Note: No chapter last weekend as I came down with a cold and felt really tired for a week and a half. Fortunately, all the sneezing and coughing has finally gone, though a very cold winter has arrived in the UK. I hope everyone else is doing well, and thank you so much for all the positive reviews to the last two chapters.
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ACT 2 – TRUTH
Chapter 31 – High Alert
Oneakka ate his late Midday Meal by himself, sat at a small table to the side of the almost entirely empty Canteen.
Everyone else was doing useful things, at their duty stations or the Recruits in their afternoon lessons.
He had nothing to do or anywhere to be, except for the 'exciting' prospect of his afternoon rehab session.
That was if repeatedly obsessing about the argument with Raven didn't qualify as 'work'.
Some of his favourite foods had been on offer today, but he'd not enjoyed the meal. The constant replay of the fight had somehow stolen his interest in his food despite feeling really hungry, and his throat had felt so dry and tight, that he'd had to get a second cup of kita juice to help wash the food down.
All because of an argument.
But he could recognise the true enemy here; the old nemesis lingering around him at his isolated lonely table.
The dark negative thoughts and the heavy weight of depressed feelings in his chest.
None of it was new, but usually the feelings were caused by thinking of his people or when grieving friends… He guessed that meant he really did see this as the end of his friendship with Raven. That everything was going to change now.
And he knew exactly what that future path would look like: He had to stop the daily meals with her, the daily visits to see the goats together. He'd definitely keep his distance, even if her threat to go work for Saoka had been something of a bluff. They could be polite to each other, but there were to be no more daily interactions. That he had his two weeks away would be a good start to the separation, but, once he was back, he'd focus on his rehab and, hopefully, return to battle rotation in a few months. Then he'd be leaving the Facility, returning back to his work; back to his usual life.
It was what he'd planned for all along, he reminded himself as he shuffled the last bits of his meal around the plate.
It was how it was always going to turn out anyway.
The heavy weight of sadness sitting right in the middle of his chest only confirmed as much.
He'd always believed emotional attachments – outside of those of his Elite 'family' – were a weakness and distractions from a warrior's life. It was all true, because a simple verbal fight shouldn't make him feel like this, shouldn't have made him feel so panicked that he'd all but run away from her down that hallway.
No, it was time to face reality and put this friendship into the past.
To get back to his life and she'd eventually leave the Facility too anyway, off to live a happy life somewhere else.
It was clearly the best thing for both of them.
He'd get over these passing feelings.
He always did.
He always survived.
Finally getting the last forkful of food off the plate and swallowing it down – more to prove to himself that he could finish the meal rather than any real interest in it – he drank down the last of the kita juice and stood up. He set his plate, cup and the tray in their respective sections in the disposal area and headed towards the exit.
The corridors were as relatively empty as the Canteen had been; everyone was busy, everyone with something to do but him. Everybody happy but him.
He frowned at those thoughts, clearly exaggerated; the enemy rearing its head again. He needed to focus on something productive, distracting.
He could go visit the goats, though that felt a little too associated with Raven right now, so that left either starting early on his packing for his break or going to the Rehab Gym early. Though, he'd only just eaten, so the rehab session didn't seem the wise choice, so he'd just go to his quarters and start on the packing then.
He glanced around and realised he wasn't sure which corridor he was in and where he had been walking. He pulled up and looked around, getting his bearings. Despite his intentions otherwise, he appeared to have been on the way to the Hydroponics Bay to see the goats. He would need to backtrack a bit and then take the turning that would-
Abruptly, his electronic pad in his back pocket vibrated two quick successive alerts at the same time as several blue lights lit up along the corridor, and then his pad repeated the double buzz. A high alert!
He quickly reached to his back pocket, swiftly drawing out the pad. As soon as it was in his hand, the screen lit up with the summarised details of the high alert.
Territory Breach – Skerti radiation detected and Wraith attack in progress – Public Marketing Station 003
He'd had moments in life where time really did seem to almost stop, usually in battle when it felt as if his brain and body had ramped up their processing speed, seemingly slowing down his awareness of everything. In today's bluish light of the corridor, he swore time slowed as he reread the message, almost not believing what he was seeing.
Then time snapped back into fast sudden motion, and he turned on the spot and just ran.
He wasn't alone in the method though, for as he turned a sharp corner, he could see other Elite racing ahead of him. Every Elite, anywhere in the Alliance would have received the high alert notification, but for those who happened to currently be in the Facility, whether just between missions or because they were off rotation like him, were all now racing towards the Facility's Security Centre.
Hot brain-clouding panic tore through Oneakka as he joined the rush, overtaking his colleagues as much as he could, whipping around the final corner to where other Elite ahead of him were piling in through the narrow entrance into the Security Centre. Oneakka pushed in after them, aware that he was elbowing his way through those slower and younger than him, but he had no time to waste on politeness.
Through the entranceway, he turned with everyone else into the narrow corridor to the left, the blue lights flashing overhead, which only added to his sense of growing dread and created a surprising rush of claustrophobic panic. He employed speed and elbows again to shove his way forward, finally getting to the open doorway into the Elite Emergency Response Station.
It was a decent sized room, but it was dominated by the massive central console with its multitude of vertical display screens and emergency links channels direct to anyone anywhere in the Alliance. There were already a good number of Elite in here and, off to the left, he spied Massa, who was stood in front of group of what Oneakka were sure were newly graduated Elite. Oneakka headed towards Massa, while simultaneously trying to absorb everything he could see and hear off the central console.
Aedii was stood up on the small plinth at the far end of the console, having assumed the position of Response Lead, most likely as he'd been the first here. Aedii was currently in discussion with a loud clipped Military voice over an audio link, but there were various other voices talking back and forth in the background, sounding like the Military working with far more stressed voices on the other end. Voices perhaps on the station?
Almost at Massa, Oneakka focused on him as he'd clearly been in here longer.
Massa was already looking in his direction.
"A Skerti Seed Ship came through a jump window," Massa began to report instantly, and Oneakka was aware of other newly arriving Elite around him also listening as they started filling the room, "it was pursued by a Wraith Cruiser and hundreds of Wraith Fighters, then the window shut, severing the front end of the Cruiser. It collided with the Seed Ship, which then exploded, and the burning remains of the Cruiser hit Saoka's station."
Oneakka's heart dropped into a deep dark pit. Yet, despite that emotional reaction, in a split second his training kicked in. Questions, considerations and analysis ran through his mind instantly. How close had the two enemy ships been to the station when they'd collided? How big was the severed front end of the Cruiser? Cruisers were far from the massive size of Wraith Hives, but they were still far bigger than Saoka's space station. But, how fast the Cruiser had been moving would be important, as would be the angle it hit the station. If part of it had exploded with the Seed Ship, then perhaps that had reduced its mass and momentum when it had hit the station? Had it hit the station full on or had it been a glancing blow?
As he reached Massa, the rolling list of unanswered horrible questions turning in his head, he reached out and grasped both of Massa's upper arms. "Seeal may be on that station."
Massa's formerly concerned look morphed into shocked panic of his own. "What?!"
Oneakka didn't wait to see any more of Massa's reaction, instead he turned and headed the short distance to the central console, squeezing in between several sets of shoulders so he could actually get to the side of the console and commandeer one of the small outlying display screens.
As he did, he saw that most of the screens were displaying running lists and scan results, nothing overly coherent, so he looked off to Aedii.
Aedii, fortunately highly experienced, was reaching forward as he talked with the disembodied Military voice. "Yes, Commander. I am briefing the Elite now," he tapped a button, presumably muting his end of the audio link, and Aedii looked quickly around the now packed Response Station.
"Just over six minutes ago," Aedii began in a loud controlled voice, "Skerti Drive radiation was detected by Public Marketing Station 003 and the sector's closest sentry satellites. This was followed by a Skerti Drive created 'jump window' opening near the marketing station, out of which flew a Skerti Seed Ship." As he spoke, several images began playing across the largest screens for all the Elite in the room to see, reminding them of the limited data and scans they had of a Seed Ship. Oneakka didn't need to look at them, because he'd been on the Sythus when it had encountered the single example the Alliance had seen of such a ship….until today.
"Pursuing the Seed Ship," Aedii continued, "was a Wraith Cruiser and a large number of its Fighters. Through the window, we have limited images of what appears to be a full scale Wraith vs. Skerti space battle on the other side."
This time Oneakka looked at the series of images. They were only from a few angles, and most of the Cruiser blocked the view through the window, but the streaks of weapons fire and the messy view of masses of moving ships was a clear enough story.
On any other day, that the Skerti and the Wraith were seemingly fighting each other would be very interesting news, but Oneakka only wanted to hear about the station.
"Then," Aedii said as he reached forward and the images of the jump window began to run through various still frames and a few short footage feeds from various different angles, all showing the Cruiser moving through the window before the window shut again, separating the front section of the Wraith ship from the rest of it still back in the space battle. "The window closed, severing off the front of the Cruiser, but it had plenty of momentum to smash into the back of the Seed Ship." The images and footage played as Aedii spoke. The explosion had happened the very instant the two ships had collided, seemingly almost too instantaneous to Oneakka's eye.
"The resulting decapitated section of the Cruiser," Aedii continued, "began tumbling towards the marketing station."
Oneakka leaned forward, eyes fixed on the series of images.
"The station fired its positioning thrusters at full power," Aedii began narrating along with what they all could see, "attempting to move out the way of the Cruiser."
Oneakka watched the points of light firing along an image of the station, but the views were now from further away and only snapshot moments. It created a stuttered feeling to the unfolding drama, the station starting to move as the broken, clearly internally on fire and breaking apart Cruiser rolled towards the station.
Each image only confirmed what he suspected; the station didn't have enough time to move out the way.
"Unfortunately," Aedii added, "despite that, the station was unable to get entirely out the way, and the Cruiser hit the docking end of the station, instantly destroying two civilian ships that were unable to leave dock in time. The collision also snapped away two docking arms entirely, still with some ships attached to them, and crushed the far end of the station.
The images played from even further away now, no doubt captured by the sentry satellites rather than from the station and the various docked ships. The satellite images were frustratingly too far away, even on zoomed in magnification, but were somehow also too shockingly detailed. Oneakka had to imagine that hundreds of people, if not more, had been killed.
"The station lost all primary power and there were reports of breaches, fires sweeping up stairwells, and venting atmosphere in that area of the station, known as Section Three," Aedii continued, his voice grim. "Unfortunately, the emergency thrusters firing and the impact with the Cruiser violently pushed the station into a spin and out of its former high orbital position."
The brief hope that Oneakka had had that Raven probably wouldn't have been in that docking and repair end of the station, was quickly pulled down into renewed fearful despair as he saw the station moving wildly in each subsequent image, moving way out of its high orbit position, which meant…
"…and the station has been caught in the gravitational pull of the nearby planet," Aedii voiced what Oneakka could see. "Without primary station power to correct this, Saoka enacted his Fall Protocol."
There was some murmuring behind Oneakka, younger voices that didn't know the protocol. Oneakka knew the basics of it as Si had been part of its planning, knew the protocol had been based on emergency procedures for Military space stations. However, to Oneakka's knowledge, he couldn't think of a single case where a station had been hit; there were cases where they had been fired upon and pieces of stations had fallen into orbits, but nothing like what they were seeing now.
"The Fall Protocol," Aedii said as he reached out and pressed some buttons and the large displays changed to the diagrams and schematics from the protocol, "is where the station separates into three pieces." On the displays, the separate Sections of the station moved apart and began leading separate dotted lines down to the outline of a planet. "Each are designed with onboard powercells and thrusters, individual computer piloting systems, and preset landing locations on the planet. They are constructed to withstand the pressures and heat of entry into atmosphere, though admittedly the protocol has never been tested like this before."
Oneakka switched his attention away from the animation of the Fall Protocol back to the series of images of what had actually happened to Saoka's station.
The Fall Protocol was designed to work in various situations, but the station had been spinning and moving far too fast…
"Each section is called a BreakAway," Aedii continued his briefing for those not in the know. "So we have BreakAways One through Three. Each BreakAway's computer has preset responses to slow fall and position the BreakAway at the best angle and speed to descend to one of several landing locations per BreakAway. However, given the severe damage to BreakAway Three, and the speed and unnatural angles they are all moving at…"
Oneakka didn't want to hear the rest. He set his fists on the console beside the screen playing the horrific images of the station looking tiny in comparison to the planet. The images had started filling with static and the moving speed of the station made it blur, but there was enough to see that it appeared to have successfully separated into the three BreakAways.
Was Raven on one of them? Even if she was, was she okay? Had she been hurt in the collision?
"These last images," Aedii added, "were taken moments before this briefing started. As you can see all three BreakAways have reached the planet's atmosphere. However, due to the scattering affect of radiation on that planet, we are unable to see through the outer atmosphere and have now lost visual contact with the BreakAways. Due to the atmospheric effect, our sensors cannot penetrate down to the planet's surface and only the BreakAways' own beacons will be sending out signals that will hopefully be detectable from lower orbit once help arrives."
"How far away is help?" Oneakka asked, getting to the point.
Aedii pursed his lips as he consulted a screen in front of him and Oneakka knew it wasn't going to be good news. "The closest Military ships available are five hours away via hyperspace. They are already on the way, but, until then, only civilian ships are in the area. Which leads to the other problems we are facing. Firstly, despite the Cruiser having broken up from its two collisions, we have a minimum of two hundred and sixty eight Wraith Fighters currently close to that planet. Currently the majority of them are engaging in live fire with the ships that were able to release from the station's docks. The Wraith appear to be attempting to board the ships to take them over, no doubt because the Fighters themselves now have nowhere to dock themselves and nowhere local to run to without hyperspace engines. The Military are currently providing verbal instructions assisting the civilian ships, but they are Traders and personal ships, barely trained in how to defend themselves. That said, they are doing relatively well working together and the station had a wing of defence ships that were launched prior to the BreakAway separation, and they are assisting."
"What about the Portal?" Oneakka pushed.
Aedii looked at him this time. "That is our other problem," he reached forward, triggered a control and a series of overlapping voices rose. "Deployment Station, report on wormhole status," he requested.
"Facility, wormhole is still engaged," a clipped efficient voice reported. "Analysis predicts BreakAways are two minutes from landing impact."
"Understood, Deployment Station," Aedii replied and then dimmed the voices again. "The protocol on Saoka's station is for any emergency to trigger the station's Portal to dial out to his secondary space station, which did happen-"
"Not dial out to Battle Station?" Massa was the one to ask grumpily from close behind Oneakka's left shoulder. It was standard procedure in high alerts for Portals to dial the Military's response point, Battle Station, but clearly Saoka had his own procedures in place.
"No," Aedii shook his head. "Saoka's procedure is to evac to his secondary station and then coordinate with Deployment Station to shutdown the Portal while Deployment station finalise their dial in, allowing military support to be sent in. Saoka's procedure is that way to handle any emergency, such as fire or loss of atmosphere on station, not just military incidences."
"So has the switch been made to Deployment Station?" Massa pressed.
"No," Aedii shook his head. "In the Fall Protocol, civilians in the sealed Portal Room are evacuated and then the Portal should be jettisoned, so it does not go down with the station. However, there was no confirmed jettison, perhaps due to the power loss, but the wormhole is still active to the secondary station. Saoka's Portal Security Lead, Sunto, successfully evacuated the Portal Room and brought with him all the details of the station prior to the Protocol being enacted, and we have confirmed over two hundred civilians having been evacuated to the secondary station by him and his team."
All details probably meant lists of names! Saoka's station security kept a record of everyone on and off the station, and if Raven had been there, they would have automatically detected her Personal Beacon…
He tapped into the display screen in front of him, working through the list of live back and forth of information and data on the incidence. There…he tapped into the block of information from Saoka's Portal Lead, Sunto…
"Without jettison," Aedii went on, "the Portal is going down with the station, on BreakAway One. With its own powercell keeping it open and no one clearly able to deactivate the Portal on the station, we will have to wait for the wormhole to be shut down by someone eventually when on the surface, the time limit on the powercell to run out, or…"
"BreakAway One crashes onto the surface and buries the Portal, cutting off the wormhole," someone else summarised what Aedii had left unsaid.
Oneakka had found the list of names of those evacuated to the secondary station. He tapped into it, finding the usual separate section for Elite and Military staff…
"Yes," Aedii confirmed the grim summary.
The list of evacuated Elite and military staff came onto the screen, and there were only two names and neither were Raven. Which meant that she either hadn't actually gone to Saoka's station like she had threatened, or she was still on the station, falling into atmosphere in a bulky piece of station moving too fast…
He tapped back out of the evacuees list and back into the rest of the station details. He scrolled through and found the main civilian and staff list from the station, noting that it had been updated, removing the confirmed evacuees from the list.
He tapped it open, praying to the Unnamed God that she wasn't on the list. That she had just been bluffing, that she was instead sat somewhere in the sun on a beautiful planet, sipping her favourite Athosian tea.
Again there was a separate section of the list for Elite and Military personnel, so he tapped into it.
There were far more names in this list compared to the evacuee version. There was just one Elite Warrior listed as being on the station, but then five Elite staff members listed…including Raven.
Oneakka squeezed his eyes shut, feeling like a literal hole was opening up under his feet.
Someone was leaning right up against the back of his left shoulder, the close quarters normal in such situations, but a hand moved to his shoulder and squeezed. It was Massa and he'd probably seen her name on the list too.
"…means we have potentially nine thousand, five hundred and ninety one people on those BreakAways," Aedii continued. "But given the impact to Section Three by the Cruiser, further damage from debris along the station, injuries inside the station from the rapid movements the station was forced to take, and the unpredictable nature of the entry into atmosphere and landing…"
Oneakka opened his eyes, but the same list was still there, her name seeming much larger than the rest.
"…unknown number of survivors. And even if there are survivors, the Wraith are engaging with civilian ships and there are only a relatively small number of the station's trained ship pilots assisting, and first Military arrival is five hours away," Aedii added grimly. "The reality is that the Wraith may start descending to the planet surface and picking off any survivors."
Oneakka made himself take a calming breath and lifted one tight fist from the console to tap the screen away from the list. Back into the details of the station, he found the station's schematic from before it had broken into the three BreakAways.
"…Facility?" the clipped Military voice abruptly called over the audio link.
"Yes, Deployment Station," Aedii replied loudly.
"We have confirmed shutdown of the wormhole at public marketing station 002."
Oneakka looked up at that, the room falling silent.
"Understood, Deployment Station."
"Final stage of dial into marketing station 003 Portal is underway…."
If the wormhole had shutdown already, then the BreakAways had landed or crashed. The impact had clearly been enough to shutdown the wormhole, as if there had been someone on the other end of it, they would surely have made audio link contact with the secondary station before shutting down the Portal, which meant it likely hadn't been a gentle controlled landing.
"We have negative response, repeat no lock on target Portal."
Oneakka closed his eyes again and pushed out a breath.
"Redialling in progress."
He opened his eyes and consulted the station details on the screen in front of him, aware of Massa tightly squeezing his shoulder again.
If she had been shopping in the marketing halls that would have put her in Section One and therefore in BreakAway One, which also held the Portal…the shutdown and unresponsive Portal. But, if she had gone to see Saoka…
"Do we know where Saoka was on the station?" Oneakka asked.
"He was in his office coordinating the response," Aedii replied instantly.
Oneakka checked the station schematic…Saoka's office would be in BreakAway Two, which meant she might be in there if she had gone to talk to him. Or what if she had been walking around the station, perhaps in Section Three that had been hit? In the crushed section end, or close enough to be blow out into the vacuum or burnt alive in the resulting fires?!
She could already be dead.
In fact, there was no way to know yet if anyone had survived.
"Negative response from second dial," Deployment Station reported. "Automatic repeat dial enabled, but conclusion so far is that the target Portal has been buried on impact with planet surface. Contingency Five will now be implemented."
"Understood, Deployment Station," Aedii replied and the audio link dimmed in volume again. "Contingency Five of the Fall Protocol is that, when a ship can descend down into the planet's atmosphere, the Portal will be located within BreakAway One via its Beacon, the Portal will be retrieved and powered up with emergency generators to allow initial deployment through it. It will then be relocated to the preset Portal Convergence Point on the planet's surface, as per the Fall Protocol, as any survivors will head for that location."
Oneakka reached up to his head, running his palm back and forth over his Mohawk, though the old habit gave little comfort right now.
"She'll be okay," he heard Massa whisper quietly from against his left shoulder, his friend's hand tight on his shoulder, but Oneakka knew that they couldn't know that to be true. They'd lost so many friends and colleagues over the years…
They had no way to know if she'd survived the impact by the Cruiser, survived the fall into the atmosphere and then the likely crash…
Massa's grip tightened and Oneakka knew his friend knew all of that.
They had no way to know.
And no one was down there to help her and the other survivors.
Instead there were probably dead bodies, fires, multiple injuries, and Wraith likely to descend on any survivors at any moment.
No military help at all for at least five hours…
And even when help arrived, she could already be dead.
He had no way to know.
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There was a faint noise hovering in the far distance somewhere, irregular and annoying.
She wanted it to go away, to leave her alone already.
Though something else felt wrong, like she'd fallen asleep too long.
Which was dangerous in the snow, she needed to wake up and get moving. Wearing the thick heavy pelts of the Glisi had always made that more difficult though, probably because she was too small in them. Frustrated, she stomped onwards, the snow level almost as high as her waist so she had to swing and kick her legs forward within the weight of the bark-made leg guards Father had made for her. The snow always found a way in though, finding the little crevasses around the guards and soaking in between the stitches of the oiled outer trouser layer, always eventually making it to her clothes and skin beneath.
Cold water inside your clothes was dangerous, ice was dangerous, slipping was dangerous. Everything on the freezing never-ending forest of the Glisi world was deadly.
Seeal paused in her struggled walking, aware of a creaking noise nearby. It sounded strange, like ice but not, and the air was getting colder against her face, penetrating in through the cloth layers over her nose and mouth.
The sound was almost like the creaking of a branch…was she up in a Guardian Tree?
The second she thought of it, she was suddenly lying face down on the thick branch of the massive tall tree. The next second, she lost her grip, her stupidly bare hands sliding across the frosted bark now under her. As she started sliding off the branch, she grasped wildly at it with her hands, arms and knees, but everything was too slippery. Her bare hands didn't help, the freezing hard ice layer over the branch sending sharp painful shots of cold into her fingertips as she tried to claw at it in desperation, but it was too late.
The sensation of dropping lurched her stomach as she turned in the air as she fell, ending up in the horrific suspended position of looking up the giant Guardian Tree, snow falling down around her. She desperately reached out to either side of her for anything to grab to save her, but nothing but frozen leaves met her chilled fingers and slapped against her body as she fell.
She was in danger!
She needed the taser!
Seeal snapped awake, gasping into the cool air of the mask, the oxygen feeling strangely cold against her face. She reached up towards it, desperately wanting it off her face only to realise that the direction of 'up' wasn't all that clear. Her neck was really hurting and she became aware that her right ear was practically touching her own right shoulder. She groaned at the tight neck pain as she lifted her head, the pain receding into faint discomfort as she blinked blearily at the view ahead of her.
The room seemed on its side, sunlight shining in from above, which was also her far left. Nausea and disorientation wrestled with her returning sharper consciousness.
She blinked her eyes clear of what felt like a film of goo over them, and tried to focus on the office ahead of her.
It was Saoka's office, yes; and with that, everything came flooding back in far too vivid detail.
She was still in her safety chair, the harness really tight around her because she was slumped to the right side of the chair, gravity designating that as 'down' now.
It wasn't a brain injury then, the room really was on its side, the window that had once looked out from the left wall of the office to the beautiful starscape now looked up towards sunlight and a thick distant layer of cloud far above. Down the length of the office, Saoka's plush chairs, sofa, and his massive wooden desk were all still bolted in place to the former floor, which meant they were currently attached to what was now a 'wall' rather than the floor.
If this was some sort of afterlife, it was rubbish, so it meant she was alive.
Was everyone else though?
She snapped her attention 'down' to her right, looking through the curved metal roll bars beside her seat to where Nanuet was sat in the next safety seat along from hers. But he wasn't moving, his body partly hanging out of his seat, the rest of his large mass slumped against the roll bar to his right.
And beyond him, on the 'floor' that had once been the side wall of the office, there were two people lying among various bits of debris.
Saoka and one of his Security staff.
Both were unconscious, the Security male looking far too pale to Seeal's eye, and there was blood covering Saoka's legs, soaked into his smart grey suit.
Oh no.
One thing at a time though.
She looked back to Nanuet along from her.
"Nanuet," she tried to call, but it came out more of a wheeze within the oxygen mask. She shifted within the harness as best she could, getting one elbow on the roll bar under her and pulled off her oxygen mask with her other hand.
"Nanuet?" She called again and had good volume this time. That the loud sound hurt her head a little was another good sign that she was alive. Nanuet though wasn't moving. "Nanuet!" She shouted louder.
There was a sudden groan, but from somewhere above her. Seeal looked quickly up to her left, up towards the next safety seat along where she could see the other male Security member was blinking down towards her through his own metal roll bar.
"Are you okay?" Seeal called up the short distance to him.
"Umm, I think so," he uttered slowly.
"There's blood on your face," Seeal informed him.
The male shifted in his own awkward angled harness, reaching up to his forehead with one hand. "I'm okay," he confirmed. From the obvious bruise she could now see around the small cut on his forehead, she guessed he'd hit his head on the bar, but he appeared okay otherwise.
"The Security female next to you?" Seeal peered around him as best she could within the constraint of the harness, but she could only see the female's knees and lower legs in the uppermost seat in the line.
"Hey!" the Security male called up to his colleague, so Seeal returned her attention back down towards Nanuet.
"Nanuet!" She shouted towards the big male, focusing her attention intently on his upper chest. There was enough movement to confirm he was breathing. He was alive too; maybe he just needed a kick.
It was an odd angle from the suspended sideways safety seat, but she wiggled enough to get her legs moving and swung her right leg sideways to try and kick Nanuet in the leg.
Except a sharp pain flared through her right ankle.
"All the icy hells!" She gasped at the abrupt pain.
"You okay?" The Security male above asked.
"Just my ankle," Seeal reported as she carefully flexed her foot. It felt okay now she wasn't kicking anything, but it felt tight and uncomfortable. But it wasn't the constant blazing pain of a fracture, so likely just a sprain…hopefully.
To her right, Nanuet let out a pain-filled moan.
"Nanuet, wake up and make yourself useful!" Seeal shouted down at him to encourage his waking up process.
This time he groaned with an annoyed edge, which was good. She watched as he lifted his head, wincing as he blinked around the sideways office.
"The room is on its side, it's not in your head," Seeal informed him.
Nanuet reached up to his face, his oxygen mask already fallen away somewhere.
"You hurt?" She asked him.
"No, I don't think so," he looked round, his attention moving to the now lower part of the room. "Saoka!" He shouted the instant he saw his fallen and blood-soaked boss.
Seeal had hoped to ease into that news.
"He's not moving and I think the blood may be his," Seeal began to report what was clearly obvious. "We need to be careful getting down to them, maybe if we-" she started to suggest, but Nanuet abruptly released his harness and all but fell down around the roll bars onto the next safety seat down from his with a loud clang.
"Saoka, can you hear me?" He shouted as he struggled down over the seat.
"Or we could just do that," Seeal nodded as she shifted in her seat, bringing her right knee up to the roll bar, using it and her elbow to support her weight as she reached up and unclipped both buckles of her harness. She hadn't realised how much of her weight the harness had been holding up, but she had herself braced enough that she didn't hurt herself as she fell out of the seat the tiny distance to the roll bar.
In an awkward, part slumped curled up position on the thick curved bar – which was fortunately easily supporting her weight - she looked down through its gap to where Nanuet had now clambering down to the lowest safety seat in the line, still calling Saoka's name. There was quite a drop between that final seat and the 'floor' though where Saoka and the Security male were lying.
"Be careful, Nanuet," Seeal warned him as she got herself turned so that she was now sat on the roll bar and looking down through it to Nanuet. "Falling on Saoka won't exactly help him."
That seemed to get some reaction and Nanuet looked up at her through the tunnel created by the spaces between the seats' roll bars. His big weight was balanced on the last chair's bar, his hands tight on the safety chair out of which presumably the all-too-still Security male below had fallen out of during the 'landing'.
Nanuet looked around him quickly, trying to work out what he could use as a ladder down to his boss.
Seeal focused on getting down to him, sliding herself down through the central space of the roll bars between her and Nanuet's now vacated safety seat, getting her boots on the side of his seat. Her ankle grumbled at the weight she put on it, but she could still use it. So a definite 'no' to it being broken or dislocated; another positive at least.
Climbing down over Nanuet's sideways chair, she peered up to see that both the surviving Security were looking down at her, ready to climb down after her. Glad to see that the Security female was okay, Seeal focused on clambering down through the next roll bars, down to where Nanuet was now hanging from the bottom roll bar and testing what looked like a former picture hook in the wall as somewhere to start climbing down the wall to Saoka.
Nanuet's testing of the picture hook ended as predicted, the little hook immediately breaking away and dropping from the wall along with some small bits of the wall itself. She saw Nanuet was turning to get his backside against the wall, clearly intending to just slide down the near vertical drop.
"Nanuet, I'm not sure that's-" she started to suggest, but he let go of the bar and performed a surprisingly successful slide/fall down the wall to land among the debris below. He controlled his landing well, angling his big body so to fall away from the two prone bodies.
The second Nanuet was down he was struggling forward on his hands and knees, reaching the Security male first. Seeal paused in her climbing to watch Nanuet reach to the pale and still male, pressing his fingers to the male's throat.
"Is he alive?" She asked, but she was pretty sure she knew the answer.
Nanuet lifted his hand from the pale male's throat and shook his head roughly as he crawled onwards through littered debris towards Saoka. As he moved, Seeal continued her climb downwards, reaching the lowest chair in time to see Nanuet kneeling next to Saoka below.
"Saoka?" Nanuet called as he gripped Saoka's shoulders.
Saoka jerked awake the instant Nanuet touched him.
"Saoka, it's Nanuet," the bodyguard told him instantly, his voice full of worried relief. "Lie still, I think you are hurt."
Saoka groaned loudly and then cried out briefly. "My leg."
Seeal didn't wait to listen to more, she instead slipped down through the last roll bar, getting both hands on it so that she was now hanging freely from the bar. Swinging herself slightly and working her hands along the bar a bit, she got her boots against the wall, which sent a little warning ache up through her ankle. Turning herself, she walked her boots down the wall until she got her backside against it, the slide/drop approach Nanuet had used seeming the only option now she was here.
Nanuet stepped into view below her. "Slide down the wall," Nanuet instructed as he waved both his hands towards himself in an encouraging gesture. "I'll catch you."
"Okay," she adjusted herself a little better against the wall. Her life of late continued to be just plain bizarre; when would she have ever have previously thought she'd be in a situation where she needed to trust Saoka's Nanuet? But, here she was, taking a moment's breath, and then letting go of the roll bar above her to slide down towards his waiting arms.
The drop wasn't as bad as she'd imagined, though far from elegant for sure as she slid/fell down into Nanuet's arms in a fast rush.
It turned out Nanuet seemed even bigger when you were crushed into his embrace at speed.
"Thank you," she offered as he set her down with easy strength onto the uneven littered 'floor'.
Moving around Nanuet, aware of the two Security preparing to follow her down to him, Seeal focused on carefully moving past the Security body to Saoka's side. The litter down here was a mix of broken glass, bits of picture frames, cups, cushions, and various random items that looked like they may have fallen out of cupboards. Picking her way carefully through the mix, she made her way to Saoka's side, crouching down next to his shoulder. He was not looking happy, the sunken sweatiness across his dark skin told of extreme pain. She glanced down him as she set a hand on his shoulder. The blood was indeed all his and seemed to be wetter over his right trouser leg, his leg lying at an odd angle.
"I'll get the medical kit, Saoka," she told him, patting his shoulder. He looked up, seeming able to focus on her, which was a good sign.
"It'll take more than that," he joked a little weakly.
She smiled at him and patting his shoulder again before she stood up and swept her gaze around the office. To her left, she saw the female Security member was making her sliding descent to Nanuet's arms, so with everyone on the floor, Seeal focused on where the emergency medical kit was kept in this place. She quickly spotted the medical symbol and label in Alliance standard on the front of a cabinet on what used to be the back wall of the office behind Saoka's desk. Of course that meant it was now halfway up a wall.
Seeal started along the 'floor' towards the far end of the room. As she worked her way carefully through the debris, which seemed to contain at lot of broken bottles now, she realised that the angle of the office wasn't simply the former side wall as 'downward', but there was a slight upward angle to it as well. So, as she made her way along the length of the office, it started to become a slight incline as well. Fortunately, her ankle was stable under her, though it grumbled as she had to use that foot to kick dangerous bits of debris out the way, balancing her weight on her healthy foot.
Behind her, she could hear the Security staff talking with Saoka, assessing his condition. Saoka cried out a little during the assessment as Seeal reached level with the massive wooden desk bolted on the 'wall' above her. It appeared there had been a side panel in the desk out of which these bottles had fallen. The smell of alcohol lingered around her as she considered how best to navigate across the sea of broken shards of glass. There was a fallen sofa cushion just behind her, so she retrieved that and laid it over the worst part of the glass, catching sight of what looked like a very expensive wine label, and started climbing carefully over it.
Over that obstacle, she got her boots back on the 'floor' and made her way up the final faint incline to where, on the end of the far wall, a single picture had somehow remained on its hook. That it was hanging at a very odd disorientating angle compared to all the walls and furniture around it made her look away and focus up on the back wall of the office.
The medical cabinet was pretty much right in the middle of the wall, maybe ten to twelve feet up from her position, but fortunately a sideboard and several other cabinets were all still fixed to the wall providing a possible climbing route up to it.
"Does the medical cabinet need a code to open it?" She asked as she reached up and got a grip on the open front of the sideboard unit, its former contents having disgorged onto the floor earlier. She pulled at it, testing how much weight it could take.
"No, just turn the inset handle," Nanuet answered her from back down the office.
The sideboard seemed secure enough, so she reached up with her other hand, pulling herself up and getting the toes of her good foot into a slot.
The climb was pretty easy, despite the oddly vertigo-inducing angle of everything, and soon enough she was at the 'top' of the sideboard, its former 'side', and got one knee up on it. Pulling and pushing herself further up, using somewhat awkward hugging holds on the other cabinets, she stretched up and got her fingers onto the sunken handle of the medical cabinet.
She tried turning it one way, but nothing happened, so turned it the other and it instantly opened. At which point, the medical contents started falling out down over her. Bandages, packets, and other unidentifiable objects rained out of the cabinet, but several larger objects fell out directly towards Seeal. She got one arm up quickly to deflect a small oxygen canister and mask from smashing into her face and they dropped away to the 'floor' below. She really hated those masks; anytime she was near one, something awful was happening to her! However, the angle she was pressed against everything had allowed her to roll her shoulder in and stop a plastic box from falling too. She reached up for its handle, lifting it to see that it was labelled 'emergency surgery'.
That sounded like something you definitely wanted to keep.
"I can take them," she heard the female Security guard call from not far away below the sideboard, having followed to help, which was useful.
Seeal got a grip on the emergency surgery box and swung her arm down towards the Security female below. The female stretched up and Seeal released the box to drop the short distance into the female's waiting hands.
Seeal then returned her attention back to the medical cabinet, pushing herself up as much as she could to reach blindly up into the cabinet to see what hadn't fallen out. Her fingers found another plastic box inside, which appeared to have a strap securing it within the cabinet. She struggled the box free and pulled it out. This one was labelled 'resuscitation' in various Alliance languages. Yep, this was definitely something you wanted with you. She got a grip on its handle and, again, stretched down to the Security female below.
"Got it," the female confirmed as she caught the second box, and, clutching both boxes and various packets to her chest, she started back down the littered floor towards Saoka.
Seeal returned her attention to the cabinet, reaching up and in again just to be sure nothing useful had been left behind. Nothing but empty cabinet met her seeking fingers, so she settled back on the top/side of the sideboard, pausing briefly to extract a small wrapped bandage packet that had fallen into her cleavage, and then started climbing back down.
Back on the 'floor' she gathered up some more fallen medical supplies, picking up a small intact wooden box from the floor that looked like it might have once held one of those likely expensive bottles of alcohol smashed nearby. The box was dry enough, so she threw the small bandage package and various other things that had fallen out of the cabinet into it, and then made her way back towards where the others were knelt around Saoka.
Seeal reached them, moving around the huddle to a free space near the body of their former colleague. One of them had draped a cloth over the male's face. Now she was up close to him, she could see that his neck looked strange, suggesting that he had broken his neck when he and Saoka had fallen from their safety seats. Hopefully the male had been unconscious at the time and had simply never woken up. Seeal frowned at the death which she had somehow avoided yet again from a fall, and quickly focused back on Saoka.
His injury was now very obvious. Security had cut open the right leg of Saoka's suit trousers and it was very clear that part of his upper leg bone was protruding through his skin.
Seeal glanced at Nanuet next to her and could see that he understood it was a significant injury. Saoka wasn't going to be able to walk out of here. Damn it.
The two Security though clearly had some good medical training as they were applying pressure around the open wound with gloved hands and were spraying something foamy into the wound. Seeal left them to their work and stood up, focusing on what she could do.
The next problem was finding a way out of this room.
She looked around the sideways office, orientating herself to where they were in the office and where the door had been. In the now 'floor' somewhere to her right… she moved away from the others, shifting her boot through the debris in the area of her best guess, and, yes, found the door in the floor.
The heavy lockdown hatch was still shut over it.
"Nanuet?" She called.
"I'm needed here," Nanuet objected instantly.
She turned back towards him. "They are treating him, we need to focus on getting him to more advanced help," she pointed out patiently.
Nanuet glanced round, but frowned back down to Saoka, whose hand he was holding.
Seeal turned back to the hatch and picked up a relatively intact picture in its frame and used it as a shovel to start shifting the debris away from the door. As she cleared space enough to crouch down by the hatch, Nanuet appeared at her side, crouching down alongside her. She watched his blood-coated hands helping shift the litter off the rest of the door.
"How do we get this lockdown hatch open?" She asked as they worked together.
"There's a panel," Nanuet shifted back a bit, his hands brushing away broken things to reveal a press-button panel in the 'floor' beside the hatch.
Seeal reached in, helping brush bits of glass away from it with the corner of a small throw cushion. The panel looked intact. "Will it work without power?" She asked glancing up and around, confirming to herself that the only light source in here was through the window that was now a skylight above them.
"Yes, there's mechanical back up," Nanuet replied, his tone sullen and slightly shaky with clear adrenaline and concern for his friend and boss.
Seeal shifted her attention from clearing the panel to Nanuet's profile. The male was no doubt going through shock of his own.
"Nanuet," she said firmly but quietly, "we'll get him out of here and to a proper medical facility."
Nanuet kept clearing the panel, his eyes down on his task. "The station's proper medical facility was on BreakAway One," he said quietly so his voice didn't carry. "The most we have are small minor injuries rooms in this section of the station."
"Then we'll get him to one of those until proper support arrives," she stressed.
That was assuming they weren't the only survivors in this entire section of the former station.
Nanuet paused and looked round, his big face tense. "What he needs is an operating theatre," he stated softly, confirming that he really did understand the seriousness of Saoka's injury.
"Then we'll get him to one," she insisted. "We need to focus on getting out of here and getting him to that help."
Nanuet glanced over his shoulder as Saoka cried out in pain. Seeal looked round to see that the Security staff appeared to be adjusting his leg, perhaps trying to reset it slightly? She winced at the thought of it and looked back to Nanuet.
Nanuet looked back to her, his eyes holding hers. "If BreakAway One crashed, then the Portal could be buried and inaccessible. There were no Military ships anywhere near the station. There are hundreds of Wraith Fighters up there and we couldn't jettison the Portal so there was no military deployment through it. Help could be hours away, and we have no idea where we are on the planet and if the Wraith aren't about to descend on us."
It was no doubt a realistic list, but that kind of talk wasn't going to help them right now.
"Then the last place we want to be," she replied firmly, "is stuck in this room for the Wraith to easily find us. Perhaps through that window up there," she pointed up towards the sunlight.
Nanuet glanced up, Saoka groaning in the background, the Security two clearly now discussing what to use to make a splint for his leg.
"Trust me," she added to Nanuet as he frowned worriedly towards Saoka. "The Elite, and the Alliance Military, are going to do everything they can to get here as quickly as possible. We just need to survive as long as possible."
Regardless of recent arguments and strange shiftiness, she had no doubt at all that she could trust Oneakka to get help here. He and Massa would help her, even if it was from a distance since neither of them was on battle rotation themselves.
She looked back down to the closed hatch, reaching out to clear some last debris off it. What she wouldn't give for this to open and Oneakka be just outside it, here with help, ready to take them all to safety.
But that wasn't going to happen.
Nanuet shifted next to her, using his fingers to clear space between the push buttons of the panel.
"And when you rebuild the station," she added to him, "try adding more decent medical facilities throughout the station, okay?"
Nanuet didn't respond to that advice, but he reached into his jacket and pulled out a stunner…and then handed it over to her. She was surprised almost beyond belief, but she took it without comment.
She checked it over. It was a Litan private company made, high end, slim built, energy blaster with a bespoke grip handle…not cheap. Its powercell was fully charged and it was set on its default stun setting.
Nanuet pulled another blaster out from the inside of his jacket, making her wonder exactly how many he had stashed in there, and held it ready in his right hand as he reached down to the panel with his left. "Ready?" He asked.
Seeal shifted back a little, the blaster in her hand and positioned should anything nasty come through the hatch when it opened. "Ready," she confirmed.
Nanuet entered the code and the lockdown hatch rolled aside, then the inner standard door under it also slid open.
No Wraith leapt up through the door in the floor, but neither was there the joyful appearance of Oneakka or any other helpful military support.
Weapons ready, she and Nanuet both tentatively peered down over the edge of the doorframe to see that, what had formerly been a narrow long corridor that ran to Saoka's office door was now an almost vertical drop downwards.
"I really hate the design of this station," she sighed.
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TBC