Read: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 - Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13

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“Report!”

“Major exhaust system failures on deck five – we need to shut down engines to prevent a cascade across the other drives.”

“Do it. And shut off that alarm! Stern, where are the repair crews?”

“On their way, commander. Had to get them suited up first – the whole deck’s flooded, but no bulkheads appear to have ruptured. We have containment, at least.”

“Wonderful. Evacuate the adjacent sections just to be safe, and get that last engineering shift back on duty. Riley, I thought I told you to shut that gorram thing off!”

“It’s not from my station, sir.”

The commander looked down at the new alert flashing on his console.

“What the hell now?”

***

Inara pulled a muttering River into the escape pod next to her as crew members began emerging from the increasingly dense fog.

“Three by three…”

Book nodded, and began barking orders like a drill sergeant, directing the disoriented crew into pods three at a time.

“Who the hell are y–” Book cut the impertinent ensign off by hurling him headfirst into an adjacent pod and cycling it shut. He turned to find a group of nearby crewmen had paused at the ensign’s challenge, and were now regarding him skeptically. Book rose, nearly snarling at their insolence. “I didn’t drag myself out of my bunk half naked to take lip from stinkin’ rabble like you – now get in those gorram pods before I bury my boot four clicks up your gorram –”

Inara gasped, and clasped her hands firmly over River’s ears. Pouting, River struggled against her but the companion would have none of it. Inara did her best to look scandalized as Book ducked back into their pod. He sealed the hatch before looking up at his fellow fugitives.

“What?”

***

“Who the hell ordered the escape pods on deck five activated?”

“I don’t know sir…they appear to have been launched manually.”

Commander Harken raged silently. He gets stuck on border patrol for his first tour, some alliance suits show up and start ordering him around, this gorram scrap heap of a cruiser starts falling apart around him, and now he discovers that his crew is a gutless, undisciplined mob that abandons ship at the first sign of trouble?

“Order those lily-livered back-births to re-dock immediately. Then throw them all in the brig; we’ll sort it out later.”

“Sorry commander, but the explosion took out ship-to-ship communication. It won’t be up for another hour at least.”

“Then deploy fighters and bring them in one at a time!”

“Yes sir.”

“Commander!” He didn’t recognize the officer who had just burst onto the bridge, gasping for breath. “Commander, the prisoners from the transport we boarded have escaped from cellblock twelve. One of the guards reported being ambushed by a young girl…”

Harken refused to look in the direction of the alliance suits. They had been tight-lipped, but it was clear they had a particular interest in the supposedly deceased girl.

“Don’t tell me. Cellblock twelve is located on…”

“Deck five, sir.”

Harken looked down at the array of red dots moving rapidly away from the cruiser on the radar screen.

“Where the hell are my fighters?”

“Sorry, commander. Most of the fighter crews are still trapped on deck five. We’ve mobilized all stand-by and off-duty crews and are prepping them in launch bay three now.”

“Stern, do a heat scan before those pods get out of range. I want to know which ones are occupied. Find me the one with three people on it…that’s assuming our scanners are still operational?”

“Yes, sir. Scanning now.”

Harken watched over the operator’s shoulder, grinding his teeth. He could feel the suits lurking, watching him. He wouldn’t give control of his ship over to a bunch of blue-gloved desk jockeys without a fi–

“Sir, we’ve completed the scans. Generating reports now…we’re reading 25 occupied pods…”

“I don’t care how many pods there are – which has three heat signatures?”

“All of them.”

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Continue to Part 15