Chapter 5
Kara fought her body's need for sleep and got out of the viper to assess what repairs were needed to get the starboard engine going again. It was only now that she really appreciated how long it had been since she had done such a long and arduous mission. Her body ached from sitting in the viper for so long and from physically hauling the ship through the asteroid field, but she just had to ignore all these aches and pains and get on with it; she didn't have time to waste right now.
The wind was whipping around the ship and she hated to think what the temperature might be. Even though it was designed to maintain her body temperature, the cold was seeping through her flight suit. Working with gloves and her helmet on was also making the task more difficult, but she couldn't take them off. After pulling various bits of charred metal out of the way she managed to identify the main problem with the engine. The impact with the asteroid had dislodged one of the firing sensors. The problem was that it had dislodged the sensor into a cavity that she couldn't seem to get it out of. She needed to remove it, repair it and then hopefully the engine would start so she could get off this frozen rock. She tried every which way to get the frakking thing out of the hole but with no luck. She contemplated taking her gloves off for a short moment to fit her hand more easily into the cavity, but she knew that was a sure way to loose her fingers to frostbite or worse. She was getting to the point where her exhaustion was such that she could hardly see straight, but she was determined to keep going until she got the sensor out; then she could get back in her cockpit to work on repairing it and would allow herself a little time to rest.
"Come out you little bastard," she said through gritted teeth as she tried again to get a hold on the part. This time her grip was better than she had managed so far. Not really caring how much she damaged it now, she yanked as hard as she could. The piece at last came away. Kara was so surprised that she fell backwards. Loosing her footing on the ice, she crashed to the ground, catching her helmet on the viper's wing.
−
When Kara came round she was disoriented to find herself lying on the cold ice; she had no idea how long she had been out, but it was long enough for a deep chill to creep through her body which meant that she must have been unconscious for some time. Her head hurt like hell and she could feel blood congealing down the side of her face. She must have cracked her head hard against the side of her helmet as she fell. Her suit was ripped, allowing the cold to get in. Fortunately she still had the sensor in her hand. She crawled to the side of the ship and used it to ease herself to her feet. She realised that getting up so quickly was a bad idea as she swayed and a wave of nausea washed over her. She steadied herself on the side of the viper, breathing deeply to stop her head spinning. Kara had seen and experienced enough injuries in her career to recognise concussion and she knew that she had to get back into the viper to allow herself some time to recover. However, it was no easy feat to climb back into a viper cockpit without a ladder from an unsteady surface. She heaved herself on to the wing of the ship with more effort than grace and then got herself into the cockpit. She managed to pull the canopy closed, but ice had already formed on the inside of the cockpit and this did nothing to help alleviate the chill that she already felt. An overwhelming exhaustion overcame her. She closed her eyes, thinking that a few minutes rest would help clear her head.
−
When Kara awoke she felt better for the rest, but glancing at her watch she realised that it hadn't been ten minutes but ten hours! She didn't have that kind of time to waste on sleeping, but what was done was done. She now needed to get a move on. She scraped away some of the ice from the inside of the cracked canopy; it didn't look like the weather outside had improved at all. She started to fiddle with the sensor. She had to stop herself watching the clock and concentrate on her repairs. Eventually it was done and now she had to climb back out of the cockpit to re-fit it and complete the repairs to the engine. This done, she again crawled back into the viper. She sorely wished that there was someone else here to test the engine so that she didn't have to keep climbing in and out of the viper in these dangerous conditions. The realisation that she was completely alone suddenly hit her. She knew that she was lucky not to be still lying unconscious or worse on the ice and this time there was absolutely no chance of rescue. With the realisation of her isolation came an overwhelming and gut-wrenching need for Lee and Alex. She wondered how they were getting on without her on Galactica. She hadn't really had time to miss them up until now, but right at this moment she wanted nothing more than to be lying in Lee's arms with Alex held between them. She felt an ache in her breasts, whether it was just a reaction to her need to see her little boy or from the fact that this was the longest she'd gone without feeding him since he had been born she didn't know. All she knew was that she needed to get back to them as soon as she could and this need drove her on.
She held her breath, metaphorically crossed her fingers and pressed the starter button: nothing happened. She tried it again: nothing but a couple of coughs from the engines.
"Third time's the charm," she muttered to herself, hoping desperately that it was. This time the engines turned over a couple of times but then died. "OK baby, may be yours is fourth time lucky." She pressed the button with all the strength that she had. The engines coughed and spluttered but gradually came to life and stayed going.
"That's another one I owe you Lords. I know that I'm really running out of favours but can you help me get back as well? There are a couple of people that I'd really like to see again. Well, here goes nothing."
She lifted the viper away from the surface and tried to hold the ship steady in the vicious wind. Her natural instincts took over and she headed the ship out into space.
When she made it out of the atmosphere she knew that there was one more thing that she had to do: she needed to map safe co-ordinates for a jump. There was no way that, having been through all of this, she was going back to the Galactica without completing the mission that she had been sent out to do. She started up the viper's navigation computer, but it seemed to have been more affected by the storm field than the other systems and wouldn't work properly. Not wanting to rely on the faulty equipment, and to make sure that she got the co-ordinates, she was going to have to do it the hard way. She dug a pen and a tatty piece of paper out of her bag and tried to remember everything she'd learned about space dynamics; not a lot if she recalled correctly. Lee had coached her relentlessly to get her through the exam that she needed to pass to stay at the academy. She had scraped through by the skin of her teeth and then promptly never used any of the things she'd learned again. Gods she needed Lee at this moment; for the single reason that he had naturally passed with the highest possible mark and would be able to make the calculations without blinking. Whoever could have imagined that his nerdy anal tendencies would ever come in useful in a viper! She could almost hear his relentless voice lecturing her about the equations. She concentrated hard and tried to recall what he had said all those years ago. As his words came back to her she started to work her way through the calculation. It took longer than she intended but eventually she was happy that she had the co-ordinates calculated correctly and she carefully put the paper into a pocket in her flight suit.
She glanced at her watch: 40 hours gone. She was barely going to make it. She hoped that her father-in-law wasn't in too much of a hurry and would give her a little leeway on time. She tried to clear as much of the ice from the inside of the canopy as possible to give her a clear view and then turned the viper towards the storm field, prepared to navigate her way through the asteroid field and back into the storm.