The sealant fizzed and spawled as it expanded to fill the rent in the hull. The wind and rain whisked away the worst of the chemical stink but there as enough that Rene could still feel it burning at the back of his throat. The polymers in the paste straightened and expanded into something fairly close to steel in its tensile strength, it was designed to patch leaks in starship hulls long enough for them to touch down for more permanent refit. It had come as a mild surprise that it wasn’t in as sad a shape as the rest of the Bonaventure seemed to be but he supposed that given the complete lack of anything else, one had to have sealant or to have voided ones atmosphere.

“Alright, I think I’m ready,” Rene said into the communicator Solae had given him. Getting the barge into something vaguely like seaworthy condition had taken nearly two hours. He was soaked to the bone but had stripped down to his trousers and boots after it became clear that the we weather gear was both inadequate to keeping him dry and too hot to work in. Rene tossed the sealant can into the boat with a clang. He supposed he could have just as easily tossed it to the sand but he was instinctively reluctant to litter for no better reason than his own laziness. The universe should have an order, Rene had always been taught, and it was a lesson that life in the Marines had done little to contradict. 

“Are you sure we shouldn’t bring out the engine?” Solae’s voice spoke in his ear. Rene smiled and shook his head even though she couldn’t see the expression. 

“We need to keep the weight down,” he told her as he trudged down the wet sand and collected a spool of cabling. The cable was a boron mono crystal weave, lightweight but insanely strong, he fixed it to the davot at the stern of the ship and then turned to face the sea. It was still churning but the fury of a few hours ago seemed to be subsiding.

“I’m going to be off the radio for a minute,” Rene told his lover, “I need to get a little wet for this next part.” He carefully took the radio out of his ear and slipped it into a waterproof plastic bag which he secured beneath a metal waste bucket he had salvaged from the barge. This next bit would be dangerous but he hadn’t explained that to Solae. There was no point in her worrying and the tide was rising quickly. It was already filling the long trench in the sand Rene had dug with an entrenching tool, creating a makeshift slipway. High tide would be in twenty more minutes and he didn’t want to waste this chance. Kicking off his boots he strode into the water, shouldering the coil of cable. When it reached his breast he dove into the water kicking powerfully against the incoming tide, his athletic body driving him through the water with long powerful strokes.

It only took about two minutes to reach the edge of the shallows where the water surged and churned around large rocks or reefs hidden beneath the waves. White water surged around as the wind and surf crashed on the unseen obstacle. Rene dived beneath the water as a large wave swept over him. The salt content on Panopontus was lower than that of Capella and although the water was milky with kicked up silt it didn’t sting his eyes the way a more saline ocean would have. Kicking down he drove himself underwater down towards the large rock outcropping. A sudden wave drove him against the rock and he only just managed to pivot and take the impact with bent knees rather than with his neck. As quickly as he could he pulled himself around the rock, looping the cable around. The next wave drove him hard against the rock and he felt the impact of the jagged semi porous limestone like a hammer, palish red fluid diffused from where the impact had torn his shoulder in a superficial pressure cup. His lungs burned and his muscles ached but he finally made it all the way around the submerged rock face. The next wave drove him away from it, back towards the beach and he caught the line and snapped the attachment end to the portion he had already laid out, then kicked hard to get above the water. A wave smashed him in the face as he broke the surface and he sucked down a lungful of water. Coughing an spluttering he turned and gasped for air, pulling himself back to shore along the now secure line.

The whole operation had taken about ten minutes but his body burned with exertion as he pulled himself onto the beach and flopped over onto his back, letting the rain patter down over his face.  His right shoulder was bruised and bloodied but that was a small price to pay. Pressing himself to his feet he half walked half staggered down the beach to where the barge waited, tethered to the submerged rock. Retriving his radio he pressed it back into his ear.

“...alright?” came Solae’s concerned voice at once.

“Rog… I mean yes I’m alright,” he told her rubbing at his shoulder before climbing over the bulwark and into the dilapidated barge. At the bow was a large hydraulic winch into which he fed the line. 

“Alright wish us luck,” he said and tumbled the activation stud. It sputtered for a moment as the flywheel spun up and then began a slow clunking turn, drawing in the line like an angler bringing in a particularly large fish. As the slack ran out the cable lifted from the sea until it reached the rock where it suddenly snugged. The winch growled and protested, straining against the line, but it had been built to drag up pieces of coral that weighed several tons. With a grind of sand beneath the hull the barge slipped into the spillway and slid six feet, then ten, then was completely afloat. Rene let the barge drift out to a point where it would still be afloat at low tied and then snugged up the cable he had attached to a large tree on shore. The barge came to a stop between its two anchor points. Rene let out a sigh of relief. It was one thing to say a thing was possible, another thing to accomplish it. They still needed to load the simple engine Solae and Mia were putting together, but one thing at a time.

“Alright we are afloat,” he declared in a tired but triumphant voice.

“I’m on my way back now.”