“Oxygen remaining - 80 percent. Fuel depleted. S.O.S beacon active. No acknowledgments."
The escape pod AI warned Ruo of her predicament for the fifth time. She knew that nobody was coming. She would sit there, in her underwear, eating snacks and watching the walls of the pod for the next three to four days until her oxygen reached zero and she suffocated or Sharlah came for her first. The pod probably just looked like one of the millions of pieces of debris that was a constantly expanding cloud floating toward or away from Dottir.
She wondered if the people on the surface could see the battle, or if they even knew about the Alien fleet moving toward them. She thought of her little girls wearing her uniform and being so proud of their mommy. She broke down and cried again. She hadn't even replied to their message before everything happened and for some reason that guilt hurt even more than the crushing weight of abandoning her people aboard the Bao as they were ripped apart by those animals.
Now she was floating away from Dottir, away from her girls, away from the ashes of the people who trusted her to lead them and die with them if it came to that. It had, and she didn't. Ruo had a sudden urge to just shut off the life support systems and let it happen now, instead of in a few days. What was she waiting for? No, she couldn't. The cool air from the vents around her felt good on her sweaty skin. The pound cake tasted good. The stars were beautiful, and so were her girls. She could picture them any time that she wanted to and that felt good too.
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"Charlie what happened to the feed from the battle?" Ash said pointing at the screen. "Why are the braking thrusters firing?"
"A moment please Captain." Charlie replied calmly.
"Jay how long?" Ash keyed the intercom on the Cockpit's instrument panel.
"I don't know Ash, this is foreign to me. I need Charlie's help to configure it for the Solent but she keeps going quiet. If we try to use it before it's ready, we could get ripped apart or end up somewhere that we don't want to be."
"Anywhere but here sounds good." Ash said.
"I agree but inside the gravity well of a gas giant sounds less than ideal."
"Noted, keep working."
"Captain the Dottir defense has fallen, the ships that weren't completely destroyed are being boarded and the bulk of the Sharlah fleet is moving forward unopposed. I've detected the S.O.S. beacon of an escape pod, it has burned all of it's fuel and is rapidly moving in our direction." Charlie said and projected a view of the escape pod on the screen.
"Is someone in there? Kate asked.
"If the signal had reported full fuel tanks then I would say no, it is just debris from the battle, but they are designed to burn hard after launching to escape danger, much like the ejection seat of a fighter jet, then they power down and drift on the bare minimum energy needed until rescued or it's batteries run dry."
"Shit." Ash said, wiping his hand across his brow. "Is there anything we can do to help them?"
"I do not have an answer to that. The Solent isn't designed to retrieve an escape pod. I am confident, however, that if we do not retrieve it, the sailor will die."
"and if we stay here too long, we will die. The Sharlah know we're out here, they just haven't had time to care yet." Kate said. "It's check. One wrong move and we lose the game."
"Charlie are you back to helping Jay? How long until we can use this drive?" Ash asked.
"It is fully installed but will take several hours to configure the software for our first jump. It is worth noting that we do not have a destination to jump to." Charlie said.
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"I don't even know what to say to that Charlie. Any suggestions?" His head was starting to ache from the tension. They were depending on him to make the right decisions.
"I have, I'm not sure what to call it, an impression maybe? An impression of two waypoints but I don't know or maybe remember is the correct word - I don't remember what they are."
"Pick one and keep it ready. I think we can get this pod. How fast is it moving?"
"The original burst of thrust has propelled it away from the battle, If we remain stationary, it will reach the Solent in one day."
"How much heat can that thing handle?" Ash asked and Kate turned toward him, intrigued.
"Where are you going with this?" She asked.
Ash smiled "I'm going to move my rook to block."
"It is designed to handle heavy amounts of radiation and to survive planetary entry." Charlie answered.
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"Suit up now, it's almost time." Ash said and started to unstrap his environmental suit from the wall as Kate and Jayden did too. They looked nervous, which was to be expected. On paper, Ash's idea would probably work but in practice anything was possible. It didn't help that several Sharlah ships had broken off from the rear of the formation and were sweeping the system with active scans. Charlie said that she could interfere, and even explained how, but then she settled on a simple explanation.
"Ash, I can muddy the waters, I can buy us some time but I don't know how much. We must hurry."
The crew of the Solent strapped into their seats, Ash and Kate in the cockpit and Jayden in the engine room and prepared to take a hit. In the time between spotting the escape pod and coming into line with it, they had moved all of the wooden shipping crates into a makeshift barricade against the back wall of the cargo bay.
"Okay Charlie, how are we looking?" Ash asked. They had discovered that the suits had internal communications that played over speakers in the helmet. Charlie's voice was softer, like she was just speaking to him. She had done that for his benefit. Amazing.
"Ash, I think this will work. This is a good idea. I have brought us in line with the escape pod. It is approximately one mile behind us, traveling at exactly the same speed and heading. When it's time, I need you to leave full control of the ship to me and to not ask questions. This will take my full concentration." She said, sounding like she didn't want to offend him.
"Understood, the ship is yours. I trust you."
"Thank you Captain. You're a good human. Opening the cargo bay and slowing the ship now."
Ash gripped the arm rests of the pilot's seat and held his breath. He may have just killed them all. Turned them into more floating human debris but not even the kind that would orbit Dottir before burning up. Just lifeless corpses and scrap metal that would float endlessly in the black ocean like pieces of driftwood back home. He looked over at Kate and beneath the armored suit, he could see a scared young girl who was just barely holding it together. He put on a face that was blank if not brave and winked at her.
A crash erupted on the deck below and for a few tense moments there was nothing but the sound of his heavy breathing inside of his blue helmet. Charlie's voice sounded finally.
"Closing cargo bay door, it worked captain, the pod is inside. I did have to adjust in the last few moments, the pod was blasted with heat. It seems to have survived."
"There's no time like the present Charlie. Did you program the waypoint?"
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Jayden ran his fingers down the side of the old Earth style muscle car and whistled. There weren't actually old cars like it on Dottir, they were just replicas but he loved them all the same.
"This is a sweet ride man, thanks for letting me work on it."
"That's sir to you Mr. Cross. It is beautiful isn't it." Mr. Young said, walking away from the limousine that had dropped him off at his diesel shop.
"Where did you find this?" Jayden asked
"Lets just say I know a guy who can build just about anything with the right materials and enough credits." Mr. Young said.
Jayden whistled. "You had this custom built?"
"I did. Even put the supercharger in there. He said it barely fit. The original Mustang model didn't have it"
"That's true, I noticed that. Listen Mr. Young, I had to fabricate brake calipers, you can't just get those at any auto store. I wanted to take it for a few test drives to test them out before you came but I noticed brake fluid on the floor underneath it. I spent the last couple of hours getting that sealed up for you."
"Are you saying it's not safe?" Mr. Young asked.
"I think it's good, I made everything to spec. We have the digital records and owners manual. It should be okay but if you're not in a hurry, I would like to make sure."
"Jayden you may be young, but you're the best mechanic that I've ever hired. I trust you."
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"Ash, I don't know, It just finished the auto calibration. I don't know if this is safe, we have a lot of extra mass with the pod now." Jayden called up from the engine room.
"Captain The Sharlah detected us when we opened the cargo door. Everything about our signature changed and I had to flare the engines to adjust to the pod. They know we're here and they're closing the distance at full speed. There are five light fighters inbound." Charlie called out, all business now.
"Charlie what happens if it doesn't work."
"We die."
"Jump, do it. JUMP NOW."