Page 83 of Fighting Gravity
I flared my nostrils at the quarreling feelings festering inside me.
“It doesn’t matter,” I groaned. “Even if I’ve claimed her, she should know her place.”
Veron sighed and looked back at her screens. She seemed unhappy with my answer and it puzzled me and made me question everything. Not just about the situation, buteverything. I balled my hands into fists and focused on the chase, unable to extinguish the growing heaviness in my chest.
“So?” Veron continued. “Are we going to destroy the ship? No questions asked? Because that would be ideal.”
“Intercept it first. I want to know why they’re here.”
It didn’t take long to get within range of the human vessel and by that time their situation was becoming clearer. I took a glance at the tracking data to find more and more information becoming available on the screen.
“Their ship is damaged,” I said.
Veron nodded. “I can see that. If I had to venture a guess, I’d say they were knocked off course and they’re lost.” She scoffed. “They can’t even navigate space properly. They don’t belong here. I say we put them out of their misery.”
She turned and headed toward the front weapon controls, but I placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
“Not yet.”
“If we wait—”
“If we wait, what? They destroy us? The ship is a third of our size and it’s damaged. Now stand down.”
“We’re about to get a visual,” Crex said, slowing our jump until we could see the expanse in its glittering detail.
Crex was one of the best pilots I knew and he’d put us right where the human vessel exited its jump. They appeared as a tiny dot of red light in the distance and immediately, Crex headed toward them. I stood behind his seat, watching as we closed in on them.
“Damaged” had been an understatement. There was smoke billowing from the back end of the small vessel. The fact that they’d survived a jump of any kind was pure luck. The damage, however, brought reality to light. I tensed, narrowing my eyes at the scene.
“Hail them,” I said. “Now.” I whipped my head around to look at Veron, pointing at the area scanners she should have been managing. “Scan for another ship. One that would be harder to detect.”
My tone spurred her into action without question. She began swiping commands onto the clear, glass screen as we closed in on the human ship. Crex made quick work of opening a line of communication while Kaar rushed onto the bridge with a data pad in his hands. He tossed it on the nearest countertop without a care.
“Weapons are hot on all sides,” he said. “And shields are up.”
“There’s no way we’re all tense over that little ship,” Veron said. “What’s going on.”
“Incoming!” Crex shouted.
All eyes turned to the front where a massive ship popped into view just behind the human vessel. Crude in shape and made of a volcanic, black/brown metal, the nozun ship was out for blood. Whether they were hunting for slaves, materials, or entertainment, a nozun ship in the middle of nowhere was never a good thing for any race. Meeting a few drunk crew members on a station was one thing. Finding them in space with a ship of their own design was quite another.
The distorted, panicked tone of a man’s voice came over the coms. Kaar doctored the frequency until I could hear him clearly and I found a human shouting over the line. Then a panicked woman took over, calling for help but clearly unaware their pleas had reached us instead of a human ally.
I had mere seconds to make a choice and stepped forward to reply.
“This is urok Rhone Lok’rath and you’re in free space, far outside human territory.” I paused a moment and took a breath.
“Y—you speak English,” the man’s voice shuddered into the coms. “Look… I don’t know who you are, but we need help. We’re no threat to you. Please. I’m begging you.”
“Help? We’re helping humans now?” Veron said.
I growled my frustration. “Do you have any weapons on your ship?”
“One. We have one. The rest were damaged in the jump. This is a training ship. It’s full of recruits. We—”
“Attack that big ship with everything you have,” I snarled.
There was no time to make a plan. No time to argue with my crew. Even one small human ship would be helpful against a nozun warship.
