Stranded 2

Preparing The Shogun

"Ellie press that button on the wall over there." Gage asked as he loosened several plates on the jump core. "What if... what if this doesnt work?" I asked as I pressed the button causing the gigantic jump core to slowly spin, producing a pulsing electrical current in the middle. "It will." Gage said confidentley as he stood back and stared at our success. "Hell yeah!" I yelled excitedley. "Hey Ellie..." Gage said softly as he walked up to my side "I think you dropped this" He held out the picture. I was thrilled to see I didnt lose it. "I-I never had it!" I said trying to hide the fact that I stole it from his room. He grinned at me "Ellie?" he said playfully. "Ok, ok, I grabbed it before we left but i was gonna give it back." I admitted as my hair fell in front of my miscolored eye. He chuckled "Sure ya were" he said brushing my hair out of my face. He walked over to the window and sat down. Letting out an exhausted sigh, he began staring at the stars. "Look at that" he pointed at a cluster of stars as i sat down in his lap. I stared at it and realized what it was "is that?" he smiled "The Heart." "Doesnt that mean The Shogun is near?" I said tilting my head slightly "There it is!" I yelled pointing at it. Making Gage chuckle "Remember when we first noticed that?" he said "Yeah when we were still kids, on the boardwalk." He slowly leaned his head against the wall we sat there for a bit "So I was thinking.-" the HDG screeched on and projected a holographic window of Carter causing Gage to jump a bit "Belmont, we got a problem" I looked up at Gage, his eyes were heavy as he glanced down at me. "What is it Carter?" "We found an old SkyCrane but its an SK-1P model" "And what does that mean?" Gage asked "It means the engine isnt fast enough to get us home, we'd run out of oxygen before we get half way there" me and Gage quickly glanced at each other "So what do we do?" "The Montana had a Engineering deck if we could get over there we could modify the engine and then we could leave." Gage looked at me. "Alright Carter.... meet us on the bridge." The holograph retracted back into Gages HDG. "Lets go Ellie" Gage said as i got out of his lap and he picked himself up from the floor. We walked to the bridge where everyone was waiting on us. "We need a name for the ship so if we find another colony or USG they wont shoot us down immediately." Jessie said. Gage looked back at me and then at her " USC Shogun" She looked at him confused and began typing the ships data into the mainframe.

"Ok this is gonna be quick and easy," Gage started "Me, Carter, and Preyt will find the nearest Air Lock and use a Atmosphere Cargo Box to transport the engine from ship to ship. Ellie, Jess, Tex, and Aleks you all need to stay here and keep the deck secure until we get back. Tex and Ellie you two need to work on routing enough power to the jump core so it can effectively destroy the Klot. Were on the home strech now and we need everyones help on this. Everyone clear of what to do." We all nodded and began to assume positions. Gage Preyt and Carter were taking ammo count, Aleks was being patched up by Jessie and Texas and I were beginning to search through the Klots mainframe and preparing to use the Klots Air Locks. Gage walked up to me "Ellie were heading out we'll keep close radio contact" I stood out of my chair and hugged him around his neck tightly "Be safe.... Alright." I whispered as I hugged him tighter. I felt a smile go over his face, and heard a small chuckle from him causing me to grin. "I will." he said as I released him a bit "Can I get some luck?" he said staribg at my lips. I looked in his deep brown eyes. "Good luck asshat." I said teasing him. "Ha. ha. real funny." he said softly as I kissed him. "I know right, I should be a comedian." I purred to him. He chuckled "I love you Ellie." "I love you to.... more than you could ever imagine, come back soon alright?" "Promise i will mon amour." he said as his helmet folded over his head. We released each other and he headed for the door way with the rest of the scavenger team and the door closed behind them leaving me with the rest.

I walked back over to my seat, put on the ships radio headphones, and began monitoring the cameras that were still active. "Anyone have Dock 4B on their monitor?" Tex asked flipping several switches. I looked around my screen until I found it. "Yeah, I got it here but its been destroyed." she let out a long sigh."Greeeeat." she said looking over at Jessie and an unconscious Aleks. "So do you think Aleks is going to be alright?" she asked me. "Im sure he'll be fine, he seems like a tough kid." she stared at her monitor for a bit longer. "so when we fix the ship," she started barely removing her eyes from the monitor "what do we do then?" "We jump back to earths atmosphere, tell everyone what happend." "oh..." she said softly

After a few moments of silence Gages voice projected from the headphones. "Ellie, we're here, unlock air lock 00-173" I looked around on the control board until I saw it "Found it" I said clearly "Alright hold on to the Atmosphere Cargo Box so no one gets seperated when we get sucked out into the vacuum." I heard him say to Preyt and Carter. "Why dont we just call it a ACB." Preyt asked "Preyt," Gage pointed at him ", shut up." which made them all chuckle a bit. "Alright here we go" I said hitting the button to see on a outer ship camera the ACB being shot out into space with the three scavengers clinging on barely, using their thrusters to slow the spin. "Alright were going to go modify the jump core, it'll take about 5 minutes to get there since we got a little push, and 10 to get back, well as long as we keep our on thrusters on anyway." Preyt said confidentley.

"Damn Its cold" Carter said after a few moments of silence. "Well it sure as hell aint gonna be hot out here... it would be nice though cause between me and you, I think my boys retracted into my body." Gage said jokingly causing the three to laugh. "Man do you ever hear the stuff that comes outta your mouth sometimes?" Preyt asked "No not really John, I find it messes with my rhythm." "Guys were coming up on the Montana, cut the playing." Carter said as Gage and Preyt shoved the ACB into the opened docking bay. "Someone find a lever or a switch so we arent using up oxygen." Gage commanded. Before I knew it the docking bay closed and locked the boys inside "Ellie we'll be back in a few minutes keep everything locked down on the ship i dont know how good the COMM signal will be further in the Montana." Gage said as I hit the Lockdown button to hear every door in the room lock "Done. Hurry back ok?" "Yesmaam." he said with a smile in his voice