In the morning, they hit the ground running. Rick and Max set to work on their fighters; Sammie, Vanessa, Kim, Lisa, and Minmei tackled the space fold problem; and Miriya spent most of the day in her veritech, fetching supplies, helping Rick and Max, translating, and pressing buttons on the command deck.

Minmei specifically wanted to be with the others on the command deck, and Lisa agreed they should stay together as much as possible. Minmei kept an eye out for any opportunity to be useful, but there weren't many, so mostly she stayed quiet and out of the way. She quickly became bored, and hated herself for feeling that way.

Figuring out the controls which operated the fold system was easy. The main problem was the math. Lisa could perform the necessary steps with the help of the RDF computer with which she had been trained, but her knowledge of the actual math – which was deeply complex – was limited. Sammie had some rudimentary knowledge, but not nearly enough to help them. (It was also difficult for Sammie to communicate because her voice was now just a whisper.)

The second problem was translation. Miriya understood enough math to pilot a fighter plane, and she spoke everyday English fluently, but she hit a major obstacle when translating complex mathematical terms and formulae because she knew neither the math to perform a space fold nor the English words to express that math. Lisa had a basic grasp of quantum differential calculus, but had no idea how to explain it to Miriya in English, much less in Zentraedi. But they slogged on diligently, because they had no other choice.

At each meal, Minmei insisted on being the one to prepare and clean up everything. The others gladly let her do it, knowing she needed to feel useful.

During lunch, Minmei asked, "Commander Hayes, do you mind if I keep Rick and Max company for a while?"

"Sure," Lisa said with a smile. She knew perfectly well Minmei was going stir-crazy.

But Minmei quickly learned that spending time with Rick and Max wasn't any better. Their work mostly consisted of calling out a part number, poking it with an electronic gizmo to see if it had power, saying "Yes" or "No," and moving to the next one. And apparently, a veritech had about a billion parts. She spent the afternoon sitting against the wall between the planes, staring at the ceiling. Just as with the other team, they didn't need her help.

At least sitting on the ground was preferable to relying on Miriya to lift her up to the command deck console. Also, Minmei had brought a huge pile of cloth, so she had something comfortable to sit on. Her lyrics and pencil lay beside her, but she was in no mood to write songs at the moment.

Late in the afternoon, a vibration swept through the ship, as if something had struck it with a giant hammer.

Minmei looked up at the pilots, who immediately stopped and looked at her. The expressions on their faces made it clear they had all felt it.

Rick keyed his comm link. "Miriya, did you and the others feel that? Are you okay?"

"Yes, we did, Lieutenant, and yes we are. I'm investigating."

Everyone on the command deck was still recovering from the brief shock. Vanessa had been standing near the edge of the console. If the vibration had been much worse, it might have knocked her off, and it was a long way to the floor. She quickly stepped away from the edge, her heart pounding.

Miriya, in Battloid mode, was bending over the console, rapidly flipping through various systems. Then she said something swift and harsh in Zentraedi.

"Commander Hayes, we are adrift in an asteroid field," Miriya said. "I apologize. I should have scanned surrounding space upon arrival."

"I should have thought of it, too, but I didn't," Lisa said. "Were we hit?"

"Yes, but not too badly. The hull is intact. But we are surrounded by rocks, and they will periodically strike this vessel."

"Can we activate shields?" Lisa asked.

"No. When I destroyed the self-destruct machinery, I destroyed the shield controller, as well."

"Can the computer determine if any more asteroids are going to hit us, and when?" Lisa asked.

"I think so," Miriya said with a sigh. "I'm unfamiliar with such things, but at the very least, I know the computer needs to track the asteroids for a long time to extrapolate their paths."

"Do what you can, and inform Max and Rick," Lisa said.

Kim, Vanessa, and Sammie shared a quick look, for each had noticed it. While Lisa referred to her friends by their first names often enough, there were certain situations in which she absolutely would not do that because her ingrained training subconsciously took over. When she went into full officer mode and asked rapid-fire questions and issued terse commands to dismantle a problem efficiently, first names suddenly disappeared from her speech. This was one such situation, yet she had just referred to the pilots by their first names, instead of saying "Lieutenant Hunter" or "Lieutenant Sterling" as she normally would have. It wasn't a big deal, given their bizarre predicament, but to anyone who knew Lisa as well as the Terrible Trio did, it was noteworthy.

Rick relayed Miriya's discovery to Max and Minmei. Max just said, "Well. More good news."

Back on the command deck, Kim said, "This ship is so huge, it must be pulling asteroids towards us. Which means the hits will become more frequent the longer we're here."

Sammie whispered, "I guess we never truly appreciated the gravity of the sit-"

"Sammie Porter, if you finish that sentence, you will face court-martial upon our return," Lisa said.

Sammie just grinned and rubbed her hands together like an evil genius.

 

Azonia's face burned in a way she never knew possible. Breetai and Khyron, each on a separate monitor, couldn't stop laughing. Even Exedore was shaking his head and smiling.

"I'm telling you, it was a perfectly reasonable assumption!" Azonia shouted. "And I know for a fact that either of you would have done the same!"

"I'm sorry you think so, Azonia," Breetai said with a grin.

Azonia growled. "Remember that these Micronians don't fight like warriors! The little cowards use trickery! And one of them was the sorceress with the bewitching voice!"

"You allowed a handful of Micronians and a traitor to frighten you off your own flagship!" Khryon said, laughing so hard his eyes were watering.

"Not for long," Azonia said through gritted teeth. "I will regain my ship, and they will suffer like no living being has ever suffered before!"

"If you say so, Azonia," Khyron said. "Just make sure you don't abandon any more ships before you do!" He, Breetai, and Exedore exploded with more laughter.

Azonia roared, cut the communication, rounded on her lieutenant, and screamed "Where are they?"

"We have determined thirteen possible destinations," the lieutenant said smoothly. "But within two days, we should be able to narrow that to four or five. Shall I order a battalion to each possible destination immediately?"

"No," Azonia breathed. "When you've narrowed the choices, send a small scout ship to each. They are only to locate those vermin and report back. When they do, I will retake my flagship personally!"

 

As they ate dinner near the end of their first full day on the ship, Minmei had a thought. "We should give this ship a new name."

"Why?" Vanessa asked.

"Yeah," Kim said. "I really have no desire to become emotionally attached to it."

Minmei shrugged. "Because there's no reason not to. And I don't have much else to do."

"What name would befit a stolen Zentraedi battleship?" Max asked.

"Azonia's Humiliation," Miriya said proudly.

"You don't want something a little more beautiful or poetic?" Max asked.

"That is beautiful and poetic," Miriya said.

"The name should be more about us than about our enemy, though," Sammie said.

"So, apparently, we are gonna name it," Vanessa said to no one in particular.

"Zentraedi ships remind me of caterpillars," Minmei said. "But I don't think Caterpillar is a good name."

"Larva," Rick said. Minmei made a face at him.

"I do like how Miriya thinks, though," Kim said. "The name should say something about our achievement."

"Zeta 37," Rick said. Minmei just shook her head at him.

"Well, we achieved quite astonishing things," Lisa said. "Most notably, Miriya's trick to force the Zentraedi to evacuate, and Sammie shouting at Azonia. But most of all, I simply find it astonishing that we little, fragile Micronians boarded a ship of giants and won."

"Like little mice against the lions," Kim said. "Ha ha! 'Hear us roar.'"

Hearing these words, Minmei looked into Sammie's face and inspiration struck. "That's it!" Minmei said. "The perfect name for our ship! The Mouse's Roar!" And she gestured to Sammie.

Everyone laughed good-naturedly. Even Vanessa had to admit that was good.

 

The second day passed much like the first. By now, Minmei had built herself quite a comfortable nest between the two damaged veritechs, and she lounged in it, pretending she was lying on a float in a pool soaking in sunshine. She could hear everything Rick and Max said and did. Sometimes she drifted into slumber but could still hear them, and so dreamed that she had joined the army as a fighter pilot and they were her instructors.

Every now and then, an asteroid bumped the ship. So far, the collisions hadn't hurt anything major, as far as they could tell.

About half an hour after dinner on the second day, Rick and Max started cheering. Minmei wondered why her flight instructors were making so much noise, then groggily rose into waking.

"Miriya, tell everyone the good news!" Rick said. "Max and I have repaired my veritech! And if his plane has the same problem, we won't have to spend days searching for it, and we'll have enough spare circuit boards to make it work!"

Minmei stood and looked up at Skull One. It now hummed slightly, even though what seemed like a quarter of its innards was still arranged neatly on the floor around it. She smiled.

"Hey, Minmei," Max said. "Did you know you snore a lot?"

Minmei stuck her tongue out at him.

Minmei watched, fascinated, as Rick and Max eagerly tackled Max's veritech. As they predicted, his fighter's damaged circuit boards were almost the same as Rick's veritech. Within a couple of hours, it, too, was humming.

"If we were attacked right now, would you really be able to use your fighters?" Minmei asked. "You haven't put them back together, yet."

"Right now, they can't fire thrusters, change out of Guardian mode, or walk," Max said. "But they can turn at the waist and they can fire their weapons. That's the main thing."

Everyone who had been working on the command deck all day joined them. It was almost lights-out, and they had wanted to see the veritechs themselves, especially Lisa. They heard the exchange between Max and Minmei as they approached.

"Excellent work, Lieutenants!" Lisa said. "How long will it take to reassemble them?"

"We should have them all back together by this time tomorrow," Rick said.

"When you do, will they be in perfect working order?" Lisa asked. "They'll be able to do all those things Max just said they couldn't?"

"Don't see why not," Rick said. Max nodded.

 

The next day, Minmei didn't nap. She watched closely as Rick and Max put their fighters back together. Sometimes she even asked questions, as long as she felt she wasn't interrupting them. At one point, she had even been able to help when Rick couldn't find Skull One's gravimetric analyzer and she reminded him that he had set the cockpit canopy on top of it.

At each meal, Minmei noticed that the people working on the command deck looked a little more haggard, talked a little less, and looked at each other a little less. They were getting frustrated, and it was showing. She hoped they wouldn't start arguing with each other or losing their tempers. She always felt awful when the people around her did that. She, Rick, and Max never asked, "How's the space fold analysis coming?" They knew better than to stir that pot.

Just after dinner on the third day, Rick and Max's veritechs were completely reassembled. They walked in Battloid mode to the flight deck, flew around in space for a few minutes, and tested their weapons. Max's forward targeting system was off line, but other than that, they were in perfect working order.

They walked the fighters back to their camp site, where Minmei was waiting for them. The ones on the command deck were about to end their day and would join them shortly.

"Whatever shall we do tomorrow?" Max asked Rick when they were back on the ground. "I don't suppose Commander Hayes will allow us to rest."

"I doubt it," Rick said.

"Actually, I have a request," Minmei said. "If we're stuck here for a few more days, would you...would you teach me how to fly a veritech?"

Rick and Max stared at her in astonishment.

"I mean, just because it looks like fun to learn, and because it doesn't look like we'll be doing anything else for a while," Minmei said.

"I don't think Commander Hayes would like it," Rick said.

"Surely, this is one of those situations in which it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission," Minmei said.

"She's got you there, skipper," Max said. "Besides, I really don't think Commander Hayes would mind all that much."

Rick nodded. "All right by me. If Commander Hayes doesn't give me any other orders or duties, sure, Minmei, I'll teach you to operate a veritech!"

Minmei grinned.

"And what'll I do?" Max asked.

"Stand back and enjoy the entertainment," Rick said. "I don't think we'll damage too much."

"Hey, now," Minmei said. "Remember, I was there when you first learned how to operate a veritech! So you have no room to talk, O Destroyer of Buildings."

"Ugh," Rick said. "Thanks for reminding me. Luckily I had a great teacher." His face slowly fell into melancholy and he stared at the floor, draining the mirth from the room.

Minmei stepped forward and put a hand on his arm. "I've been meaning to tell you. I...I'm so very sorry to hear about Commander Fokker. You know I adored him, too."

"I know," Rick said. "Thanks, Minmei."

The others joined them, their morale soaring at the sight of the two repaired veritechs. "Oh, it's so wonderful!" Kim exclaimed. Miriya parked her veritech next to Max's and hopped down.

"Excellent work, Lieutenants!" Lisa said.

"I'm just happy I can read a manual, ma'am," Max said.

"Commander, do you have any specific orders for me and Max tomorrow?" Rick asked.

"No, Lieutenant Hunter, I do not," Lisa said. "Unless either of you knows anything about space fold operations."

"I can't read a manual that well, Commander," Max said. Rick shook his head.

"Then I guess just guard us from any enemy who might appear."

Rick opened his mouth to ask about letting Minmei operate a veritech, but Lisa had already turned away. Rick just closed his mouth and said nothing. Only Max and Minmei noticed.

 

The next morning, after the others had finished breakfast and gone to the command deck, Minmei sat in the cockpit of Skull One. Rick occupied the rear seat. The fighter stood in Azonia's day cabin in Guardian mode.

"Okay, you know the old saying, 'Walk before you run, run before you fly?'" Rick asked. "Well, with a veritech, that's literally true."

"It actually starts with crawling," Minmei said.

"I know, but...we don't crawl. Anyway. There are a lot of levers, but I manage to keep them straight by separating them into groups. For now, just know that these five operate the left leg in Battloid mode and these five operate the right leg in Battloid mode, and they're positioned so that they respond to your natural leg movements. The trick is not to be forceful with them. When you're excited, and especially when you're being shot at, a person tends to shove the levers one way or another as hard as they can. No matter what else is happening, just move casually. Now, we'll start by going from Guardian to Battloid."

"When do I get to fire the cannon?" Minmei asked eagerly.

"Uhhhhh...remember what I said about walking before you fly."

Max lay on his bed watching them, his hands beneath his head, and grinned.

The first time Minmei transformed the veritech to Battloid, it fell over. Instantly, Miriya's voice came over the comm link. "Lieutenant Hunter, we heard a noise. Are you all right?"

"We're fine," Rick said. "That's just me teaching Minmei how to operate a veritech."

Silence.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. Did you say you were teaching Minmei how to operate a veritech?"

"I did, indeed. You might hear a few more bangs throughout the day."

Silence for a few more moments.

"Lieutenant Hunter, Commander Hayes would like a word with you," Miriya said. Rick stole a glance at Max who was listening on his own comm link and laughing his ass off.

"Lieutenant Hunter, just what do you think you're doing?!" Lisa barked at him, having taken over Miriya's comm link.

"Teaching Minmei to operate a veritech fighter plane, Commander," Rick said smoothly.

"Why?"

"Three reasons. First, it doesn't hurt anything. I'm in control of the situation. Second, we've got nothing else to do. Third, if something really terrible happens to the group, we may find ourselves in a bizarre situation in which Minmei will have to defend herself because we won't be able to."

"Uh huh," Lisa said, clearly unimpressed with that last bit of logic.

"So, anyway, uh...how are you?"

There was silence for a few more seconds, then Lisa said, "Just don't damage our planes impressing your girlfriend, Lieutenant."

"Yes, ma'am," Rick said, thinking he really could have done without that last comment.

Still laughing so hard his face was red, Max gave him a double thumbs up.

The lesson continued. To her credit, although she was still clumsy, Minmei managed not to fall over on her second attempt.

 

Minmei made absolutely sure she had lunch ready when the others arrived. She knew if she was even the tiniest bit derelict in her duties, Lisa would be steamed at their frivolous behavior impacting their schedule. She expected Lisa to be angry anyway, and mentally prepared for it.

But surprisingly, Lisa was completely over it. "How do you like operating a veritech, Minmei?" she asked.

"Oh, it's exciting, Commander! The veritech doesn't seem so mystifying any more, but knowing what it can do makes me appreciate the engineering all that much more."

"Wonderful!" Lisa said, and no one said any more about it.

 

A few million kilometers away, space ripped apart and came back together with a Zentraedi scout ship where nothing had been moments before.

"Ugh," Kantilly said. "Asteroids."

"Are we in danger of being hit by any?" asked Prackett, her copilot. The two women were the ship's only occupants.

"No. The nearest is about fifteen kilometers away. It's nothing we can't handle, but it'll make searching for the flagship that much harder."

"Or that much easier. The battleship's fold operation would have pulled some of the surrounding asteroids towards itself. And the battleship's gravity would attract even more. So if we find a cluster of asteroids, we might find the ship."

"Huh," Kantilly said, and operated a few controls. "There is a slight cluster at four-sigma-two-point-five. Let's see what's at the center of it." She directed the long-range camera to zoom in on that location, and they smiled. The monitor showed Azonia's flagship.

Prackett nodded. "Like I said: easy. Azonia will be pleased."

"Wait," Kantilly said, still watching the monitor closely. She operated a few more controls for about a minute, then pulled back the zoom and pointed to an asteroid on the monitor. "This big one's about to hit the flagship, and I think it'll hit the engine room."

"So?"

"So, the Micronians obviously don't know about it or they would have moved the ship by now. They're about to have a crisis. Why return to Azonia with news when we can take advantage of this situation and return as the two who recaptured her flagship by themselves?"

"Azonia won't like being disobeyed. And she certainly won't like being deprived of her personal vengeance. Don't think this will give us any promotions."

"After being humiliated, I don't think Azonia will be making those decisions any more. Breetai will be looking for new leadership. Won't he?"

They shared a look of understanding.

"Sounds good to me. What's your plan?"

 

By early afternoon, Minmei had become very good at running, crouching, and switching from Guardian to Battloid and back again. Max was impressed. By late afternoon, she could target the weapon systems reasonably well, although Rick wouldn't let her actually fire anything.

"Oh, come on," Minmei teased. "Just one burst from the cannon."

"No."

"A missile?" She thumbed the firing trigger.

"Don't you dare."

There was a distant, thunderous boom. The Mouse's Roar shook.

Minmei snatched her hand from the trigger like it was hot. "That wasn't me!"

Miriya's voice was instantly in Rick's ear. "Lieutenant Hunter, please tell me that was you and Minmei."

"It wasn't us," Rick said.

Her face scrunched up in worry, Minmei whispered, "I didn't accidentally set anything off, did I?"

"I don't think so," Rick whispered back.

Miriya, in her battloid on the command deck, quickly scanned a bank of monitors. "We've just suffered a major collision from an asteroid," she announced grimly. "It hit the engine room. We've got intermittent power failures throughout the ship."

"Miriya, get down there and see what you can do," Lisa said. "Take Sammie with you."

Miriya said, "Lieutenant Hunter, Commander Hayes is ordering me and Ensign Porter to the engine room." She switched to Guardian and lowered the cockpit so Sammie could climb into the rear seat.

"Shouldn't Max or I go?" Rick asked. "You're needed on the command deck."

"I believe Commander Hayes is sending me because only I have a chance of understanding anything down there," Miriya said. After a moment, she added, "Commander Hayes wants you, Max, and Minmei on the command deck. She's feeling a little antsy and wants everyone together."

Miriya took off for the engine room.

"Ooh, I've never actually been in a veritech before!" Sammie said.

"Isn't it neat?" Minmei asked enthusiastically over the comm link.

"It's pretty cool!" Sammie replied.

Miriya sighed good-naturedly.

Privately to Rick, Minmei asked, "Can I walk Skull One to the command deck? It's only a little ways."

"Let's not push our luck. Commander Hayes can be quite the sourpuss when she's tense."

Max climbed into his fighter, Rick and Minmei switched seats, and they joined the others on the command deck.

 

Prackett and Kantilly watched the lights flicker on and off across Azonia's flagship.

"Just as I thought," Kantilly said. "The hit on the engine room caused power failures. They'll have to send someone there to investigate, probably several people. And they'll have to use a fighter to do that because they're too small to traverse the distance on their own. This mean's they'll be split up."

"Shall we attack the ones in the engine room, first?" Prackett asked.

Kantilly shook her head. "Their leader will be on the command deck. She's the one we want. But we need a diversion so we can surprise them. I wish we had a second ship."

"We don't need a second ship when we can nudge some more asteroids onto collision courses and wait for them to strike," Prackett said.

They grinned.

 

Miriya and Sammie arrived in the engine room to find it full of smoke with a greenish tint to it. To one side, raw power cables hung from the ceiling, throwing off sparks.

Sammie gasped. "There's an enemy combatant on the floor! Right there!"

"She's dead," Miriya said. "I killed her several days ago." She looked at the hole in the ceiling where she'd dropped into the engine room that day, and noticed something. "This smoke isn't rising."

"It's heavier than the air," Sammie agreed. "So to ventilate this room, we need to punch holes in the floor? What's below this engine room?"

"Open space."

"Oh, good."

"No, bad. Opening a hole into space would clear the room all right, but the sudden depressurization might damage something else. Something critical."

"Oh. Bad."

Miriya stepped over the body and cautiously made her way forward, but even a little ways in, the smoke became too thick to see anything. "We've got to figure out some way to ventilate the room," she said.

"Shouldn't we put the fire out, first?"

"We don't know that this smoke is coming from a fire. It might be some other kind of chemical reaction." She took another step forward and barely stopped herself from running into some machinery. The battloid almost toppled over.

"I can't see where I'm going, and I can't risk damaging anything in this room any further," Miriya said. "I...don't know what to do. Yet."

"I still think our priority is to stop more smoke from being created, no matter what's causing it," Sammie said. "Until we do that, any attempt at ventilation will be useless, and we can't do anything else until we get rid of the smoke."

"But if we can't move and can't see, how can we find what's causing it?"

"Veritechs have emergency gas masks, right?"

"Gray compartment by your right foot. It has enough oxygen for half an hour."

Sammie found the gas mask and put it on. Miriya put one on, also.

"Comm check," Miriya said.

"I can hear you. Can you hear me?" Sammie's voice was still a whisper.

"Yes. The temperature's a little hot, but it should be tolerable. I'll extend a manipulator cable. Grab hold of it and don't let go. If you do, we'll never find each other again."

"Even if we find the source of the smoke, how will we find our way back out? For that matter, how will we know we're not going in circles?"

"As we go, I'll use the cannon to burn direction marks on the floor."

"What if this weird green smoke is flammable?"

"If it was, those live power cables we saw would have set everything off a long time ago."

"Good point."

"Ready?"

Sammie gave a thumbs up. Miriya switched to Guardian and opened the cockpit just long enough for Sammie to slide out. During the few seconds it was open, an uncomfortable amount of smoke entered the cockpit.

"Comm check again," Miriya said, returning to Battloid

"I can still hear you." Miriya was right, the room was hot. The gas mask was tight and uncomfortable. Sammie's breath was loud inside it. The smoke felt greasy on her skin.

Miriya ventilated the cockpit as best as she could. That got rid of most of the smoke, but not all of it. She kept her mask on.

She extended a manipulator cable. It was one of several cables with a claw on the end which allowed a pilot to perform delicate tasks from the cockpit. Sammie grabbed it, wrapped it around her wrist several times, and headed off. Within seconds, she could no longer see Miriya's fighter; the cable was her only lifeline back to it.

Sammie stumbled through the thick smoke. After a moment, she realized she didn't have to squint; it was a reflex from seeing smoke everywhere. She relaxed her face and breathed calmly, knowing excitement would waste oxygen. She tried as best as she could to search from left to right and back again, slowly moving forward as she did. It was impossible to tell how successful she was at keeping this pattern.

A few minutes passed, then Sammie said, "I've found some machinery which looks like it was destroyed by some kind of energy projectiles."

"That's probably the self-destruct which I destroyed."

"Let's hope so." Sammie walked on and was brought up short by the cable. "The cable's out of slack. Is there any more?"

"No. Stand still."

Sammie heard the battloid's slow footsteps, punctuated by the intermittent sounds of the cannon, and the cable began to slacken. Seconds later, the battloid appeared out of the smoke and stood next to her. The cannon burned another mark into the floor.

Sammie headed off again. Minutes later, she again reached the end of the cable, and Miriya again followed the cable safely through the smoke to stand next to her, marking the path as she went. Sammie set off a third time, deeper into the engine room.

A minute later, Sammie said, "Found it."

Miriya followed the cable, marking the path, moving slowly so she didn't accidentally step on Sammie. The woman was short enough as it was. Did I actually just think that? Miriya wondered. Good grief, I'm so naughty. Come on, Miriya, focus.

She found Sammie standing in front of a large gray structure as tall as the battloid. It was obviously damaged, and its 30-degree tilt to the right didn't look too healthy, either. Miriya couldn't see how far back the structure extended; the smoke only allowed her to see the front of it. "Why do you say this is the source?" Miriya asked.

"I can sort of see it from down here. I think this is a tank or something. There's a huge hole in the left side, just above the floor. That's where the smoke is coming from." Sammie indicated the area she was talking about.

"Move far to the right, please," Miriya said. Sammie did so, and stood to the right of the battloid.

Miriya carefully lifted the battloid's left leg so that it pointed forward, and activated its jet the tiniest bit. It blew the smoke away enough for her to see, just for a moment. She shut the jet off, put the leg down, and keyed her comm link. "Lieutenant Hunter, I need to speak to Commander Hayes."

"Roger," Rick said. A few seconds later, Lisa said, "Status."

Miriya said, "As best as I can tell, some kind of machine with high-spinning rotors ruptured, and the rotors broke free and sliced through the engine room as projectiles. Several of those rotors punctured another structure and pushed it partway off its mooring; we think it's a fuel or chemical tank of some kind, and the chemicals inside have reacted in such a way to produce thick smoke. The engine room is full of it; it's impossible to see. We need to neutralize the chemical reaction and ventilate the room, and since I haven't figured out how to do either of those things yet, I don't know how long it will take."

"Understood. Keep me informed."

Another boom thundered throughout The Mouse's Roar, and the room lurched sideways. The ruptured tank began to tilt further.

"What was that?" Miriya asked.

"Another asteroid hit us!" Lisa exclaimed.

Miriya saw the tank tilt even further, gathering speed. She started to lunge forward and to the right to grab it, but suddenly realized she would step on Sammie if she did. The crucial fraction-of-a-second window of opportunity passed, and with horror, Miriya helplessly watched the tank topple over.

It ruptured at the base directly in front of Sammie. Hundreds of gallons of a mysterious green chemical burst forth and washed over her.

Sammie's vocal cords could only produce a whisper, but Miriya could still tell she was screaming.