“We have company!”
Klang’s melodious voice rang out a split second before the spaceship buckled.
Bex and Sumida sprang into action. Bex took the forward gun controls while Klang employed evasive maneuvers. Sumida took the rear guns.
“How many?” Sumida asked.
Bex cursed furiously. “Six. Maybe seven. I can’t believe the Merchant Guild’s got goons all the way out here in the Tryptic system too!”
“I wouldn’t put it past Koros either,” Sumida muttered. “Those fanatics can be pretty militant.”
“Heck of a thing to say about the people who raised you,” Bex mused.
“I say it because I know it for a fact.” Sumida retorted. “You wouldn’t believe–
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The pursuing gunships started raining hellfire upon the Rath, steadily weakening the small gunship’s defensive shields. Inside his containment cylinder, Tirr–Klang’s teruun navigator–shuddered and pulsated madly, calculating the next hyperjump route.
Klang punched the throttle and the Rath’s bulkheads groaned as the ship spun, coming face to face with the enemy. Suicidal maybe. But timed just right, this maneuver would give them just the advantage they needed to get out of this situation alive.
Bex let the forward canons loose. She kept firing until the cylinders were empty. Klang pulled back the controls on cue and spun the ship back around. He hit the throttle again and the Rath leapt to max speed.
“We need those rear guns now!” Bex yelled over at Sumida.
The targeting system monitor flickered as Sumida locked on to multiple targets simultaneously. She fired. Two shots completely missed their targets but she grinned, grimly triumphant as two dots on the screen blipped out of existence.
She delivered another sweeping barrage, taking out two more of their pursuers.
“Get ready for hyper jump!” Klang announced.
A deep growl rose up from the belly of the ship.
Sumida fired again. She hit the sixth target this time.
“Yes!” she shrieked.
A loud whoomph! Made the ship lurch sideways, sending Sumida flying out of her seat . Metal screamed. An enormous projectile bored its way through the hull and clattered to the ground. They all stared down at it dumbly for a few seconds.
“Torpedo!” Sumida cried, scrambling away from the wildly spinning thing.
“Looks like a dud,” Klang said a few seconds later when nothing happened.
“We need to plug that hole!” Bex growled.
Bex grabbed a patch kit and half ran, half crawled toward the hole ripped into the hull by the torpedo. It was a small hole, inches in diameter but the damage was enough to wreak havoc on the Rath’s life support systems and they were losing air, and fast.
“Sumida!” Klang's voice went shrill with urgency. “We’ve got more incoming! Get back to the guns!”
“Our company’s got company?” The exasperated young starchaser sprang for the rear guns. “How many this time?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Bex managed through gritted teeth, still working on plugging the hole in the hull. “Just keep them off our asses until we jump.”
Sumida set up another wide, sweeping barrage of shots and fired. She set them up and fired again. Before tossing a look over her shoulder at Bex.
“How’s that hole looking?”
“All patched up.” Bex called out. “Klang?”
“We’re good,” answered the Bolen. “Hyperjump in—”
The spaceship banked sharply. Sumida and Bex both went flying. The hyperdrive ignited while they were still mid-air. Time slowed to a crawl. There was a light, a blinding blue light. It washed over the entire ship. A sort of white noise filled the pregnant silence. There was a sound, the eerie rattling song of a stellar body. The pair remained afloat, as if suspended in liquid. Then the light dimmed. The noise faded. Time fast-forwarded. The gravitational controls reengaged.
The sudden shift sent Bex and Sumida flying. Sumida slammed into a console and crashed to the ground with a scream. Bex smashed into the hull then hit the floor. They both lay there dazed. Unmoving.
Klang, still strapped into his seat, jabbed at the console, desperately trying to get the wheeling ship back under control.
“Everyone back there still alive?” He called out, not daring to take his eyes off the scrambled controls.
Sumida was the first to respond. She whimpered, then groaned. “Fraggin’ stars, that hurt!”
Blood dripped from her nose and a gash in the side of her head. She struggled to get into a sitting position.
“Bex,” Sumida called out softly. “Are you—”
“I’ll live.” Bex muttered, sitting up. “I think I broke one of my arms.”
Klang finally got the Rath buckling ship under control. He wiggled out of the pilot’s harness and scurried over to where they kept the first aid supplies.
At a dismissive wave of the hand from Bex, he patched up Sumida first. Cleaned the wound, then used a gel to cover the wound. The gel congealed and sealed the gash. Then Bex sat, bearing the pain through gritted teeth as Klang delicately prodded at her injured arm.
“It’s only dislocated,” she said. “You know what to do.”
Klang hesitated but only briefly. He grasped her shoulder and twisted hard, popping the joint back into place. Bex’s pained yelp seemed to make Klang come undone. The insectoid screeched then curled up into a whimpering ball.
Sumida stared over at the Bolen, perplexed, yet still somewhat dazed but Bex remained unfazed. A slight shake of the head in warning from Bex was enough to tell Sumida not to go near Klang and that it would take some time for his hysterics to subside.
Sumida gathered up her bloody towelettes and limped over to the back of the ship. She dumped them down the trash chute. She gathered up the remainder of the first aid supplies and brought them back to the supply closet.
Despite Klang’s violently emotional reaction, Tirr had calmed down considerably and now floated in his containment cylinder completely unperturbed.
Bex took over the pilot controls, throbbing shoulder notwithstanding.
“Please,” Sumida turned to Bex. “Tell me we’re, at least, near our target coordinates.”
“Not just near,” Bex shot her a triumphant grin. She pointed to the ship’s viewscreen. “Looks like we’re here.”