Chris Kennedy - A Fiery Sunset

Jim Cartwright felt a sudden sensation of falling, despite being in zero gravity, and the stars appeared outside the cockpit. He heaved a huge sigh of relief and let himself truly relax for the first time in 170 hours. He turned to congratulate his partner and found her wedged in the equipment box shed claimed as a sort of nest, snoring quietly.

You did it, my friend, he whispered to her. Splunk smiled in her sleep but didnt wake up. Shortly after entering hyperspace on the last leg of his journey home, the junker of a space transport hed stolen from the KzSha did an epic crash and burn. The fusion plant blew three of its twelve containment buffers and started leaking F11, and it had been everything Jim could do to keep Splunk, his Fae companion, from taking the entire thing apart. A relative newbie to hyperspace travel, Jim had naturally freaked out.

The ship had served them well since theyd rescued the Aku from slavery. The following months hed spent flying around the galaxy on a wild goose chase. All he had to show for it was uncorrelated data and a strange tattoo.

When the first buffer blew, the Fae had rocketed aft toward the engine room. Jim was still screaming at the crappy KzSha controls on the bridge when the second one went, and containment failure was imminent. Splunk had arrived just in the nick of time. There had yet to be a piece of tech in the galaxy the little monkey-like alien couldnt figure out. Shed just stabilized the containment field, when she said something hed never heard her say in all the time hed known her.

Jim, help, < Skaa! >

The following week had been a non-stop fight to keep the reactor from failing. Shed done most of the work, with Jim bringing tools, fabricating parts in the tiny manufactory, and grabbing an occasional meal for both of them. He didnt think hed slept 12 hours total, and he was relatively certain she hadnt slept at all. Once again, he owed his life to the enigmatic companion hed met while performing his first mission as commander.

Jim checked their position within the emergence point, then set course for Earth. The engines didnt respond. He sighed and engaged the reaction control system maneuvering thrusters. It was slow, but at least he would be clear in a few minutes.

Unidentified KzSha vessel, this is Earth Defense Force frigate Charles de Gaulle , please identify yourself. Jim fumbled for the headset floating nearby.

Charles de Gaulle , this is Jim Cartwright, commander of Cartwrights Cavaliers. The vessel is a registered war prize. I guess the merc guild transmission didnt come through yet. Sending my Yack. He used his pinplant to send his unique identifier and waited while the other ship commander verified the information.

It all appears in order, Commander, the other man finally replied. Welcome home. Can we assist?

No, just having to use RCS. The engines are offline.

Yeah, we noticed. Be aware you appear to be venting plasma to space.

Shit, Jim sighed. He used one of the improvised controls Splunk had made and triggered the drive dump, then decompressed engineering. There was a resounding bang, which reverberated through the hull, then the ship started to spin. All the lights went out except a few controls and, luckily, the radio.

Your fire appears to be out, Cartwright, but it looks like your engineering section exploded.

Yeah, Jim said. Do me a favor? Call my office on Earth and have someone come out to rescue me? Our life support failed too. In her little cubby, Splunks eyes opened for a moment. Not detecting any fear from her Human, she went back to sleep.

* * *

Jesus Christ, kid, Hargrave laughed as Jim floated into the shuttle. You look like a microwave burrito! Jim gave his XO a withering glare as he caught a handhold and swung clear of the hatch. He was wrapped in a thermal blanket and wore an oxygen mask, and he was infinitely glad hed packed emergency gear on the alien ship. The atmosphere in the ship had become saturated with carbon dioxide two hours ago. Then it started to get cold. Really cold.

About fucking time, Jim said, removing the mask. He reached inside the blanket, found Splunks head, and gently took off her mask. She didnt respond, still deep asleep. A Sol System defense boat, almost as dilapidated as his wreck of a ship, had come over and pushed him clear of the emergence point, which was a good thing, because a huge MinSha ship arrived only an hour later. He didnt know what happened when two ships occupied the same space, but guessed it wasnt pretty. The crew of the patrol boat said a lot of alien ships were in system just then, and they were unable to provide any more assistance. Their ship didnt have sufficient life support for even one more person.

Cut me some slack, kid. Were still busy trying to organize Charlie Company. Jim nodded but still mumbled as he floated and basked in the relative warmth of the shuttle. Hargrave rotated the door closed on the tiny airlock, cutting off the icy breeze from the crippled KzSha ship. Hows your critter? he asked and gestured at the lump in his blanket.

Shes fine, he said. Just tired.

So, howd it go? While Jim got buckled into the copilots seat, he explained how the last part of the operation went on the KzSha world, including how theyd had dozens of nearly-new-looking Raknar. You and those giant robots, the older man grumbled. But good on you helping the Aku the way you did. He winked. It wont hurt having the Peacemakers owing us one.

I dont think the Peacemakers owe anyone anything ever, Jim said. Theyre kind of like Judge Dredd meets Texas Rangers operating out of Galts Gulch. Hargrave got that what the fuck are you talking about look on his face, and Jim sighed. Even though it would take a while to fly back to Earth, Jim didnt want to spend it trying to explain a 20 th century comic book and a 19 th century novel to him. He figured the man already knew what the Texas Rangers were, at least. He wouldnt have known about Ayn Rands Atlas Shrugged either, if not for his schools Mercenary Service Track (MST) having it as voluntary reading. The libertarian novel had helped many in the mostly liberal United States understand how the Galactic Union worked, at least a little.