by M. D. Cooper
“He didn’t make it,” Nance replied in her unnerving Widow’s voice. “Turns out his people didn’t like him as much as I’d thought.”
Jessica couldn’t tell if it was the ethereal sound of Nance’s words, or something else, but she wasn’t entirely certain if Nance had told her the truth.
She quashed her worry for the time being. “Less to worry about then. We have to get up to the CC.”
“What about the jump gate?” Nance asked.
* * * * *
Cargo almost leapt out of his seat with joy when Cheeky’s voice came in over the comm system.
Cargo glanced at Finaeus who rose from his seat, staring at Costa station on the forward display.
Cargo sent the signal to Trevor. A moment later, the pinnace separated from Sabrina and boosted toward the station.
Trevor laughed over the Link.
A holo appeared in the pilot’s seat. It was the female figure Sabrina often used as her Avatar over the Link. She turned and winked at Cargo.
“I figured that would be more comfortable for you. Plus, I want to see if it helps me fly with my gut.”
Cargo shook his head as he sat back down in the command chair. “Let’s give that destroyer hell.”
* * * * *
Cheeky ducked down behind a console as weapons fire poured into the command center. “Shit, these assholes just won’t give up!”
“Yes, I don’t think they have any intention of giving up,” Addie said as she moved to a new position and fired through the CC’s half-ruined doors.
Cheeky sighed and glanced back at the holodisplay that showed space around Costa and the jump gate. Sabrina was visible on it, now, leading the destroyer away from the station while the SS Sexy made its approach to the airlock near the command center.
“Time to blow some shit up,” she muttered and opened up the satchel with the detpacks.
Cheeky chuckled. “Gonna be real hard to re-align the gate with the CC gone.”
“Good,” Cheeky said as she moved from cover to cover. Addie kept up the pressure and Cheeky reached the left side of the room without incident, planting the detpack against the support column.
She looked across the command center, gauging the best route to the other support column when an explosion shook the deck and spun to see more of the door rent wide. Smoke filled the entrance, and the enemy fire slackened for a moment.
“Shit!” she swore.
Cheeky was a meter from her destination when a spray of kinetic slugs tore through the air. She dove low, sliding across the floor and scampering behind the column.
“Can’t look yet,” Cheeky muttered as she set the detpack at the base of the column and armed it.
Cheeky finally looked down at her body a gave a soft shuddering gasp. The left side of her abdomen was a bloody ruin.
“Holy shit!” she screamed as pain slammed into her, followed by a sudden wave of dizziness.
Cheeky put a hand to her neck and pulled it back looking at the blood flowing down her arm. “Whoa…that’s a lot…”
Addie was beside her a second later, firing her rifle at the door, explosive tipped rounds shredding anything in their path as she applied biofoam to Cheeky’s neck.
“There’s too many out there,” Addie said and Cheeky was certain she heard worry in the AHAP’s voice. “I only have one mag after this.”
Cheeky tried to lift her rifle to fire toward the door, but it was just too heavy. Shots tore through a nearby console, and she barely had the strength to flinch.
Addie dropped her rifle and grabbed Cheeky’s, opening fire once more.
Something felt strange, memories of her life kept flashing through Cheeky’s mind. Most seemed to be from the past eighteen years, and emotions assaulted Cheeky as she relived what felt like half her life in under a minute.
A moment later a burst of energy came over her, as though something that had been sapping her energy was gone.
Addie was looking at Cheeky with her black-helmeted head tilted to the side. “Hold on just a bit longer. Don’t let them disarm the detpacks.”
Addie passed her pistol to Cheeky and then drew Cheeky’s own and placed it in her other hand.
“Don’t let them through,” Addie said in the breathy rasp of a Widow. “Cover me.”
Cheeky didn’t understand what the AHAP was saying. “What? You’re supposed to cover me!”
An explosion flared beyond the doors and Addie rose up, rushing toward the exit, rifle tucked against her shoulder, firing controlled bursts.
Then Addie was gone, lost in the smoke from the explosion.
* * * * *
Jessica skidded to a halt as the entrance to the command center came into view. At least two-dozen Oggie soldiers were clustered around the half-ruined doors, shooting into the command center while a smattering of return fi
re came out.
Easing out from cover, the two women opened fire on the soldiers, tearing into their ranks. The Oggies up here were wearing better armor than those below, and only three dropped before half the enemy spun and returned fire.
“Need an assist?” a voice said from behind Jessica and she spun to see a hulking figure in heavy-powered armor lumber into view.
“Trevor!” Jessica exclaimed. “Yes, quick! Cheeky and Addie are trapped down there. I can’t seem to reach either of them on the Link, but there’s shots coming out.”
Trevor was already moving as Jessica spoke, swinging a kinetic chain gun out into the corridor and opening fire on the Oggie soldiers. Five went down in the opening salvo, and then something exploded in the corridor and the space was filled with smoke.
It was a Widow, but Jessica couldn’t tell if it was Cheeky or Addie.
“We gotta go!” the figure called out, and Jessica’s HUD registered the figure as Addie.
The AHAP ducked around the corner and Jessica grabbed her arm. “You left her!” Jessica screamed. “What did you do, Addie?”
“She ordered me to go,” Addie said. “I had to save her!”
“No!” Nance screamed, racing down the corridor, firing wildly at the Oggie soldiers while Trevor covered her with his chaingun.
“Fuck!” Jessica swore and took off after Nance.
Several Oggie soldiers turned to open fire on her, but Jessica unleashed blasts of energy from her hands at each, taking out one after another until her Retyna gauge hit zero.
A shot from Trevor took out the last of the enemy soldiers and Jessica sprinted on. Her longer legs gave her enough speed to catch up to Nance at the entrance to the command center. She scanned the area, looking for Cheeky. Jessica’s heart leapt into her throat when she caught sight of Cheeky slumped against a column on the right side of the room. Her helmet was off and a pair of dead Oggie soldiers lay at her feet.
“Cheeky!” Jessica cried out and swung a leg over the ruin of the door.
“No! Jessica! Go!” Cheeky screamed, blood spraying out of her mouth.
Nance was right beside Jessica, half straddling the ruined door. “Cheeky! We’re coming for you!”
“Go! It’s gonna blow!” Cheeky shrieked and waved her arms frantically.
Jessica took an involuntary step forward—she couldn’t abandon her friend. Not here, not after they’d been through so much.
Then fire consumed the command center.
The force of the explosion picked Jessica up and threw her back into the corridor where she slammed into a bulkhead, cracking the back of her head against a beam.
Her vision swam as a secondary SHOOM thundered through the corridor and her ears popped. She struggled to her feet while everything around her sounded like it was underwater—or she was underwater.
A wind pulled at her, dragging her to the end of the corridor and Jessica knew that was bad—but that’s where Cheeky was. She had to save Cheeky.
Then a strong hand clamped around her arm and another wrapped around her torso. She was pressed up against something black. Was it Cheeky? No, Cheeky’s helmet had been off, she distinctly remembered that.
She’s gone…Cheeky’s gone….
She went limp, all her energy gone as Trevor carried her and Nance down a corridor and through an airlock.
With a start, Jessica realized they were in the Sexy and tried to pull free from Trevor. “Trevor!” she said, her voice sounding strange.
Hot tears spilled down Jessica’s face as she screamed something even she didn’t understand while beating her fist against the bulkhead.
She heard cursing next to her, saw that Nance was trying to get her helmet off. Jessica reached out and helped her, the helmet split apart a moment later and Nance’s tear-streaked face came into view.
Jessica didn’t know what to say, and gathered Nance into her arms as a loud clang heralded the Sexy’s departure from Costa station.
Jessica nodded. She had a duty to perform. She knew how to do that. As she rose, her gaze fell on Addie’s motionless form next to Nance. A hole had been blown clear through the AHAP’s torso, and her left leg was missing.
“Fucking machine! Why’d you leave her?” Jessica swore and kicked Addie. She didn’t move, and Jessica wiped the tears from her face before turning toward the cockpit.
She slid into a seat beside Trevor, trying to control her breathing as she took stock of the situation. The holodisplay showed Costa behind them and the jump gate ahead. Sabrina was to their starboard, firing its beams at the OG destroyer, while Trevor jinked the Sexy, avoiding beamfire from the two patrol craft near the gate.
“You got it?” Trevor asked. “I’ll take the beams.”
Jessica glanced at Trevor, noting the concern in his eyes.
“Yeah, I got it,”
She took control of the ship, dumping it into a corkscrew spin before veering off, cutting across the bows of the two patrol craft, giving Trevor clear shots, which he took, blowing one of the enemy ships out of the black.
Jessica looked at the long-range scan which displayed over a hundred cruisers and destroyers bearing down on Costa station. They were still out of effective beam range, but wouldn’t be in just a few minutes.
“Why can’t we get a fucking break?” Jessica swore and punched a console.
“Stay on target,” Trevor said. “Link us up and we jump out.”
Jessica looked at the gate. It was active, ready for Sabrina’s bow-mirror to touch the roiling not-space at the center of the ring and send them home.
Home…. Jessica could find no meaning in the word as she spun the Sexy and boosted back toward Sabrina. Beyond the starfreighter, the enemy destroyer began to split and then cracked in half, gouts of fire bursting into space as the Oggie ship burned to death.
“Die, motherfuckers,” Jessica whispered as she lined the Sexy up with Sabrina.
Sabrina called back.
Jessica wanted to congratulate Sabrina, but the words wouldn’t come.
Jessica put all her focus into bringing the Sexy down onto Sabrina’s back where the small cradle and ship-to-ship airlock waited.
She hit the armatures hard, and nearly bounced off, but then Sabrina pulled them into place with a grav field and the armatures made grapple.
Jessica heard a sound from behind her and turned to see Nance standing beside her seat. She reached out a hand and Nance clasped it while Trevor reached over and placed a hand on Jessica’s thigh.
None of them moved or spoke as the jump gate grew larger and l
arger. They saw Sabrina’s mirror flow out from the bow of the ship and then time seemed to slow as it met the energy on the gate’s focal line.
Then everything disappeared.
3KPC
STELLAR DATE: 03.22.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Sabrina
REGION: Unknown Location, Milky Way Galaxy
“Were the missiles on target?” Cargo asked, the moment space disappeared around them.
“They were lined up,” Finaeus replied. “Those asshats won’t even see them until the last second. Then their gate goes poof.”
Finaeus splayed his fingers and spread his hands through the air to emphasize his point.
“You sure the relativistic missiles can take out the gate?” Misha asked.
Finaeus snorted. “Misha, my boy. That’s the thing about jump gates. They’re fragile. Especially while they’re on. Even if one of those RMs detonates within a thousand klicks, that gate’s done. Probably take out half of Costa when it goes, too.”
He wanted to ask who or what, but didn’t want to know at the same time.
Cargo caught Finaeus’s eye and they shared a look of fear before Jessica responded.
Cargo felt a lump form in his throat as Sabrina wailed audibly and Finaeus collapsed into a chair. Misha rose, tears streaming down his face, and took a few halting steps to Finaeus and knelt beside the ancient man before wrapping his arms around him.
Cargo lost track of time as they waited for the rest of the team to arrive. It felt like forever, but it was still too soon when Jessica, Trevor, and Nance shuffled onto the bridge.
Nance rushed to Cargo and wrapped her arms around him, and the pair held one another for several minutes. He was dimly aware of soft murmurs as the other members of the crew spoke, and the AIs lamented.
