Page 52 of Game on Askole

“The fight will be over by then.”I hit the city limits, rolled the ship on its axis, and shot under a badly damaged bridge. “Yee haw!”

A Legionnaire craft hit the bottom of the dangling metal span.Boom!It disintegrated into a searing inferno.

One down. Two to go.

“A daring maneuver.”Tihar seemed inordinately proud of me.

“Let’s find out how good they are.”I tipped the Marauder to one side and zipped down a wide debris-laden street at Mach 1.

The Legionnaires’ ships followed. One pilot let his wingtip clip an exposed girder. The ship spun wildly and crashed into the remains of a building. Blinding explosions ripped through the structure.Kaboom! Kaboom! Kaboom!

A warning light flared to life on my control console.

Tihar stated a little too calmly,“Your starboard deflector shield has failed.”

“No shit, Sherlock.”Exchanging laser fire with the remaining Legionnaire ship, I shot out of the street and climbed for altitude.

Bang!My Marauder pitched radically as it took a direct hit. Warning lights danced across the command console. On the rear screen, I could see a trail of thick black smoke. Stressed metal shrieked and groaned. The cold fist of reality hit me in the stomach. We were going down.

What did Aunt Tess say when all hell broke loose? Oh yeah. “As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For I’m the baddest motherfucker in the valley.”

“My father is positioning his ship to transport you.”

“He is?”Color me surprised.

“You are my chosen.”

“No like glitter light,”KeeKee whined.

“The alternative is dying of radiation poisoning.”

“Glitter light good.”

“Land your ship and surrender,”Lilkee suddenly snapped in my head.

“How about you surrender instead?”I switched to my psychic link with Talree.“This bitch has a death wish.”

“Air command has been notified. They want her taken alive.”

“What?”

Lilkee literally hissed like an enraged cat.“You cannot refuse me. I am a Coletti princess.”

“With the brain power of a gnat.”

“Obey me now, or I will destroy your mind.”

“Fat chance.”

A slight stinging sensation hit my mind.“Now you die.”

“No. Now you die.”I had one missile left, and I was putting it to good use. Screw Coletti air command. Centering the crosshairs on the Lilkee’s ship, I launched it.

Whoosh! It streaked toward the Legionnaire’s ship.Kablooey!Flames and smoke belched from the ruined vessel as it spiraled down to crash dramatically into an archway. “Bye-bye, bitch.”

“Lilkee teleported off the ship before it was destroyed,”Tihar commented.

“Damn. She’s got more lives than a cat.”

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