Page 44 of Rescued

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HEROD

I jumped into the captain’s chair and ran through my controls. Nikathy, at my side, gave me an update on the closest Patrol ships. He counted down as we prepared for our approach. I was just about to punch the throttle when a video call broke my concentration and made both of us swear.

My initial impulse was to ignore it. We were busy and we couldn’t afford the distraction at a time like this, but when I looked at Nikathy, he gestured at the video screen. I had to answer it.

I flicked the button and tapped my fingers impatiently on the console while the video stream flickered to life.

“What now?” I asked.

“Oh, come on. You can’t still be mad at me for the other day,” Adreax replied.

“I’m not mad at you. I’m just busy. What do you need?”

His eyes narrowed and I knew he was trying to assess what I meant by the word ‘busy’. Ordinarily, I would not mind sharing the details of a particular mission with him, but time was of the essence just now.

“I just wanted to inform you that we are preparing for another raid. The Patrol has a ship dead in the sky out here. Ran out of fuel is my guess. Anyway, we’re going to board. Caimbrie will be joining us on this raid. You know there are some risks involved. If anything goes wrong, I don’t want you to have any regrets.”

The thought of Caimbrie running into danger had me on edge, but I was helpless at this distance. I wasn’t going to stop her from helping them. I couldn’t. But I also didn’t want to distract her by making an emotional plea in the moments before their mission. Neither of us could afford a distraction right now, really. I had to think quickly.

“Keep her safe until I get there,” I replied stiffly.

Adreax nodded his understanding and grinned at me. That was it.

“Will do. Just don’t take too long. We could really use the help.”

Nikathy waved his hand at me to wrap it up. We were out of time if we were going to make our move.

“I’ll see you soon. Stay safe, Dre.”

“You too.”

The call cut off, and as soon as it was done, I hit the throttle and made theGreedy She-Devilleap forward. The rush of danger filled me to the brim, and I let out a whoop of joy. I dared the universe to try and take me, but I was invincible. Nothing could stop me now.

Nothing, of course, except the bullet that blasted through the wing of our ship and sent us spinning off course.

“Shit! What was that?”

“We’ve got company,” Nikathy called back as I wrestled with the controls, fighting to straighten us out.

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“Sorry. Didn’t expect them to take such a long shot. I thought we could make it.”

“Any other surprises you want to warn me about before we move in?”

Our target was still straight ahead, but now there were a pair of Patrol fighters standing in our way. It was like they appeared out of nowhere. They must have been cloaked, and I wished Caimbrie was here to interpret their energy fields for us.

“No more surprises,” Nikathy said innocently enough. “I’ve got the guns armed. I’m ready when you are.”

I had to admire the seamless way Nikathy moved into position. Neither of us had to be told what to do next. I took a deep breath and flexed my fingers on the control yoke, readying myself for the maneuver.

“Now!” I yelled, twisted the yoke, and sent theGreedy She-Devilinto a corkscrew spin headed straight toward the pair of fighters. At the same time, Nikathy unleashed a barrage of missiles and flares that filled the sky with blinding light and smoke. It would be impossible to know if any of the missiles hit their targets until after we were through the gap, but from the sound of things, we’d had at least one strike. One fighter was better than two.

I could also hear the Patrol fighters firing toward us, but our ship was a whirlwind of motion driving between them, wobbling side to side as I struggled to overcome the damage from their first hit. With each rotation of our wings, we pulled closer, and they had to adjust their sights. Soon, I was so close that they couldn’t fire without risking damage to one another. The old trick had worked.

“Set the mines,” I ordered, and Nikathy called back confirmation.

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