The disquieting sound of the emergency siren was exacerbated as the overhead lighting flickered and dimmed, plunging them into darkness. A wail from Krystal was quickly stopped with a murmur from T’arq. As the emergency lights flickered on Domik saw that the short but curvaceous engineer had been enveloped in T’arq’s arms, her head with its wild mass of bouncy brown curls cradled in one of his big hands as he pressed her close to his chest. T’arq’s expression was serious, his lilac eyes concerned as they focused entirely on the woman cradled in his arms. His blond head bent toward hers as he whispered something, Krystal nodding and lifting her head to give the pilot a shaky smile.
The intimacy of the scene made Domik’s chest squeeze, and he looked away as if watching was invading something private.
The emergency lights lit from the floor, with pulses directing away from their location and to the emergency escape pods. The lighting was a dull red glow, bathing the faces of his crewmates in ruby tones.
Domik hoped the eerie similarity to blood was not a sign of things to come.
Zac began handing out gas masks, which they all put on. “T’arq and Krystal, you take the lower pods. Domik and CJ, you take the upper pods. Laila and I will split between the two,” he said, his gaze steady as he gestured toward the hatch that hid the ladder to the lower escape pods.
Krystal held up a hand, her expression hard to read behind the mask. “Uh, Zac? We might have a problem.” She paused; her eyes huge as she looked up from the tablet. “It looks like we took a hit near the upper escape pods.”
Fuck.
Domik ran a hand over his face. That was not good at all.
“Any idea how many pods are operational?” Zac asked, concern drawing his eyebrows together.
Krystal tapped at the tablet. “All the lower ones appear fine. I’m not sure about the upper ones. The data…” She lifted a shoulder in apology.
“OK. Everyone to the lower pods. I’ll take an upper one,” Zac said with a decisive nod, turning to grasp the ladder to the upper level.
Laila put her hand on his arm, stilling him. Apart from her height, Laila looked very much like her sister. Both had brown, almost amber, colored eyes, and brown, curly hair. But where Krystal’s hair was loose in a mass of bouncy curls, Laila pulled hers back in a no-nonsense military-style bun. And both women were looking at their men—their Taurean warriors—with serious expressions. “I’ll come with you,” Laila said.
Zac whipped around to look at her. “No. You won’t.” Their eyes locked, and both scowled intensely, Zac’s scarred face taking on a sinister appearance, but that didn’t bother Laila one bit.
Domik looked around the group. Laila and Zac needed each other. They had only recently married and the thought of only one of them not making it out alive… well, Domik couldn’t live with himself if he hadn’t tried his hardest to prevent that. Then there were T’arq and Krystal, whose fledgling relationship had changed T’arq in ways that Domik would never have believed possible. The former playboy pilot was still confident, but he had lost the cocky edge. It was like he no longer felt the need to prove himself. And Krystal? She had hated flying before she met T’arq and now she was his flight engineer, the two making an unparalleled team. No, they needed to make it off this shuttle. Together.
And then there was CJ. He watched as she leaned against the wall, her head bowed and her arms wrapped around herself as she shook. Was she more injured than she had let on?
He turned toward her, resting a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him, blinking to clear her glazed eyes. She was terrified; her breathing was fast and her eyes wild.
Zac and Laila were still arguing, but stopped as Domik cleared his throat and spoke. “I’ll go.”
Laila protested, but Domik cut her off.
“You all have someone. I have nobody. I’ll go.”
CJ gasped at his statement, but he refused to look at her, instead turning to face Zac.
“Are you sure about this?” Zac asked.
“I am.” Domik’s certainty that this was the right move only increased as he spoke.
“For Taurus,” Zac said grimly. Domik didn’t reply, just clasped his commander’s outstretched arm in a warrior's greeting, grunting in surprise as Zac pulled him close to touch foreheads in the way of close friends.
Domik watched as Zac bent to lift the hatch to the lower level escape pods, a plume of smoke rising as he did so. Adjusting his mask, he descended into the gloom. Domik stood at the base of the ladder to the upper escape pods and watched as, one by one, they disappeared into the hatch below.
When it was CJ’s turn, she looked up at him and hesitated. “Domik?” She asked, her face behind the mask pale and drawn.
“You can do this. I’ll see you back on the Zataras.” He nodded, hoping to encourage her, and she looked down into the smoky depths, steeled her shoulders, and climbed down the ladder. Domik watched as she disappeared into the smoke.
T’arq was the last one down, lifting a hand in farewell to Domik and quickly descending toward the escape pods.
That was that then. He was alone. Now to get out of here.
Domik turned his back on the lower hatch and climbed toward the upper pods.
