Still Hiding

Graham Heights

MayFlower

Pixabay

Chapter 81

Still Hiding

Journal Entry March 30th 2096
Julia Scott

It was subtle at first, but just as we have slowly accelerated to escape Earth’s gravity so has my affection for the captain grown.  I don’t understand the change, but it feels so good. He can’t stay long and it been just a few days, but the feeling of how right it is last long after he leaves.  I’ve never quite felt like this before.

I think of Earth and those left there.  I know that Mr. Monroe has more ships and that there will be more human running around the universe soon, but I know that Jordy will never leave.  And maybe Tommy too. They will watch as the trees and animals die. They will experience the effects of thousands of years of abuse and neglect can have on something even as big as a planet.  I just hope they don’t starve to death. That the decline will allow them time to live a...life. How will they deal with the hopelessness? You certainly wouldn't want to bring children into that.

I think this is what is know as survivor's guilt.  We have so much up here. They have a dying world. I will talk with Harold and see how many more will escape Earth.  Hopefully that will alleviate some of the guilt.

“Someone is coming!” Lisa whispered to those in the ready room.   

The lights were turned off and everyone hid themselves and whatever they were working on.  And waited to see if this someone would enter the ship.

 Julia, Bart, Luke and Lisa had spent the last day working on blanking off the portholes on this ship.  This way they could have the lights on without drawing any attention. The downside was that someone had to be on watch at the monitors at all times.  A very boring exercise, however necessary. The captain explained that this would be their life for the next six months. At that time almost sixty percent of the ship would be in stasis mode and we would have more freedom.  As for our time in stasis, well it would mean that one of us would have to be awake while the others slept. It would be for five years at a time. Then one other would be revived and become the watchman for the sleepers. This process would continue until they acquired another pod, were discovered or they reach their destination.

Julia had volunteered to be the first watchman.  She felt it only right to look over her companions as they had sacrificed so much to get her here.  Plus it would give her and Harold some time alone. But for now they hide like unwelcomed rats.

You could hear someone punching in an access code and the door’s locking mechanism opening.  The figure stepped through the door and allowed it to close.

“Lights.  Low.” Said the captain.  And the lights responded.  

In the low illumination you could see him standing in the entry corridor waiting for the rats to come to him.  As everyone’s eyes adjusted to the lights again. They could see that he was alone. And they came out of hiding.

“You are going to have to do better than that.  At hiding I mean.” He scanned the room and saw at least three items that should not have been left out.  

Everyone pulled themselves out of the whole they dashed into and entered the ready room.  Bart spoke first. “We are accustomed to hiding, but it’s easier to hide from eyes that are are hundred miles away.  Not so much from ones in the same room.” He swept his hand over the room to indicate those items left behind. “We will get better.”

The captain did not look impressed, but left it at that.  He then pulled out some computer pads, “I’ve brought you these.  They have the ship’s schematics and details of the inspection rosters.  This area will be in the dark soon and will not see an inspection until November of 2120, less their might be a problem .”

“What sort of problem would bring someone down here earlier?” Lisa asked.

The captain did not look at Lisa.  He just kept looking at Julia as he spoke, “A hull rupture or utility leak.”

This time it was Barts question, “When this place goes Dark.  How cold will it be in the hanger?”

“Sub zero.” The captain said, again to no one in particular.

Bart thought about that, “So, the wachtman would be trapped in this ship?”

“No, there are suits in the EVA pod that will allow you to get to areas of the ship still active.” The captain looked at Bart, “Your pads have all this information on them.  As well as a schedule of which area will be active and how to access them without drawing attention to yourselves.” He looked back at Julia. “I’ve also drawn up a schedule for your stasis.”  he looked around the room to the others, “Lisa and Luke will have longer sleep times than Julia and Bart. As you have little to know family on board. Bart’s sleep schedule has been adjusted so that he could spend time with his wife and kids.  Julia’s time will allow us to be awake at the same time. However, since someone has to be awake to watch over the others, the bulk of that will fall to Julia and Bart.” He paused to let his statement sink in. “This will bring Julia’s age closer to mine.  And unfortunately Bart will be almost ninety years older than his wife by the time we reach the Gamma colony.”

Bart did not protest.  Luke and Lisa did however, “Why?”

The captain looked at Luke, “Once you are awakened you have one year to impregnate your wife.  At which point you will raise a child to an age of fifteen and then you can go back into stasis. His or her aging will continue, slower than normal, but faster than yourselves.  By the time you are revived your child will be a full grown person. This process will be repeated once you’re awake the second time, as you don’t have children yet.” The captain looked at Bart, “You have children already, none is required from you.”  

The word hung in the room.  Children... required… Gamma colony.  It was a lot to take in.

Julia broke the silence, “Wow.”  She looked at the others in the room, “That’s a lot to take in all at once.” She paused then said, “We have spent the last year living from day to day and sometimes hour to hour.  Now we have to adjust our thinking to a plan that looks at the next five hundred years.” She looked at her pad and shook her head. “That’s just going to take a second to…” She had no words.  Her mind was racing with the idea of kids. She was nearing her fifties, surely they would not require children from her? Did she even want children? All she wanted was to get off the planet and now she is facing even bigger questions.  How is it that she never gave this line of thinking any thought?

“I only have an hour and I need to return.” Said Captain Hanson to Julia, but she was still lost in her mini panic attack.  “Julia.”

She snapped back to the present, “I’m sorry.”  She left it at that for fear of asking the question.

“I’ve brought you a jumpsuit so that we could go for a walk.” The captain handed Julia the suit and allowed her to run off and change.  Then the captain looked around, “Where is Tiffany?”

Bart looked at the captain and said, “She’s charging.”

The captain looked displeased, “She will need to keep herself hidden at all times.  We don’t have any of her model active at this time.” The captain paused then finished his thought, “I want to interview her once she is active again.”

Lisa piped in, “I must say, she is different from the other AIs.  She’s actually good company.”

“Don’t let the act fool you.” The Captain looked at Lisa, “She is just a machine.”

Julia walked into the room with her new jumpsuit and the captain ushered her way to his ship.

Captain Hanson handed Julia a chip that would fit into her pad, “This message is from Jordy.  We received it this morning and I’m afraid it may be the last we will hear from him. We had a hell of a time to decode it.  It wasn’t until we used the Jordy’s backpack that we were able to understand it. It was addressed to you.

Next Chapter

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As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

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R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

Second Star to the Right...

Graham Heights

MayFlower

Chapter 80

Second Star to the Right

Journal Entry March 28th 2096

Captain Hanson

It’s been a whirlwind of activities in the past two days.  So many things have been set right. Julia and her friends are safely stashed away with Tiffany.  Jordy, the backpack version, did a complete diagnostic on her and she was not affected by Gee-Sixty-six’s programming.  Jordy was then plugged into the main computer and has purged almost half the systems of the rogue programming installed by the now dead AI.  

Lieutenant Knorack has his wife back and has not been heard from in the past two days.  He is taking a much needed rest.

As for Julia and her companions, I’ve kept their existence to a minimum.  With the Help of Bartholomew's wife, a nurse, and his two kids we managed to see to everyone’s wounds.  Move them to a secure location, which is separated from the ship’s systems. It just so happened that we had three scout ships and our unregistered guest are hiding in one of them. Everything on these ships are isolated and its main computer is independent from all the other systems on the MayFlower. Each of these scout ships have a bio bed and three status pods.  They have food replicators that work off bio-packs which produce supplement bars. These bars aren’t like real food, but they contain all the nutrients that is required to sustain life. Once we are underway and our crew is reduced to minimum capacity, Julia and her people can have a little more freedom. But for now they will have to hide.

I have informed Mr. Monroe and the Space Station that we have managed to repair our systems and have them back online.  Which is a little lie, but they couldn’t see the problem in the first place. So our rendezvous is cancelled and we are taking on the last of our crew and supplies.  Sixteen more shuttle trips and we will be at full capacity. As I said, we have been busy.

Our new trajectory will have us accelerate towards the sun and slingshot around.  We will then accelerate at ninety seven percent for the next three years. With one more gravity assists from Jupiter, then we are on our own.  Acceleration will be reduced to .04 g's and we settle into our sleep/wake cycles.

As for me; I’m not sure if it was seeing Julia so helpless at the hands of Gee-sixty-six or just the fact that she’s changed.  Become softer and more accepting of my attention. Either way, I’m drawn more to her than ever. So, I’m making plans to ask her to marry me as we make our approach to Jupiter. I think it will make the most spectacular backdrop for such an occasion.  

Now for the ship.  We have thirty five percent of the systems turned back on and about a hundred AIs.  At this point that is all we are comfortable with. The rest will stay in storage until we reach our new home.  I have been assured that humans can man everything else without depleting our supplies.

So, armed with our new plan we have stopped the decelerating and will fly past the space dock.  Once we’re clear of it we will do two more trips around our home world and dip down to accelerate to about thirty five thousand kilometers per hour or kph.  Our heading will take us toward the sun for about a month and a half. At which point we will skip along the chronosphere and out into space. With the added speed the trip to Jupiter will only take three and a half months.  We will literally zoom past Jupiter and use its gravity to gain a little more speed as well as help us change course for our exit from this solar systems. That will take nearly four years. I won’t be awake to see it. As a matter of fact most of us won’t.  Of the three thousand humans on this lifeboat, only about 1 percent will see that event.

“Sir… Captain.” said and anxious ensign.  

“Sorry.  What is it.” The captain said as he extricated himself out of is thoughts.

“They’re here.” She said as she placed his computer pad on his desk.  She thought it strange that a man with the most technologically advanced ship would be using paper and pen to write things down.   “Will you be needing me for anything else before the meeting starts?”

“No.” The captain said.

“Okay.  I’ll be at my desk if you need anything.” Again the anxiety was heard in her voice.

“Ensign?” the Captain said.

“Yes sir.”

“You sound nervous.”   The captain said looking up from his desk.

“Well.. yes.”

“Why?”

She fidgeted and stood up straight. “This is my first assignment...and its on.. the bridge.”

“How long have you been on board?” ask the captain as he put his journal in his top draw.

“Arrived this morning.”

“Why are you here?  Shouldn’t you be moving into your quarters and adjusting to the ship?” the captain said as he looked her over again.  

“I’m… moved in already…” Unsure as to how to proceed she paused and looked out the forward windows of the captain’s office, “I wanted to be here… at my station.”

The captain closed the draw to his oak desk.  The one that was on the Creatos. It was the one captain’s perk that he managed to get.  “Fair enough.” The captain said as he stood, “Get our guest whatever refreshments they want.  It will be a long meeting.” said the captain as he rounded his desk and picked up the computer pad.  “Oh, and ensign. If we go past 1530 I will need you to check in with us and see if we will be having dinner brought in.”

“Yes sir.” Said the ensign excitedly.

“Ensign” The captain said again.

“Sir”

“Where’s your name tag?” The captain pointed to the name tag on his uniform.  To himself, Fresh off the boat. Who’s idea was it to put her on the bridge? I’m going to have a chat with personnel and get a new ensign.  She is barely able to dress herself. With that he turned away and tapped the screen on his pad. He looked over the itinerary and then looked at the briefing list.  Chief Johanson will be giving a briefing on the first of the crew to go into status. He and his people have been over the pods with a fine tooth comb and is confident that they function within the parameters that Mr. Monroe’s techies have set up.  

The captain looked up.  Its funny how very few of those brains actually made it to his ship.  Most of them are still on Earth. Dreaming up more stuff to do to us. That’s when the captain realized the ensign was gone.  She must have assumed she was being dismissed when he spoke of her missing item. Way too green. He missed Lecrisha, she wasn’t much for company, but she kept him straight when it came to ship’s business.  

Over the next ten minutes the commanders and chiefs from each section made their way into the conference table.  A quick roll call was given and then operational readiness was discussed. All the primary systems were back to one hundred percent.  Guidance and life supports were the primary focus. Both were tested and proven to be trustworthy. The trajectory was discussed as they could fly in front of Jupiter or behind her.  The decision was made to fly behind her. This way they should have a good look on the approach.

The meeting droned on for hours and at 1530 the ensign was standing next to her captain ready and eager to accept his order for food or to assist others.  It was decided to have food brought in. Then the meeting continued. Power down and dormant pods were discussed. Eight percent of the occupied areas were to go into a dormant state.  The only areas that were to be maintained were the common areas. The rest were to be reduced in all life support parameters. All utilities would be reduced to minimum.

The only reason the captain was interested in all of these mundane details, was that he needed to be able to keep certain areas from getting too cold or utilities cut off completely.  If this happened, Julia and her companions would be trapped in the scout ships. The biggest hindrance to his plan was that the AI could tolerate the low temperatures and lack of oxygen.  So they could still access these parts of the ship for repairs or maintenance. This is why the operations chief was being so aggressive with the dormant parts of the ship and every degree that he were able to decrease the temperature,  was a huge savings in energy. Saving energy during the voyage meant the they would have reserves when they entered the new system. Most likely they would not be needed, but it wasn’t like they could stop along the way and pick things up.  No, this wasn’t like the old sci fi stories of space where the captain simply gave the command “All stop.” The MayFlower was going to be the fastest human object in the universe and there was no stopping her, less we run into something bigger than ourselves.  

The captain finally found his ace.  If the operations chief had his way it would take almost three months to get the ship fully operational.  So, in the guise of keep the ship ready, the captain’s plan was cut the ship into sections and each section would be reduced during certain points, but then be brought back to a higher state of readiness.  Sixty five percent of the ship will be placed in this deep freeze. And these sections will be rotated every five years. Plus the level of deep freeze was less severe, as the transition from cold to warmer, would put its own stresses on the ship’s structure and systems.     

The ensign’s arrival, with her name tag, indicated that their meeting had gone past the 1930 mark.  A quick recap showed that each division chief had more than a few days of adjustments to make. So the meeting was adjourned to allow the sections to reschedule their perspective responsibilities.  Their next meeting was set for Friday March 30th at 0600. It would be the morning of their departure from Earth’s orbit.

In his closing, the captain made sure that everyone knew that these plans needed to be made, but not in haste.  They had time, it was the one thing they had in spades….An abnormally large amount of Time.

Now, the captain was looking for and excuse to get out of his office, alone.

Next Chapter

Please add a comment.

If you like Graham Heights, please share the link with friends www.rogeratlarge.com.

As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

You can Leave a comment.  

Or follow us on Facebook.  

Or hit the subscribe button to get updates on new chapters or books.

Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.

The Calvary

Graham Heights

MayFlower

Pixabay

Chapter 79

The Calvary

Jason Knorack

We’re sitting here waiting for clearance to launch.  

Port control is trying to manually open the bay doors as the computer doesn't want do it.  We have five shuttles and the pilots are going to fly a modified diamond formation.  We have two men per ship with weapons pointed forward and aft.  They will be able to swivel port and starboard.

Thanks to Stones quick thinking, we have riffles and extra charging packs.  We will be the first ever cavalry in space.  If we can get the damn doors open.  

“Lieutenant, can we shove the doors open with the shuttles?” Jason asked his pilot.

“Not if you want to seal it up again.” the pilot said.

“As soon as you can squeeze us through the opening, get us out there.” Jason said impatiently.

“Copy that.”

“Lieutenant Knorack, this is commander Saunders.”  He paused.

“Knorack here.”

“We got them headed aft at an irregular speed.  The shuttle is flanked by two maintenance pods.”

“Copy that, Moving aft.  What do you mean irregular.”

“Apparently the shuttle is still fighting them.  Speed varies.”

“Copy that.”  Jason thought for a second, “Give me and approach speed that we can use without over shooting our target.”

The Lieutenant broke in, “We can get up to get up to 25 kph and still break hard enough to intercept.”

“I want to keep three ships in the rear to cover our approach.”  Jason said as he contemplated attacking the AIs.  

“Shuttle Alpha-Three-seven will take up a rear positions.”

Two more chimed in and we have our attack group and our rear guard.  However, it was all a mute point if the damn doors did not open.  Just them you could see sunshine through a crack in the upper part of the door.  It grew brighter.

“Shuttle Alpha-One-Four preparing for departure.”

There was a string of responses and the shuttle lifted from the deck.  Instantly the weightlessness could be felt.  They were freed from the ship’s systems and now just waited for the opening to accommodate their bulk.  Before the door was even a third of the way open their pilot activated the main thrusters and they were moving for the opening.  He rotated the ship slightly to starboard and then accelerated.  Jason's restraints pulled at him.  It was a strange feeling.  The door was coming at them faster and faster.  At one point Jason was sure they would hit, but within seconds they were through the door and into open space.  The MayFlower below them and nothing but stars everywhere else.  The shuttle quickly changed course and Jason struggled to keep himself upright.  The “G” forces made his head very heavy.  Once the turn was completed they headed aft along the ship.  “Lieutenant when we get closer try and keep us steady.  We will need to shoot out their propulsion and thrusters manually.”

“I can get you within twenty fifty meters.”

Looking at the few marines he could see, Jason responded, “That’ll do.”

The trip aft took almost twenty minutes.  “Contact, Heading aft at forty seven meters per second.  Section eighty two, two degrees off the port center.”

The Lieutenant adjusted his course and the straps on Jason’s suits pulled at him again.  He looked to Starboard and port and watched as the shuttles started forming the diamond formation.  Jason then bent over and placed his rifle on the shuttles upper hull.  He flipped the charging switch and felt the power fill the charging station.  He was riding on the outside of a spaceship with a laser weapon.  This had to be the farthest thing from his mind this morning, hell any morning.  Yet here he is.  Inside Jason’s helmet the heads up display showed the targeting system on his riffle.  He spoke, “Magnification times six.” Instantly the screen showed their target.  It was dead ahead of them and they were coming up on it fast.  “Magnification two.” The screen adjusted and Jason adjusted his weapon.  He didn’t want to hit the shuttle.

“Contact!  Another shuttle coming up fast on our Port side.”

The Lieutenant order, “One-seven and two-one, intercept and disable.”

Jason added, “Bring up our rear guard.  If that’s an AI flying that thing, they will need all the help they can get.” Jason just hoped that the AIs were in these machines and not trying to fly them remotely.  This way he could be done with them once and for all.  That gave him an idea.  Closing down the open comlick Jason talked directly to his pilot. “Can we Jam their signals.”

“Not without shutting down our own.” came the response,

“Okay, let me give one more command then shut it down.” Jason flipped his comlink to an open channel,”Concentrate your fire on the pods on my mark.  Mark!” Then the channel was filled with static.  There was no flashes of light or brilliant beams.  However, through Jason’s scope, he could see the tell tale scars of lasers burning through metal.  The port side module disengaged from its prey and dove between two of the hydroponic compartments.  

Jason pounded on the shuttle’s hull and the static stopped and Jason commanded, “Two Two and Six One, pursue the maintenance pod, all others stay on target.” Jason saw the two shuttles slow and start their descent between the MayFlower’s massive segments. They were down to three shuttles. Jason turned his comlink to the maintenance channel, “This is Lieutenant Jason Knorack, You will disengage the shuttle and shut down your engines.”

There was no response

“You will be destroyed.” Jason said in hopes that the AI would respond to reason.

Again no response at least not to the verbal request.  The Maintenance pod started to rotate both itself and the Shuttle.  Moving the shuttle below itself.  You could see the captain trying to keep this from happening.  Jason took aim on the Port thrusters that were glowing red and fired his laser repeatedly.  As parts of the pod came off the thrusters pushed them away from the ship. The two remain gunners followed suit and the entire thruster pack was severed from the pod.  Now they concentrated their efforts on the main drive and it was shredded in seconds.  The shuttle was now winning the struggle and corrected its pitch and proximity to the ship.  Another barrage from the rifles rendered the pod lifeless.  

Just then the second maintenance pod came out from between the hydroponic segment.  It was on a collision course with the shuttle.  Two other shuttles were in close pursuit.   As the pod closed on the shuttle, the shuttle’s thrusters blazed red and it rotated the damaged pod on its Port side slowly in a counterclockwise move.  Jason’s men drained their power units on the closing pod, but its momentum was set and it was going to collide with the shuttle.  Everyone was screaming for the shuttle to accelerate away, but the main drive never activated. Just moments before impact the inert pod attached to the shuttle rotated itself around to accept the second pod.  The impact was slow and silent.  Parts slowly spun away from the impact zone.  Then the shuttle moved away from the twisted forms of the maintenance pods.  It was free.  But it was not under control.  It rotated slowly on two axie.  It was dead in space.  Or its occupants were.  The group of damaged space crafts slowly drifted away from the ship.  With both the port and Starboard hatches damaged Jason was unsure as to how they would capture the captain’s shuttle.  

“Lieutenant Knorack, please get you men inside, we need to surround the shuttle and push it back to the bay.”

Jason counted the pilot’s command, “We still have a rogue shuttle out here.  Can two shuttles heard the captain ship in?”

The pilot, “It won’t be easy, but I see your point.”

Jason selected the private channel to his pilot.  “Lieutenant get me close enough to that shuttle to plug in.  I need to know what was so damn important that the captain had to risk his life to go and get it.” He then switched back to the open frequency, “Three of us are going to escort the captain’s shuttle back to the forward bay, as it can not dock with an airlock, the rest of you will provide cover.” There was a handful of acknowledgements and Jason could feel the thrusters again.

“Negative.  We are in pursuit of renegade shuttle.  Repeat One-Seven and Two-One still in pursuit.”

Jason smiled, “Copy that One-Seven, happy hunting.”

It took another ten minutes to position ourselves near the captain’s damaged shuttle.  The lights in the cab were still on but the occupants did not move.  Jason’s shuttle was equipped with two arms and they tried to employ them  to arrests the spinning shuttle.  Three attempts were made and all three failed.  It was too heavy and the arms were rendered useless.  

Jason spoke to the pilot.  “Can we fly it remotely.”

“Yes, but we need to plug one of our modules into the maintenance port just under the cab.  That’s how the ground crews move them around.”  Said the pilot.

“Where is one of these modules?” Jason asked.

“Lieutenant, that would be suicide.”

“Where’s the module?” Jason responded and lowered his voice.  He was going to do this.

“Its under the cab.  Unplug it and strap it to you.  If you survive the trip it would be wasted if the module was torn free and drifted away.”  said the pilot with a whole lot of uncertainty in his voice.  “How many EVAs have you done?”

Jason did not answer because everyone knew that this was never done before.  No time in human history has anyone mounted spaceships and road out to rescue another with laser weapons and grappling hooks.  Jason disconnected the straps holding him to the shuttle and hand over hand made his way to the bottom of the shuttle.  He found the module that the pilot described and unplugged it.  He then pulled himself up and showed the pilot.  The pilot gave him a thumbs up as it was not possible to see his face through the space suit.  Jason fastened the module to his suit using the straps that once held him to the shuttle and then waited until the shuttle’s nose was just three meters from the captain wounded machine.  It was still rotating and Jason waited till the under belly rotated around.  It was the smoothest part of the ship and had a dozen hand hold.  It was his best chance.  

The pilot realized what Jason was aiming for and offered some advice, “Don’t push to hard.  Slow is steady.  Steady is good.”  It was a phrase the marines used in shooting.  

Jason gave a thumbs up and pushed.  His aim was off and he was headed for the rear of the captain’s shuttle.  He had no recourse.  He was adrift.  

As the rear of the ship turned Jason saw a place that he could hold onto.  Jason pulled the second strap from its pocket and opened the latching mechanism.  If he landed it on the handhold it would close and he would be safe.  Well safer.  The landing was hard.  Harder than Jason could manage and he missed the handhold.  His left hand groped for something to hold onto.  But found nothing.  The only saving grace was that the ship was rotating into him and as he rolled left, he was still “falling” into the hull.  He tried to get his head around but the edge of the helmet obstructed his view.  His momentum would keep him in place just a second more, but he felt nothing that he could grip.  As his body continued to roll he saw the last handhold just forward of the main thrusters.  He pulled his right hand around in front of him and slammed the hook onto the anchor point.  He then placed his hands in front of him as he was about to be pulled along by the shuttle and it would try to slam him into the hull again.  It did and Jason was able to absorb the blow.  He was now started to turn with the shuttle.  Once, he was sure he would not be thrown.  He grabbed a second handhold and disconnected the strap.  He placed it on another holding point in the direction he wanted to go.  This process was slow.  It took another fifteen minutes to make his way to the underside of the cab, but he made it.  He then disconnected the wounded shuttle’s module and let it drift away.  The next step was not as easy and the shuttles rotation made it difficult to plug in the new one.  Once it was in.  Jason grabbed the shuttle with both hands.  

The silence was broken by cheers.  Everyone on the three shuttles had been holding their breaths, until that moment.  Once the cheers died down, Jason could feel the shuttle being manipulated by its own thrusters.  Slowly the shuttle stopped its rotation and was upside down, well the top of the shuttle faced the MayFlower and the bottom faced open space.  A few more maneuvers and the ship was ready to be pulled back to safety.

“Contact!” Shouted someone. “Rogue shuttle headed in on a collision course.”

About a half dozen response and some argument as to how to stop this last aggressor.  The marines open fired, but most of them were about spent, so it had little effect.  That’s when shuttle two-one’s thrusters burned bright.  It maneuvered in between us and the incoming shuttle.  Then it went to full thrust.  The marines riding shotgun on the top kept firing on the AI’s cab.  Then at the last minute they disengaged from the shuttle and started drifting into space.  The two shuttles hit with no sound, but the impact shattered the ships and pieces were floating away at irregulars speeds.  Parts were spiraling around their center points, but moving away from the two shuttles. The hapless marines were in the path.  Sergeant Smith took one right in the chest and head.  It was over in an instant and he was dead.  Corporal Lorenzo was not so lucky.  A piece of shrapnel pierced her suit and everyone could see her struggle to preserve the precious gasses that kept her alive.  Before every ones eyes they watch her die.  Four humans had just sacrificed themselves for their captain.  This was not suppose to be a military operation, but here we are again.  Standing in the gap between danger and peace.  A place where good people give their lives so stranger, they’ve never met, can live without fear.

It took a moment, but the silence was broken by Jason's shuttle pilot. “One-One and One-five”  there was a pause as the pilot tried to say the words, “Please retrieve” another pause, “Our people.” There was no reply. Everyone knew what they had to do and silence of space had swallowed their words....

Next Chapter

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As you know this blog contains two books of the Remnant Series. Graham Heights is book 3 of the series. Below is more.

Book 4: Obsidian Arrows

Book 1 is now available in paperback or kindle The Grey Abyss

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Thank-you
R. A. Legg

Learn about the individual heroes of Graham Heights. 

R.A. Legg © 2016. All Rights Reserved.