Starflare Universe – Ghosts-13
678 Words
The airlock opened again and Sparks stumbled his way in. He heard most of the remaining crew joining him, felt them jostling him at times, but he couldn’t make out a thing. He’d never admit it to anyone else but he was scared, terrified even. He felt blind in a way that he’d never be in his combat armour.
If he had his suit on then he’d be able to see people in the infrared and a variety of other wavelengths that would cut through the smoke. He’d know exactly where the rest of his team were as their armour exchanged heavily coded information with his. He’d be in charge, not blindly groping.
“Everyone’s in,” came Dave’s voice over a speaker. “Closing the inner doors. Alright, starting the cycle now. You might feel a small shove, the shuttle’s air pressure is slightly higher to try and keep the worst of the smoke in the airlock.”
Sparks did feel a tug, though it was from the opposite direction to that he’d expected. He must have got turned around in the smoke. The tug turned into a shove. Sparks frowned. This didn’t feel right. There shouldn’t be that much of a pressure difference.
The shove increased in force, threatening to push him off his feet. Now he knew there was something wrong. As well as the force he was feeling he could hear air rushing past. If the pressure was that high then surely Blaze would have said something.
The force increased. Sparks lost his footing and started to tumble. As he did the air around him cleared… just in time to see the outer airlock doors flash past. Then all the smoke was gone. The inflation of his suit told him that the air had gone with it. As Sparks tumbled out he wondered what had gone wrong. Had the shuttle had to move away? Had something happened to it?
First things first. He used the small thrusters built into the suit to slow the tumble. They weren’t precise enough to kill it completely, another way the suit was vastly inferior to his armour, but at least he was now tumbling slowly enough to take in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was more of the crew tumbling around him. The second was the complete lack of a shuttle. For that matter there seemed to be no sign of the Grifter or the asteroid it was mining. Shouldn’t he be able to see it from here?
“This is Blaze. No one panic. Try to slow your tumble but do not attempt to reach the Panther, you’re moving much too fast in relation to it. Our shuttle is circling to pick us up. We can’t all fit inside but hanging on will stop us drifting too far apart.”
“Sarge,” said Sparks. “What the hell’s happening? Where’s the shuttle from the Grifter? Where’s the Grifter for that matter?”
“Nowhere,” replied Blaze grimly. “It looks like neither ever existed. Shadowhawk spotted that as soon as he launched but the Panther wasn’t picking up his transmissions. Something faked a report from him saying everything was fine. It did the same for me, telling you to come on over.”
“We need to get back on the Panther, Sarge. If Shadowhawk can give me a tow I’ll get on it.”
“It’s not that simple. The Panther has been taking potshots at the fighters if they get too near. The shuttle too. That’s why it’s taking time to reach us.”
“We have to do something, Sarge. There’s only the captain, Dave and Sasha still on board and they’re going to leave any moment now.”
The comm changed. An indicator showed that Blaze had changed to a secure, one-to-one, channel.
“I know Sparks! And when that happens I’ve got a feeling the Panther’s going to jump to hyperspace and leave us stranded here.”
“Tell Shadowhawk to come pick me up, Sarge. I don’t care how dangerous it is. If we wait for the Panther to leave then we’re all dead anyway.”
“Sorry, Sparks, you’ll have to get in the queue. He’s already coming for me. I just hope we’re not too late.”
- Writer
