The Vital Abyss: An Expanse Novella (The Expanse) by James S.A. Corey

core. If one charge didn’t light, then the others would act as a failsafe. There was probably a more technical way of doing this – perhaps hacking the Q-drive directly – but that would take time, and right now that was the one thing that we didn’t have.
    “Precise as ever,” I said to Jenkins.
    “It’s what I do.”
    “Feel free to cut some corners; we’re on a tight timescale,” Kaminski shouted.
    “Fuck you, ’Ski.”
    “Is five minutes going to be enough?” Olsen asked.
    I shrugged. “It will have to be. Be prepared for heavy resistance en route, people.”
    My suit indicated that the Krell were all over the main corridor. They would be in the APS by now, probably waiting for us to fall back.
    THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
    “Once the charges are in place, I want a defensive perimeter around that door,” I ordered.
    “This can’t be rushed.”
    The scraping of claws on metal, from above, was becoming intense. I wondered which defence would be the first to give: whether the Krell would come in through the ceiling or the door.
    Kaminski looked back at Jenkins expectantly. Olsen just stood there, his breathing so hard that I could hear him over the communicator.
    “And done!”
    The third charge snapped into place. Jenkins was up, with Martinez, and Kaminski was ready at the data terminal. There was noise all around us now, signals swarming on our position. I had no time to dictate a proper strategy for our retreat.
    “Jenkins – put down a barrier with your torch. Kaminski – on my mark.”
    I dropped my hand, and the doors started to open. The mechanism buckled and groaned in protest. Immediately, the Krell grappled with the door, slamming into the metal frame to get through.
    Stinger-spines – flechette rounds, the Krell equivalent of armour-piercing ammo – showered the room. Three of them punctured my suit; a neat line of black spines protruding from my chest, weeping streamers of blood. Krell tech is so much more fucked-up than ours . The spines were poison-tipped and my body was immediately pumped with enough toxins to kill a bull. My suit futilely attempted to compensate by issuing a cocktail of adrenaline and anti-venom.
    Martinez flipped another grenade into the horde. The nearest creatures folded over it as it landed, shielding their kin from the explosion. Mindless fuckers .
    We advanced in formation. Shot after shot poured into the things, but they kept coming. Wave after wave – how many were there on this ship? – thundered into the drive chamber. The doors were suddenly gone. The noise was unbearable – the klaxon, the warnings, a chorus of screams, shrieks and wails. The ringing in my ears didn’t stop, as more grenades exploded.
    “We’re not going to make this!” Jenkins yelled.
    “Stay on it! The APS is just ahead!”
    Maybe Jenkins was right, but I wasn’t going down without a damned good fight. Somewhere in the chaos, Martinez was torn apart. His body disappeared underneath a mass of them. Jenkins poured on her flamethrower – avenging Martinez in some absurd way. Olsen was crying, his helmet now discarded just like the rest of us.
    War is such an equaliser .
    I grabbed the nearest Krell with one hand, and snapped its neck. I fired my plasma rifle on full-auto with the other, just eager to take down as many of them as I could. My HUD suddenly issued another warning – a counter, interminably in decline.
    Ten … Nine … Eight … Seven …
    Then Jenkins was gone. Her flamer was a beacon and her own blood a fountain among the alien bodies. It was difficult to focus on much except for the pain in my chest. My suit reported catastrophic damage in too many places. My heart began a slower, staccato beat.
    Six … Five … Four …
    My rifle bucked in protest. Even through reinforced gloves, the barrel was burning hot.
    Three … Two … One …
      
    The demo-charges activated.
    Breached, the anti-matter core destabilised. The reaction was instantaneous: uncontrolled white and