Chapter 50
Haven
Through the ship cameras, Haven could tell that most everyone had evacuated to the non-functional evac pods.
The engineers and mechanics were trying desperately to stop her from overloading the engine, but they couldn’t combat against her termites or their own nanobots.
And as focused as they were on the engine, they had no idea she was dysharmonizing the subspace crystal suite.
Forcing those crystals out of harmony was going to be the explosive force she needed to set this whole thing to blowing.
But until she activated the swing on the crystals, they would appear normal.
No one knew the danger they were in. They would never know. Because her activating that swing would be the end of this entire ship. It was a detonator she was just holding onto as she followed Vytln back into the halls, towards the bridge.
The bridge crew had also not budged. They had their own evac pod below the bridge – most larger ships would have them spread everywhere.
The Humility was on the smaller side and so their singular landing pod doubling as an evac pod wasn’t unusual.
However, most others would have redundancies in place.
And through the cameras, she could see that they had already opened the hatch into the pod.
One person was down there, trying to get it to respond.
The others were all at their consoles, following Yl’ln’s angry orders, trying to get command of the ship back.
But there was nothing to get back. Haven hadn’t actually taken over the ship. She was giving the nanobots orders, but the ship computers were untouched. She messed with its sensors, not its programming. So, there was nothing for them to try to restore or reclaim.
Vytln still had a slight limp, but his stride was more confident and quicker as they approached the bridge. She’d already had the nanobots drill holes in there, so the door wasn’t pressure sealed. The crew was just so busy fighting a losing battle against her that they didn't notice their approach.
However, it was impossible to miss when Haven overrode the door control, and it slid open. She stepped to the side, making sure to stay out of harm’s way, so she didn't see the reaction of anyone inside.
But she did see Vytln draw his arm back and throw the hammer.
She heard, through the opened suit comms, the shattering of glass and the cut off scream as someone was suddenly without air.
She could easily picture one of those guys being struck in the face with that hammer and now asphyxiating in the airless environment she had created.
Then, Vytln was running inside. She watched him disappear across the threshold and brought up her tablet to watch what was happening without putting herself in harm’s way.
The male that took a hammer to the helmet was on the ground, thrashing and grabbing for his mask, but there was nothing to be done. At least, nothing he could do, and the others in the room were suddenly preoccupied fighting for their own lives.
Vytln was like the hammer he once again picked up and swung around. Big, tough, strong. He hit with all the force of a truck, slamming bodily into one male and throwing him away, giving himself room to fight, one-on-one, with the third male still in the room.
The third male dropped back, dodging the one hammer blow, but then his back hit the console, and he couldn’t avoid the next.
It struck his upper arm. And while Haven didn't hear it land, she winced from how hard the hit looked through the camera lens.
Only a second later did she hear the roar of agony from the male as he grabbed for the injured limb.
As he was trying to recover, Vytln grabbed the hatch leading into the escape pod.
He slammed it shut. The male who had been below had started trying to climb up when he heard the ruckus from above, so he took the full weight of the metal door right to the helmet.
Haven heard more glass shattering and winced.
The hatch shut on top of him, so she didn't see that male fall and asphyxiate, but she knew it was happening just below.
Just like that, Vytln had whittled down his enemies from five to two. A group much easier for him to take on in his injured state.
But unfortunately, one of those was Yl’ln, and just as he promised, she was fast. Haven blinked and she was already on Vytln, striking him with both hands in a flurry of blows that he tried to block, but couldn’t.
At least, not completely. The upside was that she wasn’t as strong as the hammer blows he had suffered before, so she wasn’t doing as much damage, but they were such an endless rain of strikes, they began to add up as Vytln started falling back.
By then, the fourth guy – the only one he hadn’t managed to take down completely – was starting to get to his feet. He kept hold of his arm, trying not to move it, but he was still up, and he was therefore still a threat.
Turning, Haven ran into the room. He was so focused on sneaking up on Vytln – who was focused on defending against Yl’ln, that he didn’t notice Haven running up on him.
At least, not until she jumped and landed on his back.
Her thighs wrapped around his hips, one arm went around his head from behind, her hand smacking right against his face mask.
He jumped, then thrashed, but with one busted arm, and his own lack of flexibility, he couldn’t reach back and grab at her.
At least, not before she jammed the metal cutter there into the seal of his helmet and began to drag it upwards.
And as the helmet’s seal was compromised, all the air began to suck out of his suit. He screamed in horror at the realization of what was happening. His thrashing worsened, fear for his life overriding the pain of his broken arm. He tried to throw himself back against the wall, to crush her.
But it was too late.
Haven jumped off before he could crush her, but the hole she’d cut into the helmet was already leaking out air.
Guilt struck Haven hard as she stepped back.
Not even because she had just done something that would kill someone – though the fact that she had just done something that would kill someone did truly hit her at that moment – but because she realized it was a slow death.
The hole leaking out all the air was not a big one, and suffocation itself wasn’t a quick way to go.
She backed away, quickly looking away from what she had done. Instead, she focused back towards Vytln and Yl’ln. Checking on her mate and how well he was doing.
And he was certainly doing.
She wouldn’t say that he was winning, but he seemed to be holding his own well enough. Or at least, well enough that Yl’ln hadn’t won.
Unlike Kldyn, Yl’ln wasn’t bound by her pride.
She wasn’t dismissing Vytln as a threat because she believed herself to be superior.
She knew she wasn’t. That was why she had picked Kldyn over Vytln to begin with.
Even injured, she was giving Vytln the entirety of her focus, attention, and strength. She took him seriously.
And Vytln was holding his own, but he wasn’t making any progress. It was all he could do to keep his guard up and keep her from taking advantage of his bum knee.
What really struck her, however, was just how empty both of their expressions were.
They were exes. Former lovers. Sure, Yl’ln had chosen Kdlyn and Vytln had chosen Haven, but their having new partners didn’t mean their past was erased.
But by the hard, focused look on their faces, there was no past between them.
They were nothing more than enemies, strangers with opposing goals.
It was interesting how similar they were.
She could understand, looking at them now, even with absolutely nothing for the other on their faces, why they had once been partners.
However, Haven was his partner now, and she wasn’t going to let her baby fight with his back against the wall.
Bringing up her arm, she began tapping on her tablet.
Her termites – and the nanobots they had claimed – were still working to slowly eat holes all over the ship.
To disharmonize the subspace crystals. To overload the engine.
It was so hot down there now that the engineers couldn’t even stay any longer.
Her termites couldn’t either. But they didn’t have to.
It had gotten to the point that the engine was past the point of no return.
It was a powder keg rapidly heating, just waiting for the spark that would set it ablaze.
Which meant she could set her termites to doing something else.
She sent the commands, then ran past the bodies of the dead lvtls to the console controls.
Her termites were able to meet her there, helping her because the controls weren’t written in Standard – which she could only read to a small degree anyway.
But with their help translating them, she got them into Standard, then found the gravity control. It didn’t take long – maybe thirty seconds in all. But when it came to a fight, to the pure physical effort required to fight, she knew that thirty seconds could be an eternity.
The gravity, however, turned off instantly. She heard the gasp from behind from Yl’ln as she lost control in the weightless environment. Haven, holding onto the console so she stayed on the ground, looked back to check on Vytln.
Yl’ln, who relied on quick movements to move around her larger, stronger opponents, did not take to the change in gravity well. Vytln, who was grounded and defending, relying on remaining steady and unmoving, however-
He took to the change in gravity very well. Pushing off the wall Yl’ln had driven him into, he slammed his elbow forward into her gut. She flew back, nothing to pull her down and stop her body from crashing into the wall on the other side of the bridge.
Vytln, his weight no longer pushing down on his injured knee, had an even better range of movement as he pushed himself off, chasing her down.
Haven looking forward again, this time, she had her termites getting the navigating information from the console and downloading it into her tablet.
She didn’t know what any of that information meant as she had no experience navigating.
But she could give it to Sway or one of the others and they’d be able to figure out where Alred brought them.
If they couldn’t just ask him directly. She was hoping they could do that, rendering this all pointless, but just to be safe…
With the information downloaded, the ship set to explode, and a nearby evac pond they could steal, they had everything they needed.
Haven locked down the consoles. She gathered her termites, the remainder that weren’t acting as the hinge on Vytln’s knee and turned to run to the hatch.
She spared her mate one last glance, but without gravity to aid her movement, Yl’ln was at a disadvantage. Leaving him to it, she opened the hatch and pulled herself inside. She had to get that body out and unlock the mechanisms she’d set that was keeping it from launching.