“Damage assessment?”
“The Dragon’s ass end is under that lake, but it’s fresh water and not deep enough for any kind of pressure damage as long as the intake values held—”
“She’s still space-worthy?” Reynard’s grateful for one small favor.
“We were near the ground when...whatever...took out the electrics, reducing the impact, but I won’t know without a full diagnostic scan since I can’t visually inspect the underbelly.”
“Whatever hit us felt like a controlled mental blast,” JC says.
“No single person produces such immense telepathic power,” Amye says.
“It would explain the extreme damage. Some of the Dragon’s components are organic,” Scott says.
“I need a working med scanner,” JC pulls the one from the emergency kit.
“It looks as if someone cooked it in a microwave.”
“Aus needs medical attention.”
“As far as we know, all the bulkheads are sealed. Without power we’ll have to spend hours opening each one by hand to even get to the areas in need of repair first, let alone the medical bay.”
“We’ve other issues.” Amye unwraps an emergency insulation blanket. The remains of a battery crumble in her fingers. “I pulled this out of the independent backup lights. They should’ve come on the instant the bridge lost power. Whatever weapon hit us cooked these, too.”
“When did you find time to pull batteries?”
“Before I gave you air breathers. I felt light would be helpful.”
Scott’s lack of poker face assures Amye of his belief that the Dragon won’t fly. “These kinds of repairs will require months in dry dock, and who knows how long to find replacement parts for a ship this advanced. If systems are even repairable.”
“The Dragon has self-repair systems.”
“Correct. Some systems replicate themselves, but not with this much damage.”
“Priorities?” Reynard requests from his crew.
“Medical,” JC says.
“Engines,” Scott offers.
“Engines, in order to limp to smerth’n repair her,” Doug votes.
“Ki-Ton has the princess,” Reynard’s oath to protect her weighs on him.
Unnoticed, Joe joins the group as fire crackles behind him.
“I’ll cannibalize the shuttle to repair enough of the computer to get us into orbit, if you don’t mind losing the shuttle.”
“A shuttle we didn’t even know we had.” Reynard needs his ship back. “How do we locate it without sensors?”
“The holoemersion unit I bought. It’s still packed away in insulated crates,” Doug reminds them. “If we get into the cargo bay, I’ll pull some sensors and replace those in a scanner. If you find one not as damaged.”
“Not every part of the ship received the full blast effects, or we wouldn’t have had a soft landing.”
“Soft? Maybe I need more flight school time, but it was anything but soft,” Reynard sneers.
“Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing,” Doug quips.
“I concur, or we would have exploded. We cannibalize what we need. The second deck was well away from the blast point. We don’t use it,” Scott offers.
“Scott, Doug, and Amye, get me a working scanner and Australia into the medical bay. Do whatever it takes to get us off the ground. Joe, JC, and I will retrieve Michelle and the shuttle.”
“Kill Ki-Ton while you’re at it,” Scott requests.
“Not until I find out why he worked so hard to sabotage my crew.”
“You seem to have forgotten us.” Hauser steps forward with the two UCP cadets.
“Mecat pilots perform basic repairs.” Mark adds, “As part of the crew, give me a duty.”
“Clean out destroyed systems.” Scott nods at his captain.
“I’ll take Hauser and Leahla to recover Michelle.”
••••••
AMYE DUMPS AN armload of burnt and damaged components into a pile beside the cargo landing ramp.
Reynard fills a canteen with lake water.
“Don’t forget to add the distillation microbe,” she says.
“A microbe designed to kill the microbes dangerous to us. Got to love science.” He drips clear liquid from an eyedropper into the water.
He slings the strap to his backpack over his shoulder. “You going to be okay?”
“Your ship’s a total loss. With any luck, we’ll find a few more areas where medical packs aren’t totally cooked.” Amye pets the top of the loading ramp hatch. “But she’ll never be the same again.”
“I meant you.” He draws in closer so their conversation becomes private.
Amye refuses to meet his eyes, “I need to grieve—I guess. I feel like I just realized she was gone. I don’t think I ever…”
Australia limps down the ramp, “You will repair her. The Dragon’s far from gone, Amye.”
“You need more bed rest,” Amye snaps at her.
“I concur.”
“You need help finding Ki-Ton. You are losing three of your crew to repairs. Not to mention two unknown crew members accompanying you.”
“I’ve seen Hauser in action. You need to recover. Wounded, you’ll slow us down.”
“Commander, I appreciate your concern, but my skills will best serve you on an unfamiliar alien planet instead of asleep in the medical bay.”
“If you’re unable to keep up, you’ll have to make your way back to the Dragon—alone. I’m going to need Joe and JC and the cadets in order to stop Ki-Ton.”
“If I am unable to travel, I will know quickly.”
••••••
“AS HER CAPTAIN you could have ordered her to stay behind,” Leahla pushes her way through the stalks of brown grass. “She’s a UCP officer and a Nysaean. She’d follow whatever orders you give her—without question.”
“I understand the chain of command, Cadet.” Reynard stresses the girl’s rank. “You get the scanner to operate?”
“Equipment in the cargo bay seemed unaffected from the blast, but the shuttle engine signature frequency remains locked inside the mainframe computer, so I don’t know how we’ll locate the shuttle.”
“We keep moving in this direction. Scan for humanoid life signs.”
“As long as he didn’t veer from this course. I think he was hit with the same blast we were.”
“Then the shuttle would be just as useless as the Dragon.”
“If it was hit, wouldn’t it have crashed by now?” Hauser asks.
“It could have crashed. This grass is taller than Joe. We could have missed it.”
••••••
REYNARD COCKS THE hammer of his magnum. The weapon molded from durasteel operates
