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“Engines are ready, sir,” came the report from his crew.
“I’m pleased to say we’ve been cleared for launch,” Jeeves added.
Dante only hoped he wouldn’t embarrass himself as he maneuvered out of the docking bay. Thankfully, he knew the model well and managed to leave without a hitch.
“Not bad,” Tinsley teased him, grinning at him from the copilot’s seat.
“I guess I’m good for something,” he quipped back, grinning.
“That much has been established,” Tinsley replied with a wink. Dante felt himself craving her all over again.
They didn’t have time, though. If the mission weren’t so dire, he would have set it to autopilot or deputized one of his crew so he could focus on what would have otherwise been the most important matter—exploring each other’s bodies and bringing each other pleasure. He shot her a smile before concentrating on the task at hand.
“Could you punch in their ship code?” Dante asked, referring to the pirate ship they chased.
Tinsley knew exactly what he meant and did as asked, letting the system run a check on any known whereabouts of the spacecraft while Dante wove through the maintenance hubs orbiting Midpoint.
“Dru!” he called out behind him. “You got anything on the tracker feed?”
The answer came immediately. “Picking up something in Quadrant L59.6—not far from Shorfu.”
Dante grinned. He gave Tinsley a look that said something like I told you he was the best. She grinned back in acknowledgment as Dante finally made his way away from the station into open space.
“Prepare for hyperdrive!” he announced before kicking the ship into gear.
It shot suddenly through space, causing the stars to blur around them and the space station to disappear in an instant until they were flying toward the small planet of Shorfu. They looked at each other knowingly as they bonded over their shared love of the peace they experienced in hyperdrive. Neither spoke, and they didn’t have to.
As they got closer, Dru called out. “Halt hyperdrive here! Brakes.”
Dante took the ship out of hyperdrive, and soon the control panel lit up.
“There,” Tinsley confirmed, pointing to the foreign ship nearby that appeared on the radar display. “That has to be them.”
Dante nodded, and soon he could see the ship in the distance—a ramshackle Jorvlen vessel that could only be a pirate ship. It appeared the pirates had seen them too, though, because a warning shot fired over them as soon as they got within range of the vessel.
“Oh shit,” muttered Tinsley beside him. “What do we do?”
Dante furrowed his brow.
“Well, we can’t shoot,” he replied. “But we can’t just let them get away, either.”
As he was contemplating their next move, another shot was fired. This time it wasn’t a warning. A spray of blue light exploded from the ship’s hull, and within seconds, a third and fourth shot followed.
It was clear they could only do one thing—retreat.
“We need to turn this thing around!” yelled Tinsley. “It’s a transporter, not a warship!”
Dante nodded. By now shots were raining down on them in rapid-fire succession. The pirates had evidently not taken kindly to them hanging around and were sending that message loud and clear.
“Thruster B has taken critical damage,” came Jeeves’s polite voice from above. Red flashing lights suddenly kicked into gear in what would have been a comical contrast to Jeeves’s measured tones were the situation not so dire.
“Dammit,” Dante cursed as he tried to pull the ship away with only one working thruster.
It was a difficult task, one that caused the whole vessel to shudder and slightly curve, but slowly, he managed to put some space between them and the pirate ship. He cast one glance back at the ship, lamenting the lost opportunity to locate his sister, or at the very least eliminate the ship as a possibility, before gritting his teeth and forging ahead.
The quest to find Maraliza was delayed, not scuttled. He and his family wouldn’t give up until she was safe and sound. To carry out their mission, they needed a functioning ship. And the way theirs was moving, it seemed like they were in dire need of a maintenance bay.
Jeeves confirmed his suspicions. “Would you like a damage report by any chance? It contains some vital information.”
