Chapter 15

Jim Dutton looked back and forth between Alan and Eris in shock. “Jim, gather the troops, all of them, Peake crew too, in the briefing room, I’ve got to hit life support ... we still have them, right?”

“Same place captain.”

“Ok, get this beast away from the station and we’ll gather up in ten minutes.” Alan led Eris down the hall to the ready room module which shared a life support office with its neighbor ready room. On the floor were the cockpits of four fighters. The side by side canopies rather than fore and aft seating showed that those were F-733 fighters, and the canopies opened from the rear and slid forward showed they were F-733F models. At the back of the room was a door leading into a room where Alan turned in Eris’ helmet and she began stripping off her environment suit. “Can I get a small woman’s flight suit and a large mans?”

“Still a captain, captain?” asked the life support specialist as he prepared to make a new name tag for Alan.

“Negative, I’m a colonel in the Space Force.” He responded to the astonished looks with, “No really! I am! They’re the ones that called me to duty, and make a name tag for Eris Carmine, Civilian Consultant.”

“Comin’ up! You back in the saddle Pappy?”

“Yeah, we’re having a kegger in the briefing room in five minutes. Let everyone back there know.”

“Will do sir!”

“Are you always so chummy with your people?” asked Eris as she wrestled out of her environment suit.

“We stole a moon together. How can you be pissy with someone that can steal a moon?” Eris was floating naked next to him, wrestling the environment suit down her legs. Damn, her body was exactly the same as Pandora’s. She even had a small tattoo at the base of her spine, like Pandora. Pandora has a tattoo of a small sea chest, Pandora’s Box. Eris has a tattoo of a pair of crossed swords, which made sense. Eris was the Greek goddess of strife and discord.

When dressed, they floated into the briefing room, which was carpeted with Velcro, and planted their Velcro boots firmly as the room went totally silent. “Damn,” whispered Eris. “What did you say to them?”

“It’s what you said.”

Before Alan could start the briefing, Eileen Collins called out, “Did she say she’s dating a marine?”

“They spent last night together while I was in the gym.” He turned to Eris and asked, “what were you doing last night?”.

“Banging.” The crowd began grumbling angrily and Eris said, “they’re going to kill me. Thanks Popeye.”

Alan hit a key on the terminal before him, and a photograph appeared on the wall behind him. “This is a photograph of Lieutenant Walter Shirra and his wife Estelle, now I call them mom and dad,” said Alan to start the briefing. “This is a picture of their twin girls Pandora and Eris. Colonel Pandora is back on bombers, and we have Eris with us for this tour, she’s a metallurgist and until recently was known as The Scrapper.”

“She’s the one we’ve been chasing around shooting up ships?”

“Yes and no. Yes, you have been chasing her, and no, she’s not been shooting up ships. She was apprehended by the marine she’s been banging for the past two months ... ow!” Eris punched him in the ribs.

“You deserve that,” said a new recruit.

“Thank you,” said Eris.

“Ok, we are looking at someone that can destroy an entire cargo ship with one shot,” said Alan, still rubbing his aching ribs. “The Martian government has credible evidence that leads them to believe that Jezero lake is in danger. Colonel Pandora is going to protect Mars while we hunt the real scrapper down.”

As he was talking, the ship lurched, and after a moment, alarms started bellowing. “What’s going on?”

“Camp Schmitt was just hit,” came the call from the active captain on the bridge. On the screen showed a small field of debris growing around the outer ring of Camp Schmitt near the four o’clock position on the ring.

Alarms sounded throughout the ship and Alan said, “I need a navigator!” and charged for the closest ready room. “Get the SS Peake out of here!” There was a frenzy to scramble for environment suits, but Alan hadn’t changed out of his yet. He slid into a fighter that had Pandora’s name painted on the canopy sill and started the pre-launch checklist. He had the ship ready to drop when Eileen Collins slid in next to him. “Hey darling,” he said cheerfully as they locked on their helmets and wiggled in their seats, making sure the magnets in their environment suits had grabbed the seat magnets. “It’s been a while.” Alan had given Eileen her first instructions on flying in high Saturn orbit.