Chapter 22

Mary awoke a few hours later. Going to med bay, she saw that Jim was finally awake! Though she wanted to slap the shit out of him, she decided to wait till he was better.

“How is the station, Mary?” Jim asked as soon as he saw her.

“We have three reactors online, structural integrity is at ninety percent, we have forty-five percent shields, and the hyper engines are at one-fourth,” Mary replied.

Jim was shaking his head, touching his ear. He called Dickie, “Dickie status of restart on the other seven reactors.”

“At present, two are blocked off and have sustained damage to the inner reactor chamber walls, one has debris in the inner chamber, one will not be operational till extensive repair is made, and the last three require manual restart activation after removal of debris.” Dickie quipped back

“Are your antigrav units operating with enough power to clear the debris near the three reactors that can be reactivated?” Jim asked.

“Affirmative,” Dickie replied.

“Good commence clearing; the quicker we get them online, the quicker we can go home,” Jim stated, smirking. Mary thought, yeah, right, easy for you to say, Jim, as she left to try and restart the reactors.

Mary was hot and sweaty; she’d worked almost all day to get the first of the three reactivatable reactors clear. Even with the help of the anti-grav units, it was hard going. She decided she just might kill Jim after all. She did NOT like to perspire, and she wasn’t about to ask a pregnant Amber for help. Mary was glad as hell that the last proximity alert hadn’t been enemy ships. With only three reactors going, they were sitting ducks, even to the weak ass tyrants in this section of space.

Damn it, she thought, with all this damage Dickie still wasn’t able to get all repair functions going, and they needed at least two more before it would be able to gain more control. Sighing, she got back to work and was almost through the anteroom of the reactor. At least with this one going, she’d be able to take a hot shower.

Jim was pissed a few seconds sooner, and they wouldn’t be having all this trouble. Mary was more than capable, but she still hadn’t had enough time to use the system yet.

“Jim I’ve reached the anteroom of the reactor, it’s a mess down here good thing we added that extra shielding or this one would be toast,” came Mary’s voice from the com.

“Alright, come on back after you’re done and take a break. You’ve more than earned it,” Jim answered.

“I will after I look at the other two, I want to make sure I can actually clear them,” came Mary’s reply.

“Hell, I should be back up tomorrow, Mary. I’ll...,” Jim started.

“I told you you’re not moving till we’re sure you’re not injured more than the readings say. You do, and you’ll have more than just me to deal with,” Mary snapped back. This was twice he’d been hurt after he’d sent her to safety, and she’d be damned if it was going to happen again.

Jim threw up his arms in defeat. With just one of them, he might be able to climb out of this bed, but not both. Damn, Jim thought he felt like a prisoner. They wouldn’t even let him go to the bathroom alone. Sighing, he laid back, deciding for the moment not to fight it. Amber smirked. Finally, there was someone who could actually get Jim to listen for once. Amber sighed. They needed to get back to Imperial space soon.

Even as she sat, she felt the baby begin to move again, damn it! It was sooner than she thought; sifting through all the dates, she began to wonder if she hadn’t gotten the date wrong when she got pregnant. ‘Bout her luck, she thought, well their luck. With all that he’d been through the last few years, she wasn’t sure if she could have remained sane, plus all the shit of them both losing their families. Sighing, she slightly cringed as she felt the baby move again.

Mary had finally cleared through to the anteroom. After a thorough check of all the reactors and associated systems, she walked to the system control room. Finally getting it started, she noticed that the light levels were finally up where they should be; good, she thought it was about time. The added power enabled Dickie to use more anti-grav units, so finally, the hallway and the rest of the anteroom were clear in no time. Jim felt more of the biobed come to life; good, he thought she had the fourth back on. They ought to be at half speed now. The shields were also at half. Sighing, he knew if they could drop the shields, they’d be back a lot sooner. Well, there was no helping it now, he guessed. Touching his ear, he opened his com, “Dickie status,” Jim said.

“We now have sufficient power to properly assess damage to the station, structural integrity holding at ninety-five percent, shields are at half power now rising to fifty-five percent. We are now at half speed on the hyperengines. I have lost control over thirty-five percent of the station, including the tunnel drive. I am attempting to repair it now. It appears that quite a few circuits are burned out on super sub-level five, plus there is extensive damage to panels five through ten in the control room. I am afraid that we won’t be able to use the tunnel drive until they are all repaired. I am afraid there is no way to bypass them,” Dickie reported.

Jim silently cursed his luck. If he hadn’t been here, he was sure he and Mary could have had the station back up. Sitting up a moment, the room began to spin. Damn it, he thought as he quickly fell back on the bed. Well that sucks. Amber arose quickly, hurrying to the biobed when she heard Jim’s groan, starting the scan again when she saw that more of the bed was functioning. The fact that his brain was still showing swelling worried her. She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew that wasn’t good. Looking over the interface, she began to enlist more medical applications for the biobed.