perhaps they would send their fighters to keep the freebooters at bay.
To his right a Mamba appeared out of nowhere. He rolled the Nemesis and shot from his rear laser, then slowed speed, span and strafed the killer vessel from his port gun, watching the Mamba tumble out of control, not destroyed, just dead.
If only he could release the cargo, jettison the cannisters containing the Mymurth life-systems, perhaps the pursuit would end. He and Elyssia would be out of pocket by three hundred credits, but so what? Neither he nor Elyssia were йlite, yet. He might feel like an йlite combateer, but faced with this sort of-A Mamba strafed him. Shields screamed. He targeted a missile, but used side-fire to battle with the attacker… — faced with this sort of pressure, neither of them could survive.
Elyssia came round, staggered to her feet and stared, through blood-encrusted eyes, at the combat. Cirag came closer. A tiny spinning point of silver light winked and beckoned to them, but the sight of it did not fill Alex with joy.
'There must be more than Mymurth in those cannisters…' Elyssia said quietly.
'Let's discuss it later,' Alex retorted, as he rolled and veered to escape the fire coming from the closest of the big ships.
The woman left the bridge. Hanging on for dear life, she went down to the cargo bay…
And suddenly the attack finished.
Alex nearly jumped with surprise. One moment his tail had been hot, and his port laser almost at exploding point. The next: nothing. The heavy lights of the massive pirate ships dropped away into the background. Two of the Mambas continued to dog his tail for a moment, firing last, optimistic bursts of fire. Then they vanished, streaking away into darkness, away from the sun.
Alex slowed the Nemesis and checked damage levels. They were not seriously hurt, but two missiles were gone, and energy levels were low. Their cargo was intact, however, and if the pirates had backed off, this close to the world, it could only mean that Cirag would defend its visitors.
Elyssia came back onto the bridge, holding the small, black box that was a Thru-Vis camera. 'They look like turtles. They stink like turtles. They're as boring as turtles. But I've taken a couple of Thru-V shots, just to see if anything else is hiding in there…'
'Good idea. Let's see?'
'Two or three minutes…'
She placed the camera down, sat back in the co-pilot's seat and looked at him. 'You okay?'
Alex nodded. 'Shaken. How about you?'
'Bruised, bloody but unbowed. We in the safe zone?'
'Looks that way.'
The Coriolis station span gently before them, bright with sunlight, casting its shadow on the patchy grey and yellow of the huge world below. Several ships were tethered to buoys close by. They looked safe enough. Lights flashed on the Station. Everything gleamed, everything welcomed.
Alex sailed gracefully past the immense flying city, then turned to face the entrance.
But there was no entrance. 'What in God's…?'
He sat there, motionless in space, rotation matched with the Coriolis, facing blank metal. By zooming in he could see the shape of the entrance, closed, now, protectively.
'Afraid of strangers?' Elyssia suggested.
'We need fuel badly. They'd better not be too afraid…'
Then the crackle of an audio message coming in. On the screen, only the space station, with stars and the sun behind.
'Identify, identify. This is Craig Orbit Space.'
'Cobra class trader, the Nemesis,' Alex said. 'We have a cargo of Mymurth.
Open the gates.'
There was silence for a while, though the channel remained open because it continued to hiss and crackle. Then:
'Attention, Nemesis. Mymurth trade in Coriolis stations is prohibited. '
'What? '
'Release your cargo before coming aboard. Release cargo. You will be compensated.'
Alex glanced at Elyssia. 'What the hell do we do?'
'Sounds unprofessional to me,' the woman said. 'Sounds a little fishy…'
She picked up the camera and removed the developed and printed film.
Staring at the two prints for a moment, she suddenly seemed to realise what she was looking at and gasped.
'Oh my Sweet World…' she said slowly, and passed the prints to Alex.
On the screen, the entrance to the space station began to open slowly.
Two lights shone there, like eyes, tiny in the dark void space beyond.
Alex looked at the Thru-V pictures, and for a second couldn't comprehend the grotesque sights he saw. Looking through the bodies of the Mymurth, the camera had picked up the spider-like life-forms that were living inside the shuffling, harmless turtle-forms. The sight was discomforting. Jointed legs seemed to be reaching out into every limb, and every body space. The central black body was shiny, and from it peered a number of bloated, faceted eyes. Two long, bristly tendrils stretched into the Mymurth's brains from each of these hideous parasites.
'What are they?' Alex whispered, and Elyssia said, 'Trouble. They're immature Thargoids' Alex felt his heart quicken. Tharglets! He was transporting Tharglets, the larval forms of one of the most deadly life-forms in the known Galaxy!
Set-up? Being set-up hardly began to describe the way they'd been duped on Xezaor!
No wonder the pirates had closed so ravenously…
'There's good bounty on Tharglets. Navy pays well for research purposes.'
'They're also deadly; and they make ideal mercenary fighters if trained and developed. We've been carrying fighters for Cirag. Pirate fighters. No wonder they want to destroy us. They won't want any evidence lof this…'
Alex stared at the space station. For a moment Elyssia's words just went in and didn't register. He was thinking of the pirates who had attacked, and who had been beaten back…
He was thinking that the danger was over… they were at a Coriolis station, and the only danger now was illegal trading…
He was thinking safety…
He watched as the bright eyes slid forward, out of the space port. Behind the eyes came the bulky shape of the ship to which they were attached.
Behind the ship came light, bright light, a gleaming yellow beam that cast the shadow of the ship across the Nemesis…
The shadow of a snake.
The Cobra!
He would have known that ship anywhere. It was months since he had seen it, but not a night had passed when the shape of it, when the evil of it, had not infested his dreams.
The ship that had destroyed the Avalonia came slowly towards him, and he had no doubt at all as to its identity.
And nor had Elyssia.
She sucked in her breath and moved towards the console. 'I want him. Let me take the controls…'
'Sit down,' Alex said coldly, and Elyssia turned angrily on him.
'I have as much stake in this as you…'
'Luck of the draw,' Alex said. 'The pilot of that ship killed my father…'
'Killed my whole family! We were escaping from Teorge, and we asked that ship for help, for supplies. It took my sister and myself as slaves, and blasted my family's vessel to pieces. I escaped. My sister didn't. Alex, I want that bastard!'
'Too late…'
Fire blossomed from the front of the Cobra. The Nemesis rocked and rattled.
