Page 10 of Hunting the Warlord's Daughter

“Impact—aft port control pod!”

“Seal off the pod!” Hadley ordered Odin, the engineer.

“Done.”

Hadley smelled something burning.Your ship or your pride?Both were equally at risk at going up in smoke.

“We lost two more fighters!”

Blast it.They were decimating her defenses, killing her people. The Great War was over, but a new one loomed—terrorists joining with loyalists, the dead warlord’s ruthless minions, willing to do anything to destroy the peace treaty.

She strode to the front of the bridge. There was no way they were going to fight their way out of this one. They were either going to be a casualty or…

“Ram it.” She fisted her hands. “Lieutenant Barrientes, spin her around, on my mark—”

“Did you sayram it?” Tango’s brows shot up, his dark eyes opening wide as he cupped his hand to his ear. “Just want to be sure.”

Well, better stunned than panicked—not that the cocky Terran pilot would dare show that.

“Correct. Turn this baby around. We’re going to hit that monster’s ship with our damaged pod to keep our good side functional.Do it.”

Tango obeyed her order.

“Collision warming,” the comm-bot droned. Alarms wailed throughout the damaged ship.

“Aim for just forward of their star-drive,” she called out.If we’re going to die anyway, we might as well die trying, she wanted to add, but refused to jinx the plan.

Especially since it could actually work.

She’d grown up on a farm on Talo, an outlying provincial world where the sun and the seasons formed the framework for life—not machines. She’d driven fruit to market in a centuries-old truck. Once, road pirates had tried to steal the load, but her brother rammed them. Hadley never forgot. He’d shown her how. It had just never been applied to a starship.

Before now.

Alarms wailed.

“Collision imminent,” Berloo warned her.

The impact threw her sideways. She pulled up to her knees. Metal screeched on metal. The vibration rattled her bones. Fountains of sparks lit up the starboard viewports.

“Accelerate to maximum speed!” she said.We need to get the hells out of here.They had to put enough distance between them and the enemy in order to make the leap to hyperspace—and safety. “Prepare to engage jumpdrive! On my command.”

Grimly, in the midst of chaos, she took stock. Her fighters were still out there—Duchess, Gomerr, and the rest of their pilots, those who had survived the initial attack. They’d have to jump without their mother ship. They’d make it to the other side even if the command ship did not.

Maybe this isn’t so bad.Not a victory, but not an utter rout. The enemy warship was likely too damaged to return to service, and while her crew and ship might be history, her fighters would survive to fight another day.

With a swarm of enemy fighters in pursuit, the ship struggled to accelerate. The deck shuddered. A deep mechanical groan came from deep within the structure.It’s going to break apart!

“Go,” she whispered, her hands fisted, her stomach twisting, her uniform jacket damp with sweat.Go.“Engage jumpdrive!” The stars stretched out into streamers before winking out of sight.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace into a non-hostile region. Not a person spoke on the bridge. One could hear a light-pen drop.

Hadley hung her head. Goddess, she’d so wanted to excel in BSLS, Basic Starship Leadership School. She’d long dreamed of becoming a starship captain one day, following in her hero Admiral Bandar’s footsteps. Between her regular duties as the admiral’s executive officer, she’d crammed studying into every sliver of free time. But today, applying that knowledge to such a fluid and unpredictable battle simulation had proven more daunting than she anticipated.

The lights came up on the practice bridge. Captain Finn Rorkken walked toward her with a data-vis in one hand. Still tan and looking relaxed after his recent return from his tropical vacation with their commanding officer, Admiral Bandar, he wasn’t quite smiling—but the glint in his eyes worried her a little.

He was probably trying to figure out the best way to break the bad news.

Nonetheless, she straightened her spine and stood at attention.

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