Page 193 of Red Scale Daddy
I grin. “There we go.”
Pally’s expression turns grim. “Engineering access is two junctions ahead and one level down. Patrol teams are converging from command and aft security.”
“Roma?”
He lifts the transmitter. The tiny buried pulse flashes stronger now, brighter and cleaner through the static.
“Close,” he says.
The hull shudders under our feet.
Another alarm joins the first, this one deeper, more urgent.
Pally glances up. “That is not us.”
“Roma?”
“Likely.”
“Good.”
“Good?” he demands.
“If she’s making alarms, she’s still fighting.”
We run.
The corridor bends left, then drops into a narrow stairwell lit by red emergency strips. I take the lead without asking, because the first Reaper patrol comes around the lower junction with rifles raised. I hit them before they settle their aim. The first goes into the wall under my shoulder. The second gets the broken remains of the turret mount across the faceplate. The third fires at Pally, and I catch him by the collar, yanking him behind me as the shot burns past his head.
Pally stumbles, then recovers by slamming a charge clamp onto the wall panel beside us.
“Down!” he shouts.
I drive both of us against the opposite wall as the clamp detonates in a contained burst. The junction door slams shut behind the patrol, cutting off reinforcements and venting a cloud of smoke through the seam.
“Systems,” I say, coughing through the mask. “That was systems.”
“That was controlled demolition.”
“You do violence like an engineer.”
“You do engineering like a falling building.”
“Fair.”
The transmitter pulses again.
Pally lifts it, and the map overlays a path through the next corridor.
“There,” he says. “Engineering deck access. Roma’s signal is inside.”
The doors ahead are sealed, marked with Reaper command glyphs and guarded by two armored figures who turn as we approach.
I roll my shoulders.
Pally raises a bypass tool.
We glance at each other.
