Chapter 5
The bright red plasma cannon shot from the pirate’s ship hit an asteroid just behind me, where my ship had been just a second earlier. The jagged rock exploded into a cloud of spinning, flying smaller chunks that flew off in different directions and clattered into the other closer asteroids, which created a domino effect of rocks zipping off in random directions.
From inside my ship, I could hear soft clunks when smaller chunks of the asteroids clattered into the walls, since they were too small to try to fly around or avoid. The ship was well built, though, so the smaller pieces would do no damage other than perhaps scuff up the metal a bit, but it was the larger pieces in front of me that I had to worry about, as those were what could do some serious damage to the ship if I wasn’t careful.
“Set shields to one hundred percent, Francine,” I said as I set my eyes on the road ahead.
“Done,” the AI replied, and I could see the faint shimmer around the edges of the front window as the shields powered up to their full potential. “But definitely keep avoiding those asteroids. These shields are in no way good enough to withstand a hard collision with one of them.”
“Great,” I said.
Because my ship was so small, I was able to squeeze through the debris and ricocheting rocks, though we had a few close calls. I was sure we’d be able to lose the larger pirate vessel as I skirted around the space junk, but the other ship stuck close to me like a limpet.
I risked a couple of quick glances at the other ship and saw that the pirate ship was moving through the asteroid field like a battering ram. It skirted around the larger chunks of rock, but it simply knocked aside the smaller ones using its reinforced, metal-coated hull. The only thing that kept it from overtaking me was the crazy path I was cutting through the rocks and debris. I theorized that its hull had probably been armored, and I was sure the shields that the pirate’s ship could generate were far more powerful than mine were, which put me at quite the disadvantage.
“Shit!” I shouted as I swerved out of the way of a large asteroid at the last second. “Eyes on the road, Will.”
I glanced down at the screen quickly, though, and I saw the pirate ship narrowly avoid the rock that I had almost crashed into. The bottom of the ship was scuffed, but it managed to knock the asteroid to one side.
The pirate ship sped toward me then, and I knew they were trying to catch me before I could reach the safety of the station. I had two choices. I could either make a run for it and hope I had a big enough lead, or I could lose them in the asteroid field and maybe cause enough damage that they wouldn’t be able to follow me to the planet.
The pirates were closing fast, so I jerked on the joysticks and brought my little ship back toward the asteroids. The maneuver seemed to confuse them for a moment, and I was able to quickly duck between two large rocks that were slowly spinning along their orbit.
There were some more clunks as smaller shrapnel bumped into my ship as I flew past, and I just had to remind myself that I was on this mission so I could upgrade my ship and that it didn’t matter too much if it took a few blows, as I could just get it fixed. There would be time to make repairs once I dropped off the delivery and returned to Aghoa, though I vowed that the first thing I would buy would be better shields, as there was no way I would be able to properly fight anyone with shields that were this weak.
“The other ship has fallen behind, Will,” Francine noted after a few more hairy spins through the field.
“Okay,” I said. “Let’s hope it’s enough.”
I suddenly veered back in the direction of the station and pushed the engine for more speed. I ignored the smaller asteroids, though I winced every time one bounced off my ship. I could only imagine the dents the rocks were leaving, but if I could beat the pirates to the station, it would be worth it.
We were near the edge of the field again when a beam of red light flashed alongside. A nearby asteroid exploded, and I jerked away from the shower of pebbles that suddenly appeared in the asteroid’s place.
More red beams flew by me as various alarms started to go off. My ship was taking a lot of damage from the tiny rocks, and every asteroid the bastards blew up only made the situation worse. I grimaced every time a siren sounded, but it only fueled my determination to get to the space station.
But the space station was straight ahead again, and the silver beacon looked close enough to reach out and touch.
“There should be military ships at the station,” Francine announced over the blaring alarms. “They will be able to protect us once we have broken out of the asteroid belt and they realize we are in trouble.”
“Can you contact them?” I asked.
“I am already attempting to,” Francine said. “But all of this debris has made it difficult to send a clear signal.”
“I’ll say this, the bastards know what they’re doing,” I said. “But so do I.”
I’d spotted a way to lose the attackers, one that would require a quick passing maneuver between a trio of large asteroids. My ship was small enough to squeeze through, but I didn’t think the pirate ship could make it. They’d be forced to go around, and that would give me the time I needed to clear the field and floor it for the station.
I veered away at the last possible moment and slipped underneath the nearest large asteroid. I was only a couple of feet from its surface as I skimmed over the second asteroid, and I held my breath as the third asteroid loomed in front of me.
“Crap,” I muttered and jerked the ship hard to the right.
For a moment, I was neatly tucked between all three asteroids, and then I bounced over the surface of the third rock and followed it as it rolled slowly like a whale in the ocean. We came out on the other side, and there was nothing but a few more rocks and the deep darkness of space.
“Where’s the other ship?” I asked as the HUD flickered back to life for a moment. “I don’t see it.”
“I’m detecting debris consistent with a ship,” Francine replied. “I think they tried to follow us between the asteroids.”
“Well… shit,” I said. “No, actually, that’s a good thing.”
“Agreed,” Francine said. “But we should not linger. There may be other pirate vessels in the area.”
“Got it,” I replied as I turned my ship to skirt along the edge of the asteroid field.
I was still tense from the battle, and I let out a long, relieved breath when I realized how hard my heart had been pumping. I could feel the pulse in my throat, and I took several deep breaths to slow my heart rate. As I ran a hand through my hair, a laugh suddenly escaped me. It was out of relief and disbelief that my plan had actually worked, and I patted the control panel out of gratitude that the ship had been able to perform so well.
“I did not enjoy that,” Francine eventually said.
“Nothing like a deadly space chase to wake you up, is there?” I chuckled. “Say that five times fast. Deadly space chase.”
“That was a close one,” the AI said. “The ship was almost damaged on multiple occasions.”
“Well, we hadn’t had a close call in at least twenty minutes, so I thought why not keep the streak going?” I replied.
“Very funny,” Francine said.
“Is Bob alright?” I asked.
My question was answered by a beep from behind me. I turned around in my chair and saw the little yellow robot trot into the cockpit.
“I was able to brace him for the sudden changes in our flight path,” Francine said. “One of the advantages of having access to all the computer devices on the ship.”
“It was a good thing you did,” I said. “Or else we’d probably be putting him back together right about now after all those twists and turns.”
I patted the yellow robot on his head, and Bob beeped affirmatively.
“I am almost able to transmit a clear signal again,” Francine announced. “Should we request help?”
“I think we’re okay for now,” I chuckled. “Just let them know we’ll be there soon.”
I leaned back in my chair again and wiped a couple of beads of sweat from my brow. The chase had been a lot scarier than I’d imagined, and I realized how lucky I was to still be alive. Even though Francine had downloaded everything I needed to know about piloting spaceships into my brain, I was still a newbie at this. Although, I was doing pretty well, considering.
“Well…” I said after a few moments. “I’ve definitely earned a beer for later.”
“Agreed,” Francine replied. “You flew the ship superbly.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll admit, part of me did enjoy that. I used to imagine myself flying the Millenium Falcon when I was a kid.”
“And that is one of the reasons I selected you for our mission,” Francine said. “You are adaptable, and you accept the situation you are in and find a way to resolve it.”
“Thanks,” I said and chuckled. “Although, we definitely need to upgrade these shields and the engine. I thought we were fast, but that pirate ship was able to keep up easily enough. And it didn’t even look like it was the latest model.”
“We will be able to do both those things once we return to Aghoa,” Francine replied.
“Well, I can definitely see why all those other aliens didn’t take this job now,” I remarked. “The asteroid belt is tricky enough without having to worry about pirates lurking behind every rock.”
“At least Darak warned you about them before we left,” the AI said. “If you had been unaware that there might be pirates in this area, then we may not have had the same outcome.”
“You’re right,” I said. “Remind me to thank him when we get back.”
The planet was in sight again when a warning sound went off in the control panel. The HUD revealed another ship hidden among the asteroids, and it didn’t take a genius to know it was another pirate ship.
“Come on,” I sighed. “How many of them are there?”
I darted behind a moon-like asteroid, but the other ship didn’t move from its spot. I waited a moment, just to be sure, and then I flew toward a group of smaller asteroids that were bunched together. They didn’t look that dense, but the HUD flickered and died again.
“Okay, we definitely need to get that fixed,” I sighed.
Suddenly, the ship jerked downward, and I was rocked back and forth so roughly that I momentarily let go of the joysticks. I recovered quickly, but when I tried to urge the ship forward, it felt like something was tugging at us. The ship finally broke free and shot off into the belt as though it had been launched from a catapult.
“What the hell was that?” I asked. “It was like we were caught on something and being dragged downward.”
I spun the ship around so I could see what was behind us, and there, just below the rocks I’d tried to hide in, was another ship. This one was a lot larger than the other pirate ship and maybe four times as big as mine. I could see a sort of rippling beam emerging from the front of it that reminded me of the air above a road on a hot day, transparent yet rippling in the daylight.
“What the hell is that thing?” I asked. “I mean that weird energy field, not the ship.”
“I believe it is a tractor beam,” Francine said. “It is designed to pull ships toward the pirate ship.”
“Right, so… we don’t really wanna get caught in that again,” I said.
“No,” the AI replied. “No, we do not.”
“Understood,” I said as I spun the ship around and pointed it toward the station once again.
“They are pursuing,” Francine noted.
“No surprise there,” I said as I dodged around a VW-sized asteroid.
I had to veer hard to avoid an out of control chunk of something metallic, which gave me a quick look at the new pirate ship. Like its predecessor, it simply plowed through the field like the asteroids were merely flies to be swatted out of the way. Every time an asteroid hit their shields, there was a spark of light, and then the debris was expelled away like two same poles on magnets.
“Oh, shit,” I said. “This is not good. I don’t think these guys will just crash into an asteroid.”
The larger vessel was gaining on me, and the longer I stayed in the asteroid field, the closer it would get. My ship’s maneuverability was no longer an advantage against a vessel that could simply plow straight ahead through any obstacle, which meant my only chance was to outrun them to the station and hope that whoever was in charge of the military detachment was paying attention.
I was nearly clear when I felt the pull of the tractor beam behind me again.
“No,” I hissed as I dodged in front of an asteroid at the last moment.
The beam picked up the rock instead and pulled it toward the pirate ship for a brief moment. The beam disappeared for a second, and the rock bounced off the shield as it free fell and then floated away back into the belt.
I tried to lose the pirate ship in the messy labyrinth of the asteroid belt but to no avail. It pushed through the rocks as though they were nothing, and soon, it was right behind me. I had the skill to get away from it, but the ship didn’t have the speed, and that was what I needed to escape.
The tractor beam shot out from the pirate ship, and my ship shuddered as it was encased by the beam. I kept the joysticks forward and struggled against the pull of the beam, but the pirate ship was too close now for me to get away. I realized that this must have been what flies felt like when they were trapped in a spider’s web because as hard as I pushed, there was no escaping it.
I watched the screen on the control panel as my ship was pulled in toward the pirate ship. I tried to shake the ship free with one of the joysticks, but the beam had well and truly encased my ship now. All I was doing was straining the engines, and if I kept it up, I’d destroy our one chance of escape. So, I let go of the joysticks and tried to figure out what to do next.
“Shit,” I said. “Shit, shit, shit.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Francine said.
“Who the hell has a tractor beam?” I grumbled.
“Pirates, typically,” the AI replied.
“Well…” I said coldly. “They’ll wish they’d never used it on my ship.”
I put the breathing tube on, took off my cap, and then pressed the neckline of my protective suit. I felt the familiar sensation of the suit growing up and over my face until my entire head was covered, and then I put my cap back on over it. I was able to see the crosshairs on the visor that Francine had put in for me, and that gave me an idea of how I might be able to get out of this alive.
“Francine?” I said.
“Yes, Will,” Francine replied.
“Turn off all internal lights,” I said. “And hide Bob. I have a plan.”
“Of course,” Francine replied. “A good plan?”
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” I said with a shrug.
Bob suddenly sprang up and raced into the living area, and a moment later, all of the internal lights went out. There was still a faint glow from the pirate ship, but it wasn’t enough to disrupt the night vision that the AI had added to the suit.
I undid my seatbelt, stood up out of my chair., and pulled my trusty weapon out of its holster. I set it to Electro-Launch, a mode that shot out small, silver balls that, when they made contact with my target, caused them to have a sudden heart attack. It didn’t matter where I hit them for it to work, but now that I had the crosshairs, I knew I would be a perfect shot.
And if the Electro-Launch didn’t work for some reason, there were always good, old-fashioned lead bullets.
I turned back to the front window and watched as my ship was pulled into the belly of the pirate ship. As the beam brought us into the docking bay, my stomach twisted into a knot as I watched the door begin to close behind us. My ship shuddered as it touched down on the floor of the docking compartment of the pirate ship and then went still.
I could hardly see anything inside the docking bay, but then, I wasn’t really looking. I could still see the station just outside, and I sighed when I realized how close we were.
“Well,” I sighed. “I’ll just have to fight my way there, won’t I?”
As the door slowly closed, the view of the station shrank until there was just a sliver of it left, and then the door closed with an almighty thud, and I was plunged into darkness.