FicWad

- Traders' World -

--Space-Walk--

22

Onboard the shuttlecraft Narayan:

The EVA locker onboard the Narayan was open. In it were a number of parts that made up a Starfleet spacesuit. There was also a large white case of some kind that Freeman had removed from the locker.

"It can take weeks to learn how to operate an E.V.A. suit," Freeman explained to a numb Xander. "You've got about eight and a half minutes."

Freeman had to sympathise with the young fella. He looked like a shuttle pilot caught in the forward running lights of a starship. His face was almost whiter than white. The captain took Xander's shoulders and gave them a squeeze, both to reassure him and to physically bring him into the here-and-now. "Look on the bright side, soldier. At least we won't be using the transporter."

Once Dave had shown him how to clamp his mag-boots on and secured them to the deck, Xander managed to couple his legs and gloves onto the body of his suit himself. Generally the suit was of an off-white colour, but it had an odd chest plate of crimson red. On Xander's left forearm and thigh were small control panels.

With the main body of their suits on, Freeman lifted a huge helmet over Xander's head and clamped it for him. In turn, he returned the favour. Though the helmet had a lot of space in it and had a fair few glass panels that gave him a wide field of view, Xander could not help but feel claustrophobic.

Dave switched on the suits' atmosphere processors. "You uncomfortable?" he inquired.

Xander shrugged. Or at least he tried. The helmet covered much of his shoulder yet, with the lack of gravity, it weighed next to nothing. "There's a reason I'm not a deep-sea diver," he replied.

"Look," said the captain gently, "I know you're not too keen on what's out that door." He quickly checked Xander's suit was secure. "But it's time to face your fears." Freeman turned to go.

"W-what are you afraid of?" Xander found himself asking.

Dave looked back at him. "I'm afraid to die," he said flatly and honestly. "That's why you'll be safe with me." And, with a clank and thud of his boots, Freeman made for the cockpit once again.

Eventually, breath came back to Xander and he breathed in the suit's artificial environment. He looked down at his body and stared in sheer disbelief of what he was wearing and what he was about to do. "Rollercoaster ride," he whispered. "You're going on a rollercoaster ride, that's all. You paid your money so you're damned if you're leavin' without tryin' the main attraction." With his frame of mind set, he picked up his heavy feet one at a time and shuffled after the captain.

Even after Freeman had decompressed the cabin, when he finally opened the shuttle's hatch Xander expected to be sucked out into the void.

"Go ahead - take a look. This is as close to freedom as you'll ever be," Dave said with awe.

Xander reluctantly, and very carefully, edged forward until he could see straight out and straight down. A kind of seasickness hit him.

There were layers of purple gas drifting over layers of red, with patches of green scattered beneath that. Occasionally two oppositely charged gas pockets collided and sparked with lightning. All the layers gave the scene before him so much depth. And beyond all of that, further and further beyond, lay the infinite expanse of space.

/A man could fall forever out there/, Xander realised. He suddenly felt the pressing urge to pee.

Xander had arrived in the cockpit to find Freeman wearing the big white case on his back, and there were buckled straps of some sort attached to his chest plate.

"A flight pack," Freeman had told him. And the straps at the front were where Xander would be fastened. Freeman wanted to be sure that Xander made it to the other shuttle.

It wasn't long before Freeman was perched on the edge of the open hatchway with Xander's back clamped to his chest.

Xander felt extremely uncomfortable, even in this circumstance, about having his ass so close to another guy's crotch. "Hey," he called back to Dave, "when you tell people what happened here ... you maybe wanna leave this part out?"

"I'm way ahead of you, pal," Freeman replied, and suddenly stepped out of the shuttle.

Xander felt the shuttle floor leave him unexpectedly and his breath caught in his throat. Otherwise he may have screamed. Xander managed to call out: "What happened to 'Ready, Steady-"

Freeman fired up the thruster pack.

"GOOOOoooooooo!" Xander's voice carried through the cloud as they zipped through it at speed. The thrusters went out and the pair continued on towards the Hannigan under the momentum of the spent rockets. The shuttle grew closer at quite a rate and Dave warned him to be ready. They were almost on top of it.

They held up their legs the way Freeman had earlier instructed and, just as their feet grazed the hull of the Hannigan, the boots locked onto the shuttle and held them there.

They were on the roof of the Hannigan.

Xander's body relaxed. He was surprised how tense he'd been out there.

Freeman uncoupled himself and told Xander to stay put and not to touch anything on his suit. Just in case.

Dave removed the flight pack and allowed it to drift away, then moved along the roof. He looked back to see that Xander was scanning their surroundings feverishly. "It helps to have something to focus on," he said into his Comm. "Think of the mission, Harris. Always remember the /mission/." Freeman knelt down by a hatch on the roof of the shuttle.

Xander slowly and steadily came to look over his shoulder. "How do we get inside?"

"Maintenance port."

There was a relay panel inset with several isolinear chips, a small control panel and a diagnostic screen. Freeman worked the buttons. "The crew are dead. The shield generators are shot and it looks like we've lost warp. Still, everything else is working within perimeters. We need to get the door open." But the switch on the door itself would not open while they were in space. He'd have to work some magic of his own. "I'm overriding security protocols to access the hatch controls from here."

Xander watched him work the controls intensively. Anything not to look up.

Dave explained as he went. He told Xander how the isolinear chips were set up to monitor systems, and how he was re-arranging them so that he could gain access to the command relays and get control of the shuttle from the outside.

"This shouldn't be possible," The captain admitted as he placed the final chip and powered up the control panel again. He tapped a few of the buttons and soon the side-door to the small vessel hissed with escaping air and opened up.

Freeman shrugged at Xander. "A little trick I learned wiring frigates as a kid." He got up and headed around to the door. "Just...don't mention that to anyone," he added, tapping his helmet where the nose would be.

Xander followed him over the side and into the smaller shuttle. He was eternally thankful when the door finally shut behind them.

Dave was stood over the bodies of two of his people. Xander had never seen them before, though one was badly burned on the face. The other had a shard of shrapnel embedded in the throat.

Xander tried to bite his lip, but had to ask: "How come they weren't sucked out?"

"Forcefield," he replied with sadness, raising his hand until a blue wall shimmered before them. "Their families have a right to bury them. Besides... I had to know who they were." Freeman shut off the field and removed his helmet as the trapped air and the freshly recycled air circulated again.

Xander unclamped his own helmet and lifted it off. "I'm sorry," he offered, finding a hand phaser in a nearby compartment and throwing it to Freeman. "But you'll have to finish them... sooner or later. Better that they keep their dignity and die dead."

Dave eyed the phaser in his hand with disdain, and looked down at his crewmen. His extended family. "They'll really come back like...like-?"

"Just like that Klingon zombie," Xander finished. He saw the captain's inner struggle, so slipped out a second phaser for himself. He aimed at the nearer body. "I could-" But then he realised... he couldn't. Not unless they turned on him.

Freeman gripped his weapon tightly. "It's okay. I got it." He checked the setting... and aimed. Some moments later, he fired. And vaporised Lieutenant Vladewski. He closed his eyes in immediate regret. Next was Ensign Tate. Tate was burnt badly, but it still felt inhuman to destroy what was left of her. Never the less, he aimed... and hesitated.

Tate hissed out loud and shot up from the deck at Freeman; his weapon flying from his grip. He shouted out in alarm as she pushed him into the wall.

Xander looked down at his gun, not wanting to mess up this time. On it were two buttons. One was 'Fire', so he tapped the other. This added a green light onto a tiny bar. The setting! He lit half the green LED's and shot the zombie point-blank in the back. It shrieked with pain as it melted away before his eyes.

Freeman didn't move from the wall. He simply eyed Xander. "You ready to get outta here?" he asked.

"Hell, yeah."

With that, they moved to the front and got the shuttle underway.

Neither one of them looked back.