41:03:30 GrS

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Lyra's chest heaved with effort and agony but she couldn't fault Rendix for taking a parting shot at that monster. Grunting, she and Reiko hauled Sera to her feet.

Eshna went a few steps ahead, sweeping the blaster muzzle across the corridor. Sera, Lyra, and Reiko lurched along behind, and after them, Seelam carried the barely breathing Shin. They cleared door by door along the passageway, back toward the turbolift. Fires flared all over and they could feel the sudden drop in pressure as the hull ruptured somewhere close by.

The Korvis's turrets had crippled the vessel but the Zann Consortium had a reputation for fielding tough ships, and it wasn't defeated yet. Lyra could still hear the sound of cannons firing. Harried crew members dashed into the corridor ahead but fled at the sight of their leveled blasters.

"Wait," called Reiko over the crashing din of secondary explosions that made the vessel rumble. She listened intently, feeling new vibrations reverberate through the hull. "The ship's getting ready to jump to hyperspace." She looked around, then pointed to a compartment a few doors down. "In there. I think I saw a circuit bay."

They moved as fast as they could. Eshna was a meter from the door when the huge Tassilite burst from the room and slammed her into the opposite wall with a feral roar. The massive alien's big carbine swung up as Eshna rolled to her knee, much too slowly.

The Tassilite's furred body jerked repeatedly as Lyra fired her blaster. Sera had her PP40 in her hand. Both of their shots nearly ripped the broad-shouldered female in two. Lyra frowned; she didn't remember Sera retrieving her gun, but the commando just nodded toward the door, ignoring her surprised look.

They hustled inside, startling two technicians struggling at a circuit panel. One went for his blaster but Lyra put a plasma bolt through him with her rifle. The other one's hands shot up. Reiko fired and the technician flopped to the deck, stunned. Lyra couldn't think of a time she'd ever seen Rei looking so angry.

Sera leaned weakly against the wall. Reiko gave her an uneasy glance, but Sera gestured at the consoles. "Work your magic, my love," she whispered.

The engineer got to it, moving between the three control stations, flipping switches and manipulating the ship's systems at lightspeed.

Lyra's eyes fell on a silvery cylinder wedged beneath an overturned maintenance cart next to the tech she'd stunned. "Rei, is that a data core?" She pointed toward it with her blaster muzzle.

"I think so. Why?"

The Customs enforcement officer in her came to life. "It might have information about the Zephyr organization that we can use." She looked at Eshna and indicated the core with a tilted head.

"Yes, my lady." Eshna fished it out while Rei got her shoulder under Sera's arm.

"What did you do?" Lyra asked, cutting off a cry as they headed back into the hallway. Her ribs felt like they'd been caught in an ion engine's backblast.

"I set a resonance loop in one of the secondary reactors. It'll scramble as soon as they try to jump. Should take main power and the hyperdrive offline along with it."

"That's my girl," Sera mumbled, sounding like she was running on her last grams of endurance.

Lyra glanced behind her. Shin was slumped and limp. Seelam flipped the older man over his shoulder. She felt a sudden, horrible chill and looked at Rei. "Get the lift," she gasped, nearly breathless from her injured ribs, adrenaline, and the exertion of keeping Rendix upright.

More explosions rocked the hammerhead and now they could feel the telltale surges of jettisoning escape pods.

"They're abandoning the ship!" exclaimed Rei as she worked. The lift opened, though the door froze halfway and the lights inside flickered.

"Let's not go down with it," Lyra groaned. She squeezed past the door, followed by Seelam and the rest. Uncle Shin wasn't moving. Frosty fear made her shiver.

The door wouldn't close but Reiko manually triggered the lift, which began a herky-jerky climb to the deck above. They could feel the soft thump of more escape pods as the turbolift finally ground to a halt.

"Eshna, go."

Eshna led them out, blasting the two guards trying to override the airlock controls. She cleared the corridor while Reiko unlocked the controls.

The pressure door flew up into the ceiling. Behind it, the Chimera's heavy metal docking port was closed. Lyra tapped her comlink's earpiece. Her voice was high and full of pain. "Tetris, it's us. Open up."

The droid whistled a reply and the door whooshed aside. They shuffled into the freighter and Eshna sealed the hatch behind them.

"Get us to the Korvis, Tetris, fast as you can. Let them know we have critical casualties." Then she shouted for Ariel as they all stumbled into the common area. Sera collapsed and they had to drag her to the med station.

Yuzu threw his arms into the air as soon as he saw them. "Short my circuits! Mistress Reiko-nagrasha, whatever has happened?!"

"Story time later, Yuzu," Lyra groaned against the pain, holding her ribs as she limped toward Shin. "Get on the guns in case anyone still wants to fight."

"Right away, Mistress Lyra. Maker protect us!" exclaimed the droid and hurried toward the cockpit.

"Eshna, help Reiko with Rendix." Lyra and Seelam laid Shin on the sofa. Lyra knelt next to him with a painful gasp. "Ariel, we need you!"

Shin opened his eyes and took her hand. His fingers were cold, his grip weak, but his gray eyes were sharp. "My lady, do not fret over this old man. Honored guest Rendix—"

"She'll be fine, Uncle. She's a pain in the ass but she's tougher than a rancor. Right now you need help!"

Seelam opened Raga's horutou jacket and robe. One look at the terrible burns and ruptured flesh made him turn away, pale and retching. Rawl's blaster bolt had vaporized a significant portion of Raga's chest. Lyra gasped at the wound. She wasn't sure how he was still breathing. Another cold shiver took hold of her. She cursed Taz's absence, but deep down she knew that not even his miraculous abilities could make a difference now.

Raga drew her closer. "My time grows short, my dearest child. Before I leave this life... there are things that must be said." His grip suddenly increased and she knew he was spending whatever strength remained to him.

"No, Uncle," she pleaded through streaming tears.

"I loved your dear departed mother indeed... as much as if she was my own. And I loved her daughters even more."

"I know you did, Uncle. We loved you too. I love you." Ariel finished with Sera and hovered over to begin a full-body scan on Raga.

"After the deaths of your beloved family... we did our best to give you the security and... comfort that they no longer could." He managed a bare grimace. "It was my greatest honor, my beautiful Lyra... to see you become such an accomplished, confident woman."

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"Uncle Shin, you and Aunt Subali were my salvation. If not for the two of you, I don't know what I'd have done."

"We did our best, indeed." He took a deep breath that triggered a horrid spasm of thin coughing.

Ariel finished her scan. "I'm sorry, Mistress. I'm afraid Mr. Raga's injuries require immediate advanced medical treatment that is beyond the capabilities of this unit."

Lyra's blinking did nothing to stem the wash of tears. She shook her head even though she knew the truth. Pratikaya's hospital was at least an hour away and she didn't know how the Korvis had fared after being rammed. She put a hand to Shin's head. "I'm so sorry Uncle."

Blood trickled from Raga's mouth, frothy pink foam crowded his nostrils, and his voice was hardly more than a ragged whisper. "I am content... that you are with me at the end. My lady, there are things you should know... about that day, and the days leading to it." He was fading fast now, and she leaned in closer to hear him. "Take Tetris... to my home in Ganshea." He cupped her cheek with a shaking hand. "Ask him... to show you what happened to... your family. I pray that you can forgive... this old fool of a man." Then his eyes grew still. A whisper of breath escaped his lips and his hand fell.

"Uncle Shin, no, No NO!" Lyra wailed, throwing her arms around him, willing some life back into his motionless body. Seelam and Eshna stood behind her, tears staining their cheeks. The torture of her fractured ribs melded with abyssal desolation.

Lyra kissed his still cheek and slid to the floor, sobbing so hard it made her gasp. Shin's body felt warm against the back of her head. At the Chimera's small medical station Reiko was weeping, a terrible conflict etched on her round face. She held onto Sera's hand while Ariel deftly worked to close her many wounds but she was watching Shin's still figure, shaking with grief.

Sera lay on the treatment bed looking half-dead herself. On Allegra's Heart they had a well-equipped infirmary with a full-immersion bacta bed. Here, even with the IM-8's battlefield medical programming, Ariel could do little better than temporarily patch the worst of Sera's injuries.

The bandages they'd used to staunch the blood from her severed fingers lay in a gory crimson pile on the deck. Sera hid a painful grunt behind pursed lips while Ariel cauterized the blood vessels, then slid her hand into a bacta sleeve. Her face was swollen, bruised, and battered from the beating she'd taken. Her right eye socket was patched over but in the one that remained, barely visible beneath swollen lids and exhaustion, Lyra could see the commando's unquenchable defiance.

Tetris trilled something urgent-sounding over the intercom. Reiko looked at Lyra, her face full of tears. "A ship just broke orbit. Tetris says it came from Pratikaya."

Enough.

Twelve years ago she'd felt this same despair, the same helpless rage. It had paralyzed the thirteen-year-old Lyra, a moony girl suddenly burdened with the collateral damage of a galactic conflict on her apathetic shoulders.

Rei listened to another string of electronic vocalizations. "He said the sensor return is transitory, like it's appearing then disappearing again."

"Stealth ship," hissed Sera through pain-clenched teeth. "Doc."

Not this time.

Lyra pushed herself up from the floor, gasping with the torment in her side. "Help me."

The footman and Eshna helped her to stand. With careful purpose, Lyra took off her jacket. Every stabbing pain, every agonizing breath, fed the fury she'd begun nursing.

"My lady, you need rest and treatment!" Seelam protested.

Lyra ignored him. "Can either of you fly this ship?"

Seelam shook his head. Eshna said, "I've had a few piloting lessons, my lady, but—"

"Good enough," she grunted, pressing a hand to her ribs and letting out a wincing yelp. She ignored the excruciation as best she could. "Get into the cockpit." At the security trooper's uncertain look, she added, "You don't have to do anything except engage the autodocking sequence when we rendezvous with the Korvis." Kallista stood near the forward passage. "Kalli, go with her. Bring my vac suit from the locker and tell Tetris I need him in Ajakeet."

"My lady, what are you doing?" Seelam cried.

"Going to get the rest of my crew."

"But my lady—"

Lyra's eyes flashed. "Stop fighting me, Seelam!"

"My lady, I'm not—"

She cut him off again. "Do you know how to operate a ship's guns?"

Seelam looked confused. Eshna said, "I'll show him, my lady."

"Good. Both of you go with Kalli. I'm putting my ship and friends in your hands. Don't let me down."

The other woman gave her a soldier's definitive nod. "We won't, my lady."

When they'd gone she blew out a breath, then cried out from the pain. "What's the damage?" she wretched as Ariel scanned her.

"You have multiple rib fractures, Mistress Lyra, and significant injury to the surrounding tissues. I must advise you to desist all activity immediately."

Lyra lifted her shirt. Her side was swollen and ruddy where Rawl had kicked her. "No time, Ariel. Taz is still out there."

"But Mistress, if you aggravate the injury you could introduce potentially life-threatening complications."

"Enough, Ariel. I know what I'm doing." She cut off the droid with a slicing hand, a motion that made her cringe. "Just... wrap them or something. You can do that, right?"

"There are ambulatory treatments, Mistress, but—"

"I understand the risk. Just do it, Ariel. Give me something for the pain, too, but I need to stay sharp."

"Very well, Mistress," replied Ariel, clearly dubious about the whole enterprise.

"Lyra," Reiko began.

"Not you too, Rei."

"No, I know you have to go." She gave Sera a long, loving look and let go of her hand. "I'll take care of the ship. I wish I could do more."

"That's plenty," Lyra said. Ariel pressed an injector head against her neck and Lyra felt the sting of the drugs. After a few seconds the pain retreated to a numb ache. She grunted and her eyes popped as energy jolted through her. "Moons, that's some rutting good juice."

"The analgesic and stimulant have a one-hour half-life," advised the droid. "After that you must rest, Mistress. You risk serious long-term physical and neurological dam—."

"Got it," she interrupted, her fury coming to a boil.

Ariel sprayed splinting foam and wrapped elastic bandages around Lyra's torso, fussing as she went. "Your breathing will be restricted, Mistress. Please refrain from strenuous activities and unnecessary movement."

"Sure, Ariel," Lyra rejoined through gritted teeth. The crunching of her ribcage didn't hurt, exactly, but it wasn't comfortable, either.

Tetris beeped and whistled over the speaker.

Rei stood at the technical panel, flipping through sensor readings. "The Ammon Night exploded and the other ship appears damaged."

"Some good news." Tetris sped into the lounge, Kalli right behind with one of the armored vac suits Taz had purchased.

"Fire up Ajakeet, Tetris," she ordered, stripping out of her clothes and into the stiff suit with help from Rei and Kalli. She gave the engineer a sad look, then glanced at Shin's body while tears pooled in her eyes. "I hate to ask this, but—"

Reiko nodded, looking grave. "I'll see to him."

"Thank you." She snarled against the pain as she struggled into the arms of the suit. Kalli sealed it and helped her put on the helmet. Lyra gave her crew a sober look.

"What are you standing around for?" came Sera's muted rasping through the oxygen mask. "Doc said there were Rayeths on the ship we boarded. That's where he'll be." She looked as furious as Lyra was. "You get him back, Imp. If anyone tries to stop you—"

"Nobody's stopping me, Rebel." She shoved her blaster into its holster, nodded to her crew, then hurried after Tetris.

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"Status reports, all stations," Indrus called above the klaxons and chaos. Fire suppression nozzles spit out their white clouds, extinguishing the flagrations that had erupted on the bridge.

"Oblique collision starboard amidships, Captain. Decks five through eight impacted. Hull ruptures across twelve compartments, but pressure seals and bulkheads are holding. The laser batteries intercepted two of their torpedoes but the engineering block took a hit. The reactor's damaged, and we're running on emergency power. Two turbolasers and one ion cannon are out of commission." The damage control officer listened to more reports before she continued. "Eighteen crew missing or dead, forty-seven injured, sir."

"Status of the Ammon Night?" he called into his comm.

The sensor operator responded, "Pulling away slowly, Captain. They broke tractor beam lock and it looks like they're heading for a jump point. Reading multiple explosions, reactor leaks, and power fluctuations. They're in trouble, sir."

Special Enforcement Officer Naveen picked himself up from the deck and brushed at his uniform pants, then grabbed a portable extinguisher and sprayed at the smaller fires. Over his shoulder he quipped, "Give their captain credit for boldness, yeah?"

Indrus frowned, but he couldn't deny that the enemy commander was either courageous or possessed of a death wish. Into his mic, he said, "Eccleston, reacquire tractor lock. I don't want them jumping."

"Tractor beams are offline, sir," the lieutenant answered, sounding angry.

The sensor operator's voice crackled on the speaker. "New contact, Captain, outbound from Inusagi. It... just appeared on our scopes, sir."

"Were they cloaked?"

"Hard to say, Captain, but... reading a lot of radiation. Possibly a reactor breach or ruptured power converters.

"The other ship Nimor mentioned," Naveen posited.

"Could be. Seems like they're damaged, too."

Naveen's grim smile was lost on the darkened bridge. "Guess we're all banged up, yeah?"

"Course of the new contact?"

"Sunward, away from us, sir."

"Splitting up, making us choose."

"Seems that way, Naveen." Indrus issued orders. "Launch the remaining TIEs. They're to target the Ammon Night's engines and hyperdrive. Try to keep them from jumping. Helm, come about. Accelerate to flank speed and lay in a pursuit course for the new contact. Eccleston, as soon as we're in range with the new contact, open fire. I want that ship disabled or destroyed."

"Sir," called the comms officer, "The Skipjack Chimera is hailing, requesting immediate docking and medical assistance for two critically injured."

"We have our own injured to deal with," he grumbled, but said into his microphone, "Permission granted, as long as they can catch up to us."