Katashi's first thought when he woke up was Hey! I'm alive! His second thought, as the rest of what'd happened ran through his head again, was But for how long? He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then stopped and stared at his hands. Well, at least I'm not paralyzed anymore. Definitely sitting in the cockpit of the CSV, though, definitely in space near...that huge rock must be Islay, and there's definitely an orange tint to the air in here. So it wasn't just a nightmare... He shook his head to clear it, and instantly decided that was a very bad idea. It simply turned his headache into a pounding nuisance.
"Kat!" Ren cried from behind him, and she threw her arms around him - as much as she could in the confines of the CSV cockpit, anyway, which wasn't much. "You stupid jerk, you had me worried!"
"Heh.." He reached back to try and return the hug, but didn't get far. His left leg refused to push against the foot controls so he could reach behind him. Oh, right... A quick check told him it was heavily bandaged, he was probably dosed up on painkillers, and..."What about you? Your...rib?"
"Still bruised and sore, but I'm fine. The Gaians...that Corsair lied to the pilot we'd talked to last night, she said she had no idea what he was planning, and she fell all over herself apologizing. I passed out, too, but she was calling some medics in to treat your leg and my rib when I did. And you...I..." he heard her take a few deep breaths. "First thing's first. We're low on fuel, practically unarmed, and nobody likes us. What're we going to do?"
Even after all this time, the change in her demeanor still surprises me...she's a different person out here with me than the half-crazed, half-terrified creature she is when we're landed. A flashing light on his console demanded his attention. Focus, Katashi, focus. Those painkillers are dulling your senses and making your mind wander. Or is it the Cardi? Oh, damn...Cardi... He started to shake his head again, then remembered it was a bad idea and sighed instead. "What we always do, my dear: improvise." The flashing light was a message notice, and he pressed it.
The holographic recording flashed to life in front of them - it was that same Gaian pilot, and she spoke in a rapid, hushed voice. "I swear I had NO idea he was going to...it's awful! I'm SOO sorry! I - there's not much I can do, but I tried to patch you two up. I couldn't fix your ship, but I can tell you that my old Spatial I used to fly for survey work is moored to one of the weapons platforms. It's been there for better than a year, but it should still be in decent shape. I couldn't fuel up your ship or fix it at all, he came back to make sure I didn't, so that's probably your only hope. She's barely armed, but her airlock is free access - who would steal her so close to the base, right?" She winked. "Good luck to you both, and I'm sorry...be careful out there." She turned her head offscreen, and quickly pressed a button, ending the message.
The two Kusari were silent for a moment, not quite believing what they'd been told. "Ren?"
"Already on it," she replied, turning the CSV's scanners to the nearby weapons platforms. "What th-there it is! Powered down, that's why I didn't see it before. Fly us up to it, and I'll suit up and see if I can't open that airlock for us." It took Katashi three times longer than usual due to the heavy dose of painkillers, but he finally got the CSV's cargo bay lined up with the Spatial's little airlock. Ren had already unbuckled and climbed over her seat to the tiny cargo access hatch behind her and suited up, sealing the hatch behind her. She keyed up her helmet's comm. "Okay, Kat, go ahead and open the cargo bay."
He fumbled for the button, and hit it. The doors creaked more than usual, but opened. After a few tense moments, Ren's excited voice eruped from the console. "I'm in! Not much room in the interior, but it's sure better than the CSV...and none of the major systems seem to be damaged. It's just been sitting here, drawing just enough power from the weapons platform to remain in standby. She let the atmosphere out, too...just as well, it'd probably be unbreathably stale by now anyway. I'm powering up the reactor and life-support systems right now so we can get some air in this thing. Go on and suit up, everything seems fine in here."
He shut the cargo bay and got some air in there so he could go suit up, not realizing how difficult it was likely to be until he unbuckled and tried to crawl over Ren and his seats to the hatch. Oh boy...this is going to be EXTRA fun. All told, it took Katashi no less than ten minutes and not a few grunts of pain in spite of the medications he was on to squeeze into the cargo bay and don his suit. He checked everything five times, not trusting his dulled senses to get the suit right the first time.
Ren was waiting for him in the Spatial's airlock, which was good because Katashi didn't think he could've taken the suit off by himself if his life had depended on it. "Ren...you're gonna have to fly this thing for now. I don't know what's wrong with me..."
"I do," she quipped. "You're hopped up on a huge dose of Cardi, which you've never had before; you got shot in the leg a few hours ago, and even modern medical technology won't heal it that fast; and you're doped up on painkillers. It's a wonder you're still conscious, Kat."
By the time he realized the inference she'd made, they'd already made their way through the small cabin and onto the equally cramped bridge. There were two seats, and just enough space between them to walk. One console was already configured for piloting, but the other was set to control the wide variety of geological survey equipment onboard. I'll change it later. Wait, I was gonna say something. What was it? "You mean, you've had Cardi before?"
"Only a small dose, not enough to get addicted. I was a kid, okay? Had some friends that were into it...they're in the Golden Chrysanthemums now. Hey!" She reached over, and stopped herself from swatting his hands from the console in front of him. Instead, she gently picked them up and put them in his lap. "I've got this, Kat. Just because I've been your gunner and scanner junkie doesn't mean I don't know how to fly, too. Now take it easy, okay?"
The concern in her voice was enough - he kept his hands in his lap. "Where are we going?"
"First thing we need to do is find a way to get more Cardi before we go into withdrawal...considering the Gaians won't let us land - they like pot better, anyway - and the Mollies don't generally use the stuff, Trafalgar is the closest place we might be able to find some."
"Okay." They started their flight in silence. The Gaians didn't try to stop them, and the nameless Corsair was apparently long gone. Before going into cruise, Ren turned the Spatial's light weapons - half the size of the weapons it would ideally mount - on their CSV. About fifteen seconds later, it was nothing but a rapidly expanding cloud of scrap metal. Without waiting for the explosion to settle, she engaged the cruise engines toward the Dublin jump hole.
