
Subj : New Beginnings(28)
To   : All
From : Skyhawk #1
Date : Tue Aug 08 1995 16:08:02 PST

                             New Beginnings(28)
                             By Daniel C. Harrison(Skyhawk)

     A sudden noise from the ladder caused both of the to turn and, Henry
entered. "Hi, am I interupting anything?"
     Jerry stared at him a moment then shook his head. "No. Not a thing. Take
the co-pilot's seat, I'm still the engineer on this ship."
     Candar lowered her head not saying a word as Henry shrugged and took the
seat. "I set up the networking from my shuttle, and Jerry did his. If this
thing is working right, there should be no trouble." Henry looked up at each of
them. "Sure I didn't interupt something? I can leave if you want." He started
to get up."
     "Sit down." Candar ordered. "We don't have time. We have a lot of work to
do before launch time hits. I want both of you to start checking and rechecking
every damn circuit on this bridge. If even one blows that is critical, we'll
spin off course and that will be the end. As Kevin said, we only get one shot
at this."
     "Right." Jerry said quietly. He reached above his head and started pulling
our manuals. "Okay rookie...here." He threw Henry a large book with technical
diagrams. "There's your schematics for the co-pilot's station. I'll do this
one. Don't skip a single step."
     Henry narrowed his eyes. "Uh..yeah. Been awhile though."
     "Don't screw up." was all Jerry said. He opened his own book and started
pouring through it, comparing it to Kevin's station. Candar opened her own book
and smiled briefly at Henry. "It's ok, you'll do fine."
     Henry grinned and started working. Candar reached up and hit the intercom.
"Dr. Grayson?"
     "Yes Captain?"
     "Will you check on the state of our passengers? And after that, I want you
to stand by in there before we launch. Make sure the systems don't crash."
     "Understood. Captain, Kevin is getting better quicker than I thought. I
should be able to release him tomorrow if were lucky."
     "That's great, Doc..thanks." She turned off the comm. "Good news Jerry."
     Jerry shrugged. "We could use some. Feel like weve been in this deathtrap
for years!" He lowered his head back into the book.
     Candar sighed, pouring over the many schematics. Tracing diagrams, she
pulled off the lower panels to the pilot's station. It would be a long boring
process which none of them would enjoy. But it had to be done....
     
     "All stations secure." Grayson announced. "The systems on the cryo units
are functioning normally. The solar panels were the ticket."
     Candar smiled, remembering the weird configuration she had seen. Jerry had
gone eva under Kevin's instructions and welded a series of panels that had been
meant for colony use on buildings. They had been deployed in a triangle pattern
on the nose of the ship to catch any and all light and transfer that power down
to the main batteries. Doing this, they had augmented the systems and been able
to bring secondary's fully online. Both shuttles had been welded into place and
all that remained was to fire the engines. It had been a tough time with little
sleep.
     "Thanks, Doc. Let me know if there's any changes. We'll be launching in
about twenty minutes." She turned it off and sighed. Her eyes were still bugged
out from pouring over the endless schematics. But,. it had all been worth it.
Jerry had uncovered two minor flaws but, they would have been enough to
possibly alter course. Henry had found one and, she had found three. Her last
one had been a major one affecting thruster control. Their only means of
turning the ship. It had been long but, it was worth it. She hoped.
     "My head is killing me." Henry complained. He massaged the back of his
neck. She looked over at Jerry who was strangely quiet. He hadn't meant to slam
him. But, as Captain she had to make that decision. Jerry may not understand
but, it could mean the difference between life and death. Her own physical
condition worried her. The headaches had stopped but, the numbness continued.
It had been a problem when trying to feel under the control panel to trace
certain connections in the circuit. God, what could she do? If she told
Grayson he would have her down in the infirmary. That would never help. She had
to hold on...just..hold on a bit longer.
     "Five minutes." Henry whispered.
     She turned quickly. Five minutes! But, it had been twenty a few seconds
ago. Had time flown by that quick during her musings? She rechecked her
console. This had to work. It must work! If it didn't everyone would die.
There wouldn't be enough fuel to use to correct it. "Final pre-flight. Recheck
emergency systems." she ordered.
     Jerry grunted and activated his console's self-test. "Engineering ready.
Network is functioning. Secondary systems ok. Mains dead...for obvious
reasons." He turned and gave her a grim smile.
     Candar ignored it. "Pilot station secure. Guidance semi-functional. We'll
have to rely on stored data. Henry?"
     "Co-pilot's station ready. No major flaws. Thruster control and networking
okay."
     Jerry sat up. "Double check that. You can't have no flaws. That station
took a beating."
     "I recircuited the guidance and thruster to correct that. They tie into
the pilot's station and augment it."
     "Bullshit!" Jerry got up. "If the pilot's station goes down, it'll also
take yours with it. We have to have that as an individual unit. What the hell
were you thinking?"
     Jerry, back off!" Candar glared at him. "He wasn't thinking. Can we go
with it?"
     "Yeah...if yours doesn't crash. First chance though, I'm gonna fix
that."     
     "But, the station was useless! Henry shouted. "If we do that, it wont 
work at all. Any fool can see that! It was shot up too much!" He locked eyes
with Jerry and the two glared at each other.
     Candar looked up at the time. "Shit! Prepare to launch! Now!"
     "Damn." Jerry strapped himself in. "Ready."
     Henry locked his harness. "We're a bit off..shit! Adusting for pitch. 
Need a minor boost."
     Candar tapped the thrusters and realigned the Outlander. "Ready. 
Course readjusted, fifteen degrees. Drift corrected. Stand by to fire 
engines.."
     "Ready." Henry answered. His head was sweating and, he gripped the 
controls.
     Candar watched the clock, "Counting down.."six, five, four, three, 
two, one...fire engines!"



