Perilous Hunt

by Lindsay Buroker

“Was that a joke?”

  “More of an innuendo. We’re under attack. I’ll explain it to you later.”

  Another blast struck the Nomad, and Alisa debated leaning past Ostberg to return fire. But they would need to move away from the hull to get a good angle. A lot of junk floated between the Nomad and the yacht by the exit, the one firing at them. So far, the ships parked to either side of her hadn’t taken aim. And that android was still floating around out there. No, wait. He was flying back, thrusters at full power. He caught the net device again.

  “Keep him off our shields,” Alisa said on the internal comm. “He’s trying again.”

  A third blast slammed into the back of the Nomad. She growled as the shield power dipped alarmingly.

  “It’s a little hard to concentrate on that when we’re under fire,” Abelardus replied.

  “Do it anyway. I don’t want to become a tombstone in the machine graveyard here.” Alisa tapped the controls and moved the Nomad away from the wreck—and the android jetting toward their hull again. “Leonidas,” she said, slapping the comm. “I’m moving the ship to try and avoid fire. Let me know when you’re ready to be picked up, and we’ll come back for you.”

  “Understood. We’ve planted four out of the seven canisters. I’m trying to place them strategically, so they won’t be seen and they’ll be effective at filling the wreck with gas, but if you need us to hurry—”

  “I always need you to hurry. But we’ve got a few more tricks to try, so don’t risk getting yourselves hurt.”

  “Ostberg?” Alisa asked, as she guided the Nomad below the wreck and toward the far side of the chamber, using the dilapidated craft to block the rest of the ships. She didn’t want it to take fire, not while Leonidas and Beck were in it, but she doubted the androids would fire on their own people. Or kind. Whatever androids counted as to each other.

  “Can we fire back?” Ostberg asked brightly. “Can I push the buttons?”

  “No, but if you’ve come up with a plan to disable either of those ships, now would be an excellent time to enact it.”

  “I’ll try.”

  “Firing back might not be a bad idea,” Yumi said. She was gripping the back of Alisa’s seat, her knuckles white. Even though the ship had been through numerous battles now, she always worried during them. Understandably. Maybe if Alisa were saner, she would worry more.

  The android outside was still trying to catch up with the Nomad. If all Alisa did was hide behind the wreck, he would easily do so. She started to call back to her Starseers again, but they must have been monitoring the android. Before he got close, he flew away again. The net device floated up to a distant corner of the chamber. Before the android could recover, his arms flailed wildly. At first, Alisa couldn’t guess what was happening, but then his jet pack straps tore, and the instrument flew away from him. It bounced off the wreck and headed into the darkness below them. The android flailed, unable to make progress in any direction.

  “You’re welcome,” Abelardus said smugly over the comm.

  “That was my idea,” came Young-hee’s voice, and Yumi managed a quick smile.

  “But I executed it.”

  “It’s possible you may be more mature than some of your tutors, Ostberg,” Alisa murmured.

  “Thank you,” Ostberg said. He glanced at the weapons buttons, but did not ask if he could shoot things again. Instead, he seemed to remember his task. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, face scrunching up.

  The yacht near the exit moved away from it and into the chamber, its weapons hot.

  “We may have irked them,” Alisa said.

  She navigated deeper into the chamber, trying to keep the wreck between her and the moving yacht, but there were two problems. The yacht was sleeker and faster than her freighter, and the Nomad was back in the line of sight of the two other ships. The lead one launched an e-cannon blast of its own toward her.

  “We definitely irked them.”

  She debated whether to fire back. She hadn’t wanted to start an all-out fight, but what choice did she have? Even if the androids were only trying to force her ship’s shields down so they could plant their stupid anchor, that would still leave the Nomad with damage that needed to be repaired. Or damage that couldn’t be repaired.

  The yacht hurled another e-cannon bolt. The energy blast zipped far too close to the wreck for Alisa’s taste, then clipped the edge of the Nomad’s shields. That also wasn’t to Alisa’s tastes.

  “Ostberg?” she asked. “Any time now. We—”

  “Captain,” Mica said in exasperation. “We’re down to forty percent shield power. What are you doing up there? Knitting a scarf while your freighter practices being a bale of hay on an archery range?”

  “I didn’t want to start a war. But we’re going to have to. This is ridiculous.” Alisa swept the Nomad past a chain of floating ore carriers and a crane, putting as much junk between them and the other ships as she could. “There’s not even anything here to fight for.”

  “But they don’t know that,” Yumi said.

  “I know. I think I out-clevered myself again.”

  “I broke it,” Ostberg said, his fist clenching.

  “What?” Alisa asked, looking at the two ships near the wreck. The third—the yacht that had initiated firing—was wheeling around the others to sail after the Nomad.

  “An integral part of the engine in the lead ship. They won’t be able to leave until they fix it. Probably.”

  Alisa grimaced, not finding that probably reassuring. “I confess I was expecting an explosion.”

  “I don’t know how to make an explosion. I just unscrewed something important. It dropped on the deck, and then I floated it up and hid it behind what I think is the fuel tank. Or a water tank. There’s liquid in it.”

  Alisa stifled a groan, not wanting to let Ostberg know that she didn’t have as much faith in his work as she would like. All she said was, “Can you do something to one of the other ships? Like the one chasing us and firing?”

  Another e-cannon blast ripped from the yacht even as she made the request. It blew up the crane, and shrapnel sprayed all over the chamber. Alisa maneuvered away, but a second blast followed after the first. This one made it through, catching the Nomad’s shields again.

  “That’s it,” she growled. “We’re firing back.”

  “Can I push the button?” Ostberg asked.

  “No,” she snapped, swooping along a wall of the cavern, doing her best to evade further attacks. “I need you to break something in that yacht’s engine room. If we shoot, all that’s going to happen is that their shields will absorb it. The engines, Ostberg, the engines.”

  He cast her a sullen look, but sighed and scrunched up his face.

  “Look,” Alisa added, feeling bad about snapping at him, even if this was a frantic moment, “if we’re able to escape and leave them here, I’ll find you some targets to shoot at.”

  “Deal,” he said promptly.

  Flying one-handed, Alisa leaned over to rest a finger on the e-cannon button. The targeting computer that had been jerry-rigged into the existing system displayed on a monitor. It flashed when the pursuing ship rounded a floating drilling platform and came into the Nomad’s sights. She fired, hammering the button and hoping to strike more than once before the yacht moved out of the way. The first energy bolt hurtled away. The second one came more slowly than she would have wished, but it blasted away, too. The first hit the nose of the yacht, and the second clipped its tail. As she had predicted, the enemy’s shields absorbed the blows. The yacht returned fire.

  “That’s it,” Mica said over the comm. “Shields are down to ten percent power. Another big hit, and we’ll be grounded.”

  Alisa let go of the weapons to focus on flying. They couldn’t be hit again. That was more important than returning fire.

  “Leonidas?” she asked over the comm. “Are you two ready to be picked up yet?”

  The Nomad sailed past the tunnel exit, which was
now unblocked since the yacht was busy chasing them around the cavern. If they hadn’t had people to collect, they could have slipped out. Alisa glanced at the comm as she spun the ship, avoiding another blast zipping in their direction.

  “Leonidas? Beck?”

  Neither man answered.

  “Don’t you two even think of getting yourselves killed in there,” Alisa said, imagining her men pinned into a dead-end by a legion of armed androids. “That’s an order.”

  A brilliant orange flash filled the chamber, driving the shadows from every corner.

  Alisa shouted an oath and lifted her hand to shield her eyes. She immediately brought it back down to the controls. Assuming Leonidas and Beck were responsible for that, they would need to be picked up. She refused to believe that they had been caught by the androids or the explosion.

  “They’re too good for that,” she told herself.

  “Now that’s an explosion,” Ostberg whispered with reverence.

  “Yes, Mica’s gas has the power to clear a room—or a wreck.”

  “I heard that,” Mica said over the comm. “You getting us out of here yet?”

  “Finding our people first.”

  Shrapnel hammered the shields as she guided the Nomad toward the wreck—where the wreck had been. Nothing but debris remained. She peered through all the pieces littering the chamber, trying to spot Leonidas and Beck.

  “There,” she whispered, leaning forward. She spotted Leonidas’s crimson armor, and yes, there was Beck too. Leonidas had his arm, and they were floating away from where the wreck had been. Unfortunately, they did not have jet packs.

  No problem. She would plant herself in their path and pick them up.

  But as she accelerated toward them, the yacht that had been pursuing her came into view. It rose up from the debris field, angling not toward the Nomad, but toward Leonidas. Three suns, he would be right in their sights in a second.

  “Ostberg, engines,” she said, hoping he would read her mind and grasp what she wanted. That yacht had to be the priority right now.

  Alisa made sure she had a clear shot and fired twice at it. She didn’t know if the yacht was truly targeting Leonidas and Beck, or if they were simply in the way, but they could get killed by accident as easily as on purpose.

  Her cannon bolts streaked away, white light in their wake. They slammed into the front shields of the yacht. The ship kept coming, but Alisa zipped in, maneuvering around more rubble to block it from getting to Leonidas and Beck. She rolled the Nomad over so the airlock would be close to them. She would have to lower the shields to take Beck and Leonidas aboard, but what else could she do? She had to get her people. The shields were almost nonexistent now, regardless.

  “They’re firing at us,” Yumi said, her tight grip sinking into the back of Alisa’s seat.

  Alisa only shook her head, not having time to speak. She hit the button to cycle the airlock and open the exterior hatch. Her cameras showed Beck and Leonidas reaching the ship several meters from the airlock, twisting so they could lock their magnetic boots to the hull.

  The yacht fired, the blast slamming into the Nomad at close range. The shields disappeared, and the jolt hurled Alisa into the bulkhead. She cursed in pain and frustration—why hadn’t she had her harness on?—as cries of surprise came up from elsewhere in the ship.

  She clawed her way back into the seat and glanced at the cameras to make sure Leonidas and Beck had not been knocked off the outside of the ship. They were crouching, gripping the hull with their hands as well as their boots. Good. Her fingers danced across the controls. As long as the men had a good grip, she need not stay here to receive more damage.

  Ostberg had fallen out of his seat, and he rose now, holding a hand to a bloody nose. “I didn’t have time,” he said. “I broke things on the other two ships, but I didn’t know I had to—I mean.” He bit his lip and looked over at her.

  “It’s fine,” Alisa said tersely, checking the sensors as the Nomad banked, angling back for the tunnel where they had entered. The two other ships were not moving to chase—in fact, they weren’t moving at all. Maybe Ostberg had broken them. “You did good.”

  Unfortunately, the yacht got off another round before she managed to fly the Nomad around a large enough machine to shield them, at least partially. The ship shuddered again, and the lights flickered, then went out.

  “How about warning people?” Alejandro shouted up from the rec room or wherever he was dithering while Leonidas and Beck risked their lives out there. While everyone risked their lives.

  Ignoring him, Alisa accelerated into the tunnel. She also ignored the ominous groan coming from the engine. She prayed Mica could hold that together.

  “Can I fire at them?” Ostberg asked, pointing at the rear camera display. The tenacious yacht was flying toward the tunnel, giving chase.

  “Yes,” Alisa said, checking to see if Leonidas and Beck had made it in yet. They had. Good. If she had shields, she could have raised them, but the computer only blatted inarticulately at her when she hit the button. The gauge flashed, showing her that no power remained.

  “Really?”

  “Yes, yes, do it.” Alisa hit the comm. “Abelardus, if you and the others can figure out a way to keep that ship from following us, I would appreciate it.” She lowered her voice to mutter, “The last thing we need is them firing up our butts all the way out of this asteroid.”

  “Only cyborgs allowed up your butt, eh? Got it.”

  “Remind me to smack him later, Ostberg.”

  Ostberg, with his tongue stuck between his teeth and his finger on the weapons trigger, did not seem to hear.

  “Yumi?” Alisa asked.

  “I will remind you, Captain.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Uh, Captain?” Yumi asked, a puzzled note in her voice.

  Alisa winced in anticipation. She did not want any more mysteries, nor did she want to hear about parts of her ship falling off as they raced through the tunnel.

  “What?”

  The Nomad tore into the large entry cavern, and Alisa headed straight for the exit hole. Not that racing out into space would do anything to get rid of their pursuer.

  “The yacht’s shields just went down,” Yumi said.

  “Fire!” Ostberg cried, and obeyed his own order.

  The e-cannons hurled energy blasts back toward the tunnel. Ostberg’s aim was impressive. The blasts crashed into the nose of the ship. A second round scoured its belly as it flew out of the tunnel.

  The kid was relentless, hammering the button again. The android ship veered off, but too late. The blasts took it in the engines and breached the hull. An explosion erupted, and Ostberg cheered.

  Alisa didn’t blame him. She thought about cheering too. But just in case the other two ships weren’t as derelict as Ostberg had promised, she concentrated on taking the Nomad out of the asteroid and into the field. She wanted to fly as far away from the treasure-hunting androids as possible.

  “Captain?” Mica asked over the comm. “Are you done hurling our ship into other ships’ weapons?”

  “I certainly hope so,” Alisa said, watching the rear camera as they sailed away from the asteroid. So far, none of the android ships had flown out of it, and she wanted to take advantage of that while she could. “Any chance we’ll get the lights turned back on soon?”

  “I need to shut the engines down for repairs.”

  “That doesn’t sound promising for my lights.”

  “Judging by the number of alarms flashing at me and the clunks coming from the engine housing, you’re lucky we’re still flying at all.”

  “We need to find a safe harbor outside of those android ships’ sensor ranges,” Alisa said. “I’m sure they’ll get repaired, escape the asteroid, and come looking for us eventually.”

  “Don’t take too long. I think a coupling just fell off the back and floated away.”

  Hoping that was a joke, Alisa asked, “How long will the engines need to be off
line?”

  If they had been flying straight, without asteroids littering space, they could have continued at their current speed without any input from the engines, but she would need the thrusters to navigate around obstacles. She poked through the sensor data, wondering if she might plot a course that would avoid asteroids for however long Mica needed.

  “Until I figure out what’s wrong with them,” Mica said.

  “A useful and precise timetable.” Alisa grimaced at the thought of more delays. She needn’t have fought with the android ships, but because she had chosen to, the Alliance or empire might end up finding the children before she did. Or what if the Starseer refugees had sent a distress call to their people on another planet or station and someone came to pick them up? Alisa might arrive at their hideout only to once again be too late. To find it abandoned.

  “There’s a crack in one of the deuterium tanks too,” Mica said. “I may need twenty-four hours and a few people to help.”

  “What if everyone helps? Can you fix things in twelve hours?”

  “It doesn’t work like that, Captain.”

  “Well, everyone will help anyway. You just point us at what cracks you need repaired, and we’ll be there with the tape.”

  “It doesn’t work like that either.”

  Mica grunted and closed the comm.

  Ostberg looked over at Alisa.

  “She’s grateful that we’ve volunteered,” Alisa informed him.

  Yumi snorted softly.

  “Twenty-four hours,” Alisa sighed, leaning back in her seat, again worrying that their food and supplies might not last long enough for the Nomad to check all the asteroids capable of supporting a base. “We better find them,” she whispered to herself, not willing to dwell on any other possibilities.

  Chapter 15

  Alisa leaned back from the seam she was welding and lifted the mask protecting her face. The Nomad hadn’t sprung any full-fledged breaches during the battle, but Mica had pointed out numerous stress fractures that needed reinforcing.

  She was doing far more than reinforcing things in the engineering room. From Alisa’s spot near the cargo hatch, she could see tools and parts scattered all over the deck in there. Bangs and clangs echoed through the hatchway, accompanied by Mica’s grumbles and curses. She had Abelardus and a few Starseers in there, helping her reach positions that would normally have required ladders or grav lifts. All Alisa had for company was…