to me, Almon.”
“Looks like the Susumi drive’s punctured!”
The silence in the control room was so complete Cho could have sworn he heard half the light receptors in Dysun’s eyes snap closed. “Looks like?” he growled. “Be sure!”
“I tried to warn . .”
“Cover your own ass, why don’t you,” Huirre muttered.
“Captain! Energy leakage.” Dysun’s voice had risen half an octave. “There’s a puncture for sure.”
A punctured Susumi drive meant they were, at best, moments away from being caught in a blast wave of Susumi energy. At worst, they’d go up with the other ship.
“Release grapples!”
“Released! But it’ll take twenty-seven seconds to bring them in!”
“Huirre! Get us out of here!”
“Captain! The grapples!”
“Fuk the grapples! Let them swing!” Being smacked about by their own lines was the least of their worries. Susumi explosions twisted space. “Huirre, get us back behind that rock!” The planetoid that had hidden them earlier offered their best chance of survival; its bulk would deflect most of the Susumi wave.
Huirre burned everything they had. They were still too close.
“What the fuk is going on up there?” Krisk had bypassed the comm protocols again.
Before Cho could answer, Huirre snarled a fast sentence in Krai at the engineer, who growled back, “Not on my watch.”
The Heart of Stone surged forward. Swearing, Huirre worked his board with all four extremities, fighting to maintain course while riding the unexpected burst of power. They’d just passed the planetoid’s rings and were rounding the horizon when the salvage ship blew. In the 2.73 seconds it took for the blast wave to hit, Huirre managed to get most of the Heart to safety. Cho made a mental note to give him a really big gun when they got the armory open.
If they survived.
The blast hit the aft end just behind the cargo hold, flinging the Heart end over end. Huirre danced both hands and feet across his board, firing microsecond bursts on one thruster after another to keep them clear of the rings. Rock slammed into the hull. The lights flared and went out. Dysun swore and threw herself backward as her board sparked, left hand cradling her right.
Then it was over, the control room lit only by the telltales on the boards.
“Nat!”
“ Aye, Cap. Checking cargo integrity.”
“Fuk cargo integrity.” Krisk sounded furious. “ We’ve got two small hull breaches, and we’re at half thrusters until someone gets out there and looks at the damage the right fukking grapple did.”
“The hull breaches . . .”
“I sent Lime-boy out to do interior patches . . . Krisk had never bothered to learn the di’Taykan’s names. “. . . but at least one is going to need exterior work. Easy fix. No idea about the rest until I see on real time.”
“Could be worse,” Huirre muttered, still working his board.
“I’m fried.” Still holding one hand against her chest, Dysun danced the fingers of the other over a blank screen. “Scanners are out. Internal communications are using the captain’s station as their primary. It’ll only take a moment to reroute external comms.”
“One-handed?”
She glanced down at her hand, seemed to see the reddened curl of her fingers for the first time, and whimpered, her hair flattening tight against her skull.
“Get down to Doc. Have him fix it, then get your ass back here.” Pain had shut her eyes down so far there was almost no black among the orange. Given the lack of light, he wondered how she could even see.
“The comm . . .”
“You think I’m fukking useless, is that it?” As her eyes darkened slightly, he dove into the guts of the operating system. Theoretically, the entire ship could be flown from the captain’s board, but the defaults had to be overwritten first. Thank the Navy for making sure every idiot who joined could slap together a patch. When he looked up, she was still staring at him. “Go!”
“Captain?”
He looked
“Looks like the Susumi drive’s punctured!”
The silence in the control room was so complete Cho could have sworn he heard half the light receptors in Dysun’s eyes snap closed. “Looks like?” he growled. “Be sure!”
“I tried to warn . .”
“Cover your own ass, why don’t you,” Huirre muttered.
“Captain! Energy leakage.” Dysun’s voice had risen half an octave. “There’s a puncture for sure.”
A punctured Susumi drive meant they were, at best, moments away from being caught in a blast wave of Susumi energy. At worst, they’d go up with the other ship.
“Release grapples!”
“Released! But it’ll take twenty-seven seconds to bring them in!”
“Huirre! Get us out of here!”
“Captain! The grapples!”
“Fuk the grapples! Let them swing!” Being smacked about by their own lines was the least of their worries. Susumi explosions twisted space. “Huirre, get us back behind that rock!” The planetoid that had hidden them earlier offered their best chance of survival; its bulk would deflect most of the Susumi wave.
Huirre burned everything they had. They were still too close.
“What the fuk is going on up there?” Krisk had bypassed the comm protocols again.
Before Cho could answer, Huirre snarled a fast sentence in Krai at the engineer, who growled back, “Not on my watch.”
The Heart of Stone surged forward. Swearing, Huirre worked his board with all four extremities, fighting to maintain course while riding the unexpected burst of power. They’d just passed the planetoid’s rings and were rounding the horizon when the salvage ship blew. In the 2.73 seconds it took for the blast wave to hit, Huirre managed to get most of the Heart to safety. Cho made a mental note to give him a really big gun when they got the armory open.
If they survived.
The blast hit the aft end just behind the cargo hold, flinging the Heart end over end. Huirre danced both hands and feet across his board, firing microsecond bursts on one thruster after another to keep them clear of the rings. Rock slammed into the hull. The lights flared and went out. Dysun swore and threw herself backward as her board sparked, left hand cradling her right.
Then it was over, the control room lit only by the telltales on the boards.
“Nat!”
“ Aye, Cap. Checking cargo integrity.”
“Fuk cargo integrity.” Krisk sounded furious. “ We’ve got two small hull breaches, and we’re at half thrusters until someone gets out there and looks at the damage the right fukking grapple did.”
“The hull breaches . . .”
“I sent Lime-boy out to do interior patches . . . Krisk had never bothered to learn the di’Taykan’s names. “. . . but at least one is going to need exterior work. Easy fix. No idea about the rest until I see on real time.”
“Could be worse,” Huirre muttered, still working his board.
“I’m fried.” Still holding one hand against her chest, Dysun danced the fingers of the other over a blank screen. “Scanners are out. Internal communications are using the captain’s station as their primary. It’ll only take a moment to reroute external comms.”
“One-handed?”
She glanced down at her hand, seemed to see the reddened curl of her fingers for the first time, and whimpered, her hair flattening tight against her skull.
“Get down to Doc. Have him fix it, then get your ass back here.” Pain had shut her eyes down so far there was almost no black among the orange. Given the lack of light, he wondered how she could even see.
“The comm . . .”
“You think I’m fukking useless, is that it?” As her eyes darkened slightly, he dove into the guts of the operating system. Theoretically, the entire ship could be flown from the captain’s board, but the defaults had to be overwritten first. Thank the Navy for making sure every idiot who joined could slap together a patch. When he looked up, she was still staring at him. “Go!”
“Captain?”
He looked
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