“Mark.”
Discovering when she turned that she had the bridge to herself, Chloe glanced at the game board and the pieces all over the floor. She turned to the console again and depressed the inner ship com-link. “Sound off when you reach your stations.”
“Sebastian, on station, Captain!”
She chewed a fingernail, waiting.
“Lucien, on station, Captain!”
“Thor present, Captain. How many bogies?”
“Unknown. Our pups are leading the pack. Watch out for them. Reuel estimates …,” she paused to check the time. It seemed impossible that ten minutes had already passed, “ten.”
“Affirmative. I have a visual on the runt now.”
Chloe felt her heart slam into her ribs painfully. Her guys were on the lander, ‘the runt’. Struggling not to race down to the bay, she checked the data scrolling across her console. Systems check was good—no failures. “ETA on the jump, computer.”
“Estimate the Salvager will be prepared to jump in fifteen minutes thirty seconds EST.”
Chloe chewed her lip, trying to decide if that would give the men time to bail out and get into jump harnesses. It might, but the shuttle was trailing them and it didn’t have jump capabilities either. “Prepare to place a hold on the jump!”
“Affirmative, Captain. I can only hold five minutes to begin a new count.”
“Acknowledged,” Chloe responded, whirling and racing to the door of the bridge.
Maybe they didn’t need her down there, but she couldn’t stand on the bridge wondering if everyone was safely aboard. She had to see it with her own eyes.
The bay doors were opening as she reached the control room. Her heart in her throat, she rushed to the viewing window as the ship slipped through the opening and skidded across the bay. It hadn’t even come to a complete halt when the shuttle slid in behind it.
“Salvager! Change of plan! We are coming with!”
Chloe raced to the com unit. “Make it quick! We’re on count down now.”
“We will unload after the jump. We are right on you, Salvager.”
Chloe whipped a look around and spied the ship. It looked like it was coming in way too fast to her. She felt her belly clench as it skimmed through the closing bay doors close enough she heard the scrape of metal. Fortunately, it wasn’t enough of a jolt to the doors to make them halt and open again. They continued their slow advance, narrowly missing the tail of the craft as it slipped through.
“Five minutes,” the computer announced.
Reuel’s ship slid to a halt with a grind of metal that made her wince.
“Do not delay! Repeat, do not delay! Initiate!” she shouted, racing to reach the jump harness in the corner of the control room and get into it, praying the bay doors would close before they made the jump.
She had no idea what might happen if the doors didn’t, but it occurred to her that the entire bay might empty.
She felt the pull before she’d finished buckling her harness. Gritting her teeth, she managed to bring the two halves of the clasp together. It locked with a click a split second before something hit the hull hard enough to shake the entire ship. Her last thought before blackout was that they’d been hit.
The warning alarm was blaring deafeningly when she roused again. It connected instantly in her mind with the jolt she’d felt just before blackout. Scrambling out of her harness, she moved to the com-link. “Status?” she shouted over the alarms.
“Hull breach in sector six B deck, locked down. Breach in sector seven B deck, locked down.”
Her mind went blank. She couldn’t remember where her men were. “Sound off! Sebastian! Lucien! Thor!”
Relief flooded her when she heard them. “Turn off the damned alarms, computer! You guys get over to B deck and check those breaches.”
“I am on B deck,” Sebastian responded.
“My god! Are you alright?”
