Dex growled and shook it away. What good was being the captain when you couldn’t get your crew to do anything worthwhile? And he didn’t even want to think about the Tracker they were flying. Dex swallowed his revulsion.
Here I am, the ship seemed to say. Large and in charge and as undercover as a Xen Pterran carriage slug.
They’d never catch the Marauder. Not like this.
The Tracker was fast, but the “seasoned pilot” General Cortas had provided for this mission had no style. A starship was meant to fly weightless, limitless and free.
Just like the one they were pursuing now, its belly full of lying, cheating lady thieves.
He stared out the viewport, past the laughable pilot and copilot, their heads pressed together as they tried in vain to discover a way to outsmart their prey.
The Marauder.
Dex could see her tail up ahead. Each blast of gunfire illuminated her outline.
A sleek, beautiful beast that looked to be made of the stars in which it swam. Deadly and delicious, all varillium glass in the shape of an arrowhead, now concealed by metal shields to protect it during the chase. The Aero Class ship was one of a kind.
He’d catch that damned ship and finally reclaim it for his own. And when he captured Androma, he’d bring her to her knees, get her to agree to his employer’s terms...
“Sir.” A trembling voice pulled Dex from his thoughts. He looked up at the youngest Patrolman on the ship, a boy no older than fifteen with slitted reptilian nostrils. A boy who’d never seen battle. Who didn’t know the feeling of blood on scarred hands. His glowing yellow eyes were wide as he spoke. “They’re making an interesting move.”
“What move?” Dex sighed. “Use your words.”
“It seems they’re charting a course for the asteroid belt.”
“As I said they would,” Dex snapped.
“What should we do?” the boy asked timidly as he took a step back, sensing Dex’s imminent explosion of outrage.
The ship rumbled.
The pilot cursed.
Dex pressed a palm to the bridge of his nose. “You,” he said, glaring at the youngling between his fingers, “will do yourself a favor and go to the passenger bay so you can crap your pants in private. I can smell your fear from here.”
The boy tripped over his own webbed feet as he raced from Dex’s view.
“The rest of you,” Dex said, unbuckling his harness and standing up from his seat, voice rising to a roar, “will catch me that damned ship!”
The glory of his rage was lost in another explosion.
This time, it was so bright and so loud that it lit up the skies. A lurch resonated all around him as the ship went sideways. The little mech droid tumbled past.
“Engine one has been hit!” the pilot yelped.
A lucky shot.
Dex’s temper rose as he unclasped his harness and toppled against the metal siding. This job was the answer. It was everything. It could make or break his career.
And if Dex lost this opportunity now, when his prey was so close, General Cortas would have someone pulverize him when they docked back at Averia—and then Dex would be sipping from a straw for the rest of his life.
Enough was enough.
Dex raced forward, boots clacking on the grated floor.
The pilot looked up as Dex hovered over him, leather gloves squealing with each shift of the wheel.
“Move,” he commanded.
“Sir, I am under direct orders from General Cortas to...”
Dex squeezed his fists. The pilot flinched back as four crimson triangular blades sprung out of each of Dex’s gloves, just over his knuckles. “Move over.”
The pilot stumbled as he leaped from his chair.
Dex took the throttle, his bladed knuckles shining as another streak of gunfire shot past. He could hear a commotion in the background, the sound of the pilot’s whining voice as he commed the general. Pathetic tattletale. Dex blocked it all out as he tapped on the screen, losing himself in the motions he’d grown so used to.
This was where he belonged, in the pilot’s chair. Behind the throttle of his own ship.
The copilot, a man covered in purple spikes, stared at Dex openmouthed. “You were right,” he said, his massive canines visible. “They’re heading for Gollanta.”
Of course I’m right, Dex wanted to say. Androma always runs until she finds a place to hide.
Through the viewport, Dex caught a perfect, shining glimpse of the Marauder, its jagged, dagger-like shape heading right into the mouth of hell.
“Alert the fleet near Solera,” Dex said as he angled the Tracker to follow them. Solera was the closest planet, just on the outskirts of the asteroid belt. They could make it in time to intercept the Marauder if they sent their fastest ships.
“Alert them of what, sir?” the copilot asked.
Dex sighed. “They need to meet us in the center of the belt. Cloaked.” If he was wrong, well, he was already under the general’s control. He may as well use it to his advantage. “Tell them the Marauder is heading their way.”
Dex closed his eyes and allowed himself to hope. Then he begged the Godstars that his last-minute plan would fall into place.
Androma was good at what she did. But so was Dex.
And a protégée could only outrun her master for so long.
Chapter Five
* * *
ANDROMA
GOLLANTA.
A world of space rocks dancing around them with death knocking at every viewport.
Andi stared out at them, her eyes wide and bright against the dimness of space. Darkness surrounded them, lit only by the faint shine of Tavina’s distant stars. And, of course, the telltale flashes of the three ships still trailing them.
She’d make them regret coming after the Bloody Baroness. It was time to end this.
Andi turned on her com. “Breck, Gilly.” The permanent lens in her eye, activated by a light tap to her temple, allowed her to patch into another crew member’s visual feed.
They’d installed them months ago, and the blessed coms had saved their skins several times over. They were well worth the expensive visit to the shady doctor on the satellite city near Solera.
She patched into Breck’s com first, revealing the gunner’s targeting screen, the glowing crosshairs focused on the nearest ship’s wing. Andi clenched her teeth as an asteroid resembling a skull came hurtling toward Breck’s viewport. Breck took a shot, and it exploded into space dust.
Andi blinked, shutting off the eye connection and returning to her own view of the asteroids. Lira sat beside her, the scales on her arms flashing as she tried to keep her nerves under control. Music still filled the space, calming Andi, allowing her to concentrate.
This is just another day, she told herself. Just another chase.
“We’re low on fuel, low on ammo,” Gilly yelped into the com.
“Shoot the small stuff and wait for my command,” Andi said. “Then we’ll use the Big Bang and turn their bones to dust.” The weapon sent out a pulse, crippling an enemy ship’s defensive systems, followed by an explosive that could obliterate an entire ship with one shot.
It wouldn’t be able to hurt the Tracker, but the other ships would be perfect prey, if Gilly and Breck played their cards right. They only had one Big Bang left on board, so they’d have to make it count.
Gilly answered with a giggle sharp as a knife. “Done.”
Tick, tick, tick.