Uzahne gave the order to her guard gratefully, then the guard and I were up into the shuttle. I dressed in a spacesuit and she closed the blast door to cut off the cockpit. I depressurized the compartment I was in, disengaged the small umbilical on the bottom hatch, then opened the large hatch on the side of the shuttle. I quickly used Presence Hands to take the tie down cables off of the shuttle and stepped back inside and closed the hatch.

“Okay, we're free.” I said.

“All right. Here we go.” The guard said and added power to the engines. She did it very slowly, since there wasn't a lot of room for her to fly around between the ship and the wreckage.

“The schematics of the ship say there's a docking ring just above the lip of the wreck.” Luxea said over the com channel. “Cross your fingers that it's still intact.”

“Dammit, don't jinx it.” The guard said and eased the shuttle out from behind the wreck. “I'm nervous enough flying like this as it is without having to worry about not having anything to land on!”

“Sorry.” Luxea said.

“Just relax.” I said calmly into my suit com. “You've done this hundreds of times.”

“No, I haven't!” The guard exclaimed and the shuttle swung out a little too far, then swung back in close to the wreck.

“Calm down and listen to my voice.” I said and used a mental technique to calm myself, then used a bit of Presence through the blast door and eased it into her and shared my calmness. “You are a leaf on the wind. Nothing can touch you. You've done this so many times that you could do it blindfolded.”

“I... I do feel calmer.” The guard said. “Thanks.”

“Now take us up and land this thing.” I said, and I felt the shuttle swing out from under the wreck and swoop over the lip.

“I see it.” The guard said. “No response to the automated dock command.”

“That's all right.” I said. “You've got this.”

“Okay.” The guard said and brought the shuttle over to the small docking ring. “I'm flipping us onto the side.” The shuttle rotated in space onto its side to match the bottom hatch of the shuttle to the hatch on the wreck and drifted in towards the docking ring. “We're almost there.”

I watched with Detect Presence as the shuttle approached the wreck. “Move back about six degrees.” said. “Stern of the shuttle, I mean.”

“Are you sure?” The guard asked.

“Positive.” I said, and the ship moved back the right amount. “Hold it there.”

The shuttle drifted down and landed on the side of the wreck, and the bottom hatch was directly above the small docking ring. I opened the hatch on the floor of the shuttle and reached down to open the hatch into the wreck. Thankfully, it wasn't warped or damaged in any way, so it opened smoothly. I could tell that it wasn't pressurized and there was no sudden rush of air, so I pulled myself down into the wreck and opened the panel beside the hatch. I pulled the manual release and cranked the little wheel, then the small umbilical raised up and touched the bottom of the shuttle. I couldn't hear the click; but, I saw the magnetic seal jump slightly and make full contact with the shuttle.

I checked to see if it was sealed all the way around and nodded. “Okay, we're docked.”

“Still no power.” The guard said. “I don't have any readings from it.”

“Sorry. I didn't think to take a power pack for that.” I said as I climbed back into the shuttle and took out the five remaining spacesuits. I laid the five bundles right beside the hatch for easy retrieval, then eased myself down through the hatch and into the wreck. “I'm going to check on the survivors and see what the situation is like.”

“Watch out for small sharp edges.” The guard said. “Spacesuits aren't designed for harsh environments like that.”

“They should be.” I said and landed on the deck. “There's no gravity or air in this part.”

“I wonder if it's just vented?” Luxea asked over the suit com. “Sometimes non-essential parts are emptied of air during battles.”

“How would you know that?” I asked.

“It's part of the ship design course.” Luxea said. “Warships have lots of empty space around critical areas to stop explosive decompression when they're damaged.”

“Really?” I asked and popped my feet up off of the floor and floated down the hallway.

“It's an interesting philosophy, except that it makes the ships bigger and easier targets.” Luxea said.

“Let me guess. Too much armor also makes them easier targets.” I said and stopped floating when I came to a hatch that led to a stairway.

“It's a trade off.” Luxea said. “More armor lets you fight longer and also slows you down so you have to fight longer.”

“Yeah, that figures.” I said and used Presence to feel the air on the other side. “I'm at a hatch and I can detect air on the other side. What do I do?”

“How do you know there's... no, never mind.” Luxea said. “Okay, look for a maintenance locker. Huge ships need them on every level.”

I floated down the hallway to the end and found a red locker. It was the size of the end of the hallway. “Is it red?”

“Yes, and it's probably locked.” Luxea said.

“That's okay. I have a key.” I said and floated back, took out my Light sword, and set it to low intensity, one foot in length, and one inch wide. I activated it and looked at the locking mechanism in the door of the locker. I smiled and stuck the tip of my small Light sword into it, then carved a small circle around it. I used a Presence Hand to grab the severed lock and put it on the floor, so it wouldn't be floating around, then opened the locker.

“Okay, it's open. What am I looking for?” I asked.

“It's a large cloth and metal bundle. It's slightly longer than a hatch opening, so it should be easily to find.” Luxea said. “Assuming it hasn't been used already.”

“I have it.” I said and pulled the large rectangular bundle out of the locker. “Do I need anything else?”

“No, it's self-contained.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“It's a portable airlock.” Luxea said. “It lets you transition between an airless room and one with air.”

“Why don't we have one of these things?” I asked and carried it over to the stairway hatch.

“It's worth about ten thousand credits and it can only be used once.”

“What? Why?” I asked.

“You'll see when you use it.” Luxea said.

“Just a second.” I said and read the instructions on the thing. I stood it up next to the hatch and hit the first button. I saw the energy flow along the back of it and then felt the heat. “It's welding itself to the wall!”

“I told you.” Luxea said. “When it's done, you need to carefully fold it over the hatch and get any debris out of the way.”

“Got it.” I said.

I looked and made sure that there wasn't any debris in the way, then I slowly folded the portable airlock over the hatch. When it covered it, I hit the second button. The top, bottom, and other side of it welded itself to the wall and made a complete seal. I hit the third button and the thing inflated to create a space inside about the size of a telephone booth.

“Okay, this thing is great.” I said and opened it, then floated inside and closed it behind me. I hit the button next to the wall that said 'Pressurize', and I felt compressed air enter the space. “I suppose it's the welding mechanism that makes it a one-use thing.”

“Yes. It needs to be cut off once it's used.” Luxea said.

“What if you used magnetic locks instead of welding?” I asked and opened the hatch, and some of the air in with me escaped to equalize in the stairwell.

“You would need a perfectly flat surface and a strong power source for the magnetic field, which is bulky and heavy to use.” Luxea said. “This thing was the best compromise, since it fuses itself to the wall, and like you just discovered, anyone can use it without training.”

I chuckled. “Okay, convenience makes sense.” I said and floated down the stairs. “The air's not as thick as it should be.”

“There's probably an intermittent leak somewhere. After all the damage that thing took, I'm surprised there's any air at all.” Luxea said. “I'm glad there is, though.”

“I should have brought the spacesuits with me.” I said and stopped when I reached the floor I needed to get to. Using Presence, I could feel that there was air on the other side of the hatch and opened it.

“No, you need to make sure the way is clear for safe passage first.” Luxea said.

I floated out into the hallway and turned towards the room that had the survivors to see several metal girders jammed down through the ceiling. “I see what you mean.”

“What is it?” Luxea asked, and I described what I saw. “Hunter, you need to be very careful.” She warned me. “Some of them could be either letting the air escape, or keeping the air in.”

“Well, that clears things up for me.” I said.

“Hunter...”

“I know, I know.” I said and approached the closest one. “The first one looks just structural.” I said and looked up to see that it was from the floor above. I took out my Light sword and reset it to the default normal settings, then held the metal girder steady with a Presence Hand. I floated up to the ceiling and cut the girder off an inch from the ceiling, then thought about what I could do to stop it from moving.

“I'm going to try something to keep this thing from moving.”

“Don't do anything stupid.” Luxea said.

“I'm just going to crank the intensity of my Light sword to try and melt the end of the metal, then use a Presence Hand to smoosh the hot metal into the ceiling.”

“Smoosh? What's that mean?” Luxea asked.

“Squeezing things together without caring what it looks like when you're done.” I said. “I saw Rhubin do that with a sandwich once.”

“Oh! You're talking about the leftovers from that restaurant!” Rhubin exclaimed. “That was a great sandwich.”

“Rhubin, stay off the channel.” Luxea admonished him. “Hunter, just be careful.”

“You don't have to keep saying that.” I said.

“I wouldn't have to if you had listened to me the first time and didn't go.” Luxea said, and I chuckled.

“Fair enough.” I said and used a Presence Hand to move the girder I had cut away down the hallway past the hatch to the stairwell. I turned off my Light sword and changed the settings to one foot in length, three inches wide, and set it to the highest intensity. Since there wasn't any gravity, I knew the molten metal wouldn't drip on me, so I activated my Light sword and very carefully used the tip to essentially cut up the end of the metal girder that was still sticking out of the ceiling.

I moved slowly, so that the metal would melt from the intensity as well as be cut, then I used a Presence Hand to smooth that metal out onto the ceiling. I didn't want to float there and wait for it to cool off, so I covered the thing in a layer of Presence and made it solid. I moved on to the next girder, and this one was a bit more of a problem. It came down through the ceiling and went into the floor. I looked up several floors and saw that it was actually all the way through the wreck.

“I think I found the leak.” I said and very carefully eased my Light sword through the part on the ceiling and held the girder with a Presence Hand, then used another to spread the molten metal out as I cut and melted it. I covered the spot with Presence and made it solid, then floated down and did the same thing where it passed through the floor. When the metal girder was successfully cut away, I eased it down the hallway and put it with the other one.

I had to do three more girders and cut away part of a jagged wall as I worked my way down the hallway, then I reached the room and deactivated my Light sword. I could see the five people huddled on the other side of the door and they looked defeated. I didn't want them to keep looking that way while I went to go and get the spacesuits, so I reached out and banged on the hatch twice.

“By the Goddess! Did you hear that?” One of them said.

“It's just more debris.” Someone else said.

“No, it can't be.” One of the others said. “That was two distinct bangs.”

I did it again, and all five of them reacted. They let each other go, despite needing to stay together to keep their body heat, and one of the men came over to the hatch.

“Is someone there?” He yelled.

I was tempted to open my helmet to talk normally, then decided against it, since I didn't know what kind of contaminants were in the air after cutting the girders, so I knocked three times on the hatch instead.

“There's really someone there!” He said to the others and turned back to the hatch. “The hatch won't open and the hallway is impassable!” He said, then took a breath. “Well, it was impassable.”

I looked at the hatch and saw that it was slightly warped and was wedged closed. I couldn't talk through my helmet and through the door to tell them I would be right back, so I tapped on the hatch, then tapped a foot higher, then tapped the top of the hatch.

“No! Don't go!” The man said frantically.

Good, he understood. I tapped the middle of the hatch, then the top, then the middle again. I'll be right back. I thought.

“You'll come back?” The man asked. I tapped the middle twice, and he sighed. “Okay.”

“I've made contact with the survivors.” I said into the suit com as I turned and floated down the hallway and out through the stairway hatch. “I'm coming back to the shuttle to get the spare spacesuits.”

I went up to the airlock, used it and decompressed the air, then went down that hallway to where the shuttle was docked. I quickly took all five bundles with me. They were a little awkward, since they were so big, so I used Presence Hands to carry three of them behind me. I managed, barely, to get myself and all five bundles into the temporary airlock at the same time, then went through the hatch, down the stairs, and out into the hallway. I quickly floated down to the room they were in, and I saw that they were all gathered together again.

Rather than tap on the hatch to get their attention, I put all five bundles down and took out my Light sword. I reduced the intensity to normal and kept the one foot length, then changed the width to one inch. I activated it and eased it into the side of the hatch where it met the wall, then traced the hatch's outline. The five people in the room stared at what I was doing and weren't sure what to make of it.

When I finished, I deactivated the Light sword, grabbed the hatch, and pulled the whole thing out. The five of them carefully let each other go and looked at me. Three men and two women.

“Who are you?” The man that had approached the hatch earlier asked.

“What? No thank you for saving your lives?” I asked and set the hatch aside.

“Thank you.” The man said without any inflection. “Who are you?”

“Your gratitude knows no bounds.” I said and picked up the first bundled space suit. “You're going to need this when we reach the top of the stairwell. It's vented to space.” I floated it into the room at him.

“Answer the question.” The man said and handed the spacesuit to one of the others.

“The fast transport and light cargo company, The Wave, at your service.” I said and gave him a guard salute.

The man stared at me for a moment. “How did you get here?”

“On a ship, obviously.” I said. “We were delivering high priority passengers to Chofaris and found this debris field.” I picked up and floated in the other four spacesuits. Everyone waited until they all had one before they started putting them on.

“Who were the passengers?” The man asked.

“That doesn't matter right now, does it?” I asked. “Hurry up and get dressed.”

“If you brought the enemy here, I won't go anywhere with you.” The man said.

“Are you stupid or something? Do you just want to sit here and die?” I asked and floated into the room without touching anything, thanks to Presence, and everyone's eyes widened. “When I was captured and held against my will, I never gave up. Not once.” I said right to his face. “Are you so weak that you would let everyone die, just because you might... might... need to surrender?”

The man scowled at me for several moments as he kept looking at the black metal blast shield that covered my eyes, then he finished getting dressed.

“You're smarter than you look.” I said, and he huffed. “Lucky for you, I was bringing three delegates to Chofaris.” I floated over to the others and checked their suits, then tapped each of them on the top of the helmets when I saw they all had tight seals, which pushed them down to the deck and their magnetic boots clicked.

“You're too late, then.” The man said and I turned back to him and checked his seal. “The war already started.”

“By the looks of everything out there, the war is over.” I said and tapped his helmet to push him down to the deck. “It's all wreckage.”

“A-all of it?” One of the women asked. “There were over two hundred ships in our armada!”

“Well, our computer was still counting when I left, and it was over a hundred then.” I said. “Now I wonder how many enemies there were.”

“They're your enemy, too?”

“Yeah.” I said as I remembered the brief exchange with the scout ship that traumatized Luxea, then I floated over to the open hatchway. “Let's get out of here.”

“How are you doing that?”

“The Presence and I are old friends.” I said, and I saw the two women's eyes light up. “Come on, we haven't got all day.”

“Why?” One of the other men asked, and he helped one of the women walk.

“Oh, damn.” I said. “Wait.”

They stopped walking and I floated back over to them. I gathered a small amount Presence to myself and my hand glowed as I checked her over and looked at her with Detect Presence.

“You've got a couple of broken ribs.” I said. “I can't heal that much damage.”

“Th-that's okay.” The woman said. “You're doing so much already.”

“Is anyone else hurt?” I asked, and they shook their heads. “Don't try to be brave and ignore anything.” I looked at their faces. “I've got a med-bot on my ship.”

“Oh, thank the Goddess.” The woman with broken ribs said. “This hurts like crazy.”

I looked back at her as I put a hand on her spacesuit, then I used Presence to make a thick layer around the space right below her breasts and made it solid. She caught her breath at the added pressure, then her mouth dropped open in surprise.

“It's only to hold your ribs steady while I carry you.” I said and looked at the man helping her walk. He nodded and let her go, and I used Presence to pop her boots off of the deck.

“C-carry m-me?” The woman asked.

“Well, drag you with me, actually.” I said.

She got an up close look through my helmet visor and gasped. “Your eyes are covered with metal!”

“I can see everything better this way.” I said with a smile, and she smiled back sadly. She thinks I'm lying. “You've got short brown hair and the hat you normally wear left a crease in it.” I said and she stared at me. “That's a cute dimple.”

“It... it's not cute.” She said with a red face, and I gently put my arm around her, just under her shoulders to hold her steady, then used Presence to push us out through the opening. She grabbed onto me with both hands and held on. The others walked on the deck using that duck walk with heel to toe motion and followed us out into the hallway.

“What the... how did your work crew clear it all away?” The man asked. “I saw it before I shut the hatch! You couldn't fit anything like a plasma cutter in here to get at it!”

“What work crew?” I asked and floated down the hallway with my passenger. “I cleared all of this by myself.” I said. “It was too dangerous to bring anyone else and I needed the five spare spacesuits for you.”

“Wh-what?” The other woman looked at me. “How did you know there were five of us?”

“I can see through walls.” I said, and they all stopped walking. “Hey, come on. We don't have a lot of time to waste here.”

“You can see through walls.” The man that hadn't talked yet said. “The Goddess has surely blessed you.”

“That's some blessing.” I said sarcastically. “I could tell you what I had to go through to learn how to do it; but, you look depressed enough as it is and I'm rescuing you.” I said. “I don't want to know what you'll look like if you learn my story.”

“Don't mind him.” The woman in my arms said in a soft voice. “He always looks like that.”

“We can talk about all of this later.” I said and motioned to the stairs. “The temporary air lock is at the top of the stairs.”

We all went up the stairs and arrived at the air lock. I took myself and my passenger through first. It was a tight fit, and she didn't mind it at all. We exited the temporary airlock and I closed it, then took her to the shuttle. She stared at me the whole time and didn't look around at all.

“I have to let you go so you can fit through the hatch.” I said to her, and she sighed and let her death grip on me go. “There's gravity past the hatch, so be careful with those ribs.”

“Thank you.” She said and I put her on the ladder so she could climb up. She only used one arm and both legs to climb, and I watched her as she entered the compartment and sat down.

“First survivor is aboard.” I said and went back to the temporary airlock. The others waited until they were all cycled through the airlock, then they all walked down the hallway and climbed the ladder. I followed them, then hit the manual release for the magnetic umbilical and turned the crank to drop it down, then I floated up enough to close the hatch behind me and entered the shuttle.

“All survivors recovered.” I said and secured the hatch on the bottom of the shuttle. “Okay, let's go.”

The shuttle lifted off and carefully slid over to the edge of the wreck, then dropped down past it and floated down slowly as it oriented to match the ship and not the wreck. The shuttle dipped slightly, then straightened out, flew to the side a little, then started to drop again. I looked down and watched where the hatches were going to meet.

“Okay, you're doing good. Still on course.” I said.

“Thanks for the confidence.” The guard said over the intercom.

“Don't worry. If you're about to kill us all, I'll scream and holler at you even if you keep us on course.”

The guard chuckled. “That's not funny.”

“Made you laugh.” I said. “You're still good. Keep going.”

“He really can see through walls.” The first man whispered, disbelief clear in his voice.

“We're almost there.” The guard said. “This landing might be a little rough.”

“You're a leaf on the wind.” I said calmly. “Nothing can touch you.”

The guard sighed and the shuttle dropped a little further, then there was a clang as the landing gear touched the hull. “Killing thrust now.” She said. “Get us tied down, quick!”

“I'm on it.” I said and opened the side hatch on the shuttle and jumped out. The five survivors gasped as I did that, then sighed when I floated down and landed on the hull. They stared at me as I stood there and the cables moved on their own, since they couldn't see me using Presence Hands, and the shuttle was tied down after only twenty seconds.

“Okay, we're tied down.” I walked over to the shuttle and climbed back in, shut and secured the hatch, pressurized everything, then checked that the umbilical that came up from the ship was safe to use. The blast door opened to the cockpit and the guard stepped into the rear compartment with us.

“I can't believe we did it.” She said happily, then looked at the five survivors. “Unless you plan to keep those spacesuits, you need to take them off.”

They exchanged looks for several moments.

“I think we can let them keep them until they get checked out by the med-bot.” I said, and the guard nodded. “It's gravity from here on out, though.” I said to them as I quickly undressed, and they saw my uniform.

“You really are from a company called The Wave.” One of the women said as she saw the patches on my uniform.

I nodded and stored the spacesuit and opened the bottom hatch again. I'll go first and you're next.” I said and pointed to the woman with the broken ribs.

“But...”

“No buts. You're the priority right now.” I said and climbed down. “We need to get you looked at right away.”

The others helped her down through the hatch and I helped her down to the deck. Her face was red again and I wasn't sure why.

“Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?”

“Just... just an extra arm will do.” She said, and I helped her walk over to the living room. The others came down into the ship and followed closely behind us.