The klaxons howled, drilling into the skull …
Every corridor pulsed with red light, shadows cutting across bulkheads as the Normandy shuddered under fire. Smoke poured from ceiling vents. The air tasted of ozone and iron—blood and scorched wiring.
“Velour—goddammit, Velour, we’re losing him!”
The voice, female, cracked with desperation. Schnee, crouched at the gurney’s side, pushed her weight against its wheels as it rattled down the trembling deck. On it lay Kaito: limp, soaked in blood, chest stuttering like an engine on its last gasp.
“…Shut up—I’m trying!”
Velour barked back, hands buried in his wounds. Her gloves were sodden, crimson running down her wrists. She cinched another bandage across his ribs—useless, already black with seeped blood. Kaito spasmed, coughed, scarlet spraying his chin, his neck, Velour’s uniform.
“How about instead of yelling at me, you actually HELP, Schnee!”
“I am!”
Schnee ripped her pack open, scattering clamps and dressings onto the floor as she searched.
“We need plasma—coagulants—anything—”
The comms exploded into static, then a scream:
“THEY’RE IN THE NORMANDY!”
Velour’s eyes flicked up. Schnee’s froze. For a moment, the only sound was Kaito’s ragged coughing—and the thunder of boots somewhere deeper in the vessel.
“Kaito—! Kaito-kun!”
Both shouted, voices overlapping, as though their cries alone could keep him tethered. His reply was another coughing fit, each one harsher, bloodier. His lungs rattled like broken glass.
“NO—nononono—”
Schnee’s voice broke.
“He’s going into shock—”
Then Captain Hirano’s voice cut across the shipwide channel, harsh and commanding despite the storm around him:
“This is Captain Hirano speaking—”
He never finished. The vessel’s AI overrode, its tone cold and mechanical:
“… DROPSHIP ON COLLISION. CRASH IMMINENT. ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY …”
Velour’s face drained of color. She clamped a trembling hand to Kaito’s chest, pressing down hard.
“Schnee—get him into a pod, now!”
“And let him bleed out alone? Are you bloody mental?! He won’t survive the launch—!”
Velour snapped, voice cracking:
“We’re boarded! Do you want him gutted on this deck instead?!”
Voice began to rattled in the distance. Shouts carried down the hall. The ship groaned, tearing at its seams.
“No, no, no…”
Schnee whispered. Her hands hovered uselessly over her kit.
The vessel lurched violently. A deafening boom tore through the ship, throwing all three against the bulkhead. The gurney toppled, Kaito’s body sliding, Velour barely catching him before he struck the deck.
Another alarm joined the chorus—shrill, urgent.
“… COLLISION. COLLISION. COLLISION …”
Velour’s eyes met Schnee’s. For an instant—pure dread, mirrored.
“Help me lift him—NOW!”
Velour screamed. Together they dragged Kaito, half-dead and bleeding, down the shuddering corridor toward the nearest escape pod. The floor pitched beneath them. Sparks rained from severed conduits. Behind them, the pounding of boots—whether ally or intruder, neither dared to check.
They threw him into the pod. Schnee’s hands shook as she strapped him down, blood smearing every buckle.
Velour slammed the console.
“Override! Launch sequence engaged!”
“NO—Velour, wait—!”
Schnee tried to pull back, but it was too late. The clamps released. Explosive bolts fired.
The pod screamed away from the vessel, into the storm of debris.
Behind, the said vessel groaned,
ruptured,