Wayward

The Reach Of Stardust

The barrage of planetary remnant was in full force as it continued to bounce off the Ragnus. On most ships the shields would still be protecting it, but the Ragnus was, unfortunately, not most ships. James Maxwell knew that and pondered it as he stared out into the seemingly endless dust cloud coming toward his ship. This mission was straining his psyche but he refused to acknowledge it though it was influencing his actions. Originally, he took it for the glory, but no one knew why they were really out here except for him. The feeling that he was wrong about his crew selection was another thought that was starting to plague him. In the beginning, he selected this new group of engineers on their merits and people he may want to keep onboard afterwards, but the insubordination and maverickness of them all, except a few, was so, for lack of a better term, uncivilized. But did that mean they deserved to die? Maxwell found that he couldn't escape that question just like he couldn't escape the view of the oncoming field. No matter where he turned, whether it be the massive wrapping viewport that made up the front of the elongated U-shaped bridge, or all the of command suite consoles and their operators, it was still there. To most this question wouldn't even be a question, but like his ship, Admiral James Maxwell wasn't most. Situations like this brought him back to his campaign against the Insurrection and the battle of Corellia that led to the infamous Endeavour event. Maxwell knew that situation could of been prevented, but there were many things driving him that day. The lust for victory over scum like the Insurrectionists being one but the others were the most important and the same reasons staring him in the face right now. So what was more important: irreplaceable engineers or the survival of his ship? The hidden plan or a few lives? Maxwell needed an answer and he needed it soon. Truth be told he had already made his decision when he called down earlier and told them to be ready for a maintenance walk, but the idea of a choice appealed to his higher culture attitude. If they died this way they would die for their fellow human, for their planet, for the greatest discovery for humankind this century. That term, "greatest discovery for humankind this century," that made Maxwell proud. Well, proud for him at least. "Sir, damage warning to drive cell number four, conduit six," a comm officer said turning to face Maxwell, which broke the Admiral's fantasizing of heroism. The time had come for him to give the order. Yes, his decision had already been made and he expected his engineers to carry out their duty to the Terran branch to their last breath. Maxwell leaned over and held the comm button in while selecting the "Tran.-Cor." button. "Tib, Sheeb," he said knowing his voice was probably the last thing they wanted to hear. "Yes, Sir?," he heard Tib's voice answer back. "You probably know why I'm calling," he said with a hint of a sadistic tone, "make sure you do it fast and safe." "Will do, Admiral," another voice answered. From the Admiral guess it was most likely Lark Calot. He didn't really know how to feel about Lark. He had her transferred here for her work record but her attitude was beginning to wear him thin. Another one of his guesses was that since she was answering then Tib wasn't very happy. That didn't surprise him though. He had once thought Tib an exemplary engineer, a new beginning for the engineering corps, and the next in line to join the rank of the Fleet Admirals. Now though, Tib seemed more invested in his friends than his work, and that was utter nonsense. As far as Maxwell was concerned, if any human was concerned more with anything than bringing glory to the Terran name, then that person did not deserve to call himself a Terran. Better to die a Terran than live a long life of unfulfillment. The Admiral found himself thinking of his journey and what it took to be sitting in this seat right now as he stared out into the storm, glad to finally be rid of the question that had been staring back at him. Now he could go back to pondering more on the philosophy he followed so dearly that had just reared its head. This was Tib and his Corp's problem now, not his.

As Tib and his gang clammored into the gray and white airlock he went over the last few parts of the safety measures checklist. "Vasquez, Sheeb, Lark, and Alex, the head count is five, if it ever comes back a different number make sure to alert us immediately." The inner door behind them slammed shut and the airlock began to depressurize. "Make sure your oxygen supply has been set to your tank," Sheeb ordered the group. Five times "Air supply set to tank," rang out. "Vasquez and Alex stick together," Tib said pointing to the two of them, "Sheeb stay behind them we all know this how tough this is going to be." Sheeb nodded responding with, "Didn't even have to tell me." "Lark-," he began turning to her, "With ya till the end Tibby," she said with a smirk and nod. He wasn't going to show it but he needed to hear that as the increasingly loud pinging from outside was starting to get inside his head. Tib turned back to address the crew in its entirety, "So this will be a little different from the last repair, we'll be using phasic welders," holding up his welder which was identical to the one that Lark and Vasquez were holding. "Sheeb and Alex you both have the braces, make sure you do it right, but we can come back later for this, our main priority is that the plasma doesn't ignite with the nebulous gases from the impacts," he said looking around at his crew as he heard the outer safeguard door open, "I'm pretty sure we can all agree we want a ride home." Vasquez laughed a little at that one which broke his usual solemn silence. No one knew what to say about that either. "Just make sure your umbilical is still grounded and that you're keeping a look out for each other," Tib said as the warning klaxon began to blare and the strobing purple lights indicated that the doors were opening. Alex was barely holding herself together at this point. Sheeb was there with a hand on her shoulder. "You can do this," she said as she turned away to the door where Tib and Lark were standing beside each other. The outer airlock door opened with an audible hiss that was instantaneously cut off by the vacuum of space. A vibrant blue light poured into the airlock. It took a second for everyone's eyes to adjust. Tib was the first to step outside and he paused. The group filed out behind him, their umbilical grav anchors following behind them as they made their way upwards to the leak. Tib wasn't focused on the damage or its that plume rose into the orbit of the nacelle ring. No he was focused on the bits of space rock bouncing off all around him. He knew that if he didn't start moving fast that soon they would be landing on him, which he very soon did. The emotional connection that Tib has for space is something he never really talked about with anyone as it's almost a second home to him. This was the first time he had every felt conflicted in his second home. The storm he was in, it felt almost, evil. Like it was just conjured up to destroy him, or maybe just to prove a point. Sure, he had been in a storm before, but he could just feel that this one was different. At the same time however he couldn't help but be in awe as the Ragnus's current position put the white stars light through the planets blue rings making the space around him almost glow that vibrant light blue. The wisps of the purple nebula seem to melt from the blue light as well. This was something Tib had never seen before in his entire life in space. Tib's small idle at the front of airlock had put him behind the rest of the group by a marginal distance, which Lark quickly noticed. "Tib, come on," came Lark who had slowed down to stay near him. He answered quickly with, "I'm coming as fast as I can." Tib hurried his pace enough that his  footfalls mirrored the clunking sound that the bits of asteroid bouncing off the Ragnus made.  The good news was that the damage site wasn't far from the airlock.

Tib was looking at the damage now and saw it was very similar to the landing accident. There was a considerable indent on the hull and the number six conduit was leaking but didn't seem to be too damaged, although the entire junction it sat in needed to be braced. Tib quickly passed Sheeb, Alex, and Vasquez who were each bracing a subsection of the conduit junction. He was surprised that Alex was handling this fairly well despite having been hit with a few more times with space rock than everyone else. He was almost to the otherside of the junction where Lark was sealing breaches on the leaking conduit. "Lark, how much have you got left on that conduit," Tib said barely able to hear himself from the vibrations that the grav umbilical was puting through his suit. "Not much longer Tibby, this wasn't as bad as we thought it was," she said not hiding the gratefulness in her voice. Tib had noticed that the storm had slowed down for the most part which was good for two reasons. The main one being that the there was now less of a risk that the strikes of the bits of metallic asteroid would ignite the fumes bleeding out of the Ragnus. The other reason was that now he would not have to devote as much time to dodging space rocks. Tib was thankful for that as he lined up opposite to Lark about a half meter away and began fusing another crack in the conduit closed. Usually, Tib would have opted for the procedure he and the engineering crew had used for the landing incident but like Lark had said, this wasn't as bad as they thought and the time restraint was a real enemy. "We're done with the braces," Sheeb said over the comm link. "Got it," Lark said while finishing her cut. "Tib, should they-," Lark began. She wasn't able to finish that sentence. Time slowed to an abrupt stop for Tib. He knew he had just made a mistake. A rookie mistake. In the split second it took for him to register it, it was already too late and he knew it. Without thinking, he had just lifted his head to look at Lark instead of keeping his eyes planted on where the phasic welder was pointing and had ignited the plasma leaking out of the vent. Tib had just committed the cardinal sin of a maintenance walk. A flash and a silent explosion ripped through the conduit and surrounding area as a plasma fire erupted. Suddenly Tib found himself no longer magnetized to the ship's hull but instead tumbling end over end. Space, the Ragnus, the planet, and then space again came in out of Tib's view. Tib was having a hard time staying awake but he was awake enough to know his situation was dire. Before he slipped into the inky oblivion of unconsciousness the only thing he could think of was if Lark was caught in the consequences of his mistake. For Tib that would have been a fate worse than death, but for now Tib in his dream like state had joined the cosmos.