Page 44 of Dark Space
Bryn and Darius were looking decidedly more tense when I went back to the bridge. Alcide was gripping the side of the control panel, his knuckles shadowed where the skin was stretched taut. Every hit to the ship’s shields was more evident; I stumbled to the side as a missile exploded uncomfortably close to the hull, the shockwave disrupting the artificial gravity.
‘You’re supposed to be gone, Callan,’ Alcide growled.
‘I’ll leave your side when my heart stops beating, Prince,’ I said. ‘And probably not even then, dread gods willing.’
Alcide glanced back at me, his cheeks flushed. I could have been more circumspect, but we were facing imminent death, so I decided not to worry about it.
If you couldn’t declare your undying love during a life-or-death space battle, then whencouldyou do it?
Bryn cleared his throat. ‘I think –’
‘Is that the Tirian Pod again?’ Darius interrupted, leaning closer to the screen.
I peered over his shoulder. ‘That’s it. Whatisit doing?’
‘Leaving the King’s orb, by the looks of it,’ Darius offered.
‘As intriguing asthatis, perhaps I could call your attention to our sensors,’ Bryn said gruffly.
‘Oh,fuck,’ Alcide said.
I closed my eyes for a moment. ‘Two more hits?’
‘Two more hits,’ Bryn said. He launched another missile; the screen confirmed that there were five remaining in the gun as our ship lurched again, the imperial ship firing wildly towards us. ‘Do I sound the final alarm?’
‘I –’ Alcide started, then froze. ‘What thefuck.’
‘Brace!’I roared, as white light flared around his father’s ship.
I grabbed the control panel as our orb was hit by a wave of debris. The light from the explosion flared blindingly before swiftly disappearing. I blinked down my secondary eyelids but didn’t make it in time; sparks danced across my vision.
‘They’ve disengaged,’ Bryn said, astonished.
‘Of course they have,’ Darius answered dryly. ‘They’re flying half a ship.’ He pointed to the screen. ‘Bryn. One more, here. Make sure that fucker can’t get away.’ He glanced at Alcide. ‘No offence, Prince.’
‘I –’ Alcide started, then stopped as he watched the other half of his father’s ship break into pieces.
It was oddly beautiful, really, seeing the flickers of silver and white against the black of the void as the force of the hit pushed the remains of the Royal Orb out in a graceful arc.
‘No one’s coming back from that,’ I breathed. ‘Look, Cide. The missile hit the shell near the main bridge. It would have broken up their control room within moments. And the last hit took out the hangar.’ I reached out to grip Alcide’s shoulder. ‘Cide.’
‘We need to get out,’ Bryn said. ‘We can’t take another hit. If we get caught by the debris again …’
‘Go,’ Alcide said. ‘Where’s the nearest inhabited planet?’
‘Far,’ Darius said grimly. ‘The closest thing to us now is the Tirian peacekeeping vessel.’
‘What do we need?’
‘Time to patch,’ Bryn answered. ‘Time to catalogue what’s happened and what we need to do to fix it.’
‘Then we land on the closest planet we can,’ Alcide ordered. ‘Preferably one with a compatible atmosphere, but if we can’t find that, then just a planet with enough space to land safely.’ He reached up to cover my hand on his shoulder with his own. ‘Cal. Will you take the pilot’s chair?’
‘Fuck,yes.’ I folded into it with a laugh. ‘You might all want to strap in.’
Bryn took the co-pilot’s chair; Alcide and Darius sat behind us as I engaged the orb’s engines and changed our course, directing us as far as possible from the ruin of the orb ship.
When we were far enough away that my heart had stopped pounding, I looked across at Alcide. ‘Dread gods, Cide,’ I said hoarsely. ‘You’re King.’
