Welcome to stories from Among the Stars. You're listening to The Last Watch by J.S. Dewas.

Chapter 30

The tension melted from adequate shoulders and The The synthesis's cockpit had filled with a heavy quiet, marked only by ragged breathing.

Jacken broke the silence first, letting out a noise equal parts growl and hardy laugh.

Good fucking void, rake!

How many times in one day can you save us by almost killing us?

Griffith chuckled, but it cut off with a sharp wince as he held a hand firmly to his ribcage.

Don't make me laugh, North. He pleaded. I think the adrenaline scrubbed all the painkillers out of my system.

Adequin sighed. In all the chaos she'd completely forgotten about how injured both

Jackin and Griffith were. She unhooked her harness and slid to the front edge of her seat,

shaking out her arms, the adrenaline drop causing her muscles to tremble.

Yeah, we should get you both to the med bay, but let's run a quick systems report to be safe.

Griffith, Jackin, and Jura cycled through status screens for every system, so Adequin could take stock of the total damage they'd taken.

Other than some probably slightly melted heat sink coils and completely exhausted shields. The worst outcome was the

dent they'd put in the ammunition reserves. Despite the all-green propulsion diagnostic, she had Jackin add a full warp drive assessment to the

to-do list. Considering the horrific noise it had made on activation, she wouldn't feel comfortable

sending the synthesis out again until it had been looked at.

Though if Puck had figured out how to get the gate turned on, they wouldn't need it.

After a restoring atmosphere, she sent Griffith and Jackin ahead to the med bay,

then unlocked the bulkheads, unsealed the vents, and returned the ship to its default state.

She instructed Yura to hold down the cockpit,

giving assurance that she'd send someone to relieve her shortly.

...