Ensign Harris gripped his left gloved hand with the right one and rotated it first clockwise then anti-clockwise; before receiving a slap across the back of the hand from the young woman he loved; Ensign Cho. “Look it fits.” She admonished. “Now stop fiddling with the damn thing.”

“Why is it me that has to go outside and find out where we are?” Harris enquired begrudgingly.

“Because you’re the one who’s EVA certified.”  Came the voice of the Chief Engineer from behind him; who was currently checking the backpack strapped to the young New Zealander. 

“So are Stuart, Lightwood and Rahul.” Answered Chad, twisting his head to reply. 

“The Lieutenant and Rahul are both injured, and without Tyson, I need Lightwood to help me in Engineering.” Torf remarked. “Otherwise this ship won’t be going anywhere.”  Right now none of the Jaxartes’s sensor or outside cameras were currently operational, even the windows seemed coated in a black powdery like substance, obscuring any view.  The ship was effectively totally blind and only by sending someone out onto the hull, could they ever begin to fathom out what had happened to them.

“So I’m the expendable one?” Harris moaned light-heartedly.

Cho thrust the helmet into his hands roughly. “Shut up and get out there.” She smirked. “If you dare die, I’ll kill you myself, understood.”

“Understood ma’am.”  Chad beamed back at her.  The New Zealander Placed the helmet over his head and waited for the engineer to check the seal was perfect, before he stepped into the airlock.  The inner door hissed shut behind him; and after a brief pause the pumps activated, drawing the oxygen out of the chamber.  When it was done a light came on indicating it was now safe to open the outer door. 

“I’m going outside now.” The ensigns’ voice came over the comm. “I may be some time.” 

The young Korean just shook her head; how had she ever fallen in love with this mad fool.  She smiled at the thought, and was glad they had the full support of their Captain, whilst they agreed to keep things professional when on duty.  It had been tough; on a ship this small, there wasn’t really much in the way of free time and not a lot to do when they could be together.  They did share an interest in reading rather trashy adventure novels, ‘Bikini Clad Battle Babes’ being the one that had actual got their whole relationship started.  Her parents had no idea what their little innocent ‘Nabi’ was like out in the big wide universe.

            **********

Ensign Harris had clipped a safety line in place before stepping to the edge of the outer door and taking his first glimpse of the surrounding.  What met his eyes was something that would stick in his memory for the rest of his life.  To describe the sight could never hope to do it full justice, and the breath caught in his throat as the New Zealander tried to figure out what to say.

Instead he stood there in silence, gazing up at the sky.  No, it wasn’t a sky; it was something else; a vaulted arch or tunnel even.  It was immense to say the least, stretching way beyond what the naked eye could perceive.  Even when he raised the optical scope and adjusted it to x10 magnification, Harris couldn’t detect an end.  It was just a never ending sea of orange and golden ribbons of energy floating past in an inky black void.  There was the occasional flash of white light, like lightning in a thunderstorm.  But there was no rumble of thunder in this airless, silent environment.  Sometimes one of the ribbons would float away from the main flow, dropping towards the ensign.  It felt like they were close enough to reach up and touch, but the distance could have been a thousand kilometres; there was just nothing to reference and give scale to the panorama.  He wasn’t sure at first whether it was the ribbons of energy moving or the ships own momentum; but then he was at the starboard hatch, and the ‘Jax’ would have to be moving sideways.  Chad looked down, possibly expecting to see more of the ribbons rolling by, below the ship.  What he did see was a large chunk of black rock.  

The USS Jaxartes had impacted with an asteroid.  The collision must have been slow; hitting something this big regardless of its mass and the material it was made of would have ripped the unshielded corvette apart if they’d have struck it at any great speed.  Instead the ship lay partially buried in a sort of sandy gritty black substance.  The starboard nacelle was half submerged under the stuff, so to was the lower deck; and the whole of the outer hull was basically plastered in the stuff. 

“Erm, Houston, we’ve had a problem here!”