Page 113 of Rebel Fates

“What’s that?” Gemma sits up, anxiety taking over whatever was left of her good mood.

Even I’m not sure why our ship is so rattled, until I read the report on our screen. “The Tirbilians’ ship.”

“Can they hurt us?” Gemma asks.

“Yeah.” Serrat studies the scan with me. “They have firepower. Matching ours, at least.”

“Can we outrun them?” she asks.

“No. Their ship is faster than ours.”

“But why are they even here?” Serrat asks, mostly to himself.

“Maybe they were on their way to Earth to help LunaTek, or for a planned pick up of slaves and picked us up on their scanners,” Gemma suggests.

We all nod in agreement.

“That is likely it,” Zeek says and squeezes her to his chest. “But why come at us? Since that is what it appears they are doing now.”

“They are after Gemma,” Serrat growls. And I’m even a bit frightened by how much hate comes through with that sound.

Then my own ire rises, thinking of how they stole her from us before.

“Leva, attack,” Serrat says.

Our ship has been in a few skirmishes, but she is still young. I worry she might not have the same skill as a battle-hardened adult of her unique species. Fortunately, she has us to guide her through it if she flounders.

Leva makes a strange snarling sound that I never heard from her before.

“Are you alright?” I ask.

“Protecting Gemma!” Leva says so loudly the sound is deafening.

But I’m so proud of our little ship. Her first words were about defending our mate.

We will have to work on her volume after this is over.

“Holy shit,” Gemma gasps and strokes the leathery walls. “Be careful, Leva.”

My heart almost bursts with how wonderful their relationship already is.

As the Tirb’s ship appears in our vision, it immediately shoots torpedoes at us.

Leva anticipates the strike and maneuvers out of the way, evading a direct hit.

She also launches her own torpedoes at the Tirbs. It’s a compact ship and thus it has a quick response and is a smaller target.

We’re lucky and she gets in an excellent shot, and our enemies sustain some damage to their hull.

Leva turns and one of the enemy’s bombs hits her side.

We all are thrown with the impact, landing in a pile in the cockpit.

Frex, she’s never been hit like that.

The Tirbs upgrades from the Syndicate are proving to be a match for our ship’s current abilities and arsenal.

Leva lands another direct hit.

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