Fracture - Book One of the Glass Galaxy Trilogy

Chapter 16: Power Rules

April 25th

7:47 AM

The pirates raised their rifles and opened fire on us without hesitation, the cacophony of rifle-fire deafening in the confined hallways of the station. I dived back around the corner as fast as I could, but my reaction was slower than I had hoped and I felt a pair of bullets hammer into my already broken ribs, and I was left sprawled on the floor gasping for breath. Aria snapped her arm out and hauled me around and into the safety of the corner, her rail rifle already held in her other arm.

Abaddon and Reaper had dived to the opposite corner, and they drew their weapons and began returning fire where they could through the constant hail of rifle bullets. Aria looked down at me, and she didn't need to say a word for me to understand her: I will shoot the pirates if you tell me to.

I shook my head at her and looked over to Reaper and Abaddon, "What's happening!? We didn't even hurt him!"

"I'm guessing he really liked that axe!" Reaper yelled after glancing around the corner to take a shot.

Abaddon let out an uncomfortably maniacal laugh, and then pulled out one of the grenades he had bought on the Verity. He looked at me, a smug grin on his face, and then armed and tossed the grenade around the corner.

A second later the grenade came rolling back.

Abaddon froze, staring at it in disbelief as his grin vanished, but Reaper leapt into action with the reflexes of someone that had experienced the situation before. She flipped her shot-lancer around in her hands so she was holding it by the barrel and swung the butt of it at the grenade, hitting it with the calm precision of a professional athlete playing sports. It careened down the hallway and exploded a moment later, screams, shrapnel, and shock waves filling the air all around us.

I pushed myself to my feet as the blast subsided, the ringing in my ears drowning out everything around me, and I cautiously glanced around the corner. The walls of the hallway were speckled with shrapnel, large swathes of blood dyeing it scarlet in a harsh contrast to the black charring from the explosion. I stepped around the corner, my every step splashing in the thick layer of blood coating the floor, and I stood over the nearest pirate.

He was young, probably only in his late teens, and the broken remnants of a pair of glasses lay over his face. His body was contorted inhumanly, one of his arms missing entirely, and he looked up at me with wide eyes. His mouth twitched as his eyes focused on me, but no sound came out. I forced myself to look away and drew my gravity blade from its sheathe, staring at the intricate weapon as I tried to distance myself from the carnage around me.

Then I looked back to the young boy and flicked my blade at his head, trying to put him out of his misery as swiftly and cleanly as possible.

It was a terrible way to learn that the gravity blade didn't cut through flesh well.

His face twisted in what I figured was shock as the blade lodged itself part-way into his skull, forcing me to wrench it out -an action that set my stomach churning- and hack away several more times until the life finally faded from the boy's eyes. His head and its contents were crushed, splattered on the floor around him in the most disgusting image I had ever seen, and my blade was covered in gore.

I added my own vomit to the mess.

The second pirate was already dead, her face torn apart by shrapnel and blast force. I emptied out what little remained in my stomach. I would never even know what she looked like.

The third and fourth were staring at each other, their hands wrapped around each other in a blood-soaked embrace, and I realized that they were both missing their legs. "Please kill us," one of them coughed weakly while the other's grip weakened.