A harsh voice emerged over the airwaves. It wasn’t in a language I understood. “What did they say?” I asked.
“Drake vessel. Standby to be boarded.” Rhodes interpreted. “Which we will not.”
Another phaser blasted across our bow. The ships were faster than theStardrifterand orienting to capture us in an EMF net.
A third blast had Xandros snarling, “Can we shoot them now?”
“Hold,” Zyair said. His voice was hardly more than a whisper. To me, he added, “Talk to the port officials.”
I dove theStardrifter, pulling her out of the circle of fighters. “What good will that do?”
“The Untriks will not tolerate any interference with their slipstream clients,” Rhodes said. “We are close enough that they might intervene, if they think these are pirates.”
The Nirzks did regularly stage attacks on merchant vessels. It just might work.
“But what if the Nirzks have told them we are criminals?” I asked.
“I doubt the Untriks would take their word for it,” Rhodes rumbled over the comm. “They do not trust the Nirzks at all. We will be given a chance to state our case.”
With the dots converging, I opened a channel to the slipstream port. When the voice replied in heavily accented Primal, I didn’t have to fake my panic.
“We need to slipstream an urgent medical case to Earth,” I said, “And we are under attack by pirates. We require assistance.”
I couldn’t even breathe as we waited. Would they accuse us of being criminals? Hand us over to the Nirzks? Or would they look at our lack of response to the attack, and believe our story?
It wasn’t exactly an untruth.
Finally, the official answered. “We are sending ships to investigate.”
Okay, so they didn’t entirely believe me. But at least they were coming. I closed the communication.
“Can we shoot them now?” Xandros asked.
“No. We must appear helpless,” Zyair answered. He was sounding increasingly weak.
Xandros yelped at another close call. “What?”
“Not much of a stretch against these fighters,” mused Rhodes calmly.
“Okay, Princess Jazmin,” Zyair growled over the comm with a hint of his usual grit. “Let us show them what we can do.”
Suddenly, he was there with me. Not just in my mind, but a part of who I was. His hands were with mine on the controls, and his confidence flooded through me.
TheStardriftercame alive. She ducked and dove, flipped over, banked and swerved. Even sick as he was, Zyair’s talent was breathtaking. He did things with the ship that would have never occurred to me.
My heart, spirit, and soul sang with the power of it. I’d always longed to fly like this. We pushed theStardrifterto her limits and beyond, and the Nirzk ships, despite being designed for such maneuvers, couldn’t hope to catch us. In response, their phasers switched from warning shots to deadly intent.
But he was faltering, I could feel it. His contact pulsed in time with his heart as the orange blips that were the Untrik port authority drew ever closer… and then they were there. The antics of the Nirzk fighters had clearly confirmed their status to the authority—they formed a protective phalanx around theStardrifter, and two pursued as the Nirzk fighters sped away.
The Untrik ships surrounded us and escorted us to the port.
“Thank you, port authority,” I said with relief.
“We have medical care available at headquarters,” the voice intoned.
“It won’t be effective,” murmured Yani.
I swallowed my sudden burst of fear. “Thank you for your offer. Our patient requires the specialized care available only on Earth.”
