"Admiral, has the drilling stopped?" Victoria asked knowing full well it had. "Admiral?"
"Yes, I'm here, ma'am. The drilling has stopped."
"Is everyone away from the door?"
"They should be, ma'am, but if they're drilling then they'll eventually get through."
"How long?"
"If they know what they're doing, a few minutes."
"Are your marines ready?"
"Standing by, ma'am."
Victoria was half inclined to send them right now. No cameras could see the intruders where they were, but Josephine had to be doing worse. Possibly, she'd already passed out.
If she sent marines now and Josephine hadn't passed out, then those marines would become more than just useless. They'd become obstacles. Victoria might send only a few marines, but without their rifles, they'd be no contest to Tan's lucky nunchucks. It would need to be all of them.
"Admiral." she said.
No response.
"Admiral?"
She projected her mind into the bridge. There was the layout. The officers were all at their stations. The admiral was... somewhere? She didn't see him. And now that she thought about it, she wasn't entirely sure what the other officers were doing either.
She she wasn't actually seeing the room. This was just what she imagined it looked like.
"Admiral," she shouted.
No response.
----------------------------------------
"You're not hearing me, Major?" Admiral Medina said to Tan. "You're not taking that woman anywhere until the medics arrive. Why did you even bring her here?"
Tan continued to Not Hear Him as he scrutinized the control panels across the bridge. The other officers watched from the side where Tan had shooed them off to, although two now worked with Naema to staunch Josephine's bleeding. No one remembered what was going on, only what they were currently doing. And people in motion tend to stay in motion.
"Are you ignoring me, Major?" Medina said.
"Jose," Tan mumbled without glancing up.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Josephine forced her eyes to focus. She looked at the Admiral and concentrated. The angry scowl he was directing at Tan grew distant. In a minute, he would restart the same cycle of figuring everything out. It would be the third time.
"Admiral," she said. Words were a struggle. "You need to lift... the lockdown."
The admiral stared sternly at her, as though wondering whether to berate a bleeding captain for forgetting her rank.
"I need to get... to a hospital," she muttered.
"We're taking you to the medical bay. Lieutenant Cross..." he turned to address his operations officer only to find him standing in the corner with all the other officers. He frowned at them all.
Naema took over. "The doctors can't treat her there," she said. "They said we have to take her to the ground, so you lift the lockdown."
Medina studied her. "Are you a civilian? What are you doing on the bridge?"
"I'm a... doctor. With the humanitarian league. Why do you have the ship on lockdown?"
"I..." He thought, though he would not remember.
"Lift it," Naema urged. "We need to get her on a ship."
The admiral looked at her doubtfully. He turned to his XO. "Why is this ship in lockdown?"
"I'm not sure, sir. It may be a malfunction."
"Then lift it."
"Hold on, sir." That came from the communications officer. He was still in the corner, but his hand was against the ear of his headset. "We're getting a call request direct from the queen."
"The queen?" The admiral looked distance, as though something about that rang a bell. "Put her on."
The operations officer approached the radio console. He hardly touched a button before Tan yanked off his headset and pushed him away. Before the officer could protest, Tan drew his revolver and fired several shots into the radio console. Its screen went black.
The report of his gun startled everyone. Two men grabbed Tan, including the communications officer, but by then it was too late. They'd already forgotten. Tan pulled away and moved to join the rest.
Naema turned back to the Admiral. "Have you stopped the lockdown yet?"
----------------------------------------
Josephine finally appeared on a security feed in Fore Sector deck 1. It was hard to miss her. Not only was Tan and Naema's family with her, they'd recruited several other officers along the way, including two medics. Where had they come from? Who knew? Bishop had yet to recontact the bridge, or anyone, despite there being multiple means of contacting a citadel. The most frustrating part about this was that she wouldn't be able to yell at anyone about this failure. Everyone who'd failed her would have no idea what she was talking about. She supposed this spared her from having to deal with Admiral Medina's knowing too much—a small silver lining.
"Of course..." she muttered as she watched them select a craft in which to fly away. It was a self piloting one, not a grid ship, which trashed the idea of trapping them in a grid holding pattern.
A pity. Josephine looked barely conscious. If Victoria could only contact the marines on board, she'd win.
Bishop spoke. "I got a hold of them."
"The bridge?"
"No. Strike room. I've told them to get up to the bridge and tell them to close the bay doors."
Victoria shook her head. Bishop must not be watching the footage. Even if all the bay doors started closing right now, it'd only serve to make Josephine's escape more thrilling.
"Bishop?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Look at the cameras for Fore Sector Deck One. Do you see that ship?"
"Give me a second... yes."
"That's them. Get the military to track it."
"Yes, ma'am."
"When they land, I want wall bots ready to deploy."
"That's a C-300 Corsair. They could be in the air all day."
"Then we have time. Make arrangements. I'm giving you whatever authority you need."
"Yes, ma'am."
"This isn't over, Bishop. Not by a long shot."