{"data":{"id":14110,"title":"Orbital Supermax: Episode Nine","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/serialized-fiction\/14110-Orbital-Supermax-Episode-Nine","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/14110","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/14110","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"Orbital Supermax","images":[{"id":1947,"name":"OSM_FI2v4a.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/hqo978t1u2njxr\/source\/OSM_FI2v4a.jpg","alt":"","size":1895039,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-07-03T22:49:29+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1947","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/1947\/similar"}],"images_count":1,"translations":{"en_EN":"The Visitor Center of a Super Max prison is often the only place in the whole complex where prisoners can set aside the violent reputations they\u2019ve cultivated for themselves. On a remote facility like OSP-4, families must spend thousands of credits and many days of travel to meet with their imprisoned loved ones. Sometimes, in special cases, the prison has been known to cover part of the costs. There is plenty of research that indicates that a prisoner who maintains social contact with loved ones is more docile and easier to manage. It\u2019s an investment that tends to pay off in the long run.\n\nThe Visitor\u2019s Center was now home to the Nova Dogs, a group of pirates lead by Martin Kilkenny, a cannibal with a god complex. I had intended to give it a wide berth, but we needed fuel to make our escape from OSP-4, and the only available supply we knew about was on the other side of it.\n\nWe were close enough that we\u2019d turned off our comms. Even a scrambled signal gave off a telltale hiss of static. Instead, we relied on stage whispers as we crawled through a narrow circuitry duct, which was itself no easy task in our space suits. In prior times, I\u2019d made the trip several times with a bag full of contraband medical supplies tied to my leg, so I went first. The easiest way to move was to walk on one\u2019s elbows and I was making good progress. The others were struggling.\n\n\u201cThis would be a lot easier without the space suits,\u201d grumbled a voice behind me. Relic from the tone. The other ex-prisoner, Pike, had a deeper voice and spoke infrequently.\n\u201cIt\u2019ll make too much noise if you drag it behind you and we\u2019ll need it at the other end. Besides, there\u2019s enough juice running through these wires to fry you where you stand. The suit\u2019s insulation should offer some protection against a short.\u201d I spotted movement through an access grate up ahead. \u201cNow shut up, before the Nova Dogs hear us.\u201d\n\nAlthough we\u2019d seen the damage caused by Kilkenny\u2019s men and had had to travel through parts of the station that were exposed to space, we\u2019d had few encounters with the pirates themselves. I got a look at their current forces through that small access grate.\n\nThere were dozens of them in the small space nearly ten meters beneath us. They wore spacesuits that had come from a dozen different armed forces and even time periods. Some had even been cobbled together from suits that had once belonged to different races. Many were lazily painted with thick, tar-like black paint, so that the original color showed through underneath. Few of them wore helmets, preferring to show off elaborate haircuts, mostly variations on a Mohawk except with long, braided sideburns, and neck and face tattoos.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m stuck.\u201d\n\nThe voice belonged to Pike, our master of words. \u201cDon\u2019t panic,\u201d someone said in a loud hiss.\n\n\u201cI ain\u2019t panicking, I\u2019m just stuck.\u201d\n\nI looked back at Wes Morgan. His eyebrows raised, and then he looked back down the duct.\n\nI heard a couple of brisk thumps.\n\n\u201cYou kick me one more time and I\u2019ll shoot you in the ass.\u201d Pike was slow to anger, but I could hear the heat coming into his voice. His volume was also rising and my gaze darted to the access grate apprehensively. The Nova Dogs were a loud bunch, but one of them, a man with a full beard and wild black hair had cocked his head and turned towards us.\n\n\u201cShut up,\u201d I hissed.\n\n\u201cShould we leave him behind?\u201d asked Relic.\n\n\u201cYou ain\u2019t leaving me behind.\u201d Pike\u2019s statement was final, the threat left unspoken.\nIt didn\u2019t sound like either of them lowered their voices at all. In fact, the volume was climbing. The bearded pirate had risen and begun to walk over towards us, a rifle clutched loosely in one hand.\n\n\u201cLast warning, guys. Keep it down.\u201d The confines were tight, but I did my best to move to the other side of the duct, out of view. He was far enough beneath us that the angle would do some of the work of hiding me, but I didn\u2019t want him to spot movement.\n\n\u201cYou gotta get me unstuck. I ain\u2019t dying here.\u201d I heard the sound of creasing aluminum and banging as Pike attempted to free himself.\n\nSomeone cursed and then a shout of alarm rang out from the pirate beneath me. Shots cut the air and sparks blew out of the wall of the duct closest to the Visitor Center. Holes appeared in a line, passing from the bottom corner to the roof just above my head.\n\nBehind me, Pike had begun to panic and clawed at Relic, who was desperately trying to kick him away. Morgan, the one with the most experience out of any of us, had hunkered down on the side of the air duct closest to me. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get out of here!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow?\u201d I yelled back. \u201cOn our hands and knees? We\u2019d be shot full of holes before we got more than a couple of meters.\u201d\n\n\u201cThink of something!\u201d Morgan unshouldered his rifle and turned it so that it was pointed diagonally downward. The weapon barely fit that way in the duct. He squeezed the trigger and then let the recoil draw it to the side while it was still spitting bullets. I heard screams from below and then return fire.\n\nWe were sitting ducks.\n\nI needed to get us out of there, and fast. Once before, when I\u2019d been on the verge of getting caught with smuggled goods, I\u2019d evacuated the tunnel, and I\u2019d done it by setting off the fire alarm.\n\nThere were bundles of wires running along the ceiling above us. I pulled a small knife out of the spacesuit\u2019s utility belt and stripped two of the wires, grateful that the suit was insulated. I touched them together and was rewarded with nothing more than sparks. Quickly, I stripped another wire and connected them. This time, lights began to flash and a siren sounded somewhere nearby.\n\nThe easiest way to put out a fire on a spaceship is to suffocate it in the cold vacuum of space. Metal plates descended over the grates, sealing them as tight as possible, and at the far end of the tunnel a tiny pinprick of light appeared as the exterior door was opened. Instantly the air howled around us and I felt myself carried along with it, my spacesuit scraping against metal as I was buffeted against the walls and ceiling.\n\nI was in space.\n\nA starscape spun around me and then the station came back into view. I could hear myself hyperventilating as I realized that I was falling towards a planet thousands of kilometers away. A metal antenna appeared in my peripheral vision and I caught it with my hand. My grip was so tight that it nearly yanked my arm out of its socket.\n\nA flash of blue appeared and I caught out at it blindly with my other hand. By some miracle I caught Morgan\u2019s hand and held on tight, swinging him to the antenna next to me. Morgan, more at home in space than I was, used the momentum to land feet first, letting his magnetic boots clamp onto it. Another body cartwheeled toward us and I could hear screaming over the radio. Morgan reached out, but his hand hit Relic\u2019s hip and spun him away from us. Without missing a beat, he shoved the end of his rifle into my hand, kicked off my knee and spun around himself. His feet hit the spacesuit in the chest and the magnetic boots clamped down on the metal-plastic synthetic. I felt a tremendous force on the rifle and for a moment it stretched between us like an umbilical cord. Then it slackened and I was able to pull them both in.\n\nThe next spacesuit was followed by a cloud of red and silver crystals, and when the chest spun into view I could see several large holes that were no longer leaking air. It was too late for Pike.\n\n\u201cNylund,\u201d said Morgan\u2019s voice over the radio, \u201cwe have a problem.\u201d\n\nRelic had been shot. The bullet had missed him, but it had carved a deep furrow in his suit that spilled powdered air into the Void. I didn\u2019t have a patch and there wasn\u2019t time to use one anyways. Relic\u2019s eyes were wide and panicked as he tried desperately to scoop the escaping air crystals back into the suit to no avail. Its temperature indicator plunged rapidly and the veins in his cheeks reddened in a criss-cross pattern.\n\nI wanted to say something to calm him, but I realized that the only thing I knew about him was that he\u2019d nearly killed us with a patch gun in our first encounter. I could think of nothing better than to squeeze his hand tightly and whisper that it was okay. Over and over. It was okay.\n\nHis cheeks and nose were black and his lungs heaved for air that wasn\u2019t there. His eyes found mine and locked on for what felt like a long time. I didn\u2019t know exactly when the life left them. I\u2019m not sure you ever do.\n\nMorgan and I hid in the lee of the thruster\u2019s fuel tank as pirate vessels flew in close to the hull to search for survivors. Two quick bursts of light signaled that they\u2019d located the bodies of Relic and Pike. It was a cremation of the most violent kind.\n\nWe waited for several hours before we signaled Konicek to bring the fighters and transport. Once they left the safety of Cargo Hold C, we would only have a few minutes to refuel them before they were picked up by pirate instruments.\n\nAfter that, it was every man for himself.\n\nto be continued \u2026","de_DE":"Das Besucherzentrum eines Super-Max-Gef\u00e4ngnisses ist oft der einzige Ort im ganzen Komplex, an dem Gefangene den gewaltt\u00e4tigen Ruf, den sie f\u00fcr sich selbst kultiviert haben, beiseite lassen k\u00f6nnen. In einer entlegenen Einrichtung wie OSP-4 m\u00fcssen Familien Tausende von Credits und viele Reisetage aufwenden, um sich mit ihren inhaftierten Angeh\u00f6rigen zu treffen. Manchmal, in besonderen F\u00e4llen, ist bekannt, dass das Gef\u00e4ngnis einen Teil der Kosten deckt. Es gibt viele Untersuchungen, die darauf hindeuten, dass ein Gefangener, der soziale Kontakte zu seinen Angeh\u00f6rigen unterh\u00e4lt, f\u00fcgsamer und einfacher zu handhaben ist. Es ist eine Investition, die sich auf lange Sicht auszahlt.\n\nIm Besucherzentrum befanden sich nun die Nova Dogs, eine Gruppe von Piraten unter der Leitung von Martin Kilkenny, einem Kannibalen mit einem Gottkomplex. Ich wollte es weit bringen, aber wir brauchten Treibstoff, um aus dem OSP-4 zu entkommen, und die einzige verf\u00fcgbare Versorgung, von der wir wussten, lag auf der anderen Seite.\n\nWir waren nah genug dran, dass wir unsere Kommunikation abgeschaltet hatten. Sogar ein verschl\u00fcsseltes Signal gab ein verr\u00e4terisches Rauschen von Statik von sich. Stattdessen setzten wir auf B\u00fchnengefl\u00fcster, als wir durch einen engen Schaltkreiskanal krochen, was selbst in unseren Raumanz\u00fcgen keine leichte Aufgabe war. In fr\u00fcheren Zeiten hatte ich die Reise mehrmals mit einer Tasche voller Schmuggelware gemacht, die an mein Bein gebunden war, also ging ich zuerst. Der einfachste Weg, sich zu bewegen, war, auf den Ellbogen zu gehen, und ich machte gute Fortschritte. Die anderen k\u00e4mpften.\n\n\"Das w\u00e4re viel einfacher ohne die Raumanz\u00fcge\", meckerte eine Stimme hinter mir. Relikt aus dem Ton. Der andere Ex-H\u00e4ftling, Pike, hatte eine tiefere Stimme und sprach selten.\n\"Es wird zu viel L\u00e4rm machen, wenn du es hinter dir l\u00e4sst und wir es am anderen Ende brauchen. Au\u00dferdem l\u00e4uft genug Saft durch diese Dr\u00e4hte, um dich dort zu braten, wo du stehst. Die Isolierung des Anzugs sollte einen gewissen Schutz gegen einen Kurzschluss bieten.\" Ich sah eine Bewegung durch ein Zugangsgitter vor mir. \"Jetzt halt die Klappe, bevor die Nova Dogs uns h\u00f6ren.\"\n\nObwohl wir den Schaden durch Kilkenny's M\u00e4nner gesehen hatten und durch Teile der Station reisen mussten, die dem Weltraum ausgesetzt waren, hatten wir nur wenige Begegnungen mit den Piraten selbst. Ich habe einen Blick auf ihre aktuellen Kr\u00e4fte durch dieses kleine Zugangsgitter geworfen.\n\nEs gab Dutzende von ihnen auf engstem Raum, fast zehn Meter unter uns. Sie trugen Raumanz\u00fcge, die von einem Dutzend verschiedener Streitkr\u00e4fte stammten, und sogar Zeitr\u00e4ume. Einige waren sogar aus Anz\u00fcgen zusammengeschustert worden, die einst zu verschiedenen Rassen geh\u00f6rten. Viele wurden faul mit dicker, teerartiger schwarzer Farbe bemalt, so dass die urspr\u00fcngliche Farbe darunter durchscheinen konnte. Nur wenige von ihnen trugen Helme und zogen es vor, kunstvolle Haarschnitte zu zeigen, meist Variationen eines Mohikaners, au\u00dfer mit langen, geflochtenen Koteletten und Tattoos von Hals und Gesicht.\n\n\"Ich stecke fest.\"\n\nDie Stimme geh\u00f6rte Pike, unserem Meister der Worte. \"Keine Panik\", sagte jemand in einem lauten Zischen.\n\n\"Ich bin nicht in Panik geraten, ich stecke nur fest.\"\n\nIch blickte zur\u00fcck zu Wes Morgan. Seine Augenbrauen hoben sich, und dann blickte er wieder den Gang hinunter.\n\nIch h\u00f6rte ein paar lebhafte Schl\u00e4ge.\n\n\"Du trittst mich noch einmal und ich schie\u00dfe dir in den Arsch.\" Pike war langsam w\u00fctend, aber ich konnte die Hitze h\u00f6ren, die in seine Stimme kam. Sein Volumen stieg ebenfalls an und mein Blick fiel beunruhigend auf den Zugangsrost. Die Nova Dogs waren ein lauter Haufen, aber einer von ihnen, ein Mann mit einem vollen Bart und wilden schwarzen Haaren, hatte seinen Kopf aufgerichtet und sich uns zugewandt.\n\n\"Halt die Klappe\", zischte ich.\n\n\"Sollen wir ihn zur\u00fccklassen?\" fragte Relic.\n\n\"Du l\u00e4sst mich nicht zur\u00fcck.\" Pikes Aussage war endg\u00fcltig, die Drohung blieb unausgesprochen.\nEs klang nicht so, als ob einer von ihnen seine Stimmen \u00fcberhaupt senkte. Tats\u00e4chlich stieg das Volumen an. Der b\u00e4rtige Pirat war auferstanden und begann, auf uns zuzugehen, ein Gewehr, das lose in einer Hand gehalten wurde.\n\n\"Letzte Warnung, Leute. Nicht so laut.\" Die Grenzen waren eng, aber ich tat mein Bestes, um auf die andere Seite des Kanals zu gelangen, au\u00dfer Sichtweite. Er war weit genug unter uns, dass der Winkel einen Teil der Arbeit leisten w\u00fcrde, mich zu verstecken, aber ich wollte nicht, dass er Bewegungen erkennt.\n\n\"Du musst mich loslassen. Ich werde hier nicht sterben.\" Ich h\u00f6rte den Klang, wie er Aluminium knitterte und klopfte, als Pike versuchte, sich zu befreien.\n\nJemand verfluchte und dann ert\u00f6nte ein Alarmsignal vom Piraten unter mir. Sch\u00fcsse schneiden die Luft ab und Funken sprangen aus der Wand des Kanals, der dem Besucherzentrum am n\u00e4chsten liegt. L\u00f6cher erschienen in einer Linie, die von der unteren Ecke bis zum Dach direkt \u00fcber meinem Kopf f\u00fchrte.\n\nHinter mir hatte Pike angefangen, in Panik zu geraten und kratzte sich an Relic, der verzweifelt versuchte, ihn wegzutreten. Morgan, derjenige mit der gr\u00f6\u00dften Erfahrung von uns allen, hatte sich auf der Seite des Luftkanals, der mir am n\u00e4chsten war, niedergeschlagen. \"Wir m\u00fcssen hier raus!\"\n\n\" Wie?\" schrie ich zur\u00fcck. \" Auf H\u00e4nden und Knien? Man w\u00fcrde uns mit L\u00f6chern durchl\u00f6chern, bevor wir mehr als ein paar Meter haben.\"\n\n\"Denke an etwas!\" Morgan entfernte sein Gewehr und drehte es so, dass es diagonal nach unten gerichtet war. Die Waffe passt kaum so weit in den Kanal. Er dr\u00fcckte den Abzug und lie\u00df dann den R\u00fccksto\u00df ihn zur Seite ziehen, w\u00e4hrend er noch Kugeln spuckte. Ich h\u00f6rte Schreie von unten und erwiderte dann das Feuer.\n\nWir waren leichte Beute.\n\nIch musste uns da rausholen, und zwar schnell. Einmal zuvor, als ich kurz davor war, mit geschmuggelten Waren erwischt zu werden, hatte ich den Tunnel verlassen, und ich hatte es getan, indem ich den Feueralarm ausgel\u00f6st hatte.\n\nEs gab Kabelb\u00fcndel, die entlang der Decke \u00fcber uns verliefen. Ich zog ein kleines Messer aus dem Gebrauchsg\u00fcrtel des Raumanzugs und zog zwei der Dr\u00e4hte ab, dankbar, dass der Anzug isoliert war. Ich ber\u00fchrte sie zusammen und wurde mit nichts anderem als Funken belohnt. Schnell habe ich einen weiteren Draht abisoliert und angeschlossen. Diesmal begannen die Lichter zu blinken und irgendwo in der N\u00e4he ert\u00f6nte eine Sirene.\n\nDer einfachste Weg, ein Feuer auf einem Raumschiff zu l\u00f6schen, ist, es im kalten Vakuum des Weltraums zu ersticken. Metallplatten stiegen \u00fcber die Gitter und dichteten sie so dicht wie m\u00f6glich ab, und am anderen Ende des Tunnels erschien beim \u00d6ffnen der Au\u00dfent\u00fcr ein kleiner Lichtstich. Sofort heulte die Luft um uns herum und ich f\u00fchlte mich mitgerissen, mein Raumanzug kratzt gegen Metall, als ich gegen die W\u00e4nde und die Decke geschlagen wurde.\n\nIch war im Weltraum.\n\nEine Sternenlandschaft drehte sich um mich herum und dann kam die Station wieder in Sichtweite. Ich konnte mich hyperventilieren h\u00f6ren, als ich erkannte, dass ich auf einen Planeten fiel, der Tausende von Kilometern entfernt war. Eine Metallantenne erschien in meinem peripheren Blickfeld und ich fing sie mit der Hand ein. Mein Griff war so fest, dass er fast meinen Arm aus der Fassung zog.\n\nEin blauer Blitz erschien und ich erwischte ihn blind mit meiner anderen Hand. Durch ein Wunder fing ich Morgans Hand und hielt mich fest und schwang ihn zur Antenne neben mir. Morgan, mehr zu Hause im Weltraum als ich es war, nutzte den Schwung, um zuerst mit den F\u00fc\u00dfen zu landen und lie\u00df seine Magnetstiefel daran klemmen. Ein anderer K\u00f6rper fuhr auf uns zu und ich konnte das Schreien \u00fcber das Radio h\u00f6ren. Morgan streckte die Hand aus, aber seine Hand traf Relic's H\u00fcfte und drehte ihn von uns weg. Ohne einen Schlag zu verpassen, schob er mir das Ende seines Gewehrs in die Hand, trat mir vom Knie und drehte sich um sich selbst. Seine F\u00fc\u00dfe schlugen auf den Raumanzug in der Brust und die magnetischen Stiefel klemmten sich auf den Metall-Kunststoff. Ich sp\u00fcrte eine enorme Kraft auf das Gewehr und f\u00fcr einen Moment streckte es sich zwischen uns wie eine Nabelschnur. Dann wurde es schw\u00e4cher und ich konnte sie beide hineinziehen.\n\nDem n\u00e4chsten Raumanzug folgte eine Wolke aus roten und silbernen Kristallen, und als sich die Truhe in Sichtweite drehte, konnte ich mehrere gro\u00dfe L\u00f6cher sehen, die nicht mehr undicht waren. F\u00fcr Pike war es zu sp\u00e4t.\n\n\"Nylund\", sagte Morgans Stimme im Radio, \"wir haben ein Problem.\"\n\nDas Relikt wurde erschossen. Die Kugel hatte ihn verfehlt, aber sie hatte eine tiefe Furche in seinen Anzug geritzt, die pulverisierte Luft in die Leere versch\u00fcttete. Ich hatte kein Pflaster und es war sowieso keine Zeit, eines zu benutzen. Relic's Augen waren weit und panisch, als er verzweifelt versuchte, die austretenden Luftkristalle wieder in den Anzug zu sch\u00f6pfen, ohne Erfolg. Seine Temperaturanzeige st\u00fcrzte schnell ab und die Venen in seinen Wangen r\u00f6teten sich in einem Kreuzmuster.\n\nIch wollte etwas sagen, um ihn zu beruhigen, aber ich erkannte, dass das Einzige, was ich \u00fcber ihn wusste, war, dass er uns bei unserer ersten Begegnung fast mit einer Patchpistole get\u00f6tet h\u00e4tte. Mir fiel nichts Besseres ein, als seine Hand fest zu dr\u00fccken und zu fl\u00fcstern, dass es in Ordnung sei. Immer und immer wieder. Es war in Ordnung.\n\nSeine Wangen und Nase waren schwarz und seine Lunge hob sich nach Luft, die nicht da war. Seine Augen fanden meine und schlossen sich f\u00fcr eine lange Zeit an. Ich wusste nicht genau, wann das Leben sie verlassen hatte. Ich bin mir nicht sicher, ob du das jemals tust.\n\nMorgan und ich versteckten uns im Lee des Treibstofftanks des Thrusters, als Piratenschiffe in der N\u00e4he des Rumpfes einflogen, um nach \u00dcberlebenden zu suchen. Zwei schnelle Lichtschl\u00e4ge signalisierten, dass sie die Leichen von Relikt und Pike lokalisiert hatten. Es war eine Ein\u00e4scherung der gewaltt\u00e4tigsten Art.\n\nWir warteten mehrere Stunden, bevor wir Konicek signalisierten, die J\u00e4ger und den Transport zu bringen. Sobald sie die Sicherheit des Frachtraums C verlassen hatten, hatten wir nur noch wenige Minuten Zeit, sie zu betanken, bevor sie von Pirateninstrumenten aufgegriffen wurden.\n\nDanach war es jeder f\u00fcr sich.\n\nwird fortgesetzt.....","zh_CN":"The Visitor Center of a Super Max prison is often the only place in the whole complex where prisoners can set aside the violent reputations they\u2019ve cultivated for themselves. On a remote facility like OSP-4, families must spend thousands of credits and many days of travel to meet with their imprisoned loved ones. Sometimes, in special cases, the prison has been known to cover part of the costs. There is plenty of research that indicates that a prisoner who maintains social contact with loved ones is more docile and easier to manage. It\u2019s an investment that tends to pay off in the long run.\n\nThe Visitor\u2019s Center was now home to the Nova Dogs, a group of pirates lead by Martin Kilkenny, a cannibal with a god complex. I had intended to give it a wide berth, but we needed fuel to make our escape from OSP-4, and the only available supply we knew about was on the other side of it.\n\nWe were close enough that we\u2019d turned off our comms. Even a scrambled signal gave off a telltale hiss of static. Instead, we relied on stage whispers as we crawled through a narrow circuitry duct, which was itself no easy task in our space suits. In prior times, I\u2019d made the trip several times with a bag full of contraband medical supplies tied to my leg, so I went first. The easiest way to move was to walk on one\u2019s elbows and I was making good progress. The others were struggling.\n\n\u201cThis would be a lot easier without the space suits,\u201d grumbled a voice behind me. Relic from the tone. The other ex-prisoner, Pike, had a deeper voice and spoke infrequently.\n\u201cIt\u2019ll make too much noise if you drag it behind you and we\u2019ll need it at the other end. Besides, there\u2019s enough juice running through these wires to fry you where you stand. The suit\u2019s insulation should offer some protection against a short.\u201d I spotted movement through an access grate up ahead. \u201cNow shut up, before the Nova Dogs hear us.\u201d\n\nAlthough we\u2019d seen the damage caused by Kilkenny\u2019s men and had had to travel through parts of the station that were exposed to space, we\u2019d had few encounters with the pirates themselves. I got a look at their current forces through that small access grate.\n\nThere were dozens of them in the small space nearly ten meters beneath us. They wore spacesuits that had come from a dozen different armed forces and even time periods. Some had even been cobbled together from suits that had once belonged to different races. Many were lazily painted with thick, tar-like black paint, so that the original color showed through underneath. Few of them wore helmets, preferring to show off elaborate haircuts, mostly variations on a Mohawk except with long, braided sideburns, and neck and face tattoos.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m stuck.\u201d\n\nThe voice belonged to Pike, our master of words. \u201cDon\u2019t panic,\u201d someone said in a loud hiss.\n\n\u201cI ain\u2019t panicking, I\u2019m just stuck.\u201d\n\nI looked back at Wes Morgan. His eyebrows raised, and then he looked back down the duct.\n\nI heard a couple of brisk thumps.\n\n\u201cYou kick me one more time and I\u2019ll shoot you in the ass.\u201d Pike was slow to anger, but I could hear the heat coming into his voice. His volume was also rising and my gaze darted to the access grate apprehensively. The Nova Dogs were a loud bunch, but one of them, a man with a full beard and wild black hair had cocked his head and turned towards us.\n\n\u201cShut up,\u201d I hissed.\n\n\u201cShould we leave him behind?\u201d asked Relic.\n\n\u201cYou ain\u2019t leaving me behind.\u201d Pike\u2019s statement was final, the threat left unspoken.\nIt didn\u2019t sound like either of them lowered their voices at all. In fact, the volume was climbing. The bearded pirate had risen and begun to walk over towards us, a rifle clutched loosely in one hand.\n\n\u201cLast warning, guys. Keep it down.\u201d The confines were tight, but I did my best to move to the other side of the duct, out of view. He was far enough beneath us that the angle would do some of the work of hiding me, but I didn\u2019t want him to spot movement.\n\n\u201cYou gotta get me unstuck. I ain\u2019t dying here.\u201d I heard the sound of creasing aluminum and banging as Pike attempted to free himself.\n\nSomeone cursed and then a shout of alarm rang out from the pirate beneath me. Shots cut the air and sparks blew out of the wall of the duct closest to the Visitor Center. Holes appeared in a line, passing from the bottom corner to the roof just above my head.\n\nBehind me, Pike had begun to panic and clawed at Relic, who was desperately trying to kick him away. Morgan, the one with the most experience out of any of us, had hunkered down on the side of the air duct closest to me. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get out of here!\u201d\n\n\u201cHow?\u201d I yelled back. \u201cOn our hands and knees? We\u2019d be shot full of holes before we got more than a couple of meters.\u201d\n\n\u201cThink of something!\u201d Morgan unshouldered his rifle and turned it so that it was pointed diagonally downward. The weapon barely fit that way in the duct. He squeezed the trigger and then let the recoil draw it to the side while it was still spitting bullets. I heard screams from below and then return fire.\n\nWe were sitting ducks.\n\nI needed to get us out of there, and fast. Once before, when I\u2019d been on the verge of getting caught with smuggled goods, I\u2019d evacuated the tunnel, and I\u2019d done it by setting off the fire alarm.\n\nThere were bundles of wires running along the ceiling above us. I pulled a small knife out of the spacesuit\u2019s utility belt and stripped two of the wires, grateful that the suit was insulated. I touched them together and was rewarded with nothing more than sparks. Quickly, I stripped another wire and connected them. This time, lights began to flash and a siren sounded somewhere nearby.\n\nThe easiest way to put out a fire on a spaceship is to suffocate it in the cold vacuum of space. Metal plates descended over the grates, sealing them as tight as possible, and at the far end of the tunnel a tiny pinprick of light appeared as the exterior door was opened. Instantly the air howled around us and I felt myself carried along with it, my spacesuit scraping against metal as I was buffeted against the walls and ceiling.\n\nI was in space.\n\nA starscape spun around me and then the station came back into view. I could hear myself hyperventilating as I realized that I was falling towards a planet thousands of kilometers away. A metal antenna appeared in my peripheral vision and I caught it with my hand. My grip was so tight that it nearly yanked my arm out of its socket.\n\nA flash of blue appeared and I caught out at it blindly with my other hand. By some miracle I caught Morgan\u2019s hand and held on tight, swinging him to the antenna next to me. Morgan, more at home in space than I was, used the momentum to land feet first, letting his magnetic boots clamp onto it. Another body cartwheeled toward us and I could hear screaming over the radio. Morgan reached out, but his hand hit Relic\u2019s hip and spun him away from us. Without missing a beat, he shoved the end of his rifle into my hand, kicked off my knee and spun around himself. His feet hit the spacesuit in the chest and the magnetic boots clamped down on the metal-plastic synthetic. I felt a tremendous force on the rifle and for a moment it stretched between us like an umbilical cord. Then it slackened and I was able to pull them both in.\n\nThe next spacesuit was followed by a cloud of red and silver crystals, and when the chest spun into view I could see several large holes that were no longer leaking air. It was too late for Pike.\n\n\u201cNylund,\u201d said Morgan\u2019s voice over the radio, \u201cwe have a problem.\u201d\n\nRelic had been shot. The bullet had missed him, but it had carved a deep furrow in his suit that spilled powdered air into the Void. I didn\u2019t have a patch and there wasn\u2019t time to use one anyways. Relic\u2019s eyes were wide and panicked as he tried desperately to scoop the escaping air crystals back into the suit to no avail. Its temperature indicator plunged rapidly and the veins in his cheeks reddened in a criss-cross pattern.\n\nI wanted to say something to calm him, but I realized that the only thing I knew about him was that he\u2019d nearly killed us with a patch gun in our first encounter. I could think of nothing better than to squeeze his hand tightly and whisper that it was okay. Over and over. It was okay.\n\nHis cheeks and nose were black and his lungs heaved for air that wasn\u2019t there. His eyes found mine and locked on for what felt like a long time. I didn\u2019t know exactly when the life left them. I\u2019m not sure you ever do.\n\nMorgan and I hid in the lee of the thruster\u2019s fuel tank as pirate vessels flew in close to the hull to search for survivors. Two quick bursts of light signaled that they\u2019d located the bodies of Relic and Pike. It was a cremation of the most violent kind.\n\nWe waited for several hours before we signaled Konicek to bring the fighters and transport. Once they left the safety of Cargo Hold C, we would only have a few minutes to refuel them before they were picked up by pirate instruments.\n\nAfter that, it was every man for himself.\n\nto be continued \u2026"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":35,"created_at":"2014-08-29T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"11 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 10:17:38","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":14107,"next_id":14111}}