She wasn’t pleading with him. Like Kldyn, she still had her pride. But she didn’t have the arrogance like she believed she wasowedthat evac pod.
“I already will never see you again,” Vytln assured her. “Go. Find a pod. If you can get it to launch, you can escape with your life.”
“None of them are launching!”
“I don’t control that,” he grinned.
“Vytln!”
He looked down at Haven as she popped her head out of the hatch.
“Come on!” She said, gesturing at him. “We’re going!”
He turned his eyes back to the hall, but Yl’ln was already gone. He was glad for it. He didn’t feel good harming a female with hisown two hands. He would, of course. If Yl’ln kept coming at him, he would have killed her with the same lack of concern he had the other males whose bodies littered the bridge and not lost any sleep over it.
But she had chosen her own life, as she always did. She was trying to bet on an evac pod getting away from the two of them. She wouldn’t succeed, but she was going to go down fighting for her own life in her own way.
And he respected that too.
Yet, he still felt nothing for her as he turned and pushed himself down to join Haven in the evac pod.
The one for the bridge wasn’t as large as the pods that would be around the ship. Those were meant to get as many people as possible evacuated. This one, however, was just for the bridge crew. It was plenty spacious enough for Vytln and Haven together, but it wasn’t huge. There was a singular pilot seat and two rows of crew seats lining the walls and nothing else.
Vytln closed and sealed the hatch. Not that he really needed to. There was no air in here either, and there wouldn’t be until air was put back into it. They had to stay in their envirosuits for now. But Haven could turn gravity back on if she wished.
She didn’t, however, she lifted her tablet and typed out one more command before grabbing the release latch. She pulled it down, hard and quick. The entire evac pod shook as it detached from the ship. The engine purred to life as the readouts on the screen directed her forward. It was a very simple system, meant for even those with no flight experience to control. Haven, of course, was more than smart enough to figure it out as she moved around the debris of the Humility that fully surrounded Kldyn’s ship.
“We having just a few moments,” she said, focused on flying.
“Until it explodes?”
She nodded, glancing at him quickly. “Are you okay?”
“You’re here,” he said, touching her back, stroking upward, under her leather jacket. “I’m more than okay. Let them all die.”
It happened with just a simple beeping of an alert from the pod computer. A small hitch in the evac pod’s flight. A warning that there was debris moving past them. The shuttle didn’t rock violently. He didn’t hear a bang, a pop, a pow – nothing. It was over just that easily. The void of space consumed the power of the explosion like it was a whisper in the wind.
“They’re gone,” Haven said, bringing the ship to a halt, stopping it from moving. She let out a short breath, staring at the readout of the pod like she was waiting for something to go wrong.
But of course, it didn’t. They were safe now. The debris would still be moving, but the bulk of it was already past them. The Humility’s debris field, funny enough, would have shielded them as they moved into it. Their ship protecting them one last time.
“Good,” Vytln grunted, glad to be done with that. Now, they could move onto to actually important things. “Let’s see if we can find our crew.”
Haven gave him a look, like she was checking to see how he was doing. She was precious. He liked her worrying over him, even if it was pointless.
No, the only thing he was focused on now was the others.
The shelter room was completely shielded. Scans would not be able to even detect life in it – which was why Kldyn’s scan hadn’tfound them even when he checked twice. Vytln wouldn’t be able to find it by scanning.
He’d have to go look for himself.
He had the evac pod scan the area and give him a rough map of the debris field. It wasn’t anything specific or super accurate, only enough that they would be able to pilot out of it and avoid all the big pieces that could damage the pod. But it also showed the pieces large enough for him to identify as possibilities for the shelter room.
“These here,” he pointed to a few of the clumps. “I’m going to check to see if they’re the shelter room. Stay here, I’ll need you to guide me.”
“Stay here?” Haven repeated, turning to him, stunned.
Vytln was already gone, however. He’d moved to the back of the pod. There, in storage lockers, were a few spare envirosuits. He moved them out of the way, reaching for the thrusters in the bottom. They were pulse emitters that were able to move a body about in the void of space. It was the same technology used in trikball to help the players move around in zero gravity. They strapped onto his boots and onto his wrists.
