Space Chunking

Captain Billy Chunk had the Conn of the SpaceTug Delilah. He had the throttles jammed to the firewall and was in a losing hot pursuit of the SpaceTug Medusa. The Medusa had a fouled Dok-A-Lok coupling on a Jumbo Class SpaceSkow and was now married to it for better or worse. The Medusa was being dragged along on a Nantucket sleigh ride trajectory and headed for something definitely worse than a burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. The Medusa had FUBAR'ed it drives and was neither use nor ornament. The crew headed by Captain Julie "Sweet" Stacks was not enjoying the journey and definitely dreading the destination..

Incineration seemed now seemed the lesser of two evils as this particular angle of approach as predicted by the B-Box suggested a encore performance of the Tunguska Blast over the vicinity of Paris followed by a no one left standing ovation. If that wasn't bad enough, Captain Julie was Captain Billy's main squeeze.

Captain Billy thought to himself, " When it rains it pours....However....It never rains in the wheelhouse!". With this pondering concluded on a slightly positive note the time to hesitate was through. "Light My Fire" spoke Captain Billy sotto voce to no one in particular. He flipped open the safety cover and thumbed down on the OVERPLUNGE button.

Aboard the SpaceTug Delilah it was an anti-climatic moment except for Chief the Engineer. The B-Board display tracking the Medusa showed the time to CPA go from red to green. Delilah was now closing the gap.

Chief the Engineer's, as contrary as ever, faced turned red rather than green. In a livid rage he sputtered, "She can't take it, you're goona' blow the drives you daft man!'. Captain Billy, as cool as a Puget Sound summer's day, replied, " Well Chief, She's gonna get it..." Chief the Engineer's mouth gasped opened closed liked a landed trout but no words came. Captain Billy wasn't listening anyways. He had other fish to fry.

First things first, Captain Billy had a plan. He considered giving the crew a SitRep. However expediancy over ruled honesty. He sounded the GQ Alarm. At the sound of the bell the off watch of Mister Mate Mark and Deckhand Micky plus ship's mascot SpacePup Belka mustered on bridge.

Captain Billy spoke three words, "Abandon Ship Drill..". The drowsy crew fresh from their warm bunks silently nodded. With the precision of a somnambulist all the crew donned their SurvSuits. SpacePup Belka was zipped in his special doggie suit. They staggered sleepily out the passageway and boarded the LifePod. Captain Billy remained on the Bridge as was routine procedure. Pavlov's Dog could not have reacted any better.

It was Captain Billy Chunk's philosophy of command and control to never give orders because people, especially the sailor'ly type,DO NOT like being told what to do. His style was to lay out what he wanted accomplished then listen to the kvetching of his crew. The point was to make who ever needed the most direction to feel that the requested task was his own idea. Captain Billy had more tells than a Las Vegas card shark. He would silently raise an eyebrow or purse his lips or unleash his most dreaded stink eye to get his crew to do his bidding.

Captain Billy looked at the B-Board and showed the LifePod manned and ready save for the Captain position. From ComBox came Mister Mate Mark's drowsy voice. The status of the LifePod was fully manned and ready. The door sealed, internal environment AOK, as was the routine practice of a normal LifePod drill. Captain Billy toggled the LifePod Launch button 3 times. The LifePod shot away from the ship with his crew. They were was safe for the moment.

This was a job that could best done alone thought Captain Billy Chunk. John Wayne had nothing on Captain Billy. His decks were now clear and ready for action. Then there was a singular bark. Then another bark. SpacePup Belka was still aboard.

The SITREP so far: Captain Billy, Mister Mate Mark, Chief the Engineer, Deckhand Micky and are the crew of the SpaceTug Delilah. All were shanghaied by "The Company " from the Good Tugboat Samson from the cool gray waters of Puget Sound and pressed into service aboard the SpaceTug Delilah. This crew was chosen for their particular stoic mindset to deal with the crewing issues that were plaguing the SpaceTug fleet owned by "The Man" Noel Muskie.

The SpaceTug fleet was part of the off world industry of space commerce known as SpaceComm. Orbiting Space Stations had been established by competing companies at the Lagrange points. Mining of the Asteroid Belt was the primary concern. Ore was delivered by autonomous SpaceSkows. SpaceTugs would latch onto to them and wrangle them into Earth or Lunar orbit. It was a parallel universe of Earth's maritime industry in many ways.

The SpaceTug Delilah was a one off construction. It was built as back in the day when SpaceTug Racing was the sport of the Young Tuts who were building the space industry. Bragging rights were everything. To have the fastest and strongest SpaceTugs winning at the races was the best advertising to rally the investors back on Earth. SpaceTug Delilah was the product of this fervor. Rumors of hidden features and even alien tech abounded. However the SpaceComm matured and it was time to stow the childish toys. The oddball SpaceTug Delilah was laid-up and went "Cold Iron" in the Reserve Fleet. This was until Captain Billy Chunk and his crew's arrival. It was a perfect fit.

JIBBERISH JUST TO SAVE STORY WORD COUNT>> WILL FIX LATER>>GOTTA GO ON WATCH RIGHT NOW AND DRIVE A REAL TUGBOAT!!!!!

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