"Probably more than we will ever see in our lifetimes," Strawberry responded. "It depends on what they are extracting from the planet. From our limited experience there, it could be any number of things. It would take a company years to research all the possible uses for everything found on dragon world."
"Can we outrun them?" I asked.
"Outrun?"
"Can we travel faster than them?" I rephrased.
"Not likely," my berry flavored partner replied. She referred back to the screen's data. "They are a class M vessel. Twice our size and probably faster and more agile than us. Our only chance of getting away from them will be to rip-jump before they get close."
"Are we ready to do that?" I asked, excited to have a quick solution to the problem.
"The ship is ready," Honeysuckle answered with a glance toward Strawberry.
"That would require a skilled navigations specialist," Strawberry informed me, looking a bit defeated. That was not something that I was used to seeing from her. Not since the first day that I met her when she finally returned from being lost among the dragons for days. "I'm not even twenty percent of the way through the minimal amount of training required to make a safe jump."
"What is the danger if they do find us here?" I asked. "Can they use a tractor beam and board us?"
"I do know what a tractor beam is," Strawberry replied as she returned the image of the ship to the main screen. "But these two protrusions on the side of their ship are weapons. If they get close enough to fire those accurately, we can be immobilized if not destroyed."
"We need Sage," Honeysuckle insisted. "I don't want to survive dragon world and the cave of monster bitches just to die in space before I can even tell anyone my story."
I was dead set against that. I thought Strawberry would be, too. Instead, completely lacking confidence in herself she said, "she might be right."
"No," I told them sternly. "There has to be another way. Not only can we not rely on her anymore, we can't allow her access to the ship's computer. I'm not taking any chances on her fucking up our plan. No. We figure a way out of this ourselves."
We stared at each other for a moment. I could see that they both wanted me to reconsider letting Sage handle the navigation controls to get us out of here. But I was thinking about our other options.
"You say they haven't noticed us yet because our engines are powered down. Can we just hide here in plain view that way?"
"Their scanners will find us eventually," Strawberry said with a shake of her head. Red hair bounced around then settled back into perfect form. "If they head to this planet, they'll see us for sure. We didn't get far enough away yet."
"What is the danger of letting the computer handle the entire rip-jump process?" I asked.
"Nobody does that!" both girls responded vehemently.
"Why?"
"Because our lives are at risk if we do," Strawberry answered, obviously shocked that I would even suggest such a thing.
I walked to the front of the control room and sat down in the pilot's seat. Honey was still to my left and Strawberry behind me in the raised captain's chair. I needed to figure a way out of this mess. I pulled up a map of the star system then zoomed in to view just our area.
"Can you get me a navigation point beyond that moon over there?" I asked.
"Yes, I can do that much already," Strawberry answered, but she didn't sound happy about it. "They'll spot us right away then. And they'll be able to see where we are going. However, once behind the moon we won't be able to track their movement. If they pursue, they might be able to fire at us before we can move again."
"Well, we can't stay here," I told them as I brought up the pilot control screens that I needed. "Send me the ordinates and I'll get us behind cover."
"Cover?"
"Hidden," I clarified. "Then Strawberry, you learn the specifics for ripping us a hole out of this system while we wait to see how they respond."
"I'm not comfortable with this plan," Strawberry told me. She sounded as if she just might refuse to follow my instructions.
"Me either," Honeysuckle added. That wasn't good. I couldn't lose two supporters in this attempt to be a hero. "We should get Cinnamon in here before we decide."
"Have I ever steered you wrong, Honey?" I asked. I was essentially demanding her obedience. This was a make-or-break moment. If she didn't fall in line with my plan the girls were going to follow the more knowledgeable redhead instead of me.
"No," she replied softly as she peered into my eyes. I got the impression that she knew what I was doing and what was being held in the balance of her actions. "What can I do?"
"You track that ship while Strawberry and I work together to get us behind that moon," I told my green-skinned lover. "Powering up!"
"I have a nav-point for you Kash," the redhead said. "It will keep us hidden until the ship gets close to the planet. Anything closer to the moon will have us affected by its gravitational pull. We won't be able to power down unless we maintain some distance from it."
"Okay," I replied as I punched my fingers at my display screen to go as quickly as possible through the mandatory checklist. "Let's do this!"
"Do what?" Cinnamon asked in near panic as she entered the control room behind me. "I felt the engines power up. What is going on?"
"There is a ship coming toward us," Strawberry explained while I focused on my job. "Kash is going to move us behind the closest moon and we'll hope they
