Ben, with his hand on the back of his neck said, "Yeah, I think. I sure felt the heat though. Damn! Whoa! I think our little BB friend is pissed!"
Amelia, in a high pitched voice, "They hit us again. Thermal sensors keep spiking, but the beam isn't hitting us long enough to do any damage. They have hit us at least 3 times, which is amazing considering how many kilometers per second our difference in velocity is. But, each time they hit us, the beam is weaker, although it makes contact longer."
The captain looked at the sensors "Must be because they are translating from an orthogonal to radial velocity relative to us. Which means they can hit us easier, but lucky for us they are receding away so fast that the beam is not only red-shifting, but it spreading out, although not at the square of the distance, since it's a laser."
Ben looked at the captain "Umm..sure. Whatever you say Captain."
Amelia leaned over and whispered. "I got you Attie, and you are right." She winked at him. "There the beam goes again!"
Attie asked "How long are the bursts?"
Amelia looked at the panel "That last one was 2.03 milliseconds, but the previous one was 1.56 and the one before that....umm..1.04." The power is dropping, but at a slightly lower rate. If he continues to fire on us, in 94 minutes, he will deal us maximum damage."
Attie looked concerned. "Will it actually hurt the ship?"
She ran some numbers. "Yes, it might!"
Attie thought. "So we have to get away from him as fast as we can. I assume you took our deceleration into account in your calculations?" Amelia nodded. Attie continued "Well, don't we have an extra 6 hours that we don't need to be decelerating for?"
Amelia said "Yes, right. I see where you are going. I am cutting the MFG's now and we will re-engage them seven hours from Io Station or so, when we are well out the BB ship's range. Let me rerun the numbers. Give me a minute." She raised her hand to block communication from Attie.
Attie looked at Ben. "Well, at least our drive plates will be safe, since they're facing away from the BB ship." Ben nodded and looked back a Amelia trying to comprehend what they were talking about.
Amelia looked up "OK, well this looks better. With us no longer decelerating as fast, we will be out of the BB's ships range much faster. He should reach maximum damage at 40 minutes, but I don't think it will do much. Just don't look out the windows, and get anything flammable away from top facing portals."
Attie got on the intercom. "Listen up. Do not look out the windows because of the laser fire, but everyone check all the top portals around the ship and remove anything flammable or, or 'meltable'?"...He looked at Amelia questioning. She said back "I don't know..disintegratable?". He pushed the intercom again "disintegratable ..yeah, remove anything that is disintegratable ". By then the whole crew was on the bridge watching him and they all started to laugh. Ben stood up "You heard what the captain TRIED to say, so get to it!" This made everyone bust out laughing even harder.
Over the next 35 minutes, laser blasts kept hitting the ship. The captain walked up to Amelia, who was still in her pilot's seat. "Status? It is starting to get warm in here."
She said "The ship is getting hot, especially the upper plating, but nothing that is going to damage anything. We could.." The fire alarm began to blare and lights flashed red.
The captain looked at the panel and got on the intercom. "Fire! We have a fire in the quarters...Amelia's room!" Amelia looked up at him with her mouth open. He said "Go!". She ran back through the galley to her quarters. Doc, Helen and AJ were all at the door. She squeezed through, and Ben came out with a burned cylindrical object. Amelia looked at it curiously. "What the hell is it?"
Ben smiled "You left your TP in front of a window!"
She bit her lower lip. "Oops."
Then the captain came over the intercom. "What's going on back there?!" Ben hit the nearest intercom to respond. "It's nothing Captain, Amelia just used up her ration of toilet paper for the week."
CHAPTER 6: Io Station
Sulfur dust of yellow.
Trade that's not on the level.
Io below continuously reborn.
Hoping that pay is not forlorn.
Seven hours before reaching Io Station, Ben knocked on the captain's door. "Captain, we are coming up on seven hours till arrival. I woke up Amelia and she's getting ready for the final mag burn."
The captain replied "OK, I'll be there in a second". He got up and walked into the galley, scrounging for any kind of snack, when Helen tapped him on the back. "Here ya go Cap'n" and she handed him a chocolate bar.
He looked at it. "Perfect! Breakfast of Champions! No better time to eat something creamy and delicious then when your mouth tastes likes it's dead." He gave her his best smile and ripped into the bar. He then grabbed a milk-like product and headed to the bridge. "What's happening fellow humans?"
Amelia, Ben and AJ turned and said "Mornin' Cap'n" and Ben went on to add "Well, you look like hell".
The captain smirked and raised his beverage. "Thanks, I try."
Amelia said "Well, we are just about to restart the MFGs. This will put us in two hours sooner than our original estimate."
Attie sat down, still munching on his chocolate. "Well, we should probably try to contact someone over there, so we can get our money."
Ben sat up. "Right! Good idea."
Attie at Amelia: "What's the contact frequency and code?"
She pointed. "Right there, and its secure, just push that button when you are ready to talk."
Attie downed his last swig of the milk substance and pushed the talk button. "This is Captain Atticus Elliot with a delivery. We will arrive in approximately seven hours. Awaiting instructions, over".
About 30 seconds went by and over the comm came "Dock at airlock 26W. It will be on the side of the station facing away from Io. We will exchange the goods at the airlock. Once you acknowledge receipt of this transmission, we won't contact you again. Over."
The captain turned to Amelia. "Send the acknowledgment. Ben, what do you think?"
He thought a second "I'm suspicious, but then again, I always am."
The captain nodded. "I am too, especially with all these ships after us. They have to know that we were followed, but they didn't say anything or try to alter the deal. Amelia, can you bring up plans for the station?"
Amelia did a few searches and brought up the schematics with photographs. "OK, these are a couple of years old, but I doubt they've changed much."
The captain looked at Ben. "Take a look over those and put together a contingency plan. I am going to take a shower and try to feel alive."
Ben looked at the captain. "That's the best idea I've heard all morning." and smiled.
Fifteen minutes later Amelia's voice came over the intercom. "Everyone strap in, we are going to start our mag burn in 1 minute.
Thirty seconds later the captain came running in, his hair still wet. "Just a second! I'm coming."
He jumped into the co-pilots chair and Amelia counted down. "9..8..7..6..". The captain snapped his last buckle. "There!" "..2..1..engaging!" Everyone felt the extra deceleration as they sank into their seats. Amelia made some immediate adjustments to prevent the spinning of the previous time and the ship settled into a smooth, but heavy, deceleration. Attie looked over at her "Wow, nice job, much better than last time." She looked at his clothes and his clean shaven face and smiled. "Same goes for you!".
Two hours later, Ben came into the galley with maps, sketches and charts. "OK, I have a plan".
The captain sat up. "Good. Let's see it."
Ben pointed to airlock 26W on the space station schematic and on the photographs. "OK, I think our best bet is for me to suit up and walk over the 'top' of the lock while you guys are docking. I will place C7 explosive charges between the station airlock door and the docking tube station-side airlock door. They try anything and boom! They're breathing vacuum."
The captain looked at his idea "Well, that sounds pretty good, but how will we know that they are up to something before a few of us are already dead? And how do we keep from getting vented ourselves?" The captain thought for a minute. "Well we could just open our hatch and invite them to exchange there." Then the captain felt his chest. "We have already seen how fast our hatch slams shut. However, we still need to know if they are up to anything before it happens."
Ben agreed and was thinking when AJ said "I have an idea".
The captain turned to him. "Again?! Excellent. Let's hear it!"
AJ cleared his throat. "Well, you know those brain scanners we took from the BB ship. Couldn't we scan them to find out their intentions or what they are going to do?"
The captain smiled. "Damn, that's brilliant. Even if they have implants, they won't know they are being scanned, and their thoughts should be about what they are going to do against us. Hmmmm...But how to get it close enough to scan them without them knowing?"
Ben said "Well, I could just carry one with me and put it up to a window near one of them."
The captain thought. "Hmmm..I don't know. You will barely have time to plant the charges"
Amelia stepped closer. "I can do it."
Attie said "No, you're the best pilot and we need you most"
AJ raised his hand. "I'll do it."
The captain looked at him, then Helen and Doc. Helen started to object, but Doc said "He is part of this crew and it was his idea. All our lives are on the line here, so if he wants to, I am going to let him." Helen looked at Travis, a little shocked, but then realizing she couldn't really say anything, she turned and hugged AJ.
The captain nodded. "OK, its settled then, here is the plan...."
As they approached the Io Station Amelia said "This isn't going to be easy. Without thrusters, I am going to have to slow using the plates and turn to line up the hatch at the last second." Attie patted her on the back "You're a damn good pilot, you'll do fine!" and he tapped his head comm and thought "Ben and AJ, How are you doing?".
Ben replied "We are ready. We are both strapped onto the ship and when she hits, the momentum should throw us over. Hopefully not too hard."
The captain looked at Amelia. Amelia finally said "Speak! Stop trying to think to me!"
In a frustrated voice, "Dammit! Sorry. I keep doing that. Is there anyway you can make a bunch of noise when we dock, so if Ben and AJ hit hard, they won't be noticed?"
Amelia thought for a bit. "Well, I could act like I am a crappy pilot and do some adjustments as we lock on and after. That will shake the docking tube all over the place and make a hell of a racket."
Attie said "Great!. Everyone get ready! Thirty Seconds to impact."
AJ and Ben did the best they could to secure themselves. Ben thought to AJ "Get ready, she is going to turn the ship fast just before impact. As soon as she's done turning, let go, but not before." AJ, obviously scared, shook his helmet in a quick nod. They both looked at the massive station now taking up their whole field of view. It was a covered in a yellow powder, but looked like it was once white and blue. The docking tube stuck out toward them about a 100 meters and it bent to the right where it merged to the station. Ben squeezed the grab rails as tight as he could and smiled at AJ. The captain thought to them "5..4..3..2..1". The whole universe spun and Jupiter was now straight overhead. AJ slipped a little but pulled himself in tighter using his forearms. Then Ben thought "NOW! Let go!" AJ hesitated and the sudden impact of the ship against the docking tube ripped AJ's hand free from the grab rail. Ben flew first and right over the top of the docking tube, his carabiner brake slowing him down, while AJ, flopping around, flew by before getting control of his. AJ started to slow down, but then ran out of cable and he snapped back. He hit the tube hard and bounced up. Ben snapped his own carabiner to the station and grabbed AJ's slack line. He pulled AJ back in. AJ thought "I hurt my arm, but I think I'm OK." The whole structure was moving back and forth, but once Ben was sure AJ was alright he peeked over the edge into a portal. He saw a man looking back out. He jerked his head back and thought to the captain "They're looking out the windows. AJ hit the deck really hard, so they probably heard us."
The captain thought back. "I doubt it. Amelia is doing some crappy docking maneuvers and making a hell of a racket. They're probably just looking out to see who the hell is flying this thing."
Ben, his heart pounding, responded "OK, I hope you're right. I am planting the charges now." He turned and thought to AJ. "See if you can get a scan of the guy right below us through the hull."