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: Oh dear. Again very short, but the scene needed its own chapter.

Part 16- It's Over

A soft thrum of a vitals monitor roused Dena to a room that was half in darkness. She shifted slightly, aware that she was lying on her back on a harder surface than usual, fully clothed but covered by a light blanket. Opening her eyes and blinking them clear, she was surprised to see none other than Lock sitting on a stool beside her.

'Commander-' her voice sounded strange in her own ears. She tried to sit up and was pleased to discover that her body responded readily to her orders, but he lay a hand on her shoulder and forced her back down.

'Rest easy, Captain.'

'Sir, what happened?'

'The Hammer had some pursuit when she was coming in to recharge. Roland thought he lost it but they came back out of nowhere, dropped down from a support line or some damned thing once the gate was open.'

'The situation, sir?'

'Under control, Captain. The APUs and tower guns took them down. Minimal damage and, I'm glad to say, no loss of life. A few injuries, of which yours were the most serious.' At her look he patted her shoulder again. 'You're going to be fine, Captain. We've just been waiting for you to wake up.'

She waited for a moment but he only folded his hands and stared down at them. That was a look she'd seen before on a commanding officer's face and it sent a chill through her.

'Sir? The- the Logos?'

'She's fine. Not even a scratch on her hull.'

Relief washed over Dena but his face was still grave.

'Then sir-' she stopped when he pressed something into her hand. Propping herself semi-upright and looking at it, she found that it was the magnetic chrono that she'd set on the bulkhead of the Logos' main deck at the beginning of the refitting process. The display, which the last time she'd looked at it read twelve days and eighteen hours until the end of the launch window, now showed in pale blue figures the remaining time of nine hours and twenty-eight minutes.

'Holy shit,' she whispered.

'You've been unconscious for the better part of thirteen days, Captain,' Lock said blankly. He sighed and examined his hands again. 'The Logos is fine but she couldn't take off without a pilot.'

'Niobe could've handled her-'

'Not into orbit!' He glared at her. 'Niobe's the best pilot I've ever seen, but even she can't take a ship into space with no experience and no knowledge of what to expect up there.'

'No,' Dena whispered, clenching her hand so tightly around the chrono she fully expected it to shatter.

'It was a great dream, Captain,' Lock said bleakly, staring impassively at the vitals monitor in front of him. 'And I was truly prepared to watch it unfold. But it was only a dream.' Standing, he touched her shoulder again briefly and met her gaze with true regret in his dark eyes. 'I'm sorry, Captain. It's over.'

Dena squeezed her eyes closed and then briefly opened them again to look at the chrono display. Nine hours and twenty-six minutes. The Prospector IV would be in space by now, powering her way back to Phobos laden with rock specimens and core samples. In just over nine hours she would be beyond her limited spatial scanning range of Earth. Gone. And with her went all chance of contacting Fleet- and Niobe's flower garden. It's over.

She opened her eyes and levelled a gaze at Lock that held all the acquiescence of solid steel.

'Like hell it's over.'

Swinging her legs out of the bed, she found her boots and stamped her feet into them, reaching for her sleeveless overjacket and flinging it on while snapping the boot clasps shut with her other hand.

'What in the hell d'you think you're doing?' Lock demanded, snapping out of whatever reverie had taken him to grab her arm as she made for the door. But this time it was he who flinched back from a darkened gaze that bored down into his soul. Dena pulled her arm free and spoke in a level tone that was edged with diamonds.

'Keeping a promise. Sir.'