The Crimson Heart part 4 by Cameron Olson

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Without one of those there was nothing to keep the HE's outside the module. "Father, give us speed," Teska whispered, watching the distant object draw nearer. She sensed someone standing next to her chair and turned to look at Major Brent Haber, head of the four squads of marines assigned to the Firedrake Redeemed.

"Assemble the squads at the shuttle, Major Haber," she told him, "and have my PA suit ready. We'll be at the module in fifteen minutes."

The Major nodded soundlessly and turned around, his powered armor's heavy boots surprisingly quiet as he left the bridge.

"Are you sure you should go in yourself?" Commander Tammerlane asked.

Teska was about to reply in the affirmative but stopped to reconsider. Even more than any other time, now was one to seek guidance. Demon's were nothing to be trifled with. She bowed her head again and was silent for a long moment, praying for guidance. When she looked up she was more certain. "Yes."

Commander Tammerlane accepted her reply. "I'll look after the ship while you're in there."

Teska nodded to him then turned her attention to the rest of her bridge crew, glancing at the faces intent upon their screens. "Ensign Cantrell, set the engines for maximum deceleration on my mark," she said and the ensign nodded. Teska then pressed a button on the arm of her suit and said, "All crew, prep for hard decel." As she spoke a throat-mike in her vac-armor picked up the words and relayed them to the PA system. Out of the corner of one eye she saw an ensign moving about the bridge securing loose items. She turned her attention to the range-to-target counter, waiting several minutes for the right moment. When it came she hit the broadcast button again and said, "Hard decel on my mark. Mark," and the whole ship shuddered as Ensign Cantrell triggered an emergency inertia bleed. The grav-drives flared and the outside of the ship began to heat up as kinetic energy was converted to heat and the compensators struggled to keep the incredible deceleration of the ship from killing everyone inside. For most ships a full bleed was a last ditch maneuver to throw off pursuit and usually resulted in some amount of drive damage. The Firedrake Redeemed however had been modified by Nick Whitefeather to be capable of maneuvers that most destroyer captains would consider insane. Within eight minutes the Firedrake Redeemed came to a complete stop relative to the module.

"You have the con, Rob," Teska said as she rose from her seat and left the bridge. Her long legs, designed for running on the toes and not the sole, quickly carried her to the shuttlebay where Major Haber was waiting onboard a prepped assault shuttle with two ten-squads of heavily armored spacemarines carrying shockrifles and Teska's APA-1277 Markaath light powered armor. She boarded and told the pilot to launch immediately then stripped off her vac-armor and got into the PA suit. Major Haber handed her a shockrifle when she was done.

The shuttle was out into the dim murk of hyperspace in less than a minute and Teska went up to stand between the pilot and co-pilot as they eased the shuttle down next to the station-module.