“We don’t need them, MONA. I’ve done this before on other ships. I’ll fix them in space.”
Thrusters thump on around the vessel, then drone into a raucous vibration that shakes my eardrums and my heart. Elix has me on weapons because MONA doesn’t seem to compute the parameters.
“Better hurry it up. They’re in visual range!” Aurelius races ahead of us, his vertical tail thrusters blazing fiery blue-green stripes in the sky.
Elix nods as we start moving after Aurelius’s ship, faster with every moment. After one final splutter, we launch toward the stars.
I clutch my harness and wonder what took so long but am happy to be getting away from whoever or whatever ghostfleet is. They clearly have their own agenda and tech if they’re willing and able to snatch a ship out of the stars like ours.
“Had to burn off the ice,” Elix says. He glances at a couple of his screens as we rocket hard into space. He guides the Scintilla after Aurelius’s ship.
Stars become clearer around us. And Lazario shines like a massive icy green marble below us. It is truly a beautiful sight. “I hope we can come back.”
Elix looks over at me with endearment. “Me too.”
“Ready to jump when you are, Green Bean.” Aurelius lines up for the heart of the Sol system.
“Right behind you.” Elix grabs his throttle.
A portal ignites in front of Aurelius’s ship. He launches through, and we chase him. The seat presses into my back with increasing force.
“Ghostfleet is locked on,” MONA says.
Elix pushes the throttle. “Hold together for me ol’ girl. Zariah, launch flares on my mark.”
My heartbeat rises. Alerts flash and beep on the screens.
“Another vessel has fired. Unidentified. Impact Imminent,” MONA reports.
Missiles get closer to us onscreen until I’m starting to panic.
“Now!”
I mash the button for flare release. A colorful array of fireballs spiral out of the ass of Elix’sol’ girl. And one by one, the missiles disappear from the screen.
The portal’s boundary zips by us like a ring of blue-green fire.
“Clear!” Elix shouts over the com.
The portal closes, but we still have a missile on our tail.
Elix reports it to Aurelius and banks hard, weaving us like a side-winder through the stars of what I believe is the outer region of the Milky Way.
“On it,” Aurelius replies. His ship shoots upward and dives back at an angle.
“Hang on.” Elix steers us through a field of ship debris from a battle of some kind. He weaves through it, but the missile’s targeting system manages to avoid the junk.
Three shots crackle out across the stars. Aurelius whoops. The missile disappears from the screens.
Elix relaxes. “I owe you, Aura.”
“Naw,” Aurelius’s rugged face appears in a com channel feed. “You saved my life from the poison dart that pretty redhead launched at me on the last recon mission.”
Elix chuckles. “You are hopeless. That Firespine probably had a den near where you were poking around for berries. Don’t lie to make it sound better than it was.”
“Alright. But it did sting like a bitch.”
“As you convulsed and drooled on yourself,” Elix snorts a laugh and turns to me. “This guy has a thing for getting into trouble. But he is a damn good soldier when there’s work to be done.”
