Ace of Spades
The ship rocked violently as Lessa held on to the table. “Niko! What is it?!” The noise reminded her of the time Ace was pulled into the gravity well of Jeren X. They’d barely escaped the barrage of graphite rain in the upper atmosphere.
She tried reaching Rion through comms again, but all she got was static and a few choppy bits of dialogue, then nothing.
“Hold on! Michelle is coming back!” Niko switched the viewscreen to show Michelle’s camera and they watched intently from the drone’s perspective as it flew along the pathway and then lit on the ship’s position.
Lessa’s jaw went slack. What the hell?
Ace’s hull was covered in large patches of black… and whatever it was… moving? Wait—were those wings? A sudden flash of what might have been open claws appeared in Michelle’s camera feed a second before it tumbled wildly. The screen blitzed and shifted to black. Quickly Lessa initiated takeoff procedures.
Ace’s thrusters were spooling up for lift, but it seemed like it was taking forever. Come on, come on. Suddenly the ship lurched. A piercing metallic echo followed. Ace moved again.
Lessa’s heart dropped. As crazy as it seemed, it sure as hell felt like they were being pushed or dragged. “Keep trying to raise the captain; tell her we’re leaving!”
“I am!” Niko yelled over the din. “Those things are all over the sensors! I’m not getting a response.”
Stunned and growing more terrified by the second, Lessa stared across the table and met her brother’s wide eyes as the ship continued to rock and groan. The thuds and the dragging didn’t stop. It was becoming clear they were in a world of trouble.
Ace rocked hard again, tipping violently. Lessa left the main tactical table and headed for her chair. “Buckle in!”
Dammit. Her fingers fumbled with the attachment as the ship continued to tip over. The world turned slowly upside down as the Ace of Spades went weightless over the platform.
Thank God her buckle finally snapped into place. Lessa’s stomach rolled and her vision distorted as she tried like hell to hold on to the NAV console, using everything she had—abdominal muscles, arm and hand strength… But forces were working against her. It was difficult to focus on the interface. Niko shouted her name. She dodged a loose datapad just in time. It slammed into the wall behind her. If she could just reach…
As free fall continued, Lessa finally made it forward enough to focus on the controls. Immediately, she engaged the ACC, before being shoved back into her seat, hoping… praying the ship’s auto anti-collision sensors could read proximity through the passengers on the hull. But she wasn’t finished with procedure. Thrusters locked, she saw the green light. Her eardrums rang with the pounding of her heart and the shrill alarms. Reaching for the console again took all her strength.
Got it!
Auto engaged. Thrusters fired, full throttle.
Lessa released her hold and was flung back as Ace rolled right side up, pulling deeply at her insides. The speed of their fall was now countered by the firing of thrusters. She opened her eyes, a hopeful zing spreading through her limbs.
Without any warning at all, Ace hit the ground.
The force sent her legs up and her torso down. Her face slammed into her knees.
Then… blackness.
It was the awful sounds that woke her.
At first they sounded underwater, a slow muted thunder that grew from low bass to a high-pitched treble. Her gut rolled again, shoving bile into her throat. A hot, throbbing pressure radiated through her face, and her eye sockets and sinuses were on fire. Lessa tried to crack her eyes open, but they were heavy and uncooperative.
She tried clearing her throat to speak, but was hindered by the sharp tang of nausea. Finally, she managed a strangled word; the only one that mattered. “Niko.”
The nausea was nearly as bad as the pain in her face, and she feared opening her eyes and trying to focus, only to see the world spinning. If that happened, she’d definitely barf. No, don’t think about it.
She had to push through. Niko wasn’t answering.
As sleepy as she felt, she fought the blackness edging in on her. One of the keys to survival was how quickly a person recovered and defended themselves—or removed themselves from harm’s way before another blow landed and sank them further into oblivion.
She reached down and pulled on those old reserves. Her head weighed a ton, but she managed to lift it and open her eyes. The flashes on the bridge seemed to come in every color of the rainbow. One of the consoles had shorted, and sparks crackled into the air. Niko’s head was on his console. He wasn’t moving.
Tears sprang fast as she fumbled with her buckle. “Niko. Hold on.”
Irritating buckle wouldn’t—there we go. She was free. Standing on her feet was another matter. As soon as she tried, her head exploded with pain, and dizziness nearly overwhelmed her. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead. She was shaking inside and out. “I’m coming, Niko.”
She took one step, using her console for support, then another, until she was balanced on her own two feet. At that moment the ship gave another violent lurch. Lessa fell forward. She hit the floor, her hand nearly touching Niko’s heel.
Her vision began bleeding black. She couldn’t lift her cheek off the floor.
Well, I almost made it.
A loud metallic scraping echoed throughout the bridge.
The Ace of Spades was being moved once again.