Deadly Space

Chapter 9: Dangerous Speeds

Sirens and alarms blared from the consoles of both ships. Orange-red lights flared out the windows of the bridge and living areas.

"We need to exit this beam or else we'll be torn to shreds! This ship isn't designed to go farther than 20 lightyears, and Sol is the destination." Renjo informed everyone in the room, as he took the Captain's chair and began to try to pilot the ship, which was pinned against the Federation cruiser.

"How far have we gone so far?" Grânn asked. "I'm going to calculate how long we have until the ship is torn apart."

"We've traveled 2.53 lightyears and counting." Dayrn answered Grânn by shouting over the noise of a creaking hull and sputtering engines echoing inside the ship.

"We've got 17 minutes then. Everyone, evasive measures should be taken. Let us move quickly."

Everyone stood there confused.

Fiennes spoke up when no one else would. "Alright, guys we need take him seriously. Even if Grânn was just a merchant, he's served in a system's Civil War. He's got skills that we may never have. Now move!"

Jumping to their feet and running across the bridge, everyone took evasive actions to try to escape light speed before they reached their ship's limit.

"We've traveled 5.67 light years now. We're speeding up. Hurry! Our time is now 12 minutes."

***

Over on the Albatross, General Davidson was a mess. His once perfect comb-over was now a bundle of 'joy'. Because of the sudden jump to light speed, he was thrown into the Captain's chair, injuring his leg badly and upper chest area. He was slumped over the arm of the chair, struggling to get up.

He thought to himself "I need Ferron. Dead or alive. He is a key component in my plan."

He stood, even though his leg was broken, and made his way to the lower bridge area to strap himself down to something solid, grabbing hold of railings to support his weight on his way down.

***

"Full acceleration on the engines. Try to get loose of the cruiser's pin."

"We don't have our FSD engaged. It won't help."

"Then engage the damn thing!"

"It has to charge! You know plenty well of that. We can't charge with this kind of mass attached to us. It'll be too slow. We'll be shreds at that point."

"I don't care dammit. We need to save our own asses. Slow or not, we may have a bigger chance of surviving with it on."

The argument between Fiennes and Kala began to get intense. Renjo budged in.

"Hey, Kala is right. We'll have a greater chance of survival with it on. It'll keep us up to speed."

Fiennes looked at him dumbfounded. "You're siding with her? Do you both not remember the fact that the ship is still accelerating? It won't charge in time!"

"Arguing about it won't save us any time either. I got an idea. I'll be right back." Renjo quickly turned in the direction of the engine bay and took off.

"Kala, remember that I don't like you." Fiennes crossed her arms and faced the wall, avoiding eye contact with Kala.

"No promises." Kala then faced the window, and rested her arms on a console, helping to support her weight while standing.

***

Renjo ran through the hallways of the ship, searching frantically for the maintenance door. Damn, where is it? Can't be that hard to find. Then he found it. A door with the word 'Maintenance' on it. Finally.