Untitled (13 page)

   The pilot was sweaty-faced, his hands flying over the console. "Shit, shit…"

   "What's happening?" Carmen asked.

   Gabriel braced himself against the bulkhead, though no shot came. "Where are the Maedrom?" he asked. "Where are they attacking?"

   "They're not after us," Lucas said grimly. "The alarm came from the long-range sensors. They're attacking Section 27."

   Faint and flush, Gabriel dropped into a vacant seat in the cockpit. "Are they…are they…"

   "They're still whole," Carmen said, quickly checking the sensor readings. "For now."

   "How far away are we?"

   "Twenty minutes, if we give it everything we've got," Lucas said.

   Gabriel tried not to moan. Twenty minutes was not enough time. How long had it taken for the Maedrom to attack and destroy Section 26, not so long ago? It had seemed like seconds. All they needed was one well-placed shot to end everything.

   "Then we need to move," Gabriel said.

   "I don't know if that's such a good idea," Lucas said weakly.

   "He marks a point," F'ter said, nervously swiveling his antenna from one Human to the other. "If the Maedrom are numerous, we are vulnerable."

   "And what about Section 27?" Gabriel tried and failed not to yell. "We have the only weapon that can save them. W
e have to move."

   His desperation seemed enough to silence his shipmates. As the
Daedalus
plowed through space, Gabriel spent the next twenty minutes prowling the cockpit, alternatively peering over the pilot's shoulder to see how much distance was left and Carmen's shoulder to see if the long-range sensors had picked up any distressing readings. Sweat broke out on his forehead as she eventually announced, "We should be in visual range now."

   Gabriel's pulse was furiously hammering in his ears as stared out the viewport. A flashing point in the distance quickly came into view—Section 27, under attack. Next to him, F'ter distressingly whispered something in his native language.

   As the shuttle neared the station, Gabriel could see two Maedrom ships, battering the heavilydamaged station with torpedoes. Section 27 was firing back as well as it could, but it was obviously on its last legs. The Maedrom hadn't fired the MAlpha yet, but the inevitable would happen any second now.

   They hadn't a moment to spare. Gabriel slid into the seat next to Carmen, bringing up the controls for the counter-weapon. She gave him a glare, but didn't argue—she may have been wellversed in the weapon, but it was Gabriel who'd developed it.

   "Get me close to the lead ship," Gabriel told Lucas. "As close you can. I need to get a clear shot. We might not get a second chance."

   Lucas wordlessly obeyed. The shuttle's compact size gave it a navigational advantage, ducking past the shots fired by the Maedrom ships. Neither ship bothered with them, either too busy with their attack or convinced they were not a threat.

   Casting furtive glances through the viewport, trying to gauge the distance, Gabriel stifled a curse as one of the Maedrom ships, the one they were attempting to approach, fell back from the battle, circled around and deployed the front of its hull. Inside, a circle of amber-colored energy began to glow. They were getting ready to fire the MAlpha.

   "As close you can get us," Gabriel said, trying to keep the waver out of his voice as he activated the counter-weapon and got it ready to fire. They had tested their weapon against the M-Alpha back at the station and it had performed beautifully— but how would it fare against a fully-armed, fullyfunctional Maedrom ship?

   "Take the shot now," Lucas said. "Because if they spot us, I'm getting us the hell out of here."

   No time to waste, no time to pray—Gabriel fired.

   The proton beam was invisible. Gabriel knew this from the numerous tests and still his heart sank for a moment as it appeared the weapon had misfired. But an instant later, the amber glow died from the core of the Maedrom ship. For several excruciating seconds, the ship hung in space, motionless, while its companion continued to fire torpedoes at the station.

   Gabriel tensely pictured the Maedrom inside their ship, frantically running around from console to console, trying to figure out why their miracle weapon wasn't working. Then the clawlike protrusions at the front of the hull retracted, like a mechanical flower wilting away and the ship came around, hastily retreating.

   A minute later, its companion did the same, no doubt alerted by the first Maedrom ship. Unwilling to try and puzzle out their newfound weakness in the middle of a firefight, they had chosen to retreat.

   "Take that, you bastards!" Carmen cried, pumping her fist at the viewport. F'ter shrieked in victory.

   Gabriel sagged in his seat. The station was safe. Heavily damaged, but safe. However, he dreaded what they would find once they boarded the station. How many injured? How many fatalities? He thought of Kurt and Bianca and Xhani…and Jhuun and was suddenly thrust back to hearing about the destruction of the
Northumbrian.

   It was the same. No, scratch that, this was wor
se
, because this time he would have to go aboard the station and find out the bad news for himself.

   "We have to go," Gabriel said. "We have to go help them."

   "Yeah," Lucas nodded. He seemed shaken by their close call. "Hang on. This may get bumpy."

   Lucas was right. Docking was tricky since there was no one at the airlock to direct them and the
Daedalus took
a few scrapes and lumps before they were solidly locked in. The moment the airlock door rolled out of the way, Gabriel leapt from the ship to the station, quickly followed by Carmen and F'ter.

   When he had first stepped on Section 27 months ago the air had been calm and warm. The airlock had been overcrowded, but there had been a sense of tranquility about the station.

   Now, it was chaotic.

   Acrid smoke filled the darkened corridors, stinging Gabriel's throat. The red alarm light illuminated the destruction, but the klaxon was silent—the audio system must have gotten destroyed in the attack. Gabriel stepped over debris, running down the corridors, while Carmen followed closely by. They ran into a few station crewmembers, injured and panicked, but alive. Carmen and F'ter stopped to help them carry an injured Eunnoian female to the medical wing.

   The situation under control, Gabriel pressed his sleeve against his mouth and nose to filter out the smoke and continued down the corridor. Frantic, disorganized voices yelled from all corners— Humans, Eunnoians, calling out to each other, wondering if the attack was over. Gabriel passed them all, driven by a single thought—Jhuun. He had to find Jhuun.

   The station had taken a heavy beating. Entire bulkheads had collapsed, panels had erupted spitting lazy sparks at him as he ran. Twice he had to divert his path, once because of fire, the other because a ceiling had collapsed, blocking his way. The lift wasn't working. Gabriel immediately dove for the emergency steps, counting the levels until he arrived to the engineering wing.

   Gabriel's sense of time for Section 27 was off, but he was fairly certain it was mid-day here. Jhuun wouldn't be in his quarters then, he never spent much time in the Idea Room and hated the cafeteria so odds were he would be somewhere in the engineering office or the workshop. Gabriel couldn't afford to be wrong.

   He climbed out from the emergency steps, gasping for breath from the strenuous ascent. He followed the purple lines on the corridor walls, through the smoke, and as he rounded a corner, he stopped short and cried out. There was a body on the floor lying in a pool of blood. Shock turned to nausea as Gabriel recognized her—it was the young black-haired engineer he had seen a few times. Her eyes were half-open and a fallen beam impaled her abdomen. She was dead.

   Swallowing thickly, fighting panic and claustrophobia, Gabriel pressed on, trying not to think of what else he would find. He reached the engineering main office. The door stuck and he had to kick it savagely to get it to open, bruising his toes in the process.

   "Shit!" he shouted, then coughed. "Jhuun? Say something if you can hear me! Jhuun? Bianca? Xhani?"

   The office was a chaotic mess. The broadcast screen had overloaded and exploded, showering the office in a fountain of sparks. There was no sign of Jhuun, nor of anyone else. He ran to the workshop door, it, too, was closed and stuck. Gabriel braced himself and rammed it with his shoulder. It wavered on its hinges, but didn't break.

   "Jhuun? Anybody?" he called out, preparing to run into the door again.

   He had to open it, he had to be sure. But just before he could slam his weight into it again, he heard a raspy voice from the other side of the door call out, "
Gab-rel?"

   Gabriel's heart skipped a beat. The voice was weak, tremulous, but he would recognize it anywhere. "
Jhuun!"
he cried out. "I'm coming! If

you're near the door, stand back!"

   Desperation lent him strength as he backed away, then put his full weight behind his run, ramming the door with his shoulder. If he wrenched his shoulder in the process, he didn't feel it this time. The door was knocked halfway off its hinges, enough for Gabriel to press himself inside the workshop.

   It was a mess in there, too. One of the walls had completely collapsed, throwing shrapnel and broken pieces of bulkhead into the room. Jhuun was there, leaning heavily against one of the consoles, dark blood gleaming on the side of his head.

   Gabriel reached him in two strides, wrapping his arms around Jhuun's lean body as support. "Are you okay?" he asked desperately. He scanned Jhuun for any other injuries, wincing as he spotted a large gash on his leg, dripping blood. "Jhuun? Are you okay?"

   He blinked at Gabriel, confused. "
Enaam mha,
dhiri Gab-rel girhaam?"

   "I can't understand you," Gabriel said desperately. He shifted Jhuun's weight in his arms, bringing him to sit on the floor. Digging his teeth into his sleeve, he struggled to tear a piece of the cloth, pressing it to Jhuun's bleeding head wound. "Jhuun, speak my language. Are you okay?"

   Jhuun blinked again as Gabriel gently shook him. "Yes. Apologies. My head is dizzy. Gabriel, why are you here? You're not supposed to be on the station, no?"

   "I just came back, we…we saw the Maedrom attack. What happened here?"

   "It was sudden," Jhuun said. He lifted his hand, laid it over Gabriel's, helping him hold the makeshift bandage to his own head. "It seems like only minutes ago, everything was calm. I was working here on a new shield generator, a project for Xhani, and…the klaxon began. Before I could move, it felt as though the station had exploded around me. I was…I was prepared to wait for the end."

   "Oh God," Gabriel breathed. "We were just on our way back with the new counter-weapon. When we saw the Maedrom, we came to help and—they're gone now, Jhuun. It works. The weapon we built, it works. We destroyed their MAlpha."

   "We succeeded?" Jhuun asked. Despite the pain of his injuries, he smiled widely. "I had hoped, of course, but—to have actually defeated the attacking Maedrom?"

   Gabriel smiled back, pulse racing from the adrenaline. There was so much to say, so much he wanted to apologize for, but there was the more pressing matter of getting Jhuun some medical attention.

   "Come on," Gabriel said. "We can celebrate later. Right now we need to get you some help. Do you know were Bianca and Xhani are?"

   "They left to eat lunch before the attack began. I'm not certain where they are now."

   "Don't worry. We'll find them. Everything's going to be fine."

   Jhuun did not resist as Gabriel took his arm and laid it across his shoulders, helping him back to his feet. The alien's skin was warm, damp, so very familiar, and the weight of his body leaning against Gabriel's was comforting. Gabriel wanted to scream as he realized how closely he had come to losing this.

   "I didn't think I would see you again," Jhuun said. With Gabriel's support, they stepped over debris and made their way toward the main office.

   "Neither did I," Gabriel said. "I never should have left."

   "You were re-assigned. You had no choice."