Free Space Corps - Explorer (Book 1) by K. W. Matthews Page A

charge if it looks like we’re going to be hit with a blast.”
    “That will leave us sitting ducks.”
    “At least if one hits, we’ll recover in a few minutes. It’s better than nothing.”
    The pilot, an ensign, turned back to the commander. “Should we prepare to confront the alien ship?”
    “No,” Gibbs said, his stare piercing through the monitor. “Set a course for the Explorer. Do everything you can to avoid the aliens.”
    “Sir, wouldn’t the admiral want—”
    “That was an order, Ensign.” Gibbs tightened his harness. “Besides, if the Explorer couldn’t handle the alien ship, we don’t stand a chance.”
     
    “Sir,” the pilot of the Protector said, “We can get close to the Explorer, but without power, how can we dock with it?”
    Gibbs looked over the crippled Explorer. The alien weapons left definitive marks on the hull. In several places, the weapons hit with such heat as to melt the outer plating of the admiral’s ship.
    “The landing platform,” Gibbs said, “is it damaged?”
    “No sir, but we can’t get close enough to land. It’s not safe.”
    “Can it be done?”
    “I have no doubt that it can, sir, but I don’t feel I can do it safely.”
    Looking around the Protector, Gibbs knew he had only one option. “This is a ten man crew. Communications and the helm are the only vital stations. Everyone else, you’re going to help me board the other ships. The Guardian is smaller and has fewer air reserves. Without life support working, they won’t last long. Find them.”
    The pilot nodded and cautiously moved the Protector toward the Guardian.
    “Tactical, prepare to launch tethers to the Guardian. Helm, I want us to go belly to belly with them.”
    “Will do, Commander, but what’s the plan?”
    “Both ships have an airlock at the bottom to dock with the Explorer. If we tether together, we should be able to create a seal and open both airlocks. Just in case we can’t, everyone needs to make sure their flight suits are sealed and that the airflow works properly.”
    The tactical officer shot his head up. “What about the crew of the Guardian?”
    “Without life support, their suits should have automatically closed. If not, there’s nothing we can do for them.”
    When it flew close enough, the Protector shot out four tethers that stuck to the Guardian.
    “Reel them in,” Gibbs said.
    The ships collided with a dull thud. Every crewman braced for the impact, but it wasn’t enough. Several barely avoided slamming their heads into their consoles.
    Entering the cargo hold of the Protector, Gibbs and his team continued into the airlock. After passing through, they faced the task of forcing the Guardian’s airlock open. With brute force, the men succeeded and opened the hatch.
    The air in the Guardian was stale and tainted with smoke. The team found it difficult to see, but immediately went to work. Half ran back to the engines, and the rest set about checking on the crew.
    “Sir, it’s the capacitors,” said one of the engineers. “The power surge blew them. We have spares for about half of them. The rest we can repair, but it’s going to take a few hours to rebuild them, and even more time to charge them.”
    Lifting Commander Cole from his seat, Gibbs said, “That’s time we don’t have. Each capacitor has a redundant partner, correct?”
    “Yes, but we need both—”
    “No we don’t. The key word is redundant. We only need one in each part for them to work. Replace one from each set with the spares we have. We’ll work on rebuilding the spares later.”
    “And the charging, sir?”
    Gibbs stopped to think for a moment. “Have you ever used jumper cables?”
    Confused, the engineer laughed. “On my car, sure. A space ship is something else entirely.”
    “Yes and no. Tell the others what to do about the capacitors. Then, you and crewman Ellison,” Gibbs motioned to an engineer that looked lost, “go create a makeshift jumper cable. We need to