Ep.#4 - "Freedom's Dawn" (The Frontiers Saga) (14 page)

Loki pulled the hatch lock lever over and the hatch unsealed slightly. He slowly pulled the hatch open to reveal the three meter long tunnel that lead through the ship’s multi-layered hull to the outer hatch, which he could see at the other end of the tunnel above.

The outer hatch was nothing more than a thick, sliding panel, which was operated remotely from either inside the transfer tube, or from the airlock foyer at the console at which Vladimir was currently standing. When he reached the end of the tunnel, he activated the outer hatch and it slowly slid open.

Control my breathing
, he thought as the hatch slid open to reveal the blackness of space. Exterior light from the Darvano star spilled into the tunnel at a sharp angle. The light was not directly in his eyes, but it was blinding nonetheless and Loki had to close his polarized visor in order to reduce the glare.

“Exiting the ship,” he announced.
I can’t believe I’m doing this,
he thought as he floated up out of the tunnel and into space.

Loki’s breathing doubled its pace as soon as his feet cleared the tunnel and he was no longer on board the Aurora. “Oh God. Oh God,” he repeated between breaths as he drifted further away. “I’m drifting away!”

“
No worries, mate,
” Josh assured him over the comms. “
If you get too far, I’ll just use the old docking thrusters to shimmy right up beside you, nice as you please.
”

“Don’t you dare!” Loki cried out.

“
Hands off, Josh,
” Vladimir warned. “
Even a bit too much thrust and it would be like hitting a rock with a stick. You would send him flying… if he lived
.”

“Really
NOT
helping, guys!”

“
Relax, mate. I’m only playing with you. Just use your suit thrusters,
” Josh reminded him.

“Oh yeah.”

“
Just a little, first to stop movement away from the ship,
” Vladimir warned.

Loki flipped up the control pad from his chest piece. A small tug and it extended away from him just enough so that he could see it. He gently placed both of his gloved hands on the control pad and applied a little downward thrust. Tiny jets located on his shoulders squirted their brief burst of propellant, stopping his motion away from the ship. “Okay, I’ve stopped.” Loki took a deep breath and swallowed. His mouth was bone dry. “I’m going to rotate now.”

Another small burst of thrust shot out from the back of his left side, causing him to rotate slowly on his vertical axis that ran perpendicular to the ship. He watched as he rotated to his right. As he came around, he could see the landing apron at the aft end of the hangar deck looming in front of him. His eyes were just below the level of the deck, and he could easily see the outer door tucked deep inside the awning that extended out onto the deck to shield the outer doors to the transfer airlock.

The entire hangar deck continued to slide to his left as he rotated to his right.
This isn’t so bad,
he thought, his breathing starting to calm down again. Then it happened; the Yamaro slid into his view from the right. She was more than twice the size of the Aurora, and despite the fact that she was badly damaged, all her gun turrets appeared to be pointing right at him. That alone was enough to speed up his breathing once again. “Oh shit!”

“
What’s wrong?
” Vladimir asked over the comms.

“Every single one of her guns is pointed right at us!” Loki cried out as he fired his thrusters again to stop his rotation.

“
She’s powered down!”
Vladimir insisted.
“And her crew is locked up.”

“What about those guns?!” Loki asked. “Why are they pointed at us?”

“That’s just the last position her guns were in before the entire ship was powered down.
”

“
Loki? This is Ensign Mendez. I’m on the Yamaro. I promise you, all those guns are cold. I’m waiting for you at the port airlock, just aft of the hangar bay. The one with the flashing lights. You see it?
”

“Are you sure? I’m staring right down a whole bunch of gun barrels out here.”

“
Yeah, I’m sure,
” Ensign Mendez chuckled. “
Hell, we just ate dinner over here. It wasn’t half bad. Get your butt over here and we’ll feed you as well.
”

Loki started to calm down again. He still didn’t like the looks of all those guns, but on closer inspection, the Yamaro did appear to be powered down. He looked her over and finally found the small flashing lights right where Enrique had said they would be… just aft of the port hangar deck. The lights were small and faint from this distance, but they were flashing away. “Okay, okay. I see the flashing lights.” Loki swallowed again as he applied forward thrust. “Thrusting forward.”

The thrusters on the back of Loki’s EVA pack fired, moving him slowly forward. He thrusted again to accelerate a bit more. He watched the hull of the Aurora about ten meters below him as it passed beneath his feet.

“
Slow and easy,
” Josh warned over the comms. “
Don’t use too much thrust, or you may not have enough left to slow down when you get there.
”

“I’m a pilot too, Josh. Remember?”

Loki continued to watch the ship as he approached her starboard side. To his left was the landing apron of the flight deck; to his right was the massive drive section, towering far up above him. He was in his own little valley here, tucked safely between two rather large sections of the ship. Although he was floating in a vacuum, at least here he felt relatively safe.

Then the walls of his safe little valley began to subside. First was the landing apron to his left. It had already passed behind him, and to his left he could now see along the entire starboard side of the Aurora, all the way out beyond her bow. He looked to his right; the drive section was about to pass behind him as well.

“
Loki,
” Vladimir stated calmly, “
do not look down.
”

Loki couldn’t resist. His neck craned forward slightly so that he could peer down as the Aurora slid under him and away, revealing the planet of Corinair rotating slowly beneath him.

This time his breathing rate tripled and became very deep. He could feel panic starting to overtake him. “Oh God. Oh shit. Oh God!”

“
I told you to not look down,
” Vladimir scolded.

“
It might have been better had you not said anything at all, mate,
” Josh added. “
You’d better pull it together out there, Loki,
” he warned, “
or you’re gonna pass out. Then you’ll smack right into the Yamaro and it’ll be all over.
”

“
And you think
that
will help?
” Vladimir asked.

“
I’m just tellin’ it to him like it is,
” Josh defended.

Loki could feel his fingers tingling. “There’s something… wrong… with my… fingers,” he said between breaths. “They’re… getting… numb!”

“
You’re hyperventilating,
” Vladimir warned. “
You have to take slow, regular breaths. And turn down the oxygen levels in your suit.
”

“What?”

“
Your life support controls. Reduce the oxygen saturation in your suit air. It will slow down your breathing and help you to relax.
”

“
By starving his brain of oxygen?
” Josh wondered aloud.

“
Who’s in command here, Josh?
” Vladimir insisted. “
Do it now, Loki. That is an order!
”

Loki had not known Vladimir very long, but it was the first time he had heard the Russian speak with such authority and conviction. It made him instantly respond, and he reached down to his control pad on his left wrist and reduced the amount of oxygen being mixed into the air in his suit. “Okay… I… did… it.”

“
Keep trying to slow your breathing down,
” Vladimir urged him, trying to sound as calming as possible.

Loki concentrated on his breathing, but he couldn’t stop peaking at the planet below, which wasn’t helping much.
I never should have looked down,
he thought.

A few minutes later, his breathing had slowed and the tingling sensation had left his fingers. He was more than three-quarters of the way across, and his view of the Yamaro filled his visor. He could see the airlock hatch, which was wide open and waiting for him.

“
How are you doing, Loki?
” Vladimir asked.

“Better now,” he said as he turned the oxygen level in his suit back up to its normal setting. “I’ve increased the suit O2 back to normal. I’m almost there.”

“
Excellent,
” Vladimir exclaimed.

“
Good job, mate,
” Josh congratulated.

Loki spun himself around using the suit jets in order to point his back toward the Yamaro. He fired the main thrusters on his back again to decrease his closure rate to something that his maneuvering thrusters could manage. Once he was happy with his new rate of approach, he fired his attitude jets one more time to spin around to face the Yamaro again. He was only about twenty meters out now, and would reach her in less than a minute.

As the last few meters disappeared between them, Loki fired his jets once more. From both shoulders and both hips, more propellant squirted out, bringing him to a near stop just before he hit the Yamaro.

“Contact,” he announced, as he reached out and grabbed a handhold only a few meters aft of the open airlock. Using the handholds, he pulled himself over to his left until he reached the airlock. He pulled himself inside. Unlike the Aurora’s airlock, the artificial gravity in the Yamaro’s airlock was always active. As soon as he crossed the threshold, the gravity fields generated by the plating in the floor pulled him downward. Fortunately, he was no more than a few centimeters off the deck, and he barely stumbled as the familiar sensation of gravity swept over him.

“I’m in!” he announced. He could hear both Vladimir and Josh breathe a sigh of relief over the comm-set as the outer airlock door closed behind him.

“
Nicely done, mate,
” Josh told him. “
Nicely done.
”

“Next time, it’s your turn,” Loki answered.

“
Deal.
”

A few minutes later, the inner airlock door slid open to reveal Ensign Mendez, Sergeant Weatherly, and Ensign Willard of the Yamaro’s crew. A cold chill shot up Loki’s spine as he eyed the member of the Yamaro’s crew standing next to the sergeant. Then he noticed that both Ensign Mendez and Sergeant Weatherly were armed, while the man in the Takaran uniform was not.

“Welcome aboard the Yamaro,” the Takaran ensign said with a smile. “You must be our shuttle pilot.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Loki answered, a look of bewilderment on his face. He looked at Sergeant Weatherly. “What’s going on, sir?”

“I’ll explain later,” Ensign Mendez promised him. “Let’s get you out of that suit and get some grub into you.”

“Grub?” Loki asked as they helped him out of the airlock.

Chapter Four

The crew chief, clad in a black flight suit, helmet, and harness, ran out to meet the four person medical team that was making their way across the landing pad atop the hospital.

“Are you my medical team?” the crew chief asked.

“Yes!” the man confirmed. “I’m Doctor Pantor. This is Doctor Galloway, Nurse Brymer, and our Med Tech Mister Lenox.”

“I’m Chief Montrose,” the chief introduced, shaking the hands of each of the men and women in turn. “I’ll be your crew chief for the flight out to the spaceport,” he informed them as he turned and led them toward the airship that sat idling nearby.

“Who are we going to pick up?” Doctor Pantor asked.

“Rumor says it’s one of the officers of that ship that just saved us from the Ta’Akar,” the chief told him as he handed the doctor a data pad. “Everything you need to know should be on this pad.”

“Really?” The doctor stood reading the data pad as the crew chief helped the two women into the airship, followed by the med tech. “It’s a woman,” the doctor announced. “Her name is Commander Cameron Taylor. Says here she’s the executive officer.” The doctor looked surprised. “They’ve got women in their military?”

“I guess so, Doc,” the crew chief said as he pushed him toward the airship door.

“Why don’t we have women serving in our military?” the doctor asked as he climbed on board.

“Probably because they’re too smart to volunteer,” the chief commented as he hopped in and closed the door.

The crew chief quickly checked that all four of his passengers were belted in and ready to go before he took his own seat directly behind the pilot, facing aft. After plugging the comm wire into his helmet, he informed the flight crew that they were ready for takeoff. “Hold onto your stomachs, boys and girls.”

The airship leapt up into the air and quickly sped away from the roof of the hospital. Once clear of the building, it immediately dropped lower and began to weave through the city on its way to the spaceport.

Inside, the passengers held on tight as the airship turned and banked, buffeted and bounced, rose and fell.

“The patient has suffered some serious traumatic injuries,” Doctor Pantor read on. “Blunt force mostly from the looks of this. Head, chest, shoulder, abdomen, pelvis… she’s a mess, but it looks pretty straight forward.”

“They can’t handle it on their own?” Doctor Galloway asked as she held on tight.

“We don’t know anything about the state of their medical technology, I guess.”

“If they can defeat a Takaran warship, I would think they’re pretty advanced.”

“For all we know, their doctor might be one of the casualties,” the med-tech chimed in.

“This report was translated from their doctor. But they could also be overwhelmed with wounded at this point,” Doctor Pantor added. “We won’t know until we get there.”