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PREVIOUSLY: After exploring their newly stolen battle cruiser, WHISPER, Rue, Garr, and Val decide to join forces in their hunt for Red Klaw, little do they know Red Klaw's agent is hiding under their wing...
In WHISPER'S cargo bay the huge doors in the floor slide slowly open. The torn piece of access tube that had tethered her to the marine space station still clings to the bottom of the ship. Rue and Val peer through the force field over the doors, the access tube covers the entire door way.
Val sighs, "Looks like we're going to have to go out and pry it off by hand."
"You think there are space suits somewhere around here?" Rue asks.
"Ought to be." Val wanders back toward the engineering section at the tail end of the cargo bay. He begins to rummage around.
Rue continues to look out the cargo bay doors, "We should wait until Garr is here, I think we could use his muscle."
"Sure." Val calls back as he digs through empty closets.
In the medical bay above them, Fay and May paw through empty cabinets. Garr pokes through empty drawers, the blood on his shoulder from where Laurine shot him, is already well dried.
The prototype ship has yet to be stocked; there's plenty of room for supplies but very few to be found. Finally May finds a rudimentary first aid kit. "Sit down." She instructs Garr.
He plops obediently onto one of the beds, his thick tail drapes over the other side. The girls go to work, his green skin shimmers through their chameleon hands. The first aid kit is woefully inadequate, there is a tiny bottle of antibacterial scrub, some ointment and a few band aids that are far too small for a gun shot wound. But they make due, Fay pours the scrub onto a small square of gauze and dabs it at Garr's wound.
He winces, she pauses to make sure he's not going to suddenly rip her head from her shoulders in pain. He grins at her sheepishly, she smiles and continues.
When the wound is clean, May slathers on some ointment. "We'll have to leave it open, but it doesn't seem to be that bad."
"It's fine. Thanks." He grins shyly.
"Thank you," Fay starts.
"For rescuing us." May concludes.
They both lean in and plant a delicate kiss on each of his cheeks. Garr's jaw falls open as his stomach leaps into his throat. The girls repack the first aid kit, throw away the trash, then turn for the door. Garr still sits on the medical bed looking stunned, his hands barely touching his cheeks.
Fay and May stop in the door way and look back at him. They giggle, "Well?" May asks.
"Are you coming?" Fay asks.
Startled out of his revere Garr jumps up and hurries to the door wondering why his cheeks are suddenly so warm.
Down in the cargo bay Val has found an engineering space suit. It's a bulky, human sized suit with a large tool belt and heavy magnetic boots. The helmet has a strange visor attached to it. Val is never going to fit in it. He and Rue debate as Garr and the girls stroll off of the lift toward them.
"How hard can it be?" Rue asks.
"Well not very," Val shakes his head, he doesn't like this plan. "But you're going to have to drop out through the tube, then crawl back up it before the boots can lock on. If you miss..."
"All the more reason I should go." Rue answers, "You'll never be able to grab anything in those gloves."
Garr looks cautiously down at the lone space suit, "What's up?"
"There seems to be only one space suit on board," Rue explains, "And it's just my size, so I'm going to go out and pry the access tube off the ship."
"Oh." Garr frowns, he doesn't like this idea either, but there's no way he'll fit into the suit.
Suddenly Val has an inspiration, "Hang on a sec!" He turns and marches toward one of the battle bays. The others trail after him.
He finds a control panel on the wall just before the entrance. Val has to stand on his tip toes to see the buttons, but his face light up as he does. He pushes a couple of buttons then turns around to grin proudly at the others. Behind him the lights in the battle bay come on.
It is the mirror image of the bay directly across from it, two rows of launch tubes lined up around a circular door on the floor. There is even one fighter lined up for display, just like the other bay.
As the lights come up the fighter sized, circular, door in the center of the floor slides open. Val walks into the bay to peer through the door. Beyond the force field it looks sort of grey, not the black of space that he expected. Curious he pokes a toe at the force field, the chameleon skin over the door ripples under the pressure.
The others gather around the door now too. "What is it?" Garr asks.
"I don't know, this ship has some seriously strange features!" Val responds as he pulls his toe back.
"There's one way to find out for sure!" Rue says as he turns back toward the main cargo bay.
The others help him into the suit. As he pulls the helmet on the visor falls down over the face mask. It slightly mutes his vision, but doesn't seem to do much beyond that. He flips it up and down a couple of times, "What do you suppose this is for?"
Val ponders it a moment, then shrugs, "Who knows."
When Rue's all sealed in Val hands him a pry bar. Then he starts the long slow walk to the battle bay. Garr and the girls follow.
Val turns back to the engineering station. There is a communication panel in the station, he gives it a try, "Can you hear me?"
At the edge of the battle bay doors Rue answers, "Loud and clear." Garr helps him sit down on the edge of the door, he dangles his feet through the force field. Garr grasps his arm tightly and lowers him out of the ship.
No one notices the grey slip away through the door. Under WHISPER'S wing, tucked right under the battle bay door is Laurine's ship. She waits patiently in the cockpit for the pirates to make a move. When she sees Rue's legs dangle out of the battle bay doors through the chameleon membrane, she scrambles to the flight controls. She pulls back just far enough to loose her ship in the dark emptiness of space and watches very closely.
When Rue is far enough out of the ship, he swings his legs back up until his feet make contact with the under side of WHISPER'S wing. When the magnetic boots lock on, he lets go of Garr's hand and drags himself upright.
He looks down at the ship under his feet, her chameleon skin is invisible even up close, it looks like he's standing on empty space. His head swims and he nearly vomits!