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  The First Officer took the lead again and continued down the hallway. Johnathan was concerned about the numbers of these aliens. They must have been packed heavily into their ships. He had seen the deaths of a few dozen on the eco-ship excluding the one ship of them that he dealt with. They made it to the elevator without issue and again the First Officer led as he climbed down the shaft. Johnathan followed behind him with Rose coming last. His arms were quite tired from the constant climbing he had done throughout the day. He chose to ignore his arms because they had a mission to accomplish. Slowly and evenly they made their way down the elevator shaft. The exit that they needed to take was only two levels above the bottom of the whole shaft. He was covered in sweat and his grip was loose as he had to wipe his hands on his shirt between steps so he would not slip. The First Officer stopped when he got to the access point for their level. Johnathan and Rose both stopped. Moving off of the ladder the First Officer accessed the panel that would unlock the elevator doors. He pried the door open and as he stepped through the door he hoisted his rifle up. Once he was out of sight Johnathan climbed down the ladder and then slowly moved off the ladder and onto small platform at the doorway.

  “Look out!” Rose’s voice called from behind and he felt her hand violently shove him forward.

  As Johnathan stumbled and turned to look behind him he saw Rose stuck by something that looked like one of the aliens. She fell off the platform and down into the darkness of the elevator shaft.

  “Rose!” Johnathan bellowed out in a panic.

  He hurriedly moved back onto the platform and looked down the elevator shaft. She must have fallen all the way down as he could not see her at all.

  As Johnathan started to climb off the platform onto the ladder a firm hand grabbed his shoulder and said, “Stop.”

  Anger flushed throughout him as Johnathan turned back to see that the First Officer had grabbed him and was trying to pull him back onto the platform.

  “I’m going after her.” Johnathan told the First Officer as firmly as he could.

  “No you aren’t. We’ve got to complete the mission.”

  “I don’t care.” Johnathan retorted loudly.

  “What would she want you to do?”

  Johnathan paused. At that point he realized that the First Officer was right. Rose would insist that he complete the mission above all. He felt his heart breaking. It was wrong to abandon her like this but if they did not stop these aliens it would not matter if she died since they all would be dead. He looked back down the shaft again. This was not how he expected things to go.

  Pulling again on his shoulder the First Officer said, “Let’s go.”

  Clenching his jaw Johnathan spun and followed the First Officer who already had his weapon pointed forward. Johnathan took another look back at the open door of the elevator shaft and sighed heavily. He felt absolutely horrible even though he knew what he was doing is what Rose would have wanted him to do. Turning back again he followed the First Officer. Until this exact point he had not realized how much Rose had wiggled her way into his being. The more he thought about it the more upset he got. Without her he honestly questioned if living was even worthwhile.

  Almost as though the First Officer was reading his mind he turned back and said, “Shake out of it John. She knew the risks and you knew them too. I need you focused. You can mourn once we save the damned ship.”

  He was startled by the First Officer’s words and immediately nodded while clenching his jaw. He knew what he had to do, what Rose would want him to do. The First Officer turned again and started again walking towards the room where the fire suppression pump was located.

  “Get back.” The First Officer hissed while roughly shoving Johnathan slightly backwards.

  He looked where the First Officer was looking and he saw five of the aliens milling about. They were standing about a meter away from the door into the room that the fire suppression pump was at. Johnathan frowned. He was not so sure that they could sneak past them.

  The First Officer turned to Johnathan and spoke in a very intense tone, “John I need you to stand over by that corner and wait. I’m going to draw these aliens away from the door so you can get in there. Once you get in lock the door behind you and accomplish the mission. No matter what happens to me finish the mission.”

  “Well I...”

  “FINISH THE MISSION!” The First Officer said firmly as he stood up.

  Johnathan stood up and moved to stand behind a corner.

  “HEY!” The First Officer bellowed loudly before shooting his weapon.

  He turned and started running as he yelled out behind himself, “Catch me if you can you ugly bastards!”

  Johnathan waited a few moments and watched as the First Officer fired a few more shots before turning a corner. The five aliens, who were moving much faster than the First Officer, raced past Johnathan and soon were almost out of sight. Johnathan spun around the corner and ran to the door. He punched the controls with his free hand and the door opened. As he stepped in he took his extra skate into his right hand and readied himself. There was no one in the room. After he walked into the room he spun and locked the door behind him. The fire suppression pump was in the far corner of the room. This room was a maintenance room with several control emergency systems. Johnathan walked up to the pump and activated the main controls. He had to guess the acidity of the lemonade, giving himself a little more pH to make sure it was strong enough, and then he activated it. First he had to purge the foam that was currently in the system before the acidic water would start to be utilized. Foam began to spray all around him. Johnathan grinned as the foam ended and then what seemed like normal water began to spew out of the emergency fire suppression system. He opened his mouth and tasted it. It was acidic to the taste. Johnathan did it and hopefully it worked. There was a loud pounding on the door. Johnathan prepared his air skates as he went to open it. As it opened a very battered looking First Officer staggered into his arms. Johnathan dropped his skates.

  “You did it.” The First Officer said, his voice a little weak.

  He had several cuts and bruises from a fight.

  “Halfway through fighting those ugly things the foam began to spray. It distracted them long enough for me to kill one more. As the last two refocused on me the water sprayed on them and they fell to the ground twitching.”

  Johnathan helped the First Officer re-balance himself as he asked, “Are you going to be okay?”

  Shifting his shoulders to stand upright the First Officer answered, “Of course.”

  Remembering about Rose Johnathan said nervously, “Rose. I have to go and find her.”

  Johnathan took off running. He passed the dead bodies of the aliens who had chased the First Officer. The floor was slick with foam and acidic water so he could not run as fast as he wanted to. As he got to the elevator shaft the water from the emergency system stopped spraying the hallways of the eco-ship. Johnathan stepped onto the platform and worked his way to the elevator ladder. Slowly, while looking down to find Rose, he climbed down the ladder. Eventually he was able to spot the bottom of the shaft and he saw her. She was laying slightly awkwardly with her legs twisted askew. The alien that knocked her off the platform was lying nearby dead. He jumped once he was down far enough to make it safely and scurried over to her.

  “Rose!” He called out.

  Kneeling down next to her he reached out with his hands and softly stroked her cheeks. She was soaking wet from the foam and water. Her chest slightly rose from breathing.

  “Rose!” He yelled out again.

  Johnathan was excited because she was still alive. Her eyes flickered open.

  “John... you did it.” She stated in a very weak tone.

  Running his right hand through her damp hair he replied, “Yes. We did it. I need to get you some help.”

  “I can’t feel my legs.”

  Johnathan frowned as he brought his left hand up to use his watch for help. It was ruined from th
e water and Johnathan opening it to use it is as tool. He glanced around nervously to try and find something to contact people for help.

  “Use my watch.” She told him.

  Bending over he activated her watch, which immediately lit up, and pushed the screen to send out an emergency request to her location.

  He turned back and brought his hand up to her cheek before saying, “I thought I was going to have to live without you and that thought made me want to end it all.”

  “I’m tougher than that.” She said with a weak chuckle.

  Johnathan laughed as he bent over to give her a soft kiss.

  Chapter 15

  Johnathan casually strolled down the hallway heading away from the lower hangar bay. He had spent the whole day working with the engineers fixing hangar bay door. The door was one of the highest priorities in their repairs. They would have to spend months repairing everything that was damaged in the fight. Overall almost every system in the eco-ship was damaged. Johnathan glanced over at Mark, who was wheeling close behind up. He was quite relieved to see that Mark was safe the whole time. The only good thing to come from this whole thing was the technology of these aliens. They were able to capture five of the alien ships and they had barely just begun to start to examine what was there. Getting them into the hangar bays was a challenge but they had to do it in order to seal all of the bays, the one of many priorities. Johnathan stepped into the now working elevator. Fixing the basic systems was the first priority. It had been two weeks since the attack and that was how long it took for them to fix enough to get the basics running on the eco-ship once again.

  As the elevator doors closed the speaker crackled on with Rose’s voice, “All personnel report to the auditorium. No exceptions.”

  The speaker clicked off. Johnathan thought that it was unusual for Rose to call for everyone all at once. Usually she would send out important messages via the eco-ship’s speakers or through the chain of command. He reached out and changed the command for the elevator so it would take him to the main level of the eco-ship.

  “I wonder what that is all about.” Mark commented.

  “No idea.”

  “Johnathan I was examining the information that came from the scans of the alien vessels and I have a lot of valuable information to share.”

  “Probably once we fix up the ‘Skybound’ we’ll go over all that.”

  “I know but there was one thing I wanted to talk with you about.”

  Puzzled Johnathan turned to look at Mark before asking, “What’s that?”

  “I reviewed the cybernetics of the aliens and I believe that it would be possible to make me a cybernetic body with full function.”

  Johnathan rubbed his chin. It sounded like something that would be possible and very helpful as it would allow Mark to do more than just run computers. Ideas of how to make it happen began to whip through Johnathan’s head.

  “It sounds like a viable idea. We’ll have to fix the ‘Skybound’ first but once we do we can definitely look into it.”

  “I’ve already put together some preliminary schematics but they will need your magic touch.”

  “Okay. I’ll look at them later.”

  The elevator stopped and the door opened. Johnathan stepped out with Mark following closely behind him. They headed towards the auditorium doors, which were packed with a long line of people entering. Johnathan strolled up and stood in line to wait his turn to enter. Once he passed through the doors he moved over to a corner to stand around waiting. He could see Rose and the command team standing on the main stage. Rose still had mechanized braces attached to her legs and as she moved she was quite awkward. She also had a cane that helped her. The doctors told them that while she got feeling back it could be a long time or maybe not even at all before she regained full movement of her legs. She had a partial severing of her spine and the doctors were not sure if the nanotechnology would fully heal her since her injuries were not something that they had ever seen. Johnathan glanced around and taking a rough guess he believed that everyone was there.

  Rose tapped on her watch and started to speak, “Everyone please have a seat.”

  The subtle noise of the conversation of the large crowd ended and most of them sat down. Johnathan had been on his rear or knees all day so he decided to stand.

  Mark said, “I wonder what’s going on.”

  “No idea.” Johnathan said with a shrug.

  Once it was completely silent Rose spoke through the microphone on her watch, “Thank you all for coming. It’s been a rough few weeks for all of us and now that we’ve got the ‘Skybound’ operational we need to take some time to deal with the attack.”

  She paused for a moment and a serious look crossed her face before she continued, “We lost close to six hundred people defending ourselves from these aliens. All we have learned so far is that they were scavengers seeking to attack and steal from everyone that they encounter. We do know that the system we are heading to have other sentient lifeforms, including more of these aliens and others, and that they are at war with each other. That’s all we know so far and hopefully we will learn more. Right now I would like to take a moment of silence to think of those who we lost.”

  As she finished talking she glanced downward. Johnathan stood there quietly. The whole auditorium was completely silent.

  Rose then looked back up and her facial expression shifted from solemn to even-keel as she started to speak, “It’s time that we honor not only those who died but those responsible for our survival. Many of our fellow crewmen showed honor, courage, and valor defending the ‘Skybound’ and her denizens.”

  She then called up about thirty members of the security and bridge crews. Johnathan recognized many of them, including both the Environmental Officer, Lead Engineer, and the Lead Navigator. They were all lined up in front of the stage in rows of five.

  Rose worked her way down off the stage and in front of the group. Next to her was another officer who Johnathan did not recognize. He was holding a large open box.

  The First Officer’s voice kicked out over the loudspeaker, “For extraordinary acts of valor while under direct enemy fire during defensive operations against a superior hostile force assaulting the U.S.S. Skybound. Each of these crew members distinguished themselves by their heroic actions while serving on the U.S.S. Skybound on 16 June 2291. That day the U.S.S. Skybound was assaulted on multiple fronts by an alien force that boarded the eco-ship and assaulted the crew. With total disregard for their own safety and braving intense enemy fire these crewmen fought off the enemy boarding crew until which time they were defeated. Their valorous actions stopped the enemy assault, reducing casualties, and saved lives. Their bravery and professionalism is in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflects great credit upon themselves, the U.S.S. Skybound and the all of humankind.”

  Rose slowly moved from person to person pinning some kind of medal on their chest. It was a bronze star attached to a red ribbon that had a blue and white stripe on the middle of it. Centerd on the white stripe was a tiny brass ‘V’. After some time she worked her way through the entire group pinning a medal on the chest of each one of them and then shaking their hand.

  Once she finished she spoke again, “I apologize for doing that as a group as we have much to talk about and still have a lot of work left to fix the ‘Skybound’.

  She attempted to hobble her way back onto the stage and after a few moments the First Officer and the Lead Navigator helped her back onto the stage. She turned to them and said something that was not transmitted over the speaker.

  She stepped back to the front of the stage and then said, “First Officer Thomasson step forward.”

  The First Officer stepped forward with his chest puffed out.

  As Rose started to speak Mark asked, “Do you think Rosemary would have a problem with us making me a cybernetic body?”

  “Well honestly I don’t think she will, especially after she had announced your exist
ence to the crew. I guess since we knew aliens existed knowing about a sentient computer was a step backwards.”

  Mark chuckled at Johnathan’s response. Johnathan turned back to see Rose pinning a golden cross medal with an eagle on the front of it and a dark blue ribbon on the First Officer’s chest. He really should have paid more attention to the military affairs portion of his education. Rose tapped at her watch and a large screen lowered from the top of the ceiling.

  “The valor displayed by these men we have honored cannot be downplayed but there were others who played a significant role in the success of the repulsion of the aliens. One such person is no longer with us. He gave all in defense of the ‘Skybound’.”

  She turned and gestured towards the video screen that lowered down. A video started and Johnathan recognized the video was from a security camera pointing down at one of the many hallways of the ‘Skybound’. He had no idea which hallway it was since so many of them looked the same. The video played for a few moments before a group of aliens came into view. They were slowly moving down the hallway. Suddenly a loud yell from off the camera boomed through the speakers. A blonde haired man wielding a sword, who Johnathan immediately recognized as Jans, came into view and attacked the aliens. They attempted to fend him off but were unsuccessful as he plowed through them swinging his sword. The sword cut through several of them as they tried to dodge Jans’ blows. Eventually they all fell leaving the last one standing who was able to shoot Jans. Just as the alien was about to finish killing Jans, Johnathan came into view with his air skates. He took out the alien and then dropped to his knees try and help Jans. Rose played their entire conversation and then cut the video off right after Jans died.

  Rose stepped forward again and spoke loudly, “Jans Johansson fought with a true warrior’s spirit as he faced the enemy on the battlefield with honor, courage, and no fear. He was felled after taking out twelve aliens and only asked to die with his sword in hand.”

  Johnathan had not noticed it before but when Rose hobbled as she moved a few steps back he saw a large cloth covering what he guessed was a statue. She pulled off the cloth to reveal a memorial with Jans’ sword embedded facing upwards.