“Right,” Max answered as he banked the ship away from the spaceport ahead of them and streaked low over the city. Sabine strapped herself into the seat at the weapons console and watched the city rushing past below them as night began to fall around them.
“How did they find us?” Sabine asked, her voice barely shaking, she was proud to note.
“Like I said, they figured it out. They saw us together, and I’m known here,” Kristof responded as he took over the controls from Max. “Their gear matched that of the two we killed earlier. Let’s just hope they don’t have their own ships flying cover for them, but we’ll find out any second now if they do. Have you ever operated shipboard weapons, hands on, before?”
“Simulations only,” Sabine answered, suddenly feeling a bit nauseous.
“Good enough,” Kristof replied quickly. “It’s a lot easier hands on than remotely. There’s a hatch in the communal area with a red slash of paint on it. It leads up to an anti-aircraft turret. Get up there and get strapped in, and don’t miss.” Kristof gave her a wink as he said the last, and her heart soared that he was no longer angry with her.
The Wraith lurched as she unstrapped and ran for the communal area.
“Here they come!” Kristof yelled.
Sabine found the hatch in the corner close to the ladder that led down to the hold. Pulling it open quickly, she found another ladder leading a short distance up. She climbed as fast as she could as the ship shook from air turbulence and laser strikes against the shields. In moments she found herself in a tiny domed chamber with a seat attached to the turret’s twin Gatling-style lasers.
Strapping herself in as fast she could, Sabine watched as the weapon systems came alive before her, apparently sensing her presence and activating on its own. By the time she had the straps of her harness tightened, the turret’s targeting system was already showing her targets. Donning a headset and grabbing the controls, Sabine pulled the triggers and released a torrent of laser fire at their pursuers.
The constant maneuvering of the Wraith made getting a solid target lock for more than a second or two almost impossible, so Sabine instead tried to anticipate where her targets would be. After a few attempts, she managed to clip one of the pursuing ships and watched as that ship’s unshielded wingtip blew apart in a spectacular cloud of debris, sending it spiraling into the ground.
“Nice shot!” she heard through the headset. Her heart soared again at Kristof’s praise.
Sabine’s cover fire had forced their pursuers to give them some distance as they raced over the city. Laser blasts continued to flare against the Wraith’s shield while Sabine returned fire. Moments later she caught one of their pursuers, an arrowhead shaped fighter craft, square in the cockpit and she watched the ship disintegrate in a huge fireball. Kristof’s hoot of approval rang through the headset.
Suddenly, the Wraith’s trajectory took a violent change and just as suddenly they were rocketing towards space. Their two remaining pursuers, momentarily taken by surprise by the rapid course change, found themselves locked in Sabine’s sights and she unleashed a storm of laser fire in their direction. A third fighter burst into a fireball, and the last fighter broke away in another direction, its wing trailing fire.
Sabine watched as they cleared the planet and stars began to appear outside the turret. She kept her eyes on the screens intently for any ship nearby that showed a hostile intent. None appeared, though, and minutes later the stars around them disappeared and were replaced by the rainbow kaleidoscope of hyperspace.
The adrenaline rush from their escape and ensuing dogfight rapidly receded as Sabine unstrapped herself from the turret with tired arms. Her hands and legs were shaking as she climbed back down into the ship, where Kristof was there to great her. He pulled her into his arms and held her tightly, saying nothing.
The anger from the spaceport was gone totally from Kristof now. Sabine laid her head on his chest and just allowed herself to be held, wanting to be nowhere else in the universe in that moment than in his arms. She remembered suddenly that he had been shot, though, and she pulled away to examine his bleeding arm.
“It’s not bad,” Kristof hissed as Sabine pulled his jacket away from the wound. The laser blast had cut deep along his left bicep, but it had also cauterized the wound as it passed. Sabine eased the jacket off Kristof’s shoulders and pulled his shirt over his head, then ordered him to sit at the nearby table while she went in search of a first aid kit.
~*~
~21~
The lights were low as Kristof lay in his bunk and listened to the breathing of the woman in his arms. The emotions of the last day, followed by the mania of their escape from Bonibus, had reignited the passion between him and Sabine as he sat there shirtless while she had wrapped his wounded arm tightly in a bandage. His best intentions disappeared as the two of them had stumbled into his cabin, already half undressed as they went, and Max’s sigh of annoyance echoing loudly as the door closed.
Sabine was awake, Kristof was sure, as they lay there in the dim light. He rubbed his hand lightly up and down her back, the feel of her skin beneath his touch almost intoxicating in its softness. In return, she had laid her head and hand above his heart, listening to and feeling the beat as it sped and slowed every time she moved. He suspected she moved on purpose just to change the rhythm. He could have laid like this with her forever, he thought to himself.
When her hand slid down his chest to caress his stomach Kristof knew for sure that Sabine was awake once more. They had exhausted themselves throughout the night, losing themselves in each other, but now reality was slowly reasserting itself. Time was running out on them, and he could think of no way to delay the inevitable any longer.
“So what’s the plan, my captain,” Sabine asked, obviously picking up on his growing restlessness. “I can hear you thinking.”
“It’s not much of a plan anymore,” Kristof answered. “The Duranis faction of ships in orbit over Purannis will definitely know we are coming by now, and know the make of our ship for sure, if they already didn’t. The second we drop out of hyperspace they’ll be all over us.”
“I wish it wasn’t imperative I get home immediately,” Sabine said sadly. “I would much rather stay here with you like this.”
“I know,” Kristof whispered. “If it were up to me…” He left it unfinished, not knowing what else to say. Silence followed for a while, neither wishing to break the moment, but Kristof knew time was not on their side.
“Do the Great Houses on Purannis still use their own private codes for personal communications? The ones like they used during the blood feuds, centuries ago?” Kristof asked finally, an idea coming to him.
“It’s falling out of use with the younger generations,” Sabine replied. “It’s seen as a holdover to our barbaric past. My mother never bothered, always saying the government codes were enough. My grandfather used to always send me messages using them, it was like our own secret language. I still have the little coding unit he gave me before I left for the Sanctuary as a girl. I think he did it to try and keep the tradition going in our family. Why?”
“You know the codes then?” Kristof asked, hopeful.
“I have the coding unit in my satchel,” Sabine replied with a little smile. “I take it everywhere.”
“That’s good,” Kristof said, relieved. “My plan, then, is to drop out of hyperspace long enough for you to send your grandfather a coded message that we are coming. Hopefully he is onboard the orbital station and can act on the message, or this trip will end very badly for us.”
“What are you planning?” Sabine asked, sitting up to look at him. Kristof wished she hadn’t sat up like that. The sight of her small, firm breasts in the dim light stirred things in him, things they didn’t have time to act upon. Worse, she had noticed his stirring and had reached out to stroke him playfully. Regretfully, he had to reach down to pull her hand away from his swollen member.
“I still plan to drop out of hyperspace as
close to the station as possible,” Kristof told her after collecting his thought that had scattered at her playful teasing, “Only now it will be at ten thousand feet. Hopefully your grandfather will have received and decoded your message and have the main docking bay and tractor beams ready. We’ll be headed towards the docking bay at full sublight and have to hope they catch us in the tractor beams before we plow throw the station and out the other side.”
Sabine sat there gaping at him, her mouth hanging open for a few moments before she recovered herself enough to close it. The look on her face was amusing, yet the sight of her body was highly distracting and did nothing to help diminish his arousal.
“You’re insane,” Sabine managed to say after a moment more. “Your solution to try and save my life is to try and get me killed?” her voice dripping with sarcasm as she reached out again and grasped him hard.
Kristof laughed and pulled Sabine into his arms, where he rolled her to the bed and eased between her eager thighs. Time, it seemed, would have to wait on them for a little while longer at least.
“No, not quite kill you, my love,” Kristof told her teasingly as his swollen member teased her dripping sex. “Though it may scare a few years off you,” he added with a wink.
“My love?” Sabine whispered wonderingly, all irritation at his plan gone from her voice as she reached out to touch his cheek gently as her legs wrapped around the back of his, as if to keep him from escaping.
“Yes,” Kristof answered softly and looking deep into her eyes. “No matter what happens, I will always love you, my Sabine.”
“I love you too, my Kristof,” Sabine whispered and kissed him as he slowly sank into her.
Kristof lost track of how long their lovemaking lasted, but when Sabine slowly pulled away his heart ached at the loss. She looked deep in his eyes, so many things remaining unsaid and needing no words.
“Take me home, My Captain,” she whispered.
~*~
~22~
Several hours later, as the Wraith drifted in deep space, Sabine pressed the transmit button to send her coded message to her grandfather. She sincerely hoped that he got it in time and was able to carry out his part of Kristof’s insane plan. The prospect of feeling the station’s bulkheads slamming through her chest was not something she wished to experience in reality, no matter how briefly such a sensation might actually last.
No matter how Sabine looked at it, though, Kristof had been right. They were almost out of time. If they took the time to find a safer way through, the government on Purannis would tear itself apart. Only by getting her home as quickly as possible so she could assume control of the throne would prevent it now. Even then, civil war might be inevitable with the Duranis family if the Clovani Empire forced the issue.
As things stood now, Sabine would likely have to declare martial law to ensure the peace while she ordered an investigation to confirm everything she suspected surrounding her mother’s death. The Duranis family was old and powerful, and only concrete evidence would be sufficient to convince the other noble houses of their guilt. And there was the Clovani Empire to worry about as well, if they were truly in collusion with the Duranis family. She could almost feel the time ticking away to nothing.
The console before Sabine beeped, indicating the message had been sent and received. Sabine turned to Kristof, who sat waiting in the pilot’s seat talking lowly with Max, and nodded. He nodded in return and turned back to the controls, setting the Wraith back in motion. Max watched the two of them and shook his head.
“You two were much better companions when you’re weren’t fucking,” Max announced with his characteristic bluntness. Kristof didn’t even look as he hit the android in the side of the head. “What did I say?” Max asked plaintively.
Sabine laughed even as she blushed, but chose not to respond. Nothing she could say would save the moment, so she let it go. She would have hugged the android if she could, however. The tension that had been building in the cockpit as they waited for the message to be away was gone now. Come what may, she felt ready to face it.
~*~
~23~
The Wraith shot through hyperspace, and as the ship drew closer and closer to Purannis, Kristof’s sense of foreboding grew once more. It was a sense he had grown to trust over the years, especially after those times he had ignored it to his regret. He checked, rechecked, and then checked again that all of the ships systems were ready for the second the ship exited hyperspace.
Shields and weapons were on standby, simply waiting for power to transfer from the hyperdrive to the defense grid. Everything in the cargo hold was secured. Kristof had even pressed Slag into engineering duties, despite him only having one arm still, to make sure the ship’s engines remained running no matter what.
Kristof couldn’t say what exactly had given him such a sense of unease. There were so many things that could go wrong with this planned mad dash to the station over Purannis. With so many ships currently orbiting the planet, it would be pure luck by itself to avoid colliding with one the instant they reverted to normal space. And then they would need to avoid being shot down by ships of the Duranis family, or avoid being caught in the cross fire as ships from Sabine’s family sought to protect them. Or what if Sabine’s grandfather failed to decode the message, or chose to disbelieve it?
Shaking his head, Kristof pushed the thoughts from his head. Trying to predict what might go wrong was pointless now, and was a potential distraction at a crucial moment. Instead, he turned to the black and red android at his side. Max seemed calm as only an artificial being could be as he resumed his seat after taking care of a task for Kristof. The android had remained mostly silent since they jumped to hyperspace, his sole concession to the gravity of the situation.
“Did you ready the pod like I asked?” Kristof asked cryptically, throwing a quick glance back towards Sabine to see if she was listening. She appeared to be intently studying the weapons console’s control, readying herself to operate the ship’s turret remotely rather than be up in the turret above the ship in person. Kristof was glad she hadn’t argued about his insistence that she operate the turret remotely. The crash landing aboard the station would likely destroy the turret, he’d explained. Also, his final backup plan to save her life would fail if he could not reach her instantly.
“The pod is ready as you asked,” Max responded quietly, “though I do not believe you will have the time to use it should things go badly.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that then,” Kristof said, his voice barely above a whisper now. “Time to target?”
Max made a quick scan of the controls, though Kristof knew the android already knew perfectly well how much time remained.
“Twelve minutes, thirty two seconds,” the android responded after a moment. “There is still time to call this off and find another way.”
Kristof was badly tempted, but they had already agreed that any further delay would be a disaster for the world of Purannis and the Protectorate as a whole. The civil war could break out at any moment, if in fact it already hadn’t, without the presence of their rightful queen to assume command of the people. He found it odd that one person could have so much influence over a world and its people, but then he thought of the remarkable woman sitting behind him and found the thought not so odd after all.
Looking back at Sabine, memories of everything that had happened over the past few days flashed through Kristof’s head. The passage through the Devil’s Eyes in particular dominated his thoughts. After Anasha’s death, Kristof had never thought to feel love or passion in his life again, and for thirteen years that had been true. Then this tiny woman exploded into his life and changed everything. And now they were rushing towards certain doom and he once again promised himself that he would save her, no matter the cost.
Sabine must have felt his eyes on her, because she turned around and returned his stare. They stayed that way, lost in each other’s eyes, until minutes later Max began the final co
untdown to hyperspace exit. Kristof mouthed the words ‘I love you’ to her, to which she replied in kind, before he returned his attention to the controls before him.
Moments before Kristof was to flip the switches that would return the Wraith to normal space, the ship shuddered violently, and then all hell broke loose. The Rainbow of hyperspace tore apart in streaming tatters as the ship heaved and bucked wildly back into normal space.
~*~
~24~
“Gravitic generator!” Max yelled as the ship let out a steely scream in the seconds before Kristof disengaged the hyperdrive and engaged the sublight engines. Sabine could see Kristof and Max fighting with the controls as the Wraith spun wildly out of control and alarms began to sound.
Sabine watched the stars spin past the viewport as she clung tightly to the arms of her chair. The sound of the alarms filled the air as smoke puffed from several consoles. Slowly, Kristof and Max wrestled the Wraith under control, and then Kristof slammed the throttles forward and the Wraith accelerated quickly again. She could feel the acceleration of the ship in the pit of her stomach, which told her the ship’s acceleration dampeners and structural integrity fields were damaged. The Wraith wouldn’t be able to survive another hyperspace jump now without repairs; they were well and truly committed to what was left of the plan.
It took several moments to reorient the ship back onto their planned course. By the time they did, the ship’s sensors announced the approach of several ships, including a very large cruiser that began to fill their field of view. Its grey hull with blue trim quickly came to dominate the view through the forward viewport as the Wraith picked up speed.
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