Quoted By:
“Raiders distance to Calypso, 6.7km,” HOPI warns, “ETA to their arrival approximately four minutes at current projected speed.”
“Give me regular interval checks,” you instruct her, cycling through the settings of the cutter. “Actually, do they know that we’re down here?”
“So far, all evidence points to the contrary. They seem to be gunning solely for the ship.”
Behind your faceplate, you can almost make out the reflection of your mouth twisting into a shark-toothed grin. Those Khanate bastards are gonna be in for one hell of a surprise once you’re finished. But Molly would’ve been similarly gleeful in your position, and that immediately sours your jubilant feeling.
[“It’s not often that you can cut loose in one of these things, Sinny. Ladera might’ve made them for peace in his time and all that hokey jazz. But PUEXOs are pretty good at killing people, even without combat retrofits. And no matter how hard you try to deny it, you and I are pretty damned good at it.”]
A small tongue of plasma erupts from your cutter’s emitter. The superheated flame makes quick work of the metal, shearing apart and slagging steel and iron plating within seconds. You cut around as best you can without damaging critical components or rupturing the batteries. A slow, but steady process that you refuse to compromise any sort of standards.
With a metallic screech that sets your teeth on edge, you pull apart the pliant metal and expose the leak. “Found the leak. Isolating and prepping welding site…”
Suddenly, a small orange-yellow flash of light flares up in your peripherals and surface-pointed camera. Some distance away, a patch of the ocean ceiling becomes engulfed within a brilliant fireball. “What the hell was that?”
“One boat has been destroyed,” reports HOPI, “Excellent marksmanship by the Calypso’s autocannons.”
“Still five on the board,” you mutter, “Don’t suppose it was the one jamming the ship?”
“No, I’m afraid not. There’s still significant interference.”
“Damn.”
Halfway through the weld, you both hear and feel a CLICK as Gully attaches the hose to your auxiliary tank. Over the comm, she asks, “Now what?”
HOPI answers, “The Mackerel’s got a hatch that covers a direct line into their oxygen tank. The location of which should be…on the other side.”
“Understood.”
Sweat beads down the front of your face as you concentrate on the weld. A combination of scrap armor and materials from the Magellan’s standard kit comprises the “patch” going over the leak. It’s admittedly sloppy, but you go about it no differently than fixing a pipe back on the Duck.
Clean the joint surfaces. Weld the leak surface first. Overlay with a secondary weld. Stress-test to check for any distortions, and correct with strong, hydraulic pressure.
(cont.)
