Schneider carefully lined up the cue, looking down it at the cue ball and, just beyond it, the eight ball. Jonathan Pasley stood nearby, watching intently, and Pearce sat on a chair close to the pool table. Schneider looked up for a moment to address Pasley.
"This is it. This last shot will seal my victory," he pointed the cue at Jonathan, "and make you the loser!" He laughed and lazily took his time on the shot.
"Go on and miss already, then it'll be my turn!" Jonathan shot back at him. Schneider exaggeratedly aimed a few seconds longer and pulled the cue back for the shot. BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP! Schneider started at the noise and his shot went wild, knocking the cue ball into a pocket.
"Damn it!" he shouted, frowning as Jonathan laughed. He looked around, annoyed. "What is that noise, anyway!"
Pearce stepped up, moving cautiously while he listened. "I think I know what that is. That's a Combat Alert!" The sound got louder, and small, spinning emergency lights on the walls began to light up.
"Maybe it's a drill," Schneider rationalized, as his face took on an eerie red tint from the emergency lighting. Crewman ran through the halls outside.
"This is no drill!" a crewman informed them. "The ships are pulling out! We got Covenant comin' in, soldiers! You need to get yourselves armed and down to defensive stations!" With that, he sprinted out the door.
"Oh, no they're leaving! They don't know we're not on the Winter Moon!" Pearce realized.
"Let's get down there, fast!" Jonathan ordered, already running out the door, "Come on, run!" Schneider and Pearce quickly followed, and they sprinted down the halls. The buzzing emergency tones rang urgently in their ears as they shoved their way through the corridor. They ran out into a hallway that served as a road. Jonathan was on it before he realized what it was. He turned and saw a cargo tram bearing down on him. Oh damn! he thought, and reflex made him jump out of the way with all the strength his legs could muster. The tram missed him--by little more than an inch--and screeched to a halt. He landed on the floor, winded.
"What the living hell do you think you're doing, moron! I could' a killed you! What's your name soldier, you can be sure I'm gonna report this to--hey!" the driver of the tram yelped in surprise as Pearce pushed him off. He sprawled on the floor.
"Sorry, but we hafta borrow this!" Jonathan and Schneider leapt onto the tram as Pearce stomped the accelerator. "You'll get it back!" Pearce called over his shoulder, as the tram driver pointed at them and cursed violently.
Riding on the quick little tram, they made much better time, flying down the corridor toward Bay 7, where the Winter Moon was docked. They passed a dock schedule, and Jonathan looked for his watch, but it wasn't there.
"How long until the Moon pulls out!" Jonathan yelled over the buzzy noise of the tram.
"I don't know!" Schnieder shouted, looking at the Pearce, who threw the tram roughly around a cluster of barrels. Schneider snarled at Pearce, "Let me drive!" He grabbed the wheel, but Pearce pushed him off.
"No! I'm driving!" Pearce shouted back.
"You're gonna crash and get us killed!" Schneider accused, fighting him for the wheel. They scuffled, and the tram bobbed and weaved as deck crew scrambled to get out of their way. They crashed through a pile of boxes. Jonathan removed a box from his head; he tried to see past Pearce and Schneider, and spotted the junction to Bay 7.
"Heads up! We gotta turn!" he yelled at them. The two scuffled even more furiously. Hesitating a moment, Jonathan swept his leg underneath them and pushed them over with his left arm, reaching for the steering wheel with the other. He grabbed the wheel and jerked it sideways. The tires screeched and the tram slid into a sideways spin, toward the wall. Pearce and Schneider looked up in time to see the impending collision, and screamed: "Ahhhhhh!"
Jonathan thought they would crash, knew they would crash, didn't even have time to scream, but he had done things like this in training, and those instincts took over. His foot automatically lifted off the accelerator and his hands slid the wheel the other way, countersteering. The wheels regained traction and screeched louder, he could feel the tram's weight shift in his stomach and it tipped onto two wheels. Luck held out however, and they didn't roll. Instead, they slid loudly onto course heading toward Bay 7.
"Why didn't you tell us you could drive like that!" Schneider yelled at him.
"The opportunity never came up!" Jonathan quipped, concentrating on directing the tram. Ahead, the wide tunnel opened into an even wider chamber: the docking bay.
"There it is!" Schneider said, standing up and pointing. "We're gonna make it!" He looked happily at Pearce, who was staring out the window into space. "No, we're not," Pearce whispered.
"What!" Schneider asked, but Pearce only pointed out through the windows into space. The Winter Moon was blocking much of the view, but not enough to prevent them from seeing the Orion turning furiously. They saw something else, too. Small, bluish points of light began appearing and melted together, and where there had been nothing a massive, predatory shape appeared. It glinted purple. A Covenant ship. Jonathan watched, too, mouth open, as the Covenant ship spun to meet the Orion and its side's glowed red. Schneider snapped him out of his daze.
"We can still make it! Drive!" he yelled. He stepped on Jonathan's foot and the tram leapt forward again. Schneider looked out the window, seeing the Winter Moon. It began to move, and the connections leading to the ship began to burst off with a rush of atmosphere. "They're blowing the connections! Go for that one!" He pointed at the closest portal. Jonathan steered into it and plastered the accelerator to the floor.
"Are you insane? We should stay on the Station!" Pearce yelled at them.
"No!" Schneider burst at him. "They need us on the ship!" The tunnel walls flew by.
"Come on, more speed!" Jonathan urged the tram.
The end of the tunnel was in sight, they were closing fast when they suddenly rose into the air.
The artificial gravity had been cut off.
The tram began to spin in midair, rolling, as the doors at the end began to close, slowly. They clutched at the tram, trying to hold on, but it hit a crate and they were bucked off, sending them flying away on their own. This time, they all screamed. They went hurtling at fifty kph down the corridor and zipped neatly through the slowly-shutting doors. As soon as they got to the ship, however, the Winter Moon's gravity took over and they fell to the floor, and rolled hard. Jonathan hit something; his head seared and his vision blurred into a hazy red. We made it, he thought, and then he fell into unconsciousness.