Edie had just ended the call telling Aileen where the Hyperion was likely heading when there was a signal on the monitor, and a voice was called out. "Earth Control! Is anyone there? This is Commander Virgil of Courier Niner! We are under attack! Can anyone hear me? We are under attack!"
"Edie looked around for anyone who could help as she answered the call. "Courier Niner, we're here! What's your status?"
"Everything's down." Commander Virgil said as he frantically looked at the monitors. "We have a raider ship locked on to us, and when they punched a hole into the cargo bay, they must have hit something, because we have a fire and our suppression systems are out as well! We need immediate assistance!"
"They're in our jurisdiction." Agent Dee said as he checked the readings on the monitor. "Getting them down's going to be tricky without the twins working the tractor beam, though."
"I can do it!" Colin called as he came hurrying over.
"You can…." Dee asked.
"There's something like the tractor beam the MIB uses in a game I play with a friend on Sirius." Colin said as he looked at the system. "I know how to do it. It might be a little rocky, though. You really need two players for it."
"If you can tell me what to do, I can help." John offered as he came hurrying over.
"You're a grownup. Grownups don't do video games." Colin looked up for a moment before turning back to checking the controls.
"According the last sales report Helena had at her game company, they do, and they've needed adult testers before. I'm nowhere near as good as the kids, but if you can tell me what to do, I can at least do a halfway decent job."
"Okay, that. Hit that, then that and then that when I tell you." Colin pointed to a couple of places on the monitor. "And you need to do it really fast."
"Fast, got it." John told him.
"We're going to reel you in." Edie called to Commander Virgil. "It might be a bit rocky, though, so brace yourself. You said you have a fire. How hazardous is the cargo you're carrying?"
"Luckily it's mainly commercial goods, clothing and fabrics, not industrial." The commander of the stricken ship grabbed for his console as the ship was rocked by the tractor beam grabbing them. "But we have passengers on this run, a hundred and seventy-six of them, plus our crew."
Edie and Dee exchanged a look at that news. "I'll get the fire suppression equipment ready." Dee told her. Although he knew they didn't have nearly as many people as they would need if the fire on the ship was involved at all.
"One of my cousins is a volunteer fire fighter back home." Zara called as she came hurrying over. "She can help and she's going to grab some more cousins too. How big is the crew on that?"
"Luckily those ships have a lot of automation. Probably ten or fifteen for crew." Edie told her.
"Okay, under twin hundred total then." Zara said with a nod. "We'll get ready." She turned away and hurried across the room waving for her people as she went. "Doctor Harper?"
"I have experience with handling triage and mass casualties." Colleen called. "We need to start getting supplies brought up. Fluids, lots of fluids and sterile dressings at the least. What about blood?"
"We do it by cloning the red blood cells." Zara told her. She waved for one of her co workers as she talked. "We'll get that set up and ready to go if we need it. I know you're a doctor. Do you have surgical experience?"
"Not a lot since med school." Colleen said. "Doctor Weaver's a neurologist. He definitely has more practical experience. I'll handle it. We're going to need to clear out more space, a lot more space if we're going to have nearly two hundred new patients."
"Rose and I will handle organizing that." Zoe called. "And your brother is getting some cousins organized to handle moving supplies."
"Okay." Zara looked up at the monitor as the ship neared the ground the raider's ship tumbling off to the side, and flames came shooting out of the open hole as oxygen hit. She waved to a group of her people to follow her and the senior agents and the impromptu group of firefighters her cousin had organized outside.
"Laura?" Colleen said as soon as her secretary answered the phone. "What surgeons do we have at the hospital tonight? Okay, wake her up and tell her I need her now, and if they're anywhere close to closing, pull Doctor Pataki. I need both of them now. I'll have a cab come to pick them up. And give Susan the overnight bag from my closet."
"You're getting more doctors?" Doctor Weaver said as he came hurrying over.
"A couple that I'm sure will be fine finding out aliens are real, but it's going to take time to get them here. And hopefully a midwife." Colleen said as she dialed again. "Em, I'm sorry if I woke you, but I need your mom to catch the next train down. I might be needing her help with delivering a few babies."
"When was the last time you handled a mass casualty event?" George asked Colleen as they hurried across the room towards where Zoe, Rose and a group of Jeedangians were clearing out more space. "Because it's probably been ten years for me."
"The worst was three years ago when Mister Conway passed away peacefully in his sleep at ninety-two. He was sadly behind the wheel of his car at the time." Colleen said as she sorted through the glove boxes and found one that would work for humans. "I was already in the ER at the time after the charge nurse collapsed from somehow working five shifts in a row. I ended up getting drafted for triage and had to call Agatha in billing to handle keeping track of the only seems slightly worse. We'll handle it."
"Do they know if any of those raiders are still on the ship?" Zara called to Agent Dee as the ship came to ground with a crash that made the ground shake.
"No clue." Dee said. "We know that their ship detached but no way to know if all of the raiders were on it."
"If you need another person who can handle a weapon, I can help." Catherine said as she came hurrying to join them.
"Kay said something about that once. He likes keeping an eye on his little brother. You've kept in practice since being put in charge?" Dee asked.
Catherine nodded. "I actually scored better than Sam a couple of years ago. If you have a weapon to spare I can handle it."
"Good, go with Zara and the medics right behind the crew handling fire suppression." Dee told her as he handed over his side arm. "Works just like a regular gun, point and pull the trigger."
Edie dodged around people rushing across the area of the landing, keeping one eye on the sky as she tried to work out where the raider's ship must have crashed when it came free. Someone needed to bring in whoever was on that ship before they could get loose and do who knows what in the city. And with Aileen and practically everyone else dealing the Hyperion situation, it looked like the person who was going to have to handle it was going to have to be her.
"You're going after those raiders?" She heard a voice call and turned to spot John hurrying towards her with a weapon in hand.
"It looks like I'm the only one who can at the moment." Edie told him. "What are…."
"You can't go after a criminal without someone to watch your back." John told her. "I told Colin to help the worms with keeping track of the supplies. He should be fine. And you know that I can shoot which probably says something about the violence on television that we should all be worried about but…. I'm going with you."
Edie nodded. "You shot Alpha. I'm definitely not turning down your help with this. Let's go."