Free Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike by Doug Dandridge

did not have much cutting to
do, as the hard alloy of frame and hatch were very difficult to cut.  In a
moment it was done, and Cornelius got to his feet without the pressure of
flowing air to push him out.  Nor was there any air in his lungs, which hurt
like a bitch.  His vision was slightly blurred from the pressure of the fluid
inside pushing against the tissues.  His joints ached, a symptom of the bends,
the nitrogen in his blood bubbling out due to the lack of pressure around him.
    Let’s get it out , sent the Commando
over the link.  Here, help me.
    Cornelius nodded and grabbed hold of an
antigrav, pulling the weapon down, breathing a mental sigh, the only one he was
capable of at the moment, as the cylinder slid through.  There was a bit of
resistance, while both men pulled with straining muscles until it pushed
through the obstruction.
    The bomb fell through, dropping away. 
Satrusalya had set the antigravs to then go to the opposite setting once they
were through, pulling them toward the greatest gravity source in the region,
the black hole.  In an instant the bomb was speeding toward the black hole,
where it would either be swallowed up with a blip of radiation, or explode too
far from the station to do any damage.
    He was admiring his work when the Cacas blasted
through one of the doors and atmosphere came screaming back into the chamber. 
Enough to propel him through the hatch and into space, to start the long fall
toward the hole that would crush him out of existence.
    *    
*     *
    “That’s the third one, Doctor Yu,” said the
Marine General commanding station security.
    The Director of the Donut Project looked
at the schematic that showed the device falling from her station toward the
black hole, an object a hundred gigaton explosive device would not even affect.
    “Are, are the people who pushed it off the
station OK?” she asked, feeling rising anxiety at the fate of Jimmy Chung, whom
she had not been able contact for the last ten minutes.  Not that such was
surprising, since the station com links were overloaded with vital traffic.
    “They took severe casualties, ma’am,” said the
General in a low voice.  “Both my Marines, and the ad hoc force we sent in from
the other side.”
    Ad hoc meaning the on leave special ops troops,
and Jimmy’s people.  “Thank
you, General,” she said, looking at the man’s grim face.
    “We’re still hoping we can get to the last one
before it goes off,” said the General, the expression on his face showing he
really didn’t believe that would happen.  “We….”
    The holo went blank for a moment, while warning
klaxons started sounding across the control room that fronted Yu’s office.  She
jumped up from her desk and ran into the room, her eyes darting around the
chamber at the multitude of stations with screens up, their operators staring
intently at the scenes being presented there.  Some of those scenes were from
sensors along the curve of the station, looking toward the area the Ca’cadasans
had taken.  A bright point had appeared there, toward the center of the width. 
Large pieces of hull flew from the area, heading toward the black hole.
    They detonated the last bomb , thought the
Scientist, staring at the large trivee scene that had appeared over the high
wall of the chamber.  The bright area expanded, moving kilometers to all sides
of the blast.  It kept growing, until it had encompassed a circle ten
kilometers on the underbelly of the station.  And another schematic showed the
internal damage, reaching out five more kilometers.  The schematic showed that
the central cable, a kilometer thick of hard but flexible carbon strands, had
been severed, over a kilometer if its length simply gone.
    The station shuddered, the shock wave finally
reaching their area, and more warnings went off.  “We’re being pushed off our
optimal orbit,” called out one of the control room crew.
    “Take control of the grabbers,”