their vacsuits and keeping head pieces on your person at all times. Most of the vacsuits that were provided by the Captain had them built into hoods, but most of the maintenance crew had difficulty trusting the thin looking, form fitting suits, regardless of the fact that they provided more protection than the rough, heavy, older suits they preferred.
Even though they had been saved from the vacuum of space they still had to deal with the exotic particles that covered the outer hull of the ship during hyperspace travel. They had been pooling in the breached sections and would injure or kill Douglas and Julie in higher concentrations. Watching how Captain Valance directed the pair of trapped repair crewmen through sealing themselves off in a small section and then using a portable power cell to scatter the particles evenly throughout was amazing.
His calm was contagious. Douglas was near panic when Finn first discovered that there were two engineering crew stuck in a section that were sealed off. As time went on and Captain Valance worked with the pair to secure a compartment for them Douglas was so at ease that he and Julie were joking about it.
Finn even had the time and ease to ask them; “I'm wondering, why is it that all the men on the ship are called by their last names and the women by their first?”
“I really don't know. Besides, I thought that was your first name.” Answered Julie.
“Nope, it's Billy.”
“Oh. I don't know which one I like better,” Julie said as she worked on another weld.
“Hey Stephanie, were you around when that started?” Asked Douglas.
Stephanie wasn't within actual earshot, she was helping the Captain run cables down half the length of the ship. She heard them loud and clear on the communicator. “It's something I've seen on a couple other ships too, now that you mention it. I know the issyrians do it in the military.”
“Actually, we don't. You must be thinking of the Kallens.” Answered Price. “Our females are the dominant sex in our culture though, so I could see where you'd get confused. Most humans have difficulty grasping our culture.”
“Do you know why it started Captain?” Stephanie asked.
“The first crew I hired on brought it on with them. They were from Cadiz.”
“You hired your first crew in Cadiz? That's what, eleven hundred light years away?” Ashley asked.
“A little closer to twelve hundred actually.” The Captain answered. “How is it going in the rear compartment? Are the welds finished?”
“Just now sir, we should be in great shape to come out of hyperspace. Thank you for saving our butts,” Douglas said with a chuckle.
“Don't thank me, you guys did all the work, I just had the plan. Besides, who do you think will have to repair the ship when we arrive?”
“That arrival will be in about five minutes,” Ashley said.
“I'm on my way. I'll need Cynthia up there as well.”
“On my way sir.”
A few moments later Cynthia and Captain Valance joined Ashley on the bridge. Despite the difficult two days they had in hyperspace, they had all managed to get some rest in shifts.
“Coming out of hyperspace in 3, 2, 1,” Ashley counted down.
The Samson expelled waste gases that had accumulated during hyperspace, it spread out like large white wings for several seconds before the gas and crystallized liquids dissipated. The Enreega system was very well defended and they were not allowed to come out of hyperspace within two hundred thousand kilometres of the central planet, Seneschal.
“Their perimeter defence station is hailing us sir,” Cynthia stated as she put the message up on the main bridge display.
An image of the three crossed swords representing their government appeared on the central holoprojector. “Please proceed to the coordinates provided as we look your ship's transponder code up in our registry,” came the audio announcement.
“I have the coordinates, following their instructions,” Ashley confirmed.
Captain Valance waited patiently as the station processed their information.
“We have six fighters coming in our direction.”
“Don't worry Ash, the Aucharians are hyper vigilant. They're at war with Regent Galactic,” Captain Valance reassured.
“So that's why we're here,” she replied, nodding.
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend. Especially when one of their top people owes me a favour.”
The main display and Ashley's navigation controls came to life with images of the massive defence station and the large blue planet thousands of kilometres behind it. “Please release your helm controls. You are clear to land on the station, Samson.”
Ashley released the controls and Port control started guiding the Samson in. The six fighters that had been circling them moved off to continue their patrol. As they closed in on the defence station its deadliness became plain. It was a massive, wide, flat structure with bays, extendible moorings and fighter launch tubes right down the length of it. On the top and bottom were hundreds of huge turrets.
“What kind of guns are those?” Ashley asked quietly.
“Some are energy, but most are gauss cannons that fire special munitions. They've been known to send rounds over fifty light years.”
One of the massive cannons fired. Only the trail of light was visible, the projectile itself moved too fast to see with the naked eye. Ashley looked at her panel for a moment. “Wow, that was travelling at half the speed of light.”
“And if it had a target too far off for that to be effective, you can bet it has a faster than light system.” Stephanie said from the left bridge hatchway. “Finn just finished checking our landing gear, he says we didn't take any serious damage so we'll be fine if the station decides to set us down in a pressurized bay.”
“Good to know, but I don't think they'll bother, not with the damage we've sustained,” Captain Valance commented.
The Samson was guided into one of the larger openings in the front of the station and as the Captain had guessed, mooring arms locked onto the ship then two embarkation tunnels sealed to their airlocks. “Welcome to Seneschal Defense Station Three,” said the voice over the communicator.
Jake's control and command unit sent a very mild tingling sensation into his arm. He had a message. “Okay, work on the ship as best you can with what you have, I'll see what I can do to get us some help. Oh, and make sure Julie and Douglas get some shuteye,” He ordered. He answered the incoming call. “Minister Lorne, I didn't expect to hear from you so early. How is your brother these days?”
“Rotting in prison where he belongs, I'm happy to say,” replied a cheerful older gentleman's voice over the communicator.
“You're welcome. What has you up at four in the morning?”
“Big category nine hurricane down on the planet. I'm watching the planetary engineers prepare the break wall from orbit. Care to join me?”
“Sure, but I've come on business. You might have heard?”
“I have. You're getting very popular here and I had a feeling you'd pay us a visit considering we're the biggest opponents to Regent Galactic. Port control has a shuttle ready for you, let's talk in person.”
“All right, I'll be over as soon as I secure things here. We took some damage on our way out of the Thadd system.”
“I could imagine. I'll put a request in for some maintenance personnel to help you out. See you soon Jake.”
Ashley was staring at him expectantly. For a moment he pretended not to notice but when he looked up she gave him a big toothy grin.
“Okay, okay, you can come with,” Jake said with a sigh.
Ashley threw her arms up in celebration. “God, it'll be so nice to get off the ship and stretch.”
“Not to mention see some of the most beautiful ships in space,” Stephanie added with a smirk.
Ashley looked to her, concerned. “You're the First Officer now, maybe you should go instead.”
She shook her head. “I've seen this system before. Besides, I have to stay behind and supervise
