Preston Lewis pushed the image of his family from his mind. He and his wife had divorced a decade ago, and she was off, living in Espace territory with her new husband, Frederik. His son was a good man, a strong but simple person. He treated his wife and Arlo well. They would be fine without Preston around.
When he’d left Arlo behind, it had obviously affected the kid, but if there was one thing Hawk was good at, it was being resilient. Preston had no doubt that his grandson would return to racing, and be one of the richest non-executives in existence.
He made a choice within seconds, while this Velibar awaited his response. Preston would buy in. He would sell himself as a loyal minion. After seeing Hunt smashed to pieces on this very bridge two days before, Preston couldn’t let that happen to the rest of the crew, even if it meant selling out his own planet for the time being.
He slowly faced Oleth, peering up at the tall, armored man. “They have no fleet. Only corporate vessels and mining haulers. Nothing that would stand in your way of invasion.” Despite his decision a moment ago, his stomach flopped as he said the words.
Oleth set a hand on his shoulder. It was heavy, but he stood firm. The Velibar’s tentacles lifted and dropped at once. “Useful information. Well done, human. Let us celebrate our union.”
“What about my crew?” he asked, realizing his mistake.
“You have no crew, Lewis. They will be taken care of. Keep working with me, and the crew will not be harmed.” Oleth exited the bridge first, and Preston took a last glance at his old chair. He’d had so many aspirations for this mission.
He reminded himself that this was like one of Arlo’s races. They were at the first checkpoint, leaving a lot of track to cover before anyone was named victor.
Preston Lewis trailed after his new leader with a smile on his face.
____________
Now
I woke to an alarm.
The rooms were an upgrade from the staff barracks, but not by much. Luther and I were sharing a space, him taking the bottom bunk, me the top. He was on his feet before me.
“What can that be?” he barked, slipping into his jumpsuit. He tripped over one of the legs, and almost fell through the door.
“I’ve spent a lot of nights here, and have never heard an alarm.” I hopped off the bunk, catching my clothing as Luther tossed it in my direction.
A total of twenty seconds had passed since the sirens began, and we were in the corridors, bumping into Jade and Varn.
Jinx appeared, eyes wide, his hair a mess of dark curls. “They’re here.”
His ominous words sent a shiver over my skin. “We don’t know that.”
I jogged past them, heading to an elevator. Two Protectors were inside, acting panicked. “What’s happening?” I asked.
“We can’t…” one started.
“That’s Hawk Lewis,” the other said. “We’re under attack.”
My blood went cold. “Velibar?”
They stared at me blankly while the rest of my team settled into the elevator.
“Hello? Velibar?” I asked.
“No. Not the aliens,” the first guy finally said. “Pirates.”
I watched Luther, and his jaw clenched. He hated them as much as I did.
We exited onto our hangar floor, and Aster was already inside the docking bay, barking orders at someone to prepare her ship.
“Wait, that’s my Racer, not yours!” Varn shouted, but Aster didn’t seem to care.
Jade grabbed my arm and held me back. “Arlo, we can’t just hop in the Racer and fight them. We have our own mission.”
“Are you suggesting we leave these pirates to attack the Belt Station?” I asked, and she shook her head.
Luther ran up the ramp onto Pilgrim, where R11 met him.
“Captain Lewis, there are twelve bogeys approaching the Station. I’ve listed them, and we can—”
I rushed from the robot. “Nice work. Let’s continue this conversation in space.”
The moment we were in the cockpit, Major Hewitt Barnes’ voice invaded the speakers. “Arlo, we’ve sent a defensive team out. You don’t have to get involved.”
I watched the radar as the dozen blips grew closer to our location. “What would you prefer?” The pause was all I needed to hear. “Okay. We’re going in. These Racers are equipped with the state-of-the-art shields and weaponry. Tell your guys to stay out of our way.”
“Good luck, Racer,” Barnes said, ending the call.
Varn had already detached his ship from the docking arm, and I connected to his comms. “Varn, just like our practice sessions. Let’s dive in headfirst.”
“I don’t know any other way,” he said through the dash speakers, and I flew after him.
“Blasters primed, Hawk,” Luther said.
“I’ve attempted communication with the incoming fleet, but they’re not interested in responding,” Jade told us.
Not that we expected them to. I wanted to know why pirates would bother with the station, but was more focused on protecting our people. It was a vulnerable time for Earth and the affiliate locations.
We were producing a vast amount of weaponry and Defenders, but the assault at Saturn was fresh in everyone’s minds. The entire event had been livestreamed to every single mine, planet, station, and Corporation on Earth. Our people were still in a fragile state. I imagined these pirates were attempting to take advantage of the vulnerability.
I raced past the Protector transports, and they followed after Killer and Pilgrim as we moved to intercept.
“Captain, I’ve managed to identify the lead craft as a modified hauler, thirty-year-old model, built and used by HyperMines for over two decades,” R11 informed me. “The others are also disused models. I’ve traced their IDs to the junkyard at Phobos.”
“They stole the ships from the yard and fixed them up,” Luther said. “Better than a fleet sent by one of the Primaries.”
“I’m not ruling that out either.” I finally saw the first ship in my viewscreen.
