The ship, named the Gull, lifted smoothly, blasting its way loose from the shed where it had been held prisoner for decades. Jerimon and I worked controls cobbled together from spare parts. There were seven of us on board: Jerimon, Tayvis, me, Deke, Wade, Doggo, and a wizened little man who insisted his name was Flash. Scholar assured us he was a navigator, fully licensed and trained. He mumbled and cackled his way through the program. He’d started long before we began warming up the engines. He had to finish soon so we could make the jump.
"Five ships are coming after us," Tayvis said calmly. He was currently manning the scanning equipment, which was on the floor of the cockpit. The mounts for it were rusted through. "They’ve got weapons on."
"Do we have any shields?" Jerimon asked.
"Hell of a time to think about that," I said. "The answer is no." I gunned the sublight engines, pouring on what speed I could. The engine roared. The vibrations rattled my teeth.
"There are weapons," Wade said. "A full battery. We never touched them."
"Take this," Tayvis shouted at Doggo. He shoved the teenager into the seat. "Watch those dots and tell them if they get within this circle or if more show up." He stabbed a finger at the screen. "Where?" Tayvis demanded of Wade.
The two of them huddled on the far side of the room around a casing so old it was orange with rust.
"Incoming," Jerimon said.
"Hang on," I shouted. The ship rolled sharply to one side. A soundless explosion blossomed where we would have been if we’d kept going straight.
"Five minutes to jump point," Jerimon said.
I glanced back at Flash. He was still pecking at the keyboard one key at a time. "How soon?" I asked him.
He kept cackling and pecking at keys. Jerimon muttered under his breath.
"How’s the engine?" Deke asked from where he hung in a net of webbing behind us.
"Holding steady," Jerimon answered.
I flipped a few more switches, trying to coax more speed out of the ship. We dodged another volley of shots.
"There’s more of them," Doggo said. "A real battle, hot bam!" he shouted and slammed a hand on the edge of the scanning screen. It went blank.
"Hit it again," Deke said.
Doggo tapped it. It stayed blank.
"Wire’s popped out," Deke said and talked Doggo through getting it plugged back in.
Jerimon and I dodged blindly hoping that we could keep out of range for the few more minutes we needed. One hit and the Gull would be scrap and we would be dead.
"Seven of them," Doggo said, a lot more subdued.
"Feed it to the main screen," I said. "Split with forward view."
Deke had to talk Doggo through that. The screen in front of me fizzed and cleared, showing an image of the scan on the bottom half and forward views above. A long finger of light reached across the bottom screen. The ship rocked and bucked. One of the dots following us disappeared.
"Still works," Tayvis said happily. "Forty seven percent charged."
Another finger of light reached out. The ships behind us scattered, backing out of range.
"Pour it on," Jerimon shouted.
We straightened the ship out and pushed the stops as far as they would go.
"Course entered, captain," Flash said formally.
"Good," I shouted. "Jump in ten."
I watched the indicators slide up the scales. The engine rattled harder.
"Five," I said.
Lights flashed yellow and red. An alarm screeched. Jerimon slapped it off.
"Go!" I yelled.
Jerimon pulled the switches. The ship whined up and through transition into hyperspace. I let out my breath. Another alarm beeped.
"Shut down the sublights," Jerimon said. "Power down your side first."
We worked together, taking turns shutting systems back down. The alarm shut up. We got the controls locked and set. I swung my chair around and rubbed my face.
"You’ve got grease on your chin," Jerimon said. "Good flying."
"Not what I prefer."
"You like it, admit it." Jerimon nudged me.
"I hate it," I said automatically.
Tayvis and Wade were dismantling the weapons board. Tayvis looked over at me.
"Come check it out, Dace," he said.
"I have no experience on weapons," I said. "You figure it out."
"How long?" Tayvis asked as they popped open a cover. Rust flaked off and the hinge cracked. The cover clanked onto the floor, leaving another pile of rust behind.
"Your guess is as good as mine," I said.
Doggo watched me with something that looked suspiciously like hero worship. "Hot bam," he whispered.
Flash tottered over to the ladder and climbed slowly down out of sight.
"What are we going to do when we get to Xqtl?" Jerimon swung his chair slowly side to side.
"We find the Phoenix and shoot anyone who gets in our way," I said.
"With what, Dace?" Jerimon asked. "The weapons on this ship may or may not keep working."
"So we steal some guns first. The people we’re messing with should have plenty." I looked at Deke, still grinning happily in his net, watching streaks of multicolored light play over the viewscreen. "You don’t have any blast cannons hidden on the ship? Or missile launchers?"
"Didn’t think I’d need them," Deke said.
"Is the wire seated all the way?" Tayvis asked. "Wade?"
Wade stared blankly at the viewscreen. He jumped and twitched when Tayvis said his name.
"The wire," Tayvis said patiently. "Check the green one."
"I keep hearing the com beep," Wade said. "Emergency beacon."
"Then you’re hearing things," I said. "The com doesn’t work."
Deke laughed.
"That’s almost worse," Wade said.
"Tell me what happened on the Kumadai Run," Tayvis said. "Dace never did get around to telling me much."
"You left before I could," I protested.
"Somehow, Dace, you always seem to leave out the important details." He reached into the weapons board and pulled out a circuit chip. He blew the rust off it and plugged it back in.
"So do you," I answered.
"Because if I told you I’d have to shoot you." He lay down under the control panel and poked around underneath.
"Maybe you should have, back on Dadilan," I said.
"Wade, test the yellow one now," Tayvis said. He poked his head out. "It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun."
"I’d love to hear what Lady Rina would read for you two," Jerimon said.
"She thinks I’m your soulmate, Jerimon. I’m not going within ten light years of her." I couldn’t keep my fingers out of the control panel. I leaned over it.
"There’s more than one definition of soulmate," Jerimon said. He yawned and stretched. "You taking first watch? Wake me up in about ten hours." He slid down the ladder, showing off.
"Try wiggling that socket on the bottom left," Deke said to Tayvis.
"Is there any way to check the weapons without firing them?" Tayvis asked as he rolled over to reach the socket.
"The access tubes are in the engine room," I said. "As long as you keep clear of the hyperdrive, you should be fine."
"Show me where." Tayvis shoved the connector back in the socket and stood up. "As far as I can tell, the board still works."
"It’s probably the energy feed," Deke said. He looked at me.
"I hate those energy cables," I said. "Big ugly things that are always hot. My cadet flight the weapons system went down. Guess who got to crawl through conduits checking the energy feed."
"The smallest engineering cadet, of course," Tayvis said. "You’re still smallest."
"Send Doggo," I grumbled as I headed for the ladder.
"He doesn’t have a clue what to do and you know it," Tayvis said.
I took hold of the ladder and dropped through the hatch in the floor.
"Hot bam," Doggo said behind me.
I slid down the ladder, showing off for Jerimon, except I didn’t see him. Two of the cabin doors were closed. I slid the rest of the way into the engine room. Tayvis came down right behind me. I stepped out of his way.
"Energy feed cables should be back this way," I said, heading for the far corner of the engine room.
Tayvis took my hand, and pulled me back around to face him. "So who’s soulmate are you, if you’re not Jerimon’s?"
"Don’t get scary on me, Tayvis," I said, suddenly nervous. I tried to pull my hand away.
"Are you going to spend the rest of your life running away from me?"
I stopped pulling my hand and slowly looked up at him. His brown eyes searched my face. He wasn’t smiling. My heart was stuck somewhere in my throat. I tried to swallow.
"Promise me one thing, Dace," he said.
"What?" It came out hoarse around the pounding lump in my throat.
"Promise me you’ll be at the bar on Proxima and that you’ll give me a chance."
"I already promised you that, Tayvis. I just never got around to telling you."
He smiled, the dimple in his chin deepened. "Tell me you love me."
"I love you," I said and meant it more than I’d meant anything in my life.
He ran a hand through my still-purple spiked hair. "I love you, too. Although I have a lot to say about your taste in clothes."
"Jasyn usually picks them for me."
He was moving closer. I was having a hard time thinking. He was still smiling. I watched his mouth, remembering the last time he’d kissed me. And the first. I raised my hand and touched the dimple in his chin. He took my hand and kissed it.
"I thought we were supposed to be checking the energy feed," I said.
"We are," Tayvis said.
He kissed me.
Hot bam, I thought, and kissed him back.