A week later, everyone was in the cockpit and had strapped into the seats.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Gleas asked me again.

“It'll work, I just don't know how well.” I repeated. “Be prepared to react appropriately.”

“Evasive manoeuvres.” Gleas nodded.

The right exit coordinates were still active in the computer and the hyperspace generator was functioning at ninety-five percent, which meant that it should technically still work. Like the ship's AI had said, because the generator hadn't stopped operations, we should still be on course.

“We're coming up on the right coordinates.” Deborah said from the co-pilot's seat.

“Prepare to disengage the hyperspace generator.” Gleas said and Deborah reached over and hovered a hand on the controls. Gleas should be doing it herself; but, since she needed both hands in case of an emergency, the task fell to Deborah. It was another reason why I liked having two pilots on duty at a time, and they appreciated it just as much as I did.

“Disengaging... now.” Deborah said and slid the levers back and hit the button.

There was no sound for a second as the view out of the cockpit changed to that of normal space, then the ship practically slammed to a stop as it hit a sharp gravity gradient. We were all thrown against our seat restraints as our momentum dropped to almost nothing and groaned as our suits and restraints saved our lives. The sound of more wrenching metal filled our ears as the ship bucked like it was on a river rapid for several seconds, then there was nothing.

“PLANET!” Deborah yelled and pointed as the ship slowly rotated in space and a planet loomed large on the right.

“How do I evade that?” Gleas asked and tried to add more power to the two remaining engines to compensate. It didn't work, so she cut the power instead. “Emergency thrusters!”

Deborah acknowledged the order and Adona showed her what ones to activate for the best chance to survive. She hit them and the ship lurched again and threw us all to the right as the ship gained momentum to the left. The one shot thrusters ran out of fuel fifteen seconds later and the planet stopped growing larger in our view, at least to the naked eye.

“I think... I think we did it.” Gleas said and relaxed. “We're stuck in low orbit; but, it's stable.”

“Emergency call sent out. Response received. SAR team dispatched.” Adona said. “Orbit decay in three hours.”

“We don't need a search and rescue team.” I said and unhooked my restraints, then went to the console and called the approaching ship. “We aren't abandoning ship. I repeat, we are not abandoning ship.”

“Your ship is a wreck.” A man's voice responded. “We're coming there to rescue you and you don't have a choice in the matter.”

“Get me one of the larger ships with a built in tractor beam.” I said.

“You're too close to the planet for a large ship.” He said. “We'll be there in twenty minutes.”

“Goddammit! If I wanted to leave, I'd load up the shuttle we have onboard and fly away myself.” I nearly shouted. “You have two hours to come up with a plan to rescue MY SHIP, before I come over there and do superficial damage to the surface of YOUR ship and see how much YOU want to abandon it!”

There was silence on the line for a moment. “Hold please.”

“Wow, Hunter.” Simone said and pat my shoulder. “Tell us how you really feel.”

I sighed. “I can see all around the ship and the wrenching metal sounds was just the outer sheet metal coating we installed. Even all the sensors and deflector screens were torn from the shell and not from the ship's main hull. The ship itself is still completely intact, except for the engines.”

“It's mostly all superficial damage?” Gleas asked, then she pat the console. “Way to go, Adona.”

“Thanks.” Adona said. “It still hurt like hell getting my ass grabbed, though.”

I barked a laugh. “I'm just glad that whoever tried to grab you to stop you from leaving, missed.”

“They didn't miss by much.” Adona said. “Of course, now I'm about to land on a planet with landing gear that I can't deploy and only half of my deflector screens.”

“We also don't have the time to repair any of the damage or to install new screens.” I said. “I'd get one, maybe two in place, then we'd be in the atmosphere.”

“What can we do?” Jelly asked. “We do have a shuttle, cables and tie downs, and even mag-locks to secure them in place.”

I nodded and called the SAR ship back. “My shuttle pilot advises me that we could do something with cables, tie-downs, and mag-locks.” I said. “You've got a powerful SAR ship. What if we hook you guys up and tow my ship out of orbit?”

“We have two engines to assist.” Gleas added. “I shut them down to let the emergency thrusters work.”

No one responded for about thirty seconds.

“Well, it's worth a shot.” The man said. “If you agree that you have to abandon ship when it fails.”

I looked at the others and they reluctantly nodded. “All right.”

“We'll be right there.” The man said and cut the call.

“You're going to leave me?” Adona asked.

“No.” I said. “If the plan to pull you out of the planet's gravity well fails, I'll shut you down, cut out your core, and take you with us.”

“Hunter...”

“I know it's going to hurt you for that to happen.” I said and let her hear the sadness in my voice. “I'll be sorry about that later, though. Saving you is more important.”

Adona didn't say anything.

“Hey, I think we're in the Dizahl System!” Deborah said and pointed. “Isn't that the lizard star?”

“The what?” I asked and looked.

“The local constellations were too weird for me to look at.” Simone said and shrugged.

“Adona!” I said. “Call...”

“Opina says they're loading my husband now.” Adona said. “Twenty minutes.”

“Having no sensors is horrible.” Gleas said. “We don't have any droids to use, either.”

That reminded me of Rus' story about his old captain strapping a droid to the front of his ship to use for sensors. “Even if we had one, I don't think I could abuse it like that.”

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“Hunter, you old softy.” Simone said and rubbed my back.

I chuckled at her underlying thoughts. “The answer is still no.”

“Aww.” Simone said.

Ten minutes later, I felt the SAR ship enter my detection range. “The rescue team is here.”

“Let's go greet them.” Simone said and slipped on her gloves and locked them in place. “I'll help direct and you can make sure they don't ruin our chance at rescue.”

I nodded and put on my own gloves.

“Do you want me out there?” Jelly asked.

“No, you need to stay here to provide a quick escape if it's necessary.” I said and she nodded.

Simone and I left the cockpit and ran to the main hatch as we put on our helmets. We cycled through it and stepped outside to see the SAR ship ease over beside us.

I hit the chin button to activate my suit com. “Adona, patch Simone and I into the SAR frequency.”

“Already done. Just say 'sar crew' when you want to talk to them.”

“Thanks.” I said. “SAR crew, there are two experienced space workers on the hull waiting to assist.”

“How did you get on this frequency?” A man asked.

“SAR crew, it's magic! Wooo!”

Both Simone and I heard laughter over our com.

“Smart ass.” The man said. “We're coming out.”

Simone and I walked over to the best spot to see the rear hatch open.

“SAR crew, shouldn't you be in front of us to tow?” Simone asked.

“We need to do a survey and...”

“SAR crew, I already did it.” I said and Simone could see what I saw of the damage. “My companion and I will direct you to the best spots to secure the ship.”

“I believe a SAR team has a better understanding of structural capacity and...”

“SAR crew, I have hundreds of hours as part of a SAR crew rescuing people after a planetary battle and thousands of hours salvaging wrecks. If you doubt me again, I will use your own equipment while I do this in front of you and you can watch in amazement while I rescue myself with your ship.”

There was no response and I saw a crew of five people come out the back of the SAR ship. They had surveying equipment carried between them and their suit jets activated to float them over to my ship.

“SAR crew, you are idiots and you are wasting time that I don't have!” I said and jumped out from my ship.

“He's crazy! He just jumped without a safety line!” One of them said over the open com channel.

I ignored them and used Presence to propel myself faster.

“WATCH OUT!” One of them yelled as I approached them, then I flew around him and went into their ship.

“HEY! What are you doing?” A man asked me.

“SAR crew, I told you. I'm doing your job and you're going to stand here and watch me do it.” I said to him, picked up the mass of cable and mag-locks, then jumped out the back of the ship.

“HEY!” The man yelled after me and then he was surprised when I turned and flew away with their equipment.

“SAR crew, get off my ship. You're in the way.” I said and used Presence Hands to pick them up and moved them about halfway to their ship and held them there.

“What are you... hey, you can't... what... why aren't my thrusters moving me?” The man in charge asked.

“SAR crew, I'm holding you so you can watch in amazement, remember?” I put the mass of cables down and used Presence to take one out of the pile, secured a mag-lock to one end and then wrapped it once around the ship without moving from where I stood. I put the mag-lock down and activated it, then sent the other end of the cable over towards the SAR ship.

The SAR crew watched in amazement as I kept working and secured all ten cables onto various parts of the ship and then pushed the free ends towards their ship and secured them there without actually going over to do it by hand. Simone advised me when there was a particularly sharp extrusion or a weakened part that was going to collapse if left alone. I avoided those areas. When I put the last cable into place, I felt another ship enter my detection range.

“I am here.” Udelis said over the open com channel we had to Adona.

“SAR crew, it looks like your ship will be put into a supplementary role.” I said and looked up at Udelis. “Hi, Udelis! I'm glad you're here.”

“As am I.” Udelis said. “Cargo hold opening.”

A space suited figure leaned out and waved to me.

“Hi, Sandy!” I waved back. “You have some more cables for me?”

“You know it!” Sandy said. “We even have replacement boosters for you!”

“You're such a doll!” I said happily and hopped to fly up to her. She watched me with wide eyes as I flew right up to her and landed in the cargo hold.

“How did you do that?” Sandy asked. “You don't have a thruster belt on!”

I chuckled and gave her a quick hug, then I walked over to the piles of cables. “I use Presence.” I said and secured the ends of the cables to the inside of the cargo hold and then pushed the rest of the mass out the large hatch. The cables unfurled and I used Presence to direct them down to Adona. I used Presence Hands to grab the ten-foot long booster rockets, six of them, and floated out the hatch.

“Head back inside, okay? If any of the cables snap, I do not want you nearby.”

Sandy heard the concern in my voice, so she nodded and walked over to the small hatchway. She looked back at me and I gave her a little wave, then I dropped down with the booster rockets to land on Adona. I quickly secured the ends of the cables in the best spots to not interfere with the cables I had already attached, with Simone checking my work of course, then I grabbed one of the SAR crew's arc welders and floated around the ship and to the side with the boosters. We needed lateral thrust more than anything else, so I quickly attached the boosters to the hull and welded them in place.

I floated back up to the top of the ship and Simone looked at me and then at the cables. “You think we should weld them and not rely on just the mag-locks?”

“It'll only increase our chances.” Simone said.

“Then let's do it.” I said and floated over the arc welder I had and went to go and get another one from the SAR ship. They didn't try to stop me and I flew back over and started on the underside of the ship and quickly floated along and secured as many cables as I could.

“How's our time?” Simone asked.

“In an hour, it won't matter how many ships try to help.” Adona said.

“We're already that deep in the gravity well?” I asked and floated up. “Simone, get inside.” I said and grabbed all of the equipment on the top of the ship and floated it over to the SAR ship. “SAR crew, apply power only when given the signal. You are assisting and not the primary load support.” I pointed up at Udelis. “He is.”

The SAR crew didn't respond, so I sighed and used the Presence Hands holding them to move them into their ship. I followed and closed the hatch, to their surprise, then I entered the ship and went right to the cockpit without their permission.

“Okay, Udelis. I'm onboard and ready to assist.” I said and bodily moved the pilot out of the way and sat down. “Boosters are under your control.”

“Prepare to activate your engines, Adona.” Udelis said. “Synchronizing booster activation to compensate. Hunter, go to fifty percent thrust in three seconds.”

I counted and hit the controls. I was just in time, because the boosters activated, Adona's two engines activated, and Udelis went to a quarter power. We all moved in the same direction and I felt the resistance through the cables.

“The planet's reluctant to let you go.” I said over the com channel.

“It's going to be disappointed.” Udelis said and went to half power. “I won't let my wife go.”

I went to full power to match him and the SAR ship started to shake from the strain.

“Boosters are almost out!” Beatrice said over the com.

“Turn forty-five degrees to the right in two seconds.” Udelis said.

“To the...” I stopped talking and did as he said.

The boosters died and all three ships turned where directed and the cables stayed taught. Our speed picked up and the external temperature increased as we started to enter the upper atmosphere.

“What are you doing?” The pilot asked and tried to reach for the controls. His hand hit a Presence barrier and he stared at me.

“I'm listening to an AI that knows what it's doing.” I said. “Can this thing go faster?”

“You're at max already.” The pilot said. “It's a rescue ship. It's not build for speed.”

“Thanks for letting me know.” I said. “Udelis, I'm cutting free. Go to full power.”

“Understood.” Udelis said, and as soon as I hit the release on the cable ends, his engines lit up and Adona started to tilt and then her engines cut off. I pulled up and flew out of the plant's gravity well and did my best to keep them in sight, mainly because it was quite a sight to see. A small and powerful ship was dragging a ship that was two-thirds larger than it was, across the edge of a planetary atmosphere. They were both glowing orange for several minutes, then the glow started to fade.

“You did it.” The pilot said and leaned on the back of the seat. “You really did it.”

“Udelis used the pull of gravity that we were already trapped in to help accelerate Adona in another direction than the one we wanted to go.” I said and flew the SAR ship over to where Udelis started to slow down. It took almost half an hour to kill their acceleration and come to a stop at a safe distance away from the planet and other traffic. I brought the SAR ship to rest beside Adona and stood up. “I'll have your cables gathered up and...”

“We can't use them.” The SAR crew's captain said. “After a strain like that, none of those cables should be used again.”

“I'll have them melted and recycled then.” I said. “How much does it cost to replace them?”

“Do you pay your taxes?” The SAR captain asked and I nodded. “Then it's already covered.”

I didn't have anything on me, so I couldn't offer to pay for a meal or anything.

“All right.” I said and walked through the ship. A few of them glared at me, one person nodded, and a woman stepped forward to block my way.

“Do you want some help?” She asked and I heard her surface thoughts.

“I don't need help right now.” I said with a smile. She understood that I wasn't quite rejecting her, only that I was busy. I actually was rejecting her; but, she didn't need me to be harsh about it. I walked around her to the closest hatch and cycled through, then used Presence to carry me over to Adona. She and Udelis had their main hatches docked together already, so I went over to the cargo hatch on Udelis and entered there. I cycled through the airlock at the back and was met by everyone.

“We did it!” Sandy yelled and raised her hands in the air and everyone cheered.