His oxygen was depleting much faster than he had expected. By the time they had positioned the metal plate back in its place and screwed it tight, His visor was already signaling that there were only three bars remaining.
He notified the other teams of their status. ‘Team 5, Voss B3 all clear. We’re heading back.’
The lieutenant signaled to him to go down the ladder first. He hooked himself onto the safety rail, climbed onto the ladder and pushed himself down. The lieutenant followed shortly behind him.
‘I’m getting warnings about my oxygen supply running low, lieutenant.’
‘Copy that, let’s hurry up and get back to the Ciklops before we’re down to our last bar.’
Something overhead flew past them. It was the sergeant on a voidbike.
‘Damn that moron!’ The lieutenant spoke angrily through their intercom. ‘He’s breaking protocols. Typical. Stupid cowboy NCO’s and their antics.’
‘What protocols is he breaking, lieutenant?’.
‘The one stating that there should always be someone left behind in the passenger bay to assist with return jumps for one. That and the ones about never going off on your own, especially not on expensive pieces of equipment like voidbikes. Just be glad we’re not team one. They have to make their jump without safety now.’
‘Team one, corporal Varavad, starting emergency jump protocol. All teams halt jump until confirmed landing.’
‘Great’, Voss thought to himself ‘A delay. Just what we needed when we’re already running low on oxygen.’. They were nearing the jump pad. His helmet flashed again. ‘Down to two bars remaining, lieutenant.’
Team one had made a pretty accurate jump, but it wasn’t accurate enough. They veered off to the left just a little too far. ‘Curse that idiot of a Reiniger. I’m taking control of this mission. I’m switching us to the main channel. Listen up everybody. This is team five, lieutenant Vanmire. I’m taking command over this mission. Lieutenant Vanmire to Ciklops pilot. Prepare catcher maneuver.’
‘Ciklops pilot to lieutenant Vanmire. Negative, can’t do. The safety ropes are still out. Maneuver would risk them getting into the engines.’
Voss could tell the lieutenant was angry, despite not being able to see her face through her blinded visor. She had these little mannerisms that betrayed her anger. She didn’t let it get to her though. She recovered quickly and started barking out more instructions. ‘Teamleader one, execute emergency push maneuver now. I need you aboard that Ciklops. Sergeant Reiniger, return to the Ciklops on the double and pick up recruit one before we lose track of him. Team two, jump now back to Ciklops. We can’t afford any further delays.’
Voss could see the two men of team one detach themselves from one another. After a short, awkward repositioning, they pushed each other in opposite directions. The push was successful. Corporal Varavad was now heading straight towards the Ciklops. He landed safely inside the passenger bay and and wasted no time. He pulled in the two emergency ropes simultaneously and got ready to catch team two with them.
Recruit one got the short end of the stick. The emergency push maneuver meant he was now drifting even further off course. He missed the Ciklops completely and was now hurling into the void. It was a good thing that Dane was recruit one. He was the most level headed out of all of them. Any other recruit might have panicked and botch the emergency push, but Voss knew Dane would remain calm, even under such dire circumstances. Voss’ helmet flashed again. One bar remaining. Voss remembered his training. No point in worrying about others when you’re mere minutes away from death yourself. He had to focus on his own survival. Dane’s life was in the hands of the sergeant now.
‘Team four, jump.’ The lieutenant’s voice echo’d through his intercom. He hadn’t even heard her give the signal to jump to team three. He almost got angry at himself for being so unfocused, but remembered that saving oxygen was his top priority right now. Anything that raised his heartbeat, and thus increased his use of oxygen, was to be avoided. Besides, he had to get ready to jump himself now.
The lieutenant checked if they were still hooked in properly and stretched out her hand towards him. Voss did the same and they grabbed each other’s hand. The lieutenant started to count down. ‘Three, two, one, jump!’.
Voss tried to jump as hard as he could, ignoring the whole “nice and smooth” shtick he had gotten earlier. His helmet had begun flashing red, indicating that he was running out of oxygen. They had to stick the landing or there’d be no time left for any rescue operation to save them. ‘Slow, steady breaths’ he tried to remind himself.
To her merit, the lieutenant remained unfazed. She was calling for team six and seven to jump at thirty second intervals. Even now when her own oxygen was running out, she was still focused on the mission and on getting everyone back safe. He had to admit he was impressed by how stoic she remained under pressure.
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He and the lieutenant were now mere seconds away from landing. They had jumped a little too far in the top right direction, but a tactical push, combined with an accurate rope throw by team four’s instructor, meant the lieutenant could grab onto the rope and hold on to it tightly as the rope became fully extended and snapped back towards the Ciklops. Voss used the cord between the lieutenant and himself to pull himself towards her as two recruits inside the Ciklops were pulling them in.
They managed to crawl into the Ciklops just in time. Breathing was rapidly becoming harder to do. As soon as they were on board, the lieutenant and him made way to station five. Using his final strength, Voss managed to plug himself into the Ciklops’ central oxygen system. Fresh air began flowing back into his helmet. He felt like a man coming back to the surface after having been submerged beneath the water for too long. He had been closer to passing out than he’d like to admit to himself.
He sat down in his seat, slouching. More tension began leaving his body with each big gulp of air he took. The lieutenant hadn’t sat down. She remained standing and supervised the unfolding operation.’Team nine, jump. Team ten, jump as soon as you’re ready. Sergeant Reiniger, give an update on your rescue operation. I want everyone back safe and sound as soon as possible.’. The lieutenant switched to their private channel. ‘Get yourself together, Voss. We’re heading out as soon as the sergeant pulls in. Team seven is still out there and running out of oxygen. We’ve got to head back with a spare tank and save them.’
‘You’ve got to be kidding me. I nearly died out there. My tank is barely back up to three bars.’
‘Oh shut up and just listen, you pansy. I know what I’m doing. Either man up and join me or I’ll pull the hose out of your oxygen tank myself. This isn’t the time for you to be selfish, Voss. The lives of team seven are in danger. Now can I depend on you or not?’
‘Yes, lieutenant.’
‘Good. Now get ready because we’re about to head out into the void again. Only this time we’ll be racing the clock on our way out.’. ‘Damn that man.’ the lieutenant thought to herself. ‘To act wimpish in a time like this.’. Her father had been right. Perhaps Voss wasn’t all he was made out to be. It wouldn’t have been the first time the reports were wrong. Intellect and skill weren’t the only things she needed. She needed team members who showed compliance, teamwork and most of all, heart. Voss was testing her patience just a little too much in an already stressful situation. Her father’s words rang through her head.”There’s another recruit. One that shows a lot of potential. One of similar intelligence and skill, and one whose character is much more.. agreeable. Promise me you’ll at least keep an eye on his development and will consider him as an alternative to Voss. His name is Hiyo”. Perhaps her father had been right. Perhaps it was time she began to consider other recruits.
The sergeant came back into view. She could tell that he was an experienced void flyer. He came in well above the allowed speed limits, steered his void bike into the right angle in one smooth go, braked late and docked perfectly. He might have been a cowboy, but he was the best cowboy the Fifth had.
Her helmet indicated that her oxygen tank had been refilled up to four bars. Not ideal, but it would have to make do. She couldn’t afford to wait the five minutes it would take for her oxygen tank to fill completely. Every second mattered. They had to get to team seven before their oxygen ran out.
Voss spoke over their personal intercom. ‘Lieutenant, I don’t get it. Our tanks were out by the time we got back to the ship. There’s no way any of those out there are still alive. Why risk our lives by going back out there?’
‘Because they’re not out of air yet, Voss. But they will be soon if we don’t get those portable oxygen tanks to them fast. Now help me strap the tank to the void bike.’. Voss did as he was told without further questioning. At least he knew when to shut up.. sometimes.
They strapped the tank onto the void bike and climbed on top of the bike. They strapped themselves in and once Voss had given her the “I’m ready” signal, she twisted the accelerator handlebar forward. They shot off into the void. Void bikes were launched perpendicular from ships to avoid their exhaust particles hitting the ship or those aboard it. Only after they were about thirty meters from the ship, were they allowed to make turns.
She sighed. ‘I thought you were an observant man, Voss. I guess I was wrong. Because if you were, you’d have noticed that they gave us old mark two model oxygen tanks. Those things weigh twice as much and only last about sixty percent of what a mark three can do.
‘Why would they do something as stupid as that? Are they amateurs or something? Besides, how am I supposed to notice that the tank was twice as heavy when it’s my first time experiencing weightlessness?’ he snapped back.
‘A poor observer and a poor deductor at that.’ She replied with an air of disdain in her voice. ‘I can’t believe I ever thought you had the most potential out of this batch. They didn’t make a mistake, Voss. They switched those tanks on purpose as a test.’
‘A test? This is my first time in the void. Why would they want to test me extra when it’s difficult enough as it is?’
‘They’re not testing you, stupid. They’re testing me. I knew something was up when they assigned a lieutenant like me to a silly little training exercise like this. They’re stress testing me.’
‘And here I was, thinking you joined because you like me.’
She swung the bike to their left. Voss would have been knocked off if it wasn’t for the seatbelt that held him attached to the bike. She wasn’t in the mood for his silly jokes. Not when he had proven himself to be such a let down today. Not when there was so much at stake for her. This was her last chance. They were testing her to determine whether she would be given her mission back. She just knew it. They had to get to team seven in time before they ran out of air. Her entire career depended on it. They were getting close now, but there wasn’t much time left. She estimated that they had less than two minutes before team seven would be no more.