Before the Shattered Gates of Heaven Part 4_Sacrificial Altars by Bryan S. Glosemeyer

Author:Bryan S. Glosemeyer [Glosemeyer, Bryan S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space opera military science fiction scifi series future alien world culture gods mythology theology female lead hero woman warrior girl visionary servant warseer divine master holy unity godseer action adventure inner outer space spaceship fleet rebellion loss escape freedom war soldier marine biomech battle combat fight kill weapon kindle
Publisher: Void Forms Media
Published: 2019-02-06T22:00:00+00:00

45.

A CACOPHONY OF screams and disintegrating metal erupted below them. The warped-open doors spasmed under fire, burst free, and fell, ablaze and spinning, down the black shaft. A phase-shifting hum of return fire followed. Between volleys, Torque’s agonized shrieks punctuated chaos.

“Derev! Go get her!” Rain shouted over the sizzling whine. “Stay down! Down!”

“Hold on!” Sabira reached for her stick. “I’m coming!”

“Sabira no!” shouted Playa.

Coraz hurried to her side. “Wait, don’t,” ahn insisted. “We can’t lose you, girl. We lose you, we lose everyone.”

“Don’t leave us,” pleaded Dawn from atop the grank. Beside her, Cal stared with wide, fierce eyes.

The screeching chaos of the firefight below roared on. Even drained to her core, with every muscle and joint burning, the battle called to her. A mental flash of her holding the yarist to her bare, scarred breast with one hand, the palukai spitting death in the other, the warseers dying at her feet.

Is that who I really am?

“Sabira,” called Derev. “Torque’s hurt. Help me lift her.”

She handed her stick to Coraz and turned to kneel. Hanging her head out into the shaft, she spied Derev to her left, looking up at her, the fear and desperation plain on his face. Rain crouched on her lower right, firing ceaselessly down the corridor. Return fire sizzled past them, the far side of the transport shaft exploding into clouds of white-hot vapor.

Once Derev saw Sabira, he hunched partially out of her sight and lifted something heavy. When he turned back, he held Torque cradled in his thick arms. Sabira reached down, took her left hand, and pulled. Torque’s face hung slack, her skin clammy with sweat, eyes unfocused. Her right arm ended in a crude, black stump just below her elbow.

Sabira felt like a fist clenched inside her chest, squeezing the breath from her lungs with its tight, horrified grip. After all the carnage of the past hour—drill me, has it been less than an hour?—the acute connection to Torque’s suffering came as an unexpected shock. They were brood now, but there was more to it. They had drunk eon together. They were entangled in ways she was still discovering.

Sabira pulled her friend the rest of the way up. Coraz and Playa were immediately at her side. A volley of plasma bolts burst into the shaft below them, followed by a howl of pain.

“Derev? Derev!” yelled Rain.

“My leg! Oh shit, my leg!” Derev growled.

“I’ve got her.” Playa kneeled to pick up Torque. She and Coraz carried her to the grank.

Sabira shifted over to the other side of the tunnel and knelt above Rain. She pulled a grenade from her bandolier. “Here. Catch.” She lobbed the grenade into the old man’s open hand. “When I say, twist the top part, and throw it at the intersection. Then cover your eyes, and turn away.”

She turned back to the others. “Everybody take cover behind the grank now. Quick!” Once they were all in position, she called for Rain to throw it.

“Everyone cover your eyes!”

Sabira turned away, buried her closed eyes into the crook of her arm, feeling exposed and vulnerable without her armor.

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