It isn’t possible to hear anything in space, but I suddenly wished we could hear. I felt as though all of me was strained backward, to sense whatever was coming at us from behind. There was no time for Lyssa to turn the ship to face it.
She held very still, her attention on all her externals, processing the data.
“Turn the rail guns!” I shouted at her.
“I have,” she said shortly.
I shut up. Lyssa’s reactions were faster than any of mine. Anything I thought of now, she’d likely already covered.
Pounding on the ramp to the bridge announced the arrival of the rest of the ship’s compliment. Fiori actually beat Dalton onto the deck, and Dalton was a sprinter. She skidded to a stop next to my shell. “What can we do?” she asked breathlessly.
“I’m on weapons,” Dalton said, settling behind the weapons dashboard. The triggers array disappeared from mine as he took it over. That gave me a few precious seconds to think.
“Stand against that shell over there,” I told Fiori, pointing at the navigation shell. “Lyssa will put up a 3D display of the ships in this area. You get to watch everything over her shoulder, and if you spot anything hinky, like a fourth ship, you scream.”
Fiori nodded and went over to the shell. The navigation tank formed in front of her, saving me from having to ask Lyssa and possibly distract her.
More pounding. I glanced back at the ramp as Yoan hurried onto the bridge. I pointed at the engineering dashboard. “Your father’s post. Go.”
Yoan nodded and settled behind the dashboard, scanning it to familiarize himself with the remote controls for the engineering compartments and systems.
I watched Lyssa. She’d got the ship moving, burning through space at a speed that made the floor vibrate beneath our feet. I presumed the Omia was doing the same but wouldn’t trip anyone up with useless questions.
The faster we burned now, the longer it would take the newly arrived ship to catch up with us.
Then Lyssa stiffened. She turned to face the back of the bridge and, presumably, the ship on our asses. “You have to be fucking kidding me!” she cried.
Another first.
I waited for an explanation, every heartbeat hurting, and every muscle taut, ready to react as soon as I knew what this new development was.
Lyssa turned on her heel to look at me. She was pissed. “It’s not the Blue guys,” she said, her voice flat with the heavy control she was exerting on it.
The speaker overhead gave a soft click. “Danny, what the fuck are you doing out here?” The voice, despite the anger and tension in it, was more than familiar.
The Lythion’s engines cut out. We were coasting along on inertia.
“Juliyana?” I straightened from my lean upon the shell. The sudden release of tension gave me the shakes. “Get your fucking ass over here and tell me what is going on. This had better be good, granddaughter.”