DR: And here's the second installment, concluding the final battle. Hang on to your seats, it's going to be a bumpy ride...

Chapter 36: Unto the Last, Grapple with Thee…

"Full power to engines!" Achilles bellowed, shocking his crew out of their stunned states. "Bring us hard about and get us out of here!" Achilles was not normally one to yell at his crew, but there were a few times and situations that warranted it.

Staring down the mouth of a black hole at close range was one of them.

With real fear in their hearts the crew threw themselves into their tasks, and quickly the engines were firing hard. The bow swung about till it was pointed back the way they came. Yet despite the engines being run as hard as they could go they were still being dragged backwards.

"Fire control, sever that line! The dreadnought is dragging us in!" Achilles ordered.

Behind them the Dreadnought groaned and creaked as it was stressed by the conflicting forces. The black hole eagerly pulled at it, driven by an all consuming hunger. The stresses were already pulling at weakened members, and a number of hull plates, loosened by the final blow, broke away from the hulk.

The flickering engines of Thunderchild were not enough to cease the descent, and slowly but surely the battlecruiser was dragged backwards, snared by the deadweight that was latched on.

Around her stern smaller laser turrets twisted and pivoted, trying to get an angle on the cable that linked the two ships. However, the cable lay almost flush with the hull for much of the ships length, making it impossible for the guns to get a bead on it. After a few more seconds, the turrets readjusted and opened fire at where the cable emerged from the dreadnought. Laser bolts crashed into the armour, digging for the winch drum.

"Come on... get us loose!" Achilles muttered, watching the screen as more lasers fired on the dreadnought. As he watched more bits were ripped from the ship and shot towards the black hole. A pair of spines slowly tore off, before spinning down into the depths.

Then a megalaser turret fired, the heavy bolts smashing the entire region were the cable emerged. There was a sharp jolt, and out of the explosion the end of the cable could be seen whipping about.

"That's it, we're loose! Get us out of here!"

The helmsman pushed his level forwards, but then slowly sagged in his seat.

"Sorry sir, but it's too late. We don't have the power to break free."

"How long before full power won't save us?" Achilles asked, not sure if he really wanted the answer. The crewman hammered the calculations out.

"Little under four minutes sir."

Achilles dropped his hand onto the intercom. "Engineering? We need full power in three minutes or we're all dead!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

Down in Engineering, Kaylee popped her head out from under the vast energiser she had been working on. She and River had come down to help out when a number of the ship's own engineers had been hurt. "Three minutes? Why?" She asked fearfully.

River, eyes wide, pointed a trembling finger at the cloth tool kit bag Kaylee had been using. When she turned her head to look, Kaylee gasped.

The top flap had been hanging over the edge. Now though it no longer hung vertically, as it should, but at an angle, wavering slightly as if in a light breeze.

Kaylee looked at River, then at the Thunderchild's chief engineer. His eyes were almost round with fear.

"Black hole..." He whispered.

"Oh." Kaylee replied in a very small voice. She then almost threw herself back underneath the energiser.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Groans filled the air as the frame buckled and twisted underneath the horrific forces that were tearing the ship apart. When one of the remaining engines had been ripped off it had produced a terrible screaming and tearing sound as the metal and organic material were stretched beyond what they could take. Every few seconds something snapped loudly, the squeal of shearing metal dragging on nerves.

The President leaned against the console, his breath coming in gasps. He looked at the screen that showed the slowly shrinking image of the Colonial ship, its engines flickering.

"No..." He chuckled, blood welling over his lip. "No, you can't get away." A cruel smile twisted his lips.

"For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee...e...e..."

His hands fell away from his stilled chest.

X-X-X-X-X-X

Achilles stood, too nervous to sit, before his chair. He watched the screen that showed the region behind them. Central to the background was the black hole, a dark tear in space. Just in front of it, visible against the accretion disk, was the Alliance dreadnought, which appeared to be twisting even further.

"Time?"

"One minute, twelve seconds." Was his answer.

To the rear of the bridge Apollo and Sheba stood together, arms wrapped around each other. "We're not going to make it, are we?" She whispered.

Apollo didn't have the heart to confirm that. The groans from the ships frame told her that.

At the stern of the ship the groans of stressed metal were louder and more frequent. The first time Kaylee had frozen, shocked at how pained it sounded. Now they only served to spur her on as she raced between various bits of burnt and damaged machinery, switching feeds and bypassing systems. This was no time to be neat and correct: they needed the power now.

A gasp rose from the lower bridge level as on the large screen they watched as the Alliance dreadnought began to break into two, the forward section twisting around the shattered region. Parts and debris were raining off the ship now, ripped away by the terrifying intensity of the black hole. Much of the organic material had been pulled off, ripping off vast strips of metal.

Suddenly the ship snapped apart, the forward section tumbling down the gravity well, its last connections dragging the stern into a spin. Unable to handle the combined stressed, the rear section began to come apart at the seams, metal peeling off the hull frighteningly quickly. It was as if every weld and bolt that held the stern together had failed at once, and now it was shattering.

The bow section slowly tumbled as it accelerated further. At this range, not even the Colonial systems could record all the details of the ship's destruction.

Down in Engineering, Kaylee struggled to move forwards. The effect of the black hole was strong enough that trying to walk along the deck was like climbing a steep hill. Behind her the space around the damaged energiser was a rats nest of various cables, many ripped from other, non-vital systems, all cross patched and spliced together. In her hand she held one last cable, the final one to plug in.

Kaylee leaned forwards, trying to make those last few steps to reach the open panel...

Suddenly a hand wrapped around her wrist and yanked her forwards. She crashed into Jayne's chest, knocking the breath out of her for a moment. Then the strong merc pushed her forwards to the open hatch, and she focused on patching the cable in...

Achilles could feel the tug of the black hole himself, trying to drag him to the rear of the ship. The force shields were at max power, but not even they could completely neutralise the awesome power of a black hole. On the screen before him a duel set of numbers were counting down, faster and faster. One showed the distance to the point of no return as calculated by the ship's computer; the other showed the time. Both would hit zero at the same moment...

The intercom squawked. "Okay, try it now!" Kaylee's voice resounded.

"Firing up energiser two."

Kaylee hung on as she stared at the massive energiser as it whined and stuttered. It rose and fell, rose and fell, almost stalled, and then roared with pure power, almost deafeningly loud. Her shriek of elation was lost in the noise as the energiser spun up to full speed.

"Sir! Energiser two at full power!" A bridge crewman called out excitedly.

"Punch it!"

The flickering engines of the battlecruiser flared, returning to full brilliance. Great tongues of white erupted forth, pushing against the relentless force of the singularity. The entire ship groaned and strained as two titanic forces battled for supremacy. Every eye on the bridge was focused on the numbers, which were slowing down. The question on everyone's mind was 'was it soon enough?'

"Come on big T, you can beat this..." Achilles whispered to his ship as the time figure began to rise slightly as the ships systems recalculated. All around them the ships members groaned and strained...

There were sharp intakes of breath as the distance fell below one thousand meters... then they stopped falling. For several long moments nobody dared to breath, let alone move.

Then the number clicked up by one. Then two.

And then the numbers began to rise steadily.

Cheers erupted throughout the bridge as the distance went above one thousand again. From the bridge the cheering and celebrations passed down the ship, the hull ringing with voices raised in joy, drowning out the groans of the ships hull.

When it reached Engineering Jayne hollered loudly, and Kaylee smiled as she stroked the console. "That's a girl." She smiled widely, just as Simon wrapped her up in his arms.

"You're a genius..." He whispered into her ear, sending a pleasant shiver running down her spine.

Mal smirked as he embraced Inara. They both watched as Simon and Kaylee's hug transformed into a passionate make-out session, while Jayne continued to holler.

Then Saffron stepped up and latched herself around him.

Mal frowned, unsure as how to take this development.

He would have frowned even more if he'd heard what she'd whispered to the big mercenary.

"You. Me. Bunk. Now."

DR: And we're done. (*Listens to cheers coming from the others*) We've got a couple more chapters to go, just tidying up a few loose ends. And laying a few new leads for a continuation... (*chuckles*)