One of Miriya's gifts was the ability to shut her emotions down entirely and become ruthlessly logical when she needed to. Whether that was pure talent or a product of her Zentraedi genes was open to debate. Either way, Miriya rarely needed this special talent more than in the moment Ensign Sammie Porter was engulfed in a strange chemical which burned her skin.

Miriya had one chance to save Sammie's life, and it was the longest of long shots.

She scooped Sammie into the battloid's hands and ran for the exit as fast as she dared, following the marks on the floor. Another asteroid collision rocked The Mouse's Roar, threatening to knock her over. Only her superior reflexes and skill kept the battloid on its feet.

Once out of the engine room, she switched to Guardian and sped to the resizing room.

Only the battleship's infirmary computer could save Sammie now.

But the equipment in the battleship's infirmary wasn't designed for Micronians.

Miriya barged into the resizing room and laid Sammie on the floor of the first chamber. Sammie was convulsing badly, and her skin was red and blotchy all over.

Miriya had to get Sammie's clothes off first, and there was no way to do that from inside the cockpit. She would have to spend precious seconds getting out of, and then back into, the veritech, but it couldn't be helped.

Then Miriya's cold logical brain clicked with an observation, and she swore. Sammie couldn't undergo the resize process lying down. The chamber was built for people who were standing up! If Sammie resized while lying on the floor, her expanding body would meet the sides of the chamber and she would die a horrible death.

The only solution was for Miriya to join her in the chamber and hold her upright.

Miriya switched to Battloid so she could operate the chamber's controls. She initiated the resize process, then set it on a delay the rough equivalent of one minute. The only reason Miriya knew what to do at all was that she had watched the technician carefully when she had been Micronized herself. She hoped her memory was good enough.

The countdown started and the chamber door began to close. Miriya switched to Guardian, lowered the veritech's nose to the floor, scrambled out of the cockpit, hit the floor, ran, and dove through the chamber door just before it sealed shut.

She frantically ripped Sammie's clothing off. The ensign's pulse raced and her breath came in quick, shallow gasps. The red splotches were deepening in color, and spreading.

Then Miriya frantically removed her own clothing. The countdown had ended and she could already feel the resizing begin.

She got the last of her clothing off just in time. Already it was tiny compared to her.

She picked Sammie up beneath her armpits, then held her around her waist and chest, keeping her roughly vertical. Then there was nothing to do but wait the agonizing minutes until the resize was complete.

Sammie's breath convulsed. Blisters and open sores appeared all over her body.

The resize finished, and it hadn't killed Sammie. At least some humans were resizable, after all. First major obstacle overcome.

The chamber opened. Now giant-sized, Miriya picked up Sammie completely, carefully maneuvered the injured woman through the narrow chamber doorway, and ran like hell for the infirmary.

 

Another asteroid collision rattled the ship, throwing Lisa off her feet and straight into Kim. They both went down. Sparks erupted from the command deck console about twenty feet away.

"Commander, we can't stay here!" Rick said through the veritech's external speakers.

"The collisions will stop any moment, I'm sure," Lisa said, climbing back to her feet. "We just need to wait them out."

"I think there's more to it than that," Kim said, also getting to her feet. "Something's terribly wrong. Four asteroids just hit us in a matter of minutes. That can't be a coincidence, Commander!"

Lisa thought about this.

"She's right," Vanessa said. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

"All right," Lisa said. "Lieutenants, take us back to Azonia's day cabin. We'll hide behind her desk while you investigate."

Rick and Max held out their battloids' hands. Vanessa stepped onto Max's hands; Lisa and Kim stepped onto Rick's. The pilots returned to Azonia's day cabin and gently set the ladies on the floor by the back of the desk.

Rick switched to Guardian, lowered the fighter's nose to the ground, and opened his cockpit. "You need to join them, Minmei. Max and I may be going into battle."

"Be careful, Rick," she said.

"I will."

But Minmei never got a chance to move.

"Watch out!" Max yelled. Lightning-fast, he fired his cannon at the doorway, but Prackett ducked and fired three rounds from her rifle at Rick's veritech before pulling back out of sight.

Two enormous bullets slammed into Skull One and knocked it off balance. Only its port wing stopped it from tipping over completely. Minmei was violently thrown against the seat in front of her, and Rick was thrown out of the cockpit. He hit the ground hard.

"Two fighters," Prackett said, speaking Zentraedi. Kantilly, standing behind her, nodded.

Max rushed for the entrance. Prackett, sensing the timing, tried to charge into the room. She and Max clashed in the doorway and began wrestling.

His head swimming, Rick looked up to see Lisa lying a few meters away. She was bleeding from a cut behind her right ear and moving feebly. The third bullet from Prackett's rifle had impacted the wall behind Lisa, and the shrapnel had gotten her.

"Lisa!" Rick croaked. He started crawling towards her, but Vanessa and Kim quickly dragged her behind the desk.

Groggily, Minmei looked down at Rick. Even in the midst of the crisis, she saw the look on Rick's face as he desperately reached for Lisa, heard the anguish in his voice. In that moment, she understood where Rick's heart lay.

Kantilly spent several precious seconds trying to enter the room, but Prackett and Max were blocking the doorway. So she shot a dozen rounds into the wall beside the door, then lowered her shoulder and charged, screaming. She burst into the room.

Fighting her dizziness, Minmei scrambled into the forward seat.

"Target their commander!" Prackett said through gritted teeth as she grappled with Max. "If you can't find her, target the sorceress! The one they call Minmei!"

Minmei couldn't speak Zentraedi, but when she heard her own name, she understood perfectly.

"No need to find me," Minmei said. "I'm right here, bitch." And she fired Skull One's cannon.

The shot took Kantilly clean through the chest. The Zentraedi fell against the wall and slowly slid to the floor.

Prackett let out a war cry, trying to wrestle Max's cannon away from him.

Someone politely tapped Prackett on the shoulder.

Baffled, Prackett risked a glance back.

Sammie's fist smashed into her nose.

Prackett screamed and went down. Max kicked her against the far wall.

A rifle shot came from behind Sammie, further down the corridor. It struck Prackett in the chest.

Prackett glared at Miriya in hatred and tried to stand. Miriya advanced, and fired again. Prackett fell and lay still.

Rick had watched it all, incredulous. He was just now climbing to his feet.

Kim crept to the edge of the desk to peek out. Behind her, Vanessa knelt by Lisa, who was still lying on the floor, moaning.

Kim blinked. A lot.

"Vanessa," she whispered, completely spooked. "Come here."

Vanessa peeked out also, and gasped.

Sammie looked down at them. She wore an oversized Zentraedi uniform. "It's all right," she said. "We don't think there are any more." Her voice was no longer hoarse. Miriya appeared beside her, also wearing a Zentraedi uniform (which fit).

Everyone was speechless. Max, Minmei, Rick, Vanessa, and Kim stared at Sammie, their mouths hanging open.

"I don't believe it," Vanessa whispered.

"I know, right?!" Sammie said, and flapped the oversized sleeves around. "It's not fair. Thousands of uniforms, and not a single one fit. Even when I'm big, I'm still small!"