A scream echoed through the corridors, punctuated by the solitary report of a pistol. Odybrix was in the process of shoving BOB forward when she saw Buddy double back. Behind them, seemingly heedless of imminent dismemberment, Sturdy snapped pictures of the monstrosity with the PDA on his wrist. Buddy was beside him in a second, pulling him away.

“Get out of there, you idiots!” Odybrix yelled.

Sturdy spun and ran, with Buddy backpedaling behind him. The upper torso of the dwarf sailed through the intersection of the passageways and landed somewhere unseen with a wet thud. Odybrix barely registered the arm whipping out from around the corner in a blur of claws, but Buddy, miraculously, did. The monstrosity swung wildly, each swipe promising evisceration if it landed, but Buddy somehow dodged them all. Not only that, but she fought back.

A few strands of her ponytail were severed as she ducked a horizontal swing and rolled away, snapping off six shots from her laser pistols. Two blasts struck the thing’s head, leaving smoking holes. Odybrix released a breath she was holding, expecting the thing to slump to the ground. Instead, the flesh around the wounds convulsed and knit together, like it hadn’t even been shot. A wet seam opened in the middle of its featureless head, revealing rows of finger-length teeth. Odybrix gathered psionic energy to shove the thing away, but Adam acted first.

“Get down!”

Buddy somersaulted away from the creature as a grenade sailed overhead and detonated. The monstrosity screeched as a flash of bright orange flame consumed it. Odybrix didn’t wait to see if the grenade had solved their monster problem; she let loose the psionic blast and shunted its flaming bulk down the passageway. Adam fired a few perfunctory shots in the thing’s direction—an extra kick in the ass for good measure—and they ran.

“Change your mind about explosives inside ships?” Odybrix asked.

“No. This was a special circumstance. And mine wasn’t attached to a torpedo,” Adam said.

“Sure, sure. Talk to me when we’re back aboard, we can go over the finer points of setting off grenades in tight spaces.”

“I’m not making a habit of this.”

Ozzy came on their comms channel as they fled, “We’ve got a ship inbound.”

“Reinforcements?” Zenith asked.

“I don’t think so, ZT. It’s big. Bigger than a group of mercs could afford.”

“Darlings,” Hilde said, cheerfully joining the conversation, “I have great news. Scans indicate that the ship is frigate-class with a full weapons complement presently armed and targeting the barquentine.”

“We’re on the barq! How is that good news?” Odybrix asked.

“Because this ship is a celebrity!” Hilde said, sending an image of a massive vessel to their feed. “Note how the bow is shaped like a colossal blade? This is the HWS Warspite, flagship of planet Grolvar!”

“What did these guys do to piss off the orcs?” Odybrix asked.

“We need to get to rev space ASAP,” Adam said, fear creeping into his voice. “That ship is infamous.”

“Torpedoes incoming!” Ozzy said.

Odybrix turned the corner towards the airlock. She caught a glimpse of the dark outlines of Hoxley and the dog bathed in flood lights as they boarded the Sunrunner. How did that scrawny cook move so fast? The question didn’t have time to marinate in her mind.

A cataclysmic boom rocked the ship and sent the crew flying into the bulkheads. The pummeling shockwave was immediately followed by the irresistible pull of space—a torpedo had cracked the barq open like an egg. Odybrix’ arms flailed, grasping for anything that could keep her anchored. She managed to grasp onto a dead power conduit, channeling all of her psionic might to keep a grip. Something flashed in her periphery and she turned her head just in time to see Adam barrel into her, sending them both spinning into the void.

“They’re targeting us,” Ozzy said. “Taking evasive maneuvers. I need you all to group up behind the barq. Shit, the new guy’s suit is ruptured. He can’t maneuver.”

Odybrix saw it—a small form in the starlit distance with a trail of O2 spewing from a cut line. A perfunctory “Oh well” crossed her mind and she turned towards the others, stopping just before engaging the maneuvering thrusters. Buddy said she had a good feeling about this guy—a dubious endorsement from someone whose memory didn’t go farther back than the last time they stocked the ship. Odybrix looked at the crew gathering, then back at Sturdy struggling to clamp his line shut. Fuck.

Psionic implants were a wonderful way to melt someone’s brain or stop bullets from tearing through your own brain—that’s why she got the implants, to be sure—but there were other non-brain-wrecking benefits. Specifically, flying like a hawk through space. She sped off towards secret agent dumbass in a flash of pink light. The small human form grew quickly and she could see him trying and failing to connect the severed line. It wouldn’t work without something to seal it. Fortunately, she had access to psychic glue.

A small glow formed around the two pieces of the O2 line. Keeping a space for the air to move required fine psionic control, but she was good. She swooped behind him, grabbing him under the shoulders and rocketing towards the others like a halfling jetpack. This guy owed her a favour after this. Buddy too.

A halo of annihilation framed the barq as it shed chunks of hull into space. The crew took shelter behind the crumbling vessel and waited anxiously for salvation. The Sunrunner deftly avoided most of the distant Warspite’s fire, but when it slowed to retrieve the crew, a plasma cannon rocked its shields in a blinding collision of energy. If the shot were any closer, it would have torn their suits, and probably their flesh, apart.

“If you blow up my ship I’ll kill you, Ozzy!” Zenith shouted over the crackling comms.

“I’m doing my best, ZT. Airlock is open, get ready.”

As the Sunrunner drifted to a stop, Odybrix caught a glimpse of something.

“Get in!”

“I’ll be right back,” she said, planting her feet on Sturdy’s back and kicking him to the ship.

“What do you mean you’ll be back?” Zenith asked, “Did you forget to turn the oven off on the exploding ship? Get in here!”

“Start the rev engine. I’ll be quick.”

She raced off in a streak of pink light, certain she had seen it floating in the debris. If they listened to her, she’d have about sixty seconds before they jumped to rev space. Plenty of time. Ten seconds went by: scrap metal, wires. Twenty seconds: scrap metal, dead body, bed. Thirty seconds: scrap metal, toilet. Fuck, where is it? A red case with a white cross drifted out from behind a piece of bulkhead.

“Yes!” Odybrix said, swooping in and grabbing the medical chest.

She sped towards the Sunrunner, pushing with all of the force her psionics would allow. The barq was coming apart behind her and it wouldn’t be long before one of those blasts hit the rev engine and obliterated what remained. She saw the airlock. Adam was waiting inside with an outstretched hand. When he saw that she wasn’t slowing down, he spread both his arms and caught her as she shot inside, knocking them both into the wall.

“She’s in!” Adam said with a grunt.

“Rev jump in five, four…”

Odybrix gave herself a second to breathe, then looked back at the remains of the ship as the airlock closed. Remembering what was inside, she quickly keyed in a sequence on her PDA.

“Two, one.”

She tapped a button and watched as the explosive she planted detonated the torpedoes. A fraction of a second later, they jumped away.