The ball of ice in my stomach is growing colder.
She barrels into the elevator, stabs the DOWN button. We can hear her breath over comms, strained and quick.
“Remember there are three,” Zila warns. “The third comes from your—”
“Nine o’clock, I know, I know.”
The elevator reaches Level 2, the door pings open. Nari rolls out into the corridor beyond as a security guard yells, “FREEZE!” A shot rings out. Another and another. The lighting is bloodred, flashing to white as Nari lets loose with her disruptor, striking the first guard in the chest. A burst of auto-fire turns the uniglass screen white, and I wince again as I hear a roar, a bang, Nari cursing. The picture shakes wildly, the uniglass falls out of her pocket, and I see Zila’s jaw clench, a tiny bead of sweat on her brow. We hear a grunt, another blast of auto-fire, and the alarm’s shifting pitch as the station shudders again. But the uni is on the floor, and all we can see now is the ceiling, the ducts, red flashing to white.
“SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2. REPEAT: SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2.”
“Chakk … ,” Fin breathes.
“Attention, Glass Slipper personnel. Hull breach on Decks 13 through 17.”
“Nari?” Zila asks. “Nari, can you hear me?”
“Five by five,” comes the reply, heavy, panting.
The uniglass gets picked up, and we see Nari’s face, the visor of her helmet tipped back. She’s pale, wincing.
“Are you well?” Zila demands. “Status?”
“I got her this time,” Nari grins, ragged. “Nine o’clock, just like you said. It was Liebermann. Goddamn, she’s a good shot.”
“Not as good as you,” Fin smiles.
Nari coughs. “I dunno about that… .”
My heart sinks as I see blood at her mouth, on her teeth. She lowers the uniglass, points the camera at her stomach, and my own stomach rolls at the sight of the ragged bleeding hole in her flight suit, just under her ribs.
“Oh Maker … ,” Fin breathes.
“I’m okay,” Nari insists. “I got this.”
I glance at Zila again, see the hurt in her eyes as she watches Nari slip the uniglass back into her pocket. The station shakes. The door at the end of the corridor is marked in large white letters.
NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL BEYOND THIS POINT.
“SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2. REPEAT: SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2.”
“Think that’s for m-me?” Nari chuckles.
“This is the farthest she’s ever got,” Fin breathes.
I nod, hope surging. “She might make it this time.”
“Zila, you need to prep the shuttle for launch,” Fin warns. “I’m gonna start working on the bay doors.”
“Just a moment … ,” she whispers.
“Attention, Glass Slipper personnel. All engineering staff report to Gamma Section, Deck 12, immediately.”
Zila watches the projection, lips pressed tight. Nari stumbles on, breathing hard but moving quick. She uses her stolen passcard, the bulkhead shudders as it groans and opens wide, and for a moment, the light flares so bright the uni screen goes totally white.
“That’s it … ,” Zila whispers.
“Great Maker,” Fin breathes.
In front of Nari we see a large circular room, bathed red in alert lighting. The walls, the ceiling, the floor are all scarred by long slashes of black—scorch marks, I realize. Conduits and pipes twist out from massive banks of computers, snaking along the floor to a cylindrical tank of glass in the center of the room. The glass is cracked, charred in places. And inside it, pulsing with light like a heartbeat, is the broken Eshvaren probe.
I feel heat on my chest, look down at my medallion and feel it pulse. As if it somehow knows what I’m looking at.
“What the hell are you doing here?” someone barks.
It’s a scientist, dressed in a heavy white radsuit. Nari turns, fires her disruptor. The man cries out and falls. Another man in white protection gear draws a sidearm, fires, and sparks rain off the computer banks as Nari dives to one side and lands hard, coughing wetly. With a gasp, she rolls upward and fires, once, twice, dropping the man to the floor. The probe thrums, the light in the room flushes purple, then drops to black, the walls shaking.
“SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2. REPEAT: SECURITY ALERT, LEVEL 2.”
“She’s really gonna do it … ,” Fin breathes.
“WARNING: CONTAINMENT BREACH. EVACUATE DECKS 5 THROUGH 6 IMMEDIATELY. REPEAT: CONTAINMENT BREACH—”