Mitchell's Revenge
The Guardian Angel

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Bolter was preparing to exit FTL flight. He, Rufus and Flex were the only crew on the bridge. The rest of the crew were scattered about the ship completing various tasks. The journey so far was uneventful, and everything was operating smoothly. Bolter began the count down over the coms unit.

“Exiting FTL flight in five, four, three, two, one.” The ship shuddered. Flex lost his footing and fell to his knees. He scrambled upright.

The lights on the nav board pulsed urgently at Rufus.

“Oh crap! We’re in trouble!” he yelled. “Reverse thrusters now! Full power.”

Bolter’s hands flew across his control board and the ship groaned as it began to reverse. The Guardian Angel had exited FTL flight on the edge of the circumstellar disc surrounding a protostar. The gravitational pull was incredible. The ship was in danger of being dragged into the centre of the disc where the star was forming.

“Quick,” yelled Flex, above the noise. “Spool up the FTL again and jump.”

“Where?” asked Bolter. He was sweating and his hands began to shake.

“I don’t care,” yelled Flex. “As long as it’s not here. Just jump.”

Rufus fought to turn the ship on its axis as Bolter got to work. They needed to be heading away from the gravitational pull, not towards it, or they would all be dead in a few more seconds.

“We haven’t got long,” groaned Rufus as he struggled with the ship’s direction. Bolter hit the FTL sequence. The Guardian Angel lurched once and everything went quiet. Flex counted to ten.

“Now exit,” he said quietly. “Let’s see where we are.” He gripped the edge of his control board so hard that his hands were white.

Bolter reversed the sequence. They slowed safely some distance away from the protostar. The Angel shuddered violently. Bolter looked back to his control board which was now lit up like a Christmas tree. They’d been seconds away from being torn apart. Flex realised he’d been holding his breath. He breathed again.

“We’ve got damage down here!” came Flick’s voice over the coms unit.

“And we’ve got debris outside,” replied Rufus. “I’ll have to keep us moving or we’ll get hit by something.”

“How bad is it Flick?” asked Flex.

“Nothing we can’t fix,” replied Flick, “But Natasha’s locked in her cabin, and Snatch has a nasty gash on his head. He’s heading to the med bay now. Thank goodness we re-stocked everything on Topernicus. What the hell was that anyway?”

“Our FTL drive test,” replied Flex wryly. “I think we know what happened to Ripley’s Revenge. But we need to find out why. Or our FTL drive is useless.”

Bolter looked up from his control board.

“I hate to interrupt you good folks,” he said, “But we’ve got some external damage. Somebody’s going to have to go EVA to fix it. One of the nav antennae has come loose and if we try any sort of speed we’re going to make things worse.”

“It’s too dangerous,” said Rufus. “There’s an awful lot of rubbish out there.”

“So, find us an asteroid close by that’s large enough to land on,” suggested Flex. “You’ve done it before. You can do it again. We’ll have to make repairs before we can logically do anything else.”

“Anyone there?” came Natasha’s’ voice over the coms unit. “I’m stuck in my cabin. Can someone come and get me out? Now?”

“Only if you’ll go EVA for us!” replied Flex. Bolter rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” replied Natasha impatiently, “Just get me out!”

“Bolter’s on his way,” advised Flex. “Just sit tight.”

“I can’t do anything else! Can I?” replied Natasha sarcastically. Bolter gathered up his mobile repair kit and headed through the connecting door to the rest of the ship.

“Just the time to have to be a locksmith,” he muttered as he made his way towards Natasha’s cabin.

Meanwhile Rufus was scanning the surrounding area trying to find a suitable asteroid. As soon as he found one big enough he began to manoeuvre the Angel towards it. The loose antenna flapped against the hull as they moved, jabbing at the surface Bolter had repaired at Topernicus.

“Easy,” murmured Flex. “We don’t want a hole in the hull.”

“I know that!” snapped Rufus. “Let me concentrate will you.”

Flex bit his tongue. Ever so gently Rufus settled the Angel onto the asteroid. It rotated slowly amongst shards of ice and smaller debris, but looked safe enough to harbour them for a short time.

Bolter returned to the bridge with Natasha trailing behind him. She was angry.

“What the hell was that?” she demanded of Flex as she arrived on the bridge. “And where the hell are we?”

Flex studied her. He decided that she would be the one to go EVA right here, right now. Rufus interrupted his train of thought.

“I estimate we’re at least five light years away from our original projections at Topernicus. Something happened right at FTL exit that jumped us here. We’re lucky to be alive. And we do appear to be lost,” he said.

“Just what I’ve always wanted to be,” said Natasha nastily, “Lost in space!”

“Stop it, both of you,” commanded Flex. “Our immediate problem is the repair outside. I’m assuming you have EVA experience Natasha. Am I correct?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she replied, glaring at Flex. “Not my favourite occupation, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers. Can they?”

“Alright, that’s enough whining for now. The EVA repair is your job Natasha,” said Flex. “Grabb will help you suit up and liaise with you from inside. Then we have to figure out what happened to the FTL drive before we can do anything else. Now get moving!”

Natasha glared at Flex and left the bridge. Flick’s voice came over the coms unit.

“We’re secure down here now Flex. Snatch is a bit of a mess though. His head’s going to take time to heal. He can’t go EVA.”

Flex explained that Natasha was going to effect the EVA repair and that Grabb was to assist her. He instructed Flick to come to the bridge. He looked at Rufus and Bolter.

“We’ve got some forensic work to do,” he said. They began to run diagnostics on their control boards.

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