by JN Chaney
I missed most of the spread, while his struck my shield. The cockpit shook violently, and I held onto my seat while the stabilizers adjusted. If not for my shield, it would have been far worse.
“Sir, the slip tunnel is opening,” informed Siggy.
“Not now!” I barked, holding the control sticks and trying to target the other vessel. He rolled sideways, out of my spread. “Fuck!”
This ship moved better than the others, adjusting for my actions. This guy was a pro, I acknowledged, but he wouldn’t beat me here. Not after I’d gone through all the trouble of stealing that core.
I targeted the nearest mine, one of the three resting beneath the ring, none of which had been detonated yet, and fired.
The mine triggered, exploding in a wild display. It was too far to actually hit the other ship, but for a moment he stopped firing, probably surprised.
The strike ship wavered, and I fired off his right side, forcing him further toward the other mines. When he was close enough, I shot again, but this time I hit the second bomb, and it lit the ring up, catching the ship with it.
The enemy vessel tumbled, half of its left side gone. Before it could do anything else, I unloaded a string of torpedoes into him, landing two direct hits. He was gone in seconds, turned to dust and scraps.
“Captain Hughes,” came a voice from out of nowhere. I recognized it as Athena’s.
“I’m here,” I answered, trying to pull myself out of my focus. My whole body had been tense, without me even realizing it. I tried to relax, taking a long breath and exhaling.
“This is Titan. Prepare for departure, please. We must leave quickly.”
“Right, I’m coming back now. Hold your position,” I answered, turning The Renegade Star towards the recently opened slip tunnel and the giant moon that had just left it.
My thrusters kicked in and the ship began to move, headed straight for Titan. “Siggy, take us close enough for the tractor beam to grab us. Let me know when we’re there,” I said.
“Understood, sir,” said Sigmond.
I watched as my holo changed to a close up of Titan, with our new coordinates locked in.
With a quick breath, I steadied my calm, and unlocked my harness, pulling it over my head. I got up and headed to the door, intent on checking back with Abigail and the others. I’d left them in the cargo bay, hoping they could handle the situation themselves, but Abby wasn’t a medic or a surgeon. She couldn’t save a dying man, not if it came to that. Taking life came easy to me and her, but saving it…that took another kind of skill, and it was beyond us.
I jogged through the ship, passing through the lounge and into the rear corridor. When I finally reached the cargo bay, I found Abby resting on her knees with Alphonse’s head in her lap. His eyes were closed and I instantly thought the worst.
But no, I quickly noticed, his chest was rising. He was only asleep. The nun had managed, somehow, to keep him alive through all the fighting, through all the death and killing taking place beyond these walls. Somehow, this little prick was hanging on.
And, much to my own surprise, I was glad for it.
TEN
The second we docked on Titan, Athena asked me to head to the elevator. I’d have to get the core to Engineering…and fast.
I didn’t waste any time.
The Star’s engines were still settling when I bolted out of my ship’s cargo bay and into the megastructure, leaving Abigail to tend to the injured Constable and the no-doubt confused Dr. Dressler beside him.
I saw the elevator doors open before I even reached them. Racing through the corridor towards them, I was surprised to see someone already inside. It was Athena, standing tall and vibrant, with Lex beside her, smiling. “Mr. Hughes!” called the little girl, waving at me.
I slowed, stopping when I reached the lift. “What’s this about?” I asked, looking at Athena. “Why isn’t Lex with Octavia or Freddie?”
“I’ve asked Lex to assist us in this process,” explained Athena.
“Assist?” I asked.
She stepped aside, inviting me to enter. “Please,” she said, gesturing with her hand. “I’ll explain on the way. We must hurry.”
I decided to trust her and boarded the elevator. As the doors closed, I felt Lex’s hand touch my sleeve. I glanced down and saw her smiling at me. I couldn’t help but return it. “You okay, kid?”
She nodded. “Did you have fun on your trip?”
“Always do,” I said, leaving out the part where I almost took a bullet in the face.
“I had fun, too,” said Lex, enthusiastically.
“Oh, yeah?” I asked.
She grinned. “Me and Camilla played while you were gone. Athena helped, too!”
I glanced up at the Cognitive. “That right?”
“The children found their way into one of the lower sections of the ship. I escorted them out,” explained Athena.
The elevator slowed as we reached our destination. “You still haven’t said where we’re taking the core,” I said, right as the lift opened. The deck looked dark and dimly lit, from what I could see, like all the life in this place had been drained out.
Lex and I stepped out of the lift, while Athena remained inside. I looked back when I realized she wasn’t with us. “You coming?” I asked.
“You will require the child’s dermal implants in order to gain entry to the engine room,” said Athena. “The emitters on this level are currently inoperable, due to the power shortage we are experiencing. It seems I used too much during our stay in the slip tunnel. I’ll regain control once you insert the core.”
“You’re not making this easy,” I said, but didn’t bother asking any questions. If Titan was losing so much power that Athena couldn’t even display herself in certain areas of the ship, we probably didn’t have much time before the entire megastructure ran out of juice. I took Lex by the hand. “Ready to do this, kid?”
She nodded. “Ready!”
We left Athena and began moving to the far end of this part of the deck. There were seats and consoles sitting everywhere, giving the appearance of a bustling facility where one might expect to see dozens of personnel, only now it was totally empty. I felt like I was running through an abandoned ship, which I supposed was exactly true, since it had been nearly two thousand years since living humans walked these halls.
Lex and I came upon a gray door, taller than me and three times as wide. It had no handles or nearby pads to enter any codes. Nothing to tell me what to do next. I stood there for a second, stupidly ignorant of how to proceed.
The little girl beside me released my hand and approached the door. I opened my mouth to tell her to wait, when suddenly a soft blue light emitted from above our heads. It was a scanner, resting on top of the door, shining down on us. I blinked, watching it curiously before I realized what it must be picking up.
I glanced back down at Lex to see her tattoos lighting up, the same way they had every time she’d played with an artifact. She glowed in the dark, illuminating the area around us.
Lex raised her hand to the door, and suddenly it opened, cracking apart with a heavy grind.
“Nice one, kid,” I muttered, staring at the opening doors.
“Told you I could help,” she said.
I smiled, nodding. “That you did, kid.”
We continued forward, running further into the deeper recesses of Engineering. More empty consoles and seats on each side. I was surprised to find Lex unfazed by this, as so many children seemed to fear dark places. Instead, she was curious enough to explore, to keep going farther.
And so we did, running straight through the final corridor to reach the engine room.
As we arrived, we found the ceiling had opened up, fading into darkness as it stretched high into the ship. Lights blinked on the nearby dash, close to a massive tube, which I assumed must be the engine. It was difficult to know if this was the place or if the core itself was elsewhere, but given the way the tube had been placed—center o
f the room, surrounded by consoles and lights—I assumed it must be.
Lex began to glow again, only this time she didn’t have to touch anything. Instead, something on the console reacted. I stepped closer to see a slit open, round and about the size of the core, itself.
I reached into my pocket, pulling out the power source. “All that work, just for this,” I muttered, staring at the core. I brought it above the console. “This better work, Athena.”
I slid the container inside, finding a perfect fit. There was a hard click, followed by a humming sound. The machine twisted the core where it sat, rotating it to the left, nearly all the way, then slightly to the right. I waited, my eyes lingering once it stopped. “That’s it?” I asked. “Is it broken or—”
The console sucked the core inside itself, startling me, and the humming noise grew louder, vibrating the floor beneath our feet. “What’s that?” asked Lex.
I grabbed her hand to keep her steady, taking the nearby wall with my other. A burst of green light boomed from inside the tube, illuminating the surrounding area as the glow spread into the upper recesses of the ship, high above our heads and into the vertical tunnel. Another burst quickly followed, and then another. Rapid firing continued until the lights began to blur into one another, until the bursts became a steady stream of glowing light.
The tunnel above us stretched so far into the ship that I couldn’t see the end.
Lex and I stood together, lost in the array of color. If Athena was to be believed, this was one of the most powerful engines in the galaxy, and now it was coming online.
The vibrating floor and the sounds of the core began to slow, like a storm was ending. After a few more moments, the chaos seemed to settle, replaced with the electric hum of an idling engine.
The overhead lights turned on at once, surprising us both. It happened one at a time, with sections of the deck lighting up, bit by bit, until everything was normal. The consoles powered on next, blinking red and yellow dots filling the workstations with activity, despite having no one there to operate them. This formerly dead part of the ship suddenly felt very much alive.
Through all this, the core never lost its powerful green glow, however, and it continued to dominate the room, drawing my eyes like I was a bug.
Athena popped into existence, right in front of us. “Well done,” she said at last.
I was glad to see her emitters back online, the final sign I needed to know the core had worked.
Lex ran up to her. “Did we do it right?”
“Yes, you did, Lex,” said the Cognitive. “Excellent work.”
Lex cheered, turning to me, like I was expected to join in. I conceded a smile, and she seemed to think that was good enough.
“What’s the plan, Athena? What do we do now?” I asked, staring up into the bowels of the core above my head. The lights went deep into the megastructure, and I couldn’t help but be taken aback by it.
“Now?” asked Athena, stepping closer to me, a concerned look in her eyes. “Now, Captain Hughes, I believe it is time for us to run.”
* * *
“Titan’s energy reserves had nearly been depleted when we arrived,” explained Athena.
We were back in slipspace, headed as far away from the goddamn Union as we could get. I stood on the bridge, along with Abigail and Freddie, who’d rushed to meet me here so we could formulate some kind of strategy.
Abigail continued. “We had enough to open a final tunnel, should we have needed it. Thankfully, the mission had been a success, and Captain Hughes managed to get the core back in time.”
“Lucky,” said Freddie.
“Not for Alphonse,” I said. “Speaking of, how’s he doing?”
Abigail shook her head. “Critical. He needs surgery. Octavia is handling it, although I’m uncertain whether she has the necessary tools or experience.”
“She’s a former medic,” said Freddie.
“Hardly the same as a surgeon,” argued Abigail.
“Please, everyone,” interjected Athena. “Soon, Titan’s systems will be back online. That includes more than the engines.”
“What are you saying?” asked Abby.
“This vessel contains a medical bay with multiple regeneration pods. Once the core has fully rebooted and all systems have been restored, all serious injuries can be seen to.”
“What’s all that, now?” I asked. “Are you saying you can heal Alphonse?”
“Certainly,” said the Cognitive, like it was obvious. “Titan was built with the most sophisticated medical equipment available. In addition to the regeneration pods, we also have a complete line of surgical units.”
“Jace, we have to get Alphonse to one of those pods,” said Abigail.
“We can’t,” said Freddie. “The systems haven’t come back yet.”
“Correct,” said Athena. “It will be some time before all areas of Titan are restored, including the medical bay.”
“Athena, can you show us the feed of Octavia and Alphonse?” I asked.
She nodded, then waved her hand, changing the wall to screen behind her to show the landing bay, near The Renegade Star.
“Hey, you didn’t freeze up this time,” observed Freddie.
“A result of the new core,” she explained.
“It’s nice to see something has improved,” I remarked.
Octavia was in her chair, sitting beside an unconscious Alphonse, with Hitchens and Bolin on the other side of him. The two men were handing her equipment, helping with what I could only guess was some sort of surgery.
“Can you open a channel?” I asked.
Athena nodded. “Speak when ready, Captain.”
Octavia currently had a metal object inside of Alphonse’s chest, so I waited a moment before I spoke. When she brought the tool away from him and there was no danger in accidentally nicking an artery, I said, “Can anyone hear me?”
Octavia flinched at the sound of my voice “Captain?” she said.
“Yeah, Athena patched me through. How’s Alphonse? Did you get the bullet out?” I asked.
She relaxed. “Not yet,” she said, shaking her head. “We’re still working on it. I think I’ll have it out of him soon, but I’m concerned about internal bleeding, should we remove it. The bullet is in a delicate position.”
“Is it possible to keep it contained?” asked Abigail.
“He’s stable for the moment, but I can’t promise he won’t bleed out if we leave him this way,” said Octavia.
“Athena says she has a way to fix him, but it’ll take time,” I said.
Octavia looked at Hitchens. “Fix him?” She glanced back at the ceiling. “How?”
“There’s a medical bay on the ship, but power’s still being restored. We need you to keep him alive for—” I glanced at Athena. “How long?”
“Enough power should be restored in thirty minutes, approximately,” said the Cognitive. “However, this is only an estimate. The process has not been attempted in quite some time.”
“Right, we’ll take our chances,” I said. “Did you get all that, Octavia?”
“I did,” she said, wiping some blood from Alphonse’s chest. “I’ll do what I can until you’re ready.”
“Right,” I said, motioning with my hand to Athena. “That’s all for now.”
The screen went dark.
“Things are looking up,” said Freddie. “If the medical bay is operational, of course.”
I nodded. “It will be, I’m sure.”
“You sound positive about that,” said Abigail.
I shrugged. I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but we wouldn’t know anything until Athena brought that department back online. Until then, it was better to hope for the best.
If the plan fell apart, Octavia would have to step up and do the surgery, for better or worse. Those were really the only two options. Either the medical pod saved the Constable…or Octavia did. Either way, there wasn’t much I could do about it, and I hated worrying a
bout things I had no say in.
Better to focus on what I could control. “We need to do something about that woman, too,” I said, changing the subject.
“What woman?” asked Freddie.
“Dressler,” said Abigail. “We brought her back from Priscilla.”
“You did what?!” asked Freddie. “When were you going to mention that?”
“When we had time,” said the nun.
“She’s in Abby’s old room on The Star,” I explained. “I’ll go check on her. She’s probably freaking out.”
“You’ve been back for a few hours now. Has she been there this whole time?” asked Freddie.
I shrugged and got to my feet. “She’s fine.”
“Captain, before you leave,” said Athena. She teleported beside me, causing me to stop, abruptly. “Due to our creating this slip tunnel, we are being forced to use our energy in such a way that Titan’s restoration will take longer than normal. If we stop for only an hour, we can have all major systems back online, including the medical facility as well as weapons and shields.”
“Weapons?” I asked. “Lady, why didn’t you say so? Pull out of this pipe as soon as you can.”
