by J. N. Chaney
“Ain’t that lovely.” I adjusted my hold on Abigail’s arm, careful to keep a tight grip on her waist to give her as much support as possible. Her face was quickly going as white as a sheet, and I could hear her breathing heavily through the comm as she tried to keep up with me.
“I’m worried about Miss Pryar,” admitted Sigmond. “Her vitals are erratic.”
“I know,” I said, gritting my teeth as I pressed onward. “Let’s save her, Siggy.”
“It’s not just her, sir.”
“How do you mean?”
“Captain, your vitals are even more concerning,” said Sigmond.
“We don’t have time to worry about me, Siggy,” I snapped.
“Quite the contrary, sir. Based on my current scans, you appear to have a concerning amount of internal bleeding,” corrected the Cognitive. “Any additional trauma to the head could—and probably will—kill you.”
“Thanks,” I quipped. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I’m being tossed around like a ragdoll. Maybe if I ask nicely, they won’t throw me at the end of it.”
“Sir, this is not a joking matter,” said Sigmond. “I’m quite serious. You could—”
“Cork it, Siggy,” I interrupted. “I’ve got enough on my plate right now. Let’s focus on getting out of here alive before we go worrying about head trauma.”
“Very well, sir,” said the Cognitive. “Now that I’ve been able to re-establish a connection to Titan, I shall ensure Athena prepares a med pod for both you and Miss Pryar.” He paused. “Again.”
“Sounds like you have some opinions about this,” I said, my head throbbing as we raced through the rumbling metal planet.
“Sir, be warned,” said Sigmond, his voice suddenly urgent. “The outlier has begun to track in your direction, deviating from his original path toward the hangar. I’m concerned he somehow detected your location.”
“Fantastic,” I snapped. “Find me a way to avoid him, will you?”
“Attempting to do so at once, sir,” said Sigmond. “He’s closing in quickly. I suspect he’ll be at your location in two minutes.”
“What do we have, Siggy?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. “Cover? Alternate routes? Anything at all? Our guns are empty.”
“Nothing, sir,” said the Cognitive. “I’m looking for anything that can be used to your advantage.”
“I appreciate the effort, but I suggest you work a little faster, pal,” I said as I barreled through the hallway with Abigail at my side, the two of us limping as fast as our legs would carry us. I struggled to come up with a plan as Abigail slowly went limp in my arms, and every moment that passed only made my head pound worse.
I needed to come up with something, anything at all. A Renegade always had a way out—certainly there was a way out of this mess, same as all the others.
There was always a way out.
“One hundred yards remaining to the hangar entrance,” said Sigmond in my ear. “There is a slim chance of this Celestial phasing through the wall behind you. If you’re able to move any faster than your current speed, that would give you an opportunity to outrun him and reach the shuttle in time.”
“You ain’t giving me a lot of hope there, Siggy,” I said, picking up the pace all the same.
About twenty yards ahead of us, a Celestial phased through the wall and paused in the center of the corridor, blocking our path. I skidded to a stop, holding Abigail tighter and shifting her body until she was behind me. “Siggy, you got any suggestions on getting out of this one alive?”
“One,” said the Cognitive. “I would recommend you duck.”
“Duck? What—”
A hailstorm of blue blasts of light hit the Celestial’s back, sizzling and burning its skin on impact. A few missed as it flailed, the loose shots hitting the ceiling and leaving smoking holes, marring the previously perfect surface. The Celestial fell against the wall, nursing its injured arm. As it shifted out of the way, turning to stare at its attacker, I could finally see past it—only to find Lucia standing at the far end of the hallway.
The stubborn old woman ran toward the Celestial, two rifles strapped across her back as she fired mercilessly at the creature with her powered staff.
Never in my life had I been so simultaneously furious and grateful, all rolled into one.
“There’s a ship full of hyper-sensitive data you’re supposed to be protecting!” I yelled at the stubborn old woman. “Why in the gods’ names are you here?”
“I sent my team with them, you old nag,” she snapped back, sliding the rifles across the floor toward us as she continued to fire blue bursts of light at the Celestial. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun.”
I grabbed the rifles and handed one to Abigail. With one arm still draped over my shoulders, she tossed aside her empty gun and grabbed the fresh one.
The Celestial cloaked, but I wasn’t about to let it get the drop on us. I shot at where it had been a moment before, unleashing a firestorm of neutronium into the bastard. It screamed in pain, the bullets disabling its cloak as it fell against the wall again, one leg riddled with bloody blue holes.
“Get to the shuttle,” Lucia ordered. “Can’t have it leaving without the damn Captain.”
“Age before beauty,” I said, gesturing for her to lead the way. “We’re not leaving without you either.”
“Oh, get your stubborn ass to the ship and tend to that woman of yours,” snapped Lucia. “Let an old lady have her fun.” She bolted toward the Celestial, forcing me and Abigail both to abruptly cease fire to avoid hitting her.
“Lucia, dammit!” I snapped. “Do as I godsdamn tell you for once in your life!”
The Celestial summoned its swords as Lucia swung her core-powered staff at it, ignoring me. The creature’s blue blades sliced at her, and for the briefest second, I thought she might succumb to the same wound that disarmed Abigail. At the last moment, however, the old woman deftly flipped out of the way.
She landed lightly on her feet, never pausing long enough to rest. Instantly, she jumped out of the way as the Celestial swept its blade at her again.
She might well have been 162 years old, but not even I could move like that.
I tried to inch past the Celestial, Abigail in tow, but the beast swung at us any time we came near it.
The monster’s blue blades carved through the air, blurring lines of light as it tried wildly to kill us.
Lucia fired off two more blasts from her staff, one of them hitting the device on the Celestial’s left wrist.
The blade began to malfunction, same as it did on the other Celestial.
“Careful,” I warned. “When it—”
“I’ve got this, boy,” she griped, firing the device again with four consecutive shots. It shattered, ripping apart the Celestial’s hand in the process. “I have fought my fair share of monsters, in case you’ve forgotten.”
“That you apparently do have,” I admitted with a contented tilt of my brow as she continued to dance and evade.
I waited until the woman had rolled out of the way, finally taking a moment to recover, and unleashed yet another volley of neutronium-tipped bullets into the Celestial’s neck. It screamed, the combination of neutronium and power core blasts slowly eroding its ability to fight back.
Beside me, Abigail teetered, accidentally dropping her rifle on the floor. The last of the color drained rapidly from her cheeks, and she clutched at her wound as she very nearly fell to her knees.
“Abby, talk to me.” I held her arm, keeping her close as I tried to keep her on her feet. “Abby!” As Lucia dove back into the fray, I slung my rifle over my shoulder and set my palm against her helmet, trying to keep her head steady as it drooped to one side.
“Sir, Miss Pryar is sustaining considerable internal bleeding,” said Sigmond. “We need to get her to a medical bay at once.”
“My gun,” Abigail said, a dazed tone in her voice. “Jace, hand me my gun.”
“That would be a no fr
om me,” I said, grabbing it off the floor and taking it in my grip as mine remained slung over my shoulder. “You just focus on not dying.”
“Don’t be a fool,” she said, weakly grabbing for the rifle as I easily held it out of reach. “Give it here, Jace.”
A blinding flash of blue light cut through the hallway as Lucia dug her staff into the Celestial’s side and fired a bolt directly into its body. The creature flailed, swinging its remaining blade at her face. The old woman shuffled back, dodging the blow by mere centimeters, and pointed toward the hangar entrance. “Get your foolhardy self to the shuttle!”
While I was focused on Abigail, Lucia had managed to clear a path for us—a single, narrow space through which we could escape, but it would likely be open for only a moment. The Celestial staggered, dazed and unbalanced from whatever she had just done to it. Backed against the wall, bullet holes and blue blood riddled its nearly impenetrable ivory hide.
Not in much of a position to argue, I guided Abigail through the gap and all but dragged her toward the hangar opening about fifty meters away. “Lucia, follow close behind. We don’t need to kill it, you hear? Just keep it at a distance until we can get on board.”
The three of us slowly made our way toward the landing bay, with Lucia shooting blasts of blue energy from her staff any time I wasn’t firing bullets into the monster’s face. I kept aiming for its eye, but with Abigail on one arm and blurred vision from the multiple blows to my head, I couldn’t quite land the shot.
“Captain Hughes,” said Athena calmly through the comm in my ear. “Do you read?”
“Please tell me you have good news, Athena,” I grunted, my trigger finger firing off another few rounds into the Celestial’s head as it followed our movements toward the hangar.
“My apologies, sir, but I’m afraid it’s quite the opposite.” She hesitated. “Unless you would like me to lie?”
“What is it?” The trigger clicked, the magazine empty, and I tossed it aside. Careful not to jostle Abigail, I swung the other gun off my shoulder and resumed firing.
“A slip tunnel is currently opening nearby. Based on what little scans we have of it and its location, I can safely say it is not related in any way to Earth.”
A cold shot of dread tore through me. Somehow, some way, this mess went from worse to worst.
True, I didn’t have any real facts of the matter. Everything had to be assumption and quick decision making right now, but after the life I’d had and the scrapes I’d survived, my gut was not often wrong about these things. Everything in me warned that the enemy was here, ready for war. That spelled a heap of trouble for us when we could barely stave off one at a time. If they arrived en masse, we were dead in the void. No way in hell would we survive against a fleet of these things, not with the tech we’d seen them use thus far. Even Titan’s beam weapons stood a snowball’s chance against the hulls of these bastards’ ships.
If we didn’t get to the hangar right this minute, we would be leaving the Nebula Prospect and Titan both in vulnerable positions. I could give the order to retreat without the three of us, but I knew my crew too well to think they would leave me behind, even under a direct command. If they hesitated for even a moment to debate what to do, what they might see as a noble gesture would end up killing them.
It would mean the end of Earth, the end of everything we’d set out to build, the end of Lex and everyone else I’d sworn to protect.
I wouldn’t let that happen.
We couldn’t hold this line any more, but this Celestial wasn’t going to let us go, and the damned thing just wouldn’t die.
With Lucia keeping the Celestial distracted, I reached to scoop up Abigail’s legs so I could hoist her into my arms for the final stretch. She pushed away from me as I tried to hold her, the stubborn woman staggering against the wall as she lost her balance. “Carry me, Jace, and I will beat you to death with a broom the moment I’m coherent enough to hold one.”
“Such’ll be my fate, then,” I retorted, hoisting her into my arms. I gripped the gun tighter, her legs draped over the rifle as I fired whatever ammo I had left.
“You’re out of time. Get to the ship!” Lucia shouted as my trigger clicked, indicating yet another empty magazine. She gestured toward the hangar entrance, now just thirty meters off. With a strained grunt, she fired off another blast into the Celestial’s face as it wailed in pain.
“We leave together!” I shouted back, not willing to let this obstinate old woman stay behind.
“No,” she said simply, giving me a somber glare over her shoulder as the beast paused to nurse a deep wound on its forehead. “We don’t.”
She raced toward the Celestial as it regained its composure. The monster raised its remaining blade, angling it to impale her if she got too close. Lifting her staff, she leapt at its torso, shoving the tip of her weapon deep into the monster’s chest.
At that exact moment, it skewered her in the side, the blade stabbing clear through to the back of her body. At that angle, it would have easily punctured her lungs, stomach, and possibly even her heart.
“Lucia!” I shouted, momentarily frozen at what I was seeing.
The old woman turned toward me as she fired her staff into the Celestial’s body. “Move, you damned fool!” she yelled, blood staining her teeth and bubbling from her mouth with every word.
Abigail went limp in my arms. Her head draped over my elbow, and her legs dangled over my empty gun. If I didn’t get her to a med pod now, I’d lose her.
I took a few reluctant steps backward as Lucia tapped a small screen on her staff.
“Core overload initiated,” said a mechanical voice, coming through from her comm. “Detonation in thirty-nine seconds.”
Lucia didn’t so much as pause, firing wildly into the beast that had her pinned to its chest. Her blood dripped from the point of its glowing blue blade as it held her, speared through with her feet hovering over the floor.
The warrior queen yelled as the adrenaline took over her, the monster’s skin slowly starting to glow blue from all the energy it was absorbing from her relentless attack.
In a brief, suspended moment, the old woman stared at me as the Celestial’s blade twisted in her body.
Never—not once—did she even so much as wince in pain.
This was a hardened warrior, a leader who knew what it meant to sacrifice for the whole of her tribe, and she had made this choice. She merely locked eyes with me, silently demanding that I not try to save her.
With the self-destruct on Lucia’s staff threatening to kill us all, I bowed my head, held her gaze for more moment, then turned away, running.
Abigail’s breathing became erratic, snapping me into action. With every step away from the fight, I hated myself more.
As I rounded the corner and raced into the hangar, I had tunnel vision. All I could think of was the shuttle, and all I could see was the floor in front of me. It left me vulnerable, perhaps, but it was all I could do to make myself put one foot in front of the other. I shut out everything else—I had to.
“It’s about to get loud,” Lucia said through the comm in my ear. I could hear the blood gurgling in her mouth as she paused. “You’d best be on that shuttle before it does.”
“Lucia…” I didn’t know what to say.
“Spare me the sentiment, boy,” she said, choking on a bit more of her blood. “If you want to do right by me, then save Earth. You save Josef and Karin. Tell them...” The old woman’s voice cracked for the first time with emotion before she cleared it. “Tell them I died with honor and I loved them with my last breath."
I hesitated, sitting in the weight of what she was asking for. “I will,” I promised after a moment.
“Ms. Lucia has terminated the transmission,” said Sigmond. “Would you like me to reestablish it?”
“No, Siggy,” I said, my jaw tensing as I tried to shove aside the grief shredding through my chest. “Let her have her peace.”
The shuttle door
was open and waiting for us as I raced toward the ship. Without so much as slowing down, I charged onboard to find McCabe waiting with a gun fixed on the empty landing bay behind us, just in case. He scanned the bay and waited, no doubt expecting Lucia to follow. With a deep frown, I simply shook my head, not quite able to put any of this into words just yet. He paused, seeming to understand, and hit the button to close the door before running to the cockpit.
Carefully, I set Abigail in one of the chairs by the closing door, wishing I could lay her on a table instead of sitting her upright. But I needed to strap her in—as I was fairly sure things were about to get really rough. To be safe, I left her helmet on so that Sigmond could continue monitoring the full range of her vitals and brain activity.
“Siggy, how’s she doing?” I asked.
“Not well, sir,” answered the Cognitive. “We need to get her into a medical bay as soon as possible.”
“Hang in there, Abby,” I said softly, squeezing her hand. With the former nun safely strapped into her seat, I jogged toward the bridge. “You got a seat up there for me, McCabe?”
“Yes, Captain Hughes,” said the pilot.
I jogged through the shuttle to join him in the cockpit, buckling into the nearest chair as soon as I sat down. The moment the shuttle was pressurized and oxygen once more flowed through the cabin, I broke the seal on my helmet and tossed it aside so I could see better.
“Talk to me,” I ordered the pilot. “Where is the Nebula Prospect? Have they docked with Titan yet?”
“No, sir,” said McCabe. “They’re en route and nearly there.”
“Tell them to fly faster,” I said. “And while you’re at it, get us the hell out of here.”
“Yes, sir,” said the pilot. He messed with the controls, quickly mobilizing the shuttle as he prepared to leave. “Initializing—”
A violent explosion rocked the ground as McCabe powered the engines and slowly began to lift us from the platform. Blue fire rolled out of the tunnel Abigail and I had just left, and a bit of me died as I watched the entrance crumble around the remnants of the blast. I balled my hands into painfully tight fists at the thought of Lucia in that corridor. My throat tightened as the tunnel slowly receded behind us.
