Chapter 424: Lukas Had Been Saving That Cable

The big pressure strike hit the cracked brace exactly where Gullet aimed it, which was the first helpful thing he had done for us all evening.

The fresh weld tore apart, and the crossbeam lurched toward the stern opening. Lukas released the winch brake for one measured turn, allowing the guide cable to run instead of snapping tight under the first shock. Then he locked it again, changing the falling beam’s direction across the well.

I packed my length around the center support and hauled the loose walkway brace out of the cable’s path. The steel scraped free while the crane fell, and I had a sudden, passionate desire to be somewhere with fewer moving parts.

[System: Head down, mate. You’re already hard enough to supervise without splitting into two independent dickheads.]

The edge of the pressure wave caught me before I finished moving. Pain struck through my side, and my wings hit the post hard enough to make the repaired one ache. I lost the brace, but it fell away from the line as intended, leaving Lukas’s cable free.

Gullet drove forward behind his own blast, expecting the broken structure to clear the stern passage.

The beam swung across instead, and his expression changed beautifully before the impact ruined my view.

Its lower end struck the side of his upper body and pinned him against the thick center frame beneath the walkway. Water burst around them, carrying loose bolts into the gate. The remaining crane brace twisted under the sudden angle but held long enough for Lukas to engage the secondary ratchet.

He kept moving, smashing his blade against the beam and forcing his long body toward the gap below. I had hoped for a moment to appreciate the work, but apparently he intended to be difficult right through the finish.

I ducked clear of his freed arm. Old Mate told me admiration could wait until the subject stopped trying to remove my head, and I reluctantly accepted the criticism.

Lukas fed the ratchet one notch tighter, then stopped instead of trying to force more pressure through damaged machinery. The guide cable trembled under its load, and I could hear metal complaining all the way to the upper deck.

"Don’t pull any harder. If you fall in, I’m adding you to the list of people making this evening unnecessarily expensive."

"Then make your part quick, because this handle is becoming a personality test."

[System: Water’s gathering again. Stay out of the lane unless you’d like him to post you back to Ami without a bloody stamp.]

The captain tore one arm free and slashed toward me with the broken blade. I moved behind his trapped shoulder, keeping the beam between the weapon and my head. His natural strength was still enough to carve a fresh groove through the frame when he missed.

My side stung, my tail ached, and the cut stretched every time I moved. I wanted to bite him out of spite before I even considered how useful it would be.

But Lukas was still holding that failing control above me. I picked an angle that would finish the fight instead of merely making me feel better for half a second.

I looped a tendril through the dropped walkway rail and pulled it across the captain’s freed forearm. The bent rail caught against the beam, forcing his wrist lower and the broken blade away from my approach. He shoved hard enough to bend it farther, but the angle cost him time.

Lukas called from above, telling me the cargo door remained sealed and the stern opening remained clear enough for our launch. Even now, he was keeping track of the way out while I focused on the bastard in front of me.

"Hold until I call, then leave the handle and get to the launch. We can argue about the repair bill somewhere without a crane above us."

"Then hurry up, you overgrown emergency cable. The ratchet’s skipping, and I don’t want to get married to this handle while you choose an insult."

[System: He’s getting good, mate. Might let him name your next form if you keep making him do all the difficult bits.]

I am the one getting stabbed down here, in case you want to include that in the performance review. Still, Lukas had his good side braced against the rail and held the handle steady, so I saved the rest for later.

The captain saw me glance up and tried to speak around the pressure across his chest.

"Your friend dies first when this gives."

"You keep saying things like that, and every time I end up owning more of your stuff. Have you considered shutting up?"

The next full pressure ring tightened around his lower body. I flattened behind the center frame while he drove the blast toward the stern opening, trying to clear the debris beneath the gate. Water tore a seam along the lower hull and threw broken walkway sections outside, but the upper beam held him against the frame. The attack shook the guide cable without removing the steel pressing across his shoulder.

He had widened the escape lane and opened a leak, yet the beam still trapped his shoulder. I moved the instant the blast passed, determined not to waste the fresh interval he had handed me.

I moved my head behind his shoulder and tasted the clean water flowing through the gap beside his neck. The beam trapped him at an angle that exposed the softer join beneath his jaw. His natural armor wasn’t a perfect shell, and the steel pressure kept him from turning to protect it.

I began humming the tune I had carried into the dock fight, low enough that only he and I could hear it over the damaged ship.

He stopped struggling for half a second when he recognized the sound.

[System: He knows the tune now, mate. Don’t disappoint the customer after keeping him on hold this bloody long.]

I tightened my length around the stable frame, keeping the weight where the ship could carry it, and placed my jaws beside the exposed part of his throat.

For the first time, Captain Gullet had nowhere useful left to move, and I was close enough to finish the argument.