Chapter 3

The heavy door slid shut behind her as Robyn gleefully jumped into her seat in the center of the bridge.  Swinging it around she smiled, she truly enjoyed her life, the freedom to go where she wanted, choosing her cargo, supplying those in the vastness of space with what they needed or wanted.  She could not ask for anything more.  Well, maybe a bigger balance in her credit account.  Money was not always this tight, she lived for years off her father's fortune, but after many upgrades, that pile of credits depleted.

Her father warned her not to spend too much so fast, but she wanted the ship to be able to compete with other free traders and to be capable of handling run-ins with any pirates, raiders, or terrorist.  Occasionally she also had the need to out run or out gun a Coalition Naval Vessel.  Though the need for that was rare, for she ran legal goods, most of the time.  There were the few times she ran booze, which was highly controlled by the Corporation.  Then there was running a few weapons to colonist or a cell of O.O.C.A, after all she was a free trader and chose no sides.  Though both sides thought she should be loyal to one faction or the other, but where would the fun be with that.

She loved the bridge; it was Robyn’s second home.  It was also the heart and soul of the ship.  So, most of the credits upgraded the equipment here.

"Status," she spoke to those on the bridge.

"Preparing the landing run on Ceres now," Edwin said as he slid his seat around from the port console.  "We have clearance from control to land," he added.

"Switching from Hydrogen Drive to Ion Propulsion," said her pilot, Katie Carlyle.  She watched the young girl flick a few switches on the console.  Katie set in the seat directly in front of her, closest to the bridge's front portals, which span around the front of the bridge.  The twenty-two year old tapped on a few translucent buttons on the clear screen that sat on the top of the pilot's console.  Soon the ships orientation displayed on the screen, giving Katie the X, Y, and Z position of the ship.

Habitually Katie ran her slender hands through her thick long naturally blonde hair, pulling it into a ponytail, then quickly removing a elastic purple hair tie from her wrist to secure it in its place.  Upon completing her short ritual, she placed both hands on two joysticks.  The left stick would move the large vessel completely up or down the Z-axis, or spin the craft left or right�"inverting if she wanted.  The right stick allowed her to adjust her pitch and yaw around her X and Y-axis.  Two pedals at her feet allowed her to fire the breaking thrusters on the bow of the ship or maneuvering�"low speed�"thrusters at the aft.

After taking a deep breath, the pilot reached up and tapped on the clear screen that was illuminating her with a hue of green.  A window popped up over top the ships overlay, she set her slim fingertip on a slider and dragged it downward.  The animated icon simulating a throttle followed while echoing a command to the ships computer to cut the power to the ion reactors thrust, storing the unused energy in capacitors and batteries.  Once the thrust from the ships second largest drive was off, she placed her foot on the left pedal.

Depressing the pedal that fired the ships breaking thrusters, Robyn gripped her seat as the rapid slow down jolted them forward.  As the ship slowed, Katie used the joysticks to steer the vessel to the glide path as indicated on the screen.  Looking out the forward window, she could now see Ceres’ landing platform ahead.  Katie gracefully floated the ship toward the target.  She admired the girl’s skills; Robyn even encouraged her to fly the ship.  The Lillian was equipped with sophisticated navigational computer, upgraded by Katie herself, which included an auto landing function.  In essence, the Lillian could fly herself onto the large platform.  She laughed, nearly aloud, where would be the fun in that.

“We got something behind us,” her Engineering officer said.

"Can you ID it?" she asked.

Tyson looked back at the radar screen, then touched the computer screen next to him to display the image from a wide-angle camera mounted near the rear of the ship.  "It's a corsair class warship, CNS markings.  It looks like she's been through hell Robyn."

"I.F.F Tyson?"

Tyson Caesar turned back to the screen image, touched the ship image.  A green line outlined the ship as it drew nearer to the camera.  Data then appeared on the bottom of the thin monitor.  Turning back to her, "It's the Boston and she's comin' right up our a*s."

"Ed," she swung her chair around to the port side.

"Trying CN band Captain, no response.  Setting the system to broadcast on all bands."

"Contact Ceres, see if they got a response."

"On it ma'am."

"Robyn," Tyson called her attention.  "Status is coming over the transponder."

She swung back, facing the bow of the ship.  Needing to ascertain the situation, Robyn hit a switch on the side of her chair commanding another computer screen to drop from the ceiling, separating her from Katie, which currently displayed the Lillian's status.  With a few quick finger strokes, the screen emulated what Tyson was viewing.

"She's got several hull breaches, most of the lower decks have been vented," Tyson interpreted the same information she read.

"Rear Comm Array is destroyed," Tyson continued, she followed, "Fore Array is intact."

"Why aren't they squawkin'?" Katie asked.

"They have massive electrical failure," Robyn scanned the information as it flooded across her screen.  "Systems are crashing as we are receiving it."

"It looks as if they had a massive EM overload," Tyson added.  "Their Hydrogen reactor is offline.  The Ion Drive is on manual shutdown override, damn near critical.  NAV systems are down, their flying manual."

"Sonofabitch," Robyn said, "they lost most of their conventional fuel, and thrusters are at twenty percent."

"F**k!" Katie yelled.  "That's nowhere near enough to slow them at that speed; they ain't landed that b***h, their crashin'!"

"Ceres has no contact," Edwin relayed.  "They suggest we get out of the way."

"I agree," Robyn said, "Katie."

"Got it Capitan," she said as she fired the forward thrusters, slowing them down.  Robyn was curious as to her intentions, slowing only allowed the craft to bear down on them sooner.  As that thought crossed her mind, Katie commanded all the bottom thrusters to fire, lifting the Lillian off the glide slope path and allowing the damaged vessel a clear route to Ceres.

"Captain, if they continue at that speed, they'll never survive," said Katie.

"There's nothing we can do," Edwin added.

"Not necessarily," the pilot replied.

Nervously, Robyn spoke, "What do you have in mind?"

Katie looked back at her, "the salvage grapples."

"Are you frigging crazy?" her first mate yelled as he spun his chair to face the center of the bridge.

"That's what I've been told," she came back with a sly grin, "Captain?"

Robyn sat there briefly; she did not have much time to think for the Boston was descending rapidly.  Soon it would crash and her decision would no longer matter.  Weighing the odds, Katie was an excellent pilot; Robyn did not doubt her skills.  Her concern was the Lillian.  Both vessels were of the same size and class and her solid fuel jets where fairly new and slightly over powered�"allowing for quick and versatile maneuvering when they needed to disappear near a surface or deep in the asteroid field.

That was that, she concluded.  "Lasso 'em Katie," Robyn ordered.

Katie had the magnetic grapples charged and the rear thrusters up to maximum before Edwin could object, though he turned back to his console and repeatedly tried to reach the Boston as well as inform Ceres Colony of what he no doubt considered a suicidal attempt.

Robyn watched the rapidly gaining craft, not out the main view port, but on her monitor that showed Katie's every move.  As soon as the Lillian matched and exceeded the speed of the Boston, the young pilot shut off the rear thrusters and waited until she was well within range of the salvage grapples.  Lining up the shot for both grapples, Katie maneuvered the ship to be just behind and above the Boston, targeting the rear portion of the ship.  When satisfied, the pilot tapped a few translucent buttons on her monitor and Robyn heard the roar of the small jets that piloted and guided both grapples, one from the left wing the other on the opposite side.

Prior to locking onto the Boston, Katie applied the braking thrusters, subtly.  When the magnetic couplers grabbed hold, she depressed the pedals to the floor.  The Lillian slowed and began a slow crawl away from the Boston before she suddenly came to a halt when the grappling cables lost all slack.  The braking thrusters roared as they fought to overcome the speed of the descending craft.

"Magnetic integrity of the grapples down to seventy-five percent," Tyson informed them.

Ceres Colony grew larger in the screen; the craft was dropping down damn near in the populace facility.  Both craft only showed a small amount of deceleration.  She was getting a tad concerned as the engines whined and roared.

"Reaching tensile strength of the cables," Tyson added.

"I can't control the descent!" Katie said.  "They're way off course now."  She maneuvered the joysticks altering the Lillian's trajectory.  "S**t, s**t, s**t," she cursed.

"Katie," Robyn pointed, "the Comm Center!"

"I see it boss!"

The Boston soared over the populace area, probably waking anyone who was sleeping as the buildings shook violently.  The communications tower and radar dome were not so lucky.  The damaged craft plowed through them as if they were paper.  Sparks flew from the wreckage only briefly.  Debris flew everywhere, floating aimlessly in all directions.

"Magnetic integrity down to forty-seven percent," Tyson said.

"Can't help them anymore," Katie spoke as she turned power off to the electromagnetic grappling hooks, allowing them to float freely away from the crashing ship.  As the cables reeled back to the Lillian, Katie veered the ship off the dangerous descent, bringing it near the landing elevator.

The rest of them watched the Boston clear the Colony and bounce of the rocky terrain of Ceres, sliding to a stop as she slammed into a large rocky outcropping.