Pirate Ambush

by Max Chase

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Can they trust Jaxx?

  Chapter 1

  To my wonderful Jackie

  Special thanks to Benjamin Scott

  It is the year 5012 and the Milky Way galaxy is under attack ...

  After the Universal War ... a war that almost brought about the destruction of every known universe ... the planets in the Milky Way banded together to create the Intergalactic Force – an elite fighting team sworn to protect and defend the galaxy.

  Only the brightest and most promising students are accepted into the Intergalactic Force Academy, and only the very best cadets reach the highest of their ranks and become ...

  To be a Star Fighter is to dedicate your life to one mission: Peace in Space. They are given the coolest weapons, the fastest spaceships – and the most dangerous missions. Everyone at the Intergalactic Force Academy wants to be a Star Fighter someday.

  Do YOU have what it takes?

  Chapter 1

  ‘There’s no hiding from me!’ Peri flew his fighter pod tight around the curved hull of a star cruiser. His search beam flicked across the battered surface of the ship, looking for the next beacon.

  Peri glanced at the countdown monitor. Only twenty minutes left. This was his final Star Fighter test – an obstacle course through the Milky Way. He had to collect the last three beacons and make it back to base before the clock timed out. If he succeeded, he would become the youngest ever Star Fighter.

  If he failed, he wouldn’t get another chance.

  Peri flew over a large gash in the star cruiser’s hull. He didn’t need the searchlight to see the flashing beacon in a tangle of twisted metal. He plunged his fighter pod towards it. The beacon was barely bigger than a grenade. He activated the transporter beam. There was a flash of light. ‘Beacon on board!’ the ship’s computer announced.

  ‘Eighteen down!’ Peri whooped as he blasted away from the cruiser. ‘Two to go!’

  ‘Collision alert!’ his ship screeched as warning lights flashed. Peri’s heart pounded like a pulsar.

  Diesel’s fighter pod buzzed past.

  ‘Diesel!’ Peri yelled into the radio. He yanked the nav-stick hard, sending his tiny one-man fighter spiralling out of control.

  ‘Having problems, wastoid? I’ve nearly finished.’

  Wrestling with the stabilising thrusters, Peri checked the scores on the monitor. He groaned. Diesel had already collected nineteen of his twenty beacons.

  ‘Last one to finish is a bugonaut!’ Diesel radioed.

  Diesel’s fighter careered off to pick up his final beacon.

  Peri found the next beacon on his radar. It was on the dark side of the moon. Two attack drones blasted towards him. He knew it was part of the test, but he still felt a tingle down his spine.

  Peri swerved as missiles soared past, then changed direction back towards his ship.

  ‘Heat-seekers!’ Peri gasped, fumbling for the right button. If he’d been on the Phoenix, his bionic connection with the ship would have instantly located the deflecto-flares.

  But the missiles were gaining on him. He didn’t have time to find the flares.

  Peri roared towards the attack drones, firing his lasers. He knew the drones had invincible armour-plating, but he had an idea that might just get him out of this mess. If he fired his lasers at their armour and made it glow plasma-hot, maybe the heat-seeking missiles would have a new target!

  Peri shut off his engines and coasted towards the beacon.

  The heat-seeking missiles raced for the hottest thing around – the attack drones!

  KA-BLAAAM! The explosion lit up Peri’s cockpit. The drones were space dust!

  Peri punched the air, then steered his fighter smoothly towards the beacon. He activated the laser net. A web of laser beams curled around the flashing beacon and pulled it on board.

  He checked the radar. The last beacon was near the finish line and there were just under five minutes to cross it!

  He blasted around the moon and straight into the path of . . .

  ‘Asteroids!’ he yelled as he swung his way through the giant tumbling rocks. Diesel’s fighter pod was right in the middle of the asteroid storm.

  ‘I hate prrrip’chiq asteroids!’ Diesel snapped.

  ‘You can’t shoot yourself out of this one,’ Peri shouted. ‘You’ll create too much debris.’

  ‘Just watch me, dumboid!’ Diesel yelled.

  ‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Peri said, weaving through the maze of space-rocks.

  He twisted and dodged until he glimpsed the narrow green laser beam of the finish line. His circuits buzzed with excitement. He was going to finish first! Peri hit his booster rockets and darted forward.

  ‘Peri, you must collect the last beacon before you cross the finish line.’ General Pegg’s voice crackled over the radio.

  Aaaaaargh! How could Peri have forgotten the last beacon?

  If he failed this test, someone else would take his place on the Phoenix. He couldn’t let that happen. It wasn’t just that Peri wanted else to be a Star Fighter more than anything in the solar system. He and Diesel were keeping a big secret. They had two unofficial crew members hiding on the Phoenix: Selene, their fearless engineer, who had been a stowaway, and Otto, a bounty hunter from planet Meigwor. If anyone found out about either of them, Peri feared he and Diesel would be kicked out of the IFA.

  The final beacon was only seconds away from the finish line. Peri was going too fast for the transporter beam. He punched in the coordinates of the beacon and activated the laser net.

  ‘Negative,’ the computer responded. ‘Too dangerous to use laser net at this speed.’

  ‘Override safety protocols,’ Peri commanded, pressing his palm against the control panel to override the ship’s computer.

  ‘Override accepted.’ The computer dropped the laser net in place.

  Peri guided his pod towards the beacon. Blood pounded in his head. He fought hard to keep the nav-stick steady. He had one chance to get it right.

  ‘Now,’ he yelled and pulled up. As the net scooped up the beacon and brought it on board, the nav-stick was wrenched from Peri’s hand. The laser net’s split-second grab was like slamming on the brakes at top speed. He was thrown against the astro-harness. His fighter pod spun violently. He banged on the stabilising thrusters, but he just kept spinning.

  ‘S’fâh, Peri!’ Diesel yelled over the radio. ‘What are you doing?’ Diesel was zigzagging madly, trying to keep his own fighter pod out of Peri’s way.

  The finish line was just ahead. Peri slammed on the boosters. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but maybe he could still do it. With the right touch, he could nudge his out-of-control fighter pod in the right direction. He punched the nav-stick left, then right. He held his breath as he spun through the green light of the finish line. He regained control just in time to see Diesel’s pod cross the line. The final scores flashed on the screen. The race was over. Peri had crossed the finish line first!

  ‘Rocket-tastic!’ Peri cried. ‘Eat my two point three seconds, Diesel!’

  General Pegg’s voice came over the radio. ‘Peri and Diesel! Back to base immediately!’

  Peri steered towards the IFA base-ship. General Pegg sounded really angry, but why? Peri and Diesel had both passed the final Star Fighter test.

  The automatic docking controls guided the fighter pods into the landing bay. Peri’s pod touched down with a jolt. He tore off the astro-harness and climbed out. Diesel stormed towards him. His narrow band of s
piky hair had turned scarlet and his eyes flashed yellow.

  ‘You cheating lamizoid!’ Diesel shouted.

  Before Peri could reply, General Pegg marched into the landing bay.

  ‘I’ve never seen such reckless flying!’ he yelled. ‘I should discharge you both for endangering each other’s lives!’

  Peri’s circuits went cold.

  Had he just thrown away his chance of becoming a fully fledged Star Fighter?

  Chapter 2

  General Pegg flicked a finger across the touch screen of his wrist-computer and the scores on the board above the landing bay changed. ‘Peri, I’m penalising you fifteen seconds.’

  That’s not fair, Peri wanted to shout. I crossed the line first!

  ‘I win!’ Diesel cheered as his band of hair turned orange in celebration.

  ‘Be quiet, Diesel!’ General Pegg yelled. ‘You may have won the race – but I’m not sure either of you is mature enough to become a Star Fighter.’

  Peri felt his stomach turn as if he was doing somersaults around a black hole. Diesel’s hair had turned a sickly green. After a week of the most intensive training in the history of the IFA, General Pegg couldn’t fail them now, could he?

  One of the trainers ran over to Peri. ‘You’ve broken the all-time record!’ he said, but an angry look from General Pegg sent the trainer scurrying away.

  ‘Using the laser net at that speed was a reckless stunt, but –’ The general’s mouth twitched into what could have been a smile. ‘I can’t fault your skill as a pilot, Peri – nor yours as a gunner, Diesel.’

  The general’s mouth tightened. Peri wondered what he was going to say next. ‘You are young and I’m worried that you both take too many risks,’ he continued, shaking his head. ‘I need some time to decide if you’re truly ready to become Star Fighters.’

  General Pegg turned and marched from the landing bay, leaving Peri and Diesel staring at each other.

  ‘He can’t stop us becoming Star Fighters now, can he?’ Diesel gasped.

  ‘He can do what he wants,’ Peri replied and headed for a service hatch at the edge of the landing bay.

  Diesel followed him. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘Keep your voice down,’ Peri hissed. ‘I’m going to the Phoenix.’

  He climbed into one of the service tunnels that ran through the IF base-ship. ‘I want to check on Selene and Otto,’ he said, ‘but I need to sneak on board. We don’t want anyone asking too many questions. If Pegg finds out about Selene and Otto, he won’t just fail us, he’ll vaporise us!’

  ‘I can understand why Otto’s hiding,’ Diesel said. ‘Who wants a smelly Meigwor bounty hunter around? But Selene’s dad works for the IF, so why does she need to hide?’

  ‘There has to be a reason she stowed away on the Phoenix in the first place. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.’ Peri pushed past a stack of crates, then held up a hand to stop Diesel. ‘There’s a camera at the corner,’ he said. ‘We need to stick close against this wall. It’s in the camera’s blind spot. I’ve memorised a sensor-free route from the blueprints. We’ll still need to be really careful though.’

  Peri and Diesel shuffled along, then slipped through a door into a main corridor. At the end of the corridor was an entrance portal that lead to the launch bay. After activating the doors they hid at the sides and peered round as the doors slid open. They were in luck! There were no security guards.

  Diesel moved towards the doorway. Peri grabbed his arm to hold him back. ‘Wait,’ he hissed and pointed to the four cameras aimed at the Phoenix. He pulled a small gadget from his pocket. It was round with a red button. ‘This will knock out any camera within range. We’ll have ten seconds to get on board. Ready?’

  Diesel nodded. Peri pressed the button and whispered, ‘Now.’

  They sprinted to the Phoenix and up the ramp.

  ‘Where are Selene and that big ugly dumboid?’ Diesel panted as they raced into the ship’s mauve-lit corridor.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Peri wheezed as he spoke. ‘They must be hiding somewhere on board. We’ll ask the Phoenix where.’

  As he went to touch a com-pad, it lit up and a message flashed across the screen: Follow the lights . . .

  At their feet, a series of lights pulsed along the length of the corridor to a portal, lit with a silvery glow.

  It opened and, stepping through, they found themselves in a tiny storage room filled with stacks of zero-gravity toilet rolls. ‘Selene? Otto?’ Diesel shouted. ‘It’s us!’

  Peri heard Selene tut. ‘I know! It was me who led you here.’

  Then the image of the storage cupboard in front of them blinked to reveal a large workshop filled with monitors of every size and shape.

  ‘Come in,’ Selene muttered. ‘You need to be on this side of the hologram. I rewired the security systems and this room is no longer on the blueprints.’

  There were sleeping bunks at opposite ends of the workshop and bits of electronics equipment scattered everywhere in between. Selene was fiddling with a spiral-shaped device on a workbench. It had a trigger in the middle and a funnel at the other end.

  Peri peered at her device. ‘What’s that you’re working on?’

  ‘Don’t bother asking her to show you!’ Otto shouted. The bumps on his long Meigwor neck bulged with annoyance. ‘Inferior device! Doesn’t work!’

  ‘It’s something my dad and I were trying to perfect,’ she said, ignoring the Meigwor bounty hunter.

  ‘Have you been in touch with your dad?’ Peri asked, thinking she must be worried about her father. Peri assumed he had been on the IF Space Station when Xion attacked the Milky Way.

  Selene huffed. ‘If you must know, yes, I have spoken to my dad.’ She threw down the wire she was trying to solder. ‘Satisfied? Can we drop it?’

  Peri was certain she was hiding something, but what? After all they’d been through together, Peri trusted Selene with his life. If she didn’t want to talk about her family, he wouldn’t push her on it. ‘What’s the new gadget for?’ he asked, changing the subject.

  Selene took a deep breath. ‘I call it an “electro-pulse”. When it’s finished, it will be able to fire an electromagnetic wave that disrupts certain types of electronics.’

  ‘Who cares?’ Diesel yelled. ‘I beat Peri on the final test.’

  Otto and Selene shared a look. Then they both burst out laughing.

  Diesel put his hands on his hips. ‘How dare you? You’re mocking the emperor’s son. The victorious emperor’s son, who –’

  ‘Stupid space-monkey!’ Otto boomed. ‘Selene hacked into the main computers! We saw the whole race! You lost!’

  ‘What do you know, you long-necked freak?’ Diesel shouted. ‘I won the race. Peri just crossed the finish line first.’

  ‘Who cares about some silly race?’ Otto boomed. ‘We should be off on another mission by now! You humans are so slow! Meigwor engineers would already have this ship fixed!’

  Beep. Beep. Beep. Peri’s com-unit sounded.

  Peri answered. It was his father. ‘Peri, come up to the Bridge. I want to show you the Phoenix’s new upgrades.’

  Peri shut off the com-unit and turned to Selene. ‘If my dad knows I’m here, do you think they’ve discovered you too?’

  ‘No way,’ Selene said. ‘It’s your bionic connection that gave you away. Even I can’t override that.’ She smiled. ‘Hurry up! I want to know what they’re doing to my ship.’

  Peri smiled as he ran off. That was more like the Selene he knew.

  Chapter 3

  ‘What have you done?’ Peri gasped.

  It looked like a cosmic tornado had hit the Bridge. His parents were kneeling in the middle of the wreckage surrounded by laser-cutters and space-wrenches. Bundles of cables were sticking out of holes across the Bridge. The Phoenix’s control panel was resting upside down, sprouting wires along its entire length. Zip-dials, switches and monitors were scattered everywhere. Peri’s circuits tingled in sympathy with the ship. It
was as if part of him had been ripped out and put on display.

  His father stood up. He smoothed down his lab-suit as he pulled a couple of capacitors out of his hair.

  ‘We’re almost done,’ he said. ‘We’ve been carrying out repairs and upgrades.’

  Peri stared at the mess. It looked more like they had been trying to destroy everything.

  ‘You’ll love the new teleportation feature,’ his father continued. ‘You can beam yourselves instantly to any part of the ship.’

  His mother pointed to a large metallic box. ‘We just need to finish installing the Red Helix device and then she’s ready to go.’

  ‘What was wrong with the Blue Helix?’ Peri asked. On their way back to the solar system, the Blue Helix had saved all their lives by allowing the Phoenix to travel back in time by a few seconds. Without it, the ship would have exploded in a vortex.

  His mother bent over and started shuffling through a pile of space-o-metric diagrams and circuitry plans. ‘I have a chart here somewhere. The Red Helix is even more sophisticated. We discovered a special particle that –’

  Peri’s father interrupted. ‘We shouldn’t be telling him. It’s top secret.’

  ‘But I have to fly the ship,’ Peri objected. ‘Surely I should know how it works?’

  Peri’s father shook his head. ‘The Red Helix must only be used as an absolute last resort. You don’t need to know what it does. Your bionic connection will sense if you need to use it.’

  ‘So why did you ask me to come up here?’ Peri asked.

  ‘Because,’ his mother replied, ruffling his hair, ‘it’s your turn for an upgrade.’

  Peri’s stomach buzzed with fear. ‘Upgrade?’

  ‘We know what we’re doing, Peri,’ his father said. ‘We did create your bionic circuits! We just need to check you over. We’ve learned a lot from your first trip out with the Phoenix and we’ve got some improvements to your bionic abilities.’