(… continuing)

After what felt like an age, the comms came to life again.
“Mentor, cockpit, stable. Bazzer and you are stabilising. Marr, Luna and Annee have crashed as have all the passengers,” Mentor said.
“Threat status?” Dukk added as he slipped into the inner layer. His body was responding to the adrenaline hit.
“Doors still sealed. Scanners showing nothing near us. No other vessel signatures. However, there is a blip on the radar. In our wake. It could be pirates or their transport pod.”
“I am taking over the conn. I will bring it to the console down here. I’ll monitor the threat. Where is Ann?”
“She was on a walk around. Clearly too far from the g-lines. Her vitals are showing her as in the nose section.”
“You go for Ann. Resuscitate and then come and help with the passengers.”
“On it,” came Mentor’s reply.
“Bazzer?” Dukk said as he got into his g-suit.
“Holy cow, that never gets any easier!” came Bazzer’s faint and strained response.
“I’ll go for Luna? You good to get to Marr?”
“At her door now.”

Dukk dashed to Luna’s cabin. The door was already open as per the automated response when a DMD bounce hits.
Luna was sprawled half way out of her bunk. It looked like she had tried to get to her adrenaline pack, but failed. It was floating just out of reach.
Dukk grabbed the resuscitation kit off the wall of her cabin and pushed himself over to her. He lifted her shoulder, spun her over on her stomach and attached a med pack to her med lead. He placed the resuscitation wrap across her back and spun her over to complete the wrap. He place the mask from the kit over her mouth and hit the big green button on the front of the pack.
Immediately her whole body convulsed as the kit brought Luna back to life.
“Hey kid, welcome back!” Dukk said as Luna opened her eyes and coughed away the air mask.
“I tried, but…” she tried to say before coughing again.
“You’ll get the hang of it. Besides, you weren’t out for long. It was handy that you sleep in the buff. I didn’t have to cut any clothing away to get the resuscitation kit fitted. Take a moment, then get dressed,” Dukk said trying to avoid the inevitable awkward moment that was now apparent.
“Marr is back,” shouted Bazzer from the other side of the crew mess.
“Luna too,” Dukk replied closing Luna’s cabin door.
“Passengers next,” Dukk suggested to Bazzer as they both arrived at the door to the guest accommodation.
“Annee is coming around. On my way up to you,” Mentor added into the crew comms.
“I’ll be needing a new g-suit, captain. Any suggestions on colour?” came Annee’s voice softly into the comms.
“Blue is all the rage these days, Annee, go with that. Good to have you back,” Dukk added as he grabbed a resuscitation kit from the wall of the port side twin cabin.

Mentor was at the door to the double, when Dukk return to the corridor.
“I’ll leave you and Bazzer to sort this,” Dukk said as he dashed back to the crew mess.
At the console, Dukk checked the radar. He found no rigs near them and the only noise was a small signature in the wake. The blip that Mentor had mentioned. “Possibly a transport pod,” Dukk thought to himself.
Next, he opened the engine controls and started the second reactor. He would need full power for what he needed to do.
He then opened various video feeds of the rig. It was more about passing time while waiting for the reactors to reach full power. He knew he wouldn’t see anything. Rewinding the footage would be pointless also.
Dukk knew that just before the bounce, the rig had crossed the horizon. If raiders did trigger the proximity sensors they would have used the sunset to hide their movements. No, Dukk wasn’t expecting to see anything. He also knew that if raiders had triggered the proximity sensors it was while they were applying filter caps to them. Which would now prevent the sensors from detecting any movement.
Before the bounce, they would have also attached grapple hooks and ultrathin tethers which would now be extending out behind the rig. They would have timed it perfectly so that after attaching the tethers they would scramble for cover and get ready for when the rig bounced. At this vary moment other raiders would be using the tethers to reach the rig. They would be moving swiftly but carefully as to not be picked up on radar. They would be wearing heavier suits to hide their body temperature. They would also be bringing resuscitation equipment and weapons.
Dukk knew the first set of raiders would have had to travel light and fast to reach the rig. This was so they could do their task during the short window provided by the sunset. Dukk knew that when the full team reach the rig, they would resuscitate their colleagues. Then they would sit tight and wait for the next sunset as the rig orbited the planet. They’d then use the blind spot offered by the sunset, to move along the rig, open one of the aft hold doors and gain entry. Opening the door would depressurise the hold, setting off all kinds of alarms. However, it would be too late by that point as they’d be on board.
Dukk also knew that if they thought they had been seen on arrival, they would come on board immediately. The eventuality would be the same. It wasn’t a situation Dukk was interested in entertaining.
“See anything?” a voice came from behind Dukk. Luna was standing there. Suited up, helmet in hand.
“Nope.”
“If there are raiders, they will be hiding in the main engine housings or even the directional thruster nuzzle housings. Is that right?”
“Yep, that would be why we can’t see them.”
“So how do we shake them off?”
“Like this,” Dukk said having noticed the reactors were ready. "Watch the video feeds."
First he turned off the auto-pilot. Then he opened the broadcast channel.
“Brace,” Dukk announced before firing all directional thrusters at the same time. The rig shook.
“You killed one of them,” Luna gasped.

(to be continued...)

[Rule of Twelve, Double Take, Chapter 22 - Waves (Passage 4 of 5)]

All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2022 BJ Allen