Jack reached starboard south and found the nearest internal comm. unit. “Desperado to Clover, come in.”
In the engine room, beset by chaos, Richard lunged for the comm. panel. “This is Clover.”
“Status of propulsion systems, Clover?”
Richard’s eyes wandered the room. Most of the wall panels were on the floor, as he had decided to run a full inspection as he adjusted the inertial dampening system. Small pieces of equipment littered the floor, and Richard found himself realizing that his usual way of doing things was no longer going to work. Wartime work would require more focus and discipline.
Two things that were abundantly absent in Richard.
“Umm. Propulsion systems are green, Captain. Scoop is working, and inertial adjustment should be completed in about ten minutes.” He decided to cover his ass, adding, “I’m going to do a full inspection of engine systems just to be on the safe side.”
“Negative,” Jack responded across the comm. “Hime is on her way back with a load from the Omegan ship. Get down to shuttle bay and help her unload. Full inspection can wait until after our next jump.”
“Fuck,” Richard whispered to himself, punching himself in the forehead repeatedly. Finally, he hit the comm. button. “Roger that. On my way.”
He picked up a screwdriver and began hurriedly replacing panels. “I am such an asshole,” he said, quietly admonishing himself.
“I’ll be damned,” Jack said to no one. He sat down on the deck next to the hull panel covering the wiring and circuitry for cannon three. His eyes scanned the panel carefully, and he dived into his memories. No, he decided, this panel did not look like this the last time he was down in this area. The bowing and warping, though not destructive, was noticeable. “Must have happened when we engaged the scoop,” he thought. He ran his hands across it, then stood and began walking forward. It was slight, but definite- something had moved as the ship lurched. “Internal machinery must have been loose and came bouncing through.”
He walked back to his original spot and removed the panel gently, not wanting to lose whatever vital equipment might have found its way to that spot. He pulled from the top, hoping to use the panel as a catcher for screws and the like when he got the surprise of his life. Jack jerked away and slid backward across the floor hitting the opposite wall. His jaw went slack as he stared at the thing that had been disrupting his ship’s weaponry system:
It was the strangest skeleton he had ever seen.
Kate peered around the corner and suppressed a laugh. Only a minute earlier, she has been in a firefight with six Omegan soldiers who had been fortunate enough to find pressure suits before all of the ship’s oxygen escaped through its broken hull. Now they bobbed and bounced off of the corridor ceilings and walls like rubber balls, victims of her precision shooting and their astonishment at having been boarded.
“I needed this,” she thought. “As fun as strangling Ben was, this was far more cathartic.”
Her left hand reached instinctively for her abdomen. More than ever, she was certain that the decision she had reached was the correct one. It would have to wait until they had jumped away and gone back into hiding- she would require some time to recover- but it would have to be done. Just then, Kate’s reverie was disturbed when the comm crackled to life.
“F.A. this is Desperado, copy.”
She cleared her throat. “F.A. is go, Desperado.”
“I have a… strange… request.” Kate cocked an eyebrow. “I have been scouring the plans for that ship, and nowhere can I spot anything that looks like a morgue. We know that Omegans typically stored salvageable bodies so that they could be returned home to their families for death ceremonies, so it would seem like they would have a morgue.”
“Umm… sure, Captain.” Kate thought about it for a second. “It’d be someplace they could keep nice and cold where it wouldn’t affect the rest of the ship, I’d think.”
Jack groaned. “Of course! I should have thought of that. There’s a room towards midship on the starboard side that has what looks to be a strong cooling system. That has to be it.”
“I’m assuming you’re curious about this for a reason, Desperado?”
“Hmm. Yeah. Listen, I need you to check out that room. Look for anything weird.”
Kate laughed. “I’m on an alien fucking spaceship in orbit around Saturn. This is officially the weirdest day of my life. So trust me when I tell you: I’m going to need something more to go on besides ‘anything weird.’”
Jack’s voice found its assertiveness. “Specifically then: I want you to check for bodies that aren’t Omegan.”
She stood motionless for a moment, letting Jack’s order sink in. “Huh. That’s more like it. On my way, Desperado.”
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