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Episode 11: Ee Katan Zakar
"They haven't made a move since landing on Ee Katan Zakar*, Colonel," said the tactical officer.
"And the report from the outpost?" Gantz asked.
"Scouts went out to see what the Eratites are doing. They caught up to the enemy when they stopped at the… Place of Remembrance."
"They've found it?" Gantz muttered, unease twisting his stomach. "Does the report say they opened it?
"They did, Colonel," the officer replied. "But our scouts interrupted them not long after they breached the door."
"They destroyed the entrance?" Gantz asked, wide-eyed.
"No, Sir, they opened it."
"Opened it?!" Gantz exclaimed as the terror of such implications hit him. "They know of the Megen*…" he thought, "What else do they know of us that they shouldn't…?" Gantz swallowed hard, "Drive them away from the site, then send part of the scout group to check the place and re-seal it. We can't have them desecrating it. Leader Desslok will have us all executed if he finds out they've gotten anywhere near that place."
"Yes, Sir."
"And get as close as you can to that ship. I want all the data we can get on them," Gantz narrowed his eyes.
"Yes, Sir."
"I may be against slaughtering you all, Eratites, but I must protect my own people, and I will not hesitate to kill you if you threaten the lives of my crew or family," Gantz thought as his ship sailed closer and closer to the enemy's resting place on Ee Katan Zakkar.
"Stay down!" Wildstar whispered harshly to his group. A couple of them were overly jumpy and the last thing he needed was an antsy crewman running out into enemy fire and getting killed. "Sandor should be just about ready."
"Can't you radio him and see?" one of the science team asked, her voice shaky.
"No. We can't risk that the enemy might be able to trace our position by the comm signals." Derek saw the girl's eyes widen, "Don't worry, Sandor's got it under control." He indicated the XO's position with a tilt of his head. "We should hear something any second."
An explosion erupted off to Derek's right, several hundred yards from the strange door they'd come through earlier. The harsh bite of laser fire cut into everyone's environmental monitors.
"Go!" Wildstar ordered, sending his group tearing through the jungle towards the Argo. The team was scared witless. Every face was overshadowed by terror. Derek's helmet mic screeched with Royster's shrill voice, "We're all gonna die!"
"Shut up and run, nerd," Clemens replied, putting an end to the wailing and causing the short science officer to bolt after Clemens, Royster's short legs churning faster than Derek had ever seen.
The group broke through a thick stand of trees. Wild rustling in the brush drew Derek's attention. He was about to hurry the rest of the team along when Sandor popped out of the dense underbrush, his right arm hanging down at an uncomfortable angle.
"Sandor?" Wildstar caught a glimpse of the other man as he tried to catch up to Derek. "You got here faster than I expected." Wildstar slowed, pulling back to where Sandor was, and switched over to a private channel so only the XO could hear him, "What happened to your arm?"
"It…" Sandor avoided Derek's eyes, "I'll just have to get Dr. Sane to put it back in when we get to the ship." He pointed to his bad arm, "Can I have a hand with this?"
"Oh, yeah, sure," Wildstar helped Sandor pull his arm into a makeshift sling. Every time the arm jostled, Derek expected Sandor to wince - to show some sign of pain, but he never did.
"How'd you manage that explosion?" Wildstar asked.
"Well… let's just say I have a few tricks up my sleeve," Sandor said no more on the subject.
The tree to their right exploded into thousands of wooden shards.
"They found us that fast?" Derek exclaimed.
"No," Sandor craned his neck to look back, "it's another group. I don't recognize their EVA suits."
"I'll hold them off; make sure the party gets back to the ship."
"No, Wildstar, I'll stay –"
"Sandor, you're out an arm and I've still got both of mine."
"Then we'll both stay," the science officer replied with frightening vigor.
"Oh… kay," Derek hesitantly agreed, "Just don't lose the use of any other limbs, alright."
"Agreed," Sandor nodded.
Derek switched back to the shared channel, "Clemens, take the lead, Sandor and I will hold them off until you get away, then we'll follow."
"Aye, Sir," replied Clemens, then he gave a marine-like hoot and took off, ordering the rest of the group, Royster in particular, to "run their tiny little legs off."
"Quite the motivationalist isn't he," Sandor commented.
"He'll get them back," Derek replied. "So how are we going to pull this off?"
"I suggest we hide and shoot as well as possible."
"Good enough, I guess," Derek replied. "I'll see you back at the ship."
Wildstar ducked behind a nearby rock and Sandor took cover in a thick stand of trees. They waited silently on opposite sides of the enemy's path. Derek silently counted. When he got to twenty, the first enemy came into view. In an instant he was down, a smoking hole in his arm. The enemy's advance came to a sudden halt and neither Derek's nor Sandor's environmental sensors showed any more movement from the enemy group.
A yelp of pain ripped through Sandor's helmet mic.
"Get out! I'm hit!" Wildstar's voice, filled with a panic Sandor had never heard from him before, became alarmingly sluggish.
"Your suit's breached!" Sandor leapt up from his hiding place, disregarding the danger to himself and plowed through the undergrowth towards the quickly fading Wildstar.
"They are all so young… well, most of them are," Starsha thought as she reviewed the many images she captured during the few moments the Eratite ship core was active. "So many faces… men, women… They've summoned the younger ones to venture out into the unknown…" The face of Captain Avatar appeared before her, "But they've not been left without guidance I see." She smiled softly, then looked closely at the old Captain. When she saw his eyes, her smile brightened, "Ah… I see… they are truly in good hands."
"My Queen?" the light voice of Adrianna floated through the air, "Has something happened?" the Jeshurunian asked from across the room.
"No, no." Starsha shook her head, "I'm just looking at the images I was able to get while the Ahavaiscandar* link was open." She looked over at Adrianna. The sentient plant's foliage was just its usual lovely green, and it rustled when she spoke.
"Interesting so far?" asked Adrianna.
"Quite," the young queen kept scrolling through the images, "It seems that Yahweh Himself has chosen those who will make the journey to us. There are many among them who have His Light in them."
"Then all will be well, my Queen. They will come in time. I am sure of it," Adrianna paused a moment, then with a soft rustle asked, "Where are they now?"
"They…" Starsha checked the tracking system she and Naomi Talan created for the Eratite ship core, "They have reached…" her eyes widened when she saw it, "They have named it Ee Katan Zakar…"
"The Place of Memory? What is it a tribute to? Certainly there is not much in the recent past the Gamilon civilization would wish to remember," the Jeshurunian trilled in sadness.
"Perhaps not…" Starsha laid a thoughtful finger on her lower lip, "Nothing pleasant in any case…"
Starsha thought long and hard for reasons why there would be a memorial created. The options were few… and strange. "Adrianna," Starsha rose from her seat. "I will be down by the docks; please, let me know if anything happens to the Eratite ship."
"Of course," Adrianna rustled back.
A soft breeze floated on the wind and seagulls called down from their perches in the blue sky. The clouds were white and wispy and ocean waves lapped at her feet while sea creatures crept out of their shells and rode the rolling tide in and out. The scene was the mirror of peace. It felt strange to rest in such calm knowing what unfolded a galaxy away.
Starsha eased her bare feet into the cool water and gazed upward, hardly noticing as the waves dampened her dress. Wet clothes didn't matter much anymore now that she was alone on Iscandar.
Something settled on her foot and, thinking it was seaweed, she reached down to brush it away. Instead of wiry strands of ocean plant, her fingers caught in…
"Hair?" she furrowed her brow, confused. She looked down. There, floating on the Sea of Iscandar was a stranger face-up in the sea. He was barely alive. Starsha felt the man's neck for injuries. Finding none immediately apparent, she dragged him out of the salt water and onto the grass six feet back from the shore line. She felt his forehead. It was burning with fever. His lips were chapped and badly cracked, betraying a lack of water for several days.
The man stirred. Starsha jumped back a full six inches, startled. She crept back to where she'd been and laid a cool hand on the man's burning forehead.
The stranger struggled to open his eyes and managed to crack them open.
"What…?" he rasped, barely able to form the word with his tortured lips and swelling tongue.
Starsha raised an eyebrow at the man's foreign speech.
"Where… am… I…?" the stranger tried again.
Starsha listened carefully to his words, then whispered to herself, "Ma kore…?*"
He felt like he was about to die. His whole body ached - screamed in agony at every move he made. The only relief he found in his pain was the woman he saw upon opening his eyes. Her face was beautiful. Blonde-orange hair fell in cascades down her shoulders, past her waist. Hazel eyes looked at him with curious concern.
She spoke.
Her voice was wonderful, like a breath of soft wind. He couldn't quite make out what she was saying.
He squinted at her as his vision blurred, "I don't… I don't understand…" A wave of nausea washed over him.
"Ma shmekh?*" the woman asked.
"I – I don't…" he couldn't understand her words.
The woman took a moment, seeming to realize he didn't understand.
She took a breath, looked up at the sky, then back down at him and said, "Shmi… Starsha.*" She pointed to herself. Then she pointed to him and repeated, "Ma shmekh?"
"Ah…" he began, but pain overwhelmed him. In his agony, he remembered something very important. He tried to speak again, but his energy was spent and all he managed was a breath and a look towards the Sea. Then he passed out.
Starsha immediately summoned her mechanized help – the only aid still available to her were the house-keeper droids. They weren't very good at many things, but they were capable of getting the unconscious man back to the palace without injuring him further.
A few minutes later, when the Mahtehkhetim* were in sight Starsha glanced over her shoulder back at the ocean and saw, to her dismay, another man, this one looking worse than the other. The second man was gaunt, his eyes hollow with starvation.
"Who would do this?" she whispered, tears welling up in her eyes. Next to the second man floated a chunk of ship debris. On it was emblazoned an all-too-familiar crest. Realization curdled her gut. The mark… was… Gamilon.
Her heart ached.
"How low will you stoop, great leader of men?" she turned her face upwards to the planet floating over the horizon. "How far will you go to stop this strange ship – to take the only route you perceive to rescue your people? How long will you wait to ask for help? Because you cannot save your world by yourself, Desslok… no matter how hard you try…" a single tear ran down her cheek, leaving in its wake a trail of memories, memories of a young man who was willing to risk his own life to rescue her and her people, a young man fell into bitter darkness.
The Mahtehkhetim arrived. Starsha ordered them out into the water to retrieve the second stranger first, then they took both back to the palace.
"Get him to Dr. Sane now!" The science officer ordered as he managed to lay the unconscious Wildstar on a gurney, his right arm still secured to his waist.
"But your arm –" one of the attending nurses started to protest.
"It can wait," Sandor interrupted, pointing insistently in the direction of the med bay, "Take him!"
The nurse slipped the EVA suit helmet off of Wildstar and replaced it with an oxygen mask. The emergency response team rushed Wildstar to Dr. Sane who took one look at the young man and said, "Get me the snake-bite kit."
"He was bitten by a snake?" one of the group asked.
"No –" the doctor replied, "But he was poisoned by something and that's the best thing I have on hand."
One of the nurses handed the doctor what he'd asked for.
The short physician broke open the kit and fumbled through it. Several things dropped to the floor, but Sane ignored them, focusing intently on the objects still in the little box.
"Doctor, he's destabilizing!" one of the nurses said, her voice full of fear.
"So re-stabilize him," Sane ordered.
The team worked to get Wildstar's condition under control again, but the toxin in his body fought back.
"We can't!" the lead nurse said, panicking. "He – he's going to – "
"Ah ha!" Sane exclaimed, producing a syringe. He injected the contents into Wildstar's neck.
Complete silence fell over the room, broken only by the rasping of oxygen.
"Has the scout group reached the Zakkar*?" Colonel Gantz asked.
"They have, Sir," replied the communications officer.
"And what did they find?"
"The place, though opened, was minimally disturbed."
"And the time-delvers – have they seen anything of concern?" Gantz probed.
"They…" the officer paused to read the synopsis he'd received only moments ago. "They say there was one Eratite who seemed familiar with some of the objects and symbols. He was the one who opened the door."
"Do they know anything else about him?" Gantz's eyes narrowed.
"He is older than the rest of the group he took with him." The comm officer read farther into the report, "And he went…" he swallowed hard before continuing, "he went into… the room."
"He what?!" Gantz bellowed.
"He – he went into the room," the comm officer repeated, then stuttered, "But – but he didn't really do anything. I don't think – yes – they said he…" the man looked ahead in the report and swallowed hard again, "They said he took pictures of the altar and everything in the room, but then he left."
Gantz breathed out some of his anger, then he saw a look of horror fall over the comm officer's face. "What happened?" he demanded,
"He didn't just leave…" the officer shook, "He… found something there… something the excavation team has been trying to find for years, but not there – not at Zakkar."
"Tell them to find that man and retrieve what he took. I don't care what you have to do, but make sure no one else finds out about this."
"Yes, Sir," the com officer nodded vigorously.
Sandor waited quietly outside the operating theatre, hoping and praying that Derek made it through. The science officer reached out to fold his hands, but remembered his arm was still out of commission, then he noticed he'd forgotten to change out of his EVA suit.
He slowly rose from his chair and started to leave for the suit locker, then thought better of it. Less one arm, he would never be able to change by himself. He sighed and sat back down. Something in his suit clinked. He frowned in confusion, then moved again.
He heard the clink again, the unmistakable sound of metal against metal. But he didn't have any metal. Yes, he did - the item he'd picked up in the cavern. He reached down into his pocket with his good hand and pulled out the object.
He wasn't sure what he expected to see, but it wasn't the sight that met his eyes. Laying there, in his still-gloved hand, was a fine gold chain and hung on that chain was a small golden cross etched in Hebrew-like characters.
He squinted at it, trying to make out the inscription. After what seemed like an hour he finally deciphered most of it.
"A poem…?" he wondered aloud, then proceeded to read.
"Inside the heart of stone
There lies a great divide.
A man who once was whole
Has found his hope has died.
May he find the life I have
And from the one Physician great,
Be given hope
And learn to trust instead of hate."
Sandor was puzzled by the words. He rubbed the cross with his thumb, hoping to make it shine a bit more as he polished off some dirt from the cavern. As he fingered the cross, a piece of dirt came off, revealing the name of the one who wrote the heartfelt words.
Sandor stared at the inscription hard, and finally braved an attempt at the name. "Ta…" he squinted at the next part, "lon…" he rubbed the surface again and finished reading the name, "ka."
* Ee Katan Zakkar – literally a "Memorial Island," or "Island of Remembrance"
* Megen – shield
* Ma kore – What's going on?
* Ma shmekh – What's your name?
* Shmi Starsha – My name is Starsha
* Mahtehkhetim – "the metals" droids that the Iscandarians used to use for household chores
* Ahavaiscandar – Iscandarite/Iscandarium; literally – "the love of Iscandar"
* Zakkar - memorial
Episode 12: The Gravity of the Situation
"He's stabilizing," one of the attending nurses sighed in relief. "What did you give him?" he asked Dr. Sane.
The pudgy doctor smirked in triumph, "Just a little something I cooked up back on Earth for severe cases of poisoning – Jupiter's atmosphere wasn't quite what I had in mind, but it was a better test than I could have come up with." Sane turned around, opened a cabinet and took a swig from a bottle of stashed sake.
The team stared at the doctor.
Sane took another drink and shooed them out, "Go on, make sure he's okay to wait in recovery by himself."
"Oh – yes – of course, Dr. Sane," replied the head nurse.
The team began their work, checking and rechecking the still unconscious Wildstar to be sure that he wouldn't relapse into a dangerous state.
"You'll have to check the toxin levels in his blood from time to time, just to make sure it keeps going down," Sane advised as the nurses took Derek to another room.
As soon as the door to the operating room closed, the doctor held up his bottle of sake and stared into the rolling liquid, the memories of hundreds of poison victims from the past less lucky than Wildstar emerging without mercy.
"He'll live," Sandor said, stepping through the Captain's quarters' door.
Avatar nodded, "Good…" he turned around to look at Stephen, "Have the scout parties left, or are they still out there?"
"As far as we know they've gone back to wherever their base is."
"So we can assume that if they don't know about us by now they will soon."
Sandor nodded, "A fair estimate, Captain."
"So what happened out there?" Avatar asked, taking a seat.
"We were in the middle of looking through what we thought was a tomb when they came. We managed to get the group halfway back to the ship without incident, but then Wildstar and I had to try to buy the rest of the party time. He wanted to stay by himself, but I wouldn't let him."
"Is that how that happened?" Avatar pointed to Sandor's still-slung arm.
"Oh this," Sandor looked down at the useless appendage, "No, that was… something else. I need to get Dr. Sane to help me out with it once he sobers up a little."
"He has everything he needs onboard?" asked the captain.
"I made sure he did, in case of something like this."
"Good." The captain smiled thinly, "I knew I picked you for this job for a reason."
Sandor laughed sharply, "Yes, I suppose so." He looked past the captain and out into Jupiter's atmosphere, swirling around outside. "But now we have another problem. Our gunnery chief is down, and the enemy is coming. If we don't find a way to leave before they get here, we'll have more trouble than any of us want this early in our trip."
"You have any ideas?" asked Avatar.
"Not at the moment, but hopefully I will once I get my hands on the data we've collected. Have the repair teams finished with the critical repairs?"
"They'll be done within the hour," replied the captain.
Sandor nodded, "That gives us something to work with. At least we won't be badly damaged when we try to get out of this heavy gravity."
The captain looked down at the deck plating as Sandor gazed out into the strange world's atmosphere.
"What's really on your mind, Sandor?"
"That obvious?" asked the XO.
The captain smiled and looked up, "It is."
Sandor sighed, "While we were inside that place – it isn't a tomb, by the way – I found something… odd."
"Something from the Gamilons?" Avatar asked, curious.
"I don't know." Sandor replied, "I can't tell by the look of it, and it's in an Earth language – at least, a form of one." He reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out the little cross. He held it out for the captain to see. "Here." He handed Avatar the piece of jewelry.
The captain took it, holding it carefully in his big hands. He peered at the thing, running his thumb over the inscription on the back.
"Hebrew?" the captain asked.
"Yes."
Avatar shook his head, "I've seen enough of Homer's tutorial notes to recognize the characters, but beats me if I can read them." He looked back at his XO. "What does it say?"
"It's a poem." Sandor replied, "Something about someone this woman knew. It seems she hoped for a change of heart in someone very close to her."
"'She'?" Avatar asked.
"Yes," Sandor replied, "There was a name written after the poem - 'Talonka.'"
"Strange name," Avatar mused.
"Yes, I thought so too, but why would a cross of all things be hidden away in a place like this: a memorial cavern speaking of something we can't even begin to know right now?"
"So it's a memorial?"
"And an odd one at that, Sir. There was an altar raised in the middle of one of the rooms. It seemed to be the shrine's focal point. I recorded everything I could about the place and so did everyone else before we were unceremoniously forced to flee for our lives."
"Once this crisis is over take whatever time you need to figure out what you found here."
"Oh, I will, Captain. This is quite a find to say the least."
Avatar nodded, encouraged by the science officer's continued curiosity. "Still like the young man I met so many years ago, thrilled by the smallest piece of information." He turned the conversation back to the present problem, "Go and figure out a way off this rock."
"Yes, Sir." He started to salute, but he'd forgotten his useless arm. "Sorry, Sir. I'll get this seen to."
"And make sure the good doctor is sober enough to be ready for any more injuries that come his way," Avatar said. "Though I hope we've seen the worst of it already."
Several hours later, Sandor, the captain, and all the available chief officers were gathered in the operations room to discuss a possible solution to their dilemma.
"We'll have to cut the power to any unnecessary systems, but I think we can do it," Sandor addressed the group. "This 'floating continent' is in orbit around Jupiter, but we know it isn't traveling at escape velocity, so we have at least some idea of what kind of speed we'll have to achieve to get out of here... And we all know that our regular engine output isn't going to do it. That's why we were sucked into the gravity field to begin with. In order to boost our engines we'll have to increase how much power we funnel down to them."
"But can she handle that kind of power surge?" Orion put in. "This is an untested engine, lad. We don't know how she'll respond ta somethin' like this."
"True," Sandor acknowledged. "But the only other alternative is to stay here. It's a valid concern, but we haven't the time to do more thorough testing."
Orion sighed, "Aye. You're right, but I'll need my team prepared for problems. Who knows what'll happen when that extra punch hits."
"You'll have some time to brief your team on emergency preparations before we go," Sandor replied. "Any other concerns we need to address?"
"Where's Wildstar?" Dash asked. "Has he woken up yet?"
"No," Sandor replied. "He's still unconscious in the medical bay, but I'm sure Dr. Sane is doing everything he can for him right now. The best thing we can do is get out of here."
Dash nodded, accepting the subtle hint to let the subject die.
"Launch time is in two hours. Do you think you'll have your team ready by then, Orion?" asked Sandor.
"Aye, we'll be ready," the old engineer nodded.
"It's been a while since that group returned to the ship, Colonel." Gantz's tactical officer scratched his head and studied his console. "They're not doing anything at all."
"I can see that," Gantz replied through clenched teeth. "Please do not speak unless you have something useful to say."
"A – apologies, Colonel." The officer kept staring at his station monitors. He shot up out of his seat, "They're moving! Colonel, they're finally moving!"
"Where are they going?" Gantz snapped back.
"They're flying with Ee Katan Zakkar, or, trying to. They're too slow right now and it's getting ahead of them… but they're speeding up slowly. They should reach the Zakkar's speed in…" he quickly calculated the time, "fifteen minutes." The officer looked down at the data scrolling across his station, "And they'll be right under us in five minutes."
"Ready all guns," Gantz ordered. "We'll shoot them down now while they're stuck in this planet's gravity."
"Engine output at eighty-five percent," Orion relayed to the bridge. "We should be at a hundred in a few minutes."
"Any problems so far?" asked Sandor.
"Nothin' as far as we can tell," replied the engineer. "Just let us know before ya send that extra down here."
"Alright," the XO replied.
"Enemy ships coming in above our position!" Nova reported. "They're fading in and out on the radar. The atmosphere is still interfering with the instruments. I can't tell exactly where they are, but their weapons are fully charged."
"Venture, get ready for evasive maneuvers," the captain ordered. "Keep us roughly in line with that floating continent."
"Aye, Sir," the helmsman set his jaw and punched up their speed.
"Prepare to fire all guns at the Eratite ship," Gantz ordered.
"Yes, Sir." The gunnery chief relayed the firing order.
"Enemy ship will be within range in ten seconds," tactical supplied.
"Begin the countdown at ten seconds," Gantz ordered. "When we hit zero, fire at will."
"Aye, Colonel," Gunnery acknowledged.
The countdown ground slowly down. It reached one second, then the much anticipated zero.
"All guns, fire at will," the gunnery chief ordered. "I repeat, fire at will."
"Colonel they're moving away from Zakkar!" tactical announced. "They're still within range, but just barely."
"I don't care!" Gantz exploded, "Just shoot them down! I want them gone now!"
"Enemy fire to port." Nova watched the radar and her other instruments carefully. "Help me," she sent up a quick prayer. "Help me do this right." Another slew of incoming blips blinked onto her screen. "More fire, still to port, but several megameters closer. They're honing in on us."
"Engine output at one hundred percent," Orion's voice came from the engine room.
"Lovely timing," Dash put in.
"Captain?" Sandor looked to Avatar for approval to go ahead with the energy boost.
"Do it," Avatar nodded.
Gantz's gunnery chief reported, "We're preparing the prime weapon to fire, Colonel. It will be ready in thirty seconds."
"Haven't we gotten that charge time down to something more manageable?" Gantz scowled.
"Yes, Sir, we're still working on it," gunnery replied, "It… was something else that seems to have met with sabotage recently."
"Just get it charged!"
"Aye, Sir."
"Twenty seconds until that energy comes through, Orion," Sandor told the engineer.
"We'll be ready," replied Orion.
Sandor did some quick adjustments, carefully shunting the additional power into the right channels, praying that none of the conduits would overload before the energy reached the main engine.
Fifteen seconds later he announced to the engine room, "In five seconds, it's all yours." Sandor looked at the ship's clock and counted down from five, then gave the extra energy its final push.
For half a second nothing happened.
"Opening the main firing gate," the Gamilon gunnery chief announced. He counted to three, then ordered, "Fire!"
The Argo shot forward like a toy being jerked through the water by an eager child. The ship exceeded any speed records she'd set in test runs by thirty percent.
"Venture, point us out of here," Avatar ordered.
Without a word, Mark angled the ship upward, away from the floating continent and out of Jupiter's orbit.
"Captain, a massive energy surge just came from what looks like the enemy flagship," Nova said. "The readings show it's weapons' fire, and by the energy signature they're using something a lot like the wave motion technology Starsha gave us."
Sandor turned to the captain, his face grim.
"Enemy fighters coming up from the floating continent," Nova added, "– several hundred of them."
"We can send out the Black Tigers –" Dash began.
Avatar cut in, "We're too close to Jupiter's gravity, they'd be sucked back in instantly with no hope of getting out." He looked at Sandor's sober face. "Arm the prime weapon..." he said, voice low. "Arm the Wave Motion Gun."
"Doctor… Sane…" Derek mumbled, his chest feeling heavier than a load of bricks. "What's going on?"
"Ah, he's awake," the doctor said. "We're just getting off of Jupiter, Wildstar."
"Leaving? How long have I been out?" he asked, more alert.
"Few hours," Sane replied. "Didn't expect you awake this soon, not with that nasty poison gas you got yourself into. It's not a good idea to get your suit breached when you're in something like that, you know."
"Yeah, yeah I know," Derek replied, annoyed. "Get me out of here." He started to disconnect the series of IV's hooked up to his arm.
"Don't do that, Wildstar, you need your rest. Now calm down and relax for a while."
The ship-wide alarms blared and an announcement came over the com system, "Prepare for prime weapon firing. All hands, find a secure location. The countdown will begin in one minute."
"I've got to get to the bridge!" Derek exclaimed, whatever haze was left over from the poison now gone from his brain. "They're not firing that thing without me."
"Wildstar, wait! Wildstar!" Sane ran after the young man as Derek pulled on his uniform even as he ran haltingly out of the medical bay and into the ship halls, speeding towards the bridge.
"Opening targeting scope," Dash announced as he sat in the gunnery chief's chair and gripped the wave motion gun trigger.
Only twenty seconds remained until the first firing of their prime weapon.
"All targets within the line of fire, Captain," Nova said.
Just then the elevator to the bridge hissed open and in barreled Wildstar out of breath, his shirt tails hanging out and one boot zipped half-way up. He walked – albeit far from straight – towards the gunnery chief's chair.
For a second the crew was too stunned to say anything, then Sandor started chuckling and said, "Dash, I think the man wants his seat back."
Dash gave a disappointed sigh and headed back to his regular post.
"You think you can shoot this thing?" Venture whispered to Derek from the next seat over, "You look like you just got in a fight with a biker gang and lost."
"Thanks a lot, Mark," Derek replied. "I'll have you know that I feel just fine," a twinge ran through his head – the onset of a headache from getting up too fast and booking it up to the bridge, "Mostly fine."
"Just don't blow up the wrong target, okay Wildstar," Mark commented.
"Whatever you say."
"Ten seconds to firing," Nova said, as the countdown began over the ship-wide com.
"Arm it again, you imbeciles! We have to shoot them down before they get away!" Gantz ordered. "And try to cut down the charging time!"
"Yes, Sir," came the replies.
"We have ten seconds on the clock now, Colonel."
"Better," he growled. "Begin the countdown."
"Five seconds to firing," the computer's voice announced to all of Argo's crew as they waited silently.
"Four."
Derek's hands left a thick layer of sweat on the gun grip and he realized he'd forgotten to put his gloves back on. "Oh well," he thought, "Doesn't matter now."
"Three. Two. One."
Derek took a deep breath, and squeezed the trigger.