Page 20 of Pact with the Alien Devil

“Three scavenger ships,” Korvan announced, his fingers moving over the secondary control panel. “Class-D Raptors. Old mining vessels retrofitted with military-grade weapons.”

“I can see that,” I snapped, banking hard to avoid another volley. “Kind of busy trying not to get us killed.”

Korvan ignored my tone. “They’re trying to box us in. The lead ship has a tractor modification.”

“How the hell do you know that?”

“The energy signature. And the way they’re maneuvering.”

I swung the ship into a tight spiral, throwing off their targeting systems momentarily. I’d run blockades, escaped Alliance patrols, and once even outflown a mercenary squadron. But I’d never done it with a bleeding Vinduthi lieutenant only inches away.

“You need to let me handle this,” I said, yanking the ship in another direction. “I know how to fly my own damn ship.”

“I’m not questioning your abilities,” Korvan replied, maddeningly calm as he rerouted power to the rear shields. “I’m supplementing them.”

Another hit rocked the ship. The controls bucked in my hands.

“Come on, girl,” I muttered to theStarfall. “Don’t let me down now.”

“Their lead ship has a weakness,” Korvan said. “The retrofitted weapons systems drain power from their engines during full discharge. There’s a two-second lag.”

I shot him a skeptical look but filed the information away. “And you know this how?”

“I’ve hunted their kind before.”

Of course he had. What hadn’t this man done?

I banked the ship again, this time diving beneath the formation of scavenger ships. They adjusted quickly, their engines flaring as they changed course.

“There’s a debris field in sector seven,” I said, checking the nav charts. “If we can reach it...”

“It would give us an advantage,” Korvan finished my thought. “Their ships are larger, less maneuverable.”

“Exactly.”

Our eyes met for a beat too long. It was strange having someone who could follow my thinking without explanation. Stranger still that it was him.

“I’ll redirect auxiliary power to the forward thrusters,” he said. “It’ll give us the burst we need.”

I nodded, plotting the course in my head. “When I say now, hit them with everything we’ve got. Right in their belly.”

Korvan’s fingers hovered over the weapons control. I noticed how long they were, how precise in their movements despite his injury. He had to be in pain, yet nothing in his face or posture betrayed it.

I pushed that thought aside and focused on flying. The scavenger ships were closing in, two from behind and one sweeping around to cut us off.

“They’re coordinating,” I said. “That’s unusual for scavengers.”

“These aren’t ordinary scavengers,” Korvan replied. “They’re too organized.”

Great. Just what we needed.

I pushed theStarfallinto a steep climb, then immediately reversed direction, dropping beneath the lead ship just as it fired. The maneuver put us on a direct course for the debris field.

“Hold on,” I warned.

The first fragments of destroyed ships and station parts loomed ahead. I threaded us through a gap barely wider than our hull, scraping past a twisted girder.

The scavengers hesitated, then followed. Just as I’d hoped.

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