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30
NIKATHY
As the Patrol closed in on me and the city of Kychek down below, I held my breath. I was waiting anxiously for Rhiannon to fire the cannon. At any second, I expected the shot to light up the sky and go sailing past me to take them out. But no shot came. If she wasn't down there with that cannon we were going to have a big problem. My little ship didn't have enough guns to take out the new wave of Patrol fighters, and Herod and Adreax were still too far behind and blocked by the large Patrol vessel to be of any help.
Risking a look back over my shoulder, I decided I had to get closer and see if I could spot her. Was it possible she just hadn't seen us yet? As I aimed for the mountain on the edge of town, I dropped my ship down in a long arc, hoping to get a clear view.
She was gone.
There was not even a trace of her still on that hill.
A violent ball of remorse fell into the pit of my stomach, settling like a poisoned seed. I couldn't believe she had abandoned the spot after all the effort we'd put into getting the cannon up there. But then again, I didn't blame her either. I hadn't exactly given her much to hope for.
Feeling guilty, I took another pass around the city, circling overhead and scanning for signs of the truck. I searched the roads below, expecting to see it on the move, but when I still didn't spot it, I grew worried. Had she left town? It didn't make sense. There wasn't much of anything else on this planet. That's what made it such a perfect haven for rogues, and why my father had settled here in the first place. But she couldn't know that. I imagined her driving out into the wilderness, unprepared for the challenges she would face.
With the Patrol on my tail, and the prospect of returning home to a devastated city looming ahead of me, I felt like I was caught in a trap. I felt so ashamed of myself, both for the way I'd left Rhiannon and for letting my father down, I didn't know how I could ever show my face on Kychek again. When I had agreed to take over the family business and watch over the city, I had done it reluctantly, like a petulant child receiving a gift they didn't particularly want. But now, the thought of losing it all was enough to make me grit my teeth and growl low in my throat. Like it or not, those people down there were the only family I had left, and Rhiannon was the closest thing I had ever had to a partner.
With a war cry that rasped out of my throat, I wheeled my ship around in a tight circle and aimed straight for the oncoming fighters. I didn't have many weapons at my disposal, but I still had the element of surprise, and an undying desire to see the Patrol rotting in their graves. Before they knew what was happening, I hit the throttle and accelerated straight at the front of their neat V-formation. As the seconds ticked down and the distance closed, I began to wonder which one of us would blink first. I was starting to think that they didn't even see me, when all of a sudden, the ship in front angled sideways and clipped the wing of the ship next in line. I sailed straight through the narrow gap vacated by the first ship and was rocked by the eruption of the two ship's fuel tanks at once.
There was a thunderous boom, and the other ships in the formation split off into two distinct groups, shaken from their initial onslaught. At least I had bought us some time. I turned around and tried to decide who to go after next. These guys still weren't interested in a dog fight, but I wasn't going to let them go freely. As I took aim at the next set of ships, preparing to ram them again, I spotted the missing truck pulling out of a building below. I recognized it at once as the weapon's annex, and I thought my heart might explode from the sudden happiness that washed over me. She was still down there, and she was working on something.
A renewed vigor coursed through my veins. I didn't have to take them out all by myself. I only had to keep them busy long enough for her to put her plan into action. More than anything, I was so thrilled to learn that she hadn't abandoned me, that I didn't even realize I was cheering through the radio, talking excitedly to Adreax and Herod.
"She's coming! She's going to make them pay!" I yelled in a frenzy.
"Who?" Herod called back, still a long ways off.
"Rhiannon. She's got the big guns, and she's coming for them. Just wait and see!"
Herod and Adreax didn't share in my excitement, but that didn't change the way my heart was fluttering. I wasn't the only one who had noticed her.
A couple of the Patrol fighters that had broken away from the group after my stunt had zeroed in on her movement, and I could see them preparing to open fire. Without thinking, I mashed the controls on my console, calling up whatever power and ammunition I had left, and sent it all toward them. My ship lunged, just enough to make one of the pilots flinch and pull up, and my guns rattled with the last few rounds I had onboard. I watched as they tore little holes through the hull of the second fighter, praying it was enough to stop him from making his next move.
To my relief, the pilot hesitated just a second more and when he did fire, his shot landed dully in the road, sending up a plume of dirt and debris, but missing Rhiannon altogether. Then she was turning down a narrow alley, and the buildings blocked her from view. I was sure the Patrol wouldn't hesitate to mow down the buildings with their heavy artillery if that was what it took, but I was intent on drawing them away.
"Come and get me, bastards," I snarled, bobbing up in front of them again so they pulled up short. Without more ammunition, there wasn't much else I could do, but it never ceased to amuse me when I surfaced right in front of their faces and witnessed the startled look in their eyes. This was what the Deadly Gambit was built for.
