Martin and Tony skidded to a stop in the circular control module for section thirty-four. The smoke had cleared enough for them to be able to see clearly, but the heat from nearby fires was very evident. Tony moved to a computer screen and punched in some commands.
"Integrity of the section is falling fast Skipper!" He yelled." Its down to twenty-three percent!"
Martin moved to another console. "I'm reading three breaches in the power coupling! One is...."
The shooting sparks above Tony announced where one of the breaches was as Tony leaped out of the way cussing a blue streak as he slapped at the red hot sparks bouncing off his body. Fuck! Tony cussed loudly." I found one!" He spoke.
"The other two are in the connection corridor!" Martin moved to the hatchway and peered through the door. He saw two large cracks in the connection tube, which had sealed when the next forward section was destroyed.
"Raptor One to Ghost One", Admiral Wallace's voice filled his surgically implanted ear receiver.
"I'm here Admiral!" Martin spoke, his voice carrying to the microscopic microphone implanted in the skin of his jaw.
"Give me a report Marty!" William asked.
"It ain't good sir!" Martin answered. "We have three breaches sir! There are two in the connection tube and one here in the control module that Tony is working to bypass!"
"There are three engineers that should be getting there shortly!" William spoke as Martin turned and saw the two men and single woman come to sliding halts in the control module, their eyes going wide.
"They're here sir! Danny how far away are you with that equipment?" Martin called.
"Were just about there boss! "Danny's voice came back, "Coming around into thirty-four now!"
"Jules you copy?"
"Five by five Skipper!"
"I need you to direct the fire crews to sections thirty-two and thirty-three on the eastern end! They need to get the fires there under control first before the heat begins to melt the insulation on the power conduits!" Martin spoke, his eyes watching as Dan led six others of his SEAL Team into the control module, staggering with engineering equipment.
"I'm on it boss!" Julie answered.
"Admiral how soon before the integrity field goes?" Martin asked.
"Theres not enough time Marty!" William exclaimed. "Get everyone out of there and well shut down the reactor from here!"
"Admiral if you shut down the reactor, all life support to this entire wing of EDEN will stop functioning! Well lose a quarter of the base!" Martin exclaimed.
"It's better than losing the entire base!"William exclaimed." Get your people out of there!"
Martin watched as Dan pulled the arm of one of the engineers." Can you fix the breaches with what we brought?"
"Yes!"
Dan turned to Martin. "We can fix the breaches Skipper!"
Martin looked at the engineer. The man shrugged." I'd rather die trying sir! Theres no way wed make it back before life support quit. Its too far!"
"Ghost One to Raptor One, we are going to try and fix the breaches Admiral! Wed never make it back before life support cut out! We die either way!" Martin said.
"Damn it Marty you and the other genomes can hold your fucking breaths for six minutes! You can make it back!"William snapped.
"Yes sir! But we ain't leaving the engineers here to die alone Admiral!"Martin replied. "They arent genomes and they wouldn't survive".
"Martin I'm giving you a direct order to evacuate that section!" Admiral Wallace bellowed.
"Sorry sir, there must be interference from the blown power couplings! I didn't make that out!" Martins reply was very clear and final," Ghost One out!"
"Fuck!"Wallace screamed.
"He doesn't follow orders very well does he?"The voice spoke from behind them.
Bill turned and saw Senator Graham and his son standing in the doorway of the command center. "One more word out of you senator and I'll vent you out the fucking airlock myself!"Bill growled.
"Admiral I can extend the field of the next sections integrity grid around thirty-fours control module! "The tech spoke excitedly. "It will only be for forty-seven seconds, but it could buy them the time they need!"
William nodded to her quickly. "Do it!" He turned to the CDO. "I want every fire suppression team we have converging on thirty-two and thirty-three yesterday! Re-route the foam lines if you have too, but put those damn fires out!"
Martin and Dan led the two older engineers into the damaged connection tube. The interior of the tube was like stepping into a blizzard as the cold of space was leaking into the tube quickly through the two large cracks. Martin and Dan carried the two pieces of replacement titanium, as they were the ones who would have to hold the hundred and fifty pound slabs of metal in place while the engineers welded them.
"Fuck its freezing in here!" One of the engineers gasped.
"Ignore it!" Martin told him." Once you start welding it will heat up soon enough!"
"Here! Right here," The engineer with Martin barked, pointing to the cracked tube that was venting into the vacuum of space.
Martin lifted the titanium replacement patch and exerting his inhuman strength, pushed the metal over the hissing crack. The engineer with Martin was older and more experienced, and even before Martin had anchored the replacement slab he was igniting the welding torch and burning it into place.
The engineer with Dan was not as experienced, but he had more guts than brains it seemed as he had his torch already ignited before they had gotten to the cracked tube ten meters past where Martin was.
"Right there, "The man echoed his older partner, and he watched as Dan moved the slab into place. Once Dan had anchored the replacement slab he went to work welding.
"No not there", Anja barked to her team. "He's a condition three, he can wait! This one goes to trauma stat! Hes got third degree burns over fifty percent of his body! Which clinic has the burn unit?"
Anja's senior medic looked at her, "Northwest section!"
"How fast can we get him there?"
"We have every transport tube standing by to move the wounded Commander!"
"Anyone with second or third degree burns goes now!" Anja made the decision. "We can support the major traumas but we cant keep the burn victims alive here! We don't have the chambers for them! Move them now!"
"That could very well kill some of them Commander." The medic reminded her.
"They'll die if we keep them here." Anja spoke.
The medic nodded." I'll see to it!"
"And contact the next closest clinic!"Anja called." I want every ounce of pain killer and all healing patches that they have brought here like yesterday! If they give you any grief, tell them I'll have Commander Hunter crack someones head if they don't follow my orders!"
The medic nodded with a smile and turned to follow her orders. Anja blinked, realizing what she had just said about Martin, and once more the vivid memories of the night before with Danny and Julie came rushing back to her. She shook her head to clear the thoughts just as one of her female nurses took her arm.
"They got the feed back Commander!" She said.
Anja looked at her. "What?"
"The Admiral ordered the entire wing evacuated because he was ordering the reactor shut down to avoid an explosion. Commander Hunter and Commander Simpson refused to leave because of three human engineers. They're trying to seal the breaches before the integrity field collapses! The nurse motioned to the monitor, which up until a few minutes ago had been dark. It now showed a live picture of what was happening in the connection tube." Anja could clearly make out Martin and Danny holding the larg pieces of titanium in place while the engineers were using welding torches.
"Martin?"Anja spoke to herself, fear filling her heart." Danny?"
"How are we doing?" Martin called, gritting his teeth through the pain of the sparks and the heat from holding the steel plate. Even with the fire resistant gloves on, the searing heat of the freshly welded steel was causing his gloves to slowly melt.
"Thirty more seconds!" The engineered called, not looking away from his work.
"Dan!"
Danny's face was also clenched as the identical thing was happening to his glove covered hands. "Were working on it! "He yelled back.
Martin turned to look back at the door they had come through." Master Chief what is your status?"
"Just finished bypassing the breach here skipper", Tony answered. "The tech head is welding the bypass now! "
"Got it," The engineer barked, stepping away from the now securely welded patch. Martin stepped back as well, pulling the gloves off his hands quickly and tossing them to the floor. His hands were covered in red welts and blisters and pain shot through them as he tried to bend the fingers. The senior engineer looked at his hands and his eyes widened.
"Oh my god," He muttered.
"Forget it!" Martin barked." Help your man finish welding!"
Done, The younger engineer snapped as he stepped back.
Dan did the same thing as Martin tearing the gloves off to inspect the damage to his hands.
"Admiral what is the status of the integrity field?" Martin asked.
"Its holding Admiral! "The CDO reported with what looked to be a huge sigh on relief. "The field is holding at sixteen percent!"
"Route whatever power we can to boost the field strength!" "William ordered. Bypass through the secondary conduits if you have too!"
"Were on it sir!"
"And get a full damage control team into the area as soon as those damn fires are out!"