Chapter 6

<Now how the hell did I manage this?> David wondered as he stared at the seven small electronic components in his hand - components that had come out of his clock radio, but hadn't gone back in. He turned his gaze back to the clock's circuit board. <Now let's see where these things came from.> His train of thought was interrupted as the alarm klaxon began shrieking and a female voice that he thought sounded familiar began speaking over the PA system. "Enemy attack! Repeat, enemy attack! This is not a drill! Scramble orders to all Veritechs! Scramble orders to all Veritechs!" 

David dropped the forgotten components onto his bed and raced for the doorway. While he wasn't yet a Veritech pilot, he was determined to watch the launch proceedures, to see how things were handled on the launch deck. Several pilots raced past him and he followed them, entering an unfamiliar part of the Prometheus. 

David entered an airlock to one of the Prometheus's hangar bays and leaned against the wall, winded. Through the window before him he could see technicians and pilots racing to get Veritechs launched before the enemy got too close to the ship. Massive elevators raised Veritechs two at a time to the launch deck above, and David felt the vibration as Veritechs hurled themselves off of the launch deck, on their way to an uncertain fate. 

He glanced around as he caught his breath. There were several EVA suits hanging by the airlock door, and there was a diagram on one wall. David walked over to it. <Aha! Just what I need - a road map!> He studied the floor plans intently for several seconds, trying to decide where to go in order to get the best view of the battle. He decided to try and get to the Prometheus's bridge section. 

A male voice blared out of the PA system. "Attention all hands, we are now in condition red. All personnel into pressure suits immediately. I repeat, all personnel into pressure suits immediately." The voice cut off with a click.

<Pressure suits?> David wondered. Then he remembered what the vacuum of space did to an unprotected human body. The thought of all his body fluids sublimating while he died of exposure, suffocation, and other hideously slow and painful methods made him shudder. He quickly donned one of the EVA suits that were by the door. It was a bit large, but better than nothing. 

David had just finished climbing a ladder up to deck two when the floor seemed drop out from under him. He fell to his hands and knees and felt the deck shaking violently beneath him. <Must've taken a hit. I wonder how bad?> 

A voice spoke in his ear and he barely managed to suppress a shout. "Attention DC teams! Attention DC teams!" David realized the EVA suit was equipped with a radio. <Interesting...hope they can't hear me.> "Damage to Veritech Hangar 2! DC team five to Veritech Hangar 2 immediately!" 

David sighed and continued on. 

David walked through the open hatch into the Prometheus' bridge tower. People in EVA suits similar to his were racing around in what appeared to be complete chaos. The Prometheus had taken two more hits as he worked his way up here, and now the whole ship was shaking and jumping on a regular basis, to the tune of some insane drummer. The radio in David's helmet crackled with static as damage control teams were dispatched to points throughout the Prometheus. David worked his way around the room, taking care to keep out of the way of the people that were supposed to be there, and settled himself near one of the viewports. He glanced out the port and gasped. 

Space was criss-crossed with hundreds of thin beams of light. Alien energy weapons, Veritech cannon-fire, missiles fired by both sides, and the SDF-1's own anti-aircraft weapons all mixed together into a massive spiderweb of destruction. Glistening pearls of brilliant light pointed out where mecha - both friend and enemy - were dying. A Veritech flew past the Prometheus, trailing a cloud of shrapnel and debris as an alien command pod chased it, firing it's arm cannons repeatedly. Two battle pods closed in on the Prometheus from side. David was about to shout a warning when the two pods erupted into crimson flowers of death, a Veritech passing between them, going the other way. 

David was about to turn away when a volley of blazing bright blue beams lanced out of the depths of space, several of them passing all too close to the supercarrier's bridge tower. Almost immediately the Prometheus was rocked heavily, tossing people in all direction. David felt, rather than heard, the explosions deep within the ship. The radio in David's helmet sputtered for a moment, then burst back to life as damage reports flooded in. Hull breach on deck four. Power generation subsystem damaged, backups barely functioning. Several anti-aircraft batteries knocked out. Casualty reports from throughout the supercarrier. 

David wondered how the Prometheus' bridge crew handled it all. He also wondered how the SDF-1's bridge crew handled it all - all the chaos and such that were inherent with any battle. Another volley of blue death lanced into the SDF-1 and David clung tightly to the wall as the ship bucked heavily. His eyes found their way to the port, and the battle outside the ship. <And to think I volunteered for this!> 

Forward to Chapter 7. 
Back to Chapter 5. 

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