by Mary Herdman
“We had a brig, Sam,” Alice reminded him as she left, “We turned it into another storage room for cargo, 'cause you said we wouldn't need to take prisoners.”
Sam sighed and moved with Joe to get the deputy. Before he took three steps, however, Than stopped him. “Captain, we got company!!” he called, and instantly Sam was back on the bridge.
“Report,” he ordered, as Than got ready to move the ship. Alice ran to the engine room to prep the ship as fast as possible.
“Two ships, one T-class, coming in from our last trajectory,” Than told him, “It could be someone else, but I'll eat my hat if that ain't Ferris and Lien.”
“You don't wear a hat, Than,” Sam reminded him, as he tried to see a way out. The 'port wasn't working, according to Alice, so they had to fly out manually. If they stayed put, they might be caught when the police ship landed to look for them. If they moved, though, they would be caught by Lien's ship. Sam punched the button on the wall as he spoke to the entire crew. “Alice, we're gonna need to time this out properly. What can you give us?”
“The 'port's broke, but I can jerry-rig a jumper. We'll only be able to move a mile, but it should get us time to run. They may be bigger, but I'm faster.”
“Do it,” Sam ordered, turning back to Joe, “Get back to guard duty. I want to know how they found us so fast, and God help that poor kid if it turns out he had anything to do with it.”
Joe nodded and ran back to his room. Than looked up at Sam, saying, “I'm ready when Alice is, sir.”
“Alice?” Sam asked the com.
“Just about. Let me get to my controls.”
Leah had to jump aside when Alice came back into the room. “What's going on?” she asked, not having heard anything of what happened on the bridge. Alice was picking up the black cables from the floor, each of which was connected to a different part of the room, and attaching them to herself. Each cable seemed to melt into her skin as she held it up. “Ready, Captain,” she said in a deep, echoic voice. Leah shrank back into the corridor, seeing that the wires were suddenly live with a crackling energy.
Back on the bridge, Sam gave the order for Than to take off. As the ship rose, Leah stumbled further down the dark corridor until she saw a light up ahead. Hearing voices, she made her way towards the doorway.
“Come on,” Sam muttered to himself while Than focused on piloting the ship. There was a window in front of them, where Leah could see the sky quickly turning dark as they left the atmosphere. Suddenly, another ship appeared in front of them.
“They're hailing us, Sam,” Than reported.
“Patch me through.” Sam straightened his hair as the window filled with the image of a middle-aged man. “Hello again, Lien. Fancy meeting you here.”
“Goddamn it, Sam, prepare to be boarded," Lien said, voice raised in frustration, "You and your crew are coming in.”
“See, we took a vote, and you were voted down. Sorry, buddy, but I can't go against the majority," Sam shrugged.
The man on the screen growled. “Tanner, if I have to chase you any further, I swear I'll let Ferris shoot you out of the sky.”
“He's not likely to do that, now, is he?” Sam countered, “Not since we've got his deputy on board.”
Lien swore and turned off the communicator. Sam punched a button on the wall, saying, “You guys ready?”
“Aye, Captain,” Than replied, and Alice also replied over the com.
“Alright, jump in three, two, one – ”
“Captain!!” Than suddenly cried out, “Ferris isn't landing; they're both cutting us off.”
“So jump port,” Sam said.
Than took a deep breath as he fiddled with the controls. “Port will shove us straight into Lien's ship. Starboard will put us into Ferris. They've got us good, Captain.”
“So why don't you fire at them?” Leah asked from the doorway.
Sam turned and glared at her. “Who let you up here?” he asked.
“Alice is freaking me out, so I just followed the sounds,” she replied with a shrug, “So why don't you fire on them?”
“We don't have any weapons, sweetheart,” Than replied.
Leah stared at them. “You're kidding, right?” she asked. "Fine, what about going up?"
"They can match us moving up or down," Than told her, "We need to use the jump to gain momentum if we want to move anywhere; we go up, we hesitate too long and they've got us. We move forward or back, they just follow. Port and Starboard are our only choices."
“Look, kid,” Sam growled, “You don't understand the situation. We're caught between a rock and a hard place here – ”
“There are two ships, both armed better than you, bearing down,” Leah told him, summing up what she had overheard. “They're trying to bring you in for whatever reason, and you're trying to escape. Your teleport is broken, but you can make a short hop in one direction. Problem: you're being cut off in both possible ways. You have no weapons, but you do have a hostage if I understand correctly: that deputy. At least one of those ships will be reluctant to fire on you because of him. Solution: jump towards that ship.” She said all of this very fast.
Sam stared at her for a second, and Than said, “She's right, sir. Ferris won't fire on us, so if we jump starboard, he'll move out of the way.”
“That's an awful big chance, Than,” Sam replied, but he sounded thoughtful.
Than shrugged. “Not much option, Captain,” he said, “Either try it, or surrender, but our window is closing fast.”
Sam hesitated for a fraction of a second longer, then punched the button on the wall again. “Alice, jump starboard in three, two, one, now!!”
The ship shuddered, throwing Leah off-balance further onto the bridge. Sam caught her before she fell completely, watching Than fight with the controls as a huge ship popped into view on the screen. They looked as if they would crash, but at the last second the other ship moved aside, letting them through.
“Run, Alice!!” Sam shouted, “Set course for Zeta V.”
“Aye, Aye, Captain,” came Alice's voice on the com, and she sounded just as relieved as everyone looked.
