As suddenly as it had begun, the violent shuddering of the transport stopped, and the tiny ship stabilized, allowing the three passengers to slide to the deck. Stauch looked around
groggily as he got to his feet. Acrid smoke from several small electrical fires filled the interior of the ship as the shrill, blaring of the claxons announced various impending systems shutdowns.
He looked over at his Corporal. "You alright, Broski?"
"No", he tersely replied, fumbling to retrieve an item from his vest.
Stauch withdrew a small medical kit from his pack and moved to the corporal's side. "Here", he said offering the Corporal a battle dressing, "use this. Where are you hit?"
"In my very soul", he proclaimed dramatically, freeing his combat knife from its pocket. "That bastard nuked my canteen cup", he said advancing on Siddons, "and now I'm going to kill him."
Siddons' jaw dropped as he backed away from the crazed commando. "Oh wow, oh geez, oh man, oh wowowowowow....", he stammered.
"Stop Broski", Stauch ordered, placing himself between Siddons and the advancing menace, "that's an order, mister."
"Get bent", Broski barked, attempting to side step the sergeant.
Stauch again intercepted him, trying a different route to reason. "You can't kill him", he said reasonably.
"Why the hell not", Broski demanded, his voice dripping with venom.
"We'd, ah...", Stauch searched desperately for an excuse, "we'd just be tripping over his body."
Broski stopped glaring at Siddons, his gaze now falling on the sergeant, one eyebrow cocked at an impossible angle. "You're kidding, right?"
Sensing the departure of Broski's hostility, Stauch took the advantage to regain control of the situation. "Besides", he remarked meaningfully, "we have other problems, right now, and we could use
his help to put out these fires." Stauch noted that the demolitions man still cowered in the corner, muttering his mantra of stress, and added, "Maybe."
Broski's mood brightened. "You're right, Sarge.", he said agreeably, striding purposefully forward again, "I'll use his body to beat out the flames."
Stauch turned to confront Broski again, but was interrupted by Krashaki's voice. "I hate to spoil your recreational activities, fellas", he said nonchalantly, "but we don't get these flames out
our life support systems will shut down." He looked back at his console. "We've got about forty-five seconds." He turned back to the controls calling over his shoulder, "Oh, and
we've already lost all fusion linked electrical servo control."
