Carson was a combat spacer, and he’d always known he could face the danger of battle. But now, running for that hatch, he thought of Lise, of never seeing his newborn son. He’d always managed his fear before, keeping it in its place. But he could feel his heart pounding in his ears now. Images of his wife’s face when they told her he was dead. His son, a toddler, a child, growing to adulthood, all without him there.

He lunged forward, putting the last of his strength into one great burst. “C’mon, Walt. Move your ass.” Billings was on his tail, clearly just as motivated.

Carson dove forward through the hatch, his comrade right on his heels. His knees hit the hard metal floor hard, pain radiating up his leg. Then he fell the rest of the way, throwing his arms out to cushion the blow. But he was through. And he heard the hatch slam shut…and a few second later, a loud blast.

Dauntless shook wildly, and Carson was slammed into the wall, his already sore wrist getting pinned under his body, twisted hard. There was pain, and fear the hatch wouldn’t hold, that it—or one of the dozen other spots that could give way— would fail and spread devastation through Dauntless.

He turned over on his side, holding up his savaged wrist, looking up at Fritz. She was on the com, ordering the reactor shutdown. He knew she was thinking the same thing he was, hoping the bulkheads around the bay would hold.

And hoping Captain Barron’s insane plan would work…

*   *   *

“Massive explosions, Commander,” Wentus reported. “We’re picking up large volumes of gas and fluids blasted into space.”

Everyone on Invictus’s bridge was excited. Everyone except the battleship’s commander. She was guarded, cautiously optimistic, perhaps, but no more. She was still reluctant to close, though she knew the scanner readings would make that more difficult. Certainly, doctrine was clear. Any failure to close now would be viewed as gross dereliction of duty, of cowardice.

“Continue scans, Optiomagis. And maintain fire.”

“Commander, we…yes, Commander.”

Not yet…

The enemy ship was still moving forward, but its engines appeared to be offline. There was no thrust, just a continuing vector, modified now by the force from the explosion. The Confederation ship looked dead in space.

And if it is…

Kat knew her duty, she knew she had no choice. But she was delaying, continuing the medium range gunnery duel. Except it wasn’t a duel anymore. The enemy fire had ceased entirely. She could stay where she was, even accelerate away from the enemy, maintain her range and slowly blow her target apart. But that would take longer, perhaps long enough for the enemy to manage some last ditch repairs.

“Commander, scanners report zero energy readings. The enemy’s reactors are all down.”