CHAPTER TWO:
FIRST RESCUE
================================================================
"The wearer of the mask partakes of the power of
the divinity or spirit which the mask symbolises..."
—Encyclopaedia of Magic and Superstition
================================================================
The deck ceased its shuddering as Andromeda emerged from slipstream near Pythia. The atmosphere on Command was tense to say the least.
"Multiple distress signals, both from the colony and from an orbital habitat," Rommie reported.
Tyr frowned. "No one said anything about an orbital habitat."
"Things are much worse than expected. Blowback from the comet strike has caused severe structural damage to the orbital. They're trying to evacuate, but they don't have enough ships."
"How many Than are we talking about?" Beka asked from the slipstream chair.
"The orbital housed several hundred thousand Than. We can help, but it will take several days to ferry them all to safety."
"Dylan and the Magog will be on their own for longer than they expected," Tyr pointed out, as ever playing 'devil's advocate'.
Rommie looked directly at Beka. "If we leave, the Than in that orbital will die."
"Are you telling me I should just abandon Dylan and Rev?" she asked.
"I'm not telling you to do anything," Rommie explained. "I'm giving the Captain options."
"Beka," Trance called over the intercom.
"What news?"
"I've been monitoring things down here, and I think I can help out—using the ring. I can travel faster than Andromeda, run damage limitation when I get to the orbital, buy time for you guys when you arrive. Seal off breaches, evacuate critical areas, that sort of thing—I won't really know everything until I get there, but I can make a difference. I can do this."
Beka nodded. "Andromeda," she called, "shift course for the orbital, best speed. Dylan'll just have to take care of himself. Trance, are you absolutely sure about this?"
"I can do better than that—I'm certain," the purple pixie confidently announced. "I can do this Beka. Trust me."
The blonde captain grinned. "Okay, you go do your thing, but I want you to stay in contact with us the whole time. And be prepared to come back aboard when we start getting flooded with casualties."
================================================================
Trance smiled broadly to herself as she ran into her quarters and retrieved the power ring from its hiding place. This was it. Finally she was going to use these abilities for real.
She slid the shining piece of green metal onto her finger, feeling more than a little nervous. If she made a mistake, there would be no taking it back, not this time.
And yet...there was something she found strangely attractive about all this. For a long time, she had done good over the years and caused good things to happen. The whole time, despite all her work, she had never been recognised for those accomplishments. Granted, she had worked better in anonymity, but still...a little gratitude would have been nice.
She glanced down at herself as her uniform replaced her dress. This was actually one of the few things that the ring did that Kyle had been unable to explain, as he didn't rightly know how the trick worked himself. This time, she wore a skintight suit that covered her from neck to toe in the warm and comfortable fabric. No frills, nothing to get snagged or catch on things. In other words, practical for the task at hand.
She gently pushed upwards with her mind, and she floated from the deck. Grinning to herself, she focussed a little more, and she was off, rocketing through Andromeda's corridors. A party of Tyr's mercenaries appeared up ahead, and she smiled.
"Look out!" she called. "The Green Lantern's coming through!"
They ducked, and one of them, a Makra, hurled a volley of choice insults after her as she flew on. She giggled briefly; that had been fun, even though she planned to find them later and apologise for the scare.
"Rommie?" she called out as she slowed to hover outside the hangar bay. "Open the doors please? I just need to get a headset from the Maru, and then I'll need you to open the hangar doors for me."
Andromeda's response was to open the doors, and Trance promptly dived inside, heading for the Maru.
A minute later and she'd sealed the Maru's airlock behind her as she adjusted the headset's frequencies. "Beka? Tyr? Are you guys reading me?"
"Gotcha kiddo." Beka's response hissed with static, which cleared up as she compensated.
"Okay...I'm ready."
"Now you watch yourself out there Trance," Beka warned. "If you think your ring's running out of power, let us know and head back as fast as you can."
"I will," Trance assured her. "Don't worry, I won't be careful—I'll be paranoid."
Beka's laughter echoed tinnily over the com link. "You do that. And the best of luck to you. Opening hangar doors."
Trance licked her lips a little nervously, focussing her mind as she heard the hiss of the air being drawn from the hangar, the fading rumble of the doors as they ground open and sound was swallowed by vacuum.
She heard a brief hiss of air as the green plasma sealed around her and began to photosynthesise oxygen, and then there was only the dead silence of space. It was a silence as big as...everything.
She flew, up and out of the hangar. 'Hovering' beside Andromeda, matching her speed, Trance oriented herself, found the orbital and took off.
She focussed everything she had on her speed, and as she accelerated past Andromeda she was little more than a green and purple blur. Kyle had once told her it was possible to travel almost at the speed of light with a power ring, and certainly he'd had little trouble navigating the slipstream when he'd arrived in this universe, but she knew it would be a long while before she had the skill to do something like that.
Cool green plasma flowed over her skin like as smooth and clear as water, maintaining her temperature, siphoning off sweat, monitoring muscle tone, repelling micrometeorites. This was in its own right an exhilarating experience for her; flying faster than any ship ever had before, with no suit or craft, nothing except for the power ring and her own willpower keeping her alive. It was a disturbing notion, and an exciting one as well.
Within minutes, she reached the orbital. It was a large, disk-shaped object with a spire running through its centre. The spire had snapped lower down, and the station listed drunkenly, slowly spinning toward Pythia's surface below. She closed in, as a section of hull plating erupted from within, spilling various objects and terrified Than out into space.
"Okay Trance, you can do this," she muttered to herself. "You can do this. It's all about the focus."
She thought green thoughts. And her thoughts became things.
A shimmering barrier sealed off the breach, and green globes snapped into existence around the flailing Than, sealing them into safety and immersing them with oxygen. Trance grinned weakly to herself, as she fought to maintain her focus. Just as Kyle had said, splitting focus was extremely difficult...it felt as though she were tearing her mind apart.
In an instant, an idea came to her. Swiftly, she manoeuvred the globes together, merging and melding them, their forms blurring as her imagination went to work...
There. That was much easier with only three things to really focus on. She beamed proudly at the new creation: a crudely-shaped ship now surrounded the Than, a craft that she sent speeding on its way to Andromeda. "Guys," she called into the headset, "I've got some evacuees headed your way."
================================================================
Beka chuckled to herself as she saw the glowing green shape approach them. "We read you...Green Lantern. Standing by with Hangar Five." With that, she ended the communication and stared at the vid-feeds that Andromeda displayed on her main viewscreen.
Trance had moved off as a repair craft closed in and welded a crude, air- tight patch over the breach, and the transport ship carefully entered the gaping maw of the hangar. As soon as it entered, she nodded at Rommie. The android briefly closed her eyes as she communed with herself, and the hangar sealed once more, beginning to repressurise. As its passengers disembarked, the ship dissipated in a brief sparkling shower of light.
Beka shook her head as she watched the unfolding drama ahead. "Go get 'em, Trance," she murmured.
================================================================
Trance winced as the hull plating before her exploded outwards, shrapnel clattering from her shield. She braced herself, expecting to have to deal with a stream of Than, but all that spewed from the cavernous fissure was machinery and assorted debris. She sealed the breach, shaking her head as she did so. Partially in an attempt to clear it from the migraine that was setting in—something Kyle had warned she would probably experience early on—but partially because she felt that there was more she should be able to do.
"Come on!" she thought to herself. "Think BIG! Wait...hang on, that's IT!"
She twisted into a somersault, flying away from the orbital as fast as she could.
================================================================
"What is she doing?" Tyr pondered as Andromeda closed in on the orbital. "I would not have thought her likely to turn tail and run from her first challenge."
"Why Tyr, I never knew you cared," Beka teased.
"If that hologram was to be believed, the most powerful single weapon in all the universe rests upon her finger right now, and that is a situation I would prefer to monitor very closely indeed," he explained.
"As I recall, he also said that the ring would now only work for Trance," Rommie commented, twitching an eyebrow.
He shook his dreadlocked head as he turned to face them. "Ship, are you trying to imply something, or is faulty programming causing you to waste our time with idle conversation?" he shot back. "Do not insult my intelligence. And for your information, I happen to think that of everyone aboard these decks Trance is perhaps the best-suited for the job."
"What? Aren't you up to it?" Beka grinned at him. He snorted in disbelief.
"Such a device would lead to complacency on its wielder's behalf. And whilst Trance will most likely be able to avoid such problems, I prefer not to risk my life, my genes and my lineage in so cavalier a manner." He turned back to his station. "I have no need to carry such a device, although I admit that I prefer the bearer of that ring to be on my side than not."
================================================================
Trance stared at the orbital nervously, preparing herself. To say that this would be difficult would be an understatement. She smiled as a memory came to her. "Nothing worth doing is easy," had been Dylan's words when he'd recruited them. Looking at the orbital, she knew that those words were highly appropriate for this situation.
"Hee haw," she muttered, as she focussed. She flexed.
And everything went green.
================================================================
Beka grinned hugely as they entered close range with the orbital and evacuation shuttles began landing in the hangars.
Ten minutes ago, the impossible had happened. Ten minutes ago, the orbital had ceased its slow plummet, its orbit had stabilised and hull reinforced.
But then, she mused, many would have said that it was impossible for a sentient warship and her captain to survive for three hundred years caught in the gravity well of a black hole. Many would have said it was impossible for a High Guard warship to fall in love, or be driven insane by that love. So in comparison, an emerald plasma structure materialising from a little green ring and stabilising an entire orbital habitat was just yet another 'impossible' thing that had actually happened.
Already, transport ships were landing by the dozen in the hangars, hastily unloading their passengers before leaving as swiftly as they had arrived to recover more Than from the dying structure—for despite Trance's best efforts, the habitat was surely doomed—and another wave of transports would arrive to do exactly the same thing.
"Rommie, get our transport pods over there. I want us to be done with that thing as fast as we can."
"So hasty?" Tyr turned to her. "I thought you wanted to do a good job for our ...beloved Captain?"
"Your personal feelings for Dylan aside, Tyr," Beka paused and snorted in amusement at his mildly revolted expression, "the faster we get the orbital out of the way, the faster we can get working on Pythia itself. These guys are just the start of things. There's millions of Than who need us on that rock, and our job's to help 'em. Besides, Trance can only hold that crate together for so long—even if she doesn't lose her focus that ring's only got so much juice. If it runs out whilst she's in zero-g... you get the idea."
The former mercenary shrugged and turned back to his station. Beka looked up at one corner of the main viewscreen, and grinned in a mixture of amazement and disbelief at the sight of the encased orbital as a rush of optimism flowed through her like adrenaline.
They were going to do just fine on this op.
================================================================
Dylan sighed as he entered his quarters and flopped into his armchair contentedly. A shower, some sleep and a square meal and...he probably still wouldn't be absolutely brilliant, but the improvement would be enough. Maybe he'd take Beka up on that talk...
He sighed as he allowed himself to sink a little deeper into the chair's welcoming depths. "Andromeda?"
Her hologram materialised before him, and he smiled wearily. "How were things here whilst I was gone?"
She inclined her head to one side briefly. "The relief operation was a complete success. Beka and I worked reasonably well together co-ordinating our end of the operation. She's good, there's no denying that. We had a few...complicated situations, but nothing that couldn't be resolved. And we are now on excellent terms with the Pythian government."
He nodded as he leaned back in the chair, wincing slightly as the supple leather gently creaked. "And...I understand that Trance outdid herself?"
She grinned at this. "She was impressive. If it weren't for that ring of hers, things would have gone differently on that orbital...a little worse, to say the least. But she pulled through." She was gratified to see Dylan smiling at the news. She knew the mission to Serendipity had gone badly somehow, but felt it best to wait rather than push for information. "Working that ring seems to have exhausted her, she's been asleep nearly two days now, but she succeeded, and she saved a lot of lives that would've been lost if it weren't for her and the ring. The media's become rather excitable about this new 'champion' who seems to have allied herself with you only just now. Beka and I eventually gave up trying to talk to them. I must say, she is highly adept at delegation; she had Tyr answer their questions."
"Oh, no," he groaned, leaning back a little further.
She smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry. I made certain he didn't take a gauss rifle to the press conference. In all seriousness, they seem to be satisfied with the information he gave them—information that Beka, Trance and I approved beforehand. I believe that we may have an advantage here, Dylan."
He nodded in understanding. "I take it that 'Green Lantern' has been... favourably received then?"
"She certainly has. The Pythians sent a message of thanks to us all less than an hour before your return, and they attached a note. It seems they're thinking of building a statue of her."
He chuckled dryly. "That does sound like good news. But I can do you one better, Rommie."
"Oh?"
"At least Trance was chosen by the ring. I mean, can you imagine what it would do to Harper's ego if he'd been selected?"
================================================================
================================================================
Author's Note: yeah, not the best pair of chapter endings but what am I, a miracle worker? Thanks for your faith in me, but I'm not quite that good. Anyway, please let me know what you think. I'm already working on the next couple of chapters, so one way or another, this is getting a follow up on Friday 30th (In England, at any rate—I dunno how the time zones mesh, I've never left the country before. Ever.) at the very latest, but if I can get feedback, I can make some adjustments in the next pieces. Also, let me know if there's a situation of whatever sort you reckon would be interesting to use and I'll have a goosy to find out what I can do my end. If you have questions about future occurrences, could you PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE include your personal opinions, ideas, anything that comes to mind regarding the matter—I do not stand on many formalities, I AM willing to sound out stuff like this! Anyway, much appreciating your readership,
Union-Jack2.0