Chapter 32

The time had come. Or, at least, the alarm klaxons and the panicked voice over the loudspeaker announcing a hull breach seemed to indicate that it had. The artificial gravity had been flickering for the last twenty minutes and the ship had heaved and shuddered twice, bad enough that the gravity control had been unable to compensate fast enough to keep the people in the mess from being tossed around.

When the battle had started it had been obvious. Commands had been passed for all personnel to seal their suits and to hook in, where possible, to the ships' atmospheric system to preserve the in-suit converters. The mess deck had more than enough hookups for the people sequestered there, and Kat was amused to see that people still clumped together in little cliques, friends clustered together around a set of attachment points.

Kat, Vlad and the soldier escorting them were alone at the cluster nearest to the doors. Other passengers had avoided the armed and armored soldier, made uneasy by the lone fighting man amidst a crowd of non-combatants.

Kat could feel the ship moving and twisting, firing her larger weapons and being hit in return, all through the bulkhead at her back. She had closed her eyes and concentrated on the vibrations she could feel, trying to make sense of them, determine how the battle was progressing. It was useless, and frustrating. The vibrations came faster and faster, too indistinct to tell what caused them.

Kat was on edge, her senses hyper alert and her muscles trembling. If there was an opening, she might have to move fast, but staying this would up would just tire her out if something didn't happen soon. Still, she could not force herself to relax, to unwind a bit. She was afraid that she would not be ready to move when necessary. It was a vicious cycle and she wondered if it affect her judgment.

When the moment did come, she bolted out of her seat so quickly that her connection to the wall socket that was providing air to her suit almost caused her bid for freedom to end before it had started. An explosion rocked the ship, blowing a hole through the outer and inner hulls and opening a three meter gap in the mess area wall. Shrapnel shredded the dozen people nearest to the opening and felled two dozen more in the first instant.

Large shards of metal and plastic, accelerated to thousands of meters per second by the blast, skewered passengers like spears. Thousands of smaller bit pierced suits, opening them to vacuum and killing those people who were unfortunate enough to be in the path. The interior of the mess became an abattoir in less than a second, bits of people, whole limbs and vast pools of blood splashed across the room.

The artificial gravity cut off and the survivors who were scrambling away from the hole in the wall, as well as a few brave souls who were heading forward to try and help, all lost contact with the floor and found themselves launched on a trajectory that would, eventually, impale a few on the jagged edged of the hole.

Kat's jump, brought up short by the hose that was still connected to her shoulder, just under the clear hood, became a tumble as the gravity was lost and the rearward yank of the hose made her pivot at that connection point. The momentum caused the quick disconnect fitting to pop free and left Kat spinning in midair, helpless.

She threw out her arms and legs to try and slow her spin and felt someone grab an outstretched hand. The shock was sudden and halted her spin but came close to dislocating her shoulder in the process. Looking down her arm, she could see that Vlad had grabbed her and was pulling her back to the floor of the mess. Vlad's face was pale and drawn and Kat could see sweat droplets forming, and freezing, on his face.

Realizing what that must mean, she swarmed down his arm and latched on to the front of his suit, scanning for the tear or rip that had to be there, venting his air to vacuum. What she saw horrified her. He was impaled and pinned to the wall. A sword-length shard of metal had passed through the soldier to his left and entered Vlad's chest just underneath his arm. It penetrated far enough that the tip was buried in the bulkhead behind him, keeping him upright and slowing the leak of air from his suit.

Kat realized that there was nothing she could do to save him. Even if she could seal the punctures, the shard had pierced his lung, probably both of them, and he would be dead in minutes. She placed her helmet in contact with his in the hope that he could pick up the vibrations of her voice. "Vlad, I am so sorry."

Blood was staining his lips and it was obvious that he was in great pain, but he smiled at her. She couldn't hear him, but he mouthed his words slowly. "We are even, yes?" and closed his eyes, slumping against the bulkhead.

Kat could not, would not let the tears come. There would be time to cry later, if she survived. Right now, she had to get the hell out of here and find a way off this ship.

Leaving Vlad behind was hard, but she had a job to do. She launched herself slowly across the room towards the hatch on the far wall, away from the carnage of the blown hull. Floating through the wreckage filled air was a test of her patience. She had to move slowly so that she could clear debris out of her way, but it would take her a couple of minutes to make it to the exit. Globules of blood splattered on her suit in several place, making her look more like a victim than a survivor.

She made it to the door and had to anchor herself to one edge of the frame in order to wrap her fingers around the door and force it back into the frame. Once she had it open, she was able to slip through into the passageway. Military ships had handhold along the ceiling for use in zero G. Kat had never experienced null-gravity and if she hadn't been running for her life, she thought she might have really enjoyed the sensation of flight. She made a mental note to tell Miverva that this should be included in future training for Agents.