NINE
Captain Rohs watched as Sven Robbins initiated his FTL jump. It was a rare moment that she was close enough to another vessel to watch it vanish into its own translight vortex. Of course she'd seen it dozens of times while she had been a Colonial Forces pilot, but that was over a decade ago. Most cargo ships were never this close to another ship when they went FTL.
As Captain Rohs readied Raptor -4YJ for its own FTL return to Menno Seven Three, Bill Johns went about making sure Grant Lohan was secured. As soon as the cabin pressure indicator went green on the annunciator panel, he unlocked the Marine's helmet and twisted it off. Lohan was now semi-conscious, but considering what had just happened it was probably a good thing.
Johns now worked to untangle the safety-reel cable that was around Lohan's left arm. He could tell the Marine's arm was broken, even through the bulky environment suit, and he tried to hold his arm still.. That the wire hadn't cut through the suit was a minor miracle…no…it was a major miracle!
"How's he doing, Bill?" Rohs was still upset that Lohan had almost been killed on this seemingly simple operation.
Johns flipped the protective cover off of Lohan's bio read-outs to see all was relatively well…"He's probably in shock, Captain. His left arm is definitely broke but his suit is intact. How he avoided ripping it wide open is beyond me!" he exclaimed.
Rohs let out a sigh of relief. It was hard to believe that something as simple as a knot in a cable almost cost a man his life.
"Alright…alright…get him and yourself strapped in, we need to bug out. The FTL is spinning up and we're out of here in thirty seconds."
Johns closed the bio readout cover on Lohan's suit and then switched off the Marine's magnetic boots. Not wishing to waste any more time, he got himself into the ECO's seat and fastened his own belt. "Ready for FTL, Captain." Johns hated the experience of FTL, but right now, he'd do it all day long if it meant not being "here"!
Captain Rohs scanned the board and then once again lifted the safety cover on the FTL control…"Here we go in three…two…one…JUMP!"
Just as Rohs initiated the jump, Johns saw something on the aft-cabin's DRADIS screen. It was brief, and the letters phased in-and-out of focus, but it was clear enough to see. Across the top of the monitor, and for the briefest of moments, flickered the words "DRADIS CONTACT", but before a lock-on could be verified the Raptor passed into the FTL vortex. Maybe it was something, maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, they left it behind.
As the Raptor entered its own translight vortex, Johns had one hand on Sergeant Lohan to steady him in the seat next to him. For the brief two or three seconds that they were actually in the vortex, Johns thought his arm was a light year in length. Perhaps it was. He actually lost sight of Lohan even though he could still sense that he was indeed holding the Marine upright in the seat.
Just as quickly, though, they were back in regular space. Lohan was still slumped in his seat, but they were back in regular space nonetheless.
As they came out of translight, Rohs could see Menno Seven Three ahead of her and Sven Robbins' Viper half way between her and the asteroid. She thumbed the wireless switch and called in her arrival. "Menno Seven Three, Raptor 4 Yankee Juliett is out of translight. Tally-ho on Viper 8 Yankee Zulu, and be advised he's NOCOM. Have medical team standing by…We've got a man with a broken arm…"
As Jahlee Rohs finished her wireless call, everyone in the operations office took a deep breath. Samantha O'byea, Alastair Kohn, Don O'Banion, Senior Chief Teague and Gunner Kells were gathered around the wireless console and its young operator. The Raptor had taken a couple of minutes longer to get home than the Viper did, and each second was like an hour to everyone in the center. At least both ships were home.
Gunner Kells tapped the communications specialist on the shoulder. "Give me three sweeps on DRADIS. Make sure they weren't followed home." The man at the console did as directed and they could hear the tell-tale swish sound of the DRADIS as it searched for any possible intruders.
"I'm only tracking Raptor -4YJ and Viper -8YZ, Sir. No other contacts."
Each member of the group finally let go a little yip and hands were being shaken all around the circle. Alastair Kohn turned to the technician at the Bay Operations panel. "Open bay four and prepare to receive incoming Raptor and Viper!" He then picked up the blue colored telephone cradled next to the communications console. "Dr. Sayid…We need medics at Bay 4, please…" The relief was palpable.
Sven Robbins was first in. He secured both the FTL and sublight engines before heading towards the bay. He tapped the roll thrusters to match Menno's gentle spin then maneuvered the FoxViper into the spot it had left less than an hour ago. He tapped the thrusters one more time to make skid contact with the bay and then quickly hit the mag-locks in the skids to keep the Viper in position on the deck.
As the canopy on the Viper started to open he looked over his right shoulder to see Jahlee Rohs perform the same roll maneuver he had and then enter the bay. Just as he had with the Viper, she gently tapped thrusters to position the Raptor on the deck.
Although the bay was depressurized, Robbins could feel the "thump" of Rohs' Raptor touching the deck through the vibrations through the deck and landing gear. As she slid into the spot, the massive bay doors began to slide shut behind them. As the massive doors met, they could hear the in-rush of air as the bay was re-pressurized.
A moment later the hatch leading off the deck swung open and Plane Captain Jennie Yoder and the two Anderson brothers ran out on the deck with the landing gear safety pins. They made a mad dash around both birds placing the safety pins in their respective slots. Yoder then grabbed the portable boarding ladder and pushed it over to the FoxViper.
"Welcome home, Mr. Robbins!" she called.
He never considered Menno Seven Three to be home, but for now Robbins was more than happy to call it that.
As the burly security chief began to de-plane from the Viper, he watched as the medics entered the bay with a stretcher and gently extricated Sergeant Lohan from the Raptor. Robbins had worried all the way back to Menno that his efforts to get Lohan back into the Raptor may have caused more injury that it prevented. But then he had been in a front row seat to the events leading up to the FTL buoy jump and knew that had he not gotten the Marine out of the danger zone he might have been caught in the buoy's wake…Then it would have meant having to follow the buoy if they wanted to recover the body. No one had ever survived such an evolution and there was no reason to believe that Lohan would have been any different.
As the medics carried Sergeant Lohan through the hatch, they stopped for a moment for Gunner Kells to lay hands upon the unconscious Marine and to whisper words of encouragement to him. Maybe he'd hear it, maybe he wouldn't, the Gunner thought, but anything to expedite his recovery was time well spent.
As he entered the bay he called upon his best "addressing the troops" voice. "Alright everyone! Great job! Everyone meet in operations in thirty minutes for de-brief!" From across the bay he could see Jahlee Rohs and his old friend give him a thumb's up. He was glad to see them all home.