“Was Lilkee captured or killed?”
“She escaped.”
“Bet that made Talree happy.”
“The hunt continues.”
“You’re okay?”
“I am Askole.”
Guess that meant his ship was intact and he wasn’t hurt.“Where do I land?”
“Tanith air command will contact you.”
“Okay. Be careful. Lilkee might be a ditz, but Malik sounds like a badass dude.”
“Askole fear no one.”
My internal radar went on alert. About the same time, red blips appeared on my ship’s battle display. “This can’t be good.” I reached out with my mind. Damn. The sneaky bitch Lilkee had been on Tanith the entire time.
A note of concern in his voice, Tihar asked,“What’s wrong?”
“I know where Lilkee and her wannabes are.”
“Where?”
“They’re heading right for me.”
“Contact air command for help,”Tihar instructed.
Like they would listen to a mere female. On the view screen, I watched as eight bright-red fighters released a relentless rain of laser bolts at my borrowed ship.
The Marauder shook violently.“Too late.”I let loose with an answering salvo and put my ship into a radical vertical descent.
I scored two direct hits, and the enemy spacecrafts vanished from my tracking scanner.
Two hundred feet from the surface, I pulled my ship up and skimmed over the devastated landscape.
The lead Legionnaire ship slammed into the ground. A fireball rose high into the sky.
KeeKee quivered in my hair.“We crash?”
“Not today.”I had made her a promise, and I was damn well going to keep it.“Be very quiet. Momma Sarah needs to concentrate.”
“’Kay.”
Tihar interjected,“I have notified air command. They are sending a squadron to intercept the Legionnaires. If your hull is breached, the radiation will kill you within twenty minutes.”
“Good to know.”I increased my speed and made a run for the shattered city.
The Legionnaires’ ships were right on my tail, blasting away at my shields.
The readout screens were feeding me combat information at a high rate of speed. Too bad I couldn’t read Tai-Kok or Rodan. Wrapping my right hand around the laser cannon’s controls, I started shooting.
The view screen lit up like the Fourth of July. Hopefully, I had gotten every one of the bastards. One look at the tracking scanner and I groaned. There were still three bogies in pursuit.
“The Coletti squadron is five minutes out,”Tihar said.