Carson watched in amazement. Billings was his comrade, and his friend, but he’d never thought of the engineer as a hero before.

You never know what is inside someone until something brings it out…

“No, Lieutenant,” Fritz snapped back. “I’ll go. You two stay out here and reroute the power supply as soon as I get the connection back online.”

“Commander…”

“That’s an order, Lieutenant.” Fritz moved her hand down to close up the front of the rad suit…and then Dauntless gyrated wildly. Showers of sparks rained down from the electrical panels along the wall, and Fritz was thrown across the room.

Carson’s eyes darted up, and he saw a heavy steel support, snapped in half and ready to give way. Then, another explosion ripped through the ship, and shards of shattered metal went flying around the room like shrapnel.

Carson fell hard to the ground, landing on his injured arm. He shouted in pain, but as soon as he looked around the room, he bit back on it. Three of the technicians, at least, were dead, crushed by falling debris. Billings was down, trapped under a girder, but still alive.

“Ooooph…”

Carson heard the moan, and he knew immediately it was Fritz. The engineering chief was struggling to get back to her feet. She had a large bruise across the side of her face, and one eye was rapidly swelling shut. Then he saw it, a shard of metal, maybe forty centimeters in length, protruding from Fritz’s shoulder.

She managed to get back to her feet, though she looked like she would fall any moment. Carson could see now how bad the wound was. Fritz’s uniform was covered in blood.

“Help me…to the hatch, Sam,” she said, clearly struggling with every word.

“Commander, you can’t…”

“No choice, Sam…have to get…reactor back online…”

Carson turned his head, staring at the clear barrier between the engineering space and the reaction chamber. It looked harmless enough, no different than where he was kneeling now. But he knew invisible death waited inside that chamber…radiation a hundred times the lethal level. Even more.

“I’ll go, Commander…”

“No…Sam…it’s too dangerous.”

“You’ll never make it, Commander. I’m the only one who can do it now.”

Fritz stumbled, dropping slowly to her knees.

“No…I can…” She gasped for breath.

“You know there’s no choice, Commander. Give me the rad suit…” Miraculously, the shard of metal hadn’t hit the open rad suit.

Fritz hesitated, but then she nodded slowly. She moved her arm, wincing in pain as she slid out of the suit. Carson reached over, helping her pull the metallic fabric off. He tried to be as gentle as possible, but it tugged against the chunk of steel in her shoulder, and she let out a loud cry.

“I’m sorry, Commander.”

Fritz looked back up at him with teary eyes.

“No, Sam…I’m sorry…”

*   *   *