He turned to stare at the Imprint apparatus with wide eyes. “You want me to do that thing?”
“No. It may not be safe, since you also have Sentinel Imprints. But I have all the information,” she assured. “I don’t understand it, but I’ve got the details.”
“Okay,” he said. “What’s broken?”
“There’s a purge valve located on the outer hull, where the mass ejected after the explosion. The emission blew off the outlet cowl. It doesn’t have to be replaced, but it does need to be hermetically sealed.”
“What’s it made of? The valve?”
“Aerasteel.”
“And how large is the vent?”
“Point eight two meters in diameter.”
“Okay … I can take the recoil paneling off the SGL’s warp drive. Fuse it on with a plasma torch. Unless it’ll cold weld, but it’s probably coated…”
“The recoil paneling won’t affect our ability to, uh—” She cut herself short, but her reeling mind couldn’t come up with a more subtle word. “Escape?”
“No, sir,” he assured. “Might make accelerating and decelerating a little rougher, but it’s perfectly safe.”
“Let me take him, sir,” Puck said.
“No, you’re too inexperienced,” she said. “This is going to be a dangerous walk.”
“Then I’ll go,” Jackin said. “We can’t risk you.”
“I need you to have the SGL locked and loaded. If we fail out there, you need to be ready to get the others back to Kharon before the Divide’s too close.”
“Did you even hear what I said?” he asked, brow creasing.
“Yes. Thank you both, really,” she said sincerely. “But I saw the layout in the mainframe. I know where this thing is, how we get there, and how to fix it. It has to be me.”
Puck nodded slowly. Jackin crossed his arms and exchanged a wary look with Griffith.
Finally, Jackin let out a relenting breath. “All right, Rake.” He turned to Puck. “Take Cavalon and run back to the SGL, get whatever he needs. Bring back two MMUs, harnesses and tethers, and every zero-g tool we have.”
“Copy that, Optio.” Puck led Cavalon out the door toward the SGL.
“Rake…” Jackin took a step closer, expression tight. “Can I get a minute?”
She followed him as he walked to the far side of the room.
“I know what you’re going to say,” she said, crossing her arms. “This is a risk, I shouldn’t be going—”
“Actually,” he said, flexing his jaw, “for once, no. I wanted to say I’m proud of you.”
The tightness in her shoulders loosened as she uncrossed her arms. “Oh…”
“This whole thing’s been one tough call after another. But you’ve made all the right ones.” He stared down at her bare arms. “And putting your damn arm in that thing…” He shook his head. “I wish I could be half as fearless as you.”
She gave a grateful nod, surprised at how much his words loosened the caustic strain that’d taken root in her chest.
“You like to say you’re not a ship captain,” he continued, “but command isn’t about knowing how to run a ship. It’s about people. Being an example. And you’re damn good at that.”
She swallowed the lump at the back of her throat. “Thanks, Jack.”