22
Morgan Hawke
* * * * *
The small shuttle dipped below the planet’s cloud level with the captain snoring up a storm in the bed directly behind Aubrey. Uneven, rock-tumbled terrain spread beneath the ship. Patches of twisted trees and scattered hardscrabble brush seemed to be the only signs of life.
Aubrey tapped his finger on the armrest while piloting the ship closer to the surface. Death had to be really fast, or the captain would awaken and possibly stop the crash. He needed something to crash into, like…a mountain, if he could find one.
His sensors picked up a small craft unfamiliar in conformation following his trail.
It was not a Moribund ship or an Imperium craft. It had to be Skeldhi.
Aubrey’s brows rose. Who needed a mountain when he could just get his ass blasted by an enemy ship? Oddly, something his father said a very long time ago came to mind. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
He smiled and shifted the trajectory to make it easier for the other ship to catch him and shut down all the proximity alarms. The last thing he needed was the captain waking up and stopping him. He leaned back and set his hands behind his head, while listening to the captain’s loud snores. A smile played on his lips. Finally, all his misery was going to end, nice and fast.
The ship shuddered hard and whirled into a spinning curve that flung it from the other ship’s path.
Aubrey grabbed for control. He needed to get back into that ship’s path if he was going to make sure he didn’t survive.
The captain rolled—or rather fell—from the bed. “What the fuck is going on?”
Aubrey rolled his eyes. “We have been hit by enemy fire, and we are currently spinning out of control.”
“Give me that!”
Aubrey was hauled from the pilot’s chair and practically thrown onto the other chair.
“Go!” The captain dropped into the pilot seat. “Strap yourself in! I’ll get us down in one piece.”
Aubrey rose from the chair. No, damn it! He was going to crash this damned ship if he had to pry the engineering panel up from the floorboards with his bare hands.
The ship bucked hard.
Aubrey fell to the deck.
The captain choked. “Bloody fucking Fate! Where the hell did that come from?”
Aubrey grinned. Hot damn! They were under fire again. The other ship had found them. Fate was finally smiling!
“What the fuck? The proximities are off! Kid, what did you do?”
Interstellar Service & Discipline: Lost Star
23
“Who, me?” Aubrey rolled onto his back, tucked his hands behind his head, and folded one knee over the other, kicking his foot absently. “Not a damned thing.”
“Get your ass back in the chair! We’re about to crash and crash hard!”
Aubrey smiled. “No, thanks, I’m good.”
“Are you trying to die?”
Aubrey rolled over onto his stomach and smiled at the captain. “Why, yes I am, you fucking moron.”
The captain howled and climbed out of his chair. “Get in this chair, you stubborn little shit!”
Aubrey rolled up onto his feet and set his back against the door. He bared his teeth. “Fuck you!”
The captain grabbed the front of his ship-suit. “You will get in the fucking chair and strap in!”
In the forward view-screen, the mountain came out of nowhere.
Aubrey could not believe his good luck. “Um, Captain, shouldn’t you be paying attention to that?”
“To what?”
Aubrey grinned. “The mountain dead ahead?”
The captain looked over his shoulder. His mouth fell open, and his eyes bulged.
Aubrey laughed. It was so perfect. Better than any comedy vid he’d ever seen.
The crash came blindingly fast. One second Aubrey was laughing in the captain’s face, and the next, he was being tossed around like a marble in a cup. The sound of ripping metal was horrendously loud.
* * * * *
Aubrey groaned. He was still alive.
Damn it!
He opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying on top of the captain’s rather large stomach.
Thanks for the soft landing,
asshole
. And the captain was still breathing. He scowled.
Great…
The air smelled bitter.
He looked up. A dark, cloudy night sky was clearly visible over his head. The ship was a shredded mess all around them. He couldn’t even tell what was supposed to be the deck and what was supposed to be the ceiling, especially the front. In fact, the entire nose, along with both chairs, was missing.
Aubrey smacked the closest surface with his palm. He should have stayed in the chair! He rolled off the captain’s belly and climbed to his feet. He had a few small cuts and bunches of assorted bruises, but other than that, he was intact. Damn it. He eyed the litter lying about. There had to be something sharp enough to open his wrists or shove into his heart. He got down on his knees and started hunting.
24
Morgan Hawke
Close to where the pilot’s chair used to be, Aubrey found a fairly interesting and serrated shard of metal about as long as his forearm. Sitting back on his heels, he checked the edge. It felt sharp. He nodded. That ought to do the job pretty quick.
He turned the point to just below his breastbone and tilted it upward toward his heart.
An arm reached over his shoulder, and a hand closed around Aubrey’s wrists.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” The captain’s voice was right in his ear.
Aubrey ground his teeth and fought to hold on to the blade of metal. “I should think it’s pretty damned obvious.”
“You are not committing suicide.” The captain lifted the blade.
Aubrey came with it, hanging on with every drop of stubborn strength he had.
“Yes, I am!”
The captain grabbed his shoulder with crushing force. “Let go!”
“You let go!” Aubrey jammed a foot between them, his boot heel catching on the larger man’s upper thigh.
The captain gasped and suddenly toppled backward.
Aubrey fell on top of him. Somehow in the fall, the point of the metal shard ended up in the side of the captain’s neck. Blood welled, and the scent of
