I held Luxea in my arms for about ten minutes while she cried, then I felt the Presence in the ship change as everything powered up. “Do you feel up to navigating us through this debris field?”
“Wh-what?” Luxea blinked her wet eyes at me.
“Rhubin thinks we can take a short trip, recalculate, then keep going, rather than go through the whole thing at once.”
Luxea sucked in her breath. “Why didn't I think of that?!?”
“You can't be brilliant all the time.” I said. “You need to pace yourself.”
Luxea laughed and wiped at her eyes. “Yes, I... I can help.”
“Then we need to get to the cockpit.” I said. She needs the distraction. I thought and led her there.
“There you are.” Rhubin said. “I was about to start screaming for help.”
Luxea chuckled and sat down on the co-pilot's seat and started working. “Okay, the course to that open area is still clear.”
We had barely started to move when I felt something enter my detection range.
“Watch out for that thin slow moving piece there.” I said and pointed to what looked like a long thin piece of metal.
Rhubin slowed us down as it drifted close to us and we saw that it was one of the main structural beams from a ship and it was a hundred feet wide and over four hundred feet long.
“I thought it was thin and slow moving.” I said in surprise as it drifted past in only a few seconds. “Damn, that was weird.”
“Why do you think I'm trying to keep a good distance away from everything I see?” Rhubin chuckled. “You don't know how big something is until it almost hits you.”
We made three more successful jaunts through the debris field before we hit a snag. Literally. A long thick cable had floated out from one of the larger wrecks and hit the ship, slid up the hull, and snagged onto one of the magnetic locks that secured the shuttle to the ship. We started to roll around and Rhubin immediately reversed thrust and killed our momentum. We were lucky that it hadn't dragged the large ship towards us or we would have been in trouble.
I could see where the cable was wrapped partially around the magnetic lock. “I didn't think they made cables that big.” I said and concentrated on the cable. I made a large Presence Hand and grabbed the end of the cable and gently pulled. It wasn't heavy, since it was in space; but, it was huge and had a lot of mass. As I eased it away from the ship, the magnetic lock held it as firmly as it held the cable that secured the shuttle to the hull.
“Dammit, I can't pull it off.” I said, and both Rhubin and Luxea stared at me.
“Wh-what did you say?” Luxea asked.
“It's caught on one of the magnetic locks that are holding the shuttle.” I said. “We'll have to cut it off.”
“There's no way anyone should go out there.” Rhubin said. “Look at all the little things that are bouncing off of us.”
“Why didn't the deflector screens stop the cable from hitting us?” I asked.
“Lots of reasons.” Rhubin said. “We're going slow and so was the cable. It's mass was too much to deflect. It snaked down around the screen and got caught. Pick one.”
“In your professional opinion, can I fit a spacesuit over my uniform?” I asked.
“Yeah, sure. There's lots of room for... no, you can't!”
I chuckled. “You've gotten us this far, so I'll take care of this.”
“How?” Luxea asked. “Even with a plasma cutter, it'll take an hour or more to cut through a cable that thick!”
“I've got something much better than a plasma cutter.” I said and turned to leave the cockpit.
“I'm going with you!” Luxea said.
“No, you're not.” I said and turned back to stop her.
“I'm an engineer! I know where you'll need to cut it so it doesn't rebound on the ship!”
“Considering I can hold the cable and cut it at the same time, that's a moot point.”
“Hunter, you can't just...”
“I won't risk your life for no reason, Luxea.” I said, and she caught her breath. “If you were really needed out there, I'd drag you along by the hair if I had to.”
Luxea closed her mouth on what she was about to say and nodded instead.
“Don't worry. I haven't killed that blue-skinned bastard yet. There's no way I'm going to let something like a cable hurt me.”
“Hunter, I...”
“I'll be back before you know it.” I said and left the cockpit before she said anything else. I wasn't stupid enough to try and go out the main hatch of the ship, since I would have to then crawl up and over the cable and through that very dangerous area of where it was moving. I went up through the top hatch into the shuttle instead, unhooked my Light sword from my belt and put on one of the space suits, then hooked my Light sword back to my waist. I sealed the shuttle off from the ship and depressurized the compartment, then I opened the side door and saw what I was looking for.
I took a breath and stepped out onto the hull of the ship and carefully walked, heel to toe like Donny had shown me, and went to the magnetic lock. Turning it off wasn't an option, because that would cause the massive cable to pull on the shuttle and possibly tear it away from the hull. The cable was about two feet thick and I saw that it had partially wrapped around the shuttle's landing gear.
Yeah, that would definitely cause a lot of damage. I thought. “Okay, I can see it. It's stuck pretty good.” I said over the suit's dedicated communication channel.
“By the Goddess, Hunter. Be careful.” Luxea responded.
“You couldn't tell me that before I came out here?” I asked with a chuckle, and she didn't laugh. “It's all right, Luxea. I'll be done in a few minutes.”
It took a lot more concentration to create two large Presence Hands to hold the cable firmly on both sides of the landing gear, then I picked up my Light sword and thought about the options. I needed it to be the normal length of three feet, since the cable was two feet wide, so I left that setting and thought about how thin it should be. I set it for one inch wide and then changed the amount of energy it would produce and increased the intensity.
I needed to cut the loose flopping end off as quickly as possible, since staying out here unprotected was not a good idea. Just as I thought that, the deflector screens shimmered as several scraps of metal, a bag of tools, and a lifeless body bounced off of it and were sent just over my head. They just missed the edge of the shuttle, and I saw for myself just how close to being exposed the shuttle was.
I activated my Light sword and it formed instantly with a bright glow. I almost had to turn my head away from the sheer amount of Presence contained within it, and I could feel the focusing crystal as it vibrated and handled more power than it normally did. The batteries that powered the electronics also drained fairly quickly, so I put the Light sword against the top of the cable and carefully lowered it on an angle. With Detect Presence, I could see through the cable and knew exactly where the tip of the Light sword was and there was no danger of me cutting into the hull of the ship with it.
I had chosen the end of the cable that was floating in space and cut through it like a hot knife through butter, then I used the large Presence Hand that I held it with to ease it away from the ship. Once it was out far enough, I gently pushed it to give it a little momentum and sent it on its way. I absorbed that Presence Hand and turned back to the part of the cable that was still attached to the large wreck, cut through that end, and very carefully used the Presence Hand I held it with to move it away from the ship. I didn't push it like I had with the free end, since all that would do is create a constantly moving hazard like it had been before it caught us.
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“Okay, I'm done.” I said over the suit com. With my dangerous task done, I deactivated my Light sword and changed the settings back to the defaults, then quickly entered the shuttle and secured the hatch. “I'm inside the shuttle.”
I pressurized the compartment and took off the spacesuit, hooked my Light sword back to my belt, then felt the ship move away from the large wreck. I went down through the docking hatch into the ship and secured the hatch, then went to the cockpit. Luxea tackled me as soon as she saw me.
“I can't believe you did that!” Luxea exclaimed and hugged me tightly. “I was so worried!”
“I told you I'd be right back.” I said and briefly hugged her, and she let me go and resumed her seat.
“It was a heck of a lot quicker than doing it with a plasma cutter.” Rhubin said. “We barely had enough time to find a good course to the next clearing.”
“Don't rush it.” I said. “God knows what other hazards we might find in this mess.” I saw Rhubin's reaction to my words, and I put a hand on his shoulder. “Slow and steady wins the race.”
“Wh-what?” Rhubin looked at me with an odd expression. “What kind of races have you been in where going slow let you win?”
“Never mind.” I chuckled, because I didn't want to explain another childhood tale from my old life. “Take your time and get us through this thing.”
Rhubin nodded, and it took us another twenty minutes to finally get near the inner edge of the debris field. Once there, we floated along to let the navigation computer update its files on the local region. It wasn't good. The large trading station was torn to pieces and there wasn't anything moving at all. No shuttles, no rescue ships, nothing.
“By the Goddess.” Luxea whispered. “They... they fought right next to the station and...” She shook her head and looked at me. “Why would they do this?”
“I can't answer that.” I said and looked at the devastation.
“Is there anyone on the planet that can tell us what's going on?” Rhubin asked.
“We can send a signal; but, you know the danger of that as much as I do.” I said and my hand briefly touched Luxea's shoulder. “I wonder if we can float over and check the station out, or even pretend to be debris and 'fall' into the planet's orbit.”
“There's no sign of any other ships on the passive sensors.” Luxea said and stared at her display. “I'm just itching to use the full capabilities of the gravity detectors.”
“That would give us away just as much as the communication signal would.” I said as I remembered the scout ship, because that was how I had found it. “Rhubin, any ideas?”
“I like your drifting into orbit idea.” Rhubin said. “It won't be pretty, since we'd be drifting at almost a right angle to the flow.”
“What if we bumped into something first?” I asked.
“Now there's an idea.” Rhubin said and checked the navigation display. “Luxea, is that a solid piece of ship over there?”
“It is; but, what if there's people on it?” Luxea asked.
“We're taking it with us, so if there is, we might be able to help them.” Rhubin said.
“Wh-what?” Luxea looked at him with raised eyebrows. “How are we...”
“Just watch.” Rhubin said and manoeuvred the ship into the right position, partially inside the wreck's fuselage. “Okay, here we go.” He said and turned off the front deflector screen. “Sorry about this Udelis.” He said to the ship and added a little bit of power to the engines. A loud thump and some scraped metal sounds were heard, then he added more power.
“You're crazy!” Luxea exclaimed as Rhubin slowly changed the large ship fragment's course out of the debris field.
“It's only crazy if it doesn't work.” I said, and Rhubin laughed.
“Okay, I think that's good enough.” Rhubin said and reduced power to the ship. After a little more scraped metal, the large ship fragment drifted a little bit ahead of us. He turned the front deflector screen back on and kept pace with the improvised decoy.
“Hunter, can you detect anything?” Luxea asked as she stared out the viewscreen at the mass of metal in front of us.
“Give me a second.” I said and concentrated on the flow of Presence outside the ship. “There's no power on it that I can sense anyway.” I said. “I can't... it's a little far...”
“Please try.” Luxea's hand touched mine and I felt her Presence flare up. I could almost feel her desperation, and my Presence responded in kind. It flared up and my detection range increased just enough to cover the several floors of ship in front of us.
“There's five people... actual people, not aliens... right there.” I said and pointed to a spot about halfway up the side of the wreck. “It's a closed compartment from what I can tell and they're huddled together.”
“We have to help them.” Luxea said.
“We've got about an hour or so before we near the station and enter the same high orbit around the planet.” Rhubin said. “If you're going to do something, it needs to be done before then.”
“Are they wearing spacesuits?” Luxea asked.
“No.” I said.
Luxea sighed. “We'd have to bring them the spare suits from the shuttle.”
“I can't fly the shuttle and fly this ship at the same time.” Rhubin said.
“She wants me to do it.” I said.
Rhubin looked at me and then at Luxea. “He doesn't have any flying experience in space!”
“One of my guards does.” Uzahne said from the hallway. “We were going to take the shuttle and she was going to fly it.”
“Do you know how dangerous it is to fly in this situation?” Rhubin asked, without taking his eyes off of his instruments.
“I don't have to. She's an experienced pilot.”
“Then you can just...”
“Only she can come.” I said. “She has to stay in the cockpit and she can't wear a spacesuit, unless she has one stashed somewhere.”
“I'm sure she will accept the risk.” Uzahne said.
“You are not going to order her to do this.” I said sternly.
Uzahne looked at me with wide eyes. “I... I wasn't going to.”
I felt a waver in the Presence and sighed. “You can't order her to risk her life for people she doesn't know.” I said and walked past her. “I'll just ask her if she wants to try.”
“W-wait!” Uzahne quickly walked after me. When we reached the spare room, the guard standing outside was the one I needed to talk to.
“Go inside, please.” I said to Uzahne and motioned for her to enter the spare room. “Quietly.”
Uzahne squinted her eyes at me and stepped into the room, and I shut the security door to lock them in.
“I'd like to talk to you for a minute.” I said to the guard, and she frowned at me. “Come to my office.” I motioned down the hallway and she glanced at the room, then walked ahead of me. She stopped walking when she reached my room.
“Do I go in there to die, or are you going to kill me right here in the hallway for trying to steal the shuttle?” The guard asked as she turned to face me.
I smiled and bared my teeth at her. “It's not going to be that easy for me to forgive you.”
She gasped as she jumped to the wrong conclusion and tried to draw her laser pistol from the holster. I moved before she could and put my hand over the top of the holster, and she grabbed my hand instead. I saw various thoughts cross her face, then it flushed red.
“P-please, don't.” The guard said and lowered her eyes. “I... I'm...”
“You misunderstand.” I said, and she looked up at me. “There are people trapped in a wreck we are using for cover. I need someone to fly me over there in the shuttle so I can give them space suits and bring them back.”
“You're serious.”
I nodded. “This is strictly volunteer. I won't ask you to risk your life for people you don't know. It's your choice to come or not.”
“You're going anyway.” She said as her slight blush faded, and I nodded.
“If you agree, the only thing that changes is how quickly I can get there.” I said. “Also, there won't be a spare spacesuit for you. You'll be in the shuttle's cockpit behind the blast door and fully pressurized. If anything happens... well, you know what will happen if it does.”
The guard nodded. “How long do we have?”
“About an hour before we hit the high orbit of the planet.”
“Will you reconsider charging the delegates with piracy?” The guard asked.
“That shouldn't be what you're thinking about right now.” I said. “I already decided that...
“I won't do it if you keep them prisoner.” The guard said adamantly and interrupted me. “Tell me right now that you're letting them go, or those trapped people will die.”
“I don't like being dictated to.” I said sternly.
“I don't care.” The guard said, defiantly. “Either say it and mean it, or you can go jump out the hatch by yourself. Without a safety line. Into the darkness.” She smiled. “All alone.”
I was tempted to tell her no, just to see her reaction, then I realized I would be lying and I didn't want to do that. “Fine. I won't have them charged with piracy.” I said, and I saw her face go from smugness to surprise, probably because I gave in so easily. I bet she believed I was going to argue. I thought with amusement. “Don't let that influence your decision.” I warned her. “If you do this, your life is going to be in danger now, not at some arbitrary point in the future.”
The guard opened her mouth, closed it, then she smiled. “I know it's dangerous; but, I have to agree with the delegates. If there's something we can do to help, then we should.”
“Uzahne was going to order you to go.” I said, and she nodded.
“I knew she would, just so I would be under her orders if I died.” The guard said.
“Does that matter?” I asked. “You'll still be dead.”
“It would be in her service and that would ensure my family's future and respect.” The guard said. “It would be for giving my life for her, if you're wondering.” She said. “She also accepts the responsibility of my death.”
“And the guilt.” I said, and the guard nodded. “Then we should stop by the spare room and let her order you.”
“But... I thought...”
“I only wanted to make sure you made the decision for yourself and you weren't being forced into it.” I said. “Now that I know, you'll need as much protection as you can get before we do this.”
“You...” The guard took a breath and let it out. “How can you be really scary and really nice at the same time?”
“It's called charm.” I said with a smile. “Speaking of which, you can probably let my hand go now.”
The guard jumped a little and looked down at her holster, where she still had a hold of my hand. “I... um...”
I lifted my hand from her holster and she didn't let it go. “Sometimes, even just a casual touch can be reassuring.” I said and turned my hand slightly to hold hers and gave it a squeeze. “We're about to go spit in death's face. If you need me to hold your hand for a little while, I can do that.”
The guard looked at our clasped hands and then at my face. “You know I don't actually like you.”
“Yeah.” I said with a smile. “I hear that a lot for some reason.”
The guard chuckled before she could stop herself and then looked surprised.
“Come on.” I said. “We need to get your orders from Uzahne before you can fly me into death's bony clutches.”
The guard just stared at me as we walked down the hallway and back to the spare room holding hands.