Darius glanced away, out to the Marines’ Osprey. It was even farther away than his fighter, and landed on a wall directly above open space.
Darius wondered how in the galaxy he was supposed to reach that transport. The Marines had all been wearing zero-G thruster packs, but he wasn’t. “Fek it!” Darius pounded the wall beside him. Why hadn’t he thought to steal a thruster pack from one of the dead Marines? Despair clawed at his heart. This was never going to work. If the station weren’t rotating, they might have been able to jump and drift through zero-G to reach the Osprey, but with the station rotating as it was, they’d fall out into space if they tried that.
There had to be another way. The kids didn’t have thruster packs, so how had the Marines been planning to get them over to the Ospreys?
Darius looked around quickly. That was when he spotted a big metal chest sitting beside the airlock. Bingo. He hurried over and lifted the lid to find—
Pressure suits!
Darius quickly sifted through the remaining contents of the chest, hoping to find something else.
But there weren’t any spare thruster packs—not even a rope that they could use to climb.
This was it: the end of the line; they were backed into a corner with no way out.
Chapter 61
“Hello, Darius.”
He jumped and spun around to look for the source of that voice. Then he realized that it was coming over the comms.
“Tanik?”
“Bring the pressure suits. We don’t have much time.”
Darius didn’t stick around to argue. He grabbed the equipment chest by one of its handles and dragged it through the airlock.
He found Tanik waiting with the kids on the other side. The man was swaying on his feet, and his right arm was missing. A suit patch covered the scorched black armor around his empty shoulder socket, and his left arm clutched the shoulder strap of a large, heavy-looking black bag. His sword was gone.
“Get them dressed,” Tanik croaked, and nodded to the kids.
Darius hurriedly opened the chest and passed one of the suits and helmets to Cassandra.
“Put it on,” he said, as he passed out the rest of the suits.
It soon became apparent that not all of the kids had the right body types. These suits were designed to fit human adults, not alien teenagers.
The Banshee was the right height, but he had too many arms and legs, so Darius told him to cross his extra arms over his torso. That worked. But others, like the Korothian, simply didn’t fit. The helmet was too small for his giant head.
Darius grimaced and took the suit from him, passing it along to one of the other kids. He went on like that, passing the suits along each time one of them didn’t fit, and by the time Darius was done, he still had one pressure suit left with no one to put it on.
There were seven kids without pressure suits and only five with.
Darius glanced at Tanik. “Now what?”
“We take the ones in suits first. The others will have to go without protection. We’ll do what we can for them.”
Those kids began murmuring worriedly and exchanging looks with one another, but Tanik ignored them. “Let’s go,” he said, and strode through the airlock.
Darius ushered the ones in suits through one after another. Cassandra went last, and he told her to stay close to the airlock. As soon as she was through, he addressed the remaining seven children: “You can survive exposure to vacuum for a few minutes. We’ll make sure it isn’t any longer than that. I’ll come back for you as soon as we’re ready, all right?”
“Wait!” one of the kids yelled, and they all surged forward.
Darius darted through the airlock before they could grab him, and watched helplessly from the other side of the transparent, magnetically-sealed doors. He shook his head, warning them not to try to follow, but the white-furred Korothian pushed through to the front of the group and pounded on the doors with giant fists. He let out a thunderous roar that speckled the doors with spittle. His blue eyes blazed with fury.
Don’t. Darius thought.
The Korothian pounded on the doors again, and this time he didn’t let up.
Stop it!
But it was too late. The seal broke, and the Korothian came flying through on a torrent of escaping air. He hit Darius, knocking him over, and they went tumbling over the side of the ruined hangar doors and out into space. Darius had just enough time to catch the horrified look on Cassandra’s face as he and all seven of the other kids went sailing by her like lemmings off a cliff.
* * *
Tanik watched with an angry scowl as Darius tumbled out into space. He reached out into the source field, trying to pull Darius back in, but he failed. It was taking all of his strength just to suppress the pain of his missing arm and to remain conscious.
Instead, he contacted Lieutenant Carter on the Deliverance.
“Sir?”
“I need an emergency rescue and recovery mission at the Crucible. Commander Drake is EVA.”
“Sir, all of our pilots are out in the Vultures, except for Lieutenant Nelson, and he’s in no shape to fly after his friendly fire incident.”
Tanik grimaced and shook his head. “We do have one pilot.”
“Who?”
“Lieutenant Dyara Eraya. She’s in the psych ward down in med bay. Send her.”
“Right away, sir. Is she... fit to fly?”
“Fit enough. Tell her it’s Darius she’s rescuing.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tanik closed down his comms, and gestured with an upraised palm to the shell-shocked group of kids waiting with him inside the hangar. Wait here, he thought at them, and then he triggered his zero-G thruster and blasted off, aiming for the open airlock at the back of the Osprey. He reached the airlock and just barely managed to grab one of the handrails with his remaining arm. The heavy bag of artifacts he had slung over that shoulder was not making it any easier.
Tanik pulled himself inside the airlock and cast about for the nearest reel of zero-G tether. He found it right beside him. Setting his bag down inside the airlock, he hurriedly clipped the tether to his suit, and boosted back to the kids.
Tanik landed heavily beside Cassandra and found a buckled support beam to loop the tether through. He clipped the tether to itself and gave the line a firm tug to test it. It would hold.
That done, he turned around—
Cassandra was glaring at him, her eyes red and shining with tears behind her helmet.
My dad? she mouthed, and then pointed to the gulf of empty space just beyond the place where they were standing.
Tanik nodded. We’ll get him, he thought at her, and then mimed a swooping bird with his hand to imitate the rescue.
Cassandra seemed to get it, so he gestured to the tether now running between the Osprey and the side of the hangar. He placed one hand over the line and imitated using it like a zip line. He got a few confused looks from some of the other kids, but Cassandra nodded. Even so, he could sense the unanswered question in her head: how were they supposed to slide up the line?
Tanik gave her another upraised palm, and thought at her: wait and see. Then he blasted back to the open airlock of the Osprey. He grabbed the handrail once more and pulled himself inside. As soon as he was in, he slung his bag of artifacts over his shoulder. He then used the airlock controls to override the safeties and cycle the inner doors open without first shutting the outer ones.
A sudden blast of air billowed out, almost taking him with it, but he held fast to the handrail. As soon as that gust was gone, Tanik looked up. The cockpit was fifteen meters straight up, with half a standard G pulling him down....
There was only one way up. He had to jump. Tanik drew on the source field with what little strength he had left, and then sprang straight up. He sailed up through the ship, straight into the cockpit, and grabbed the back of the pilot’s chair with one hand. He mentally triggered the cockpit door shut behind him and then hauled himself up and maneu
vered into a sitting position.
Tanik carefully stowed his bag in the webbed compartment beneath his chair and then struggled to fasten his acceleration harness one-handed. As soon as he finished, he flipped the ignition, and grabbed the flight stick.
He activated a rear-view camera on one of his displays to keep an eye on his makeshift zip line, and then he released the docking clamps.
The Osprey immediately fell toward open space, but Tanik pushed the throttle up to compensate. That only partially worked, and he had to use the docking jets to help hold the Osprey steady just below the point where the children were waiting.
He mentally activated the winch on the tether to pull it taut, and then waggled the Osprey’s wings at the kids, hoping they’d get the message. They did. Cassandra went first, sliding down the line with her gloves wrapped around it. A second later, she fell into the waiting airlock, and the remaining four kids followed her. As soon as they were all inside, Tanik released the tether and shut the outer doors. Remembering that they didn’t have much oxygen in their suits, he shut the inner airlock doors, too, and pressurized the airlock. As soon as there was enough air to convey sound, he activated the Osprey’s PA system and said, “Hold on to something!”
Then he hit the throttle. The Osprey roared out into space. He inched the throttle up just as quickly as he dared, hoping no one got too badly hurt in the process.
The Deliverance’s Vulture Squadrons were all waiting in a holding pattern outside the station.
“Black Leader to SB-22 Delta One, your escort is standing by.”
Tanik recognized that voice as belonging to the black-furred Lassarian, Ra.
“Thank you, Black Leader,” he replied. “How are we for time?”
“ETA five minutes to weapons range with the Cygnian fleet. They’re already through the Eye. You’re just in time, sir.”
Tanik grimaced. Dyara better be on her way to rescue Darius. “What about the other transports?” Tanik asked.
“Yours is the only one we’ve seen. We just assumed...”
Tanik shut his eyes and reached out into the source field toward the Crucible, looking for the familiar, friendly minds of his Marines, but he couldn’t sense even one of them. He cracked his eyes open and shook his head. “You assumed correctly. Withdraw your pilots, Lieutenant.”
“Sir, Flight Ops mentioned an EVA rescue.... we’ve got an Eagle incoming.”
“How far out is it?” Tanik asked as he set course for the Deliverance and pushed the throttle up to three Gs.
“Six minutes and counting, sir.”
Tanik cursed under his breath and shook his head. One minute too long.
But they couldn’t afford to leave Darius behind. He was too important.
Tanik swallowed a sigh and activated his comms once more. “I’ll fly back to the Deliverance myself. You just make sure that Eagle makes it back safe, understood Lieutenant?”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter 62
Darius watched the stars spin around his head in lazy circles. One minute he saw the ring-shaped Crucible, the next... empty space; then the Crucible... then empty space.
Darius squeezed his eyes shut and tried not to panic. Someone would rescue him. They’d send an Eagle. That’s what the RR-3’s were for.
But who was going to pilot it? Blake?
They hadn’t budgeted for rescue pilots in any of the sim runs because they couldn’t spare them, and because successful ejections were rare.
That oversight seemed a lot more serious now that Darius was about to become its first victim. He cracked his eyes open and shook his head. Space was still swirling around him: cold black void, gleaming stars, vibrant blue swirls of nebula...
It was beautiful.
Long minutes passed with nothing but the sound of Darius’s own breath reverberating inside his oxygen mask to keep his thoughts company.
At least he’d rescued Cassandra. At least she was safe.
Or was she? He hadn’t actually seen Tanik take her aboard his Osprey. And how was he planning to get those kids over there anyway? He had one arm, and one thruster pack. He couldn’t possibly carry them all over one by one...
Doubt gnawed at Darius’s nerves. He tried activating his comms to make contact, but an error began blinking before his eyes:
Out of Range.
Ejected pilots had powerful emergency comms transmitters in their seats, but Darius had no such equipment. Cold dread rippled through him. Even if they sent an Eagle, it would never be able to find him without an emergency beacon to home in on.
This was it.
Darius blew out a shaky breath and tried to calm his racing heart. He was never going to see Cassandra again.
Long minutes passed with that thought playing over and over in his head, driving him mad.
Then a familiar voice came crackling into his helmet. “Darius, is that you?” He spun through another circle to see the blocky shape of an Eagle hovering there beside him. “Darius, answer me!” It was Dyara.
He blinked in shock. “Dya? How the hell did you find me?” he asked.
“Tanik. He told me where to look.”
“He made it back? Is Cass—”
“She’s fine. Let’s worry about you right now. Are you okay?
“I think so....”
“Good. I’m deploying a guided tether to drag you in. Tell me when you can see it.”
He saw a snaking silver line shoot out the back of the Eagle and come slithering toward him on a bright blue thruster. “I see it,” he said.
The tether came right up to him, so close that he could almost touch it. He reached out for it—
And a shimmering net shot out to engulf him. It wrapped him up, and he felt the line tug taut as it began reeling him in.
Moments later, he was sitting inside the Eagle’s airlock with the doors sliding shut behind him.
“Hang on,” Dyara said just as soon as the doors closed.
A split second later, the Eagle leapt forward and Darius slammed into the outer airlock doors. He lay there dazed and blinking spots from his eyes, fighting to remain conscious. He hadn’t hit the doors that hard, had he?
Then he noticed the blinking O2 indicator inside his helmet. It read 0%/0h.
He was out of air!
His heart thudded slowly in his chest, and he sucked in a rasping breath. He tried using his ESC to tell Dya to pressurize the airlock, but the visuals and prompts were too blurry and indistinct for him to navigate. His thoughts were too unfocused. Hypoxia was already setting in.
Dark spots swam before his eyes, and blurred together in a solid wave of darkness that swiftly washed over him and sucked him under.
Chapter 63
Darius slowly came to in a bright white room with a rhythmic beeping sound echoing in his ears. He blinked bleary eyes and tried to sit up, but he couldn’t. He was strapped down.
“Hello?” he croaked.
“Dad!”
Cassandra’s face appeared, and then her arms flew around his neck, and she buried her face in his chest. “You’re awake,” she breathed.
“I... what happened?” the last thing he remembered was blacking out in the back of Dyara’s Eagle.
“What didn’t happen?” Cassandra replied. “We were being chased by an entire Phantom fleet! We jumped away at the last second. You’ve been in a coma for the past couple of days.”
Darius frowned. “A coma? Because I ran out of air?” That didn’t make any sense.
“Not exactly...” Cassandra replied. “You got knocked around while Dya was flying you back here. You weren’t wearing a seat belt.”
“Acceleration harness,” Darius corrected.
Cassandra shrugged. “Yeah, that.”
Darius tried to get up again, but again he found that he couldn’t. He fumbled for the straps that were holding him down.
“Let me help you,” Cassandra said. She unbuckled them one at a time and then nodded to him. “All done.”
D
arius sat up and swung his feet over the side of his bed, only to float right off it, trailing wires and an IV line. He struggled in midair, twisting and bucking like a bull.
Cassandra giggled, looking on with a grin.
Darius glared down at her. “Are you just going to stand there?”
“No. You’re right. I’ll go let them know that you’re awake.” Having said that, she darted off and out the door of his room. Darius hit the ceiling and used it to push himself back down to his bed. Once there, he grabbed the loose straps that had been tying him down and held them in tight fists. Where were his mag boots? And where was his blasted medic!
Darius activated his ESC to contact someone, but then he hesitated, wondering who to contact. He didn’t know the name of his doctor, so he decided to reach out to Dyara instead.
“Thank you, Dya,” he thought at her.
But she left him hanging for long minutes with no reply.
He was just about to reach out to someone else, when the door to his room swished open, and in walked three people: Cassandra, followed by two adults. One of them Darius didn’t recognize, but he was wearing the white and red rating badge of a medic.
The other one was Captain Tanik Gurhain. Darius noted that his missing arm had somehow mysteriously returned.
“Welcome back, Darius,” Tanik said as he stopped beside the bed. The medic stopped on the other side and spent a moment scanning Darius with a portable scanner.
Darius frowned at Tanik as a blue fan of light flickered out from the scanner and swept over him. “What happened?” he demanded.
“We rescued you. At a great cost, unfortunately.”
“Cost? What cost?” Darius asked.
“Your foolish and unauthorized dash to be the hero and rescue your daughter yourself resulted in the loss of no less than fourteen Vulture pilots and their fighters.”
Broken Worlds: The Awakening (A Sci-Fi Mystery) Page 33