Dimension

Chapter 17

Hello amazing people!

I lied, btw. This is an important chapter, but the next one is too. A lot of things are happening! I hope you guys are still enjoying!

Here goes nothing!

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The Axion's bridge was shockingly different from any civilian craft. It was, after all, designed as a warship- as such, the bridge was comprised of a single, heavily-reinforced steel prism suspended on rails in 100,000 cubic feet of dead space. 

Jarik had failed to really notice previously. Now, eyeing the silhouette of a Caroki marine standing guard over the thin gangway, it was impossible not to note the bridge's construction philosophy. Obviously, it was designed to be as isolated as possible from the hull- this had the side effect of turning the bridge into a veritable fortress against any potential boarding action.

Unfortunately, that worked in both directions.  

"Why are they still here?" Jarik hissed.

"Cause we're still alive, dumbass," Carol snapped back. "Shut up." 

The marine toyed with his rifle, spinning it around in apparent boredom. 

"Where d'ya think Filion is?" 

"On their ship. Shut up." 

"What about-"

Carol whirled around, glaring daggers at her older comrade. 

"Shut. Up." 

Jarik mumbled something under his breath but ultimately failed to meet the pilot's gaze. 

Given an unobstructed view, it was clear that the marines were Caroki. Carol had encountered them before- several times. 

If there was anything the Union could do well, it was boarding.  

Caroki marines were infamously ruthless. It was genuinely surprising that they hadn't just gunned everyone down as soon as they got line-of-sight.

Which almost certainly meant this came from somewhere high on the Union's chain of command. Only someone with authority could get Union marines to act like human beings- average Caroki captains didn't get paid enough to take prisoners.

Prisoners. 

Carol suddenly felt an urge to vomit. 

There was a Prythian ambassador on this cruiser. She knew- she was part of the retrieval force sent to bring him home. 

"He's leaving."

Carol glanced at the bridge. The marine was indeed leaving his post- whether on orders or not was of little concern. 

"Stay in front of me."

"Why?"

"So I can shoot you if you try anything funny."

Jarik scoffed and stared down the pilot. "Still don't trust me, eh?"

Carol returned the stare with utter apathy. "No. Move." 

The detective sighed and raised his rifle- he had ditched the cannon a while back.

"Moving."

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Fires raged in the lower decks of Alexandra's hull. Damage control teams braved the scorching heat in hermetically-sealed suits, pumping millions of gallons of flame retardant into those compartments where the automatic systems had already failed.