Page 17 of Courting Mayhem

“I am.”

Derek led us over to a sleek black shuttle and placed his hand on the sensor pad. The doors slid open. “Show me what you’ve got.”

“You betcha!” I bolted up the aisle and plunked my butt in the pilot seat. My hands danced across the controls, bringing the engines and weapons systems online. “Buckle up boys.” I fastened my harness.

“Who taught you how to fly?” Derek wanted to know as he settled in the co-pilot’s chair.

“Poppa Jacob.” I typed in the coordinates for the Magic Kingdom.

“Mayhem is an excellent pilot,” Poppa Jacob said proudly.

I shot Derek an impatient look. “Gonna clear us?”

“We are cleared for launch,” Derek said.

“Whoo hoo!” I punched it. With a roar the shuttle catapulted out of the landing bay. G forces slammed me back against the seat as I accelerated sharply. An endless fall of stars filled the viewscreen. I put the ship through a series of banking dives. It handled like a dream.

Derek let out a sigh and looked over his shoulder. “You trained her to be a fighter pilot?”

“The galaxy is a dangerous place,” Poppa Jacob said.

Derek shot back sarcastically, “Even more so now.”

I swung the shuttle around giving me a bird’s-eye view of Earth. It really did resemble a big, blue marble with white swirls. I guided the ship through the fluffy white clouds until we were skimming a hundred feet over the ocean.

“Have you flown in actual combat?” Derek asked.

“My fathers and I fought the Tai-Kok at Proxima III.”

Shock filled Derek’s eyes. “The Alliance lost over half of their ships in that battle.”

For a moment a whirl of images flashed across my mind. Atmospheric turbulence buffeting my damaged fighter as I fought to keep it in the air. The smell of overloaded circuits. The control console shorting out, and spewing sparks over the cockpit. I still remembered the burning fear crawling through my gut when my engines failed, turning my ship into a ten-ton brick.

One minute I was hurtling toward certain death, the next I was sitting by a charred metal structure rising like a freakish skeleton from a landscape of utter devastation. To say I was stunned would be an understatement. I watched in disbelief as my ship slammed into the side of a mountain.Kaboom!A fireball rose high into the air. Somehow, I had managed to teleport. If I could just do it on a regular basis, I’d be unstoppable.

“By the mercy of the Goddess, we all survived the battle,” Papi Sten said.

Poppa Jacob crossed himself. “I’ll never forget watching Mayhem’s burning fighter plummeting toward Proxima.

Derek shot me a startled look. “You were shot down?”

“Yes.” The Magic Kingdom filled the viewscreen. “Which landing pad?”

“Pad five is reserved for Central Command,” Derek replied. “How badly were you injured in the crash?”

“Not a scratch.” I sat the shuttle down on the landing pad. “I teleported out just before my ship turned into scrap metal.”

Derek blinked in disbelief. “You can teleport?”

“Believe me, I was just as surprised as you are,” I said.

“Have you been able to teleport since then?”

“No.” I released my harness and stood. “Lead the way War Commander.”

“Once we link, I’ll show you how to teleport properly,” Derek said and exited the shuttle.

I followed him. Smart guy had said the one thing that was guaranteed to get my attention. I desperately wanted to learn how to teleport.

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