He and Jelena raced back to the steps leading up to the docking platform. Since Erick didn’t want to take this trouble back to the Star Nomad, even if Leonidas might relish putting on his combat armor and dealing with it, he sprinted under the docks instead of up the stairs. Jelena ran at his side, not questioning his choice. She kept her barrier around them, and a few more shots bounced off it to the rear.
Erick led the way around pilings supporting the docks, avoiding the holes where sunlight slashed down from above, and he angled toward the bottoms of ships visible on the far side. Footsteps, voices, and the rumble of wheeled vehicles came down from above, the people up there oblivious to the weapons fire underneath the docks. Not that they would care if they knew about it.
Jelena and Erick ran out between two ships, skidding around the corner of one, and Erick raised a hand as he slowed to a stop. He reached back with his senses to check for pursuit. But whatever righteous indignation those people had felt at the appearance of Starseers apparently hadn’t been enough to convince them to run into dark places after them.
“They stopped chasing us,” he said, leaning against the hull to catch his breath. “But I’m guessing we won’t be welcome back there to shop for other ships.”
“Other? We didn’t even shop for one.” Jelena propped her fist on her hip.
“It’s not my fault.” He started to tell her why he had attacked, but if she hadn’t already figured it out, he didn’t want her to. She didn’t need to know about the ugly thoughts of lecherous freighter captains. “I mean, I know I attacked first, but, uhm, there were reasons.”
“I know. He was beyond nadir. I’m glad you kicked his asteroid into the sun.” Jelena lowered her arm. “I’m just frustrated with the whole situation.”
“It’ll be better to wait until you’re in a more reputable space port to shop for a ship.”
“Wait.” Jelena’s nose wrinkled as if this were akin to being tortured and sold into slavery.
“You’ll survive. Look, why don’t we get out of the area and find an Asteroid Icy? If we go back to the ship so soon, we’ll get stuck helping your parents unload their cargo.”
“An Asteroid Icy? Erick, I’m not ten. You can’t make me forget my disappointment by giving me sweets.”
“Actually, I was craving one.” Erick wiped sweat from his brow. “Flinging people around is hot work.” Not to mention that they were out of the shade now, with the intense suns beating down on them.
She snorted. “All right. Thanks for coming with me. You’ll look at ships with me again at our next stop, right?”
“Uhm.” Erick thought of the employment offer. If he didn’t accept it soon, his friend’s company would have to give the job to someone else. “I can—”
The roar of an engine sounded overhead, the noise rapidly rising to deafening status. Jelena grimaced and covered her ears. Erick stepped away from the ship and peered into the red sky.
A big, boxy freighter with thrusters at each corner was heading straight for the docks. It wobbled on its course, black smoke pouring from one of the rear thrusters. Make that both of them.
Erick glanced back toward the dark area under the docks. Should they hide? That ship looked like it would crash down right in the middle of everything.
Screams came from the top of the docks as people ran into ships or toward the city.
But the pilot got the freighter’s bulbous nose up slightly. The smoking craft cruised over the docks, almost taking a tower off one of the private yachts berthed at the far side. It sailed out over the used-ship lot and toward the desert beyond the city.
“Look!” Jelena pointed in the direction it had come from.
Three old imperial bombers were giving chase, the four-seat canopied craft loaded with weapons. They probably belonged to private owners now, maybe pirates or mafia, but the way they were flying in such a perfect formation made Erick uneasy. He had only been thirteen when the empire fell, but he still remembered the squadrons of fighters that had flown over the skies of his home world, of the way the humorless, stone-faced soldiers had patrolled the streets of town, and how they had once visited his family’s electrical fittings manufacturing plant, coming out in person to collect the draconian taxes his father hadn’t been able to pay that year. Dad had been dragged away to spend two years in a mining prison.
These ships weren’t firing, not with the city sprawling right underneath them, but there was no question that they were after the freighter. They might have already done enough damage to crash it. It wobbled out of sight over the dunes, leaving a trail of black smoke behind it.
“That freighter needs help,” Jelena said, her gaze locked to the sky. She frowned as the imperial bombers soared past.
“I don’t think we’re going to want to buy that one,” Erick said.
One of the bombers did a barrel roll, some kind of smug victory maneuver. Erick had the urge to reach out with his mind and fling the pilot against a bulkhead.
Jelena ran and jumped onto the docks, then climbed an exterior ladder on the ship they’d been hiding behind.
What are you doing? Erick followed behind closely enough to keep her in sight.
Seeing where the freighter crashes.
Why? he asked warily. He felt bad for the pilot, but he didn’t want to go on a trek in the desert or face the crews of three
