SAM

“Claire, I need juice into the drive!” Diego said. “Stealth ships. Crew, we have stealth ships! Two of them. Incoming nukes, I am tracking them. Sam, shoot them down!”

Sam turned his consoles and activated all weaponry. Target locks clicked. “Diverting energy to the lasers.”

The superheated beams poked out into space, overheating and cracking the seals and making the nukes detonated prematurely.

“I am putting something between us and them,” Diego said.

They flew past and behind an asteroid. A protrusion pointed out into space, with cracks along it. An idea came to life in Sam’s mind.

Sam clicked and swiped on the consoles, preparing firing sequences. “Tell me when, Diego. Come around the rock and I will unleash hell.”

One of the stealth ships chased after them, they tracked its position on the main view screen.

Diego started moving them away.

“Wait, I have a plan. Keep us here. Let them come to us,” Sam said.

“What?” Diego said. “We will be cornered.”

“No,” Sam said. “They are the ones being cornered.”

The first stealth ship came around the asteroid. Sam locked the railgun at the asteroid, towards the cracked parts. He squeezed the trigger.

Railgun balls slammed into the weakened rock, shattering it and sending the fragments in all directions. Fragments in the size of shuttles. The first stealth was struck, cracking its hulls and detonating something onboard, because it turned into a ball of fire and slag.

Sam committed a last salvo of nukes, but not in the immediate direction of the second stealth ship, but instead, in the opposite lap of the asteroid.

“The second one is coming around!” Diego said.

“Chill, Doc,” Sam said.

And as planned, the salvo of nukes lapped the asteroid and detonated when connecting with the second stealth ship. Turning it into slag and fire.

“That was some fine shooting,” Diego said.

“And some fine flying,” Sam said. “Get us through now. It looks clear again. I will prepare for the approach.”

Sam walked through the corridors of the Final Sight, they were familiar and the ritual gave him a moment for himself and his thoughts, and his mind wandered to his plan. He looked at his hands. The twitching was gone. He smiled. The plan was the right decision.

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-

His rig felt tighter around him than usual, or was it the pressure that was building on his shoulders?

He reached and touched the triggers within his gauntlets, giving them a proper feel down. Squeezing them was instinct and feeling that initial press against his finger pads, it injected him with comfort, having them at his disposal, ready to be used within a moment’s notice.

Claire entered the airlock, stepping up to his side. She moved with care, but there was a jitteriness to her. And which he was not used to seeing in her. Stress and anxiety did weird things to people. And the ptsd she had contracted. She had not been comfortable in her rig for a long time.

“You, okay?” Sam asked. “I cannot have you go second guessing now. We are covering each other’s backs and I am not keen on getting hurt.”

Claire shook her head. “I am fine.”

But Sam noticed the hesitation in her voice. He put the observation into memory, he didn’t want Claire to get hurt and she wouldn’t on his watch. Not if he could help it. She was well liked among the crew, he was not.

“Claire, I am sorry, for all the shit I dragged you through after Milo died. I am sorry. That side of me, it just took over,” Sam said.

Claire nodded.

It would have to be enough, he decided.

Elzrig, the blue and smaller dragon, made a somersault through the air and landed in front of them. “I am limbered and ready to go.”

Sam stepped back, giving more room for the dragon. “Great.” His view on the dragons had changed, their violence and little hesitation to kill their enemies, it suited him. They got along well because of it.

“Rahgon, you will have to go after us. I will be sure to leave a few for you,” Sam said.

Rahgon stretched her neck and extended her snout forward, showing rows of sharp teeth and the jaw muscles looked as if they could crush starship hulls. They were powerful beasts.

Sam stepped back even more, feeling the pressure of the outer airlock door against his rig. “Come on in.”

Beth stepped into the airlock, wearing a vac suit and resting her mace on her shoulder. Sam’s new rig was almost three times the thickness of his earlier and two heads taller, he stroked the grenade tubes under each armpit. Claire had done a fantastic job on his rig. They were all outfitted for a final stand. The airlock was cramped. The mace on her shoulder looked heavier than her old one, but at least she was not carrying around that alien sphere anymore. Argus was its name. She gave Sam a mean look, as she was forced closer to him in order to fit inside the airlock.

“Good luck with the killing, Berserker,” Sam said.

“Berserker?” Beth said. “I thought you called me Bulldozer or something even more ridiculous.”

Sam bit down his teeth, pulling the anger into his gut and saving it for the real enemy and his secret plan. Milo had not told anyone, Sam was a bit surprised about that. Because the new Capt’n had reacted badly when Sam told him about the plan. The truth would have shattered the crew. Again. And this close to the end, it would have ruined their chances. Evidently, Sam shouldn’t have told him. But, what was done, was done. Dead is dead.

“Yes, Berserker,” Sam said. “It’s more fitting.”

But she had lost interest in him and was only half listening at that point. He had been lost in his own thoughts, forgetting that he had started the conversation with her. Not that it was worthwhile. He had done a lot of that lately, instead of trying to be social with the crew.

The inner door slid close.

“The emission cloud is well expanded and deep. Birgitta thinks we are ready to move ahead,” Diego said.