Jovian Chronicles Companion

Guilt washed over Viviane at the sight of her inadvertent handiwork. From the vantage point of her Pathfinder, she gazed at the highly radioactive Corridor of Death between Io and Jupiter, then at the SS Bacchus, drifting away with its engines shut and a gaping hole in its cargo bay. One stray missile...

In her comm, Captain Murdock was barking orders repeatedly over the blaring ship alarms. "Panther One! I repeat, get out of the interference zone and call for help! There's no time to lose!"

But Viviane knew there just wasn't enough time. It was her fault, all her fault, and she had to do something. She turned off her comm system and flew rapidly toward the Bacchus, slowing down near the prow to make her Pathfinder lean against it. She threw an override switch, and almost immediately the throbbing of her engines went from a low rumble to an excited pitch. The resulting thrust pushed the exo's structure tight against the hull of the wounded trader. Armored fingers dug into the plating of the ship as she struggled to maintain her grip. Inside, Viviane could hear her Pathfinder protests as the ferocious thrust strained the exo's joints and overheated its fusion core. She knew it couldn't take this for very long. She just needed it to hold on long enough to push the merchan ship away from the Corridor.

It was an act of desperation. It had to work...