Shells flared out and the portal erupted in shards and fragments. I kept hammering at the plated metal with guns full on, while our rear shields lit up at the rifle fire from behind. “Hot damn!” Amidst the smoke, a gaping hole loomed. Loose material on the landing dock went spinning helter-skelter out in space. I grinned, thinking about Sharki and his gang on deck in a subzero vacuum. The sods’d have a miserable time getting to safety before being asphyxiated.
We were in a ship, we’d gotten this far. Out of the jagged ruin of the port hole Goliath burst, her rear impulse jets flaring behind us. We’d have to forge the rest of the way on brute strength…and a lot of luck.
Chapter 2
Goliath burst out of the station, wreckage falling off her sides in fiery shards. “Yeehaw!” Marty crowed. We headed into deep space on impulse thrust. Marty was pleased.
“Save your yeehaws,” I barked. “Get Goliath the fuck away from here so we can break out in warp.”
“Too close, Rusco, too close to Thetis. We’re at the 10k mark. Grav field still too strong. Seven minutes minimum.”
Was it enough time? Activity flared from the station, three hot dark shapes shot out of the burning, ragged hole after us. Didn’t take them long to regroup and sic birddogs on our ass.
I turned to Deidra. “Your flyboy boss is a little peeved, I think. Surprised he recovered so fast. Can’t believe he’s not more worried about his precious station.”
She gave a grim laugh. “There’ve been breaches on Thetis 3 before. The crew always fixes them. Sharki’s more worried about the cargo we’re carrying.” She jerked a finger at the holo display showing three bogies coming straight at us. “Those red blips are stealth V-Zons out to blast you.”
“Not if we get to warp first.”
“You’ll never make it to warp before they peg you off. Goliath’s a sloth on impulse thrust. I know it, she’s my ship, remember? Too close to Thetis, as your boy just reminded you.”
“You’re just a fountain of cheer, aren’t you?”
“You’ve made me complicit in whatever scheme you’re running by dragging me aboard. Thanks a bunch for signing my death warrant.”
“Well, hooking up with scum like Sharki is a surefire death warrant. You can trade a starship’s ride out of hell here for a hide full of lead. You should be kissing my ass for saving your butt back there.”
Her mouth sagged an inch as she was about to punch back with a retort. Instead, she looked over at the holo-view with hopeless eyes.
“Why you so fixated on us getting nuked anyway? Don’t you have any ounce of preservation in you?”
“I think I’d rather get blasted to hell than have Sharki on my tail. He’ll slap me in a slave shop as he’s threatened all along.”
I frowned at that, scratched the cut on my face. “Makes no sense. You deviated before?”
“No, he owned my father.”
“You really have no allegiance to him? Aw, screw it. I’ve no time for mysteries.” Fire flare hammered our shields. I set the weapons grid to lock on the upcoming bogies. They were coming in fast. “Marty, you ready for a tar-and-feather showtime?”
Marty looked casual as ever, as if smoking a peace pipe out on the front deck. Must have been the Myscol he just popped in his mouth. “Ready as ever.”
She hesitated at my last question. Her whole frame tightened in a knot with the approach of the lightfighters. “Once you’ve worked for Sharki, there’s no going back. He owns you for life.”
Marty guffawed. “That’s a pile of shit, woman. Clean up your brain. He’s just terrorized you into blind obedience.”
Her fingers clenched as if ready to claw Marty’s face. She sprang for the spare guns on the rack at the side and I headed her off. “No, not so fast, tigress.” She looked ready to claw my eyes out too, or drub me with her bunched fists. “You’re all wound up. We’re not going to harm you. Nothing you’ve said changes anything, so get with the program. As I said, from where I’m standing, you should be grateful to be alive.”
She let out a rasp. The young woman was not thinking straight. Seeing Sharki’s ruthlessness firsthand, I could understand. Her ship had just been hijacked. Her bane, Sharki, had turned on her and promised her a cruel fate.
The first repellor beams came lashing out at our port stern and knocked our shields way down.
“Mother fucker,” I breathed.
Flare bombs flashed around us and rocked our hull. Marty’s evasion tactics were not working. Jesus, what else could go wrong?
“Can’t you fly this thing?” I yelled at her, “or are you just window dressing?”
“I can fly it,” she spat.
“Then do it!”
With a sneer, she stamped forward, bumped Marty out of the pilot’s chair. Her slender fingers danced over the console, set the ship on a narrow dive, just bypassing one of the V-Zon’s repellor beams by a hair.
Our Deidra was coming round, a little late, but I was grateful she was on board.
The V-Zons took another swipe at us, one of their lurid rays catching us hard in the nose, rocking the ship and raising hell on our shields. The other spitfires converged on us like hornets, stingray cannons trained at our fuselage. Whatever could be said of him, Sharki hired good pilots.
I swore. “Shields down to 41%. Fancy moves aren’t going to win us the day.” I searched the defense systems for any reserve power we could divert into shields. I looked to Marty. “I’m open to ideas here. Only so much I can do with three against one.” I punched at the weapon controls, aiming for the place I expected the closest
