“I can see. The carapace will protect you from most of that.”

Just as Aptat said it, an impact pushed her flat to the inner hull. A strike of pain radiated from her back.

“See?” said Aptat. “Direct hit. You’re fine. Keep going.”

Naecia grunted. “They’re gaining.”

“Deploying melee.”

A flame erupted from the node at her wrist, spraying fire into a compressor housing that reflected back into her facemask. “That’s the magmafier!” she yelled.

“Apologies. I’m having difficulty translating commands through your antiquated hardware.”

Naecia crawled ahead. She still had the tool pod, maybe she could bludgeon them with a spanner.

A pair of Vortu stood at the crest of the inner hull, which meant four coming up behind. They fired a burst as soon as she darted from cover, taking several shots to the ribs. The force knocked her sideways, but the armor adjusted to help her regain control, and she was off just as quickly, leaping into a tangle of equipment before they had a chance to fire again. She skipped through the web of conduit and structural skeleton, digging into the tool pod for something she might use. Her hands touched upon a thick handle. A long, heavy, radial pipe cutter.

“ETA on that melee thing?” The magmafier node fired again. “Stop that!”

The flame signaled her position and another barrage lit through the hull.

“Are you trying to get me killed?”

“In almost any other context, yes, I would be. Your com is glitchy.”

Keeping to the shadows and hoping Aptat could hold the magmafier in check, she rounded quickly on the pair at the apex of the arc. Placing herself between the remains of the air lock and a capacitor for one of the dilaceration cannons, she eased up behind them. Directly above was a field of stars where the outer hull had once been. Flame erupted again from the magmafier. She thrust herself at the pair and swiped at them with the plume of fire. The first one dove away from the flames and she brought down the pipe cutter with double her regular strength upon the second, crushing the Vortu’s helmet and head inside. She reoriented the flames on the first Vortu just in time for the magmafier to go cold. “Aptat!” she screamed as the Vortu unleashed a close-range volley.

The shot sent her spinning through the vacuum. “Ffffffuuuuuuuuu–” she slammed into a girding, righted herself, and pushed off just as another round of fire pierced the outer hull. A shot to the hip sent her into a corkscrew. The armor had protected her from being holed but that was about it. The many impacts had taken their toll. She felt like she’d been pulped.

“I have the melee limb, Naecia. Get me visual.”

But she was in free float now, having only barely gotten herself away from the last round of fire. And she was corkscrewing again. “I–” her breath was short.