CHAPTER SIX
Aleina... all hang
Aleina regained consciousness near the cargo hold doorway with no idea how long she’d been there. She could hear screaming and banging some distance away, and though she couldn’t make out who or what was making the noise, felt confident it was coming from the nose-end of the ship.
She remembered entering the room, getting into the fight, Black Skull coming at her, then blackness. How fucked up am I? she wondered. Aleina tried to lift her right arm, but it would not move. The left arm ached but seemed functional. Left leg responded but the right did not. So I have no boosters, no armor, and one functioning arm and leg. Terrific. She looked around the room and saw many bodies, including Aurora and Gunna, who she had tried to help, floating in the far corner of the bay. She wanted to go to them, but the sound of battle took priority. If the Firewood assault troopers were still fighting her crew, then that’s where she needed to be. Aleina searched the left holster with her good hand but found no pistol, then reached to the right and was glad to feel a familiar grip. She didn’t know where the other pistol was but decided there was no time to look. The crew needed her now.
The Colonel pushed off the hull with her working leg, assisted by the sticky-boots. When her head reached the top of the bulkhead, she used her good arm to push down to the opposite end where her leg touched the bulkhead and pushed her body up and forward again. It was slow process of up and down but worked. As the Colonel moved toward the sound of battle, she could see bodies floating. Some were red, others white and blue. Some were armored, others were wearing officer or security uniforms. Those not wearing armor had bravely entered the fight with no hope of surviving. It pained her to think how many of her crew were already dead; how many of her friends she would never see again. How had it all gone so wrong? She passed the medical-bay and saw several red trooper bodies floating. She was sure there were more of her people dead in there too but there was no time to check. She continued floating forward and passed the main intersection where more unarmored bodies floated, along with red troopers.
Suddenly an arm latched onto her waist, startling her. The Colonel looked to her left and saw White Wolf’s face, her eyes intently looking up toward the battle, “Kata!” the Colonel exclaimed in surprise, happy to see the young wolf.
“Leyfðu mér að aðstoða þig, Ofursti,” White Wolf said, and boosted down the corridor toward the bridge.
“Where is Katý?” the Colonel asked, wondering about the other twin, but White Wolf stared ahead and did not respond. As they closed in on the bridge entrance, the Colonel caught a brief glimpse of Major Fjallhafsins and thanked God that her XO was still alive.
The bridge entrance was too small for both to squeeze through, so Kata let the Colonel go, boosted past, then caught her as they both made it through the arch. Once inside the bridge room, the Colonel could see the Major fighting several red troopers as the warriors dodged and pushed aside a dozen floating bodies. White Wolf stopped their momentum and the Colonel engaged her sticky-boots. Noticing their arrival, two red troopers broke off the fight with the Major and turned to face them. Seeing so many of her bridge officers dead infuriated the Colonel and she ignored the more immediate threat, retrieved the pistol from its holster, and aimed it at the man who was to blame for all this, Black Skull. There was a tremble in the Colonel’s hand as she did, but she he pulled the trigger anyway. The shot missed but got his attention. Black Skull, recognizing the danger, boosted away from the Major, who followed him. The Colonel aimed at him again but caught sight of one of the red troopers moving her way and changed targets.
White Wolf, a combat knife in each hand, got to the approaching red trooper before the Colonel could, and cut across his shoulder with one of the knives. He dodged the attack, leaving himself open for a clear shot, one the Colonel didn’t hesitate to take. The projectile struck him in the back and the man threw his arms up, screaming in pain. White Wolf switched targets and went after the other trooper. The Colonel changed targets back to Black Skull who was fighting the Major again, their long swords swinging in long arcs as each put maximum force behind the attacks. The Major’s blade made contact with Black Skull’s left side and cut through his already damaged armor. The Major then yanked back and swung diagonally down toward the Sergeant’s left shoulder, but he deflected the attack with a forearm, countering with his own strike into the Major’s midsection. The Colonel steadied her aim and fired, hitting the lower part of Black Skull’s right leg. It caused him to spin out of his attack on the Major and boost toward the Colonel.
The red trooper fighting White Wolf also disengaged and joined Black Skull’s attack. They are coming to take me out. In her physical condition, there was no way she could dodge them; any shot sent their way needed to hit. She extended the shooting arm and aimed at Black Skull; her hand trembled again but there was no time to steady it and the Colonel pulled the trigger… and missed.
Black Skull’s sword would have cut her in half if not for White Wolf crashing full-force into him with her shoulder, pushing him off course and forcing both to tumble several meters away. The Colonel was saved for only a moment as the other attacker’s sword found flesh and bone, going through her broken arm, into her side, driving her back into the hull with a painful thud. The red trooper tried to pull the blade out, but it stuck long enough that the Colonel had time to twist her hand around so the pistol pointed at his face. She took a painful breath to calm her hand’s trembling, saw his eyes open wide with recognition and fear, then fired until the red trooper’s face became meat.
She looked around and found Black Skull punching White Wolf as the much smaller warrior tried to stab him with a knife. The Colonel raised the pistol and barely got out the word, “Stop!” but Black Skull continued fighting. “Private, get out of there!” she shouted, and White Wolf immediately boosted away.
The Sergeant didn’t try to pursue, holding up one hand, seemingly giving up, looking much the same way she felt: spent. “I’m done,” he groaned and closed his eyes. Aleina was relieved… unsure she could even squeeze the trigger again. After a moment of quiet, Black Skull opened his eyes and looked at Aleina. “I guess I should have finished you when I had the chance. My mistake,” he sucked in a pained gulp of air, “loyalty to the royals has been my undoing.” He then leaned his head back, wheezed, and demanded, “Get me medical!”
“You killed them!” White Wolf shouted. “No medical! Fuck you! Die!”
“You attacked us, little girl,” he said through labored breaths. “You attacked our ship. We were just defending ourselves.”
“We didn’t attack your ship,” Aleina said through great effort, gun-hand teetering as her eyes begged to close. “You attacked us…” she moaned as the world swayed.
“Fuck you, Colonel. You murdered my men,” Black Skull barked, his head arching back to suck in oxygen. “I don’t care who you know… who you think will save you. You will be prosecuted,” he wheezed, then exhaled with a grunt, “I’ll see to that.” He looked around at the survivors for a beat before declaring, “You will all hang for this!”
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