Fleet Academy

by M. Scott Cottrell

  “Master Chief, my compliments to your team.” Matt said, looking at the crew members around him. “You run a tight ship and it shows.”

  “Thank you sir.” The Master Chief responded.

  The whole team moved out of the lock and headed to their lockers to strip off their cool suits. Matt reached his locker and stripped his suit off and put it in the left side compartment, sealing it closed. The suit room computer noted the change in status of the compartment and started the automated cleaning process. Stripping off his briefs, he headed to the shower room with the rest of the crew too tired at the moment to even pay attention to the fact that he was naked with the two new female ratings. Matt picked the first open shower tube and stepped in. After closing the tube door, he hit the water button and allowed the heavy mist to swirl around him, the cool mist rejuvenating him somewhat. After soaping and rinsing he hit the dry button. Unlike his cabin shower tube, these units included a dry cycle, eliminating the need for a towel, which Matt suddenly considered this a mixed blessing. On one hand he didn’t need to mess with a towel. On the other hand, he thought, as he stepped from the tube as a nude redhead walked by, there was nothing for a bashful crewman to use to cover himself.

  Matt followed the redhead crewman from the shower room and padded barefoot down to his locker to dress. As he pulled his blue jump suit on the comm panel by the bay door beeped.

  “Ensign Molter, report to the armory.” It said in its tinny voice loud enough to be heard through the whole locker room, even with the considerable amount of chatter going on between the enlisted personnel dressing just down the aisle.

  Matt walked over to the panel and punched the transmit button. “Ensign Molter here. On my way.”

  “Understood.” It replied.

  Matt walked back to his locker and finished dressing. Within five minutes of the page Matt was walking through the door of the armory.

  “Mr. Molter,” the Commander said from behind his desk.

  “Reporting as ordered.” Matt replied at attention.

  “At ease, Ensign.”

  Matt moved to a relaxed parade rest and remained standing.

  “I thought you were instructed to carry a comm unit with you Mr. Molter.”

  “Sorry sir. I was. I left my quarters on short notice and didn’t have time to grab it, or my side arm.”

  “Very well Mr. Molter. Try not to let it happen again. Now, your team needs to be suited back up by 1200 to transfer the empty container back shipboard.”

  “Aye sir.”

  “That leaves you a bit over four hours to get some food and complete your EVA report. The computer will walk you through the report.”

  “Aye sir.”

  “Ok. Mr. Molter. Go get something to eat. Dismissed.”

  Matt snapped to attention and saluted before turning and exiting out the armory door.

  “Damn” Matt muttered to himself as he headed to his quarters to pick up his comm unit and sidearm. Matt stopped at a comm unit in the passageway and punched the unit on.

  “Communications here.” The unit answered.

  “Please contact Master Chief Wallace and inform him that the EVA team needs to be suited and space ready at 1200.”

  “Please confirm authority.”

  “Authority Ensign Molter.”

  “Aye sir. We will contact Master Chief Wallace. Do you need a confirmation?”

  “Only if there is a problem.”

  “Aye sir. Communications out.”

  Matt punched the comm unit off and headed to his cabin again. Matt stepped through the door as it opened, hitting on the light. He saw that Pete’s bunk was occupied, but otherwise the bunks had been made up and the room was deserted. Matt opened his locker and pulled out his comm unit and side arm, still disgusted at himself that he didn’t grab them when he got up. After clipping both to the belt of his jump suit, he grabbed a data pad from the desk and headed back out the door. He made his way to the officers’ mess and made himself a plate of food that was a combination of the breakfast he missed and the lunch he was going to miss. Finding a table in the corner, Matt sat down and alternated between eating and working on the EVA report. Matt’s first effort was to check the status of the suits used, and confirm that they were being serviced and check on any faults. Fortunately all five suits were well underway with the service and were showing no faults from either the EVA or post action service. Finishing off the report after an hour of work he headed back down to the armory.

  Matt was in the middle of pulling scheduled maintenance on a number of energy rifles in the work room when his data pad beeped and popped up the message he had programmed. It was time to head back down to get ready. Matt quickly punched up the suit status and made sure that the suits servicing had been completed. Matt shut down the data pad and headed back to the suit room.

  Master Chief Wallace arrived at the suit room the same time as Matt.

  “Good afternoon Sir.” The Master Chief greeted him.

  “Afternoon Master Chief. Ready to head back out again?”

  “Any time Sir!”

  “Well, let’s head at it then. I’m sorry we got rushed on the first outing.”

  “That’s ok sir. I understand that the Captain changed some plans at the last minute.” The Chief said as they stepped through the door. “See you in the rack sir.” The Master Chief said as they walked down separate isles of lockers.

  Matt walked to his locker and started to undress. The redhead crewman from the morning mission walked down the aisle past Matt.

  “Good afternoon Sir.” She said as she passed.

  “Afternoon Petty Officer…Jenkins.” Matt replied picking her rank and name from her jumpsuit as she passed.

  The petty officer continued to a locker near the end of his row of lockers and opened it. Matt watched her out of the corner of his eye as they both started undressing to don their cool suits.

  “Ready to go back out again Jenkins?” he asked, trying to start enough conversation to get to know something about one of the many enlisted crew that were technically under his command.

  “Yes sir.” She called down the row of lockers. “This is my final checkout as loadmaster.”

  “I presume you’re confident the Master Chief will write it off?”

  “I hope so sir. The Master Chief is a real stickler for detail. This is my third attempt to pass.”

  “The Master Chief has a reputation as being the best. If he passes you, there’s no question you know the job. Just relax and concentrate on what you need to do and you’ll do fine.”

  “Yes Sir, thank you Sir.” Jenkins said as she pulled the cool suit top over her head.

  Matt pulled his cool suit bottom up over his white nylon briefs, and closed the door of his locker. “See you in the rack Jenkins.” He said as he walked past the petty officer, noticing that the tight nit of the cool suit didn’t hide any of her ample curves and in fact, seemed to accentuate them. He had never really thought of the garment as sexy, but stretched over her pale skin, he had to say it definitely could be considered that.

  Matt walked to the gravity lock and stepped inside. He was just about to punch the door closed when a dark haired woman came running half naked toward the lock, the top of her cool suit and her naked breasts flying around as she ran to the lock. She virtually slid to a stop inside the lock.

  “Thanks. I thought I was going to have to wait another cycle.” She said as she pulled her cool suit top over her head.

  “No problem crewman.” Matt replied.

  She stopped pulling her cool suit down and looked at Matt. He could see her eyes change from ‘I made it’ to ‘oh shit’ in a fraction of a second.

  “Sorry Sir. I thought you were Endez.” She stammered out.

  “No problem crewman. In a cool suit it’s hard to pick up rank.”

  “Yes Sir. I’m load specialist Tempe.” She said as she finished pulling the top in place.

  “Good to meet you Tempe.” Matt said as the outer
lock door opened. “Shall we?” he said holding a hand out toward the rack room.

  “Yes Sir.” She said, a hint of embarrassment still in her voice, as she finished pulling her top down and stepped out of the lock.

  Matt headed down the room at a gentle bounce, stopping in front of the rack with his suit. In minutes he had completed the suiting process and was busy completing his final suit and command checks.

  “Ensign Molter?” Matt heard on the radio.

  “Molter here.”

  “Master Chief Wallace here sir. Load specialist Jenkins will be commanding this transfer as her final check off.”

  “Thank you Master Chief. I understood that was the case.”

  “Aye Sir.”

  “Jenkins, is your team ready?”

  “Aye Sir.”

  “Very well. Let’s hit vacuum as soon as you’re ready.”

  “Aye sir. EVA team to Command. Ready to depart.”

  “Command to Team one you are cleared to lock one. The shuttle Astor is on final approach. ETA three minutes.”

  “Affirmative, command. Cleared to lock one. Ok people, let’s hit vacuum.”

  It took less than three minutes for the team to exit the lock, putting them in place to watch the shuttle make its final approach to the ship. Matt heard the final call from the ship.

  “Command to EVA one. Shuttle Astor holding for transfer.”

  Matt replied on the command channel, “Affirmative Command… EVA one to Shuttle Astor, moving in for pod transfer.”

  “Clear EVA team. We’re ready for you.”

  “Affirmative Astor. Stand by for uncoupling.” He flipped over to the team frequency and called to Jenkins. “Loadmaster Jenkins, it’s all yours.”

  “Aye Sir! Ok team, let’s do it!” She replied.

  Matt watched the team jet into position with the same practiced ease that they showed earlier in the morning. Matt moved in a bit closer and floated near the Master Chief.

  “Care to give it a try Sir?” the Master Chief asked.

  “Actually, I would Master Chief.”

  “Ok Sir. Take hold here. Use your gyros to turn your whole body the way you want to push and use your jets to do the work.”

  “Ok Master Chief.”

  Matt twisted his body using his gyroscopic control system. He touched his jets gently to force the corner down and away from the shuttle on Jenkins command.

  “Looking good, Sir. Rotate just a little more and come down.” The Master Chief coached.

  It took several minutes to move the empty cargo pod clear of the shuttle and put it in position to lock it onto the ship. The Maser Chief had slid back to let Matt work out how to maneuver his section of the container, and being satisfied that he had gotten the hang of it, jetted off to watch Jenkins on the far corner. Matt was looking up the side of the container when he noticed an odd plume of mist appear in the side of the container. He was concentrating so hard he almost didn’t see the second jet appear inches from his head. When he looked over at it puzzled he noticed the small dimple inward at the center of the jet. He had seen something like this in training, he just needed to remember what it meant. Between trying to concentrate on what he was doing and trying to remember, the two jets had turned into five before he remembered what it was. His blood almost froze when he realized what had made it. Looking down the side of the long container he noticed that there were at least a dozen plumes of vapor jetting from the pod. His mind tried to process the odds. They had told him at the academy that these happened all the time, but one with enough objects to do this kind of damage was not only rare, but most cadets never would see one. This was not going to be his day!

  “Emergency Break!” he hollered into the radio, keying the emergency frequency. “Incoming! Incoming! Take cover on the port side of the ship. MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!”

  Every space traveler’s nightmare was coming true before his eyes. A burst of space debris, probably from some distant comet, or asteroid collision was slashing through their little piece of space, peppering them with tiny bits of rock and ice traveling at thousands of kilometers an hour. Had these pieces been bigger than a pea, the ships radar would have warned them, as it was they were like sitting ducks in a shotgun blast. The only thing to do was to put something big between them and the debris. Matt pushed away from the container and started jetting toward the far side of the ship. He could see the master chief on full thruster ahead of him. He prayed that the rest of the team was doing the same.

  “Command to EVA one, say status.” The command frequency squawked inside his helmet.

  “Team one is taking cover on the port side of the ship. We are being hit with a debris field! The container has taken multiple strikes.” Matt reported, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.”

  “Understood. Advise when all members are under cover.”

  “Affirmative Command” Matt replied. The long seconds ticked by as he jetted around the lower edge of the ship and slid up out of danger. “All team report in.”

  “Wallace Clear!” he heard first

  “Jenkins Clear!”

  “Endez Clear!”

  Matt waited for long seconds for the final member to check in.

  “Tempe, Respond!” Matt called. No answer came back.

  “Tempe! RESPOND!” Matt called again. Still no answer.

  “Damn. Ok Master Chief. Let’s go. You take aft, I’ll take forward. Let’s try to stay under cover as much as we can.” Matt said as he pushed away from the side of the ship.

  “Aye sir.” The Master Chief replied. He knew all too well that it needed to be done. Danger or not, you simply did not leave one of your people behind.

  Matt heard chatter in the background as he jetted under the edge of the ship at full thrust. The ship command frequency was busy with reports and emergency work going on. This was an inconvenience for the ship, but exposed in an EVA suit, this was as deadly as any combat firefight ever was, only this enemy didn’t allow you to shoot back. The only reason that Tempe wouldn’t respond was that she was either hurt, or her suit was damaged. For long seconds he jetted across the bottom of the ship, searching for any sign of his last team member. There! A trail of mist. He jetted lower and saw her between the ship and the shuttle. Her suit was doing slow spirals as the liquid oxygen vented from her biopack.

  “I see her Chief! She’s about half way between the pod and the shuttle. It looks like she took a strike right through the pack.”

  As he watched the jet of mist reduced and stopped, indicating the liquid oxygen tank had bled dry. If he was going to save her he was going to have to work fast. It only took him a few seconds to realize it was going to take too long to tow her back into the lock. Maybe there was another way.

  “Shuttle Astor. Emergency open your outer air lock door now,” he snapped across the emergency frequency!

  “Affirmative EVA Team, outer lock will open in about ten seconds.”

  Matt adjusted his trajectory and pushed his suit thrusters to the max. His speed was picking up quickly as he approached the drifting suit. He started braking a hundred meters from impact and then hit max thrust just before he contacted her. He was going like a bat out of hell when the two suits slammed together, a lot of his momentum transferring to Tempe’s suit in the collision and trying to bounce her away. ‘This was stupid!’ Matt thought to himself as he felt the impact through his whole body, the inflatable pads inside the suit cushioning some of the blow, but not nearly enough to keep him from feeling like is teeth were going to rattle right out of his head. He grabbed onto anything he could grab as she started to bounce away from him, and somehow he managed to hold on and keep them both together while his suit gyros tried to keep them from spinning and his thrusters tried to accelerate the new mass. His momentum kept them both headed toward the shuttle, even if they had tumbled off line slightly. He cut his thrust and used his gyros to spin them back into the needed trajectory and then hit full thrust again, tweaking their trajectory slightly as they he
aded for the shuttle. He saw the open bay door in front of them and knew he could hit it, if they were lucky, and nothing else went wrong. “Really stupid Matt!” He mumbled to himself as he watched the shuttle air lock grow in size. They were about half way to the shuttle when it all started to fall apart. It was no more than a large grain of sand in size, but it sliced through the arm of his suit as if the rigid panel of the suit was made of tissue paper. He felt the impact, but it was still registering in his brain when the suit monitors started bitching about the sudden pressure loss. He reached over to the keypad and silenced the obnoxious beeping as he tried to look around for the impact point. He still hadn’t found it as he felt the cold of space start to penetrate his arm. He reached around the back of his arm and felt the push of his oxygen escaping into space. He clamped his hand on the slice to try to hold it in, and hold onto Tempe at the same time. It helped some, but now he had both hands full. If he let go of his suit he would probably die, and if he let go of Tempe, she would die.