Without hesitation, Enrique did as his partner asked. He reached down to the base of the transfer line where it connected to the deck. Opening up a small panel in the side of the connection collar, he pushed the button in and held it down.
At the far end of the cable, where it connected to the Jung ship, the line released its connection and began to float away freely.
“Transfer line disconnected!” he announced.
“Aurora, Nash! The line is free! Get us outta here!”
“Nash! Aurora! Are you secure!”
“I’m secure, damn it! Now go!”
“Aurora, Mendez! She’s still on the line, about fifty meters away!”
“Goddamn it! Just go!” she demanded. “I’ll make it!”
“Take us out,” the captain ordered. “But not too fast yet, we don’t want her slamming against the hull.”
Nathan started with the docking thrusters only, burning them for a few seconds as he tried to imagine Jessica, out there in the vacuum of space as she clung onto the transfer line while it swung her down toward the hull of the ship. He knew that no matter how slow he went, she was still going to hit hard.
“Commander!” Nathan yelled, suddenly having an idea. “Tell her to call out just before she impacts the hull! A couple meters, maybe!”
The commander didn’t bother to ask Nathan why, figuring it wouldn’t hurt.
“Good thinking, Nathan,” the captain said. He already knew what his helmsman was up to.
“Nash, Aurora! Call out a few meters before you hit the hull!”
Out on the landing apron, Enrique was protected against the motion of the ship by her inertial dampeners. But out on the end of the transfer line, Jessica was not. And it was all she could do to just hang on. With her legs wrapped tightly around the line to help keep her from sliding farther down it, there was no way she would be able to continue her ascent until after she hit the hull. That is, if she survived the impact.
As she dangled around on the line, spinning back and forth, she could see the impacts of the Jung rail gun fire on the hull of the ship. It was an ugly thing to witness, but the damage didn’t appear too serious. She was sure that the Jung were firing blindly out of desperation and not really aiming strategically.
As the Aurora continued to accelerate, she could tell that she was getting closer to the hull as her body weight on the line resulted in a lazy arc towards the ship. By her best guess, she was going to hit about fifty meters aft of the landing apron. But the apron itself was at least ten meters higher than the hull behind her, and it was an overhang to which there was no way up. Even if she did survive the impact, how was she going to get back into the ship? Even with the inertial dampeners, she doubted she could climb around on the outside of the ship during full acceleration.
As she spun around again, she was able to see something near the spot she thought she was going to land. Something round. A hatch!
“Aurora, Nash! Is that a hatch I see just aft of the landing apron?”
“Affirmative! We’re on it!”
Within seconds, the spec ops master chief was running through the corridors of the Aurora, on his way to the airlock just aft of the landing apron.
“Time to overload?” the captain asked.
“Unknown,” the commander said. “Based on the lieutenant’s original report, it should’ve already happened.”
“I guess whatever he’s doing is working,”
“Captain, we’re starting to show them our hind quarters. Without shields, if we take too many hits on the stern we might lose main propulsion,” the commander warned.
“Helm come slowly to starboard, try not to show them our ass too much.”
“Yes Sir.”
The ship started to roll to starboard slightly, as she started a slow right turn. Jessica’s descent arc started to slide to port slightly, which by her estimates would make her land even closer to the airlock hatch. Damn, Nathan. I underestimated you.
Inside the ship, the spec ops master chief arrived at the airlock and began depressurizing the chamber.
“Three meters!” Jessica called out over comms.
Without being ordered, Nathan pitched the tail of the ship down slightly to reduce Jessica’s rate of closure thereby lessening her impact velocity. It wasn’t much, but he desperately hoped it would help.
Jessica’s eyes widened as she rapidly fell towards the ship. But then, suddenly, her rate of closure changed, slowing considerably. She realized the ship was pitching her tail down, and she knew that Nathan was trying as best he could to give her a soft landing.
But it could’ve been softer, for she hit hard, knocking the air out of her lungs. She rebounded from the deck, floating back up slightly, but the ships acceleration forced her back down, striking a second time. As she rolled over onto her side, the hatch, located not more than a meter away, suddenly opened. I may have to give you another quickie, Nathan, she thought, as she struggled to get through the airlock hatch.
“Bridge! Airlock fourteen! Nash is in!”
“All ahead full!” the captain ordered.
Nathan immediately brought the mains up to full power, feeling the acceleration as it pushed him back into his chair. Those dampeners are pretty damned good, he thought.
“How long until we get clear?” the captain asked again.
“Five minutes, Sir,” Cameron responded.
Nathan wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard a touch of fear in her voice. Perhaps she’s human after all?
The rail gun fire continued to rock the ship, diminishing as their distance from the enemy increased. The captain’s mind was racing furiously, searching for options. If he put a torpedo into her, it might stop the overload. But it might also kill the brave lieutenant that was sacrificing himself to buy them some time. And it also might trigger the overload even sooner. If he had his FTL fields, he could probably accelerate past light speed and get clear, but all the emitters were being used by the special projects team. That’s when the idea struck him.
“Doctor Karlsen!” the captain said, spinning around. “Can we make another jump?”
“You cannot simply snap your fingers and jump as you say,” he argued. “It takes time to recharge the energy banks…”
“…How much time?”
“At least one hour for every light year traveled,” the Doctor explained. “But there are other considerations…”
“There is enough energy currently in the banks for a transition back to Earth, Captain,” Doctor Sorenson interrupted. Public speaking was not her father’s strength, nor was seeing the big picture quickly. For all his brilliance in physics, he tended to have tunnel vision in such matters. “But it takes time to calculate a transition sequence…”
“…How long?”
“Too long, I’m afraid,” she admitted.
“What about Earth? Didn’t you already have a sequence programmed to return to Earth?”
“Yes, but we’re not even headed in the right direction. And we’re already a considerable distance from our original departure point. I would have to recalculate…”
The captain was getting tired of all the details. He just wanted to know if he could use the Jump Drive to get away. “Ensign, how long would it take to get back to our original arrival point?”
“Maybe three minutes,” Cameron estimated. “But that’s only if we take a direct route, which would take us back into their weapons range.”
“Doctor, what would happen if we jumped using the sequence calculated for a return to Earth on our present course?”
Doctor Karlsen was flabbergasted, and began babbling in Danish at his daughter. His daughter just ignored him, focusing her attention on the captain, as she knew he was just trying to get them out of an impossible situation.
“Honestly, I do not know,” she admitted. “The safety protocols may not even accept the execute command, since the ship’s heading does not match the…”
“…Can you override the safety protocols?”
“Yes, but…”
“…Do it!” he commanded.