Fracture - Book One of the Glass Galaxy Trilogy

Chapter 20: Mice Between Giants

April 29th

1:00 PM

I didn't wait around to watch the Scarlet Wolves and the Order of Traya initiate battle. Before the Traya fleet could even begin accelerating towards us I was pulling myself across the bridge as fast as I could, my shattered left shin making the simple task very difficult as the reinforcing power the woman had used on me continued to fade away.

I reached the bridge's door and looked back at Reaper just as the Order of Traya ships opened fire, and their volley of lasers burned her silhouette into my retinas. The nearest two Scarlet Wolf ships were torn asunder in an instant, the powerful lasers melting through their armour as if it wasn't even there.

Reaper turned and ran after me.

She caught up to me in only a few seconds, and I was surprised to feel her move under me left arm and pull me off my crippled leg. "You're not gonna make it at your elderly pace," she jested, the nervousness in her voice poorly concealed.

I lifted my right hand to my damaged helmet and switched my comms to the crew-wide channel, "Everyone back to the ship, now! We've got an entire Order of Traya fleet coming for us now and we need to be gone!"

I switched my comms off. "Reaper," I coughed through my excruciating pain. "The seal on my armour is broken. If this ship is hit I won't survive the vacuum."

Reaper glanced at me as we hurried, and then pulled an unlabeled package out of one of her armour's pockets. She crushed it with her hand and spread the thick, viscous contents on the broken edge of my helmet.

"What's that stuff?" I asked her as she wiped her hand of the leftover contents using one of her armour plates.

"Instant sealant," she replied as we continued forward. "We carry it for just such a situation."

The ship shook violently, and I could feel the air being sucked out of the ship. A breach.

"What just happened?" Reaper shouted into her comms. A moment later she spat a curse, "Open fire on them! Don't let them get a clean shot!" She looked at me, fury in her eyes, "Three of their escorts are beelining straight for us, and they're targeting this ship specifically. We're on borrowed time."

I nodded to her, doing my best to pick up the pace despite the overwhelming protest from my body. The ship shook again, and the section of the hull ahead of us exploded into a shower of debris and sparks, blocking our path.

"What way do we go now!?" I shouted to Reaper.

She shook her head, glaring furiously at the other two paths we could take as we stood where two hallways crossed, "I don't know! I'm not sure either of these hallways leads deeper into the ship!"

As if to answer her uncertainty Pete came barreling around the corner of one hallway, sprinting up to us he caught sight of our confused forms. "This way, Captain!" he wheezed, panting from running, "The other hallway was blocked off by the first hit."

He bent under my right arm and, together with Reaper, began basically carrying me through the now smoke-filled carcass of a ship. The last of the psychic power finally faded, and my world became little more than a painful blur. The ship shook again and again, and more of the hull exploded around us, the captured vessel making for an easy target.

"What," I managed to wheeze out, "what if they target our ship?"

Reaper shook her head, hoisting me around a corner and into sight of the umbilical we had used to board the ship. Several of her crew were waiting there, and they ushered us into the connection. "We're using the captured ship as a shield," she answered. "That's why it's taking so many hits."