Page 85 of Fighting Gravity
But this time was different.
“Their ship is damaged,” I said. “Let them go. They likely won’t survive a trip out of the quadrant anyways.”
It was true, but it still made me look weak. I knew it did. My crew expected violence and usually, I was more than willing to oblige, but Quinn was an infection I was just starting to feel the full force of. A hindrance I didn’t quite understand yet.
Around me, I could feel my men questioning my decision. Not only because it didn’t make sense but because they too didn’t understand what was happening between Quinn and me. I was half tempted to give her over to the humans and be done with her, but a bigger part of me winced at the idea. Imagining the sight of Quinn flying away on a ship that wasn’t mine made my fists clench. It was a terrible feeling and one I couldn’t ignore.
“The shuttle likely won’t be able to make a jump until they make repairs,” Veron said, looking over data scans of the human shuttle.
She spoke like he was trying to make my decision sound more logical to the others. It was a new color on her. She was supporting me.
“Then get us out of here,” I told Crex. “Straight to Gathea. No more stops.”
“Resetting a course for Gathea,” he replied.
35: Quinn
Utrek didn’t seem happy about hauling me through the ship, but he did it without question because he was more loyal to Rhone than he was to me. My screaming and begging didn’t deter him in the slightest. I kicked and struggled but to no avail, until he tossed me into a random room and locked the door. I slammed into the barrier, pounding on the metal and shouting my complaints at the top of my lungs.
No one would hear me. No one would care. It felt awfully familiar to the first days on Rhone’s ship.
But one thing was different. That was a human vessel. A ticket home and if not that, then they were simply ignorant bystanders and I couldn’t see them obliterated. Like me, they probably had no idea how severe the situation with the gek was. Seeing the freighter blown to pieces with workmates and friends on board was enough. So many of them earned their place on the Nexus. They worked as hard as I did to be there and never signed up to go to war with an alien race.
I know I didn’t.
I didn’t know what was happening outside, but things got bumpy fast. I hadn’t been in many space battles, but I was certain that little shuttle couldn’t be throwing around the Shadowbreaker in that way. We were being fired on and it was by something big. I braced every time the ship quaked until I finally stumbled toward the small, round viewing window on the other side of the empty room. I peered out to see vague flashes of weapon fire and stars.
The ship jolted again and again and alarms blared from deep in the bowls of the vessel. Things were far more urgent than I first thought. Perhaps there was a whole fleet of human ships. Perhaps they were destroying the Shadowbreaker and I was about to die on an alien ship.
A vision of my body frozen among a crew of gek floating into the expanse flashed across my mind and I shivered. I ran to the door again and beat it with the heels of my palms.
“Let me the fuck out of here!” I screamed.
The battle went on for what felt like an hour, but in reality, it had to have only been fifteen minutes or so. By the time things calmed down, I stumbled my way back to the window to look outside and saw loads of debris floating outward followed by the dull flares of ejecting escape pods. I couldn’t make out whether or not they were human from that distance, but the debris and smoke thrust me right back to the freighter as it was blown to pieces. By Rhone, no less.
I wondered how I thought I was falling for him. He was a big, domineering villain and I was his fucking prisoner. I had begged him and he ignored me. He shut me out so he could slaughter my people without looking at my face while he did it. Coward.
Rage filled me until I was nauseous and as I lost my voice screaming and beating on the door, all I could think of were the things I wanted to do to Rhone. I wanted to stab him, choke him, set him on fire, and curse at his body for making me feel a sliver of affection toward him after everything, but that meant I needed to get out of that room.
When the battle slowed and things began to calm down, I was finally able to find my footing in a stabilized spacecraft. I felt bruises on my hands and forearms from pounding on the thick, metal barrier, and yet nothing mattered but getting to Rhone and ripping his face off.
Silence overtook the Shadowbreaker for a long while, but considering the lights were still working, it was clear the ship hadn’t been damaged enough to stall. I walked to the window again and leaned as far to the side as I could to see what was going on when I saw a small recon shuttle in the distance. I’d recognize them anywhere because I used one to train for a full year before graduating and being hired onto the Nexus. I held my breath watching it hover there in front of the Shadowbreaker, alone and vulnerable with an ocean of debris behind it. Debris from what, I didn’t know, but when the Shadowbreaker began to shudder with a building charge and put some distance between us and the shuttle, it was clear we were leaving the small ship behind.
Confusion twisted my thoughts to mush and made me even more desperate to get out of that room. I returned to the door and leaned my head against it, trying to piece together possible situations in my head. I did that for some time until the ship trembled and I felt my stomach lift a little.
We’d entered a jump, leaving the human ship alone. And soon after, I heard the electric locks on my door release. I was slow to poise my hand over the control panel, unsure what I was going to do once I stepped out. When I finally pressed on the panel and the door whispered open, I headed quickly to the bridge.
The halls were empty, echoing my footsteps as I jogged through the wide passages alone. When I came to the foyer heading to the bridge, I saw Veron, Kaar, and Crex heading away. I slipped past them, ignoring the eyes that followed me to the open entrance and found myself standing in a dark, empty chamber with a blurry, undulating tunnel of light whizzing past as we floated in an FTL jump. Utrek stumbled out last, nearly knocking me over. He jumped away from me like he thought I was going to bite his throat.
“They’re alive,” he said quickly. “The nozun, not so much.”
That was all he said before he scurried out of the room, leaving me behind. The coms screens and navigation panels were dimmed and everyone had left… except for one.
Slumped in the captain's chair in the middle of the bridge was Rhone, elbows on the rests and his head leaning on one hand as he stared out into space. I had planned on yelling at him. Punching him. Kicking him. Using any tool at my disposal to cut him open, but now I was at a loss. He spared a human ship and though I wasn’t sure exactly what battle had taken place beforehand, I didn’t know how to react.
Swallowing, I slowly circled around to face Rhone, getting my breathing under control. It sounded much louder in the silence of the empty chamber.
Rhone was staring past me, a stern and disappointed look on his face. Light danced across his features in the dark and made him look devilish and lethal as if he was going to snap my hand right off if I got any closer. Every time the dim glow of the screens streaked across his black and gold eyes I felt a shudder zip right through me. Maybe it was fear. Maybe it was something else. All I knew was that Rhone filled that room and I felt small before him.
