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“Security to cargo three. Report.”

I didn't expect an answer. The hold's own decompression alarm was blaring through the corridor, loud enough that I could hear it several branch turns away, and anyone inside would have heard it the instant the hull was breached. Emergency procedures on a merchant ship weren't complicated. Get your mask on, get out of the damaged compartment, and let the automatic systems do their job.

I reached the hatch just as the first two crew members came through it.

“Move!” I shouted, waving them toward the safe section of the corridor. “Keep going. Medical is coming.”

One of them had both hands clamped around his arm, his face pinched with pain beneath the emergency mask he'd pulled over his nose and mouth. The other was moving under his own power, although a thin line of blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.

“Where's the rest?” I demanded.

“Still inside.”

I looked past them. The emergency hatch was trying to close, but something inside the compartment had jammed the mechanism. Air was still rushing through the narrowing gap, and the pressure warning on my wrist had gone from yellow to red.

“How many?”

“Three.”

I swore and left the jam in place, so I didn't get trapped inside too. The alarm inside the hold was almost deafening. Emergency masks had dropped from the walls, lights were flashing, and loose debris had scattered across the deck. The remaining crew were already trying to get out, but one man was struggling to move because a restraint bar had fallen across his leg.

“Leave the cargo!” I shouted. “Get to the hatch!”

Two of them were able to scramble past me. I grabbed the third by the shoulders as he tried to pull himself free.

“Hold still.”

“My leg's stuck.”

“I know.”

I got my claws beneath the edge of the restraint and lifted. The metal bit into my palms, but I managed to raise it enough for him to drag his leg free. He tried to stand and immediately folded.

“Damn it,” he moaned.

I caught him around the waist and hauled him upright. “I've got you. Move.”

“I can walk.”

“Then walk.”

He did, leaning heavily against me as I half-carried him toward the hatch. Behind us, the pressure warning changed pitch, telling me we were running out of time. The last crewman other than us was already through the hatch. I pushed the injured man after him and followed, turning as soon as my boots hit the corridor.

“Seal it!” I shouted to the ship's AI as I removed the offending blockage. The hatch slammed shut, and the secondary seal deployed with a heavy metallic thud. The roar of escaping air disappeared, leaving the corridor filled with the sharp alarms and the sound of several beings breathing hard through emergency masks. I keyed my comm. “Cargo hold three is isolated. Five crew accounted for. Inform medical that we have injured.”

“Already on their way.”

I pulled the mask away from my face once the corridor sensors confirmed the atmosphere was stable and crouched beside the man with the injured arm. “Let me see it.”

He lowered his mask enough to speak. “I think it's broken.”

The arm was already swelling badly.

“Probably is. Don't move it.”

He gave me a strained look. “Wasn't planning to.”

“Good.”