Chapter 9

It was a long journey back to the ship; with the thrusters damaged he had to be towed backed to the ship. Rose was towing him, and although it only took a few minutes to return to the ship, it felt longer. He stared death in the face, and it had laughed and left him.

Why?

Why was he still alive? 

He replayed the last few moments in his head. The black MAW had him in its sights, pretty much point blank range, and it didn�t finish him.

He focused more on the event.

The escape vessel.

After that had launched and disappeared the enemy had left.

Who, or what, was aboard that ship?

Although his breathing had returned to normal, his heart was still beating inside his body with some force. The fear had not yet left him. He would try and find out about the escape vessel later, but now he focused on reducing his heart rate back to normal. He faded into a meditative state which had served him well in the past for helping to calm down, and make decisions that were concisely and well planned.

He focused so he could only hear his heart beat. It wasn�t hard, his ears seamed to throb with the pulse. He let out a long breath. Little by little, his heart reduced the pace and force at which it was pumping back to a slow and steady pulse rate.

He opened his eyes to see that they had made it to the hangar. The artificial gravity had been turned off to better help the suited ground crews to manipulate and position the MAWs in the necessary bays. When all the MAWs had returned and been placed in the bays the hangar doors shut and the air pumps came to life, pushing air into the vacuum.

His MAW had been placed in the damaged section of the hangar and the ground crew came over to them first. The hatched to his MAW was opened and Jason hadn�t realized how warm and stuffy it had become inside the cockpit until the cold crisp air came into the cockpit, it was very welcoming. He could see medical teams rushing about the hangar, some coming in with stretchers, others leaving with people on those stretchers.

He was halfway through getting up when a figure stood in his way.

�Take it easy,� said the medic in a comforting voice.

Jason settled back into the seat and allowed the medic to check him over. The medic extended a cord from a PDA he was carrying to a port on the chest on the suit that connected to various sensors that monitored basic body functions. After a few moments of tapping away on it, he retrieved a pen torch and holding each eye open in turn shone it into the eye. Jason winced slightly from the bright light.

�Well everything seems OK,� the medic said. �But you are to report to the infirmary. Can you walk?�

Jason nodded and got out of the MAW. He had barely got more than a few steps when his legs felt like they had turned to jelly and he felt light headed. He half collapsed to his knees holding onto the rail for support.

A large male medic ran over to Jason to support him.

Jason was about to argue with the medic about him being fine, but he did feel weak and felt suddenly tired. He decided not to argue as the medic helped to support him to the infirmary.

When he reached the infirmary there were hardly anyone in there, casualties were low from the attack, although there had been a few fatalities.

�... The whole of squad 12... One shot...� echoed through his mind.

He was sat down on a bed and one of the staff came over and examined him.

�Lieutenant Lawson can you hear me? My name is Dr Sanchez.�

Jason just numbly nodded.

�I�m going to check over you over, �Dr Sanchez said.

Jason wasn�t really concentrating.

�... The whole of squad 12... One shot... �

Dr Sanchez was quick and efficient in diagnosing the problem.

�Lieutenant Lawson you are suffering from shock, please try to take it easy, nurse please set up a supply of fluids with dextrose solution.�

Jason felt a prick in his hand as an IV needle was pushed in and a drip was pulled up next to the bed he was on and the nurse helped ease him back so he was lying on the bed. Jason felt his eyes grow heavier then he fell asleep.

He opened his eyes to find the infirmary empty; there was no sound except for a drone from the engines. He was no longer connected to the IV. He got up and started to walk around.

Why was no one here?

He wandered out of the infirmary into the corridor.

Still no one there.

Jason was starting to feel concerned now.

�The bridge, �he thought. �There should be someone on the bridge; even if there is no one there I will be able to see where we are.�

On his journey, he still saw no one and when he got to the bridge he was already half expecting no one to be there and no one was. Empty. He went over to the communication controls.

�This is Lieutenant Lawson calling any crew member, please respond. �

He waited a few minutes. Nothing.

�I repeat, this is Lieutenant Lawson calling any crew member, please respond. �

He waited. Still nothing.

He opened up a channel to UPDF HQ.

�UPDF HQ please come in. This is UPDF ship Yager, please come in.�

All there was was static.

�Where is everyone?� he thought.

He didn�t get to finish the thought. A frantic bleeping from a nearby console.

The weapons and tactical console.

He skidded over to it.

There was an enemy MAW coming towards the ship, more specifically the bridge. He looked through the front window to try and spot it.

He looked at the distance on the display.

He�s right on top of us, so where is he?

Then suddenly it came into view coming from the bottom of the window.

The black MAW.

Its ionized particle accelerator was already charged and aiming at him.

Jason barely had time to get off a thought before a bright flash of light filled his vision.