Chapter 4

By evening three days after the larger of the repairs were complete, leaving only a few small thing left to do, there was only a few people left and Gillyanna was feeling better about that. A lot had been done and the ship would be even better for living in and including the reactor core even if the engines were a total loss and unable to be replaced. There were also twice as many data pads and communits for the use of the brothers.

Gillyana had just put Glissa down when she heard an explosion and the ground shook. It was followed closely be the sound of a cannon going off. The noise woke Glissa anyway so Gillyanna took her and the others and went to see what was wrong. What she found was not good. Dorel, the Colonel, Lavayn and another man were in different seats around the room. The colonel was yelling into the Comm. "Damn it!! I said Take off! We'll be fine. The shields are at full and your needed on the ship! You're a sitting duck if you don't get off the ground!"

"Sir, the Vanchu reports two raiders inbound. They will engage in 20 minutes. E.T.A. for us to rendezvous with the Vanchu, 12 minutes. We'll take out the raider's scout then make for the ship," said the man through the speaker. "Are you going to be ok till we get back?"

"Get out of here! Don't worry about us. Scrap that raider scout and git!" yelled the Colonel.

"Yes, sir. 1 minute till target lock. See you when we get back," the man finished and the line went out. There were several more explosions but as Gillyanna could tell the noise was going away as the shuttle moved away.

The Colonel wasn't done yet. "Lieutenant, are we still receiving telemetry from the shuttle?"

"I told you to lose the lieutenant stuff. My contract ended when we hit this planet," an annoyed Dorel said, "But as to your question yes, for a few minutes. We just can't get the signal to penetrate the atmosphere. Not without a booster or something."

"Until I'm told otherwise or I see this contract, your still in this man's space corp. Lieutenant Lavayn shield status?" the last meant for Lavayn.

"Shields at 90%. I'm working to reroute some of the new stuff but it's going to take a moment," Lavayn answered.

Gillyanna couldn't help herself. "Shut down power to the back half of the ship and reroute it through the mains. It should be enough. But let Vee make sure all of the others are inside the shield or the ship."

"I have already checked and most of them are outside but inside the shield and would like to come in but someone has sealed the door," Vee replied to her statement.

"Thanks Gillyanna. I didn't know you were in here?" asked Lavayn.

Gillyanna moved to the door and began to try to open it.

"What the hell are you doing woman? Git back into the other part of the ship!" yelled the Colonel, letting his agitation show even more.

"Vee's brothers are outside and are wanting to come in. This is their home now too, so get used to it," Gillyanna answered, letting her own anger show. "Besides I can either open the door or they can tear a hole in the side of the ship and come in that way. That would only make way for other creatures to get in and I don't want to take that chance."

Gillyanna tried again to open the door. She turned to Dorel when it wouldn't work. "I do hope you have the codes for this."

Dorel did several things at his console then got up. "Colonel, by the time I get to that panel that door better be unlocked. I don't feel like having to fix what I'm going to have to do to it to get it to open."

"What makes you think I did anything?" the Colonel said with a smug smile.

"Because a high level command override was entered. This isn't your ship; it's mine. Now remove the override!" Dorel had reached the panel.

"Lieutenant you are near to the point of being charged for insubordination if you continue," growled the Colonel.

Dorel didn't respond as he reached the door and pulled the panel off. It was just a matter of moments to rework the mechanical parts to get the door open. The ten other members of the strange family came in. They were vibrating very low and moved into a line, right in front of the Colonel. Lu took up the DP and communicator but handed it to Vee who had slide off Gillyanna to stand with his brothers. Lucky for Gillyanna she had taken to wearing clothing while the others were still on the planet.

"Colonel, you are out of line. Our tolerance of you is nearing its end. We live here. This is our planet. You are the intruders. We decide who stays or goes. Dorel is a brother to us with no worries. Lavayn has shown kindness to this family and is a guest. This other one, Zygur, has followed orders to make this ship better to live in and has not tried anything to harm this family and is also considered a guest until he proves otherwise. I can only hope that your shuttle and ship return soon. With the fighting and the sensors, there will be a storm here in about five days or less and none of us will be willing to insulate you," Vee stopped to let what he had said sink in.

When it did the man exploded and started yelling and even tried to draw his weapon as he jumped to his feet, only to be shot by Lavayn. She was so shaken after what she had to do she looked ready to fall over. To Gillyanna's surprise Dorel moved over to her and placed his arm around her and took the laser from her.

Finally she spoke, "I talked to him a few days ago but I scanned him later that day too. He told me the last time he had been serviced was five and a half months ago but the readings told me that it was more like eight. He's going to be mad as hell when he wakes up."

"Lavayn in your medical opinion was he ... in chemical psychosis?" Asked Zygur.

"I'm not sure if he was fully into it but he was nearing it. It still doesn't mean anything. I shot my commanding officer."

"Lavayn, you're the chief medic. From where I was sitting he went into a crazed frenzy. With him drawing his weapon, you had no choice. I'll stand by you in this. But lets get this ass into the med unit so that we can keep him sedated for awhile."

"It still won't hold him for long unless..."

"The unit can treat him long enough for the ship to return. Then he can be taken care of on the Vanchu," Dorel stated.

Dorel gave a quick squeeze to Lavayn then let her go to help Zygur to move the Colonel. They had just made it to the unit when the Colonel started waking up. But with a quick few finger movements he was out again.

Gillyanna had moved to the sensor station and found that they were no longer getting telemetry from the shuttle so she began to reduce the power to it so that the sensors were at 25%.

By then Vee had returned to his place on Gillyanna, which made her feel much better.

"What are you doing?" asked Zygur.

"We need to reduce the emissions of the ship or that storm Vee told you about will get here before we're ready."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad..."

"I know first hand that they are. If it weren't for Vee and the others I'd have frozen to death. The external environmental measuring equipment froze up and stopped working at minus 250 degrees. When I got them working again and read the logs it said the air was far too think and in the state it was in lethal. I had every blanket and tarp I could find over and under us. The guys were having to move continually to keep warm even with all of that. This time though we will have the environmental system working and that will help but it may still not be enough."

"I had no idea," said Zagur with a bit of fear in his voice as what the woman told him sank in.

"Idea of what?" asked Dorel when he returned to the command area.

"How bad that storm is going to get," Zygur replied.

"I was in a small cave on the side of a mountain when it hit. I had a thermal pack but it really wasn't enough and wished I had a second set with me and I was just on the edge of it. Gilly would have died if she didn't have the others. I'm just hoping that this storm doesn't last as long. What was it about four days?"

"Near that, but we didn't have a lot of the systems we have working know. I still think we'll have to split the group up and cover everyone," Gillyanna stated as she worked to reduce the power output from the main generator. As she did she say that the wind generator was showing a slight increase. "Well with what I'm seeing the storm should be here in about two maybe three days. I better get us rigged up with breathing tubes and some kind of food."

Gillyanna paused for a moment.

"They will have to be told. They won't be able to get out of bed to relieve themselves, " Vee stated, guessing what his mate was going to tell the others.

"Your right of course," Gillyanna replied and stroked Vee.

"Ok now for the hard part that you and the others might not understand." Gillyanna looked at Zygur, Dorel and Lavayn. "When you are covered with the guys you might want to be bottomless. You won't be able to get up to use the waist recycler. That means that you would need to hold it for however long the storm lasts or let the guys that are with you take care of that."

"Gillyanna are you saying what I think you're saying?" said Dorel after a moment of thinking.

"What? I don't get it," Zygur replied.

"Zygur have you noticed that she hasn't needed to change any diapers on the baby?" stated Lavayn.

"I haven't had much chance to be around the little one but what I saw was that she was always covered with the little slug guys anyway but..." he paused for a moment thinking that his face took on a green complexion. "You mean she just ... that they take..."