Tanin handed her off to Sorbet and Tebros, who worked together to lower her through the hatch to Rok, who she clung to desperately, crying bitter tears.
Tanin nodded his head and Sorbet and Tebros jumped in after her. He then looked back at Haven, his expression hard. For a long moment, he just looked at her. She held her chin high, meeting his gaze with a hard one of her own.
“I will tell you one more time to get in,” he said simply.
“You are not my captain,” she countered. “I won’t go.”
“Then your death is on your hands.” He turned and stopped before looking back. Both at Haven and at Alred. “All of our lives are in your hands.”
With that, he stepped down. Rok, three hands still cradling Goldie, reached up and grabbed the hatch. He pulled it down and, with a hard clang, it closed. The floor blended right back into place, and all sound was cut off. Haven and Alred were alone in the hall. The entire ship eerily quiet and empty around them.
“He must think you have a chance,” Alred said, infusing hope into his voice that he couldn’t get to sound fully genuine. “If he thought it really was impossible, he would have just grabbed you.”
“I’m having more than just a chance,” Haven declared, fists tight. “I’mgoingto get him back.”
Turning, she frowned at Alred.
“You… Is your core really going to surviving?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. It was designed to survive a great deal of damage. I might have… slightly exaggerated it. And it’s been a long time since it was built.”
“Your odds are…”
“About as good as yours, really.” He chuckled, but there was no humor in it. “I don’t expect to survive. That wasn’t the point. If I’m out here, I can try to help them. If there’s anything still functioning in this ship after the explosion. But it doesn’t matter if not. The moment we swing out, I’ve got an emergency message set to send to Ikvar. It has our rough coordinates. It includes our distress details. I’ll hopefully have enough time to get it sent before they can send the signal setting off the explosives. I will see her safe, even if it costs my life.”
Haven nodded. She could only respect his decision, considering she was doing the same thing herself. “Okay. Where is it? Your core.”
He looked at the ceiling. “The upper bridge. In a console behind the hatch. I’ll unlock it for you. If you manage to get out and happen to find it. If there’s anything left of it.” He looked back down again. “What about you? What’s your plan?”
“The explosion will destroying the ship,” she said, not needing his nod of confirmation to know it was true. “But there are no shockwaves in space. Not from the pressure, anyway. It will be contained.”
“The shrapnel won’t be.”
“I can survive that. Probably. I don’t needing to get far. I’ll get out through the trash chute. Same way I getting in here. I just need a way to getting to their ship. I need the metal cutter.”
Alred hummed thoughtfully. “We don’t do repairs on the outside of the ship often, but Vytln still has the tools to do so. A metal cutter strong enough to cut through a hull would be there.”
“Where?”
“Main storage. He keeps them where the exit would be.”
She made a face, crossing her arms. “I can’t getting there.”
“No,” Alred smiled. “But your termites can. I have an idea.”
Chapter 43
Vytln
“WorthlessKr’ch’tk!” Kldyn roared, slamming the metal hammer, already stained with bright, orange blood, across Vytln’s face. The cracking of his skin, like the snapping of bones, echoed loudly in his head, along with the shrieking ring that had been there since the last blow.
It had been a while since Vytln had been in pain like this. Too long. He’d forgotten what it was like to have his body broken and beaten. He’d been living a soft life on the Humility, letting himself be used to peace and calm. It made the harsh bite of torture hurt that much more.
But he held on, he endured, because Kldyn’s anger meant only one thing.
His crew was still alive.
Vytln wasn’t sure what was happening. No one was telling him anything. He only knew by the curses and anger his brother unleashed on him alongside the intermittent beatings that, whatever his crew had done, it was messing with his plans.
