To J’eon, there were no sounds that would hint at creatures from other directions, only to the front. Though, for what finally emerged from the forest, it was frankly surprising that it had managed to get as close as it had without notice. This creature was massive, almost double J’eon’s height. It vaguely resembled some kind of giant insect, but it was quite unlike any animal he would have ever seen. It had no eyes that could be observed, yet it was quite obviously aware of J’eon’s location, with the way it seemed to stare him down. Its behavior also felt strange for an animal. If it was a predator hunting prey, it would not be screeching the moment it sensed its quarry. Whatever it was, though, it made its intentions quite unmistakable. It clicked its mandibles together, then let out another shriek as it came barreling straight at him, seemingly enraged.

---

Yet again, the shriek was plainly audible to Kareet and Shirik. It was just a bit closer than before, as their path seemed to be taking them towards it. Kareet, on her part, was starting to look more and more annoyed at the fact that she could not recognize the sound. “Okay, that’s the second time we’ve heard that. I will be honest, I don’t recognize it. Have you ever heard anything like it?” She asked.

J'eon instinctively moved to put the point of the spear between him and the eyeless creature. But looking it over, he could not guess at where its heart would be. Nor did he like how it was opening and closing its mandibles, but that had to be its head.

And if it had a head, he had a target.

With another of its weird piercing cries, the creature suddenly charges towards him!

"HAH!" J'eon yelled, thrusting his spear forward for the creature to impale its head on as he wordlessly summoned the flame to its tip. There would be some heat, yes, but he hadn't time for the full chant to make the blade glow white hot....

Yet there seemed to be a lot more light now? And who was yelling behind him?

After having ducked back behind the big landing wheels Fret was waiting for return fire to thump around him signaling that they knew the deal.

But instead, he heard a pop of smoke... It was close.

Curiously he peaked around the side of the tires,

And was enveloped with a mist that caused his bionic eye to fizz and then...

Gone.

He was now as blind as the day he'd lost his eyes.

He flicked through the various vision modes. All blank.

"Oh im TOAST..."

His mouth went dry as the adrenalin started to coarse up from where his kidneys were. His body temperature suddenly dropped and he started shaking uncontrollably.

"TOAST! TOAST! TOAST!" was all the little voice in the back of his head was saying.

He could only roughly remember where the boarding rampway was.

He knew they'd be heading there. They knew where it was...

He heard a voice coming from over by the big shuttle bay hatch.

“We are LEAVING! Everybody get in, now!” She bellowed.

“TAKE IT EASY! ONE AT A TIME!”

He took off at an awkward run. Unsure of every footstep, he stumbled about 10 to 14 steps…

he should be roughly there…

…He felt the surface under foot change from asphalt to a harder metal surface. Slowly his vision snowed…

Then he felt someone grab him by his shoulders and throw him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. Was he in the ship? As soon as he was in his vision came back to life.

Who had grabbed him? The voice?

Are we leaving??????

J’eon’s spear was well-aimed as the creature charged. Even as the beast tried to maneuver around it, the spearhead did manage to connect on the side of its head, piercing and burning its flesh. However, J’eon would immediately notice just how tough its hide really was. Even with a good thrust, the spearhead only partially pierced into its head. With even more force, he might have been able to do more, but the hide put up enough resistance that the creature was able to jerk its head back before the spear could push deeper. At the very least, it had forced the creature to step back so it could not trample the Glen right away. Still, this creature was both absolutely massive and dangerously close. A single, solid hit from it could easily kill.

Bizarrely, the creature’s overwhelming aggression did not seem to subside in the slightest. Fire was generally a powerful deterrent to wild animals. Merely by showing it, Heat mages could often go undisturbed in the wilderness, which made this creature’s apparent indifference to it all the more unusual.

As soon as they had come upon the scene, Shirik had decided to get involved, which meant Kareet had to make that choice as well. The last thing she needed right now was for Shirik to be hurt. She reached back and, with a brief motion, formed a magnetic link between her hand and the weapon stowed away in her backpack. With a thought, the connection strengthened and her war hammer magnetized into her hand. Though, she did not move any closer for the moment. Instead, she breathed out, pointing her hammer’s head at the creature as she ran her fingers down the metal haft. An electric charge built and amplified through the metal, and when she finally flicked her hand away, it all discharged at once, sending a bolt of lightning straight at her target. It lasted but an instant and was accompanied by a crack of thunder.

The bolt struck the creature’s raised hand and sent a shock through its body…though the effect was much less than Kareet had hoped. Its flesh was blackened on the point of impact, but not burned as much as Kareet would have expected. The best she could say at the moment was that she had hurt it enough to interrupt its attack and give the Glen more of a chance to evade.

“Ok. Levi?” Ezra asked. The merc tending to their downed colleague looked over briefly, not even flinching as a stray bullet whizzed overhead. The sound of gunfire was deafening - there was a concerted firefight happening somewhere nearby.

“Mobile.” Levi confirmed before looking back down. He wrenched the assault rifle out of his colleague’s hands and placed it in her lap. He pulled out her sidearm and placed it in her right hand. He slapped her face lightly and her mask’s optical modules slowly focused in on him.

“It's loaded - watch our six.”

The female operator slowly nodded from her prone position.

Levi gave a thumbs up to Ezra, walked round behind the woman and grabbed a handle on her suit behind her neck. He hauled her into a sitting position with her legs trailing out, and dragged her towards the front line.

“You still want to do this?” Ezra asked Darnell. He nodded immediately.

“If I don't get this done, we’re all dead anyway.”

“Ok. Stay on my shoulder - don’t lose contact in the smoke.”

Without waiting one second to confirm Tyreese understood, Ezra emerged from cover in attack mode and his team spread out around him. Darnell rushed to get behind him as they entered the smoke.

---

Vigdis’ flechettes were not particularly accurate, but they didn’t need to be. With fifty vicious points in each round, it was inevitable that some would find the target. At least three dozen flechettes whizzed into the expanding smoke cloud, ricocheted off the floor and sliced into the calves and lower thighs of the first soldier huddled behind the droid. They let out a primal scream and collapsed on the floor clutching their legs.

The droid didn’t stop. It unclipped a riot gun from its thigh holster and fired a bright blue baton round at Vigdis from round the side of its shield. The other people behind the droid just stepped over the writhing figure on the floor and continued. The third man spotted Eva and her mech among the last cargo crates. Knowing how much of a threat a machine like that could be, even without weapons, they immediately grasped for the grenade launcher on their back.

Eva put one of the final crates between her and the 40mm grenade that was fired towards her. The crate was shredded in the ground-shaking explosion and fell from her hands. She picked up another box and hurled it through the smoke at the advancing troops as Fret stumbled back up the ramp towards the ship. Facing being left behind if she delayed any more, Eva clanked up into the crowded shuttle bay as well.

Zey chucked Fret onto the floor in the corner of the shuttle bay, then moved out of the way as Eva’s mech packed into the claustrophobic space.

“Mr Chappel, Eva, you good?”

The cargo they’d managed to salvage had been tied down for the most part, but there still wasn’t a whole lot of manoeuvring room with the shuttle taking up most of the floor. The air stank of acrid smoke and gunpowder. Rounds had stopped pinging off the metal hull of the Jotunheim, but the sound carried on somewhere nearby.

“Vigdis, raise the ramp then get strapped in. Everyone should get strapped in somewhere! There are jump seats either side of the shuttle. Are they still out there? Don’t let anyone else aboard.” The civilians were bunging up the service corridors on the other side of the airlock, so it made sense to Zey for the last people inside to stay put and not add to the chaos.

“Bosko, I'm heading back to the bridge. Start the launch sequence!” Zey punched the airlock control panel and the doors whooshed open.

---

The riot droid was seven foot tall and built to hold the line against a crushing weight of people. Unfortunately though, the crate that Eva had thrown was full of heavy spare parts. It bounced off the deck once before sliding straight into the droid, knocking it clean over. The two gunmen behind it dived out of the way. It was when they got up that they realised that the people covering them from either side of the blast doors were still shooting, just not in the same direction. They were shooting at people behind them.

Then the gunfire stopped, and the noise from Jotunheim’s engines began increasing from a low rumble towards a crescendo.

The two masked killers looked at each other, then both turned and ran for the Jotunheim’s ramp, barely visible through the smoke.

It was too late. Bullets flew through the murky depths and into both their backs. The men collapsed dead on the floor. The Israeli operators and their benefactor stepped quietly and quickly through the smog. One of them dispatched the wounded man with flechettes in his legs with a bullet to the head. Another operator emptied a magazine into the riot droid as it struggled to its feet, sending it into critical failure.

“There it is!” Darnell shouted, breaking into a sprint; the soldiers around him reluctantly followed suit. As they approached they could hear the ramp’s mechanical parts working - it was nearly halfway up!

“Don’t shoot! We’re Tamerlane! Lower the ramp!” Darnell shouted over the din, waving his arms. The ramp didn’t stop. He turned to the mercs.

“Give me a leg up!”

Ezra had to make a split second decision. He needed to be aboard this ship, with or without his team.

“Ok, I'll go with you. While we’re inside, hold this position.” He directed the last part to his team, with a grim finality.

Without hesitation, the soldiers moved to hoist Darnell and Ezra up so they could grab onto the ramp as it moved towards 90 degrees. They tumbled into the Jotunheim’s shuttle bay with a loud crash, moments before it hissed shut.

“More of them are coming, get ready!” Levi ordered, peeking round the side of the ship. The three able-bodied mercenaries got ready to defend the hangar. The engine noise was overriding everything.

J'eon leaps to one side, his hearts thundering. His instincts were to charge, but this thing was enraged and knew no fear. He could see the two strangers at work now, but even their efforts against the massive bug were having little effect.

And what harm might it have done already?

"Beware!" the Glen called out. "I shall try to rob it of its heat!"

Cold had its place in the riddle of iron and steel, hardening the metal. But this cold would have to be deeper, and sustained if they were to have any hope of slowing this creature.

The buck took a pose, his right palm facing the creature, his left behind it, and as he concentrated, he began to slowly pull his left hand back, feeling the shifting of the pattern, the heat in his muscles as they struggled, the blood coursing through them as he tries with his might and spells to draw the heat from its core.

But this spell would also tug at the others....

The intense cold that struck at the creature’s core was rather immediately effective against it. Its scream this time seemed to be one of pain. It stumbled forward, half-collapsing in front of J’eon. Even without eyes, the way its body shifted towards him felt like it was glaring down upon the Glen.

From the start, Kareet had not wanted to get involved in a fight, but now that she was committed to being here, it was her training that quickly took over. It was easy to identify the exceptionally quick, and equally precise movements of a trained war caster. She could manage to mix in spellcasting seamlessly into swings, parries, or in this case, a throw. As she reared her hammer back, she moved two fingers along its haft at just the right angle and speed to imbue it with an electric charge.

The hammer came flying in, magnetically guided and accelerated, over the Glen to slam straight into the front of the creature’s head. The hard, sharp mandibles had been frozen to the point of becoming brittle, and so the one the hammer struck shattered upon impact, followed by a discharge of lightning all down its head and neck. The electricity only heated small, concentrated areas, but in the places it affected, it seemed the otherwise tough hide did not fare well through such rapid swings between cooling and heating. The hide actually appeared to be cracking in places.

“Hit it hard, all together!” Kareet shouted as her hammer flew back into her hand.

The creature, however, would not be stunned forever. With as massive as it was, J’eon’s spell had only affected part of its body so far, and the Glen had not yet ran, so he was still within its reach. With a roar, it made a powerful backhanded swing of its massive arm straight at J’eon.

The screaming caught her mid-reload. She didn’t need to look to know why the man was screaming. Considering that only one person was screaming, her mind evoked images of meatloaf instead of the intended lesser damage over all three targets. Violent injuries were nothing new to a four year veteran of salvage duty. Vaccum exposure, hot vapors and liquids, electric current, exploding pressure vessels, shrapnel large and small, people trapped in an inferno so hot the heat cracked the teeth... Just two months before she got out of the navy, she slipped on a patch of charred goo that used to be a crew member of a freighter that completely burned out. She’d seen and smelled it all, but always as a third party. An unfortunate observer. But here, she did that to the man. Knowing she caused it made her sick. ‘Better them than me.’ she thought, but it rang somewhat hollow. Snapping in a new magazine with a shaking hand, she popped out of cover again and immediately recoiled back. Meatloaf. Meatloaf in marinara sauce.

The sound of her name being called brought her back into the here and now. Sprinting up the ramp and not even stopping as she hit the button to close it, she went straight for the airlock, heading to the machine shop. Having connected to the shipwide PA, Vigdis whistled into the microphone, completely uncaring about how weird it probably sounded to everyone else on board. She listened for the sound of doors opening or something moving in nearby vents when movement in one of the shelves near the ceiling caught her eye. To her infinite relief, she was met with the sight of Fritjof, eyes at half mast from having just woken up. “You lazy slacker, how’d you sleep through that?!” She stepped closer to the shelf and tapped her shoulder, the cat taking the cue and leaping down onto her shoulders. “Sure wish I could’ve.” She ruffled the hair on his head before placing him in the carrier strapped to the floor for safety and made for the engineering section. As she was unregistered luggage on this trip, she might as well make herself useful.

Somewhere in the distance, something at last put an end to the muted screams of the man she’d crippled.

The blow was sudden and unexpected. Despite his armor and his muscular chest, J'eon could feel his ribs cracking as he went flying into the trees further up the road.

The trees were no softer when he slammed into them.

J'eon gasps with pain, groping for his hooked blade, expecting any moment the creature would turn and attack him now, on the ground, nearly helpless.

And saw Shirik's attack as light came down and struck the creature, illuminating the forest for miles around.

For Kareet especially Shirik’s decisive attack was blinding. Her eyes were well-adjusted to the dark, so the fireball had her turning her head and covering her eyes. She blinked a few times when the light finally subsided, then squinted as she tried to get a good view of the aftermath. Right before the fireball had come down, the Glen had taken a hard hit from the beast. At the very least, that had launched him clear of the blaze. After a few moments, he finally came into view for her. He had been knocked up against a nearby tree, but he was still moving. Still alive.

Kareet stumbled forward carefully. She still felt half-blind, but she could navigate well enough. However, she was halfway to the Glen when she heard yet another, enraged screech from the direction of what should have been the creature’s corpse. How could it be anything except dead? A fireball like that, right after being frozen? There was nothing alive that could survive that kind of thermal shock. Anything less than death was impossible. Unthinkable. Yet, when she turned her head, she would not deny feeling terrified when she saw the body moving.

Fortunately, it seemed the universe was taking at least some mercy on them when she saw the state the creature was in. The freezing and heating had torn its hide apart across much of its upper body, allowing its insides to be burned to its core. There were some traces of dark green blood, but much of what she could see on half its body was charred beyond recognition. One of its arms was simply gone, while with the other was desperately trying to pull it towards Kareet. It shrieked and tried to snap its remaining mandible at her, though made little progress with either.

“Oh, come on.” Kareet grunted. She reached back and slid her hammer back into her backpack. Now that she had the time to do so, she traced a few signs in the air, then extended both hands forward as the feathers on her arm started to stand up from the static. There were a few small arcs of electricity between her hands and the creature, which, after a moment, erupted into a sustained storm of lightning focused squarely on its head. With its hide no longer protecting it, the electricity was able to have far more of an effect. She kept it up until the beast finally stopped moving. Still, for this thing to have had any life in it after being hit with such power…there was no animal she knew of that could possibly fit its description.

“Just…stay dead.” Kareet muttered at the creature’s corpse before turning her head to the others. “You, Glen. How hurt are you? Can you speak? Can you move?”

As the sounds of gunfire began to die down, a pair of figures, male and female, popped their heads out from behind the curtained medical beds. By the door, a taller man pressed against the side, a weighty AED hardcase in his hands, ready to be swung at the head of any intruder wishing to break their way into the medical bay. But, no such attacker came, the halls of the upper deck remained relatively quiet, save for a few of the crew that had gone down to check on what had happened. The medical crew, while possessing varying levels of former military experience, opted to stay above decks- they were soldiers no longer, and their medical experience would do nobody any good if they were among the casualties below.

"What's going on down there? The female assistant asked the room. While her small frame and French accent presented a sort of gentle demeanor, Sara's sharp tongue and sharper wit were really anything but.

"Is everyone dead..? Should we stay up here?" The male assistant whined. Ever the gentle giant, while a bit cowardly, Richard's physical strength and bedside demeanor was second to none.

"Stay here, I'll go down and assess what's going on." Duncan instructed, setting the AED case back down on a nearby table. Rounding out the merry medical crew was none other than himself. A bit of an everyman; filling the role of physician and surgeon in such a small crew on such a small ship. "Keep your comms on and the doors locked, I'll notify you guys when I get down there."

Pausing at the door Duncan turned back, "Better start shaping up the med bay, I get the feeling we're going to get busy soon."

On the main deck of the ship, Duncan stepped out of the lift, poking his head out into the main hall. Despite what he expected, there was no carnage in the ship itself. A few individuals were sat along the sides of the corridor, banged up, but for the most part alive and with non life-threatening injuries. From what he gathered, more than a few of the individuals now on board the ship were not supposed to be, but no one was actively hostile. Duncan spotted the airlock opening, and Captain Kadıoğlu stepping out from it.

"Captain!" Duncan called out to her, though not actively attempting to stop her, she seemed busy enough. "You're intact right?" In a situation like this, being in one piece was the important thing, it didn't matter if they were a little banged up or bruised, minor injuries could be taken care of after they got out of- whatever mess this was. So long as she was capable of performing what she needed to do, he could go into the hangar and check out the state of people there.

"Ooof"

Fret could see a ceiling above him...

His vision had come back on line.

Someone had said something to him.

"Yeah, just fine..." he said back to the new acquaintance.

He grasped the rifle, which was laying across his chest and lifted it off his face.

He was alive. Thats a start.

He slowly creaked and sat upright. But why was it hurting so much?

He could hear the low rumble of the engines in the background.

He knew what that meant.

He could also hear some chatter over the comms "start the launch sequence" was one part he made out.

He looked about worriedly then opened the door to the conference room and stumbled in.

He looked down and fabric swivel chairs were rooted down, and yes, every one had a seatbelt.

Why was it hurt-- his fingers had quested down to find a tear in the red shirt he was wearing, and felt where it was warm.

GhaH, somethings clipped me! He thought to himself.

He felt the ship jerk with acceleration as it started to move.

As his body started to list sideways, he rounded the seats and sat in the chair and buckled in.

He felt the acceleration growing, faster and faster.

Soon its gonna get real. He said to himself.

A few civilians darted in the room and he tried to shout over the engines and point to the seats.

They gratefully sat down and fiddled with their belts. One was a blonde woman and the other a teenage boy.

His rifle slid down to the ground and slid to the back of the room as the acceleration began to gain pace.

---

The universe must have been trying to tell him something.

"No," the guard said. "Crew only!"

"I am crew!" Jack scowled, presenting his identcard and waving the shopping bags of the various gift shops at the space port. "I'm the executive officer of the Jotunheim, and I had the captain's permission to do some last minute shopping because I'd lost my luggage! Now let me pass!"

The hell he lost his luggage. On the Pournelle, the king of the practical jokers had been Lt. Danny Bryce, his junior. Danny had never messed with him while they'd been aboard. Maybe it was because he was Danny's senior. Or possibly because he'd still been reeling from his divorce from Jackie and wanted to cheer him up? More likely was it the subpoenas his wife's attorney had slapped on him that revealed that he was a walking, talking camera.

Danny must have thought it was his last chance to play a prank on him, now he was a civilian and departing for a mission that would mean years outsystem. After all, he'd been the man who offered to 'help' him with his luggage for the flight to Norway. Not even his own garment bag had been safe, and he'd brought that on the plane with him! Or so he thought.

"You're crew?" the guard demanded, incredulously taking him in with the flight suit and the old leather "snoopy" flght cap.
"It's what I had that was warm!" Jack snapped.

The guard scowls, raising his walky-talky to his mouth when gunshots erupted on the far side of the hanger. The others around them panics, bowling the guard over.

"The hell with this," he scowls, then takes off running towards the ship. Only when he was at the airlock did he realize that others were there with him.

"Go back!" he yells. "Our next stop is years away! Get off the ship!"

The engines began to rumble. Swearing under his breath, Jack jammed his things into a locker, securing it with his finger print, then ran for the bridge.

---

"Captain," Jack called out as he saw her, then nodded at the man standing beside her. "Doctor."

"I was.. held up at the checkpoint," he sighed. "I'm sorry, if I'd been here, we wouldn't be stuck with a bunch of civilians on board. We can try for a patrol boat once we reach orbit to get them off...."

Assuming whoever was trying to get at the Jotunheim hadn't already planned for that.

"Your orders?" Jack Mallory asks, standing at attention with all the dignity he could muster.

Zey emerged from the airlock with several of her crew into the corridor that ran down the middle of the lower forward deck. It was even loud and more uncomfortable than usual. The lighting was harsh, it smelled of chemicals and freshly fabricated metal. The engine vibrations were more pronounced, and right now there were over thirty civilians crammed into it. Some were milling around, trying to find a way out or place to sit. Others had just plonked themselves down on the boxes of supplies along the walls or the one sofa, chattering worriedly or checked themselves for bullet holes.

Vigdis and Mr Chappel the surveyor contractor stumbled away through the crowd and Zey didn’t have one moment to negotiate her own way through before she heard someone shout "Captain!". She looked and found Duncan Feng addressing her.

"You're intact right?"

“I’m fine!” Zey shouted back over the din, she unclipped an earbud from her communicator and pushed it into one ear.

“Get these people strapped or tied down, we’re leaving!” She patted the Doctor on the shoulder and made to turn toward the bridge when her XO appeared from the crowd, talking about going into orbit. She was relieved to see her second-in-command, though she didn’t show it. Having him on the bridge meant she could focus on not killing every stowaway on board.

Everyone’s voice was getting progressively louder, so Zey leaned in and placed a hand on Mallory’s shoulder so she could shout in his ear. “Negative, it's too risky! We’ll move the Jo to a TGOC ground installation to decant these civilians! Get to the bridge and plot us a flight plan out of here. Fast and low as this fat lady can go! Tell Anselm we need to break this comms blackout and make contact with HQ yesterday, get them to get an escort over here and prepare their site in Iceland or Russia for us. go go go!”

Someone from the bridge wafted into her ear.“Captain, there are two unidentified men with guns in the shuttle bay. I’ve sealed off the airlock. Edwards is still inside.”

Zey immediately spun around and looked through the viewing ports. The airlock was empty, and through the viewing port on the other side she locked eyes with Tyreese Darnell who was hammering on the door from the other side. A bulky soldier in full gear stood behind him, pointing a long gun at someone out of view - Zey presumed it was Eva as she’d have been strapping her mech in.

The man pointed at the lock, then put a sat phone with a floppy antenna to his ear and mimed talking. Zey could feel movement in her legs as the Jotunheim began moving slowly out of the hangar bay.

“They’re shooting at the jets!” Zey heard someone else call over comms.

“Bring our kinetic shielding online, direct it behind us.” The Captain ordered, still staring through the viewing port at Darnell.

---

Vigdis had to request access to the Engineering airlock twice before a grase-smudged face appeared and studied her at the other end, eventually opening the first door. Once she’d stepped in, the shaven head and face recognisable as Danny Varen, FTL, spotted the gun on her back. After a moment, he opened the second door. He was dressed in black flip flops, navy shorts emblazoned with the Tamerlane logo, and a plate-carrier over his bare tattooed chest. As soon as there was clearance, Danny levelled a black tactical shotgun at her body.

“What’s poppin’ Vigdis? Put the gun down and put your hands up."

Danny looked off to his left. "Search her.”

A second engineer stepped round the corner, shotgun in hand, and went to pat her down.

“Hey! What's going on back there? I need help powering up the shields.” came the stentorian voice of the Jotunheim’s formidable lead engineer, Zhào Jiāyí. Though short in stature, everyone knew this harmless-looking middle aged lady had all of her larger and younger engineers firmly in check.

"Its Vigdis!" Danny called back, not taking his eyes off her.

"Well, stop copping a feel and tell her to get her butt over to the shield console!"

Danny looked a bit sheepish, then cracked a grin.

“Sorry Vigdis. Gotta be safe. Whats happening out there?”

---

“You’re bleeding!” The teenage boy sitting opposite Fret called out, pointing to the blood on Mr Chappel’s hand.

“Oh my god! Is there a doctor on board?” His mum called through the open conference room doorway.

“Mister Varen. Can I hel-”

That was a gun. She complied with their instructions on partial autopilot, still working through the fact that she’d just been directly shot at for the first time in her life and was now being held at gunpoint by someone she knew. Having a coworker pointing a gun at you was a jarring experience in a completely different way. She wanted to ask what they were looking for, why they thought she was a threat or at least have some witty remark about the lead engineer’s ‘copping a feel’ comment, but her mind just kept going back to the shotgun threatening to do what the bad guys hadn’t managed while at the same time processing Varen’s getup. Contrary to the situation and to her own surprise, she started snickering at the display of tactical beachwear.

“Hostiles kitted out like local armed forces, comm jamming, ship full of whoever happened to be close by... ‘Shitstorm’ doesn’t even begin to cover it. Probably shaved off at least three years off your dear Captain.” She summed up what little she knew on her way to the shield console, “We’ve got about two and a half tons of extra live mass on board.” She guesstimated the weight of the thirty-or-so extra people that weren’t supposed to be on the ship. Plus 65 kg of live mass and tools, give or take, she wasn’t supposed to be there either. Why was she even there? Damn ship was done, she could’ve gone on vacation and left the routine stuff to someone who needed some overtime. She wanted to see Iceland ever since she learned her family was originally from there. She could’ve at least taken a sick day and stayed at the hotel. Of all the times she could’ve chosen to let the inner workaholic loose, she had to do it now.

“Friendly reminder, I supervised hull construction, I only know as much about the shields as was necessary for that purpose.” She cautioned the other engineers. Fortunately, at least the interface looked simple enough. Now, she knew the maximum rated output of both reactors - which was really the ‘long-term safe’ output and thus up to 105% of that could be sustained for brief periods, that was industry standard - but didn’t have access to power control, so had no clue how much power the rest of the ship was drawing except that it was taxing the power supply by at least 50% on account of the engines. Who knew what life support was using up with 30 extra people on board or if it could even keep up with that demand? Unlike the reactor guys, whom she knew well, the life support equipment team supervisor was an insufferable bint whose presence Vigdis could never stand for longer than the amount of time it took to use the coffee machine. No, Denise, I don’t care that you write poetry in your spare time, your garbage doesn’t even rhyme. Rear hemisphere would do for now, they were in a fjord anyway, only places to go were forward and up. “Chief, how much free power capacity do we have for the shield?” Unless the attackers brought anti-ship weaponry, she assumed the shield - presumably designed to handle debris and civilian-grade ship weapons - would hold up just fine. But what if the bad guys did have access to anti-ship missiles? They had army equipment after all… Somewhat back in her element and with no bullets flying around her, her brain had at least gotten some traction and was quickly working through the gears. Of course the boys were suspicious. If you wanted to pull a stunt like this, having someone on the inside would’ve helped and she’d been there for two years, knew every one in three bolts and welds on the ship and knew someone who knew the other ones.

‘Can you blame them, chief?’ That would’ve been a good one, damn it.

---

Pressing a hand to their torso, The Glen known as J'eon, gasps and turns his head to face Kareet.

"I... live," he managed, haltingly, bowing his head. "I am... indebted... to you... and your... friend, for coming... to my... rescue."

"I am... J'eon... of Mythadia," J'eon swallowed, tasting the blood. "May... I ask... your names?"

From the pain radiating from its upper and lower torsos, he must have broken some bones there. Nor did he feel ready to stand just yet.

As the Glen had been collecting himself to respond, Kareet had cautiously approached the creature’s corpse, setting her gaze upon any detail that could be important. Anything that stood out immediately. “Hmm, physiology unlike anything I’ve seen before. Doesn’t match any description of anything native to the Ascendancy…and a heat resistant hide? Never heard of that occurring naturally. Blood is…black? None of this sits right with me.” She muttered, mostly to herself.

Kareet was tempted to pull out her notebook right away to start sketching what she could see, but the Glen, J’eon, was finally able to answer. He was alive, but even the most oblivious observer could see that he was hurt. Altogether, it was inconvenient, as it meant she could not pretend she did not notice. She wanted to find out what she could about this creature while she was able, but it was plainly obvious that J’eon needed help sooner rather than later. Her impression of Shirik’s personality was that they would want them to help him. Still, she managed to avoid letting on to her reluctance to pry herself away from examining the corpse.

“Kareet of Arcaeda, Seeker of the Order of Sages.” She introduced herself as she stepped up to the Glen laying on the ground in front of her. “You should be treated as soon as possible. I believe Ertiseda has a Life mage. We should be able to get you there; it isn’t far.”

The Jotunheim Engineering department was mostly contained within one claustrophobic room. There were four main control areas including Life Support, which mostly looked out over a complicated sprawl of wires and pipes that connected the Tamerlane FTL drive in the middle with the three enormous engine pods in back. It was pretty loud, and stank of fuel.

“I can give you 7.25%, no more right now! Should be enough to activate two segments.” Zhao snapped at Vigdis while standing over the engine room’s central console. She wore a dirty navy boiler suit with Tamerlane’s horse archer logo on the back and curlers in her dark hair kept in place by netting. The other engineers had returned to their stations, where they hawkishly monitored engine and life support systems as the ship completed its final pre-flight checks.

---

“Let us in!” Darnell shouted, pounding on the shuttle bay's airlock door.

Looking frantically around, his eyes landed on the door’s control panel again. “How do I talk through this thing…” He muttered, pressing all the buttons at once.

Ezra kept his assault rifle levelled at a short young woman who he’d caught securing her mech suit to the floor. He knew all too well how dangerous those Javelin bots could be, even when demilitarised, so he didn't plan on letting its pilot out of his sight.

“How do we unlock this door, or talk to the crew?” Ezra asked Eva, his accent thick when speaking in English.