Orion Rising: A Military Science Fiction Space Opera Epic (The Orion War Book 3) by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2017-06-21T18:30:00+00:00

* * * * *

“Do you need a hand?” Saanvi asked as Cary searched through the data on the ships clustered at the L1 point of Carthage’s larger moon, a whitish-blue orb named Hannibal.

Cary scowled in response. She had to admit that determining which of the five thousand ships in Fleet Group 5 to choose was more work than she expected

“I’ve narrowed it down to these forty,” Cary said. “They all have engines, life-support, and functioning weapons, but there are nuances between them that make it hard to choose. Take a look,” Cary replied and passed the data to Saanvi.

“Hmmm,” Saanvi said as she ran through the ships. “Oh, it’s easy, pick this one.”

Cary looked at the ship. It bore the name Illyria and appeared to be one of the least complete in the final selection.

“Why that one?” Cary asked. “It doesn’t even have docking bays. We’ll have to EVA over.”

“You didn’t check its loadout, did you?” Saanvi asked. “The Illyria has a full store of RMs and kinetics. Its hull is full of holes, but that barely matters with a-grav and stasis shields.”

“I don’t know,” Cary mused. “There are several others with full life support. If anything goes wrong on that ship, we’ll have to fix it in EVA gear.”

“Cary,” Saanvi shook her head. “It’s a seven hundred meter cruiser that is only eighty percent complete. If anything goes wrong and we can’t fix it from the bridge, we’re screwed.”

“Good point,” Cary muttered. “OK, set a course for the Illyria, then. I’ll grab us a pair of EVA suits from aft storage.”

Cary walked down the passageway to the storage locker just aft of the airlock and grabbed two EVA-901 suits. They were bright white with reflective strips running down the sides—the better to find lost people in space. They had a slippery, rubbery texture, almost like grasping an eel in water. Though they appeared flimsy—no thicker than five millimeters, and as thin as one in places—they were sturdy and could even provide some protection from light beamfire.

The main advantage of the suits was that they provided one atmosphere of pressure across the wearer’s body, and could adjust that pressure as needed to prevent fluids from building up in extremities.

Cary quickly pulled off her shipsuit, and stepped into the EVA-901. It fit loosely as she pulled it on, but once she drew the fastener shut, the suit tightened and pressed all the air out from within. She gasped as the cold health monitoring sensors hit her body, and then raised her arms, shimmying side to side, to make sure the suit had a good fit. Cary opted for a clear three-sixty helmet and pulled one from the rack. Before donning it, she twisted her blonde hair into a tight bun to ensure it wouldn’t get in her face while the helmet was on. Once satisfied, she locked the helmet’s collar around her neck, where it sealed to the suit, and then grabbed the two halves of the helmet.

She hooked the top hasp of the two halves together and then closed it over her head.

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