"It is like the shock welded the material into her skull..." said doctor, with weird tools in his hand, examining Nuan's head from a thousand different directions. I was in the corner, sweating as if my own life was in danger.
"Come on, Kagan." Mei was holding my arm. "You are overthinking, just come outside and get some fresh air."
Mei too knew the medical bay had better air than any other deck, but she didn't want me to stress too much because of Nuan. She was gently trying to pull me outside the mini-hospital.
"Just come on, argh!" she said. "Modern medicine is better than you think, she will recover in no time I'm sure!"
This time, she pulled me hard, got behind me and started pushing me outside.
"You wouldn't be half as worried if I was lying there!" she said.
"What!? Why did you-"
"Just shut up!" she said. By then, we were far away from the medical bay already. She stopped trying to push me around.
"Okay, that's better. Regular people don't just hang around in operation rooms, you know. The only reason he didn't kick your butt is that you happen to be a president." Mei said.
"Alright, okay, give me a break... I was just worried." I said.
"Worry about something else." Mei pouted.
Tachibana's help came in just the right time.
"Commander..."
"Admiral? Any progress?"
"Yes, commander." he said. "We reached the data banks. I mean... at least most of them. We are dismounting and preparing for transport to Lodos."
"Anything we need to do?" I asked.
"Just open the hangar bay doors when we arrive, that's all." he said. "Those data banks might be just a bit too big to fit through crew airlocks."
"Got it. Carry on, Admiral."
"Yes, sir."
"Ugh." said Mei.
"What?"
"It feels so weird." she said. "You know how it was the other way around, you would call Tachibana 'sir'. Things turned around and now you are his superior, it just feels weird after serving together for so many years."
"You forgot something." I said. She got a bit angry.
"It just feels weird after serving together for so many years, SIR."
"That's better." I laughed. "And, it is not my fault he got stuck in his rank."
"Yeah, I know." Mei said.
"If he didn't go missing or disobey some orders every few months, he could be the grand admiral by now." I said.
"To be honest, I bet he likes it more this way." Mei said.
"Anyway, let's not keep them waiting." I said. "Once they arrive, they will want the hangar bay open."
Mei and I walked together to the bridge. I walked to sit on the command chair, but Mei ran and reached it before me.
"My god, Kagan, let me fly my ship!"
"Fine, have your ship." I sighed.
"Wait." she whispered.
"What?"
"I see something on the sensors." she said.
"Of course, there should be thousands of fragments around the debris field." I said.
"No." she said. "In the distance, an active spaceship."
"What!?"
"The hostile ships are searching the area." she said. "They are actively scanning all around Ceres."
"Damn it!" I said. "For how long can we stay hidden in the debris field?"
"I don't know, but not for long." she said. "We might even have been found already."
"Just do your best to keep our visibility low." I said. "I knew this was going to happen eventually, but not this early..."
"We are running as silently as we can." Mei said.
"Anything going on down at the surface?" I asked.
"On Ceres?" Mei asked. "I can't see much, but I think not."
"Where is our spacewalk team?" I asked.
"They just left a large debris chunk. They are flying towards us."
"Open the hangar bay, tell them to be quick." I said.
"Opening the hangar bay could give our position away pretty easily." Mei said.
"How?"
"Larger cross-section, moving parts generating heat and mechanical vibrations, electric field caused by the servos and motors, changing signal deflection ang-"
"Okay, okay, I get it." I said. "Tachibana!"
"Sir?"
"Can't you make it through the regular crew airlocks? Not even a slight chance?"
"I mean... We can try." he said.
The spacewalk team changed their course towards the airlock.
Just at that moment, Lodos' alarms started wailing.
"Incoming missile!" said Mei.
"Damn it!"
"Oh my gods!" Frans screamed.
"Too late, brace for impact!" Mei said. I crouched and protected my head.
Nothing happened for the next 10 seconds, then I heard some small pieces hitting Lodos' hull softly.
"We are not hit." said Mei. "The missile hit something in the debris field and was destroyed before it reached us."
"Wait!" I said. "Stay put."
"They will come to kill us for good." Mei said.
"Wait." I repeated. "Maybe they didn't see us, but they are trying to make sure there is no one left hiding in the debris fields."
"Do you think so?" she asked.
"Yes, so if we are not seen, let's not show ourselv-"
"Incoming missile!" Mei yelled again.
"Okay, nevermind, they must have seen us." I said.
Just at that moment, Mei launched a flak missile to destroy the incoming missile. It was a successful attempt.
"Missile destroyed."
"Distance to closest enemy vessel?" I asked.
"230 kilometers, approach speed positive 52 meters per second as of now. They are the ones launching the missiles."
"We are still far enough to make a run for it." I said. "Turn the ship, we are going, now."
"The spacewalk team-" Mei was worried.
"Tachibana, tell your crew to hold on to Lodos' hull. We need to depart immediately!" I said.
"Say WHAT!?" Tachibana yelled. Knowing how calm a person he usually is, hearing his voice like that was the perfect indication of the craziness of my plan.
"Mei, main engines! Go, go, go!"
Mei unwillingly activated Lodos' main engines to full power. Tachibana's spacewalk team quickly grabbed whatever protrusion they could find on the spaceship's thin armor without damaging their suits. Some people managed to put themselves into the cavities between damaged pieces of the armor plating. Everyone quickly grabbed the tethers on their space suits and attached themselves to the ship.
With people holding onto it and fighting against ~2,5G of acceleration, Lodos penetrated the debris field and started running away from the enemy. It was a much more comfortable ride for us who were sitting inside, but not so much for those outside.
Tachibana and his team survived the debris rain on them, and managed to attach the data banks they salvaged to a safe spot on the outer hull, where they wouldn't float away into space when we maneuvered.
"It got out!" we heard a cry from one of the crew members. His tethers had escaped the spot he had attached himself to. His arms could no longer carry 2,5 times the weight of his own body, so he let go of Lodos unwillingly. Mei, without thinking, jettisoned two packs of survival kits for him, but we had to leave him there. If we slowed down for him to catch up, the enemy would catch up with us too.
"May space have mercy on you, comrade." I said.
"So, you know how sea is the common enemy of all sailors?" Mei said. "I think it should apply to space as well."
"People!" Tachibana shouted. "Carefully climb up or down to make your way to the crew airlock!"
The remainder of the crew slowly and carefully tried to 'wall climb' towards the airlock; in this situation, 'up' was the ship's bow, 'down' was the ship's rear, and gravity was 2,5 times that of Earth's. Needless to say, it required very strong muscles. However, by using two tethers in alternating order as they moved, they could ensure they wouldn't 'fall down' while climbing.
As the crew got into the airlock, to safety, another problem arose.
"The enemy is launching a swarm!"