Contact by Laura Pickering

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"My god David, what have you done?" Thompson demanded, seeing the crumpled body of Alex Ramirez. The young doctor was lying face down on the floor, the back of his lab coat stained red with blood. The other two covered Mitchell, while Thompson dragged Ramirez a safe distance away to check his wounds. The young man was still alive - barely. The knife had punctured his right lung, his breathing was ragged and strained.

Mitchell merely shrugged. "Just another traitor, Thompson. The council cannot abide traitors, the same will happen to you." Thompson found his crewmate's tone very disconcerting, it was if he believed he was some one-man council executioner.

"Shut up Mitchell!" growled Alonzo.

Mitchell turned his gaze toward the pilot. "I should've finished you off back on G889. But no, I listened to Thompson here. I should've known he'd turn out to be a gutless coward."

"I said, SHUT UP! Get on the goddamn floor now, face down, hands behind your back." Alonzo instructed.

Mitchell ignored the order but instead extended his hands, wrists joined, towards Alonzo in an age old gesture of surrender. Frustrated Alonzo repeated his instructions his finger visably tightening on the trigger of his gun. Mitchell merely smiled. "Why? What are you going to do Fly-boy? You're too late anyway. You missed all the fun!"

"What the hell are you talking about Mitchell? What have you done to her?" He anxiously glanced over to where Julia lay unconscious on the cot.

"Nothing she didn't enjoy, that's for sure," Mitchell sneered. "I can see why you're so keen to get her back Solace. She turned out to be quite..." He smirked. "How shall I put it - 'Enthusiastic'. But then I'm sure you know that already."

It was obvious to Josh, that Mitchell was merely trying to bait the pilot. It was a very transparant ploy, and Heller was certain that Solace saw that too. He was surprised to say the least, when the pilot started to respond to Mitchell's remarks. Alonzo's expression suddenly darkened, his cheeks flamed red. "Solace, NO!" Josh tried to grab the pilot's arm as he leapt forward, his eyes murderous. However it was too late. Alonzo threw a wild punch in Mitchell's direction. Blind fury interfering with the pilot's aim, Mitchell easily avoided the blow. Solace's still healing stomach seared with pain, as Mitchell's own punch connected. The fist splitting the mending flesh once more, fresh blood blossomed, seaping through Alonzo's tightly wound bandages. The immense pain made the pilot's head spin, suddenly a wave of nausea made him fall to his knees. As Alonzo fell, Mitchell brought his right knee up under the other man's chin. With a sickening sound of grinding teeth his body was propelled backwards. Mitchell advanced to finish the pilot off. *A couple of swifts kicks to the head should do it*, he thought. *Or perhaps use the kni...* The soldier's musing were brought short as an arm clamped itself in a death grip around his throat.

"You move, and I swear I'll break your shanking neck!" Joshua Heller snarled, he tightened his hold on the soldier, exerting pressure on his windpipe with one arm, and grabbing a hand full of hair with the other. One sharp twist was all it would take.

"I have absolutely no idea who you are kid, but I assure you that *that* would be a very bad idea." Mitchell drawled. "Now, I suggest that just let me go. I am a member of the Council's military forces, you kill me and you're as good as dead yourself, got it?"

"Yeah, now you get this. I am very slowly going to let go of you, okay? You so much as breath in Solace's direction and Thompson there will shoot you. Isn't that right Leuitenant?" Thompson nodded his head somberly, his expression intense as he trained his gun on Mitchell. "Okay, now I'm letting you go now. Do not move!"

Mitchell was literally bristling with mounting rage, as he felt the boy's grip loosen. He let his left hand fall to his side, fingering the razor sharp hunting knife that was consealed beneath his shirt. As soon as he was clear, he was going to teach them all a lesson on who not to mess with. They are all traitors, the Council would undertstand his actions, maybe even commend him for it. He'll kill them all, get the satelite under some semblance of order once more, and then continue with the mission as planned.

Joshua slowly released his hold, trusting his life to the quick wittedness of Thompson. Mitchell made no move as Heller stepped away, he merely dropped his arms to his sides. The young man was taking no chances though. Re-drawing his gun, he held it by the barrel and cracked Mitchell over the back of the head with the other end. The soldier crumpled to the floor, blacking-out instantly.

"Hey Solace, you okay?" Josh asked as he bent over his sister's unmoving form.

"Yeah I think so, just give me a sec." Alonzo crouched down, a palm placed flat against the floor. A stance he'd used many times to contact the Terrians, was now being used to merely keep his balance. He stayed in that position taking deep even breaths, until the spinning in his head finally ceased. After a couple of minutes he slowly stood, and clutching his stomach, he crossed over to Julia's bedside. "How is she?" an icy chill passed through him as he looked down at his lover. Her face was pale, waxen. Her eyelids had a strange purplish tinge to them, dark circles beneath. Cheeks, cold to the touch. "She isn't...?"

"No. No, she's alive. It looks like Mitchell sedated her again."

Alonzo pushed a few strands of damp hair away from her face. "Julia, baby can you hear me?"

As the pilot silently waited for a response, a strained whisper came from behind him. "She wont..." Solace and Heller turned around, to see Alex Ramirez, now awake, flailing on the cold metal floor. Using Thompson as a support, Dr Ramirez tried to sit up. A wave of pain caused him to lay back down. With a hand gesture he beckoned Thompson nearer.

Thompson acting as interpreter, conveyed Ramirez's fears to the other two men. "Alex says that if Mitchell has sedated Dr Heller again, her system may not be able to take it. She won't wake up again."

"What?! So is he saying she's going to die?" Josh asked, as he used his foot to push Mitchell onto his back. Even when unconscious the sergeant seemed to be grinning, the young man resisted the overwhelming urge to plant a boot in that smug face.

Alonzo shook his head vehemently. "No, Julia'll fight it. She won't let it get the better of her, right baby?" Gentally stroking her cheek with the back of his hand, he wondered perversely, if this was like one of those ancient fairy tales he used to read as a boy. Would one kiss awake the fair maiden, the spell broken by her valiant prince?

Josh shared a pained look with Thompson before he spoke. "Solace we have to get her off the satelite if we're gonna help her." The pilot nodded his head, his eyes still intent on Julia. "Untie her hands. Thompson will you be okay carrying Dr Ramirez?"

"Yeah we'll be fine. What are going to do about Mitchell, we can't just leave him there."

"That's exactly what I'm gonna do. We haven't got time to do otherwise. Julia needs immediate medical attention, we have to get her to the shuttle asap."

Joshua Heller acted as lookout just in case any more council members showed up, while Solace finished untying Julia's restraints. He carefully picked her up, cradeling her in his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. Ramirez, using Thompson as a support was also able to stand and somewhat shakily make his way to the corridor. With Josh in the lead, the small group made their way back to the shuttle bay.

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*What in god's name is taking Mitchell so long?* Reilly paced the small comms room, anxiously glancing at his chronometer every now and then.

After five more minutes, he couldn't wait any longer, he had to know what was going on. "Eve, give me the exact location of Sergeant Mitchell."

A few seconds pause, and then. "Sergeant Mitchell is presently located in the Medical Bay, Councilman Reilly."

"Medical Bay? What he's doing in there?" Reilly wondered out loud.

"Unknown. Would you like to view the Medical Bay SurvCam?"

"Yes, yes. Hurry." Was the impatient reply. In the top right hand corner of the view screen, a small projection appeared, it was so small in fact that Reilly had to squint to make it out. He saw the body of Mitchell sprawled out on his back, the thing that he found most annoying however, was that Dr Heller was missing from her bed. "GODDAMMIT! I ask him to do one simple thing, and what happens... Heller was my ticket off this hell-hole. Well, you know what they say - If you want something doing right, do it yourself."

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Despite the fact that she didn't weigh much, Alonzo was finding it very difficult to carry Julia. His stomach muscles strained with the effort, which caused the firey pain to increase to a nauseous level.

As he glanced around at the others behind him, Joshua noted the pilot's discomfort. "Hey Solace, you feeling alright? I can carry her the rest of the way, I don't think we're gonna see anymore trouble now."

"No, really I'm fine. You carry on." He was loathe to admit he couldn't handle it, plus there was no way in hell he was going to give her up again, to *anyone*. With a quiet grunt, he shifted her weight in his arms. Trying to find the most comfortable position for both of them. He continued on, Julia held in a type of fireman's lift, her head hanging over his shoulder. It was at that point that he noticed something else. He shifted her position again, so that he could see her face. Saying a silent prayer, he tilted his head forward to meet hers, his ear inches away from her mouth. *Oh my god, no!* "JOSH!" he screamed. The other man abruptly stopped to face him, his gaze questioning. "Josh, she's not breathing!"

"What?!"

"Julia's not breathing. She's not breathing" he repeated, his voice clouded with panic, as he gentally laid her on the floor of the corridor. "Do something!"

The young man ran to his sister's side, and placed two fingers against her neck. "She's still got a very faint pulse. Must have only just happened."

"What must have only just happened?" Alonzo demanded.

"Solace, just calm down alright." He waved anxiously to Thompson and Ramirez, who were making slow progress behind them. "She's had a system failure, the sedatives that they kept giving her slowly wore her system down to the point of collapse. Now we have to get her breathing again, and stabilise her enough to get her to the shuttle."

"What difference will getting her to the shuttle make now. It'll take us three days to get back to G889, by then it will be too late."

"No, you don't understand. That shuttle the colony ship brought with it is state of the art. It has full medical facilities, medi-scanner, the lot. If we can just get her to the shuttle, the med equipment in there should be able to stabilise enough for the trip home."

"Then what are we waiting for, come-on." Solace made a grab for Julia, but Josh laid a hand on his arm stopping him.

"Wait, she isn't breathing. We have to get her breathing again first, or she won't even make it to the shuttle."

Thompson and Ramirez finally reached the other three. With a grimace Ramirez lowered himself down, to kneel at Julia's side. "Thompson, pass me my bag." the doctor instructed in a strained tone.

Alonzo looked on apprehensively as Ramirez dug through the content of his bag. Finally the young man found what he was looking for. An empty derm-app, and a vial full of pinkish looking liquid. "What is that?"

The doctor looked up at the pilot, his face a picture of reassurance. "Its called Adrenomine. Once injected it will instantaneously give her heart a boost, the effects won't last long though, we'll have to get her to that shuttle straight away." He leaned forward to apply the solution, but Alonzo held him back.

"Hold on." After taking a deep breath, Solace picked Julia back up. As she cradled in his arms, he nodded to Ramirez to do it now. Ramirez stepped back when he'd made the injection, he was just about to warn the pilot that her reaction to the solution maybe quite scary, when Julia bucked in Alonzo's arms. She took a deep heaving breath, and her eyes flew open. Alonzo's own heart skipped a beat, as Julia's unblinking ice blue eyes seemed to stare straight through him. "Doc, is she supposed to do that?" he asked worriedly, as she continued to noisily gulp in air.

"Yes, its alright. She'll calm down in a moment. I suggest that you get her to the shuttle right now though."

Alonzo nodded, and ran as fast as his injured body and awkward hold on Julia would allow. Josh and the others not far behind.

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Reilly hurriedly punched in the last command, and slammed the lid shut. He smiled proudly as the satelite computer responded to his instructions. The yellow alert klaxon ceased, to be replaced by another.

One by one the overhead lighting panels died, the ominous red glow of the auxiliaries taking over. Computer screens blinking out, as they lost power.

Grabbing his coat, and a few personal belonging and shoving them into a holdal, Councilman Reilly ran, full speed to the cargo bay.

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Thompson watched as Alonzo disappeared into the Shuttle bay, Josh hot on his heels. He hoped to god they weren't too late. He didn't know what he'd do if Dr Heller died, he realised with dread that he was also in part responsible for her condition.

Ramirez grunted and groaned with effort at Thompson's side, the young doctor's arm draped over the Leuitenant's shoulder, as they too made their way to the shuttle.

Both men stopped dead, as the overhead lights failed.

"What the...?!" Thompson glanced at Ramirez.

The young man, his face bathed in a dark red glow, seems just as puzzled. "That's the emergency lighting. Why's that come on like that?"

Thompson shrugged, then looked up at the ceiling, his eyes searching. His eyes flashed in consternation as his gaze locked on a corner of the long corridor.

"What's the matter?"

Holding up a hand to silence the younger man, Thompson whispered. "Listen."

Ramirez did as he was asked, but all he could hear was a monotonous drone, of the kind he had been hearing for the past hour. "You mean the klaxon?" Thomspon nodded. "So, its been doing that for hours."

"No. No, its changed. Oh shit, listen."

Ramirez tilted his head to the side, and listened once more. Thompson was right, the klaxon had changed. The doctor suddenly pushed himself back into motion, in a sudden hast to reach the shuttle, as the klaxon continued to announce its distress.

."..Attention Emergency. The auto-destruct sequence has been initiated. The installation will self destruct in T-Minus 8 minutes 57 seconds..."

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