Sorus then asks her helm if he needs a break, and helm demurs, saying he wouldn't wish his task on anybody else. Her targ crewmember confirms Milos' news that the Amnion warship Calm Horizons and a UMCP ship are exchanging fire. Scan tells Sorus they'll be able to see the battle when they emerge from the asteroid swarm in twenty minutes. Sorus announces through her intercom that her people need to be ready for combat.
The communications crewwoman tells her a message from Vector Shaheed is being broadcasted from Trumpet, a message that gives the formula for counteracting Amnion mutagens. Milos moves next to communications, ordering triangulation and declaring Trumpet must be stopped. He informs Sorus that Calm Horizons intends self-destruction through gap drive implosion to erase the transmission after Sorus' ship Soar destroys Trumpet. Sorus tells helm to clear the asteroid field quickly, and orders scan to find Trumpet. Scan indicates compliance, but cautions the instruments are damaged. Sorus tells the scan crewmember, "Do your best. This is vital. If we don't spot that ship, we won't have anything to hope for."
Sorus grips her impact pistol, hidden from Nick because her command chair's back is facing him."Forget it!" a raw voice barked behind her. "You've got nothing to hope for. You fuckers are all finished!"
Stung by surprise, Soar's people wheeled their stations. The Amnioni jerked his attention away from Sorus.
Panic and recognition and a kind of cold, absolute rage took hold of her. She turned her head to look past the edge of her g-seat.
Nick Succorso stood in the entrance to the bridge.
Of course.
Scan gasped, "Christ!" No one else made a sound.
Succorso wore a battered, nearly ruined EVA suit, but he'd discarded the helmet. Above his bare teeth, his eyes seemed to cry out like small shrieks of madness. The scars Sorus had given him were as black as gangrene; slashes of rot eating fatally into his face. Despite the barely palpable g of Soar's rotation, he appeared to wobble as if he could hardly stay on his feet.
In his hands he held the biggest laser rifle she'd ever seen. Its muzzle pointed straight at her head.
He may have been almost too weak to stand, but he held his rifle steady.
"You bitch," he rasped, "I'm going to burn your head off."
He looked like he wanted to scream, but his throat couldn't sustain the extremity of his vehemence. He broke into a fit of coughing. The black hole's g may have damaged his lungs.
Between spasms he forced out words.
"Then I'm going--
"to cut your fucking heart out--
"and eat it."
His aim still didn't waver.
He must have abandoned his attack on Soar's proton canon just in time to avoid being caught by the blast when Sorus jettisoned the gun. After that it was easy to guess what he'd done.
Impossible to understand--but easy to guess.
He'd reached the relative protection of the breached cargo bay before Soar met Trumpet; fought Free Lunch. Even then he should have died. If nothing else, the energies of all that matter cannon fire should have fried his suit's systems. So he must have cut the airlock wiring and forced his way inside before the battle. Must have found some wall or bulkhead to support him while Soar was in the terrible grip of the singularity.
's bragging that he's unbeatable prompts this delightful retort from Sorus: "Beating you is easy. It's putting up with you that's hard." She then distracts Nick by telling him the SCRT Milos holds is a weapon designed to et off airborne mutagens. As Nick turns toward Milos, Sorus fires her weapon at Nick's chest, and Succorso while dying blames Sorus for how he turned out, then falls while breathing something about Morn and God.Milos compliments Sorus for her thinking and action, but she dismisses that by speaking of work to accomplish. Scan reports the UMCP cruiser and Calm Horizons are exchanging fire. Milos asks for triangulation on Trumpet. Sorus orders Soar to move slowly to the edges of the asteroid swarm, but to ensure Calm Horizons can see them.
When Trumpet's position becomes known Milos orders her hit, but scan and targ crewmembers remind him Trumpet is hiding behind rock. Milos responds by resuming contact with Calm Horizons through the SCRT. Calm Horizons blasts at Trumpet with its proton gun, shattering the large asteroid Trumpet was using as cover. When scan reports the UMCP cruiser is throwing everything it's got at Calm Horizons, Sorus call Milos "a lump of Amnion shit" and shoots him in the face when he looks at her.
Then Sorus orders her crew to help defeat Calm Horizons, arguing they'll be seen as heroes by the UMCP instead of illegals. She tells the targ crewman to hit Calm Horizons with everything they've got.
This chapter was quite a surprise for me. Though it was already stated that Sorus hated Milos for his ordering her to destroy the Lab, I didn't see this reaction coming from her. Pretty dramatic!The man gulped at Sorus for a few seconds. His eyes were full of terror and death.
But then he gulped, "Yes, Captain," and his hands sprang at his board.
Yes.
Victory or death.
A moment later Sorus Chatelaine's only hope spread sizzling echoes through the hull as Soar opened fire.
