Mindee Arnett - Avalon

“What’s wrong with her?” Jeth said.

“I think she’s just knocked out,” Sierra said, standing up. “The phase must’ve taken a lot out of her. We should get her to—”

BOOM!

Jeth and Sierra fell into one another as the entire ship rocked sideways. The unmistakable sound of gunfire echoed a moment later.

“We must be caught in the ITA’s firefight with the Northern Dancer ,” Lizzie shouted.

“Why the hell haven’t we jumped yet?” said Shady.

“Because Celeste doesn’t know we’re on the ship. How could she?” Jeth glanced down at Cora then up at Sierra, torn by what to do.

“I’ll take care of her,” Sierra said, taking the decision away from him. “Go. Get us out of here.”

Jeth turned and headed for the ladder. The others raced ahead of him. He moved slower than usual, each footfall sending a stab of pain through his injured hand. He cradled it to his chest, covering it with his other hand.

He arrived on the bridge in time to hear Lizzie finish an explanation of how they’d gotten there. Milton looked as if he was on the verge of a heart attack. His bloodshot eyes flashed to Jeth, narrowing in on his injury at once.

“What happened?” Milton said, striding over to him.

“Not now,” Jeth said. “We need to get out of here.” The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been. He wasn’t even sure the pain was entirely real. It seemed to be coming from the parts of his fingers that were no longer there.

Brushing Milton off, Jeth headed for the cockpit. Celeste sat in the pilot’s chair, her hands gripping the control column. The view beyond the window showed a mass of ships engaged in combat, some the ITA’s, some Hammer’s. Dax’s now, Jeth supposed. Celeste was flying Avalon through them, blasting anything they passed with the pilot guns. He moved to take the copilot guns, then froze as he realized he couldn’t. Not with four missing fingers.

Ignoring the wave of despair at finding himself so useless, Jeth turned to Vince. “Take the copilot guns.” Then he swept his gaze over the others. “Lizzie you take the crow guns. Flynn take port; Milton, starboard. Shady, you head down to the chase guns. We’ve got to get clear of this so we can make a jump.”

Everyone obeyed his commands at once. Shady and Flynn took off at a run, while Vince sat down in the copilot’s chair and immediately started firing at an incoming ITA Scout. Lizzie raced to the far wall and yanked the lever to lower the ladder to the crow guns.

Jeth sat down at the nav station. It wasn’t where he wanted to be, but somebody had to prep the metadrive for the jump. He entered a command to calculate the farthest possible jump from their position. The nav computer complied in seconds, but the screen flashed red at him, indicating there were too many ships nearby for the jump to proceed. Jeth fixed his gaze out the window and waited.

Two ITA cruisers were bearing down on them from the left and right, gunfire lighting up the space in front of them. Celeste yanked the controls upward, sending Avalon into a rollback. The force of it thrust Jeth back in his chair. He gripped the side of it with one hand, braced for pain and disaster.

Midway through, Celeste engaged the starboard thrusters. The engines roared from the strain as the ship looped sideways in a maneuver only a ship like Avalon could do. For a moment, she was a living, breathing thing, a bird of prey in flight. As the g-force eased, he glanced at the nav station radar screen and watched the two cruisers collide into one another. They disappeared from view a moment later.

All the tension inside Jeth began to drain out of him. He patted the nav station dashboard with his good hand. There was no reason to worry, not with Avalon . His faith in her had always been certain. She wouldn’t fail him now.

Celeste leveled out the ship, thrusting the control column forward and engaging all engines. Avalon charged forward, gaining speed. Jeth glanced at the radar. Four ITA ships chased after them, but in moments Avalon had pulled away.

Jeth now fixed his gaze on the metadrive computer. A second later the red light stopped flashing. “We’re clear,” he said to Celeste, triumph ringing in his voice.

She leaned forward and engaged the metadrive. Bright light enveloped Avalon, and then they were gone.

THEY RETURNED TO THE BELGRAVE, CROSSING THE BORDER into it a few hours later.

“It’s the best place to hide for now,” Jeth said, when the others questioned his decision. He didn’t blame them for being afraid. But he knew as long as they didn’t venture too far in, they should be safe. They needed time to regroup and figure out what to do next.

As soon as Jeth had given the order, Milton insisted he head down to sick bay for an examination. Jeth didn’t argue. He’d known it was coming. He sat down on the exam table and watched as Milton prepped a jet injector with medicine.

“What’s that?” he said as Milton approached him with it moments later.

“Something for the pain.”

Jeth shook his head. “I’m not in pain, at least not much.” A dull throb, like a toothache had settled over his hand, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Fine, it’s something to help you sleep.”

“I don’t want to sleep.”

“I know, Jeth. I know. But you should.” Milton pressed the jet injector against his shoulder and pulled the trigger.

Jeth didn’t protest, knowing deep down that Milton was right. The medicine worked quickly, taking him under in moments.

He woke some time later, alone. The lights in the sick bay brightened automatically as he sat up. Jeth blinked the spots out of his vision, then glanced down at his right hand. Milton had wrapped the entire thing in a thick bandage, obscuring the injury from view. The hand hurt less now, the pressure from the gauze easing the ache.

Jeth glimpsed movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Milton coming inside.

“Welcome back,” Milton said. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.”

Milton smiled, a knowing glint in his eye. He motioned at Jeth’s bandaged hand. “It’s not the end of the world. I’ll be able to fit you with some kind of prosthesis or maybe even a cybernetic unit as soon as we can make the purchase. You won’t even know the new fingers aren’t real afterward, I promise.”

“With what money?” Jeth said, bitterness making his voice uncertain. “Hammer took everything.”

“Not everything,” Milton said, still smiling. “All my money is in cash. And trust me, there’s plenty of it to help us. I’ve got it stashed all over this ship, matter of fact.” Milton turned to a nearby counter and stooped, opening the cabin where he kept the bedpans and other medical items nobody ever wanted to touch. He pulled out a box and opened the lid, revealing several stacks of unis carefully bound in white tape.

Jeth gaped at the money, then looked up at his uncle, mouth still open.

“You didn’t think I spent all of my retirement and what Hammer was paying me on booze, did you?”

Sensing the question was rhetorical, Jeth didn’t answer. “So, a cybernetic hand. I guess that’s better than nothing.”

“A lot better.”

Jeth nodded, his spirits rising. He desperately wanted to be whole. Only—he raised his left hand to the back of his skull and touched the implant architecture—he doubted he could ever be truly whole again.

“We’ll do something about that, too,” Milton said, picking up a vitals scanner from a nearby counter. “I still have a few old contacts who might know something about how to remove it safely.” Milton turned on the scanner and pressed the end of it against Jeth’s forehead.