Which was all we needed—Zyair’s crazed flip had effectively flummoxed the Nirzks pursuit. He dove theStardrifterso close to the hull of a freighter that I caught a glimpse of a startled face through a viewport, before shooting out the other side and into clear space.
It took the two remaining Nirzk pursuers a few moments to get clear of the queue themselves and follow. But they weren’t alone.
“We have four more in orbit around the moon,” I said. “Now heading our way.”
Zyair snarled, very low, and shoved the throttle to full. TheStardriftershot away from the slipstream port, and toward our ultimate goal.
I swallowed as it loomed ever larger in our viewport.
The asteroid belt…
Unfortunately, the Nirzks had no intention of letting us get to the cover the asteroids would provide.
A phaser bolt ricocheted off theStardrifter’sshields, and the entire ship shuddered.
“Your side, Xandros,” Zyair growled.
“Affirmative,” the answer came over the comm. “That was just a warning shot. They don’t seem to want to blow us up.”
“If they damage his shaftzingcullions, Brentoq will be displeased,” grumbled Xandros.
“That will change, if they think we might get away,” Rhodes stated calmly. “Two more coming in fast.” And then, the ship shuddered as he fired.
I shot Zyair a glance. Wasn’tcullionsDrakonian slang for balls? “Why do the Nirzk want you so bad?” I asked.
“It is Brentoq.” He glanced at me, and his eyes were gleaming brilliant green. “And that—that you do not want to know.”
Considering his balls seemed to be at stake, I kinda did want to know. But another hard blast hammered theStardrifter,and the ship shuddered as Rhodes and Xandros returned fire.
There was a continual muttering over the comm. I thought it was Xandros, but I couldn’t make out exactly what he was saying?—
“Xandros mutters when he is tense,” Zyair told me.
“He’s tense for a reason.” I replied. “They are gaining on us,”
Zyair grunted as he drove hard for the asteroids. He’d been the one to ascertain that Nirzk ships could outrun theStardrifter. I guessed if he’d been captured by the Nirzks before, he should know.
I peered through the viewscreen. Just beyond the field of tumbling rocks, was the planet that they ringed—it gleamed bright green through heavy clouds. The navcube named it Ssanue, and it was a Nirzk occupied world.
It looked much more lush and inviting than the ship-crushing rocks we blasted toward. As they loomed closer, I had the oddestsensation. Almost like déjà vu—I was seeing them close up, and then I blinked, and they were farther away.
“Still just the eight?” Zyair asked. As though avoiding eight lethal Nirzk ships was doable.
“Yes.” I looked ahead to the churning rocks. They spun slowly through space, but their appearance was deceptive. The reality was that they were crashing into each other and rebounding off, a continual grinding maelstrom of destruction.
Zyair took us straight in among them.
I’d already had a demonstration of his ability as a pilot, but now—as he ducked and dodged through the spinning rocks, I knew I wasn’t in his caliber. I’d never seen anyone toss a ship around like this.
I told myself that he’d likely been flying in combat for many years, whereas I’d spent most of my time shuttling cargo. Butstill. Even though I was strapped in, my fingers clenched around the armrests.
Fucking hell, he could fly.
The rocks moved too fast and came at us from all directions. His skill wasn’t going to be enough. Twenty seconds in, I knew it. And by the look on his face, he did too.
“Four of the Nirzk ships have followed us in,” I told him as I glanced at the navcube. “Uh—I mean three. One just bit it.”
I got a glimpse of a rock bigger thanStardrifter, ricocheting off an even larger asteroid and coming straight at us.
