Chapter 16
Holden and Amos had to suit up for their next rescue. The group they were going after was trapped in a cargo hauler in the ruptured construction dome. The hauler had been pinned under the transport ship during the explosion and its thrusters damaged. It was still sealed from the vacuum, but had a limited supply of air, and time was running out. Nik would have to guide the two men to a locker stocked with enough suits for the six trapped people, then find the safest route to their location.
Once they had the suits loaded on their trolley, Nik directed them through the station to the construction dome at the closest clear access point to the hauler. Once inside the dome, it was up to them to find their way through the wreckage.
"Oh my God," Holden breathed. "This is the stuff of nightmares."
"What do you see?" she asked.
"You don't want to know," Amos answered.
But Nik could imagine the twisted metal and damaged equipment and ships filling the space, and floating among them, like gruesome dolls, the dead bodies of those not lucky enough to have spacesuits or escape to safety. If not for Amos, one of those bodies would have been hers.
Swallowing the bile that rose at the thought, she told them softly, "I'm sorry guys, it's all on you from here."
"We'll let you know when we need you again, Kitten," Amos replied.
"Don't call me that," she told him weakly.
Then there was silence from them and all she could do was wait once more. To occupy herself, she switched her console and link over to Alex and Naomi to watch and listen to their rescue efforts. Over the last couple hours, while she had been engaged with Holden and Amos, they had been involved in rescue maneuvers of their own. On more than one occasion, she had been thankful she was strapped in as the forces on the Roci shifted with every change in direction of thrust. Naomi had been right, the nausea she had felt at first was fading somewhat, but it was still disorienting.
"Ba Le, this is the Rocinante. We are approaching from your starboard side, prepare for grappling hooks," Alex's drawl was almost soothing.
"Roger that, Rocinante. We are ready for you to proceed."
The operation went smoothly, and soon the crew from the crippled Ba Le was on board the Roci. Combined with people rescued from the station, the ship was beginning to feel crowded.
An emergency transmission from the Mittermeier, an older ice hauler, came over the commlink.
"…reactor containment…"
"…critical…"
"…all ships…."
"Mittermeier, this is the Rocinante. Repeat your transmission," Alex was the first to answer.
"Rocinante, our reactor containment is failing…~Static~…We cannot repair…. ~static~…. preparing to eject…. ~static~…"
"Shit, there are at least four ships within range if that core goes critical," Naomi told Alex.
"All ships in the vicinity of the Mettermeier evacuate the area now!" Alex broadcast on all channels. "I repeat, all ships in the vicinity of the Mittermeier evacuate the area now. They are experiencing a reactor containment breach."
Nik was quick to realize the danger and opened her link to Holden and Amos, "Get out of there now!"
"What's going on?" Holden asked.
"There's a ship outside the dome about to jettison its reactor core. If it explodes…,"
"We're in a world of shit," Amos finished.
"Where's the nearest egress point?"
Nik was ready with the answer, "what is the closest section number on the inner bulkhead to you?"
"Seventy-four."
"Good, there's a maintenance hatch five meters above it. Get moving."
"We got six people with us. How much time do we have?"
"Hos, you don't have much time. Maybe five minutes, tops," Alex answered. He had been listening on the link.
"Let us know when it goes."
"Gotcha."
"Okay, Nik, we're at the hatch. What now?"
"Just get everyone inside and I will figure it out," she told him. There were three ways to go once they were inside, but none of them were good. One led further into the area of the station damaged by the explosion, another led further into the station, and the third lead away from the shuttle. She was pulling up layout after layout to plot a route back to the shuttle that was safe.
"You better hurry it up," Holden told her.
It didn't take long to get everyone in the maintenance tunnel and moving away from the danger.
"What do you have, Nik?" Holden asked.
"You're not going to like it," she answered, biting her lip.
"I don't like any of this shit, but here I am. Give it to me."
"The best way back to the shuttle is through the worse of the damage," she held her breath waiting for his reply.
"Tell me where to go," was the only response she got.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she started, "continue down this tunnel until you reach a T."
Once they reached the T, she directed them to take the right tunnel.
After a moment, Holden came over the commlink, "There's an I-beam blocking the way, but I think we can move it enough to get around it."
"Ya'll need to hurry it up," Alex urged. "The Mittermeier is about to jettison their core."
Holden didn't bother to cut the link as he and Amos fought to move the beam.
"I think we got it moved enough to squeeze by, but it will be tight."
"Go!" Alex ordered. "They just…," he was cut off by a bright flash of light near the construction dome.
"Oh, shit," Nik whispered. "They're not far enough away yet."
Over the link, those on the Roci could hear the yelling and screaming of the people in the maintenance tunnel competing with the roar of air being sucked out of the tunnel and the grinding of tortured metal. Then the link went silent.
"Jim!" Naomi called out over the link. "Jim, are you alright?"
Nothing but silence came over the link.
Then, breathing.
And hissing.
"Jim!"
Tears filled Nik's eyes. They may have been Inners, but they had died trying to save her people. They didn't deserve this. She blinked and one of the droplets from her eye floated into the air in front of her face.
"Roci, do you copy?" Amos' voice broke the smothering silence.
"Amos! Are you guys okay?" Naomi asked before Nik could respond.
"A little battered, but we're mostly okay."
Nik pressed a hand to her mouth to smother the sob that escaped.
"What do you mean?" Naomi responded.
"Capt's commlink was damaged, we're cut off from the rest of the group, and all our equipment just go sucked out into space," he listed their status like reading a grocery list. "Other than that, we're okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Well, my suit was punctured, but we got it patched back up before I lost too much air."
"How much do you have left, Amos?" Naomi demanded.
"About 40 minutes. So, Kitten, you want to tell me how to get the hell out of here?"
Nik ignored the nickname, "can you get back to the dome?"
"No, that way is blocked."
"Where are you in relation to the T?"
"We just past it by about a meter."
She smiled. That was good news. There was a shaft large enough for them to fit through right there. They might have to climb, and it would take them further away from the shuttle, but she knew where the closest locker was that might contain a suit to replace Amos' damaged one.
"In the left tunnel," Amos clarified, and Nik's smile died.
She was going to have to take them deeper into the station. The nearest locker was almost halfway to the inner shaft.
"And the tunnel's collapsed about five meters away from where we are."
"Oh, fuck."
"Oh, come on, Kitten, it can't be that bad."
Oh, but it was. She took a deep breath, "about two meters from the T, there's a shaft going straight up. Can you get to it?"
She waited impatiently for him to respond, but she already knew what he was going to tell her.
"Yeah, I can get to it, but there's no way me or the Capt'n can go up it."
She hung her head. Once again, there was a gentle touch on her shoulder.
"You can do this," Naomi told her softly.
"Give me a minute to think, Amos," and cut the link.
Looking up at Naomi, "There's no other way out of there. If they had any of their tools, they might could cut their way out, but," she spread her hands helplessly. "The only person that can get through that tunnel is me."
She stopped and considered what she just said. "Naomi, is there a suit onboard small enough for me?"
Naomi shook her free hand, "no. You would need a child's size."
The flicker of hope she had sputtered and threatened to go out. She chewed her lip furiously while she racked her brain for something, anything. An idea came to her.
"But you have a printer that can produce one!"
"Just the suit, Nik, and nothing else, like the life support and commlink."
"It wouldn't have to. We can take that from another suit and rig it up." She reached for the strap that held her in place and opened the commlink.
"Amos, I have a plan. Just sit tight and don't use up all your air," she said excitedly.
"Alright, Kitten, I knew you'd come up with something."
"Don't call me that."
Amos just chuckled in response.