Chapter 12
Once Lee finished pulling on his tanks and securing the harness, Jamie moved over, attached the hoses, and cracked open the tanks. Lee gave him a thumb's up as the air flowed into his helmet. He then did the same thing for Chip and received the same acknowledgement that the system was operating as designed.
"Jamie, open that small storage locker next to the bunk," Lee ordered. Jamieson nodded and floated over to the cabinet and pulled it open. He looked inside and smiled. He then reached in and pulled out two laser guns. He handed one to Lee and the other to Chip.
"Thanks," Lee said accepting the gun. He quickly tucked it between the tank harness and his suit and gave it a couple of tugs making sure it wouldn't come out. Chip followed suit securing his own weapon.
"I think we're all set," Lee said over his helmet mic. "We both can't fit in the airlock comfortably, so I'll go first. Once I'm out and hooked in, I'll let you know, then Chip can follow."
"Okay, Skipper," Jamie answered. He moved out of the way and allowed Lee to enter the dive well, then lay flat so they could close the doors. Once the door was securely shut and Lee was ready to leave, he pounded on the upper hatch twice.
"Here goes," Jamie said as he locked eyes with Chip. He depressed the button and the bottom hatch slid dutifully open.
As the door opened, Lee involuntarily gasped as he saw the Earth floating in the endless darkness all around him. It took him a brief moment to get over his awe and wonder at the sight.
"Lee?! Lee, are you okay?!" Chip called out, somewhat panicked at the gasp and then the delay in response.
"Yeah, I'm okay," Lee said with a chuckle. "It's quite a view out here, and it just kind of took my breath away. I'm hooking on now and I'm clear of the hatch. All systems are operating properly. Come on out and play, Chip."
"Must be one hell of a view to shut him up," Chip joked with Jamie.
"I heard that Morton," Lee deadpanned.
They all enjoyed the laugh, despite the gravity of their task, as Jamie closed the outer hatch. Once the indicator light was green, Chip pulled open the deck hatch and climbed in. When he was in position, he gave Jamie the okay sign and Jamieson lowered the hatch and locked it. Jamie heard the two knocks indicating Chip's readiness to leave, then opened the outer hatch releasing him into space.
As Chip floated free of FS-1, and got his first view of the outside, Lee smiled knowingly at the astounded look on Chip's face. He seemed to hyperventilate for a brief moment then regained his calm. "Wow, you weren't kidding," Chip remarked as he locked eyes with Lee.
"I know. Seeing it out the window is one thing, but being released into space with nothing around you, you suddenly feel so small and insignificant," Lee replied. "Is everything good?"
Chip quickly checked all his gauges and nodded. "Everything is green."
"Jamie, we're going over to the capsule now. Keep an eye on things, and no joy rides," Lee said.
"Copy that Skipper. You really know how to kill my fun," Jamie joked back.
"All right, Chip, let's go."
They both pushed off from FS-1 and aimed for the gaping hole in the small capsule beneath them. Even though they were securely tethered to FS-1, it still seemed a leap of faith moving away from their only way home. They quickly reached the capsule and grabbed on tightly as they shared quick grins at having secured their goal.
"Okay, I'll go in first," Lee said. He carefully began working his way into the damaged capsule carefully, so as not to catch his suit on anything that could possibly rip through the multiple layers and expose him to the vacuum of space. Once inside he conducted a quick recon of the capsule, and located the hatch they needed to use to get into the station. When he was satisfied that everything was okay he called Chip in. Chip worked his way in with equal care, and once inside gave Lee the okay sign.
The capsule was completely dark having lost all of its power feeds from the Space Station when the hull was breached. Lee quickly shined his light through the window in the exit hatch illuminating the airlock on the other side. The other door had been shut as a safety measure to prevent any leaks. Lee smiled, knowing they wouldn't have to worry about setting off any alarms when they breached a seal.
He detached his tether and hooked onto one of the consoles in the capsule, as did Chip. "Here we go," Lee said as he slowly turned the latch and pulled open the hatch door. There was a brief cloud of mist as the atmosphere in the chamber was released. They froze momentarily waiting for the sound of any alarms. Everything remained quiet, and they both blew out a sigh of relief.
Lee entered, quickly followed by Chip. Chip pulled the door to the capsule shut, sealing them in the airlock between the two vessels. "Hatch secured, Skipper," he said quietly.
Lee nodded then hit the illuminated red button on the Space Station side of the airlock that would pressurize the chamber and give them entry. Again, they held their breath waiting for any alarms, or other indicators they were coming aboard. When the indicator button turned green telling them the chamber was pressurized and could now be opened, they both released their breath.
Before activating the hatch, Lee pulled out his gun, as did Chip. He then depressed the button and heard a muted metallic clank and soft hiss, as the door slowly slid open. They both smiled broadly as the door slid smoothly out of their way. They were in!
(00l00)
It had been nearly 10 minutes since Agneta had injected Kendal with the stimulant, and she moaned quietly as the chemical compounds warred within in her. "I think she might be coming around," Agneta said as she watched Kendal's face.
"About damn time," snarled Alpha. "Tau, get in here!"
Alpha moved forward shoving Bergdahl out of the way as he grabbed Kendal by the shoulders. He shook her violently. Kendal moaned and her eyelids fluttered slightly. He then began slapping her across the face, hoping the pain would bring her back around. She moaned again and tried feebly to bat away the thing bothering her.
Tau joined them in the sleeping quarters. He made immediate eye contact with Alpha and gave him a curt nod. "Any luck?" he asked.
"I think she's starting to come around," Alpha replied. "Do you have any smelling salts?"
"Yes, there are a few capsules," she replied.
"Get them!" Alpha ordered.
As she moved off to get the smelling salts she heard Alpha talking with Tau. "Is the charge set?"
"Yes. We have 30 minutes in which to get away before it explodes," he answered quietly.
"Good. Sigma, where the hell are those smelling salts?!"
"Here," she said shoving them at him. "You don't have to yell, I'm not deaf." She now knew that no one on the station was going to survive, and she needed to find a way to keep them from getting away too.
Alpha snatched the capsules out of her hand, quickly snapped one open and waved it under Kendal's nose. She jerked her head back as the strong smell of ammonia assaulted her senses. She moaned louder and slowly forced her eyes open. She had difficulty focusing her eyes as they tried desperately to close and render her unconscious again.
"Wha…what's going…on…here?" she finally managed to get out. Nothing was making any sense. Her face stung and she noticed blood floating in the air around her. She had no idea who the two men were, or where they had come from. Her mind worked furiously trying to assemble the strange puzzle before her eyes, to make it all make sense.
She fumbled with the zipper in her sleeping bag and pulled it down freeing her from the confines of the bag. As she wormed her way out, the spanner she had in her pocket fell out and headed towards the floor. There was a reason she needed that, she thought to herself, but couldn't for the life of her remember why. "Neta, what's happened? Who are these guys?" she slurred.
Alpha moved forward and grabbed her by the shoulders, then slapped her hard across the face once again. "Wake up! Focus!" he ordered. "Tell me how to release the US module from the storage rack!"
Kendal saw stars and shook her head trying to clear her vision. Her eyelids wanted so badly to close, but she fought hard to keep them open. Slowly the pieces began coming together as Alpha and Tau moved in on her. "Huh. I haven't a clue what you're talking about," Kendal replied.
"You will get a clue in a hurry, or you will sorely regret it," Alpha threatened. He slapped her across the face once more.
Agneta cringed wanting very much to come to Kendal's aid, but was keenly aware of Tau positioning himself to stop her if she tried. Kendal shook her head again trying desperately to figure out what they wanted. She brought her hand up to her face, and wiped away the blood that was now flowing freely from her nose.
"Stop it!" screamed Agneta. Alpha shot Tau a glare and he backhanded her, shutting her up.
"I will ask you this once more, then I am going to start breaking bones until you tell me how to remove the module from the storage rack." He backhanded Kendal once more and her vision started to grow dark as she was moved backwards into the bulkhead."
"I told you once," Kendal answered as she held a hand to her stinging face. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."
Alpha launched himself at her and sent her slamming into the bulkhead. Her head made contact with the wall and things went dark.
(00l00)
"Jamie, we're in," Lee said quietly into the helmet mic. "I'm going to leave the channel open so you can hear what's going on."
"Copy that, Skipper," Jamieson replied. "Be very careful, I don't want to have to rely on an autopilot to get me home. You know how much I trust all this technology."
"Will do," Chip answered with a quiet chuckle.
Lee cautiously eased his way out of the airlock into the Space Station. There was nobody in the immediate vicinity for which he was immensely relieved. They had made it all the way in without alerting those inside to their presence. He looked back and waved Chip forward.
As they entered the station, they heard the raised voices at the opposite end of the vessel. They could hear the sound of someone being slapped, and as they moved closer it became all too apparent it was Kendal. Lee growled and ground his teeth. Chip placed his hand on his brother's shoulder trying to rein him in. Lee looked over his shoulder making eye contact with Chip and nodded. This was no time for rash, emotional responses, they had to scout out the scene before making their presence known.
They eased their way forward down the main body of the station towards the voices. The male quite obviously wanted information from Kendal that she apparently didn't have. As they neared the sleeping area, Lee indicated Chip should hug the opposite bulkhead so they each had a clear field of fire. Lee sank down to the deck and crawled forward until he could just see into the chamber.
Kendal, Bergdahl, and the unconscious Medrev were against the far bulkhead. Kendal was bleeding heavily from her nose, and appeared to be struggling to stay conscious. Two men stood in front of them, their backs to Lee and Chip. Lee pushed his way back out of sight and moved next to Chip. He quickly described the lay of the land and where everyone was positioned.
"Set your weapon to heavy stun," Lee said as he moved the dial on his. "We'll ease our way in along the deck, then rise up. You take the guy on the left and I'll take out the guy on the right."
Chip nodded as he changed the setting on his gun. "Gotcha, Skipper."
"Okay, let's go."
(00l00)
Kendal shook her head hard trying to get the stars to clear from her vision, and to let her focus on what was happening. 'Why the hell would they think she has any idea how to pull the modules out of the racks?' she wondered. She blinked her eyes rapidly, opening them very wide hoping that would help her focus. As she did, she could have sworn she saw a head pop around the corner that looked very much like Lee. She shook her head once more, and looked over her tormentor's shoulder down the short corridor, but it was empty.
She must have been imaging things, she thought to herself. As she became more alert, the leader began advancing on her again. She steeled herself for another assault, but then suddenly spied two figures working their way towards them along the deck. Her eyes grew wide, again wondering if she was just seeing things, or if there were more people on the station.
Alpha noticed the change in Kendal's focus, and turned slightly to see what she was looking at. At that moment, the first shot was fired, and Tau was slammed into the bulkhead. Alpha reacted immediately grabbing Agneta pulling her in front of him, using her as a shield to absorb the second shot. She went instantly limp.
Alpha pushed her inert form forward towards the attackers, then grabbed Kendal around the neck and positioned her in front of him. Chip grabbed Agneta, pushed her behind him, and out of the line of fire while Lee maintained his aim at Alpha.
"Release her," Lee ordered. "You have nowhere to go."
"Put down your weapons, or I'll kill her right here and now," Alpha responded as he tightened his grip around her neck.
Kendal raised her hands and placed them on Alpha's forearm trying to pry it off. He tightened his grip and began cutting off her air. "Your choice hero. All I want to do is get to my capsule, and get the hell out of here. Drop your weapons and back off, or I'll kill her, I promise."
Lee's eyes narrowed. "You won't get away. Your ship will be targeted for destruction the minute Mission Control hears you've left. You've failed your mission, and those in the PR hierarchy don't look kindly upon failures. Your only hope of living out the rest of your miserable life relatively pain free is to release her, now."
"You overestimate your country's military abilities. Now, lower your weapons and get the hell out of my way, or I swear I will kill her," Alpha snarled. To prove his point, he once more tightened his grip around Kendal's throat.
Kendal struggled valiantly against Alpha's grip, but he was too strong. Everything was beginning to sound hollow as her air supply was slowly being cut off. It all began to grow dark around the edges as her eyes rolled back into her head and she started to lose consciousness.
Lee slightly lowered his weapon, as his eyes tracked behind and to the right of Alpha. Alpha squinted at Crane, trying to figure out what he was looking at when the back of his head felt as though it had exploded, and he suddenly went out. He immediately released Kendal and reflexively shoved her forward as he slumped over, now unconscious.
Lee darted forward and enfolded Kendal in his arms, keeping her from making contact with the bulkhead. As Alpha floated forward, Katarina lowered the spanner she had found near the deck, that she had used to knock him out.
"What the hell is going on here?" she asked. "Why am I in my spacesuit? And who pray tell are all of you?"
The relieved burst of laughter from Chip and Lee had her totally baffled as she took in the scene around her. There were two men in red spacesuits floating unconscious, along with one of her crew, and the other cradled in the arms of another man she didn't know, while the fourth man was moving to restrain the unconscious men.
"Captain Medrev, I am Captain Lee Crane, USNR and from NIMR, here on a mission to rescue you and your crew. Permission to come aboard," Lee finally said.
Katarina blinked at them curiously, her head throbbing like a bass drum, she quickly concluded she had missed out on a lot that had happened. The last thing she remembered was a flash of light off their port side and then being hurled through space, tumbling out of control. "Permission granted, Captain. Now can someone please tell me what's going on?"
"In a bit Captain," Lee replied, with a smile. "I need to have a message passed on to Mission Control. Jamie, are you still there?"
"Affirmative, Captain," Jamieson responded immediately.
"Good. Please inform Mission Control that the station is under our control, the PR astronauts are out of commission, and all projects are intact and accounted for," Crane said.
"With pleasure, Skipper," Jamieson acknowledged.
(00l00)
