‘Team five, lieutenant Vanmire. We’re nearing your position team seven. We have an extra oxygen tank with us.’
‘Team seven, corporal Ulta, not a moment too soon, lieutenant. We’re on our last bar, about to go red.’
The lieutenant signaled to Voss to hold on tight. She hit the reverse thrusters at full throttle and skillfully maneuvered the bike parallel to the satellite tower. Her helmet hid her cocky smile from the others. ‘The sergeant might be a good pilot,’ she thought, ‘But I’m the best there is.’
Voss threw a line out to team seven. Team seven caught it and fastened it to the tower. The lieutenant gave the void bike a slight nudge towards the tower and then used her foot to bring them to a standstill. ‘Hurry up, Voss. Give them the oxygen.’
Voss sprung into action and untied the oxygen tank from the void bike. He dismounted with the tank in hand and gave one of the two connectors to instructor seven. The instructor wasted no time and began attaching the connector to the free side of his helmet. Every helmet came with two oxygen ports. One on the left side and one on the right. The second port was meant for situations just like these, when tanks had to be swapped mid mission. Voss noticed Hiyo wasn’t moving much, probably saving oxygen as much as he could. He probably hit the red and was now on his final breaths before running out of air altogether. Voss knew he had to act fast. He only had one shot to get it right.
He grabbed Hiyo’s helmet with his free hand and pulled him closer so that he’d have easier access. He took the remaining connector to the spare oxygen tank and aimed it for Hiyo’s free oxygen port. It was a simple procedure. One of those things that they had been practicing ad nauseam in the past weeks. Place the connector around the port, turn it until you feel a click and then flip a lever so that the connector is locked in and can start providing oxygen. So simple and boring that he had had difficulty staying awake during the hundreds of practice runs they did.
It didn’t feel boring today though. With everything on the line, Voss felt tense. The complete silence of the void made it worse as it made him painfully aware of his heavy breathing. Hiyo’s lack of assistance in the process indicated that his oxygen levels had reached critical status. Hiyo was probably using the breathing techniques that they had been taught to use in case of oxygen depletion. Slow deep breaths whilst completely relaxing the body. Every movement or tension was a complete waste of oxygen in situations like these.
Voss placed the connector around the port and tried to turn it into place. It wouldn’t turn though. No matter how hard he tried to turn it into the right angle, the connector did not budge. ‘Recruit five, system malfunction. The connector won’t turn. Assistance please!’.
At the sounds of his message, Hiyo came alive. He grabbed the connector out of Voss’ hands and tried to turn it into place himself, to no avail. Instructor seven pushed himself away from a rail and towards them. He landed next to them and tried to grab the connector from Hiyo’s hands, but Hiyo didn’t let him. He was too busy frantically and desperately attempting to turn the connector himself. ‘Let go Hiyo, that’s an order!’ the instructor yelled over their intercoms, but Hiyo didn’t listen. Voss figured that Hiyo had completely run out of oxygen at this point and was in a blind panic, fighting for his life.
The instructor changed plans. He disconnected Hiyo’s old oxygen connector and then disconnected his own new one. He placed his own connector on Hiyo’s now free port, turned it, and twisted the lever. He then punched Hiyo in the stomach. Voss wasn’t quite sure whether he did that to force Hiyo to grasp for air, to make him let go of the other connector, or just to punish him for subordination, but it worked. Hiyo shrank into a ball and let go of the other connector. Voss grabbed it, checked the insides of the connector, and found a small piece of shrapnel was stuck inside it. He quickly grabbed tongs from his toolbelt and managed to dislodge the small metal plate inside the connector. He then gave the connector to the instructor who wasted no time in attaching it to his helmet. This time the connector turned smoothly.
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‘This is instructor seven, requesting medical evacuation asap. Recruit injured, I repeat, recruit injured.’. ‘Sergeant Reiniger here. Copy that, instructor seven, I’m almost there.’. Apparently the lieutenant had been two steps ahead of them and had already signaled for med evac. Voss and the instructor had been so busy with Hiyo that they hadn’t catched her radioing in at all. The sergeant and one of the other instructors were already nearing in on their position on the Ciklop’s spare void bike.
Before the instructor even had the chance to properly park the void bike, the sergeant had already jumped off of it towards their position. He stabilized himself during his landing by wrapping his leg around a guardrail and went straight to work. Voss noticed he hadn’t even bothered clicking himself in. Voss then realized he hadn’t either himself. He turned around to attach himself to the nearest rail. When he turned back around to face the sergeant, he saw that Hiyo had already been swung onto a stretcher. The lieutenant and the sergeant were wrapping him onto the stretcher. The sergeant then attached his safety line onto the guardrail before jumping back towards the void bike. He grabbed the bike with his left hand and then pulled on his safety line with his right hand to pull himself back towards the bastion. He landed right next to the stretcher. The lieutenant went to tie Hiyo’s stretcher onto the back of the void bike. Meanwhile, the two instructors were exchanging their oxygen connectors so that the instructor on the bastion wouldn’t be without oxygen again once the bike sped off. The lieutenant signaled Voss and he strapped the spare oxygen tank back onto the void bike. With the exchanging of oxygen tanks and fastening of Hiyo and the spare tank completed, the sergeant signaled for everyone to step back. He then proceeded to grab the guard rail with both hands and then donkey kicked the void bike away from the bastion. The instructor on the void bike waited a few seconds until the adequate distance had been reached and then sped off back to the Ciklops.
The lieutenant took a look around to assess the situation before giving out orders. ‘Sergeant, you and instructor seven take team seven’s supplies back to the Ciklops by foot. We’ll head back on the void bike. We’ll have a catching team ready when you make the jump.’
‘Copy that lieutenant. Instructor seven, let’s pack up and go.’. The sergeant and instructor seven clicked themselves in together. They then unclicked the safety cord of a toolbox from a guard rail, grabbed the box, and sped off.
Voss watched as the sergeant and the instructor traversed the surface of the bastion at lightning speed. The sergeant and the instructor were breaking every safety rule that they themselves had taught to the recruits. Not once did Voss see them use a safety hook. They also crossed several of the turret platforms that Voss had been warned to stay clear of.
Voss switched his intercom to the private channel with the lieutenant. ‘Some example they’re giving us, lieutenant. They’re breaking every safety rule they taught us.’
‘Hah, as if you’ve ever cared about rules, Voss. That man Reiniger might be a darn cowboy, but he moves through the void like he was born into it. Don’t you worry about them. They can take care of their own. Worry about your own oxygen supply instead. You should be down to two bars again.’
She was right. He was in fact down to two bars. He had completely forgotten about his own oxygen supply due to all the ruckus happening around him. A potentially deadly mistake. It frightened him how easily he had made it. He had been so fixated on doing everything by the book at the start of the mission too. Now, two hours in or so, he had already forgotten about both safety regulations and his oxygen supply. He’d hit himself on the head if it wasn’t for his helmet being in the way. He had to stay focused and think about himself first at all times, just like he had been instructed. The sergeant might have the luxury of ignoring the rules, Voss didn’t. He was nowhere near skilled enough to start acting like a cowboy.
‘You’re right, lieutenant. Let’s refocus and make it back to the ship. Lead the way please.’
‘I’m happy to see you’re willing to admit your mistakes, Voss. I know I cussed you out on the way here, but you just proved yourself. You stayed calm during a crisis and because you did, you managed to fix that malfunctioning connector. Now let’s get the hell back to that Ciklops.’. The lieutenant pulled the void bike towards them and together they grabbed hold of it.
‘Get on there Voss. I’ll push us off and when I say so, you open the throttle and fly us back to the ship.’
‘Wait.. what? You want me to fly that thing?!’
'Yes, now shut up and move. We're running out of time!'