Vitalis Omnibus by Jason Halstead Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t much, but it was something. She nodded and went to her station, sitting down and plugging herself into the data port to try and think outside of the box. No sooner had she sat down than her stomach felt funny, as though it had moved without her body going with it. It wasn’t an emotional lurch, nor was it a reaction to a bad lunch. She frowned and started working on her station, losing herself as she input data into it.
    “Sir!” Kira gasped a few minutes later. She stood up and turned to face him. “We’ve just been damaged!”
    “What? By another ship? We’re under fire?”
    “No…well, I don’t think so. Passive sensors aren’t picking up anything. There was an explosion aft.”
    “Internal?”
    “External. Our engines are fine but the pushers have readings all over the place!”
    Sharp slammed his hand down on the intercom. “All hands report!” He turned back to her. “Get your boyfriend to check the damage out!”
    Kira’s cheeks burned even as she felt a small thrill deep in her heart from hearing the words spoken publicly. She picked up a microphone and triggered the suit radio channel. “Eric, do you read? This is Kira on the bridge of the Rented Mule .”
    “Hang on, Kira, something just happened. Damn near ripped my tether off and snapped my spine. I’m checking it out now,” Eric said.
    Kira sucked in a breath, worried for him. “Be careful,” she whispered into the radio. “Check the pushers.”
    Tarn was the last to report to the bridge, as usual. Jeff and Kevin stood by, looking uncomfortable even though Kevin was trying to overcompensate by leaning casually against a bulkhead. Sharp held up his hand and looked at Kira, waiting for Eric to report in. His timing was impeccable.
    “Kira, something blew up. I don’t know if we were hit or what but all four main pushers are damaged. One and three are out completely, two is operating at about twenty percent, and four is close to eighty percent, but its orientation has been shifted. We’re drifting off course. I recommend we shut them down to fix or we’ll have to burn fuel with the thrusters to compensate.”
    Kira turned to Sharp while Jeff and Kevin both gasped. Tarn spat out something vile but offered nothing more. “Captain, the pushers maintain thrust; losing them won’t slow us down. It just prevents us from accelerating further. Our intent was to use them until we found the mining belt and then rotate to slow down and dock. Shutting them down won’t hurt us, other than making us take longer.”
    “Longer? We’re already overdue!” Sharp spat out. He gripped the arm of his chair tightly and then snapped, “Turn them off. We fix them and figure out where the hell we’re at!”
    “Sir, we don’t—“
    “You find a fucking way to do it! There are stars out there, right? Figure out how far they are and triangulate our position. They did it five hundred years ago, sailing on water on Earth. I think we’re a little bit more educated than they were!”
    Kira paled and went to answer him, but Sharp was already up and headed out the door. “Tarn, stand ready in case this was an attack. Jeff, Kevin —get out there and help Eric conduct repairs.”
    They dispersed quickly, asking no questions and offering no problems. Even Tarn moved efficiently, something Kira had never seen before. She bit her lip, trying to figure out what was bothering her, and then turned back to her station. The ship was dying. Every event took another chunk of it from them, leaving them more and more stranded.
    A ship in the Core systems had a chance of recovery. For them, stranded somewhere near the rim, there was little hope unless they could make it happen. Even if they could generate a distress beacon it would take weeks, months, or years for it to be heard, and then twice as long for help to come. Twice as long at best. She fought down a rising wave of panic in her, blinking back sudden tears, and focused instead on trying to figure out ways