Title: Rescue Run

Author: Lady Rheena

Genres: Alternate Universe, Action/Adventure, Romance

Rating: R

Disclaimer: If you recognise it from a fandom, I probably don't own it. That includes the world of The Matrix, all its characters and the concepts it entails. The idea of the Fleet and the Planetary Coalition are technically my own, but you'll probably recognise bits and pieces from various sci-fi media.

Chapter notes: Check out the technobabble…acquired by watching several episodes of Star Trek the Next Generation and then sort of cannibalising every word Geordi La Forge says…

Part 14- Drilling

'Feedback loop through primary bypass circuit!'

'Initiating shutdown, rerouting through secondary systems- shit!'

'Ghost, reboot the main hard drive and stand by to-'

The screens went blank and a dull klaxon blared distantly until Dena climbed up into the cockpit and whacked a control to silence it. Niobe let her head fall back with an exasperated sigh, as did Ghost. Sparks punched the bulkhead in frustration.

'You know I think we should come up with a new procedure for if something like this goes wrong.'

'Namely?' Ghost asked.

'We stick our heads between our legs and kiss our asses goodbye!'

'That's not the attitude that'll get us into orbit, soldier,' Dena said, arching one eyebrow. He rolled his eyes and then stuck his middle finger up at her.

'Okay, so what did we do wrong this time?' Niobe asked wearily.

'Nothing,' Dena informed her. 'Not a damned thing.'

'Then why didn't it work?'

'Because you weren't doing what you were doing fast enough. In orbit the ship is basically in a controlled fall at thousands of kilometres per hour. You've got to keep up with her if you don't want to end up as a smear of atoms all over the ionosphere.' She took a deep breath. 'Okay, let's try another one. Full engine stall.'

'Full engine stall?' Niobe echoed in disbelief. 'Hell, there's nothing anybody can do about that!'

'Oh yes there is, Captain.' Dena grinned and then climbed up to seat herself in the second front chair. 'Watch and learn, oh ye of little faith.' Tapping in the sequence for the simulation, she waited for the klaxon to go off and grinned at Sparks' imaginative curse from directly behind her.

'Full engine stall in progress,' Ghost announced, intent on his monitors.

'Confirmed,' Niobe said. 'Overtax on the third and fifth converter valves.'

'Initiate full power cut-off,' Dena ordered.

'What?' Niobe exclaimed.

'Power cut-off in progress,' Sparks put in. 'Flow down to twenty percent…five percent…flow off.'

'Let her run cold,' Dena said, remembering the first time she'd done this particular sub-orbital drill in a proper simulator and wishing they had one in Zion. There was no true replica for the sinking feeling of ten tonnes of lead in your guts that came with an atmospheric engine stall, but the simulator was better than sitting in a stationary cockpit and pretending that something was going on just by watching the screens feed through disaster scenario information.

'Temperature down to neutral,' Ghost announced.

'Okay, open up the power feed again and get her back up to full.' Dena kept her hands on the nav controls just as she would if she was really piloting in this situation.

'Power on,' Sparks said. 'Forty percent…fifty…eighty…power flow at one hundred percent.'

'Hit it!'

Niobe responded to the command by punching the engine igniter set in the ceiling between the two pilots' chairs. The charge handle there had been removed, redundant as it now was with the new energy feed mechanism, but the screens flickered and then stabilised in an appropriately spluttering manner.

'Are we dead again?' Sparks asked.

'No,' Ghost told him, tapping a display. 'Engines back to full. We survived that one.'

'Well I'll be damned.' Niobe looked over at Dena. 'I'm glad you're going to be sitting there when we do this for real- Captain.'

'So'm I,' Dena agreed, grimacing. Was she being too hard on them? The crew of the Logos had made remarkable progress in their literacy of the unfamiliar controls and processes on board an orbit capable ship considering their training thus far consisted of three weeks of sitting in the cockpit and watching screens. The problem was that none of them could now anticipate the behaviour of the Logos and her systems, couldn't jump ahead to make the next three critical decisions so they were ready to implement them when the time came. But that kind of ability came only after four years of Fleet Academy training, and it took a lifetime of piloting and working in spaceflight to reach Dena's own level of expertise. Would the handful of days before the launch window really make that much of a difference?

'I think that'll do for today,' she said. 'Let's get some recharging done, crew.'

'Sounds good to me,' Sparks muttered as they all climbed out and down. Dena remained behind on the dock pad for a moment, deleting the scenario to free up essential processing room for the morrow. He paused for a moment and then walked back, brushing a lock of her hair away to plant a soft kiss on her neck.

'See you at the Temple tonight?'

'Maybe later,' she acknowledge without turning. 'I just want to rerun the diagnostics on the main hard drives one more time.' He sighed.

'Okay. I won't wait up.'

'See you later,' she responded, still not taking her eyes off the display. For several minutes there was a silence around the Logos broken only by the occasional blip from the main interfacing board as the analysis ran.

'You know I've seen that look before.'

Startled, Dena whirled and then broke into a smile.

'Zee? Sorry, didn't see you for a second there.'

'That's all right.' The other woman smiled back. 'I don't think you've seen half of what's going on around here for the past few weeks, huh?'

'I guess not.' Dena put one hand on her hip. 'How's Link?'

Another smile, this one a tad rueful.

'He's fine, s'far as I know. The Neb hasn't been in.'

'Ah.'

'In fact that reminded me of him just now.'

'What did?'

'Sparks.' Zee folded her arms. 'The way he looks at you.'

That made Dena frown.

'What do you mean?'

'The way he looks at you. It's the same way Link looks at me. But…you're not looking back at him the way I look back at Link.' Zee cocked her head with a slightly impish grin. 'He's a nice guy.'

'I know,' Dena admitted. 'He is a nice guy.'

'Too nice? Or maybe you don't like nice guys, huh?'

'I got no problem with nice.'

'Then what is the problem?'

'My problem is that in twelve days I've got to get this heap up in the air with three people who've never seen the sky before, much less the stars.' Dena sighed and shook her head. 'Thing like that doesn't leave time for nice.'

'Well then, maybe you should find time,' Zee said gently. 'Or don't people matter up in space?'

Dena looked at her thoughtfully.

'Once I get back up there I'll think about it.'

'And what if you get up there but something still goes wrong?' Zee's dark eyes seemed to bore holes right through to Dena's soul. 'Don't you feel like there's anything you want to do or say first, just in case?'

Dena glanced away from her, back down at the diagnostic panel. The cycle was a long four hours and barely ten minutes into it, and the chrono already read 1847. She reached out and shut it off. When she turned back Zee was smiling.

'Can I…borrow something from you?'

'Sure you can.' Extending a bangle-laden arm, Zee took her by the hand. 'Come on. The gathering doesn't start for another quarter of an hour.'