Terrak
I hate extravehicular activities. My greatest strength is talking to people, and that isn’t nearly as much use when tumbling around in the black. We had personal propulsion devices, so we were unlikely to go flying off hopelessly into the void, but it’s still disorienting to float in the vacuum, even more so when there are rocks all around. The smallest asteroids were as big as houses, and the largest as big as ships. I grew up on a planet, and I find it fundamentally surreal to see pitted stones just hovering around me.
Azad launched herself toward the dark bulk of the Crystal Stair , maneuvering with air jets, and I did the same. She was better at checking her speed with counteracting bursts of air; I just bumped into small rocks, certain I’d rip a hole in my suit and die. We did reach the airlock of the enemy ship eventually, though I thumped against the side of the Crystal Stair so hard I was sure someone would hear the bang and come to investigate.
No one did. Azad pried open a panel beside the airlock with a flat-edged tool, then hooked up a small device to the wires inside. Harlow had given us override codes for this generation of ship, and our boarding plan hinged on those still being functional. I hated this plan, but at least it was better than the alternative, which involved breaching charges, and would be a lot noisier and attention-getting. It had been a long time since I’d been on an infiltrate-and-execute operation, and I really hoped the moves would come back to me.
I’d asked why we couldn’t just blow up the entire ship and then go for a drink, but Azad said we didn’t have enough firepower to be sure we’d kill Ohseroh, and also we had to confirm the Letani was actually on board, and also also, wouldn’t infiltration be more fun ? “I like to look my enemies in the face before I destroy them,” she said.
I told her, “Letani don’t have faces. They just have a sort of red flower on top–”
“Then I want to look her right in the bee-hole,” Azad said.
The airlock door popped open, and Azad grinned at me through her helmet’s faceplate.
Her grin turned into astonishment when vinelike tentacles whipped out of the opening and yanked her inside the airlock.