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“Not my problem!” Hunter angled his ship so that the nose pointed threateningly towards the
El Capitan
. “Follow regulations, or be considered a hostile!”

“Wasp three,” Goldie barked into the com, “you’re over-reacting.”

“I’m following regulations,” Hunter replied testily. “We are in an emergency situation—”

“So will we be, if we de-orbit with low fuel!”
the
El Capitan
added.

“Follow regulations—”

“Wasp three, stand down—”

“—or be considered—”

“Dammit!”
Goldie heeled Wasp four over and kicked her thrusters, barreling the squat fighter directly at Wasp three. She heard Hunter’s surprised oath, before he yanked his fighter about and dodged Wasp four, the two of them angling sharply away from the freighter. Before Hunter could say anything more, Goldie keyed her com to Verdant’s frequency. “CnC, Wasp four: I am declaring a FOE, repeat, Frank-Oscar-Edward, request immediate docking assignment for both Wasps!”

“Goldie, are you nuts?” Hunter barked out, but Verdant was already responding.

“Wasp four, CnC: Frank-Oscar-Edward received, you are cleared for immediate docking in slips 128 and 130, confirm.”

“Confirmed,” Goldie replied. “CnC, send a team out to inspect the freighter El Capitan, they suffered some engine damage on orbital insertion. Coordinate inspection maneuver with Captain Toliver.”

“Roger that. Bring ‘em in.”

“Dammit, Goldie, you trying to get us court-martialed?” Hunter snapped.

“Shut up, Hunter,” Goldie told him, “before we get worse than that!”

~

“Miz Luis,” a staffer spoke up. Reya came over to his workstation to see what was going on. “A strange exchange with the Wasps escorting that freighter. Then the pilot of Wasp four declared a FOE.”

“What?” Reya blinked. “What the hell kind of fighter operation emergency could they have?”

“I don’t know, there’s nothing on telemetry. But we have the exchange before the FOE was declared.”

“Let’s hear it.” As the staffer triggered the playback, Reya picked up the workstation’s auxiliary earpiece and listened in. Her brows knitted slightly. Then she took the earpiece out. “If anyone’s looking for me,” she said loud enough for most of the staffers on that side of CnC to hear, “I’ll be in the hangar bays.”

~

The engineer underneath the Wasp rolled out on his backboard, until he could see Goldie standing beside him. Hunter was further away, but he also turned when the engineer rolled out. As he wiped his hands on a rag, he looked at Goldie and said, “The thruster bearings look fine.”

Hunter immediately threw out a hand and pointed threateningly at Goldie. “Don’t do it!”

Goldie ignored him, and said: “Check the linkages, then.”

The engineer looked at her cool expression and said, “Yes, Ma’am,” as Hunter roared in anger. Goldie knew that, as long as the ship was being checked after a FOE declaration, they were both required to stay there until it was done.

Hunter took a step away from the Wasp, then pivoted on the other foot, took another step, and pivoted again, essentially turning on one leg and staying in one spot. “I swear, Goldie, this is going on your record, not mine—”

“You’d better think about what goes on whose records,” Goldie said with an unnerving calm that matched his anger. “And you’d better figure out what you’re gonna tell CnC when Toliver reports in…” She paused, when she noticed who was approaching from the freighter bays. “Actually, maybe you’d better figure out what you’re gonna say to Toliver first.”

Hunter, catching her drift, turned to see Captain Martin Toliver bearing quickly down upon him. Toliver was maybe a hair smaller than Hunter, but similarly built, and judging by the look in his eye, Goldie didn’t think that would be an impediment. Hunter sized him up, too, and altered his stance as the freighter captain approached.

“That’s right,” Toliver bellowed across the bay, not altering his stride. “You know exactly what I’m gonna do!”

“What you
think
you’re gonna do,” Hunter shot back.

“Try and stop me,” Toliver growled.

When the two of them were within reach, Toliver threw a roundhouse right that Hunter easily blocked… leaving him wide open to a left elbow that shot up from the inside and connected to his jaw. Hunter’s head snapped back, and he fell backwards to the deck, landing heavily on his ass.

“Oh,
nice block
, Lieutenant,” Goldie said sarcastically, all the same stepping between Hunter and Toliver. “Okay, neutral corner,” she said to Toliver, as she knelt in front of her wingman. She examined his face, the trickle of blood that was running down from his lip, and confirmed that he was only stunned.

“Whoa, whoa, hold on!”

Goldie turned her head and saw Eo Luis rushing into the bay. She whispered to Hunter, “Okay, now think about what you’re gonna tell Luis. If I were you, I’d try to do it standing up.”

Reya skidded as she came to a stop in front of the freighter captain and her officers. “What the hell do you idiots think this is, kindergarten? Back off, Toliver, before I revoke your license!” As she shouted at Toliver, Goldie helped Hunter to his feet, and the first thing Hunter saw as his eyes refocused, still doubled over, was Reya’s chest pointed at him.

“Hunter!” Reya snapped, and Hunter did his best to lever himself to attention, almost striking Reya’s chin as he did so. Reya leaned back to avoid the collision, then leaned back into him. Hunter was more than a head taller than the relatively petite Eo, but that didn’t prevent Reya from pushing up against him as if she was going to bowl him over by sheer force of will. “You’d better have a damned good explanation for performing like a total asshole on duty!”

“I was following regulations!” Hunter had the presence of mind to say first, allowing Goldie’s hand on his arm to keep him upright. “In the event of discovered damage that may pose a hazard to the satellite, inbound ships must submit to inspection—”

“Excuse me, Lieutenant,” Reya cut him off icily, “but did this man hit you so hard that you
really
think you’re speaking to someone who does not know the regulations on this satellite?” Hunter closed his mouth, and thought of what his next words would be. “You heard the Captain’s explanation, and you knew there was no reason not to allow him the extra three minutes to make his orbital window.”

“With all due respect, I did
not
know that,” Hunter protested. “It was my estimation that the problem was more severe than the Captain believed, and according to regulations, that is my call.”

“The man’s a power-hungry moron.” Captain Toliver, stepped forward to add something, but Reya quickly turned on him.

“Step back, Captain! I saw that punch you threw, and I could have you up on charges for it! In fact, up until now I was prepared to put all the blame on this pilot for following regulations inflexibly. That’s right,” she said before Toliver could interrupt, “because he
was
acting according to regulations.”

She turned and eyed Hunter. “Even if he did so stupidly.” Hunter, wisely, did not reply.

She turned back to Toliver. “So, at this point, I’m going to call it even, and tell you both that if I catch either of you at this behavior again, I’ll throw you both in the brig! Captain: I believe you have some damage to see to.”

Toliver stood a moment longer, glaring at Hunter, then Reya, before turning and walking slowly back to his ship.

Once he was out of earshot, Reya turned back to Hunter and Goldie. In a somewhat softer voice, she said, “Hunter, what’s up your ass? Following orders is one thing, but that was just being obstinate and stupid! Were you going to shoot him if he kept on? Huh?”

“He would have backed down,” Hunter stated.

“Yes, that was the logical thing to do,” Reya said. “So he could go into freefall and make an uncontrolled re-entry, on
no fuel
, into an atmosphere choked with volcanic ash.”

“
My judgment
was that his fuel was about to blow, at which point he and his crew would have been doing freefall
without his ship
.”

Reya glared at Hunter, but she knew she couldn’t challenge his statement short of using a lie detector on him. She also looked at Goldie, who returned her look with one that suggested,
it’s possible
.

At that moment, the engineer rolled out from underneath the Wasp, slowly enough that it was clear he wished he had been somewhere else during the previous exchange. After he regarded the three of them nervously, he said, “Linkages look fine, Lieutenant.”

Reya looked at Goldie, who turned calmly to the engineer and said, “Okay, knock off. Thanks for checking it.” The engineer mumbled a thank-you, scrambled up, and hurried away from the trio.

Reya watched him go, before looking back to Hunter and Goldie. Goldie returned her gaze calmly, while Hunter just concentrated on standing up. “Look guys,” Reya said, “we can’t afford to go off half-cocked right now. We’re all in a crisis situation, up here and down there, and we all have to cut each other some slack. Hunter, you know what the regulations are. You also know when it’s
okay to bend them
. Understand me?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Hunter replied firmly.

“You two are off for the rest of this shift,” Reya said finally. “Report back to duty tomorrow, and don’t let me hear anything like this again. Or you might be asking Toliver for a job. Dismissed.”

Hunter and Goldie turned and headed out of the bays. Reya watched them go a moment, then turned to take a look at Toliver’s ship. She figured she might as well see what Hunter had seen… maybe she would have made the same call. As she walked along, she was suddenly aware of a man who was falling in step with her.

“Fun way to start a morning, huh?”

Reya looked over at Captain Lemuel Carter, and wished she could return his easy smile, but she just wasn’t feeling that pleasant. “Actually, Lem, this is about the last thing I need to be worried about right now.”

“Mm.” Lemuel nodded and continued on with her into the freighter bays. Lemuel was a passenger liner pilot, a regular visitor to Verdant on the regular Global Aerospace commercial run. His ship, the passenger liner
Lincoln,
was due to return to Earth in a few days… or, at least,
was
due to return, before Yellowstone blew. Now, the GA schedules were being re-evaluated, and it was anybody’s guess how long he and his ship might remain on Verdant. Nonetheless, he was in full uniform, as was his custom even on non-flying days, looking characteristically dashing and radiating his usual charm and professionalism. His West Indian complexion actually matched the brown of his uniform, which, for most people, wouldn’t look complementary… but with his tall and broad-shouldered physique, Lemuel made it work.

“My crew has been monitoring ground traffic for the past few days,” Lemuel said as they walked. “Things are getting very tense down there. Atmo sucks for flying, with all that ash. People are losing money. Pilots are actually being pushed to fly in hazardous situations.”

“I’m sure,” Reya said. “But we have problems up here, and getting cut off from our supply lines isn’t helping things.”

“Of course not,” Lemuel agreed. “Just don’t forget, Earth’s got its problems… Verdant’s got its problems… but it’s the transports, and your fighters, caught in the middle.” Reya paused, and looked at Lemuel. “Go easy on ‘em,” he finished.

After a moment, Reya nodded. Then she inclined her head in the general direction of the passenger bays, and the
Lincoln
. “Your boss giving you any grief about being stuck up here?”

“Not yet,” Lemuel replied. “Of course, at the moment none of my scheduled passengers are all that thrilled about leaving…”

“There is that,” Reya smiled ruefully. “Well, as far as I’m concerned, the longer you’re stuck here, the better. Gives the whole place a classier atmosphere.”

“My pleasure,” Lemuel smiled. “Oh, if you get the chance, stop by the
Lincoln
sometime. Got some new gear I want you to see.”

“When I get the chance,” Reya agreed, resuming her walk. “See you.” Lemuel stood and watched her go, until she was past the emergency bulkhead and out of sight, before turning and heading for his own ship.

Reya approached the drydock slip that had been prepared for the
El Capitan
, essentially a giant airlock bay that allowed a ship to enter the satellite’s pressurized atmosphere.
El Capitan
was a medium-sized Clydesdale-class freighter, significantly smaller than some of the bulk cargo ships of the various Cetacean-classes that were forced to dock outside, or to assume parking orbits and have their cargo ferried aboard… but as it was, it barely fit into the largest bays they had. It was mostly a collection of reinforced containers, surrounded by a barely-aerodynamic fuselage, and on two sets of short wing-struts, four heavy-duty engine pods mounted on independently-directed armatures, each of which looked powerful enough to move medium-sized asteroids.

It was the dockmaster’s job to review the situation and okay the airlock entry, so she assumed whatever repairs they needed to do would hopefully be eased by the ability to work in a shirtsleeve environment. It also suggested the damage was not as critical as Hunter thought (or
said
he thought) it was… which was good for the freighter, if not for Hunter’s rep.

At that moment, Reya could see a few engineers examining various parts of the upper bulkheads and gesturing around, though she suspected the engines had not yet cooled enough to get near. Captain Toliver was also there, standing by the main hatch where he could see the cargo bays being unloaded, and using a headset com to confer with the engineers on his freighter’s roof. Already crews were coming out of the bay, driving the loaders that carried the freighter’s cargo. When Reya was close enough to avoid yelling, she asked, “How does it look?”

Captain Toliver turned at the sound of her voice, and once he recognized her, he shrugged. “Not that bad. Could’ve been worse.”

“Could it have looked worse to my pilots?” she asked casually.