So, finally, as the arrival of new drones began to peter out and he saw some of those already there start to look antsy about leaving, Major Brinks opened his mouth to give the order.

CHAPTER 23

ARCHANGEL LEAD SLID to a controlled stop only a few meters from the rear bulkhead, its reverse jets flaring brightly as Stephanos stepped on them in order to kill his inertia. Without the dedicated fighter traps used on the lower deck, landing the Archangels on the Odyssey required a great deal more skill than normal.

Even so, he stopped with a comfortable, though narrow, window and leaned his helmeted head back against the seat as one of the trundling loaders made its way out to him.

The entire flight operations staff was scuttling over the deck in their hard suits, working feverishly through the vacuum of the flight deck, and he could see that the large equipment elevators were moving nonstop as they transported men and equipment to the lower deck.

The fighter rocked, drawing Steph’s attention as the loader backed into the blunt nose of his fighter and locked into place. Then, with the steady gait of the indefatigable machine, the fighter and its pilot were turned around and guided straight to one of the immense airlocks that transported shuttles to the repair bays above them.

He had to wait for three other Archangels to make the run and watched as they were moved into place beside him. He was itching to be out of his cockpit now that he was back aboard the Odyssey but forced himself to wait until the four fighters were in place and the airlock lift rumbled steadily upward.

From that point, it was only minutes to when his fighter was locked down, his cockpit pressure equalized, and Stephanos popped the seal. He crawled out of the tightly fitted bolster seat and accepted a hand from one of the flight crew as they, in turn, crawled all over his plane with their tools and scanners.

“How’d you do, sir?” one of them asked as Steph’s feet clanged to the bare deck, boots locking him in place.

“Chalk five more up, Ben,” he said, half smiling at the man.

“Yes, sir.” The tech saluted him.

Stephanos moved to the closest call terminal and keyed in a request to speak to the captain.

Weston must have been waiting for the call, because in a few seconds he was looking back through the terminal screen. “Good to have you back, Steph.”

“Good to be aboard, Captain,” Stephanos said tiredly. “How long have we got?”

“That’s the good news,” Weston told him. “The mother ship you took on has apparently decided that it doesn’t want to tangle with the two of us just now. It’s adjusted its orbit to scale outside ours, about two-point-three AU out…It’s not going away, but it’s not coming any closer.”