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Urgent voices rang through the compartment.
“Hostile is down!”
“We need medics over here!”
“I’m okay,” Kendra said from under Cass. “Let me up.”
Cass shifted enough so Kendra could lever herself upright and take in the scene behind the desk.
“Autumn, blast you, hang on,” Stone could be heard saying. Her leap had brought Autumn into her saving arms a fraction of a second late, but she’d still pulled her down to the deck before Phalkon’s second sweep could catch her again. Now she was holding the stricken revolutionary’s head on her lap and trying to keep her awake.
“Might not have a choice, Chief,” the younger woman said. There was a nasty burbling sound when she breathed, suggesting at least one puncture to her lungs and perhaps more.
“There’s always a choice,” Stone insisted. “At least whether you fight or not, and you’ve always fought.”
“When do I get a day off, then?” The joke was weak but at least it was a joke.
“Just as soon as I do, lass.”
A meter away Crozier had wrapped Taylor in her arms and was sobbing. His eyes were closed and he looked peaceful, until Kendra looked at his back. Two lines of red blotches crossed his body where the darts penetrated.
Cass rose to peek over the desk, then stood fully.
“Kendra.”
She looked up at her wife.
“Phalkon’s dead and the Marines are clearing the room.”
Kendra was about to reply but a muttered curse captured her attention and she turned to look.
“Miserable goddamn stupid bitch, she’d lost, why did she have to do this, what a complete knobhead wazzock, son of a bitch this hurts!”
“Mac?”
“Waste of oxygen tosspot, oh, what?”
Mac was still standing, though she was clutching her side.
“Did you get hit, Kendra, I hope not, God, this is horrible, I wonder why she did it, maybe she was just being a sore loser but why wait until after the surrender was signed, and hey where are the damn medics?”
“I’m sure they’re coming, Mac. Chief?”
“She’s hanging on, but I don’t know how,” Stone said. “Less blood than I’d expect, too.”
Kendra shuffled over to take Autumn’s hand. “Hey, Autumn?”
One eye half-opened. “Kendra.”
“You did it.”
“Huh?”
“It’s official. The surrender, I mean.”
That elicited a weak laugh. “Not much of a surrender.”
“Still binding.”
“Suppose so.” Her eye closed. “Don’t worry; not going away. Just tired.”
Kendra tried to release her hand, but Autumn gripped it.
“Not yet. Kendra, if I die, Nicole takes over.”
“You’re not going to –”
“Don’t lie, Kendra; you’re no good at it. Not planning to die, but. Has to be a clear succession or everything –” She stopped to draw breath. “Everything will be for nothing.”
“I’ll make sure, Autumn.”
“Thanks. Can’t let. Every death. Be. In vain.”
Cass had moved to Nicole while Kendra talked with Autumn. She didn’t say anything; instead, she sat quietly next to Nicole and leaned against her, letting her know in the most certain manner she wasn’t alone in her grief.
“He didn’t have to do any of this,” Nicole finally gasped. “I tried to keep him safe, I tried to keep him on Artemis.”
“I know,” Cass assured her. “He knew, too. He was your family, as much as Karolina, and he loved you.”
Nicole turned, releasing her hold on Taylor’s body, and allowed Cass to pull her into a hug. She sat, rocking and crying, grieving for the loss of her friend.
“Where do you need a medic?”
“Kidwell!” said Stone, recognizing the voice. “Over here!”
The Marine came around and took one look at the scene.
“I need you all to clear out, give me room, and get me a proper doctor!”
“I’ll go,” said Stone.
“No,” Kendra insisted. “You stay with Autumn. I’ll find more help. Mac.”
“Huh?”
She gestured at Mac’s face, even paler than usual. “Sit down before you fall over.”
“I’m sort of feeling not bad,” Mac began.
“It’s shock. Sit.”
“You’re the boss.”
Kendra grabbed the agreement and brought it to Mac. “Guard this. Until we get this off-planet, it’s the only proof we have of, what? Why are you waving your hands?”
“Cameras?” said Mac.
Kendra, feeling foolish, looked. “Right. Forgot about those. Still transmitting?”
The tech nodded. “And recording. We can get a close-up of the document if you think it would help.”
“Do it. I’ve got to get more help.”
Mike.
Admiral Cassidy.
Where’s the nearest doctor? We need more help.
I have already alerted the closest medical facility. A full team is on the way.
Good thinking, Mike. Glad to have you back.
Thank you. Admiral. I have a concern.
Concern?
I have stopped receiving any transmissions from Njord, Diana, or Hecate.
Kendra’s heart stopped and restarted with a lurch.
The girls!
“Cass!”
Her wife’s head appeared, a quizzical look on her face.
“We need to go. Now!”
*
“JILL, HOW ARE YOU DOING?”
McKnight wiped her forehead. “Vision’s coming back, mostly. Still a little blurry.”
They’d found only one more person alive in CCIC besides Colona, who had a broken leg and probably some internal injuries. Marc Reeve had survived too, but was unconscious. The rest of the staff wasn’t as fortunate. Everyone was accounted for, so they were taking a breather.
“Any luck with the comms?” Whitmore said to Colona. At her insistence they’d found a chair for her and cleared space by the semi-functional holotank console.
“Not yet. I can get the AI to give me basic diagnostics and system status, but I don’t have the programming skills to get it to do anything creative.”
The electronic lobotomy Diana had suffered was, if anything, more shocking than any of the other damages. The AI would only respond to her unit designation, not her name, and so they’d stopped trying. As McKnight’s vision had returned she’d been able to do more and more with the limited capabilities of the manual interface.
“What do we know?”
“Well, the Q-Net node is down; as are the shields and weapons. Most of the power systems are off-line as well, though Fusion 2 and 3 are both in standby mode and could be reactivated easily. We simply have no readings below Section 94.”
“Nothing?” The habitat was divided into sections, each of which was twenty levels deep and made up a quarter of the circumference. There were a total of 160 sections. Section 94 was just about 60% of the way from the apex, so more than 40% of the habitat was utterly incommunicado.
“Nothing,” agreed McKnight.
“What about radio?”
“All down. I think the impact, and the power loss, did for most of the systems, but I can’t be sure.”
Whitmore!
“Hold a sec,” Davie said. “Implant. Damn. Send a general message out, see who replies. Maybe their personal systems are still working, too!”
Whitmore. Kendra?
Thank Zeus! What’s the situation? I can’t raise Diana!
“It’s Kendra!”
I feel like an idiot; I forgot about the implants. We’re a mess, major systems failures all over.
Ah, makes sense.
Where are you?
Cass and I are about three minutes out and closing fast. You’re surrounded by a motherlode of debris, and...
Kendra’s ‘voice’ trailed off.
What?
Sweet Leda. It looks like half of Njord is gone.