• (Santa Monica Bridge)

Lee said to her crew ” Mr. Capp engage tractor beam and begin to follow suit of the April and the Culver City.”

Nathaniel replied, “Aye sir engaging tractor beam,” Lee said to her chief tactical Officer

“Notify the Captains of the Culver City & April that we are ready to begin re-orbiting sequence ” Lee said.

((Irrawaddy, Cockpit))

“Steady April, the rear is free and airborne…just a little more, there we go…” Ingram said through the comm as he added 10% to the power of the tractor beam and added 5% throttle to the ventral thrusters. The fore of the Blythe’s saucer began moving upward as mound of dirt that she had plowed up onto herself during her last plunge to the surface started to slide off.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw an old Dergan lady wearing a moomoo on her apart balcony shaking her hoof at him.

((Sunshine Villa Apartments, Suite 801))

The same little old lady who had refused to evacuate just before the Blythe had ‘landed’ had emerged on her back porch and started yelling obscenities towards the Irrawaddy and April as they, and the 2 blue tractors from the barely visible Cali‘s in low geosynch orbit.

“It’s about time you clean up after yourselves! This infernal fucking racket woke me up from my afternoon nap again! You fucking wankers!” She yelled into the sky before walking back into her suite and slamming the sliding glass door.

((Culver City, Bridge))

Everyone – save Tiza, who was rather busy – watched on the viewscreen with bated breath as the tractor beams did their work.  In short order, Blythe was floating free, though now came the difficult work of bringing her hulk to orbit.  Tiza remained fixed on his console, the all-ships channel he’d opened relaying everything he said.  “Ari, give me slow rise on the ventral thrusters.  Santa Monica, please rise with us; let’s get her some altitude.  Karman Line’s at 95 kilometers (59 miles) here, so let’s go for 100, just to be safe.  You’re all doing great so far, nice and slow and steady and we’ll have Blythe back in the stars where she belongs.”

Lotharys chimed in from Sciences.  “So far, hull stress is within acceptable limits,” she announced.

As the two Californias began pulling the Blythe above the lower atmospheric regions and into the stratosphere of the planet, a warning beeped on the XO’s console, drawing Lotharys’s gaze.  “High-altitude winds’ll be gusting crosswinds for the next few seconds; hull strain’s spiking in the port nacelle pylon.”

Tiza quickly replied, “I see it.  That pylon must be in worse shape than we thought; April, Irrawaddy, rotate the Blythe‘s bow 55 degrees to the west on the Z axis, 1/8th thrusters, keep that nacelle from being broadside to the wind.  Execute on my mark.”

After the Irrawaddy and April signaled that they were ready Tiza counted down, “Three… two… one… mark.”

As the hulk of the Blythe began turning, a strong swirling gust of wind buffeted the nacelle so violently that the pylon bent, levering the rear nacelle down and inward.  A single duranium hull spar beam in the forward most section of the pylon was all that was left connecting the nacelle to the rest of the ship.

“We’re going to lose that nacelle if we don’t snatch it, Culver City.” Commander Fields said from the April over the open comm channel.

Tiza knew they had to do something quick or they’d risk shearing the nacelle off entirely; however, given the damage already suffered by the pylon, that was likely a forgone conclusion at this point.  After take a quick second and a half to check the Blythe’s altitude – passing 30km at this point – he made the call: “April, disengage your tractor beam on the secondary hull, and lock directly onto the nacelle.”

“Copy CC, disengaging and re-targeting the nacelle, now.” Fields said. The force of being latched onto by the full force of the April‘s tractor and the slight radial velocity discrepancy between its angular frame of reference and that of Irrawaddy was just enough to cause the final hull beam holding the nacelle to snap.

“It’s broken free,” Lotharys said.

“We got it, CC. We’ll hold here with it until you pull the Blythe up and clear.” Wong said over the comm.

“Confirmed, April, and thank you,” Tiza replied.  “Now, Santa Monica, Ari, let’s get back to the lift; slow rise on the ventral thrusters.  Irrawaddy, loosen your grip a bit, and keep an eye on that second nacelle; if we lose it you’ll be the ones who have to catch it.”

“Roger that CC, giving slack on the lines.” Ingram used the dated nautical metaphor.

Fortunately, the lift continued without further incident, and soon Blythe had cleared to 100 kilometers above Derganix.  Studying his displays, Tiza nodded in satisfaction.  “Great work, everyone; she’s above Derganix’s Karman Line.  Now, for orbital velocity; ahead 1/8th impulse, and let’s hold this for at least 15 minutes before we release.”

(Santa Monica Bridge)

“Roger that CC Holding position on the line” Lee notifed her helm officer

“Mr. Nige follow suit 1/8 impulse.” “Aye Commander ahead 1/8 impulse.” Lee waited for further orders from the Culver city s captain .

((Culver City, Bridge))

After 15 minutes at 1/8th impulse, Tiza nodded.  “That should do it for a bit; disengaging tractor beams in three… two…  one… mark,” he counted down, releasing the ship’s tractor hold on Blythe at the end of the countdown.

With Culver City’s role in this operation now successfully – or at least relatively successfully – concluded, K’lev smiled.  “Good work everyone!  Okay, Santa Monica, she’s all yours.  Ari, let’s get out of the good captain’s way.”

Phillips nodded, their fingers dancing across their console as they engaged the ship’s maneuvering thrusters.  Culver City turned gently to port and raised her bow, circling out of her sister’s way so that Santa Monica could have a clear path to take Blythe in full tow.