Free Ep.#6 - "Head of the Dragon" (The Frontiers Saga) by Ryk Brown

way. He made his way aft toward the main windows, peering down into the hangar bay. Major Prechitt moved from the center of the room aft to join him.
    “Captain,” Major Prechitt greeted.
    “Major Prechitt. You know, I’ve never been in here,” Nathan admitted. Nathan felt a little odd about that fact, but then again, flight operations was not run by the captain of the ship. That was the CAG’s domain. Nathan made a mental note to himself that, at some point, he should try to familiarize himself with every compartment on his ship.
    “What brings you to flight ops, sir?” Major Prechitt inquired.
    “Same as most of them I imagine,” Nathan said, pointing to the numerous technicians and junior officers who were standing around trying to look like they were there for a reason. “I’ve never seen an open deck before.”
    “Apparently, none of us has,” Major Prechitt stated.
    “How long until you begin?” Nathan asked.
    “We just finished depressurizing all bays. It took a while for us to override the safeties in order to begin depress while the doors were open between the main hangar bay and the fighter alleys, but with the help of Lieutenant Commander Kamenetskiy, we were able to manage. Now we’re just waiting for clearance from the deck chief.”
    “Senior Chief Taggart?” Nathan asked.
    “Yes, sir. Since the fighter alleys were not designed to run open to space, he’s got teams locking down all the hatches that lead into the fighter alleys and painting them red to make sure no one accidentally pops open a hatch that leads to a vacuum.”
    “How are people going to get in and out of the alleys?”
    “Through the tool rooms at the aft end of the alleys, sir. The Senior Chief has turned them into airlocks using breaching boxes. They’ll serve as changing rooms for the deck crews as well.”
    “Makes sense,” Nathan admitted, “but that’s a long haul for someone to make in an emergency, especially if they’re at the forward end of the bay.”
    “We’ll have another breach box airlock forward, sir. We’re also going to bring up a few passenger pods from Corinair to put along the sides of the hangars to be used as emergency pressure shelters. That way, unless someone has a complete visor breach, they should be able to make it to an airlock before they lose all breathable air from their suit.”
    “Good idea,” Nathan agreed.
    “Chief of the Deck reports all pressure doors are sealed and ready. Deck crews are suited up and standing by,” Lieutenant Commander Iverson reported.
    “Very well,” Major Prechitt stated. “Notify the bridge that we’re opening the deck, and stand by to open all inner doors.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    A moment later, Naralena’s voice came across the ship-wide address system. “ Attention all hands. Stand by to open the flight deck. Repeat, stand by to open the flight deck. ”
    “Sound the warning,” Major Prechitt ordered.
    Nathan could hear the warning klaxons in the corridors. He knew they were sounding inside the hangars as well, but no one would hear them as all the bays were now in a vacuum.
    “Open inner doors for transfer airlocks one, two, and three,” Major Prechitt ordered.
    Nathan watched as all three of the inner doors began to rise. Normally, they would rise just enough to allow whatever ship was in the bay to pass under them. This was actually the first time he had seen them lift all the way up.
    “Inner doors up and secured, sir,” Lieutenant Commander Iverson reported.
    “Very well, open all outer doors.”
    “Opening outer doors.”
    The Aurora’s current course and attitude had her back to the Darvano system’s sun as they made their way toward Corinair. As the three massive outer doors rose, light from the Darvano sun came spilling into the main hangar deck, casting a pattern of light and shadow that the deck had previously never seen. It then occurred to Nathan that, although the main drive section blocked most of the direct sunlight from