She picked up a discarded weapons belt off the copilot’s seat. “Sentinels may only have laser pistols, but my clearance will grant us access to the arms lockers on the station so we can get our hands on some better firepower.” She flashed a grin. “And we’re fifteen Legion soldiers. That’s almost half a platoon.”
“See…” Jackin began, crossing his arms and sighing. “You say almost half a platoon, but I say not even half a platoon.”
“Set the course, Jack,” she said. “We’re taking back Kharon Gate.”
* * *
Adequin had never put much thought into the existence of a higher power. In a universe somewhere in the realm of twenty-thousand-billion light-years wide, with countless galaxies, solar systems, planets, and forms of life, it seemed too inconceivable for one being, supernatural or otherwise, to orchestrate.
But if one did exist, then Adequin knew for certain they’d decided to focus their spiteful gaze upon her. For what sin, she didn’t know, but it had started to get annoying.
Not ten minutes into their trip, the SGL decelerated from warp speed in a glorious shower of flashing light and misdirected acium charge. She picked herself up off the cockpit floor and Jackin looked down at her from the pilot’s chair.
“Boss, we got a problem.”
“No shit.”
Jackin’s fingers flew over the controls. “I think something might have, uh, jarred loose during our little maneuver.”
“Jarred loose?”
“Yeah, I’m getting a malfunction…” He leaned over the console and enlarged an overhead of the ship. “There.” He pointed to a flashing red icon on the port quarter. The small distress symbol meant nothing to her.
“Can it be repaired?” she asked.
“Maybe. We’d have to go out and see what’s actually going on.”
“We can’t reach it internally?”
“No. Sorry.”
Adequin ran her hands through her hair, pulling it from its tie and letting it fall past her shoulders. “Okay, let’s take a look.”
“Let’s being…？” Jackin asked warily.
“You?”
“I’m no mechanic.”
“Mechanic?”
“It’s part of the warp drive.”
“Okay. Who do you think can help?”
Jackin shrugged. “I don’t even know who all we have left—” His shoulders dropped.
Adequin’s gaze flitted to the ground, a knot twisting in her stomach.
Lace. They needed Lace.
She didn’t even know if warp drives had been part of Lace’s skill set, but the woman had a thousand stories of all the different shit she’d had to fix over her forty-some years as a legionnaire. She’d have found a way to fix it, she always did. Always had.
“Sorry,” Jackin continued, his voice haggard. “I’m just not sure who knows what.”
Adequin cleared her throat, then gathered her hair back up and retied it. “Let’s find out.”
She opened the door and walked into the common room.
“Soldiers,” she called. The soft hubbub died and their frightened faces turned to look at her. “Everyone okay?”
Their response came in murmured agreements and tentative nods.