Page 278 of Reaper Said Mine

Dane lifts the extinguisher. “I hate this plan.”

“We don’t have a plan,” Rana says.

“I hate that too.”

The packet hits eighty-nine percent.

The compad flashes.

TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED.

For a second, I cannot breathe.

“No,” I say, louder this time.

Rana rips out a burned connector and shoves another into place with bare fingers. She hisses through her teeth as heat burns her skin. “Again!”

I resend.

The boarding vessel’s clamps grind against the hull.

The pilot yells over internal comms, “Unauthorized docking in progress!”

The emergency beacon catches.

The packet surges through the damaged telemetry array.

My compad flashes white.

TRANSMITTED.

Relief hits so fast I almost laugh.

Then the cabin explodes inward.

The boarding hatch does not open. It blows.

A circular charge punches through the forward seal with a deafening crack, and pressure howls through the cabin as emergency fields struggle to compensate. Smoke, sparks, and loose debris whip toward the breach. Sera screams. Dane loses his footing and slams into the seats. Rana fires twice into the smoke before I can even see a target.

I grab the toolkit, shove the cracked drive into my jacket, and throw myself behind a row of seats as armored shapes move through the breach.

The evidence is alive. The distress signal is out. Communications collapse completely.

No reply. No Gnash. Only red light, smoke, screaming metal, and the first boarder stepping into the cabin with a weapon raised.

I clutch the drive against my ribs, taste blood where I have bitten my cheek, and force myself to breathe.

The story will not die with me.

CHAPTER 34

GNASH

Ursa’s distress call reaches me while the Trask Fold is still burning.

The command center is a storm of red light, shouted coordinates, scorched relay smoke, and the deep metallic vibration of Guyver Station pushing every shield projector past its sane limits. The deck trembles beneath my feet as Coalition capital ships hold their defensive arc over the civilian corridors, Reaper escorts drag evacuation barges through debris fields, and Alliance forward elements broadcast warnings with the sanctimonious patience of soldiers waiting for permission to become invaders.

Then her signal tears through the noise.