Chapter Eight
Ranvir registered Taly’s disapproval of his interaction with the colonist but couldn’t let it affect him. They would all be dead. Shewould be dead if they didn’t get some distance between them and the crippled Celerity. Pulling on the hatch, his cybernetic hearing picked up a faint cry.
“Wait! Please!”
Opening the hatch slightly, he saw a man less than fifty feet away running for his life toward him. The logical thing would be to seal the hatch and the man’s fate. In the past, it’s what he was ordered to do on more than one occasion.
But as Ganesha had said, they were no longer part of the military. They could no longer be ordered to stand down and stand by. Now it was up to them to make the right decisions.
Could he let that man die knowing he could save him? His cybernetic brain said yes. What was left of his human one said no. He followed his human one and opened the hatch further.
In seconds, the man was near enough for Ranvir to grab his arm and yank him into the Troubadour before quickly sealing the hatch. He couldn’t save anyone else, but at least he’d saved one.
“Thank you! Thank you!” the man gasped between breaths. “I thought I was a goner.”
Ranvir didn’t reply, just spun on his heel and headed for the bridge.
“Wait! Where am I supposed to go? Where’s everyone else? Where’s my family?”
Ranvir didn’t slow down and didn’t bother to answer the man’s questions. He needed to get to the bridge so he could assess the situation. He’d felt the Troubadour disconnect from the Celerity as soon as the hatch sealed. Now, by his calculations, they were accelerating at an extreme rate.
Crossing the doorway, he charged onto the bridge and demanded, “Status.”
“Communications array shut down. Engines on the Celerity have reached critical mass,” Ganesha told him calmly even as his fingers flew over the piloting console in front of him. “We won’t be out of range for the worst of the shock wave. If we’re lucky, anyone registering our transponder code will think we were destroyed with the Celerity.”
“Raise the shields,” Ranvir ordered.
“Shouldn’t we…” Vujcec broke off when the ship began to shake. He barely had time to tighten his harness before the shock wave hit, flinging him back in his seat.
Ranvir spread his legs and gripped the back of the captain’s chair to maintain his balance. The ship rocked hard to the left and then the right. The male colonist who’d followed him onto the bridge wasn’t so lucky and rolled across the deck. Pike reached out and grabbed one of the colonist’s arms to stop his dangerous fall. Ganesha piloted the ship through the shock wave until it finally passed, then stabilized the ship.
“Damage report,” Ranvir demanded.
“Minor,” Tane reported, his fingers rapidly moving over his consol. “The shields deflected the worst of it, but the power crystals for the rear shields are now down to ten percent. They’re going to need to be replaced.”
“Any contacts on navigation?” Ranvir demanded, looking at Tane.
“No,” Tane told him.
“Where’s my family?” the colonist demanded as he rose to his feet and shook off Pike’s hold.
“Taly took them to the concert hall,” Vujcec told him.
“Where’s that?” The colonist looked to Vujcec.
“I’ll show you.” Vujcec unstrapped himself and gestured for the man to follow him.
Ganesha waited until the door closed before looking at Ranvir. “What took you so long sealing the hatch?”
“That man was lagging behind,” Ranvir told him coolly. “I chose to wait for him.”
“Putting us at risk,” Ganesha growled.
“Wemake the rules now, isn’t that right? Instead of being told to stand down or stand by,” Ranvir shot Ganesha’s words back to him. “I chose not to sacrifice a man’s life when I didn’t need to.”
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Once the ship stabilized, the screams that had echoed off the concert hall’s walls faded. Rolling onto her back, Taly tried to calm her breathing as she reached up and gingerly touched her cheek. While it was tender, her fingers didn’t come back bloody, so she’d count that as a win.