Under A Winter Sun by Johan Dahlgren (ink ebook reader txt) 📕

The blood makes the floor a little too slick and I crash into him. He doesn't even notice.

He lies face down, and I roll him over on his back. The carcass of the once great Berengar the Defiler falls off him in chunks.

He's still alive.

He may never hear again without aid, but he's breathing and even raises one armoured hand to me.

I grab it and lean in close.

“Finn, you won,” I shout in his ear. “You did it. Berengar is dead.”

“Dead.”

Finn smiles through his mangled face. It will take some serious bone and tissue restructuring to make him even a shadow of his normal ugly self again.

But he won't need to look pretty after this. The legend earned by killing Berengar the Defiler and Eirik the Fair in the same battle will make him the most celebrated Goliath in history.

Jagr leans in over my shoulder. “Is he all right?”

I smile. “Incredible, but yes, I think he is.”

For once, please, can things go my way?

That's when we hear it.

A sound like a dragon howling in pain reverberates through the chamber.

Something moves up above, and I raise my eyes to the drive core in trepidation. The destroyed beam is twisting, ponderously coming away from the wall, raining shards of hypercarbon over us.

Bolt after bolt snaps free and the entire leg comes crashing to the ground. I grab Finn by the neck of his armour and haul with all my strength. If it hadn't been for the blood making the floor slick, I could never have dragged him fast enough. I get him into cover in the entrance an instant before the support hits the floor.

Jagr dives out of the path of another crashing slab.

She misjudges the move and goes over the edge.

Soledad throws herself after Jagr, but she is too far away. A jagged twenty-metre section of hypercarbon crashes down on her.

There's no way she could have dodged that.

“Perez.” It's Tyrus. “A little help here.”

He is lying at the edge, holding on to Jagr's hand.

A glance at the reactor tells me it's not coming down on our heads just yet.

I lean Finn against the wall. “Coming.”

I climb through the rubble to reach Tyrus.

Together we haul Jagr back up over the edge.

“Fuck,” is all she manages as we roll her on her back.

“You're welcome,” Tyrus says. I give him a thumbs up.

“Where's Soledad?” Jagr looks around with fear in her eyes.

“She went down under that.” I point to the pile of rubble.

“No, Pip, no,” Jagr screams and crawls over.

She tears pieces of the beam away, and there is Soledad. All we can see of her is her head and one arm.

“Pip, can you hear me?”

Soledad's fingers move feebly, and she raises her head to look at Jagr.

She is alive, but she's trapped.

Something To Hold On To

“Perez, Tyrus, help me get this off.”

Jagr stands up and pats the twisted hypercarbon of the support. The thing must weigh at least ten tonnes. Even in our powered suits, there's no way we'll get that off the ground as long as the ship is under thrust.

But Tyrus and I grab the support and haul with all our might while Jagr uses a loose piece of machinery as a lever. Soledad helps as good as she can with her free arm.

The thing doesn't budge.

“Again.”

We heave. Nothing gives.

“Again.”

Jagr throws the lever away and digs her armoured fingers under the piece of machinery.

“Jagr,” I try.

“Again, I said.”

We heave again. Still no give.

“Again,” she screams and pulls with all her might. There's a snap and two of the tendons of her armour come loose as she pulls. Hydraulic fluid spurts everywhere.

“Jagr,” I try again.

Tyrus puts a hand on her arm.

“Commander, there's no use.”

“Again,” she sobs. “Please.”

“Mish.” It's Soledad.

She reaches out to touch Jagr's hypercarbon boot and Jagr kneels in front of her.

“What is it, Pip?”

“I'm not going anywhere, Misha. You need to leave.”

“I'm not leaving you, Pip.”

“Not much choice.”

Soledad holds out a mangled piece of electronics. At first, I can't identify it, but then I realise it's the remote detonator.

“I have to set the bombs off manually.”

“Pippa, no. I won't let you …”

“Sorry, boss. That's how it needs to be.”

Soledad tries hard to keep a straight face, but she's only one friendly word away from crying.

Tyrus lowers his head and looks away. So, he's got feelings somewhere deep down. I might use that against him some time.

Then he looks back at Jagr. “She's right, Commander. Let her go. There's no need for us all to die here.”

Jagr turns to me, desperately seeking another way. There is none.

“Sorry, Jagr.” I shake my head. “She's right. I'm not one for pointless sacrifices. I vote for Soledad's solution.”

The despair on Jagr's face is heartbreaking. If I wasn't such a cold sonofabitch, I'd cry myself.

Tyrus grabs Jagr under the armpits and pulls her to her feet. “Come on, Commander. Let's go.”

I kneel in front of Soledad. “What do you need us to do?”

She snaps out of her soon-to-die-blues and recovers some of her old dedication. “Connect wires to the bombs, so I can pull the contact switches from here.”

“I'm on it.”

I pull out the monofilament wire from the suit and attach it to the first of the bombs.

“Perez. Don't do this,” The Naglfar says.

I ignore it.

While Jagr and Soledad say their heartfelt goodbyes, I busy myself with rigging the ripcords. I shut off the open channel.

Two minutes later, it's all set up, and Jagr and Soledad have said what they need to say. Tyrus and Jagr have got Finn back on his feet by the door and wave for me to come. Finn grasps Skallagrim's sword in one bloody hand. The tip wavers, and he struggles to keep his grip on it.

“Here.” I get on my knees and hand Soledad the wire ends. “All yours. We'll seal the door on our way out to buy you time.”

“Thanks, Perez. Well done.”

The sudden praise gets me off balance.

“Thanks. I guess.”

“Perez,” Jagr calls from the door without looking at me and Soledad. “Time to go.”

She and Tyrus have