Hayden's World Shorts, Stories 1-3: 43 Seconds, Signal Loss, Aero One by S.D. Falchetti

Author:S.D. Falchetti [Falchetti, S.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2017-08-06T06:00:00+00:00

THE END

Last Stand

Bonus Short for Signal Loss

Jade’s face was a cavalcade of red waves, and her voice frantic, rough. “They’re coming.”

Teor pushed his head through the combat armor, snapped closed the torso, and reached inside the locker. His hands shook. He fumbled unfolding the rifle stock, slung the strap over his shoulder, then grabbed his helmet. “How long?”

A man’s voice blared over the comms. “Egret, cut your engines now or you will be fired upon.”

The tactical screen to the left of Jade’s display showed three red dots converging upon the Egret. All three bore U.N. tags. Pulsing red circles emanated from the central ship as a shrill alert sounded.

“Range finding laser, weapons lock,” Jade said. “Eight minutes.”

“Aria,” began Teor, “I’m sorry.” He snapped his helmet in place. Crimson heads-up displays materialized on the faceplate.

“Buckle!”

Teor pressed against the wall, pulled down the seat and clicked into the harness. His hands had barely cleared the clasp before the Egret spun, kicking the floor up against his legs. His chest grew heavy and he gasped shallow breaths.

Urgent tones rang from the tactical as a beam flickered on the display.

Jade’s screen swirled silver. “Miss.”

The seat smashed into Teor’s back and he struggled for air, his eyes wide. Harness straps pressed the armor hard against his right rib cage as he grabbed onto the seat bottom. The pulse rifle swung out in front of him, seeming to levitate from his shoulder by its strap.

“I can’t—” Jade said.

A shrill tone from tactical with another flickering beam, then a thunderclap inside the cabin with a shockwave that knocked the wind out of Teor and banged the back of his helmet violently into the wall. Bright stars flashed in his vision and everything doubled. Cabin lights flickered twice. Teor looked up. The lights died. Consoles blinked in the darkness before emergency LEDs kicked in. White smoke sept across the floor.

Interior displays changed colors, red text, red graphics. Jade’s display was a vortex of quicksilver. “Reactor’s down, batteries only. I can maneuver—“

The second blast sent the Egret into a spin. A line of flame fanned past Teor’s head, but the fire changed, billowing in waves, liquid gold with sputtering yellow spheres. The flames bent slightly with the ship’s spin. Dead engines. Zero gee.

Teor looked up, watching the flashing fire groggily for a second, then snapped awake. Spilling out of his harness, he pushed away from the flame. Fire suppression sprayed clouds of dry chemicals overhead, sparkling and drifting like a snow globe. Teor tried to control his breathing. He looked left and right, sighted and latched onto a tether, pulled himself forward. When he found the cockpit pillar, he walked his hands down until he was behind it, crouching for cover.

“Four minutes,” Jade said.

Teor flicked the pulse rifle’s safety off. “Do you think…do you think Aria’s dead?”

The comms voice interrupted. “Egret, stand down. Prepare to be boarded.”

Pale blues interlaced Jade’s display. “Yes. I don’t think she’d let herself be captured.”

He glanced at the tactical. The two U.N. Goshawks burned at four gee towards them, decelerating to match velocity.

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