The wall from which the light emits explodes, throwing me to the opposite wall. Then…

NOTHING.

I awake. Gasping for air, I look up and see a completely destroyed ship. No sign of Isic. Is he dead? In too much pain to think about anything else I look for any sign of my D-MAT, on the off chance it’s still functional.

My body is numb. Not sure how I came to, but without immediate attention, I’m a dead woman.

I sift through the rubble on the floor where the table was and look for my D-MAT. Nothing.

I hear a voice over the com. It’s Oka.

“Nij! Do you read? Isic is compromised!!! I’m about to launch and can’t disengage, you need to get out of there!!”

I limp over to the com, hand over the hole in my stomach. I press the button cutting Oka off as she repeats herself.

“Oka,” I say weakly.

“Nij!” Oka responds with relief. “You need to launch now! Isic is compromised. He tried to take me off the ship so I initiated launch ahead of schedule.”

“Oka he attacked me and destroyed the seed. I think I’m gonna die.”