Chromium

Chapter 16.5

First draft

As if Dia was drawing strength from his closeness, little by little the mind-numbing pain receded to a dull ache. When Dia finally came to her senses, she took a step back, her cheeks a little flushed. For a moment they stared at each other awkwardly, then Omen looked away and Dia glanced down at her boots, both of them pretending nothing had happened.

"So." Dia cleared her throat. "How did you find me?"

She was clearly glad to see him, but after what had happened with the tracker, her gaze was also tinged with a glimmer of suspicion. 

"Let's leave the explanations for later." He said, quick impatience echoing in his voice. "We don't have time to lose. Gibson..."

A loud sound, similar to a clap of thunder, rumbled through the heavy air, then the ground shook, sending both of them crashing to the floor. Aided by his exoskeleton, Omen was the first to stand up.

"Are you alright?" He asked, offering a hand to her.

Dia nodded shakily as she pulled herself up with some effort. "I'm fine. What was that?"

"I don't know." His square jaw tightened. "The comms are still offline, but if I have to guess, those sounded a lot like the Nostromus' turbolasers."

"What about Willis and Rodriguez?" A note of deep concern tinged her voice. "Do you know if..."

"Don't worry. They are fine." Omen reassured her, and the tension in her shoulders eased. "They should be on their way to the Nostromus by now."

"And I suppose we are not following them?" She asked while they started walking.

As expected, Omen shook his head. "No. We still have a job to do."

"They won't stand a chance if Reyes manages to go back to the ship." Dia said, keeping her voice carefully neutral.

"He won't." Omen answered without slowing down, as if he hadn't the slightest doubt.

That certainty puzzled her. "How can you be so sure?"

"Because Gibson is here, corporal." His voice grew harder. " Reyes can't risk letting him get away and neither can we."

Dia looked at him closely. Once again, something felt off. 

He is too invested, too angry. This isn't just a mission for him.

"Why do you hate him so much?" She asked softly.

"I..." Omen paused. "We'll talk about this later."

"Really?" Dia barely managed to keep her shock from showing, "We will?"

"Yeah," He said softly. "we will."

Dia dropped the argument, well aware that this was all she could get at the moment. Since he was the only one wearing an exoskeleton, Omen took the lead. He set up a hellish pace, and soon they were darting through the corridors like the Devil was chasing them. Oddly enough, no one tried to stop them.

"Where all the droids and the lizards go?" Dia wondered out loud to herself.

"This station is huge." Omen answered without slowing down. "Maybe Gibson concentrated his forces..."

He was still talking when two droids popped out of nowhere and started shooting at them. Dia backflipped, then answered fire, hitting the first droid straight in the chest. Omen, on the other hand, just charged at the remaining droid. Dia saw his mechanical hand close around the droid skull, crumpling the cheap polymer it was made of like it was paper.

"Only two? What were they doing here?" Dia asked while Omen's droid crumpled to the floor like a deflated target.

"They were protecting that." Omen pointed at something.