Page 58 of Command

She felt her way through the darkness toward what she thought must be the door. Lights began to flicker overhead, illuminating some of her way. They gave her enough of a glimpse to see that Threxin was conscious and talking to Orion Halen, who had at some point made his way over to the seat next to him.

He’s okay.

Satisfied, Alina focused on the trek at hand. It was a straight shot through one of the main halls to get to the rear dock, but with the ship as unstable as it was, it wasn’t going to be easy.

It must have taken nearly an hour of stumbling, clutching the walls, and crawling out of side passages the jerking of the ship had thrown her into on the way. Alina was relieved to see the halls were empty, with people having been given enough warning to secure themselves in shelters or their cabins. There were always injuries after a jump, most fortunately minor. The medbay would be busy once things stabilized.

“Well?” Isabelle asked when Alina appeared in the dockmaster’s office.

“Kaia said… she said to tell you we’re ready,” Alina caught her breath, bending over to rub at her aching knee.

The dockmaster and Isabelle exchanged short nods. “Come here. We may need hands.”

They made their way slowly through the strobing lights toward the utility closet where Alina had gotten the scrubbing equipment for her shifts. Everything had mostly been nailed down, various bottles and boxes stored safely for the jump, but one metal shelf had toppled to its side on the floor, its contents spilled all over.

Isabelle and the dockmaster picked their way through the collapsed framing, stepping on anything and everything in their way. The wall against which the shelf had stood contained a door, presently blocked by the fallen frame.

“Pull it back,” the dockmaster barked, bending to grip the frame and start pulling it to the side. Isabelle and Alina followed suit, adding their efforts to dislodge the weight. Alina couldn’t put any weight on her right leg but did her best with what she had.

“Shit,” Alina cried when the ship rocked, dislodging the shelf and sliding them—and it—into the other wall. It took her a second to register the bone-splitting pain in her hand. It had gotten pinched between the frame and the corner of a dislodged metal container.

“Shit,” the dockmaster concurred. He lifted the frame a few inches so Alina could pull her bloodied hand out from the entrapment. It went numb at first, fingers twitching of their own accord as she lifted them to her face. But soon agony set back in, radiating down her wrist.

Isabelle was already at the freed door, pulling it open to slip into the darkness. The dockmaster grimaced at the sight of Alina’s hand but nudged her forward. “Let’s go, love. We’ll look at that later.”

Alina nodded, teeth clamped over her lip to hold back her watering eyes.

They were in a tiny utility room filled with cables and blinking lights. Isabelle was already at a small box that flashed with multicolored lights.

“It’s got power,” she said, relieved. She pulled a small legacy keyboard from a tangle of wires in the wall. The keys clacked as she tested them. “Frequency?”

“It?” Alina groaned through clenched teeth.

The dockmaster pulled a piece of physical paper from his pocket. He recited a set of characters that Alina recognized as a universal comms frequency: HDR-20581.

“You’ve got comms? External comms?” Alina gasped. Isabelle nodded curtly.

They were sending a message out. A message for help. Alina racked her brain for which ship or station the ID might belong to. She hadn’t had the need to learn them, having known no one outside ofColossal. External comms were strictly forbidden without special permission even before a uhyre invasion. Most residents would have no idea what all the different frequencies were.

“All right. Starting transmission.” More clacking followed as Isabelle poked out a message on the keyboard. She was slow—nobody used physical keyboards anymore, with people signaling their messages through their Neurosync interfaces.

“What are you sending?” Alina asked.

Isabelle frowned as she searched for the next key. “That we’ve been attacked. That we’re approaching the outer sector, well within reach of Hydra Company’s defensive fleet, and require aid.”

“Hydra Company… But they’re?—”

“The most powerful entity in the known universe, and armed to the teeth to defend their mining operations,” the dockmaster explained. “And they will be discreet. Won’t want to sow panic.Colossalis one of their biggest buyers. They will help.”

“Even if it’s the uhyre?”

“I’m leaving that part out,” Isabelle said wryly.

Alina was skeptical. The message would certainly be cryptic. Who would Hydra Company think attackedColossal, out in the unexplored reaches of space? Pirate ships circled the edges of the known universe sometimes, sure, but none of them would be a match forColossal. Surely they’d guess this was something bigger…

“Won’t they need to know what to prepare for?”

“That’s why,” Isabelle tapped out more keys, “I’m telling them to bring all they have.”

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