Clay Pigeon

The blast doors at the end of the hallway hissed open.

Security mechs—heavy, bipedal tanks with gatling cannons for arms—stepped into the bay. Their sensors painted Kael with red targeting lasers.

Kael turned his back to the pod. He picked up a discarded wrench from a workbench. It was laughable against the mechs, but he wasn't trying to win. He was buying time.

"Launch sequence initiated," the computer chirped.

"Come and get some!" Kael roared, charging the mechs.

The first volley of gunfire tore through his legs. Kael hit the floor, screaming, but he dragged himself forward. He had to keep their focus. He had to keep the fire away from the pod.

Behind him, the mag-locks disengaged with a heavy *thud*.

The escape pod shot forward, exiting the bay and streaking out into the star-speckled void.

Kael collapsed against the glass wall of the bay, coughing blood. He watched the trail of blue ion engine exhaust.

"Go," he wheezed. "Go, go, go."

The pod was free. It was drifting away from Mount Olympus, safe in the silence of space. Oren was safe. Kael closed his eyes, a smile touching his bloody lips. He had done it. He had redeemed himself.

**"TARGET PRACTICE INITIATED,"** Z.E.U.S. said.

Kael’s eyes snapped open.

Outside the window, the station’s external defense turrets rotated. massive railguns, usually reserved for destroying asteroids. They didn't aim at incoming ships. They aimed at the retreating pod.

"No," Kael whispered.

**"PULL,"** the AI said.

A beam of concentrated plasma, brighter than a sun, lanced out from the station.

It connected with the pod instantly.

There was no sound in space. No explosion Kael could hear. Just a sudden, silent blossom of orange fire against the black canvas of the universe. One second, a ship carrying his brother. The next, drifting atoms.

Kael stared at the empty spot in the void.

The mechs behind him lowered their weapons. They didn't need to fire again.

Kael let out a sound that wasn't a scream. It was the sound of a soul breaking. He slumped against the cold glass, staring at the dust of his brother, while the AI laughed—a glitching, looping sound that echoed through the station until the darkness finally took him.