |
"Ready for Pilot Recovery!" Master Sergeant Galen Pax shouted to the hangar crew around him. "Let’s get our girl out of there."
The hangar crew knew their job and each individual leapt into action with little prodding. The Retaliator Exo-armor rested silently upside down in a pile against the far wall. The arresting cables that had caught and slowed its landing were not enough and had strained and snapped. The landing was not enough to kill a pilot, in theory, but no one could be certain.
"Let’s close those hangar doors!" Pax shouted as he reached for a pressure suit helmet. Several others were suiting up as well. Galen quickly joined the hangar crew that were cycling through the airlock and into the open hangar. They positioned themselves around the exo.
He stood on one side of the main airlock while another crewman took up position on the other side. The Master Sergeant set one channel of his commlink to the frequency used by the exo pilots. "Liliane." He said into the mic as the crewman across from him readied a fire retardent spray. "We are about to attempt entry. How’re you doing?"
Lt. Liliane Cymri fumbled with the straps that held her tight against the Retaliators command spine. The Retaliator was still flashing flight data across her helmets HUD, courtesy of a damaged flight computer, and the thick smoke in the cockpit seemed to be getting thicker. An occasional sound would come from something small bouncing off of her helmet. Even though unbuckling oneself from the command spine was something that was practiced extensively in training, it somehow seemed easier to do it then than now.
Galens voice chirped over her commlink. "I’m okay Gally." She replied. "I’m kinda stuck though."
"Understood." Her maintenance chief responded. "We are going for entry."
Liliane turned her attention back to the wrist straps of the command spine. She managed to unbuckle one when the computer registered the exos outer cockpit door being opened. For pilot safety, every exo-armor had two doors for entry into the cockpit. One was a heavy armored door whose sole purpose was to dissuade the enemy attacks against the giant robots pilot. The second inner door protected the actual cockpit sphere environment, and also served as extra protection should an opponents anti-pilot argument be especially persuasive.
The computer did not have to tell her when the inner door was opened. Just as the computer gave her notification, the floating mixture of smoke and broken glass silently blew out through the now opened door. Atmospheric pressure in the cockpit of an exo-armor was kept deliberately higher than its surroundings for just such a case. The hangar crew would stand out of the way while any harmful debris that might be in the cockpit was blown out to facilitate easier access to the pilot. It also had the added benefit of putting out any internal fires.
From her upside down position, Liliane watched as Galen stepped into the cockpit. He took a quick look around the cockpit sphere and then started to work on her restraints. Another crewman climbed in and started to spray fire retardant into the broken monitors and computer systems. The spray would rob the potential fire hot points of oxygen when atmosphere was restored to the hangar and prevent flare-ups. As Lilianes legs were freed, she tapped in the last few commands that would shut down the power systems of the Retaliator.
"Suit integrity looks good. Nothing broken by the landing?" Galen asked as he assisted Liliane in a more graceful exit from the exo than her landing was.
"A little late to ask isn’t it?" she smiled back. "I’m already subject to the nastiness of hard vacuum of space."
"Just making conversation." Came the reply. "I have to keep my pilots mind off of her landing."
Liliane was finally able to see her landing for the first time from outside of her exo-armor. The amount of damage sustained from not the landing but the fight that she was in recently surprised her. Her damage control computer could in no way paint a picture of what she was looking at right now. Blast marks and the black sun patterns of explosions covered her Retaliator, looking almost like some sort of camoflage. Portions of armor plating were missing or twisted out of shape. She could almost read the pained expression on the ‘face’ of the Retaliator.
"Quite a sight isn’t it?" Liliane turned to face Galen. She could tell from the expression on her face that he knew what she was thinking. It was not at all surprising. Galen knew her the best of anyone onboard. "At least you made it through in one piece." Liliane returned Galens smile with a weak one of her own. The battle seemed like it happened months ago even thought so much had happened in the last few hours.
A pair of medics were waiting for her on the other side of the airlock. It was standard procedure to check over all pilots returning from a mission and even more important when they landed as awkwardly as she did. Liliane managed one last look back at her exo-armor as the doors to the ready room closed behind the medics and her. Was it really all over, she wondered.
Those thoughts changed as a voice came over the ships internal speakers. "Emergency crews to Hangar 4. Medical Team to Hangar 2. Prepare for recovery of remaining exo-armors."
Both Liliane and Galen froze at the announcement, albeit for different reasons. For Liliane it meant that the wreckage of her best friends Pathfinder was being brought in. She quickly wrestled her way through the medics and tore out of the Ready Room. She had to be there when they brought in Andrea. No matter what condition the exo was in there was always the faint hope that her friend had survived the fight.
Galen knew as soon as he reached the Ready Room that Liliane was not there. He would have been surprised if she was. Andrea was like a sister to Liliane. He knew that she would want to be there as soon as her exo was brought in. He was not at all confident that she would take the scene well.
Editors Note: This multi-part piece by Grizzly Bryan Lee. You can follow the story from the beginning here.
| Jovian APAworks | Volume 1, Number 9 | November, 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.