Page 60 of The Other Omega

The ship lurched again, and I screamed as the restraints snapped tight against my body. Across the lounge, Cedric caught the edge of the table, Matthias staggered a step, and Samir braced himself against the back of a chair.

A deep shudder travelled through the floor beneath my feet as the room began to tilt. Glass shattered somewhere behind me, and everything that hadn’t been secured slid or flew across the lounge.

Matthias caught himself against the table. “We have lost primary propulsion.”

My stomach rose into my throat as the horizon climbed across the windows and the restraints tightened painfully across my chest.

We were falling.

“We’re going to crash! I don’t want to die!”

“Elowen, we will not crash,” Cedric said.

Matthias looked at him.

Oh. My. God.

A different tone sounded through the lounge, followed by an unfamiliar voice.

“Hart vessel. Surrender the Omega, and we will not target your remaining propulsion systems. Acknowledge.”

Wide-eyed, I stared at my fathers as my brain tried to catch up. They looked at one another, then back towards the holograms as the voice returned.

“Surrender the Omega. Failure to comply will result in complete propulsion loss.”

Matthias looked towards Cedric. “Shall we respond?”

“No.” Cedric’s voice was raw with anger.

Another impact shuddered through the ship as we kept falling. I couldn’t tell how close we were to the sea anymore, only that we’d hit the water at any second.

Movement outside caught my attention. One of the ships was coming straight toward us, but instead of hitting us, it turned, slowed, and matched our descent.

Something metallic began extending from its side.

“What is that?” I shouted.

“They are attempting to board us,” Samir said.

He fought his way across the tilting lounge, grabbing whatever he could to keep his footing until he reached me. He positioned himself between my chair and the entrance while Cedric spoke rapidly into his pad.

The metallic structure extending from the other ship was almost touching ours.

I grabbed Samir’s sleeve. “Please don’t let them take me.”

His eyes dropped to my hand, then met mine. His voice was calm, but there was nothing gentle about it.

“Elowen, there is no circumstance in which we will surrender you. Do you understand?”

The ship dropped so violently it wrenched another scream from me.

“Secondary propulsion is failing,” Matthias said.

A violent burst of light filled the windows. The pirate ship beside us spun away, its hull breaking apart as three other ships tore through the space it had occupied.

“Take that, you pirates!”

I looked at Samir. The corner of his mouth twitched before another violent shudder ran through the ship.