HMS Valediction

Chapter 22.2

When I look up, a flash of red momentarily blinds me.

The gold ship — the mountain — fired at ARC10.

I'm struck with the quiet pulse that shakes my bones after impact — the agony of a cosmic gut punch.

ARC10 breaks in two.

"No." I scream. "No, no, no, no, no, no." The universe swirls, the black vortex captures my body. "No." I'm tumbling through a new blackness.

"She did it." Moon drops his hands to his thighs. "She actually did it."

"Get closer," I order, pointing at the debris floating away from my ship. "There might be survivors. We need to grab them now."

"That's what she wants," Moon says.

"I don't give a fuck about who wants whatever ominous bullshit you're talking about. Take me there now."

Moon faces me. "No."

I can't breathe. How has this gone so wrong again? I can't stop screaming. "My people are dying. My sister. My friends. My ship is destroyed."

Pieces of ARC10 scatter. It could be the ship, it could be my VIPERs. It could be anything and I have no idea how to fix it.

Behind us, the HMS Valediction appears. Blue beams blast from it, smacking the golden mountain square in the middle.

ARC10 is in the crossfire.

"Let me out."

"What?"

I pull my arms through the straps and rise from my seat. "Let me the fuck out."

"Sit down!"

I rush to the hatch and search for a suit or something to breathe through while in space. I can't find anything, just a long spear wedged inside a velvet, teal couch. I couldn't have lost everything. On the bulkhead to my right, I notice a silver lever.

Escape hatch.

"Don't you dare pull that," Moon shouts from the cockpit. The high rage in his voice doesn't terrify me. The threat hidden underneath his words doesn't either.

If everyone and everything I love is gone, where else do I go?

I wrap my fingers around its smooth handle.

Before I even realize he's left his seat, Moon twists my arms behind my back and shoves me into the wall. "If you open that hatch, you will die. What good are you to anyone then?"

His breath against my ear is hot. Extra hot. Almost like his hands against my wrist, his hard body against my back. I'm revolted by him, this man, touching me. I try to shove him off, but his grasp is superhuman. I try all my moves, stomping on his foot, angling my elbow toward his gut, flinging my head back to collide with his forehead. Nothing works. I only feel the rumbling of shots fired around us.

"If you'd stop wriggling around like the un-evolved maggot you are, I can go back to my controls and we can find a way to tow your ship before Juno strikes it again and destroys the entire population inside."

I stare at my hand on the silver lever and will it to move — to slam the contraption down, open the door, and suck our bodies out into the vast emptiness. My anguished soul yearns for this escape. One small jostle, one accidental movement and I can rest.

When my pause stretches out for a few seconds, I feel his grip loosen. We stare each other down, eye to eye, the full capacity of my loathing firing at his face. After a few minutes, he turns away.