Chapter 63

Space Station Vertyn

Stariek Orbit

Skylar watched in horror as the scene unfolded before him and the Emperor. His mouth hung ajar, no matter how much he tried to keep it closed. Ship after ship exploded in a brief flash of fire and light. Some were larger than others. A few blazed blue before fading into nothingness. Beams of concentrated energy slashed across vast distances, slicing into the superstructures of not only the ships but also the station itself. Rumbles ran through the floors and walls with each attack against it.

Within Zorn’s office, the red light continued to flash though the blaring klaxon had stopped. Apparently, it was satisfied it alerted the occupants. In its wake was silence only broken by the ventilation systems continuing to cycle the air between the rumbling.

Skylar, however, remained rooted in place. It was like when the Druthagar attacked six years ago. This time, there was no continuous warning from his CAM to get to the nearest safe room. No instructions on how to get there. Still, he froze. Years of training. All that time spent in simulators just to still find himself rooted in place. As if he was nothing more than a child. And this time, he didn’t even have Lina by his side.

A dull roar filled his ears as his eyes dotted back and forth between the competing fleets. A weight descended on his chest. His lungs refused to cooperate with him. Every breath was a battle. Piercing pain radiated from his chest. His tongue was swelling. It was too big for his mouth. It was going to choke him.

Out. He had to get out. The door was somewhere behind him. Far away. So far away. He’d never make it. Did his legs even work? Were they still there? He couldn’t feel them. Maybe someone cut them off.

His hands shook. The flooring shook. Each wall shook. They were going to break. He was going to break. There was nothing he could do about it. The rumbles reverberated against his eardrums. They pressed against his skull.

“Skylar, we have to go,” Lucius said. His garbled voice sounded like from the end of a tunnel. It echoed oddly. He grabbed Skylar’s shoulder and pulled him away from the window just as another cruiser exploded. Remnants of the ship scattered in all directions. “There’s a shuttle waiting for us, but if we don’t leave now, we won’t make it out in time before the interdiction web is put in place.”

Even as he was taken from the window, his legs felt like jelly. They were going to collapse at any moment. Then he’d be on the ground. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about keeping himself upright.

Still, Skylar found himself going along with the Emperor. Each step was uncertain. Every breath was a punch in the stomach before the air even got in. He took rattling gasps. Nothing else seemed to do anything.

Was he dying? He was dying. He had to be. Any second now, his heart would give out. Or he wouldn’t be able to get any more air into his lungs. His throat was closing. Either way, death was around the corner. Why didn’t the Emperor see that?

Where was Lina? He needed her. She was so much stronger than him. If she was here, she’d know what to do. He needed to get to her if she couldn’t get to him. It was the only way.

An explosion ran through the deck plating. Both Skylar and the Emperor staggered. Lucius continued pulling Skylar along. Feeling was beginning to return to Skylar’s legs. He tried to get them under him, but the Emperor’s pace forced him to do nothing more than push himself along against the floor. His chest still ached with every breath. The hallway was a blur.

“They’re too soon,” the Emperor hissed, seemingly to himself. He yanked on Skylar’s arm. A wave up pain went up it through his shoulder as he jerked to the side. “We need to move faster, Skylar. Damn it, use your fucking legs. Unless you feel like dying.”

Skylar said nothing. His voice wouldn’t work anyway. Not to mention the act would probably force the tears out of his eyes he had so far restrained. And he did feel like dying. That would be easier than this. It was already happening anyway.

<Where the hell are you?> The message came through so suddenly to his CAM, he nearly missed it. He glanced at it. It was Lina. <I’m in the safe room near our dormitory.>

<I’m…> Even the single word was hard to form the thought for. He closed his eyes. His feet stumbled even more along the ground as the Emperor continued dragging him. Each breath gurgled in his chest as if he was trying to breathe through water. When he opened his eyes again, he was pulled around a corner in the opposite direction from the dorms. Dozens of other people were making their ways in either direction. None seemed to be any mind to the pair of them. <I’m coming.>

Skylar said nothing to the Emperor. Instead, he wrenched himself out of the man’s grasp. He turned on his heel and rushed down the hallway. The Emperor shouted something, but Skylar ignored it. He continued running down the corridor, pushing past the few people that made their way in the opposite direction. She was somewhere ahead. Or maybe it was the other way?

It was so hard to concentrate. There was too much activity. Too much was happening at once. How could he be expected to think? But he needed to. If he wanted to be able to keep Lina safe, he needed to concentrate.

Skylar stopped and looked around as he came to an intersection. Why did it look so unfamiliar? He had traveled these corridors so many times over the last six years. They should have been second nature to him. Why was it so hard? He needed to hurry. His concentration was faltering about the second.

He growled in frustration and pressed his palms to his forehead. The pressure did little to ease the growing anxiety within him. Not that it had much room to grow. Its tendrils were already wrapped around his entire body. His breathing was impossible to control. Each breath took an enormous effort out of him.

Someone cried out nearby. The sound came from his right. It seemed to shock the panic out of his body. Someone needed help. He could give them help. Good. A clear goal. That was what he needed.

Skylar took off towards where he heard the voice. The Emperor’s rushing footsteps were still close behind, but he ignored them. There was something more important at the moment.

Though his panic had diminished, Skylar still couldn’t help but feel the crushing weight against his chest with each breath. It still felt as if someone was stepping down on it. As if they were squeezing him and keeping him from breathing.

When Skylar rounded the corner, he immediately located the source of the call for help. Someone was under a panel that had fallen from the ceiling. It pinned them against the ground. A small amount of blood was on the metal floor.

“Hold on,” Skylar called out, moving forward to help. Then he saw the brown hair and top of the hair of the person and recognized who it was. “Mian?”

“Skylar!” the Emperor yelled from behind him. His hand seized Skylar’s shoulder and roughly turned him around. A look of utter fury covered his face.“We do not have time for this. There is a quickly narrowing window for our escape.”

“We have to help her!” Skylar pulled himself free from the Emperor’s grasp and grabbed one end of the panel. Mian groaned but didn’t make any indication she knew he was there. He tried lifting it but it was far too heavy for him to get it himself. Skylar turned to the Emperor. “Help me.”

The man muttered something under his breath before rushing around to the opposite side and grabbing onto the panel. Together, they lifted it up and off Mian, letting it crash to the ground a meter away. The sharp edge of the metal sliced the palm of Skylar’s hand as it went. He yelped in pain. Blood blossomed from the cut. Pressing his other hand to the spot in an attempt to slow the flow, he looked down at Mian. She stared back up at him, her brown eyes sparkling.

“Thank you,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. Her body seemed remarkably untouched from the panel. A few small cuts and bruises dotted her arms. Skylar reached out to help her up, pulling her to her feet. “I thought no one was going to help me. Thanks for stopping.”

“Of course, but what were you doing out here? You should be in the safe room.”

Mian opened her mouth to answer before the Emperor interrupted.

“Skylar, we need to move now.” The words came from the Emperor in a hiss as he grabbed onto Skylar’s shoulder and yanked him back the direction he was going before. “If we don’t hurry, it will be too late.”

“We need to get Lina,” Skylar said. He set his jaw and clenched his fists.

“How many times do I have to say there’s no time?” The Emperor continued pulling Skylar. “If she’s in a safe room, she’ll be fine. Those are practically indestructible.”

“I don’t care.” Skylar yanked himself out of the Emperor’s grasp. “I’m not leaving without her.”

Skylar ran in the direction of the safe room Lina had said she was in. The Emperor growled but chased after, as did Mian. He wasn’t sure exactly where he was—his panic attack had made it difficult to keep track—but he eventually found his way to the corridor leading to their section.

It was cut off by a blast door. A circular glass window in the center revealed the other side of the corridor with a similar door. In the five meter gap between the two doors was a mess of debris where the corridor should have been.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

<Lina, I’m trying to get to you,> Skylar said in a message to her. <The way through is destroyed. I’m going to find a different way.>

<Skylar, get to another safe room,> Lina replied. <I’ll be safe here. Just get yourself somewhere and wait until this passes.>

“I don’t think we’re getting through this way,” Mian said, her voice quiet. She placed a hand on his shoulder. “We should go with the Emperor. It’ll be safer that way.”

“Who said you’re coming along, girl?” the Emperor hissed at her. “I may be taking Skylar, but I’m not running a babysitting service.”

“This section has no safe rooms. I was making my way back to Two-Two-Three when I got hit by that ceiling panel. If you don't take me, I die."

Skylar stared out the window, motionless, for several more seconds. He didn't hear the Emperor's response. There had to be a way. He just had to get to the next corridor down, then he’d be able to get to Lina. But the next corridor was another fifteen minute run. If his training in the simulations taught him anything, that was an eternity in a space battle.

“I can’t leave her behind,” he whispered, pressing a hand against the glass. Despite the insulation of the station, he couldn’t help but feel as if cold emanated from it.

“You’re not,” Mian replied. “She’ll be alright. You’ll get back to her later. But first, we need to get to safety ourselves.”

As if to accentuate her point, a rumble shook the station. Some of the lights flickered for a moment for settling. The Emperor looked like his patience had run out a long time ago. Skylar took one last look through the window before nodding and following the other two.

<I’m going with the Emperor, Lina,> he said in a message to her.

<Abandoning me that quickly?> Her reply held her usual joking tone. Just hearing her voice further calmed him down. He felt his breathing and heart rate return to normal, though his chest continued to ache with a phantom pressure. <And here I thought I meant at least something to you.>

<I promise I’ll be back. Just… stay safe, alright?>

<They don’t call it a safe room for nothing,> she joked. Skylar couldn’t help but chuckle aloud at the comment. <Trust me, I’m probably better off than you are right now.>

As if hearing her message, another rumble ran through the floors and walls. Electrical conduits overhead blew out. The corridor was plunged into darkness. Mian shouted in surprise as Skylar ducked down from sparks showering down onto them.

<Hopefully the Emperor is planning on bringing us somewhere quickly.> Skylar took a deep breath as he stood. Emergency lights activated and illuminated the hallway in an eerie red glow. <We just lost power here.>

<We’re fine over here. Just get going before you get yourself hurt like usual.>

Skylar smiled in spite of himself. His chest still hurt, and his head ached, but at least Lina was safe. Each breath was slightly easier to force his body to take in. Much more so than it had been just a few minutes prior.

“Where are we going?” Skylar finally asked now that his brain settled. The panic seemed to have subsided entirely now, though his chest and throat ached. It felt as if he had swallowed fire.

“To a hangar constructed specifically if something like this happens.” The Emperor nearly ran through the corridors, his robes billowing behind him. Skylar barely kept up. Mian was close on his own heels. “Though it might already be too late. If the interdiction web is up, then there’s no way we’re going to get out of the system. Hopefully, they’re slower at getting it up than I expect.”

“If it’s the supposed-to-be hidden hangar off this section,” Mian said, “I know a shortcut.”

She slid to a stop in front of a maintenance panel. Skylar also slowed beside her, though the Emperor continued on another few meters before looking back. Mian pressed her fingers to the edges of the metal and pried the panel off, revealing the shaft beyond. Without waiting, she crawled through. Skylar looked at the Emperor, who hesitated a moment before following after.

They crawled through the tunnel, their knees and arms clanging against the thin metal. Each echo filled the enclosed space. Several branching passageways ran off the main one. Some ended quickly in more panels like the one they entered through while others turned out of sight.

More rumbles ran through the station as weapons from the fleet impacted elsewhere. The klaxon had long since stopped blaring, though the red lights still strobed.

After what felt like an eternity, Skylar’s heart pounding the entire time, Mian turned and pushed through another panel. She let the metal clang to the ground. The noise sounded unusually loud from the empty corridor ahead. Then they were out in the main corridor again.

They had made so many turns inside the maintenance tunnel, Skylar lost track of where they were. But the Emperor exited and walked up to a blank section of wall. Skylar started to make a comment on why they were wasting time at it before the Emperor pressed his hand to the metal. It melted like ice turning to water. The metal fell away into the surrounding walls, revealing a short tunnel ending in a circular airlock door. A Hyperion Y with glass windows at the outside intersections sat in the center of it. In front of the door was a man wearing a pilot’s uniform, obscuring his features. The black material of the suit seemed to absorb light from around him.

“In,” the Emperor said, looking up and down the hall. Then his eyes stopped on Mian. He held up a hand to block her from entering. “Except you. You’re staying here, girl.”

“Why?” Mian asked.

“Because I don’t know who you are, and I don’t know if I can trust you. For all I know, you could be a spy.”

“She just helped us with that shortcut,” Skylar said. Outrage at the Emperor trying to leave her behind while taking him flared. “If she doesn’t come, I don’t either.”

“Scan me, and you’ll have my entire record,” Mian said, crossing arms. “Never been in trouble in my entire time here. Lock me in the medical bay on board if you want. The transport’s got one, right? Based off what I know of Imperial craft, it should. Put me anywhere you want on it, but there’s nowhere left for me to go here. And we’re running out of time.”

Another rumble ran through the station, this one stronger than the last. Metal screeched as if going through a grinder. The Emperor growled in frustration. He turned to the soldier standing at the airlock door, who stood motionless so far through the ordeal.

“How much space do we have on board?” the Emperor asked with a sigh.

“Enough, sir,” the man said without emotion. “Though I must recommend we move quickly if we want to leave before the enemy prevents our departure.”

The Emperor sighed and turned back to Mian.

“Fine. But if I suspect you might be trying to betray me, you’re going out the airlock. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, going up to the airlock door.

Skylar was close behind her. The Emperor followed last, making sure the entrance closed behind them. It hissed and shut out all the rumbles of the attack coming against the station. Skylar thought he might have gone deaf if it weren’t for the sound of the Emperor’s footsteps as he walked down the hallway and up to the man standing at the end.

“Warrant Officer, is the transport ready?” the Emperor asked.

“Yes, sir.” A moment later, the door behind him opened. He stepped to the side and gestured with one arm. “As soon as you are settled, we will set off, sir.”

The Emperor didn’t answer—he simply pushed his way past Skylar and Mian and onto the transport. Close behind him was the warrant officer who spared hardly a glance at the pair of them. Skylar raised an eyebrow at Mian, who returned it with a shrug, before following. Mian’s footsteps indicated she was just behind. The door hissed shut as they crossed the threshold.

Inside the transport was a narrow hallway leading to a T intersection. Matte gray panels lined the walls. The floor was comprised of a dark composite material that resembled wood. Recessed lights lined the ceiling, spaced a meter apart and casting a white glow. At the other side of the intersection was a plain metal door. No decorations adorned it.

The Emperor and the pilot went to the right at the intersection, disappearing around the corner. Skylar followed behind and saw the transport opened up into a sort of common area. On his right was a bench running the length of the wall, about five meters. Spaced evenly apart were three circular windows that showed the exterior tunnel wall just a meter of so away from the outside of the craft. In the corner nearest him sat a table with a trio of crash seats opposite the bench. A similar setup sat in the far corner with a gap of about a meter between the two. On the left sat what looked like a kitchen with a sink, food replicator, and cabinets.

At the far side was a makeshift bridge that looked like nothing more than a glorified cockpit. Two seats sat facing a curved viewscreen. An exterior view of a tunnel was visible outside the transport. Various consoles and controls sat underneath the viewport in front of both seats. There was a manual flight stick of a yoke in the shape of a W, with a handhold on either side, attached to the console for the seat on the left.

The warrant officer immediately took the left seat while the Emperor took the right. Immediately, the consoles hummed to life. Lights blinked on. The ventilation systems kicked in, a steady hum filling the air.

“Alright, you two might want to strap in,” the warrant officer called over his shoulder, barely looking at Skylar and Mian. “It might get a little bumpy.”

The pair heeded the pilot’s warning and moved to the bench lining the wall. As they sat in the corner nearest the cockpit, straps manifested from the wall and pulled them against the seat. Skylar uttered a cry of alarm as it happened. He struggled for a moment before realizing it was futile and not going to hurt him.

A hum sounded from the back of the craft, which he saw held a hallway leading to another three doors aside from the one he already noted. Skylar felt the craft begin to lift into the air slightly. Looking through one of the windows behind him, he saw the hangar floor sliding away from under them into the wall. Below was the expanse of the void.

Spaceship parts littered the area. Some were large, others small. Most of them glittered as they spun and expanded as clouds of debris from whatever ship they were originally part of. The flaring engines of missiles spun through the air, though there were far fewer than Skylar expected. From the cockpit, Skylar heard the Emperor mutter something about most of his forces being destroyed or surrendering.

The transport descended straight down from the hangar, its engines whining as it shot forward towards a relatively clear area of space. As they went, Skylar saw the section of the space station he spent most of his time in clearly labeled: Two-Two-Three. He had never seen it from this angle before. It looked so ordinary, melding in with the rest of the structure. Lina was in there.

<Just left the station,> Skylar said to Lina through his CAM. <I see our dormitory section.>

<I’d say I’d wave, but there’s no windows here, so it’d be pretty silly,> came the reply. He could hear her joking tone through the mental message. <Be careful out there, alright? And make sure you come back for me when you can.>

<Deal.> Skylar couldn’t help but smile as he craned his neck and watched the station slowly shrink away. Several seconds of silence followed before he finally continued, <I’ll miss you.>

<I’ll miss—>

The message abruptly ended. Section Two-Three-Three exploded. Skylar couldn’t help but watch, slack jawed, as pieces of debris blossomed out from the spot it once occupied. Like blowing the seeds off a dandelion. An icy grip seemed to settle around his heart as he considered the section. His and Lina’s dormitories were in there. That’s where the safe room Lina was supposed to be in was.

<Lina?> Skylar tried to send the message, but he was met with an error. He took a deep breath and swallowed. <Lina, please.>

Another error message came through. His heart pounded. All he could hear was the blood rushing through his ears. The remnants of the destroyed section hung in space before the transport shuddered as it activated its Harrington Drive. Every light dimmed. Loose objects around the cabin shook and trembled. A faint metallic smell filled the air. Then what sounded like an explosion came from the rear of the ship. Something shook it like a windstorm just before it disappeared through the wormhole. Skylar was thrown against the restraints of his seat, and he saw Mian jerk sideways.