by Daniel Young
He didn’t finish before the ships of the Zenith Militia whirled back to back. They used their time-worn tactic to defend themselves in situations like this. Woolzi skimmed the Blackout in a corkscrew to aim the bombardment stack outward.
Too late. The Krakzid had cut the defenders off from the rest of the Militia. The Blackout couldn’t even retreat back to Keter.
Jackson didn’t have to order anybody to fire. All three gunners sprayed charges at the Krakzid as fast as they would shoot, but with Krakzid forming a solid wall all around the defenders, Jackson already saw it was hopeless. No one could get through from Zenith, either. They were completely cut off.
Woolzi tried several reckless maneuvers. He gunned the engines to dart between the Krakzid, but they intercepted the Blackout each time. They could move faster than any other ship Jackson had ever seen.
Woolzi tried another feint, but when he overextended his reach, two Krakzid pounded the Blackout from either side. Woolzi screeched and zipped the ship back into position, but not before a coil of lighting smashed into Roy’s block.
“Hey!” Roy roared. “Do you mind?”
“Get us out of there, Woolzi!” Jackson ordered.
“No way out!” Woolzi peeped.
“Well, find one! What’s the fuel situation?”
“Forty percent.”
Jackson’s stomach turned. “Get us out of here. Fall back to Keter.”
“No!” Roy thundered. “You can’t! We still have enough—”
“If we’re right, we’ll have to fight our way through the Legion just to find a place to land,” Jackson told him. “We leave now or we die here. There’s no guarantee we won’t run into the Krakzid around Keter, too.”
Woolzi started to turn away. Roy stared in anguish at the Fossack and the rest of the Militia ships keeping up a steady assault against the Krakzid. None of them could get near Zenith. They were all finished. They couldn’t retreat to Keter like the Blackout could.
Jackson didn’t want to leave, either, but with no other option, he had to take the chance. He caught Woolzi looking at him. For the first time, Jackson thought he understood the creature’s expression. “Go.”
Woolzi faced the helm. Now came the hard part. He throttled forward the way he did before. The Blackout streaked toward the gap between two Krakzid ships. The enemy zoomed together to close the gap, and both ships opened fire at the same time.
Lightning quick, Woolzi gunned the engines and made a desperate rush for the space the left-hand ship vacated in the Krakzid formation. The Blackout rocketed through the gap. Stars welcomed the ship into open space.
Jackson’s heart leaped, but too soon. The two Krakzid ships whirled around and assailed the Blackout from behind. Deafening booms flung the ship off its course. At the same instant, four more Krakzid ships broke formation and swept around in front to drive the Blackout back.
Lightning sprayed Jackson’s block. Static electricity cracked up his arms from the coupling and he yanked his hands away. He winced in pain and turned his head aside to protect his eyes.
He whipped around to grab his coupling again when an alarm went off on the display in front of him. “What the…?”
“Skeeter away!” Woolzi squawked. “Discharge ramp deploying! Skeeter away!”
Jackson opened his mouth, but no words would come. The Skeeter drifted down the discharge ramp and dropped into open space. It couldn’t be. Jackson refused to believe it. Who was piloting it at a time like this?
“Lana!” Liri bellowed. “Don’t you dare!”
“Shoot her down!” Roy thundered. “Traitorous bitch!”
“Lana!” Liri shrieked. “Get back here! Don’t you dare leave! I’ll kill you for this!”
No answer came from the Skeeter. The little craft cleared the discharge ramp, and its engines engaged. It plunged toward the Krakzid line, pulling the same trick Woolzi tried. The Skeeter plunged for the space between two ships.
The Krakzid closed in a flash. They turned their guns on the craft, but the Skeeter was running way too fast. It leaped into the gap. It would clear in a second, and then nothing would stop Lana from flying off into the sunset exactly the way she’d planned. She’d left her sister to rot along with the rest of the Blackout crew.
Jackson’s heart plummeted into his boots, watching the Skeeter growing smaller. Then something happened that he never expected. The Skeeter soared between the enemy vessels and…stopped. The engines cut out, and the Skeeter stopped right there between the two Krakzid ships.
Jackson stared in blank disbelief as all the Krakzid closed around the Skeeter. Their guns opened up, and they hammered the little craft with crushing power. In their zeal to finish off this upstart, they didn’t see the hole they’d left in their own formation.
Lana’s voice echoed from the pilot’s station. “Now, Woolzi!”
Woolzi grabbed the helm, and the Blackout shot forward in a blinding rush. The ship dove through the gap before the Krakzid could stop it. The Warrington tried to follow, but the Krakzid realized their mistake. They whirled around in time to stop the Warrington, but not the Blackout.
The Blackout hurtled clear, leaving all Jackson’s sister ships behind. The maneuver surprised the Krakzid just enough for the Skeeter to whiz away, too.
In half a second, the Blackout and the Skeeter crossed the boundary into Keter space. They left the Zenith Militia and the Krakzid fighting in the distance. Explosions of burning ships flashed in the darkness, but Jackson was almost too far away to see them now.
While he watched the battle receding out of sight, his instruments stuttered. Lana’s face appeared before him. She still looked pale and drawn, but her lips twisted, holding back a grin. “Permission to come aboard…Captain?”
Jackson had to smile back at her. “Permission granted. We’d be glad to have you.”
Woolzi adjusted the discharge ramp, and the Skeeter drifted inside. Jackson unlocked his wrists from the coupling, and the ejection block shut down as he stepped out onto the catwalk.
Roy still blinked into the distance, distracted and despondent. Jackson didn’t blame him one bit. Jackson would be standing there staring into space, too, but he had a job to do.
He returned to the cockpit and resumed his station. Woolzi steered the ship without any help from him. Zenith was lost to him, maybe forever.
Now the question reared its ugly head, and it looked an awful lot to him like he was the only one who could answer it. Where could they go instead? He checked the fuel supply. 25%. That answered all his questions for him.
He had to refuel this ship, and soon. That left one option: Keter.
FIND OUT
WHAT HAPPENS
NEXT!
Click here to read
ESCAPE
(Blackout Book 2)
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Copyright © 2021 by Daniel Young
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Click here to read
ESCAPE
(Blackout Book 2)
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