22
Liam sat down at the dining table across from Nix, who was fidgeting with the bandage on his shoulder. The ship had been quiet since they left Taleris, but The Garuda was never really quiet. The dull drone of the engines could be heard from any room on the ship. After a while he stopped noticing it. It was only after getting off the ship and coming back on that he remembered how many clinks and clanks there were around the old ship.
The kitchen smelled strongly of the curry-like substance, with distinctive notes of feet and mold to boot. Nix made the dish so often that the kitchen and the entire hallway outside it nearly always smelled of Leguma. It beat smelling like the grease they used on the gears in the engine room or Ju-Long after a hefty workout. He made a mental note not to visit the engine room any time soon.
Liam slid a bowl of Leguma across the metal table and said to Nix, “You shouldn’t mess with it. If you get an infection Saturn’s going to be pissed that she spent all that time cleaning it.”
“It itches,” the Dinari complained.
“Eat your Leguma. You’ll feel better.”
Nix nodded and picked up the bowl with his good hand, slurping the hot liquid down loudly. A look of satisfaction came over him that can only be obtained from a good warm meal. Nix took the leftover Nerva plant at the bottom of the bowl and pressed it against the porous bandage. The orange liquid seeped in and colored the white field dressing. Nix sighed at the small comfort it gave. He said, “Nerva plant isn’t the best at healing laser burns, but it sure does feel good.”
“What does it feel like?”
“Like Endorphins running through your body. It’s hard to notice the pain.”
Liam smiled and pressed his elbows against the table, bringing his hands together and covering his mouth. His mind drifted to Saturn. She’d been talking to Astrid for nearly an hour, trying to get information out of her. This time it wasn’t an interrogation, but a civil conversation. At least that’s what Liam hoped was going on. Something in the back of his mind told him Saturn lobbied to talk to Astrid to keep him away from the Ansaran. Maybe she didn’t think he could remain objective. Whatever the reason, Liam wasn’t prepared to walk into his quarters and find Astrid’s dead body. An image filled his mind of Tiffany with a hole cut through her head by a laser. Once was enough.
Liam heard the clank of footsteps over the grated metal floors in the corridor and turned his head. Ju-Long hovered in the doorway with a confused look coming over him. He scratched his thick neck while he appeared to look for the right words.
“What is it?”
“It might be nothing, but you should probably check it out anyway.”
Nix started to get up but Liam waved him off. “Stay and finish, I’ll go.”
Nix nodded and picked up a long piece of Nerva plant with his fingers and dropped it into his waiting mouth, slurping the rest of it down noisily.
Liam stood and followed Ju-Long toward the front of the ship. On their way, Ju-Long explained, “I was just monitoring our sensors and considering our next play, when I saw something strange. It was just a blip but it got me thinking.”
“Show me.”
Ju-Long approached the center console and brought up a holographic image of the surrounding space. He pointed at a region near a few of the outer moons of Taleris. For a moment there was nothing, and then Liam saw it. A long, thin sliver appeared and then disappeared. Whatever it was The Garuda’s sensors weren’t having a very good time of identifying it.
“I’ve seen three of those glitches around different moons.”
“I don’t think it’s a glitch,” Liam said, taking the pilot’s chair. “I think it’s time we made a course correction.”
Liam slipped his arm through the copper ring and gripped the control handle, jerking the ship out of autopilot. With his free hand he punched in the only coordinates he knew by heart.
“I’m setting course for Garuda. Grab the others.”
Ju-Long moved to obey Liam’s order but stopped when the blips on the holographic image began to change. All three slivers broke their lunar orbits and were on course to intercept.
“Do you see that?”
“It’s them. The Nightstalkers.”
Liam flipped the emergency warning switch and red lights began to flash throughout the cockpit and the rest of the ship along with an annoying but unmistakable sound.
“They’re fast,” Ju-Long observed.
Liam watched the hologram for a moment and replied, “Too fast. Even at our top rate of acceleration they might catch us. We need a new plan.”
Nix arrived at the cockpit, followed closely by Saturn and Astrid. Nix asked, “What’s going on?”
“Nightstalkers,” Ju-Long said, “And closing fast.”
“Battle stations,” Nix ordered. “How long until intercept?”
Liam replied, “About ten minutes. But there might be another way.”
“What other way?” Nix asked.
“Well, you said it yourself, these things are powerful and fast. We’d never stand a chance against three in an open space battle.”
“What are you implying?” Saturn asked.
“Look here,” Liam said, pointing at the holographic projection. “This looks like it used to be a moon, but it must have been destroyed by some kind of asteroid. Taleris’ gravity field is still holding the fragments close to one another.”
Astrid remarked, “You’re going to fly us into that mess? Are you crazy?”
“We just need to get one of them alone. Nix, you said this thing has taken a Nightstalker out before. Do you know how?”
“The records are vague, but it’s said that normal laser blasts are ineffective against them. We’d have to use something else.”
Nix put extra emphasis on the last few words, and Liam had a feeling why. Astrid still didn’t know the history of The Garuda. Nix was surely reluctant to share that information with an Ansaran, even one that’s on the same side. If the Ansarans knew one of the legendary Corsair-class vessels was still in existence, they would do everything in their power to destroy it, even if it was helping their cause. Maybe they didn’t have to tell Astrid. Maybe she’d never even heard of the Corsairs.
“Ju-Long, get on that gun. You know the one.”
Ju-Long nodded and moved past Saturn to take the seat behind the co-pilot’s chair, bringing up a targeting display once he was settled.
Liam turned to the crew and said, “I’m changing course for the split moon, you guys might want to strap in.”
Saturn and Nix took their seats and Astrid was left standing awkwardly in the center aisle, gripping two of the cracked leather seats. When Liam noticed her standing there he said, “Oh, right. Maybe just hold on tight.”
Astrid replied, “That’s reassuring.”
Ju-Long smiled and said, “There’s a spot open on my lap.”
Astrid shot him a repulsed look that Ju-Long must have gotten frequently from women because he only shrugged and returned his attention to his console.
“Sure you made the right choice coming along?” Saturn asked Astrid.
“Time will tell.”
Liam could see the fragmented moon ahead of them. Nearly half of the moon was still intact while the other half was broken into thousands of smaller pieces, each drifting along in a drawn out path following its orbit around Taleris. The surface of the large remaining chunk of moon was pockmarked from countless impacts with meteors and debris, its chestnut brown coloring an afterthought among the deep shadows cast across it.
Liam maneuvered The Garuda closer to the large landmass where the biggest chunks of debris spun in their elliptical path.
“They’ll be in firing range in two minutes,” Saturn said.
“They won’t have a shot.”
Liam jerked the controls and moved the ship around a large piece of spinning rock and then wove between two more, turning the ship on its axis to fit through the colliding chunks. Once through, a small piece of rock bounced of
f the cockpit window, not large enough to make a dent. A small part of Liam began to think he’d made an error in judgment. The debris was more closely packed than he realized. It was going to take precision to come out unscathed.
“Saturn, Nix, get on the guns and clear a path.”
Nix used his good arm to manipulate the controls and dual lasers fired from the front of the ship, cutting through the rock with ease. The remaining slices edged away from one another with less urgency than Liam had expected. They were only creating more debris to avoid. A devious thought came to him.
“Hold your fire,” Liam ordered. “Can we turn those lasers around and fire to the rear?”
“The lasers won’t penetrate their armor,” Nix remarked.
“They won’t have to. Break up as many of the bigger rocks as you can. Following us is going to be like stepping into a minefield.”
23
A laser blast struck The Garuda and Liam was forced against his straps, the material cutting into his shoulders from the violent shock. He heard a cry to his left and saw Astrid thrust to the ground where she fumbled for a handhold. She bore a bright red cut on her forehead where it’d struck the metal flooring.
“What are you waiting for? Fire!”
Liam maneuvered the ship around several small pieces of debris, showing off the unparalleled agility of their vessel. He pulled up an image of the pursuing ships on his console, making sure to keep one eye on the path ahead. The Nightstalkers were long and sleek, black as space with a slight sheen to them that reflected the glow of their lasers as they fired. The green spark illuminated their ship on his screen just before he saw the lasers pass by them out the cockpit’s windows.
Saturn and Nix turned their lasers and began firing at the debris to their rear. A couple of the broken pieces collided with one of the Nightstalkers, denting its smooth metallic hull. All three of the Nightstalkers were in close pursuit now and were managing to move around the rocks, though it was affecting the accuracy of their blasts. Every time they made a quick course adjustment a laser went astray, slicing an asteroid in two and adding to the glut of space rocks.
Astrid held a palm to her head, bearing down on her wound to quell the bleeding. She had a firm grip on Liam’s cracked leather seat and brought herself up to one knee. She said, “Can you please try to keep this thing in one piece?”
Liam moved The Garuda through the canyon of a large piece of moon, twisting along its many curves before shooting back up into the debris field.
“As long as we have the gravity generator, up will remain up. Just don’t look out the window.”
The Garuda’s innards churned. It seemed aware of the situation and was preparing itself for its closing number. The lines of purple energy flowed overhead and the turbines beneath Liam’s feet growled up through the grates from the engine room below. She was ready.
Liam said, “Ju-Long, I’m going to bring her about. Get ready to fire.”
Liam pulled up and the ship responded forcefully, picking up speed and turning to avoid a large spinning boulder nearly the size of the vessel itself. He moved toward the half moon and hugged the rugged surface. The Nightstalkers had fallen behind to avoid the spinning debris. The backside of the moon had almost no rocky fragments. Whatever had struck it must have only blasted through the other side. Liam used the small amount of gravity from the moon to slingshot around to the other side, increasing their speed dramatically.
He bore headlong back into the debris field, weaving in and out of many smaller rocks, many of which were surely of their own making. Up ahead he saw a blue circle, glowing bright like the base of a flame. Liam made a few more adjustments until they had a clear path to the other ship.
“Now,” Liam yelled.
Ju-Long pressed down on the trigger and a jet of blue fired from the nose of The Garuda. It didn’t look like the fire and lightning mixture he’d seen in their last encounter with the Kraven. Instead, it looked like a beam of pure energy, less precise than a laser but far larger in girth. Before it could reach the other ship a piece of debris floated between them. The massive boulder exploded into dust, shooting out particles in every direction. The cockpit’s window was cascaded with the tiny grains, which bounced off and found a new trajectory out into space.
“What the hell was that?” Astrid asked.
Liam regarded her and said, “It’s better if you don’t know.”
“Get me another shot,” Ju-Long pleaded.
Liam nodded and attempted to follow the Nightstalker. Something was wrong. He’d lost track of the other two. As if on cue, they were rocked by another laser blast, this time too close to penetrating their hull. Red warning lights flashed and his console buzzed with objection. Liam made a defensive maneuver and broke off from his pursuit of the bait ship.
Saturn said over the noises in the cabin, “The longer this goes on the worse it’s going to get.”
She’d said what Liam already knew. They needed to draw them into a trap of their own. If they could take out one of them it could buy his crew some time and even out the odds. Liam drew up a quick plan in his head. It wasn’t much, but with any luck it could work. Liam would rather be lucky than good any day of the week.
“Hold on, things might get a little bit bumpy.”
Liam jolted his controls to his right, moving once again toward the remaining half of the moon. He said to Ju-Long, “Get ready to fire on my mark.”
“Ready,” Ju-Long replied.
Liam waited until they were uncomfortably close to the surface of the broken moon before yelling, “Fire!”
Ju-Long pulled the trigger and a thick jet of blue came rushing out of The Garuda. It hit the half moon and continued to streak along until a long line of sapphire lit up the darkened surface.
When it hit the moon, Liam noticed that the substance was wet like acid but had cut like a laser. Chunks of debris shot up from the surface in multiple trajectories. Liam avoided them and checked his monitor to see how the Nightstalkers had fared behind them. The monstrous boulders that shot into space were slowed by the half-moon’s weak gravity field. Instead of rocketing off into space, they hung there directly in the path of their pursuers.
One of the Nightstalkers pulled up and avoided the rocks, moving out of the debris field entirely. Another was not so lucky. It tried to maneuver out of the way but caught the left side of its sleek folded-back wings. The ship was turned right into a much larger asteroid, where it struck the surface hard against the jagged rock. Explosions engulfed the interior of the vessel but were squelched almost immediately by the vacuum of space. It lay there in crumpled ruin, hugging the asteroid’s weak gravitational pull, only a few scrap pieces firing off away from the ship.
Ju-Long pumped his fist in celebration and shouted in Chinese, “Qù sĭ!”
“Nice shot,” Nix said, “But there’s still two more.”
Saturn spoke up, “One of them just faded from sensor range.”
“And the other?” Liam asked.
A crash shook the ship and the cockpit came alive with flashing lights. Out the cockpit window Liam saw the remaining Nightstalker shoot past overhead and leave the debris field, firing all of its thrusters and increasing its acceleration as it shot past the fragmented moon.
Liam felt his insides become weightless and his long blond hair begin to rise up into the air. That last blast had taken out their gravity generator. Astrid was holding onto Liam’s seat cushion with one hand, floating in the center aisle.
“Where are they going?” Liam demanded.
“They’re moving to where the other ship disappeared from sensor range, out by the outer moons of Taleris.”
“Do you think they’re just regrouping?” Nix asked.
Liam shook his head and said, “I don’t know, but we need to make what repairs we can before they come back.”
Liam guided The Garuda toward the largest piece of debris he could find. It was easily ten times the size of the ship with topology that would hide
the ship reasonably well among its large craters. Liam fired the reverse thrusters and slowed the ship down to a crawl. He’d grown so accustomed to The Garuda, that it only took him a few minutes to maneuver into position and set the ship down on the massive rock. The landing gear crunched down, pulverizing many smaller pieces of rock.
Liam unstrapped himself from his seat and pushed off, floating up above his console. He regarded Saturn and ordered, “Shut down any system that’s nonessential. Try to make us blend into this rock as much as possible. If we’re lucky, it might buy us some time. Nix, take Ju-Long to the gravity generator and see what you can do.”
Nix nodded and he and Ju-Long left for the engine room. Saturn began fiddling with her controls, shutting down the exterior lights and reducing the interior lights to minimum. When she was finished, Liam added, “Keep an eye on the sensors and let me know if anything changes. These things are fast, so we won’t have much time to react before they’re on top of us.”
Astrid let go of Liam’s seat and pushed off, trying to remain upright in relation to the floor and failing. She asked Liam, “What about me?”
“We’re going to the cargo bay to get your head looked at.”
Astrid felt her forehead and stared at her blood-stained blue hand, globs of blood floating out as she pulled her hand away. Liam took her wrist in his hand and pushed off from the console, dragging her weightless body toward the corridor.
Liam heard Saturn say harshly, “I guess I’ll just stay here then.”
Liam was tired of their petty tiffs. If Saturn had something to say she should come out and say it. He continued on with Astrid, ignoring Saturn’s comment, and curved around the corridor to the cargo bay.
24
The cargo bay held several yellow crates that were strapped to the floor. Liam led Astrid to one of them and had her sit on top, having her take hold of one of the straps to keep her in place.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, “You don’t have to worry yourself over a small scratch.”
Liam could see that it was a little more than a scratch. Astrid’s eyes were a little loopy. She hadn’t lost enough blood to be woozy from that. He was no expert on alien anatomy, but he had a nagging suspicion that she could have a concussion.
The Corsair Uprising Collection, Books 1-3 Page 28
