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Alarms screamed. The bridge quivered and jerked like a small boat in a gale as Maria
There were other screams, here and there throughout her hull. Human screams, not electronic ones, and-for the most part-very brief. Low-powered laser clusters might be, compared to regular broadside weapons, but atmosphere belched out of the holes smashed into her. Some of it came from cargo holds, but most came from the ship's compartments. From impeller rooms which were torn open by laser talons, spilling men and women in coveralls and shirt sleeves into the merciless vacuum. From passageways inboard from targeted laser clusters. From berthing quarters directly inboard from her broadside lasers. From messing compartments inboard from her main broadside sensor array.
There were fifty-seven men and women aboard Maria
By the time Zeno Egervary's body hit the deck and stopped sliding, there were fourteen still-living men and women aboard the freighter's shredded wreck.
" Cease fire! " the terror-distorted voice screamed over the com. " For God's sake, cease fire! We surrender! We surrender! "
Aivars Terekhov's face was like hammered iron. His visual display showed the rapidly dispersing wreckage of Ragnhild Pavletic's pi
"Who's speaking?" Frozen helium was warmer than that voice.
"This is... this is Duan Binyan," the other voice gasped, jagged and shrill with panic. "I'm... I was the captain, but I swear to God I never ordered that! I swear it! "
"Whether you ordered it or not, it was your responsibility, Captain ," Terekhov said with a flat, terrible emphasis. "I will be sending a second pi
"Yes. Yes! "
"Then understand this, as well. You've just murdered men and women of the armed forces of the Star Kingdom of Manticore. As such you are guilty, at the very least, of piracy, for which the sentence is death. I suggest, Captain , that you spend the next few minutes trying to think of some reason I might consider letting you continue to live."
Aivars Terekhov smiled. It was a terrifying expression.
"Think hard, Captain ," he advised almost gently. "Think very hard."