Here's the following chapter!!!1
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was dark but he didn't dare falter. His rifle was tucked close to him and his fingers grasped the rifle like a life saver. The darkness was now adjustable in his eyes but he could feel his stomach go up in knots. He always had it long ago from the very beginning and no matter how he tried, he could never get that knawing feeling away from his stomach.
He nearly tripped over a rusty old rod and as he heard the metal hit the ground and roll away noisily, he nearly gave himself a fright. Closing his eyes, he streadied his heart before continuing to walk through the dark hallways. Now I'm even scaring myself, he told himself. I think I've been locked in the Excalibur for far too long.
The silence was eerie. He supposed that because it was the rear of the station, it was always like this. Dark and eerie. Babylon 5 wasn't all enviormental-safety. Inside these dark hallways, everything that was against the mission of the station happened here. Murders, fights, smuggling, drinking, you name it, they got it. It was the neck for all information regarding almost anything these days.
Whoever grabbed Lochley sure knows the station.
Creak. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't him now. It came from far ahead of him. He could see the dim lights that shadowed from the next curve and in that he heard a muffled. A muffled cry of one word; help. He raised his rifle a bit higher as he listened carefully, his eyes focused on the dark. Another word was yelled in the muffled clasp; help me!
Now he raised his rifle. He saw a dark clad figure appear into the dim light, and when his or her eyes trained at Gideon, they began to drag a figure which he knew immediately by the white tunic; Lochley. She saw him alright, her eyes not afraid, but strangely worried as her mouth was clasped from speech. She was fighting him or her terribly as she squirmed her mouth free to yell; "Gideon!"
Gideon fired a warning shot about to a conduit. "I'm coming, Lochley!"
The hijacker ducked, and, grabbing their captive, began to make their way through the smoke that accumulated in the air from the blasted-out conduit. Gideon swept it aside and began to chase after Lochley's thief. The light flashed into his eyes as he entered the lit corridor and ached in his eyes as he continued to run, his rifle at hand. He could see that Lochley was being dragged from behind; it was difficult to run when you're holding someone.
He watched as Lochley stuck her foot out and tripped her captor to the floor. She then bent down to her knees and had an elbow to his or her back, pinning him or her down to the floors. Gideon catched up, his rifle now trained to the head of Lochley's captor. Lochleey slowly pulled away, but her captor did not flinch for the rifle was still there.
"Let's see who your captor is," Gideon said, bending down and yanking back the hood of Lochley's captor to reveal---chiselled brown hair?
"Lt. Mereza?" Lochley croaked from her sore throat.
The lieutenant craned her head to a side so Gideon could see her steady but hard brown eyes and her thin lips. Funny though, she didn't have very smooth cheekbones, and her hair seemed unusually spiky for a woman. Her thin lips were brought up to a half-smile. "You caught me, Captain," she said thinly.
Gideon was thunderstruck. "I was chasing a woman?!" he demanded. Suddenly, his link chimed on his wrist. He snatched it up and pressed a control. "Gideon here."
"Captain!" Dureena called. "I've got a member here who supposedly is in the Amsterdam gang that was on the bridge at the time of the situation and I believe sabotaged the unit camera before the big fight. It's Lt. Catalina Santiago-Mereza. She's been transferred from Mars Base six years ago and when she arrived, at the same time, Cmdr. Susan Ivanova and this Ranger under Marcus Cole was tracking them down."
"Good job, Dureena, because it just so happens we caught her," he said flatly.
"Oh?" came a responce from the other side.
"Just one more slight situation," came a voice from behind. "We've got a Drakh war vessel coming on approach vector and had fired on us already. We've got the defence grid up but because of the recent attacks on the station, I don't know how long we'll manage."
Lochley knew the voice immediately. "Corwin? When did you come back?"
"As soon as I heard, sir," came a reply. "Sir, orders?"
"Scramble the fighters while you can and hold them out as far as you can," she replied. "We have some business to finish." She glared angrily at the stupidly-grinning lieutenant who was pinned to the floor.
"Try to hold out until the three ships come in from President Sheridan arrive," Gideon ordered. "Keep us informed. Gideon out." He then glared down at the lieutenant that was on the floor with his rifle aimed at her head. "Now, you better start talking or else I'll ask for a memory washout from a telepath."
"PsiCorps no longer exists," she rasped maniaclly.
"Why the hell are you sabotaging the station?" Lochley demanded.
She took a hard glimpse at the station's commander before replying. "Sabotaging? Hmm... such dramatic words. I am merely implying that we are doing this for what has happened before. We don't just sabotage without cause; there is always a cause." She darted another mean glare at the captain. "Our quarrel is not with you but with the one before you."
"Then why did you grab Lochley?" Gideon inquired crisply.
"Because she's a threat to our cause," she replied vaguely. "Just as we are to you. She is the station's commander; if she were to find out the transactions Down Below with her frequent visits with that Drazi cook down there, we would surely get to jail and never come out of it again. No offence, Captain, but you are an obstacle that we must get rid off."
Lochley narrowed her eyes dangerously at the lieutenant. "No offence, you could say," she said lightly, "but you didn't just attack Elizabeth Lochley, Catalina, you attacked the commander of this station and a commanding officer." She rolled her eyes. "Dammit, Cath, I considered you a friend! And now this?"
"Same old, same old," Catalina pressed.
"So what are the transactions going on down here?" Gideon demanded, wavering his rifle. "You said that if Lochley found out about your transactions down below, you'll get to jail and never come out of it. Something's weird. It sounds as if you've been directly involved in this movement since the beginning before the civil war back home and been in jail before. yet you're a member of the C&C crew, which makes the fact that---"
"She has contacts," Lochley finished roughly. "She knows what's going on and can tell the Amsterdam gang if something is coming up."
"Like a ship carrying a rare artifact," said a dry voice from behind. They turned around to see Chambers holding up a beaten-looking Eilerson. Max got his hand off her shoulder and limped over to the pinned-down lieutenant and bent over. "Is this the one that caused this entire forsaken mess?" he asked.
"She's involved with it, yeah," Gideon replied. "Why?"
Max didn't hear him. Marcus broke formation and reached in and activated his pike. With experience and swiftness, he caught Kewt at the end of his chin, then at the belly and finally caught him off balance before he could stand a fighting chance. It was like only yesterday, as he remembered swinging the dagger to the gang leader's throat...
...Min'sk was his name...right?
"I remember you!" Max croaked unintellgently. "You're that damned Kewt guy that Marcus swung off on that day six years ago!" He rolled her over so she could face the ceiling anf examined her chin. A thn red scar was on her chin, which could've been a result of stitches right after the attack. "Yes! You are! But...you're a woman!"
"Hello, Mr. IPX man. We've been waiting for you," she said softly, grinning widely.
"You know her?" Lochley asked, crossing her arms tightly across her chest and glaring down at Catalina.
"Yes, but right now, that's not important," Max told them, looking up. "There's a bomb located at the fusion reactor. I've done some preliminary exams throughout the conduits and eventually came to a thermal heat sourse from in there. I think the gang had locked onto it and stuck it there."
All eyes were on Catalina, who was grinning with satisfaction. "And all those who was involved will wrath our vengance. And none of you can stop it! Hah...hah-hah!...hah-hah-hah-hah!" She began to laugh hysterically when Chambers came up, slapped her in the face with a bolted fist and tied her up.
"We better get moving," Gideon said.
"Beta Squad, scramble!" Matheson ignited his fusions as his fighter swinged around to face the vessel. He ignited the thrusters to full speed as he felt his vessel come closer and closer towards the Drakh ship with amazing speed. His forehead was filmed with sweat now and his eyes were beginning to ache. If only he could shut his eyes for only a moment...
"Beta Leader, it's Beta Two! Drakh vessel is powering up forward guns," Miller reported frantically over the comm system. "And if my calculations are correct, they're aiming for Babylon 5's mouth hole for port system."
"Dammit, C&C's located there!" Matheson said, firing his weapons at the tiny vessels that were shooting them from the Mother Ship. "And if the weaponry hits there, there could be a chain reaction throughout the station and blow it up...and if the ignition's strong enough, it may blow us up at the same time."
"Drakh mother ships are known for five-second count before jumping," Miller droned.
Matheson sighed. "I wish you didn't have to say that," he said tiresomely. He clicked another channel, this time headed to C&C. "C&C, this is Beta Leader Matheson. I've just recieved report from my wingman that the Drakh vessel is loading up forward phasers and are aiming it right at the port near C&C. Copy?"
"Roger that, Beta Leader. Did you say it's headed here?" Corwin asked. "Oh, damn! Our defence perimeter is starting to degrade and it blows here, there'll be a chain reaction to the entire station. C&C is the heart of the station."
"I couldn't agree more," Matheson agreed. "I'll try to foil their plans out here."
"We appriciate that, Lieutenant. Keep us informed. C&C over and out."
Matheson switched back to the impact of the battle. "Beta Seven and Nine, aim for the ship's weakest point, which would probably be the drainage system at the back rear," he ordered. "Beta Six and Eight, aim for the main propulsion systems. Beta Three, try getting a clear shot at their main guns area and Beta Two, you're with me."
"Aye, sir," came muffled replies.
The ships began to split and head to different directions. Matheson swerved gracefully around and headed to the engines area. From a computer navigator, he could see that Miller was not far behind from him They steadied on position just far enough from the Drakh vessel. "Okay, squad," he said. "Here's the plan. On the count of three, you will shoot all fire power to your destinated area, and hopefully it'll ilfiltrate the enemy. You got me there?"
"Aye sir," they all replied.
The reply was bold with confidence but he knew that they were all filled with dread as the moments came passing in. Matheson prayed that they wouldn't chicken out on the last moment. He held a steady hand on the controls as his fighter came whizzing about towards the end shaft of the entire ship with Miller there. Now that he made it, he affixed himself on a position far enough that he couldn't be scortched but close enough so he could get a lock.
"One..."
His fingers curled around the joystick.
"Two..."
His thumb had its place on the red button that woud fire a torpedo.
"There...fire!"
His thumb raced down and as a torpedo came zooming towards the aft with Miller's not far behind. He switched to manual and began to fire heavily on the vessel. Fire spluttered everywhere as the vessel began cringe slightly. On Matheson's screen, he could see that the vessel was beginning to crumble.
Suddenly, the jump point opened up and in zoomed three warlock-class starships, shooting out their defence grids towards the invading alien vessel. Matheson read off the hull's names; the Scutum, the Pavo and the Corona Borealis. He couldn't help but admire their timing as they continued to shoot through their systems.
His computer panel bleeped.
"All hands, retreat back ten thousand kilometers, the ship's gonna blow!"
The Furies began to zoom backwards, tumbling in space. The Drakh ship looked paralysed even though it was a few hearty shots. The stars rolled as Matheson watched his readout. The ship's defence grid was down. Their engines were far beyond corrupt now. It wavered slightly forward before the engines and propulsion system died out and exploded in white sheer light...
It was getting strangely hot by the time the hit the fusion reactor room that Gideon had to unadjust his collar. He could see, from the corner of his eye, that Lochley was now drowning in sweat along with Max and Doctor Chambers, both whom were carrying the limp body of Catalina.
"Damn, it's hot," Max slurred.
"Tell me about it," Chambers replied, dropping the body nearby. "She weighs a ton."
"Maybe you could check her pockets," Max retorted, "and see if she's carrying a nine-millimeter Glock at hand...never mind...make it an M-1 Abrams Tank."
"Very funny," she sneered.
Lochley staggered through the floors, her hand holding support by the rusty bulkheads, her hair now mopped her face and her breathing in great gasps and breaths. Gideon turned around from the sarcastic conversation between Max and the doctor and catching the weak captain before she hit the floors.
He pulled her to her feet. "Easy does it, Captain," he said soothingly. "You should have stayed in MedLab."
Lochley shook her head. "No, not when my station's about to be torn into five million pieces," she replied weakly. Seeing his worried look, she gave him a reassuring smile. "Hey, I'm okay, okay? I'll manage the next five meters. Really." She looked up at him again. He tilted his face a bit towards hers...
"Captains! We found the bomb!"
Leave it to Eilerson to spoil the moment. Lochley moved slowly aand carefully to the reactor, where the IPX man was studying a complicated-looking bomb planted on the hull of the mood-changing reactor. All four of them knelt down as Lochley unlatched the hatch, to reveal several different colour-coded buttons.
"Okay, obviously there's a key to this, a code," Chambers observed.
"Whatever it is, we better do it fast," Lochley said quickly. "It says here that the system will overload in three minutes. When that's up, the system will overload the power matrix in this hull deflector. It was send a series of ion beacons towards the secondary pulses' lines which controls all sources of power aboard this station; gravity, electricity, weaponry, defence grid...and will basically overload the commaand overrides and simply...boom."
"Take a code," Gideon said, "and whatever it is, it better be a doozy."
"Six-letter code," Lochley said. "Take your pick, Mr. Eilerson."
Thoughts came across his mind. Six-letter code...what could it be? It must be something he knew from before. Unless this damned computer was on a number-code sequence. Whatever. The clock was now in one minute department. Great. Wrong move and the station...and him and his gorgeous amount of profit...will simply disappear. Like a puff of smoke when the Hak'Vir threw the bomb...
Hak'Vir!
"Aha!" Max cried, tapping in the code. H...A...K...
"Ten seconds and counting..." Chambers narrated.
V...I...
"Four...three..."
R!
"Two...one."
The computer beeped. Time was up. Then, the computer screen just died down. No more digits. No booms, or end of the world, or nothing. They all sighed in relief. At least the entire crisis was over. Finally. The station was safe.
Catalina moaned, and then perched herself up.
They all turned around to see her scowl.
"Damn," she muttered. "I'm not dead?!
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was dark but he didn't dare falter. His rifle was tucked close to him and his fingers grasped the rifle like a life saver. The darkness was now adjustable in his eyes but he could feel his stomach go up in knots. He always had it long ago from the very beginning and no matter how he tried, he could never get that knawing feeling away from his stomach.
He nearly tripped over a rusty old rod and as he heard the metal hit the ground and roll away noisily, he nearly gave himself a fright. Closing his eyes, he streadied his heart before continuing to walk through the dark hallways. Now I'm even scaring myself, he told himself. I think I've been locked in the Excalibur for far too long.
The silence was eerie. He supposed that because it was the rear of the station, it was always like this. Dark and eerie. Babylon 5 wasn't all enviormental-safety. Inside these dark hallways, everything that was against the mission of the station happened here. Murders, fights, smuggling, drinking, you name it, they got it. It was the neck for all information regarding almost anything these days.
Whoever grabbed Lochley sure knows the station.
Creak. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't him now. It came from far ahead of him. He could see the dim lights that shadowed from the next curve and in that he heard a muffled. A muffled cry of one word; help. He raised his rifle a bit higher as he listened carefully, his eyes focused on the dark. Another word was yelled in the muffled clasp; help me!
Now he raised his rifle. He saw a dark clad figure appear into the dim light, and when his or her eyes trained at Gideon, they began to drag a figure which he knew immediately by the white tunic; Lochley. She saw him alright, her eyes not afraid, but strangely worried as her mouth was clasped from speech. She was fighting him or her terribly as she squirmed her mouth free to yell; "Gideon!"
Gideon fired a warning shot about to a conduit. "I'm coming, Lochley!"
The hijacker ducked, and, grabbing their captive, began to make their way through the smoke that accumulated in the air from the blasted-out conduit. Gideon swept it aside and began to chase after Lochley's thief. The light flashed into his eyes as he entered the lit corridor and ached in his eyes as he continued to run, his rifle at hand. He could see that Lochley was being dragged from behind; it was difficult to run when you're holding someone.
He watched as Lochley stuck her foot out and tripped her captor to the floor. She then bent down to her knees and had an elbow to his or her back, pinning him or her down to the floors. Gideon catched up, his rifle now trained to the head of Lochley's captor. Lochleey slowly pulled away, but her captor did not flinch for the rifle was still there.
"Let's see who your captor is," Gideon said, bending down and yanking back the hood of Lochley's captor to reveal---chiselled brown hair?
"Lt. Mereza?" Lochley croaked from her sore throat.
The lieutenant craned her head to a side so Gideon could see her steady but hard brown eyes and her thin lips. Funny though, she didn't have very smooth cheekbones, and her hair seemed unusually spiky for a woman. Her thin lips were brought up to a half-smile. "You caught me, Captain," she said thinly.
Gideon was thunderstruck. "I was chasing a woman?!" he demanded. Suddenly, his link chimed on his wrist. He snatched it up and pressed a control. "Gideon here."
"Captain!" Dureena called. "I've got a member here who supposedly is in the Amsterdam gang that was on the bridge at the time of the situation and I believe sabotaged the unit camera before the big fight. It's Lt. Catalina Santiago-Mereza. She's been transferred from Mars Base six years ago and when she arrived, at the same time, Cmdr. Susan Ivanova and this Ranger under Marcus Cole was tracking them down."
"Good job, Dureena, because it just so happens we caught her," he said flatly.
"Oh?" came a responce from the other side.
"Just one more slight situation," came a voice from behind. "We've got a Drakh war vessel coming on approach vector and had fired on us already. We've got the defence grid up but because of the recent attacks on the station, I don't know how long we'll manage."
Lochley knew the voice immediately. "Corwin? When did you come back?"
"As soon as I heard, sir," came a reply. "Sir, orders?"
"Scramble the fighters while you can and hold them out as far as you can," she replied. "We have some business to finish." She glared angrily at the stupidly-grinning lieutenant who was pinned to the floor.
"Try to hold out until the three ships come in from President Sheridan arrive," Gideon ordered. "Keep us informed. Gideon out." He then glared down at the lieutenant that was on the floor with his rifle aimed at her head. "Now, you better start talking or else I'll ask for a memory washout from a telepath."
"PsiCorps no longer exists," she rasped maniaclly.
"Why the hell are you sabotaging the station?" Lochley demanded.
She took a hard glimpse at the station's commander before replying. "Sabotaging? Hmm... such dramatic words. I am merely implying that we are doing this for what has happened before. We don't just sabotage without cause; there is always a cause." She darted another mean glare at the captain. "Our quarrel is not with you but with the one before you."
"Then why did you grab Lochley?" Gideon inquired crisply.
"Because she's a threat to our cause," she replied vaguely. "Just as we are to you. She is the station's commander; if she were to find out the transactions Down Below with her frequent visits with that Drazi cook down there, we would surely get to jail and never come out of it again. No offence, Captain, but you are an obstacle that we must get rid off."
Lochley narrowed her eyes dangerously at the lieutenant. "No offence, you could say," she said lightly, "but you didn't just attack Elizabeth Lochley, Catalina, you attacked the commander of this station and a commanding officer." She rolled her eyes. "Dammit, Cath, I considered you a friend! And now this?"
"Same old, same old," Catalina pressed.
"So what are the transactions going on down here?" Gideon demanded, wavering his rifle. "You said that if Lochley found out about your transactions down below, you'll get to jail and never come out of it. Something's weird. It sounds as if you've been directly involved in this movement since the beginning before the civil war back home and been in jail before. yet you're a member of the C&C crew, which makes the fact that---"
"She has contacts," Lochley finished roughly. "She knows what's going on and can tell the Amsterdam gang if something is coming up."
"Like a ship carrying a rare artifact," said a dry voice from behind. They turned around to see Chambers holding up a beaten-looking Eilerson. Max got his hand off her shoulder and limped over to the pinned-down lieutenant and bent over. "Is this the one that caused this entire forsaken mess?" he asked.
"She's involved with it, yeah," Gideon replied. "Why?"
Max didn't hear him. Marcus broke formation and reached in and activated his pike. With experience and swiftness, he caught Kewt at the end of his chin, then at the belly and finally caught him off balance before he could stand a fighting chance. It was like only yesterday, as he remembered swinging the dagger to the gang leader's throat...
...Min'sk was his name...right?
"I remember you!" Max croaked unintellgently. "You're that damned Kewt guy that Marcus swung off on that day six years ago!" He rolled her over so she could face the ceiling anf examined her chin. A thn red scar was on her chin, which could've been a result of stitches right after the attack. "Yes! You are! But...you're a woman!"
"Hello, Mr. IPX man. We've been waiting for you," she said softly, grinning widely.
"You know her?" Lochley asked, crossing her arms tightly across her chest and glaring down at Catalina.
"Yes, but right now, that's not important," Max told them, looking up. "There's a bomb located at the fusion reactor. I've done some preliminary exams throughout the conduits and eventually came to a thermal heat sourse from in there. I think the gang had locked onto it and stuck it there."
All eyes were on Catalina, who was grinning with satisfaction. "And all those who was involved will wrath our vengance. And none of you can stop it! Hah...hah-hah!...hah-hah-hah-hah!" She began to laugh hysterically when Chambers came up, slapped her in the face with a bolted fist and tied her up.
"We better get moving," Gideon said.
"Beta Squad, scramble!" Matheson ignited his fusions as his fighter swinged around to face the vessel. He ignited the thrusters to full speed as he felt his vessel come closer and closer towards the Drakh ship with amazing speed. His forehead was filmed with sweat now and his eyes were beginning to ache. If only he could shut his eyes for only a moment...
"Beta Leader, it's Beta Two! Drakh vessel is powering up forward guns," Miller reported frantically over the comm system. "And if my calculations are correct, they're aiming for Babylon 5's mouth hole for port system."
"Dammit, C&C's located there!" Matheson said, firing his weapons at the tiny vessels that were shooting them from the Mother Ship. "And if the weaponry hits there, there could be a chain reaction throughout the station and blow it up...and if the ignition's strong enough, it may blow us up at the same time."
"Drakh mother ships are known for five-second count before jumping," Miller droned.
Matheson sighed. "I wish you didn't have to say that," he said tiresomely. He clicked another channel, this time headed to C&C. "C&C, this is Beta Leader Matheson. I've just recieved report from my wingman that the Drakh vessel is loading up forward phasers and are aiming it right at the port near C&C. Copy?"
"Roger that, Beta Leader. Did you say it's headed here?" Corwin asked. "Oh, damn! Our defence perimeter is starting to degrade and it blows here, there'll be a chain reaction to the entire station. C&C is the heart of the station."
"I couldn't agree more," Matheson agreed. "I'll try to foil their plans out here."
"We appriciate that, Lieutenant. Keep us informed. C&C over and out."
Matheson switched back to the impact of the battle. "Beta Seven and Nine, aim for the ship's weakest point, which would probably be the drainage system at the back rear," he ordered. "Beta Six and Eight, aim for the main propulsion systems. Beta Three, try getting a clear shot at their main guns area and Beta Two, you're with me."
"Aye, sir," came muffled replies.
The ships began to split and head to different directions. Matheson swerved gracefully around and headed to the engines area. From a computer navigator, he could see that Miller was not far behind from him They steadied on position just far enough from the Drakh vessel. "Okay, squad," he said. "Here's the plan. On the count of three, you will shoot all fire power to your destinated area, and hopefully it'll ilfiltrate the enemy. You got me there?"
"Aye sir," they all replied.
The reply was bold with confidence but he knew that they were all filled with dread as the moments came passing in. Matheson prayed that they wouldn't chicken out on the last moment. He held a steady hand on the controls as his fighter came whizzing about towards the end shaft of the entire ship with Miller there. Now that he made it, he affixed himself on a position far enough that he couldn't be scortched but close enough so he could get a lock.
"One..."
His fingers curled around the joystick.
"Two..."
His thumb had its place on the red button that woud fire a torpedo.
"There...fire!"
His thumb raced down and as a torpedo came zooming towards the aft with Miller's not far behind. He switched to manual and began to fire heavily on the vessel. Fire spluttered everywhere as the vessel began cringe slightly. On Matheson's screen, he could see that the vessel was beginning to crumble.
Suddenly, the jump point opened up and in zoomed three warlock-class starships, shooting out their defence grids towards the invading alien vessel. Matheson read off the hull's names; the Scutum, the Pavo and the Corona Borealis. He couldn't help but admire their timing as they continued to shoot through their systems.
His computer panel bleeped.
"All hands, retreat back ten thousand kilometers, the ship's gonna blow!"
The Furies began to zoom backwards, tumbling in space. The Drakh ship looked paralysed even though it was a few hearty shots. The stars rolled as Matheson watched his readout. The ship's defence grid was down. Their engines were far beyond corrupt now. It wavered slightly forward before the engines and propulsion system died out and exploded in white sheer light...
It was getting strangely hot by the time the hit the fusion reactor room that Gideon had to unadjust his collar. He could see, from the corner of his eye, that Lochley was now drowning in sweat along with Max and Doctor Chambers, both whom were carrying the limp body of Catalina.
"Damn, it's hot," Max slurred.
"Tell me about it," Chambers replied, dropping the body nearby. "She weighs a ton."
"Maybe you could check her pockets," Max retorted, "and see if she's carrying a nine-millimeter Glock at hand...never mind...make it an M-1 Abrams Tank."
"Very funny," she sneered.
Lochley staggered through the floors, her hand holding support by the rusty bulkheads, her hair now mopped her face and her breathing in great gasps and breaths. Gideon turned around from the sarcastic conversation between Max and the doctor and catching the weak captain before she hit the floors.
He pulled her to her feet. "Easy does it, Captain," he said soothingly. "You should have stayed in MedLab."
Lochley shook her head. "No, not when my station's about to be torn into five million pieces," she replied weakly. Seeing his worried look, she gave him a reassuring smile. "Hey, I'm okay, okay? I'll manage the next five meters. Really." She looked up at him again. He tilted his face a bit towards hers...
"Captains! We found the bomb!"
Leave it to Eilerson to spoil the moment. Lochley moved slowly aand carefully to the reactor, where the IPX man was studying a complicated-looking bomb planted on the hull of the mood-changing reactor. All four of them knelt down as Lochley unlatched the hatch, to reveal several different colour-coded buttons.
"Okay, obviously there's a key to this, a code," Chambers observed.
"Whatever it is, we better do it fast," Lochley said quickly. "It says here that the system will overload in three minutes. When that's up, the system will overload the power matrix in this hull deflector. It was send a series of ion beacons towards the secondary pulses' lines which controls all sources of power aboard this station; gravity, electricity, weaponry, defence grid...and will basically overload the commaand overrides and simply...boom."
"Take a code," Gideon said, "and whatever it is, it better be a doozy."
"Six-letter code," Lochley said. "Take your pick, Mr. Eilerson."
Thoughts came across his mind. Six-letter code...what could it be? It must be something he knew from before. Unless this damned computer was on a number-code sequence. Whatever. The clock was now in one minute department. Great. Wrong move and the station...and him and his gorgeous amount of profit...will simply disappear. Like a puff of smoke when the Hak'Vir threw the bomb...
Hak'Vir!
"Aha!" Max cried, tapping in the code. H...A...K...
"Ten seconds and counting..." Chambers narrated.
V...I...
"Four...three..."
R!
"Two...one."
The computer beeped. Time was up. Then, the computer screen just died down. No more digits. No booms, or end of the world, or nothing. They all sighed in relief. At least the entire crisis was over. Finally. The station was safe.
Catalina moaned, and then perched herself up.
They all turned around to see her scowl.
"Damn," she muttered. "I'm not dead?!