Starship: Rogue

Chapter Twenty-Eight

As sudden darkness plunged over the ship, the display on the console next to where Adlai stood flickered off at the exact same time. Nearby, someone let out a squeal, making Adlai jump. Stark let out a string of curse words that was at once impressive and startling, and, incongruously, Rowan let out a biting laugh.

Just then, as if activated by Rowan's laugh, the emergency lights began flashing and the main console lit up. In the glow from the strobes, Ripple's hair glowed eerily as she leaned forward to check the diagnostics. "Uh, guys? We have a problem."

Captain Falk's voice came out of the darkness, his words clipped, his tone harsh. "Yes?"

To her credit, Ripple didn't hesitate, and Adlai was impressed. "They've locked down the whole ship and have us hovering dead in the air. We can't move, and we can't get off the Bridge to override the command. The only places we can go are the excursion room and the lab."

"Crap," said Stark from directly behind Adlai, who jumped about a foot. She hadn't heard him come up, and it unnerved her that he'd been able to sneak up on her. He put a heavy, reassuring hand on her shoulder. "They're going to storm us soon. Not that they need to; they have us completely pinned down. There's nothing we can do."

In the flashing, red lights, Adlai saw Rowan straighten. "Yes there is," she said slowly. "We have to get the Bridge doors open, and I think I know how. I just don't know how to make it happen. The doors are tied to the pressurization, and we can't do anything about that as long as the ship's systems are on lockdown."

Then, Ripple said, in a tone that worried Adlai, because it was neither flat nor emotionless, but shrewd and calculating and heavy, "Did you just say they're tied to the pressurization?" She enunciated each word, her voice echoing through the dark.

"What are you getting at?" Stark asked suspiciously, still standing behind Adlai with one hand on her shoulder.

"Wait, wait," that was Carter, who was standing somewhere near the lab. "That could work! We change the ship's pressurisation..."

"The doors unlock," Gerrit finished. "Not a great idea," he went on. "To change the pressurization, we'd have to blow open the ship or get an airlock door open, which we can't do since we got hacked out of the ship's systems."

"I can try to reconnect everything by hacking the bad guys' computer system," Cade suggested nonchalantly. "Of course, I'd need power for that..."

"Wait," Carter said suddenly, and everyone froze. "So, what it comes down to is that we have to somehow get down to engine room to reconnect the power so Cade can get us control of the ship's systems to let us open an airlock and open all the doors."

"Except," Gerrit said, drawing out the word, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We need to get the doors open to get to the Control Center, which means it comes down to blowing a hole in the side of the ship and praying none of us get sucked out or shot while we're trying not to get sucked out."

"Not necessarily, asshole," Carter snapped. "Give me a chance to finish. Then she asked, more softly, "What about the Retrievers?"

Gerrit let out a breath. "That's it! Carter, my student, my partner, you are utterly brilliant! We send the Retrievers out, we get them to trigger an explosive somewhere on the other side of the ship, and trigger the pressurization. Since we're far enough away from the hole, we can get to the Control Center without worrying about getting sucked out!"

Captain Falk turned to the one functional panel. "Attention all crew members, this is your captain speaking. All crew members, abandon ship. I repeat, abandon ship! This is a Code Black authorization. Abandon ship!"