Jeridan sucked in his breath between clenched teeth. The slavers sounded like they meant it.

Those scum didn't care about people, and if they couldn't enslave these poor pilgrims, they would happily hold a gun to their heads to save their own skins.

"What do we do?" Jeridan asked.

"Dunno," Negasi said.

"We leave," Nova said.

"If you say that again, I'll space you," Jeridan said.

"Don't space my mother!" Aurora said. "But seriously, Mom, that's pretty harsh. We can't leave them."

"I don't mean leave them. Look, we're in interstellar space. We go to light speed and have the S'ouzz zip us back so we can make a surprise attack."

"You mean right back here?" Jeridan asked.

"Yeah."

"Can you do that safely?" Jeridan asked, assuming the astronavigator was listening.

"No."

Jeridan was surprised the alien replied verbally rather than simply writing a message. Was it getting more social?

Then he thought of the alien's answer. They would be jumping back to a spot occupied by two starships, one of which had been blasted at several points and sent out a cloud of debris.

If they hit any of that while going light speed …

Jeridan took a deep breath. "Can you do it within an acceptable margin of risk?"

"Your definition of acceptable or mine?"

Jeridan and Nova traded an astonished look. Was the S'ouzz actually using humor? Or was that sarcasm?

Either way, it was a new development.

It's been hanging out with humans long enough that it's getting affected by us.

"Um, let's go with your definition of risk."

"Yes. I have studied the phenomenon of the Interstellar Bus quite extensively, because the very idea is so abhorrent to my species and gives insight into your own. It is used by the poorer classes and often entire families fly on them."

Jeridan shuddered, remembering his own trip on an Interstellar Bus as a kid. He had been doped up most of the time, but it had still been a nightmare of claustrophobia and fear as passengers went mad all around him.

And the smell, not just of unwashed bodies but of gnawing fear …

"So you're willing to risk your own life to save human children?" Jeridan asked.

"I have done so before."

Jeridan smiled. "You're a good guy."

"I am neither male nor female at this stage of my cycle."

"Oh, right. Well, you're a good S'ouzz. Let's try this out. Jump away and come back on the other side of the Interstellar Bus so we can get a good shot at those bastards."

"One moment. This will take some calculations."

"Working," MIRI said.

The S'ouzz and the ship's AI studied the problem for more than a minute as the frantic message from the Interstellar Bus continued. Jeridan moved the ship away to keep the slavers from panicking, angling up to gain some distance from the debris field he could see on his sensors. He supposed that messed with the S'ouzz's calculations, but the alien was brilliant. It would figure it out.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

At least Jeridan hoped so. One minor mistake and they'd smash right into the Interstellar Bus.

Or the slavers. Jeridan could think of better ways to defeat them than crashing into them so hard their atoms would be mingled forever.

"Ready," MIRI said.

"Go for it."

Suddenly the stars smeared into rainbow stripes. A moment later, they dropped out of light speed. Space hung in empty blackness all around them, harsh pinpoint stars their only companions.

Then another jolt, the stars smeared again, and they appeared just on the opposite side the Interstellar Bus. The slavers were right in from of them.

A bit too close. As in only about ten meters away. The ship filled the viewscreen. Jeridan could clearly see a startled face peering out a porthole.

Jeridan cursed, sent up a silent thank you to the S'ouzz for not miscalculating a millionth of a percentage point more, and hit the reverse thrusters. An alarm rang out but Jeridan didn't have time to check on it.

As they gained some distance, Negasi opened up with the dorsal and ventral turrets. The guy had linked them, sending a double line of flechettes tearing down the hull, then pummeling one of the enemy turrets with explosive slugs.

The turret burst, sending a plume of debris as air shot out the hole before the ship automatically sealed off the affected area. Jeridan saw a severed arm floating among all the pieces of metal and wiring.

Then he couldn't see anything, because Nova let loose with a series of torpedoes.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! We're still too close!"

They burst on several places on the slaver ship. Yellow signatures appeared on several spots on the Antikythera's schematic, showing where blowback from the explosions had hurled shrapnel into their own vessel. A harsh red line cut through the edge of the Antikythera.

Oh, crap.

Jeridan kept backing up at full speed, taking evasive maneuvers for the broadside that was sure to come.

As the debris around the slaver ship cleared, he saw that the fight was already over. Another turret had been taken out, as had the engine, and there were two hull punctures in the main body of the ship.

Nova held her fire, saving the torpedoes, while Negasi used both turrets to focus fire on the hull breaches, tearing through the internal walls and keeping the emergency systems from sealing off the affected areas.

It was only then that Jeridan had the time to examine the glaring red line on the schematic of their own ship.

It showed a tiny hull breach cutting through the edge of the Antikythera. It hadn't hit any vital spots, or any place where the kids would have been, but it had gone clear through.

Jeridan shivered. This was the danger of making light speed jumps on the fly, especially near traffic. You could hit something, and even a bit of metal the size of your fingernail suddenly becomes deadlier than a bullet. They had probably hit some bit of debris torn off the Interstellar Bus when the slaves had first attacked her.

He had moved the ship at an angle to avoid the debris field, but that hadn't been enough. Some tiny fragment had escaped his notice and cut right through them on their return jump.

"Everyone, please check in."

Everyone in the crew sounded off and Jeridan let out a slow breath of relief. He still hadn't gotten used to having kids along for a dangerous voyage.

And Mason still counted as a kid.

Pretty soon he'll have his childhood for himself again.

Unless the League tries to pull something.

If they do, me and Negasi will take them down. No way is this going to continue.

A flash from the slaver ship interrupted his train of thought. The engine core had exploded. Some internal system kept it from going catastrophic, but the fireball took out a good third of the hull. More shrapnel rattled off the armor of the Antikythera, lighting up more of the schematic in yellow.

"Damn," Negasi muttered.

Jeridan switched off the profile obfuscator and hailed the pilgrimage ship Renewal.

"This is Jeridan Cook, captain of the Antikythera. You guys all right over there?"

"This is Captain Liu of the Renewal. Thanks for your help. We're running a diagnostic now. They took out our engines and that final blast ruptured our hull. We have some casualties. Damage and casualty reports are still coming in. The hull has been sealed but we're dead in the water."

"Can you fix the damage yourselves?"

"That's unclear. We need to run some more checks."

"We'll stick close in the meantime."

"Much appreciated, Captain Cook."

"We need to get going," Nova said.

"We will, once they can get on their way."

"We don't have time for this."

Jeridan turned to her. "You keep saying that and I keep ignoring that. Can we break the cycle, please?"

Nova crossed her arms and glared at him.

Jeridan smiled. "Why don't you roll your eyes like Aurora?"

"You're comparing me to a fourteen-year-old girl?"

"She's better company."

There was silence on the bridge for a moment. He wondered if they were both waiting for Aurora to throw in a pithy comment. He sure was. He liked it when she did that, at least when the pithy comments were aimed at her mother or Negasi.

Nova rose. "I'm going to my quarters."

"No, you're not. You're staying on the bridge where you're needed."

Another glare.

"You're not in charge," Jeridan reiterated. "You lost that privilege when you committed a felony on your own son. Now sit back down and analyze the ship's diagnostic. Then suit up and start working on the hull breach."

Nova muttered and got back to work.

Jeridan scanned the surrounding space for potential threats, saw none, and got on the radio with Captain Liu to discuss the damage on the Interstellar Bus.

All the while, he felt uncomfortable with the silent, seething woman seated next to him. Nova had gone from an irritating boss to an enemy, and they were heading for her home territory, where she had a lot more power and a lot more allies.

Things might get a lot nastier very soon.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.