Ark 7: The Sariel

Chapter 2: A Life Among The Stars

"Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them."
― Marcus Aurelius

As soon as I made it to the prep room I got readied into space gear, I was one of four people trained and authorized to do outside repairs on critical systems. I and the other repairman in the area were ready for going outside the ship.
"Aye Jax! Ya ready to go fix that comms array?" the other Engineer asked, it was Las, my elder by 3 years, he and his wife were expecting a child soon.

"Ready when you are, let's get this thing fixed fast, momma is making steak tonight!" I replied with a laugh.

"Slow down guys, we just got reports of a space storm heading our way, we will be right in the middle of it within minutes" the Chief said as he showed up in the room.

"How long till it passes?" I asked while pulling together the last of my equipment.

"A couple hours at least, possibly more. It's a big one" Chief replied.

"We can't wait that long, if we do then the array could end up damaged beyond repair, we have to risk it and fix the thing in the storm" I said.

"He's right Chief, it's now or never for that array, plus this ain't our first space walk in hazardous conditions" Las said as he put his helmet on.

"Fine, be careful out there, it's gonna be a rough ride for you two" Chief said with a worried smile.
I put on my helmet and we entered the airlock, Las motioned he was ready, I sealed us in and dumped us out. We launched our mag grips to the hull, if you've never seen a space storm it's like a really really bad lightning storm on earth, except this lightning will disintegrate you immediately. One zap and you're atomized, Las and I started using thrusters on the packs to boost towards the front of the ship. As we boosted I heard the cracking of static energy building up around the ship, and then space became a vibrant show of light, "Space storms....the most beautiful and the most deadly thing you will ever see" I mused to myself as I kept close to the shielded zones of the hull. I heard a shout over the shared com link between me and Las, I looked over to him only to see him drifting away from the ship, I saw why, lightning struck the panel near him and disengaged his mag lock, and most of his other non protected systems as well.

I launched over to him, stretching my hand out to him, he took my hand and I pulled us back to the ship.
"Las, use the handholds and get back to the airlock, fast! I'll fix the array and meet you for debrief!" I told him over comms.

"Aye sir, you have fun with this, I'll wait for you at the lock" he responded in a dazed tone.

Within a few minutes I had made it to the array, setting up I started my repairs inside the middle of a storm straight from hell. It should've only taken me a few minutes, but the storm complicated things, I was constantly dodging lightning or rock. Despite this the repairs were finished in around 20 or so odd minutes, once repairs were finished I headed back to the airlock. Once I got back in we closed the airlock and pressurized it so we could breathe without helmets. Sometimes I wish I could just stay out there, just live out there with the stars. Well I guess I can be content with my life among the stars.