“I can do that,” he replied.
Sun pushed Jorin out of his seat and pointed to the one on the end of the console. “Press the Status Screen button on that station and you’ll be able to do everything you were doing before.” She made a quick series of adjustments to her station and it became a First Officer’s interface with combat shield controls, missile system access, a damage control interface and navigation information.
“Sharon, time to go,” Spin said. With a dull roar sounding throughout the ship, their vessel came to life, turning away from the dealership station and thrusting away. “I’ll start the wormhole calculations.”
“Shields up, setting up a power reserve for the Governor so he doesn’t run out of juice while he’s shooting,” Sun said. “It’s a United Core Authority Light Cruiser.”
“I have a transmission from that ship incoming,” Jorin said.
“Put it on,” Spin said.
“Hello, I can’t believe it’s actually you, Aspen,” said a squat man in the uniform of a United Core Authority Captain. “Our records showed that you were returned to your owner, but somehow one of our people scanned you down there. I’ve never heard of a doll escaping twice.”
“I’m special,” Spin said. “What can I do for you?”
“You can power down and allow us to board. I promise you the best treatment we can provide in our brig. You are charged with grand theft, assaulting an officer, and grand theft. That is if that’s Sharon Fiora beside you. I have a warrant for your arrest, and for the arrest of anyone with you as co-conspirators.”
“I have other plans, so I’ll get back to you,” Spin said, finding the control that would end the call on her station and pushing it. “Can we take that ship?”
“Right now? With no training and barely any familiarity with this ship?” Sun asked. “No.”
A flurry of particle beam bursts passed near their hull, lighting up the window as they faded into the darkness. “Warning shots,” Spin said. “Can we at least damage their shields?” she asked, looking at the weapons status on her station and highlighting the missile system. They had eighteen heavy electromagnetic pulse rockets loaded in their rapid fire launchers.
“This ship has a heavy launch system?” Sun asked, surprised. “Yes, yes! Those are cheap, give ‘em hell.”
Spin selected their port launcher and opened it. “I’m here, I’m here,” Mirra said as she ran into the bridge and sat at the weapons station beside the Governor. “What do you need?”
“Countermeasures, make sure the anti-missile battery is programmed, and if it isn’t, get ready to target manually,” Sun said.
“Spin?” Mirra asked.
“Go ahead, she’s our First Officer,” Spin confirmed. She watched as the missile bay doors finished swinging open and launched all nine heavy missiles. They rocketed into view for a few seconds before turning, spreading out and seeking the UCA Light Cruiser.
“Oh my God, how many was that?” Sun asked.
“Nine?” Spin said, unsure.
“Too many! That’s expensive and three would probably have been enough.”
“I don’t know, that’s the kind of volley I saw the Cool Angel launch,” Spin said, making sure that the missile doors started closing and that the computer was still calculating their wormhole jump.
“The Angel has light missile launchers, what you launched were ten times the size,” Sun said with a chuckle. “The Cruiser is launching countermeasures; our missiles are accelerating.”
“We’ll be moving faster than that cruiser in twenty-eight seconds,” Sharon reported. “We are out accelerating them by about six percent. Our jump system will be ready in thirty-five seconds.”
Spin’s defence readout flashed several times, indicating that particle beams were raking their aft shields. “We’re down to forty-eight percent on the aft dorsal shield,” she said.
“Sending reserve power, the field is recharged,” Sun replied.
“Should we start shooting back?” Mirra asked.
“Wait until we see what happens with those missiles, the Cruiser is taking evasive action,” Sun said.
Spin was surprised as she saw seven of their heavy rockets destroyed by the Cruiser’s countermeasures, then a flash of white light on the nose of their ship indicated that the last two detonated against their shields. “Their forward shields are down,” she said, surprised.
“Fire, aim for the bridge,” Sun said.
Spin could hear the rumble of all three of their turrets firing high explosive shells at a rate of thousands a minute, and she couldn’t help but imagine how much money she’d have to put out to replenish their ammunition, especially if she decided to replace the dumb fire shells with smart ammunition.
“We’re almost in position, about to make the jump,” Sharon said. “I can’t believe I might never have to sleep with that creep again.”
“What?” Sun asked, staring at her station.
“Oh, we’re stealing Sharon,” Spin replied as she watched the hull damage on the Light Cruiser appear on her screen, the nose of the ship was about to lose containment as hundreds of shells ripped into the hull. “Her master took liberties.”
“Ah, welcome to the crew,” Sun said.
Spin flinched as the space through the windows lit up with a series of quick flashes and their aft shields went down. One of their main thrusters flashed yellow.
“Impacts back here, everything is still functional, but they’ve got a bead on our thrusters,” Nigel reported.
“Entering our wormhole,” Sharon said. “They will be able to see which direction we’ve gone in for about three seconds.”
“All stations, cease fire,” Sun ordered.
The Governor leaned back with a sigh. “That’s not as easy as it looks.”
“It’s a lot more fun than I thought,” Mirra said.
Spin sat back in her captain’s seat, realizing for the first time that she was leaning right over her command station. “We’ll be in transit for ten minutes. We’ll do a couple more jumps to cover our tracks then we’ll set out for someplace for supplies along the way.”
“To where?” Sun asked.
“British Alliance Territory. I want to know what a city without slaves looks like.”
* * *
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