by Marc Stevens
I linked with Coonts. “Coonts, I heard a report the shuttle was damaged. Are you injured?”
He came right back to me. “No Commander, but I will not be able to recover you. The personnel hatch is damaged and the outer door is not functioning. The cargo hold is also a no-go. The cargo ramp is jammed in the upright position.”
“OK Coonts, I will get back with you as soon as we are decontaminated.”
“Roger that, Commander.”
“Justice, have you got a copy?”
“Yes, Commander. I am awaiting orders.”
“Justice, can you safely get Coonts aboard? He is stuck in the shuttle and all of the exits are jammed.”
“Yes Commander, we have been in constant communication. I have been tracking his location since the Chaalt released the shuttle. I will recover Coonts and stand by for further orders.”
“Okay Justice, when I get clearance I will need you to maneuver in front of the Chaalt hangar door. Our armor is wrecked and coordinated flight is no longer possible. I am going to talk to the flight master and see if they can give us a thirty second window so you can collect us.”
“Roger, Commander. I will close with your position and prepare to evacuate all Legacy personnel.”
Our guide had departed after consulting with a male Chaalt in a light atmospheric suit. The suit had “Med Bay Tech” stenciled on it. The Med Tech pointed us to walk through decontamination chambers. I approached the tech so he could hear me over the din of the hangar bay operations. His eyes widened and he started backing away frantically pointing at the decontamination chamber. I finally nodded and walked to the multi-chambered setup. I waved Tria and Klutch through then followed. One of the chambers sprayed a mist that brought the burn of the acid in my many lacerations to an immediate halt. When we exited I walked up to the Med Tech. He was much more cordial now that I was not covered in bug acid. Someone must have briefed him on our status, because now he stood at attention waiting to hear what I had to say.
“I need you to contact the flight master and have him cease launching spacecraft for thirty seconds. My ship will move in close to evacuate us.”
The tech got a distant look on his face, and then looked back at me. “Say the word, Senior Operative, and it shall be done.”
Several more techs stepped forward and started slapping plate-sized patches on the rends in our armor. When they were satisfied with their work, they retreated to a safe distance to assist others. I waved to my crewmates and we headed for the big open hangar door. I called out to the tech.
“When we reach the hangar door, give the Flight Master the go ahead. Give us thirty seconds and you can resume rescue operations.”
The tech nodded and stood waiting for our departure.
I called to Justice. “Justice, are you ready?”
“Roger, Commander. I will be picking you up in twenty seconds.”
We stood at the hangar door and I waved to the tech. A red band appeared around the hangar opening. We shuffled forward when the Legacy filled the opening and jumped. The three of us had not covered more than a few feet before we were pulled aboard with the tow beam and Justice quickly cleared the area.
The first thing we noticed when our feet hit the Legacy’s deck was our once pristine shuttle was all but trashed. The rear of the shuttle was caved in all the way to the boarding hatch. The port side missile pod and cowling were missing as well. We were not the only ones going through hell. Justice extruded two large arms from the overhead of the hangar and they extended down onto the shuttle. They embedded themselves into the cracks and rends that were now abundant on the shuttle’s hull. The arms seemed to swell and the bulge flowed downward into the shuttle. With a loud bang the wrecked boarding hatch fell to the deck. Coonts appeared at the opening and jumped down to meet us. He looked no worse for wear and tear, and his armor suit did not have a scratch on it. He surveyed the extent of the damage to the shuttle.
He turned to me and gave me an Earthman shrug of his shoulders. “Commander, I think there is a good possibility we now have enough spare parts to make our second Coram shuttle void worthy.”
While that was a noteworthy observation, I really wanted to hear the story behind the shuttle’s demise. “Coonts, did you decide to ram the Crits, rather than shoot them?”
He took my comments for the sarcastic humor it was and gave me a less than attractive smile. “Perhaps it would be a story better told over food rations.”
I could not argue with his philosophy. Now that I was fresh out of adrenaline, I was starving. There was still another issue that had me wondering. When we left the hangar to start our mission, the tip of a massive spine ripped from a Quill ship was sticking through the side of the Legacy’s hull. The spine was gone and a sheet of hull alloy now covered the hole.
I could see Justice patching the hull but not extricating the spine. “Justice, how did you manage to remove the spine?”
“Commander, I found the irritation of the Quill protrusion unsettling. There was a number of Crits still active in the ship fragment. A large number of them made their way to the exterior of the Legacy and were attempting to board. I enlisted the aid of Coonts and we successfully remedied the situation.”
I was more than a little puzzled when Justice was not more forthcoming. Coonts once again suggested we go eat and he disappeared into the ready room. Tria, Klutch and I looked at each other, then went to the ready room to stow our badly battered armor. I hoped the repair systems on the storage crates could cope with the extent of damage inflicted on the suits. This was by far the worst shape they had ever been in. I stepped up into my armor crate and the suit baulked at fully releasing me. I was forced to physically start pushing my way out of the suit opening. The effort caused me more than a little discomfort. I could tell by Klutch’s colorful croaking, he was experiencing similar problems.
I felt four arms wrap around me. Tria gave me a good yank and I finally pulled free. I turned to her and planted a kiss on her lips for her effort. All thoughts of any pain I was experiencing were quickly forgotten. She would not release me until I gave her another. The racket coming from Klutch was becoming dangerous and the scent in the ready room took a turn for the worse. I would have thought Coonts might assist Klutch, but the Grawl was nowhere to be found. Apparently, he was famished. Tria and I took as deep a breath of the tainted air as we could tolerate and grabbed onto the Tibor. We jerked several times but had to retreat to the corridor to gulp down enough fresh air to continue. Our second attempt did the trick and the Tibor plopped to the deck. We ran to the outer passage in hopes our suit liners did not ingest additional quantities of the rank atmosphere permeating the ready room. I shuddered to think what it would be like if our liners permanently smelled like that.
Justice came to our aid when I heard the atmosphere scrubber fan taking on a new sound of urgency. Klutch came out of the ready room and nodded to us then stalked off toward the lift tubes. He was battered and bruised but pretended it did not bother him.
I called to him before he stepped into the lift. “Report to the med bay and have Justice look you over!”
I went back into the ready room and sat down, pulling off my suit liner. The extent of my physical damage becoming obvious — I was a mess. Like it or not, we would all be making a trip to the med bay. The extra volume of air being cleansed felt chilly to my naked body. That was, right up until Tria sat inches from me and peeled off her suit liner. The temperature instantly climbed to what I would swear was more than a hundred degrees. She was bruised and had acid burns on her arms and legs. I knew the wounds were painful because mine were. The smile she gave me said otherwise. My body started responding as any young mans would. There would be no covering my embarrassment. Just when I thought my predicament could not get any worse, an extruded arm came down from the overhead with a carafe of water and two glasses. I jumped up from the bench. “JUSTICE!” The arm dissolved so fast the small pitcher and glasses crashed to the deck.
Tria wa
s giggling as I stowed my liner in my locker. I grabbed a smart cloth uniform and quickly placed it against my body. It made an awkward attempt to properly conform to my body. I made my way out of the ready room as fast as my battered body would allow me. I cursed the evil robot and his single-minded indiscretion. I could still hear Tria laughing behind me. When I stepped off the lift on the command deck I went straight to my cabin and a very invigorating cold shower. Most all of my body aches and pain receded to a dull roar. I could not be sure, but it could have been Justice manipulating my implants to block my discomfort. His motivations for doing so were suspect. I dried off and put my uniform back on and went down to the med bay.
Tria was there and Justice was applying spray dressings to her wounds. Her uniform was on a table next to her. I was now more concerned for her health than her nakedness. She was ignoring the extruded arms as they worked on her. She reached out for me and I took her hand.
Justice had to throw in his two cents worth. “Commander, in order for me to treat your wounds it will be necessary for you to remove your uniform.”
“Justice, I will wait until you have finished treating Tria!”
After a short pause, Justice pressed two small injectors on two of her arms. He then finished spraying nanite dressings on the rest of her wounds. She got up with a small flinch and put her smart cloth back on.
She gave me a kiss and said, “I will see you in the galley for a meal after I get cleaned up.”
I nodded and told her I would see her there. When she left the room, I removed my uniform and sat down. When Justice started cleaning my wounds, the touch of his appendages was like ice and I reeled from the touch.
“What the hell Justice, I know your hands were not that cold when you treated Tria?”
“My apologies Commander, I had to check to insure the hull patch in the hangar was still intact.”
My irritation at his comment was heading for the angry side of my bullshit meter. He sensed I was not in the mood to be trifled with. His appendages were now warm and he cleaned and sprayed my wounds in a professional manner. I was feeling much better and could see the nanite spray was starting the process of repairing the burns on my skin. Justice told me I could get dressed, and when I leaned over to pick up my uniform, he did me a dirty one. Instead of giving me my nanite booster shots in my arms as he had done to Tria, he decided my ass was a good target. Normally you barely felt the injectors. That was not the case this time, and I squalled like a stuck hog.
“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR EVIL ROBOT MIND? If you want to kill me, just get it over with!”
Putting on my smart cloth, I stormed out of the med bay rubbing my butt cheeks. Each step I took had me wondering if going to the galley was a smart idea. I really did not care to eat while standing. Maybe Justice would poison me next and put me out of my misery. I grimaced and went to the galley. No matter how pissy Justice got, Tria had a way of taking the sting out of it. I rubbed my ass once more and hoped she could literally do just that.
Entering the galley, I thought I would see Coonts, but that was not the case. Klutch was the only one here and he was busily piling a tray with food. The tray looked more like a construction project than a meal. Klutch was planning on being here for a while. I patiently waited for him to find a seat. As a rule, we all secretly did not sit next to him when he ate. It was a messy affair and included noises not beneficial to good digestion. If you waited for him to sit down you could politely sit somewhere else. It never seemed to bother him and he never asked us to join him. If you were already sitting down and eating, he more often than not, would sit right next to you. Like it or not you were going to get the whole show and you did not want to get him talking.
Tria walked through the big archway. I smiled and went to meet her. She had a frown on her pretty face.
“What’s the matter Tria, are you well?”
“Yes Nathan, I am fine. It is Coonts that I am worried about. He is out in the corridor pacing. When I asked what was wrong he only muttered and gave me a vague answer that made no sense.”
Glancing toward the corridor I looked back at her puzzled. “What did he say?”
“He said it was Justice’s idea and he was only trying to help.”
Looking back out to the passageway, I took Tria by the hand and walked out of the galley. Coonts was just down the corridor and when he saw me he turned and started walking the other way. Now I was really starting to smell something rotten, and it had nothing to do with Klutch.
“Coonts, hold up, I want to talk to you!”
The little Grawl stopped and slowly turned around. The look on his face suggested he was not in a talkative mood.
“Okay Coonts, spit it out. You have been acting strange ever sense you stepped out of the shuttle.”
“Commander, I was only trying to help. I did not think it would lead to major…complications with the shuttle. Justice suggested I help him remove the spine from the hull. I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to dislodge it from the Legacy.”
I closed my eyes and shook my head. It was clear now what happened to the shuttle. Combat damage was not the reason the shuttle was wrecked. It was probably not Justice’s fault either, but my ass was sore enough to go ahead and credit him for it anyway. Coonts was blaming himself for what may prove to be the loss of both Coram shuttles. If we could not salvage the parts to get the other shuttle operational, we would be back to having a single shuttle. Regardless of the outcome, we would have to get up to speed on our new shuttle anyway.
I put my hand on the Grawl’s shoulder. “Coonts, I am not worried whether we lost the Coram shuttle or not. When we get back to base we will work on learning the flight systems for the Chaalt shuttle.”
Tria quickly added, “I think you will find the flight controls on the new shuttle to be intuitive and simple. We will need to train on the weapons systems, but the rest will require very little instruction. The onboard A.I. will adjust very quickly to our learning parameters.”
I knew for a fact Justice was allergic to other artificial intelligences. He was well known for booting A.I.s out the airlock within minutes of coming into contact with them. I would not be surprised if the Chaalt intelligence had already found itself on a shelf in some dark corner of Alpha base. The look of relief on Coonts face was obvious. The shitstorm we had just weathered and the shuttle getting trashed needed to be in my rearview mirror.
Looking at Tria and Coonts, I smiled. “Klutch had his tray loaded and has probably chosen his seat by now.”
They both gave me a knowing look and we headed back to the galley.
14
After a well-deserved meal, we retired to our cabins. Justice informed me the hull repair systems had patched enough damage we could now safely jump back to Alpha base. I felt our transition but the discomfort was so negligible compared to my other body aches and pains it almost went unnoticed.
I sat on the edge of my bed wondering if Tria would visit me. It was every bit of two minutes before my cabin door opened. Tria came in with a blanket wrapped around her and dropped it by the door. Her beautiful body was covered in bruises. Looking down at my own body, I also had numerous large grape colored splotches. Most of our acid burns had scabbed over and, in another day, or so would be gone. The nanite injections quickly healed the superficial stuff but took longer on the heavier tissue damage.
I had set a small pitcher of water and two glasses on my bedside table. I had hopes that Justice would find something else to do, rather than intrude in my cabin with meaningless tasks. Tria poured each of us a glass and we both drank it down. She slid into my bed and put her arms around me. The fatigue of the last twenty-four hours swept over me and we quickly fell into a deep sleep. I am sure that was the last thing Justice expected or wanted to happen.
While we slept, Justice brought us back to Alpha base. He put us down in the hangar and had the decency to let us sleep. I did not know it at the time but he almost had to put down a Grawl rebellion. When Xul and the
scientists saw the condition of the Legacy they freaked out. They crowded around the ship and demanded to be allowed aboard to care for us. The A.I. finally convinced the Grawl we were doing well and would exit when we awoke. As a group they sat patiently outside the Legacy and waited for us. We slept for twelve hours straight. Coonts was the first to wake and relayed the story of our battles. Once assured we would recover, the scientists went back to their normal duties.
I woke up alone and sat up wondering if Tria had gone back to her cabin. I heard the shower in my bathroom and a smile crossed my face. I walked in to the steam filled room and my legs turned to rubber and I staggered to the sink. The feeling passed and I heard a mischievous laugh and Tria stepped out of the misty water.
“Do you feel me, Nathan?”
“Yes.”
The look in her eyes was alluring. She reached out and pulled me into the shower. She embraced me hard enough to remind me I had been tenderized by a bunch of Crits. I suspected what was going to happen might hurt. No pain, no gain.
