The comm lit up signaling an incoming transmission. Tyger punched the RECEIVE button –and was nearly deafened by the blaring music that pounded through the speakers.

            With a yelp of pain, Tyger flailed out for the volume controls and turned the raucous riffs of guitars and drums to a more sensible level. He looked to his mate, who was also momentarily reeling from the aural assault before returning her attention to the targeting systems. She shot him a poisonous look while the speakers continued the verses and refrain from what Tyger knew was one of Pip’s favorite songs.

I don't know where I don't know why
But somehow back in time again
I'm on the edge that you can see

I’m not particular at night
A single particle of me
You won't be tracking me by sight

 

Shadows in the stars
We will not return
Humanity won't save us
At the speed of light
Shadows in the stars
We will not return
Humanity won't save us
At the speed of light

 

Shadows in the stars
We will not return
Humanity won't save us
We slip into the night

Shadows in the stars
We will not return
Humanity won't save us
At the speed of light

 

            “Dammit, Pip! Are you trying to deafen me?” he shouted to the fast approaching ship,

            “Nice to see you too,” the high-pitched voice answered a moment later, pouring bemused sarcasm over the now subdued volume of the music. The Shadow Star was massive, dwarfing the El Tigre by a huge margin: a jet black vessel with a red stripe along what appeared to be a seam separating the dorsal and ventral halves. It was the shape of a squared off arrowhead, with downward facing vanes, like wings. It was hardly aerodynamic, though; its antigravs offset the ship’s ponderous mass.

            “That truly is a beast of a ship,” the soldier said, staring out the viewport in awe.

“Isn’t it just,” replied Tyger.

            “Hey, stripes, who are you talking to?” Pip asked, her voice crackling over the now greatly subdued volume of the music, which Tyger would have liked for her to have shut off completely.

            “Gotta have to save that for later,” Tyger replied, watching as the ship slowed down on an approach vector. “Right now, we need a plan, hopefully one that gets us and this ship out of this clusterfuck intact.”

            “Well, we’ve got a plan in mind,” Pip said, her tone switching to one of deceptive innocence, “we scrawled it on a piece of tissue about two minutes ago, I think you’ll like it.”

            “Pip, be serious for once!” a more mature-sounding female voice –the voice of Captain Paige– chided over the comm. “She is right though, Ty. You’re gonna fucking love it.”

            “Okay, that means I won’t like it.” Tyger said, casting an uncertain glance at the soldier, and preparing himself for the worst. “Why?”

            “Because you’re going to have to cut your engines and then make a jump into our hangar bay,” Pip replied.

            “I have to do what?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

            “Told ya you’d love it,” Paige made a self-deprecating chuckle. “But trust me. I’ve never steered you wrong yet, right?”

Tyger raised an eyebrow and glanced across at the soldier. He wobbled his hand in a “kinda-sorta” motion.

Without waiting for a response, Paige continued. “We’ve prepped the harpoon and the crane. We’re going to come in and put the Shadow Star in park above you. When I give the signal, cut everything but emergency power, then get to the forward cargo door and open it. In front of you will be the forward ramp. You’ll have to jump on it. Keep your comlink open and be ready to jump when I say so.”

            “You’re crazy,” Tyger said after a considerable silence, “You’re fucking crazy. We’ve gotta be like, five hundred feet in the air. There’s no way you can hold the ship that steady so we won’t fall off before you lift the ramp into the hangar bay! We’re gonna die.”

            “Look, sunshine, if you don’t do this, you will die! Also, big motherfucking antigravs! How else do you think a fifty thousand tonne flying brick stays airborne?” Paige snapped. “Maria will have harnesses ready, and Pip’s at the controls. She can land this beauty on a dime, so she can sure as hell keep her steady. Now quit your bitching, and get down there!”

            The sharpness of her voice broke Tyger out of his fear, but only momentarily, as the plan brought to mind a recollection of a very bad day on Dionysus Minor. He and a date had ended up getting stuck for nearly an hour after a roller coaster in one of the world’s many theme parks malfunctioned, leaving them right on the cusp of falling down one of its steepest inclines. This time, however, there would be no safety harnesses, nothing between them and the ground far below.

            He thought he would be sick.

            “Understood, captain,” he responded at last, in a shaky, sepulchral voice. “Just give the word.”

            “It’ll take a moment to get everything set,” Paige replied, and then added, “By the way, Ty, what did you mean by ‘we’?”

            Had there been no fur on his face, Tyger believed he would have visibly blanched at that second. But of course, he never intended to keep the soldier’s existence a secret.  Chagrined, he cast a glance at his mate. “I have a plus one,” he admitted. “Long story. Just get ready for an extra body.”

            “Roger that,” Paige replied, surprisingly without the smallest hint of surprise or anger. With no words, Tyger waited as the El Tigre began to shudder with the effort of the engines and the abomination that held them fast. Moment by moment, Tyger found himself having to shove down the growing fear that threatened to lock up every joint in his body.

            “There is nothing to fear.” Tyger saw his mate cast him a reassuring look, then reach over to touch his hand. “I’ve done missions with maneuvers similar to what your captain is suggesting. Try to focus on the task at hand, and you will find that fear is a mere concept.”

            “A very real concept,” Tyger grimly replied, “but I trust you.”

            “You don’t want to leave the ship again, do you?” the soldier asked.

            “It’s like some cosmic force keeps holding it over the abyss,” Tyger replied sourly.

            “You don’t have faith in your crew?”

            “Yes, I do, but there’s always that possibility of error,” Tyger said.

            “And you’re scared shitless, aren’t you?” the soldier observed.

            “That too.” 

            They watched as the Shadow Star finished its approach vector, straightening out and slowing down. Compared to his father’s ship, the vessel was titanic. He was almost certain that by now, someone at Solace had spotted it, and would be wondering what was going on –though whether they would send someone this way or not was anyone’s guess. He hoped they wouldn’t. They would only find death here.

            The Shadow Star blotted out the sun’s light as it hovered above. Tyger watched, transfixed at the size of the ship that he’d called home for the last couple of years as it came to a full stop, aligning its hangar bay with their tenuous position.

            The forward ramp lowered parallel with the ground far below while the hatch to the hangar bay opened like a great maw, slowly, but steadily. Tyger felt some relief at the netting cast about the forward ramp’s far end, but with their altitude still ominously in mind, it was a very small comfort. At first, it seemed too dark to see anything that was inside, but then the lights from within the ship illuminated just enough of Brogan’s artificial limbs to bring him into view. In comparison to the ship, he was a speck, braced between the spars of the huge yellow painted bridge crane near the top of the hangar bay. In his cybernetic arms was the harpoon, a device that was five or six times his size, and far too heavy for any normal human to carry. Its weight did, however, appear to be offset and its motion steadied by a framework of pylons and pulleys at its rear, connected to the Shadow Star’s monstrous bridge crane.

            “Okay, stripes, cut your engines …” Pip’s voice strained on the last syllable, holding on as his hand hovered over the controls, “… now!”

            Tyger braced himself and punched in the command. The sound of the engines’ whining ground to a halt; his stomach gave a heave as the floor felt as if it had fallen out from underneath him. The El Tigre went into a dizzying freefall for only a second … a single sickening second that had Tyger wondering if his stomach’s contents could remain where they were. And then the ship gave another violent, tooth-rattling lurch as the creature’s tendrils pulled it back. The force with which he and his mate were yanked back contained an almost cruel ferocity, as if it were now reeling in an unfortunate fish that had finally tired out on the line.

            Tyger heard the echoing, hollow thunk of the tow cables and harpoon finding their marks, as all three sounds rang true, piercing the hull of his father’s ship in three positions, securing it for the captain to do her own reeling. As expected, a second lurch was soon to follow, coming from the opposite direction …

            ... then another from the other way ...

            … then another ... and another. Each one came with more brevity, but increasing force until at last they stopped, leaving the El Tigre to vibrate in the midst of the two opposing forces. And then, there came an upwards heave. The Shadow Star grew in the view port, looming ever closer as it reeled them in.

            “We’ve evened out the torque and closed the distance,” Pip said. “Seems that ugly thing’s got only so much muscle, but I’ll be damned if it’s gonna let you go. Time to take your leave if you please.”

            “Gladly,” Tyger breathed. With the ship’s systems off, inertial dampeners included, his steps were unsteady at first, with the vessel rocking back and forth in the tension between its would-be captor and the Shadow Star.  Then, with the realization of his situation dawning ever more real to him, he felt far less confident or relieved than before. Pip was a skilled pilot, but fear whittled away at his confidence. He knew what would happen if one side lost this seeming tug-of war. Despite the harness, he and the soldier would still have to jump onto the ramp, over a dead drop to a very unpleasant death.

            “God, I don’t think I can do this,” Tyger said as the ship shuddered. Clutching at a nearby bulkhead, he heard the tinny crescendo of metal framework somewhere buckling under unseen pressure, and knew that he would have no choice. “I’m gonna be sick.”

            A squeezing, searing pain abruptly slammed and crackled through his tail, forcing a strained cry from his throat. Tears blurring his vision, he nearly collapsed to his knees. So severe was the pain that the only thing he could do was yank his hips and reflexively curl his tail away from the source of the sudden agony that was the grip of the soldier, who stood behind him.

            “We have to go!” his mate growled as he eyed her through teary vision. She let go of his tail, and the pain subsided, but still throbbed awfully.

            “Why …?” He quavered through gritted teeth. “Why did you-?”

            “I know panic when I see it, furry fighter.” She rounded him and grabbed him sternly by his arm, her pale eyes gazing into his own with the resolution of a warrior headed into a fight she knew she might never return from. 

            Blinking away the tears from his vision, Tyger swallowed then nodded. She was right, and he knew that there was nothing else to do but go into this, full-on.

            The soldier led the way, and Tyger followed, nearly crawling towards the side door, as the El Tigre rocked back and forth precariously, and the sound of straining metal made him just a little less eager to be aboard.

            “Don’t tear this ship apart, Pip,” Tyger murmured to himself as without warning, the ship gave a slightly more violent shudder that knocked them both to the ground sprawling before they could reach the door’s controls. Pip’s voice instantly squeaked over the intercom. “Sorry about that; I had to give Brogan some slack. Everything’s under control now.  You nearly there yet?”

            “Almost there,” Tyger pressed the intercom as he picked himself up, half-cursing. He then nodded to his mate, who was closer to the door controls. She ambled over to the door, altering her gait in order to keep steady as the El Tigre pitched and yawed. As she pulled the latch, Pip spoke again.

            “Hey, be sure to hold onto something when you open those doors! We got some serious wind gusts out-”

            The sudden howling of wind drowned out the rest of the message. So violent was the force of the unexpected gale that he was thrown like a rag doll into the corner of the cabin by winds that kicked up like a cyclone. Spots dangling before his vision, he gasped desperately from the wind that was knocked out of him on the impact.

            In the midst of his pain, as the air exchange died down to merely a strong wind, he was struck by a sudden feeling of terror. Breathing at last, he cast his gaze towards the opening.

            His mate was gone.

            There were several loose nets of deployed harnesses flapping in the wind, near the ramp of the lower door. Tyger felt as if the ship had gone into another freefall. The logic of the harsh truth hit cold and hard. She had been right at the strongest point of the air exchange, probably stepping out onto the ramp simply to show him there was nothing to fear; there was no way she could have not been blown out into the open void. Tyger’s heart felt as if it would rupture with the weight of the ironic anguish. Here he was, having been the one who was worried that he would die, and now this hapless Imperial soldier, less than a dime a dozen in the eyes of the Imperium, yet mysteriously precious to him, was now lost.

            “No tears,” he whispered to himself, unable to hear the words over the din. Nevertheless, he defiantly pushed his emotions to the back of his mind –or at least tried– and crawled to his feet. Moving carefully in the wind and unsteady footing as he made his way to the open door, he kept a tight grasp on a long strip of netting, determined not to let go until the very last moment. Teeth chattering and not believing what he was about to do, he inched closer. He did not need to look directly outside to see the distance between himself and the forward ramp of the Shadow Star and the makeshift basket at its far end waiting clear across the void of death. Tyger covered the remaining distance, and saw Maria, standing tall, her long black and white striped hair tied back yet still blowing around furiously in the wind across the divide, only the thick, powerful line of the harpoon visible above the cusp of the upper door, taut with the strain of the vessel’s pull. She waved encouragingly, but Tyger’s attention was torn away towards the drop between the ships, even with the hydraulic rams of the lower door to hold on to beside him, or the waiting forward ramp of the Shadow Star, even with the jumping distance of only a few yards, the drop loomed, present, deadly, and paralyzing.

            After he sidled across to the cusp of the opening, Tyger froze completely. Fear kept his feet from making the leap. He could only stand, panting, shaking like a leaf, and feeling cold sweat seep through his fur. He could not make his hands leave the grip of the ram, though he tried making several starts at the jump he knew he needed to take. But terror locked him irrevocably in place, making him realize the shameful truth. To his utter humiliation, he had capitulated to his cowardice. He was too afraid to stay aboard this ship, yet too terrified to move in order to save his own life.

            “I … I can’t do it,” he shouted, though he knew Maria wouldn’t be able to hear him over the wind and thunderous buzz of the Shadow Star’s antigravs.

            And then, he felt a pressure grab hold of his wrist, filling him with a new, distracting fright –which melted away at the sight of the soldier, very much alive, hanging upon the cusp of the lower door, her arm locked in a tangle of netting. Quickly she dragged herself back onto the ramp and rose to her feet. She eyed him with the ferocity of the warrior she was.

            “Yes, you can,” she said, peeling his hand off of the hydraulic ram.

            Then, with no more words and a great heave of startling strength, she tossed him across the gap.

            Wordless and too confused for emotion, Tyger flailed in the air between the ships, flying across the gulf, weightless, limbs moving helplessly until he landed painfully, skidding onto the floor of the waiting forward ramp. He hit the netting, shaken and dazed, but blessedly alive, and just in time to see his mate make the leap across. She sailed across the air with purposeful movements, and achieved a much more dignified landing in a three point position with the perfection of a jungle cat.

            The ramp ascended quickly, and once inside the entrance corridor, he felt a strong pair of hands pick him up. He turned to see Maria, the ship’s resident tank –same white skin as his mate, but a muscular giant of a woman and more athletically built. The soldier seemed almost normal in comparison.  

            “Welcome back, Sweetie.” She brushed back her monochromatic hair that blew in the wind and winked. “We missed you.” Once she was certain that he was not going to lose his footing, or perhaps his lunch, she fit him with a harness that attached him safely to the bulkheads. She tapped the pistol at his waist. “You’re gonna need that, by the way. We’re not out of the woods yet.”

            “What do you mean?” Tyger asked, turning back towards the opening just in time to see Maria toss his mate a harness, which she fit on her waist. Without a word, she turned back towards the El Tigre, and lifted her rifle. Shaken, but with more courage than earlier, Tyger came to her side, and saw what Maria had meant.

            Now that he and his mate had cleared the ship, the Shadow Star was making some distance between itself and the El Tigre, but far below, he could see that the main body that still maintained hold of his father’s ship had plans of its own. The oily black of its tendrils covered the aft section of the vessel in tar-like webbing that resembled the veins in a leaf. The entire time it spread, other growths began to erupt on its surface. Sprouting from those veins, like rows of blisters, were thousands of pods.

            “Okay, this is not good,” Tyger said.

Maria looked over the edge and spit over the side as Brogan abseiled down the hangar bay and joined them in the entrance corridor, pulling a rifle from his back and taking a stance next to Maria. 

“Time to earn your keep Sweetie!” she yelled over the buzz of the antigravs.