Lucius Serrano was completely livid.

Who wouldn’t be to see their best laid plans turn to complete shit in a matter of minutes? One moment he’d been in total command of the Racine and on the way to a slingshot around 51 Pegasi before moving onto Dangallu.

The next moment he was staring at a damage report that told him the ship only had a certain amount of time before it completely disintegrated. At this rate, they’d be lucky to reach Vesta let alone the star and certainly not Dangallu.

Shit was falling apart but Serrano wasn’t a man that was going to let one tiny failure define him. He would simply find another way to accomplish his goals.

But first, that meant finding a way off the Racine before it was too late.

The problem with that was he was down to twelve men. He suspected that Lido and the others were now somewhere in deep space after being so close to the breach but he had to make do with what he had left in manpower.

The primary goal was getting his men to the escape pods, which were now leaving the Racine in droves as other colonists had the same idea.

And if he was going to make his escape, he wanted to take his trove of supplies and women with him. They were the only things that he had left that gave him power and he was determined to hold onto them for as long as possible.

For that reason, Serrano ordered the remaining men to begin transferring the supplies to the closest cylinder so they could make their escape before the Racine disintegrated.

They would split up into two groups of six, each of them occupying an escape pod that was large enough to hold fifteen people each, along with enough supplies to use as a bargaining chip once they reached Vesta. That meant that six of his men would get in with nine of the companions, all of whom were being coerced by the threat of death by pulse pistol to keep them moving forward.

About an hour into the movement, the power in the ship started to falter. The lights and oxygenation systems faltered briefly, and even the cylinders stopped spinning for a moment, causing a partial loss of gravity in the process. The power came back on but only enough to get one pod fully loaded and ready to depart.

“Get going right now!” barked Serrano to the six men inside the first pod, alongside half the women. “We’ll meet up on Vesta and determine our next moves! Prepare for my arrival if you get there first!”

The men nodded and closed the pod door, sealing and pressurizing the pod for departure. It blasted off minutes later, leaving Serrano with the other half of his men and an equal number of women.

At that moment, an explosion in the ship caused all of them to fall to the floor. The Racine rocked like she never had before, and Serrano suspected that the ship was going to go a lot sooner than expected.

“What the hell was that?” he asked, looking around as he pushed to his feet.

“The ship’s oxygenation machines just went offline,” said Ross, still getting updates on the ship from his P-com. “We’re going to run out of oxygen soon so we need to get moving.”

“As long as we don’t lose power to the cylinders,” growled Serrano. “If we lose our gravity, we’re going to be fucked.”

Sure enough, that very thing happened moments later. Since they were on the cylinder closest to the breach, part of the ship’s hull soon broke off, falling back into part of the cylinder and destroying a section of it. This caused the cylinder to stop spinning, and the main power went out completely. Only a tiny amount of backup power allowed it to keep a semblance of gravity.

“Goddamnit, we need to get to the other cylinder right now!” roared Serrano as all of them began to hobble due to the lack of gravity. He then turned to look at Ross. “That other cylinder is where most of the colonists fled after we took over. Are there any escape pods left over there?”

Ross scanned the ship. “Most of them are gone but there’s still a cluster of pods near section two. If we move quickly, we’ll still be able to make it.”

“Everyone grab a box of supplies now!” said Serrano, gesturing to the women as well. “You bitches too! Grab whatever you can carry and let’s move. We have to get to that other cylinder!”

*****

Alex was still on the Racine when he felt the explosion of the oxygenation machines on the inner part of the ship. Garrison was the one that informed him that they were now working with borrowed time, but that didn’t stop them from warning the majority of the colonists about what was about to happen so they could get to an escape pod.

To that end, most of them managed to escape but Alex was left with the problem about what to do with Serrano and the captured women, one of whom was his companion, Jenna.

The answer to that came quite unexpectedly.

Garrison was still monitoring his P-com, which he’d set up to have the ship’s data feeds (or what remained of them) pushed directly to him with the help of enhanced security access courtesy of one of the ship’s crew. This gave him access to not only the remaining systems but the monitoring of the still active data feeds.

And that’s how Garrison noticed that a certain group was heading in their direction.

“I have eyes on Serrano, Alex,” said Garrison, pulling up a feed with the help of his P-com. “He’s heading our direction, and I have to imagine it’s due to the power failure on the other cylinder. He’s got five other men with him and nine other women.”

“Any identity on those women?” asked Alex. “Any of the ones we’re looking for?”

Garrison enhanced the image field, showing a close-up of their faces. Indeed, Alex saw Jenna and Nikki being dragged along with the men, although he was somewhat happy to see that she was still in one piece and didn’t seem too distressed.

“There’s Adela too!” said Sam with some excitement. “They’re on our way to our cylinder?”

Garrison nodded. “They’ve probably figured out this is the only section on this cylinder that still has escape pods left. They’re going to try to take them before anyone else can find them.”

“Or commandeer them even if someone else finds them,” said Alex, thinking through the situation for several moments. “We’re going to set another trap for them. And if all goes well, we might just be able to get away with the companions before this thing goes sour. I want the majority of us to set up over here, including Sam, Garrison, and myself. Rick, I need you to circle around to the other side of the corridor and wait for my signal. Use the ductwork to keep yourself hidden.”

Everyone moved into place as soon as Alex gave the word and they awaited Serrano’s arrival. As per usual, they heard them long before they saw them, with Serrano barking orders to the men under his command. For a brief moment, Alex spared a look at Jenna, relieved to see that she didn’t appear to be hurt. Once he saw her though, he had to duck behind some open ductwork to prevent being seen.

“There’s three pods here,” yelled Serrano once they settled a short distance away from the still hidden Alex. “Get all the bitches in one of them and let’s prepare to take off. Who knows how much longer we have before we lose power to this cylinder too.”

The girls were ushered into the escape pod one at a time while the five other remaining men carried what was left of the supplies. They were stretched out in a long procession, which was exactly what Alex needed to see in order to spring his trap.

“Rick, go ahead and kick it off,” whispered Alex into his P-com.

A moment later, they all heard the sounds of Rick ambushing the sixth man in the line, causing him to drop the crate of supplies with a loud boom. Rick must have dispatched him in a hurry because they only heard a short cry for help before the man was silenced for good.

“What the fuck was that?” asked Ross, pointing his pistol in the direction of the corridor.

“It’s fucking Hawthorne,” growled Serrano. “I’m sure of it. Let’s go, we might be able to kill him yet and salvage part of this shit show.” Serrano gestured to the fifth man that had just arrived. “You keep loading the escape pod while we deal with the pest.”

Serrano, Ross, and the two other men soon ran off in the direction of Rick. Alex hoped that Rick was able to get back around, crawling through the ductwork of the ship without being noticed but seeing that Serrano was now distracted, he put into motion his plan.

Springing from his hiding spot, he rushed to get to the fifth man, who was currently putting a box into the escape pod with the nine women. Alex grabbed his knife, stalking the man until he was right behind him before covering his mouth and slitting his throat, causing a rush of blood to shoot out from his neck.

The man died instantly, but not before the incident caused several of the women to yelp at the sudden display of bloody violence.

They watched Alex awkwardly for a moment before he realized he should say something to them to calm their nerves.

“Eh, hello there, ladies,” said Alex, nodding his head.

“Alex!”

Jenna came rushing through the rest of the women, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him close. Alex had to admit that it felt damn good to have her in his arms, even if it was the first time it ever happened.

She pulled back to look at him. “We thought you were dead. They told us . . . crazy things.”

Alex smiled at her. “It’s going to take a lot more than that to kill me. But we have a limited window of opportunity here. We have to get this pod ready to leave, without the rest of Serrano’s men.”

“Do you have more men with you?” asked Nikki, who was just behind Jenna.

“I sure do,” said Alex, gesturing outside the pod. At that moment, Sam, Garrison, and even Rick entered right behind him.

“Sam!”

“Adela! Thank god you’re all right!”

Sam and Adela’s reunion was touching for just about everyone. It was obvious by the way they held each other that something had developed between them in the short amount of time they’d known each other. Even Rick and Nikki were kissing tenderly, thankful for the unexpected reunion.

Alex felt a pang of jealousy as he watched the couples reunite. His eyes kept drifting to Jenna in the process, watching the beautiful blonde for her reaction. To his surprise, Jenna turned her brilliant green eyes in his direction, almost as if she was thinking the same thing.

They’d come a long way in the short time they’d known each other, even if it was only developing a sense of trust. But could it ever turn into something more someday?

Would they even live to get to that day?

“Okay, we have to take off quickly,” said Alex, cutting short the reunions. “Before Serrano gets—”

“Hawthorne!!”

The voice was unmistakably Serrano’s and Alex backed out of the pod to find Serrano, Ross, and two other men charging back at them. Alex turned to look at Rick.

“Get going,” he urged. “I can handle them. Leave with the women.”

“Are you sure?” asked Rick. “It’s four against one, Alex. I don’t want to leave you here alone.”

Alex pulled out his pulse pistol. “The ship is already destroyed so no harm in firing now. Get going while you still can. If we lose power to this cylinder, you won’t get the boost you need to make it to Vesta!”

Alex looked around the corner where Serrano and his men were charging. Raising his pistol, he shot once at the lead man, taking him down with a blast to the face, causing his head to explode like a pumpkin in the process.

“Go now!” yelled Alex to Rick. “There’s still other pods I can take! Get going!”

Rick followed the order with much reluctance, starting the launch sequence for the escape pod. Meanwhile, Alex stepped clear of the doors and rolled across the corridor, dodging fire in the process.

“I should have known it was you!” roared Serrano. “You couldn’t have just joined me! You had to stand against me, didn’t you? If not for you, I’d be on my way to Dangallu right now!”

Alex popped his head up briefly but was almost shot in the process by Ross. He pivoted to the right, but then he heard the worst sound in the world.

“Alex! Wait!”

He looked around the ductwork he was hiding behind only to see Jenna forcing her way off the escape pod and reentering the cylinder.

“Jenna! Get back in the pod!” he yelled.

“I’m not going anywhere without you,” she cried, running to his position and forcing a laugh from Serrano.

“Oh, this is too good,” he said while laughing. “Now I get to kill you both at the same time. I’m going to enjoy this.”