“What?” I said, looking at my phone. My connection to the bot had dropped, and running a new scan, it didn’t show up in the device list. None of the guardbots did.

  “You can’t hack the bots if they’re powered down,” the guard said.

  Tattoo snatched the rifle from my hand before I could react, pressing the muzzle against the guard’s temple. “We still have a hostage.”

  “How much do you think I’m worth?” he replied. “Enough to destroy the satellite’s reputation as inescapable? One person gets out and there will always be someone else who tries from now until forever. I’m too expendable for that.”

  “Shit,” Matt said. “Now what do we do?”

  “We can still get to the lower decks,” I replied. “I didn’t bring these prisoners along because I like them.”

  An echo of murmurs from the other end of the deck and the sound of footsteps stole my attention. Looking over my shoulder, I saw a dozen armed and armored guards coming our way from the primary elevator.

  We were out of time.

  “Move!” Tattoo said, shoving the guard forward.

  “Leave him,” Quasar hissed. “Come on.”

  The guards started shooting behind us, plasma bolts hitting at least two of the soldiers for hire as we broke for the corridor leading to the backup elevator. Fortunately, we weren’t far from the passageway. Unfortunately, we were far enough we took heavy fire on the way, more of the SFH dropping away as the plasma zipped into and through our group. One bolt nearly hit Matt, sizzling into the deck just behind his heel. Another singed my earlobe, leaving a hot sting. We cleared the bulkhead, using it for cover as we continued toward the elevator.

  We were halfway there when the doors began sliding open. Tattoo trained her rifle on the cab, ready to start shooting.

  “Cover our rear,” Quasar said, bursting ahead of the rest of us, her powerful legs pumping hard. Shaq leaped from my shoulder, grabbing onto her back for the ride.

  “Cover our rear,” Tattoo said, passing Druck the rifle. He caught it and turned around, rushing back toward the corner without questioning the fact that she had just delegated the greater risk to him.

  A unit of guards in riot armor and carrying rifles filled the elevator cab. They weren’t prepared for us to be so close, and they didn’t have time to ready their guns before Quasar barrelled into the cab, knocking several every which way.

  “Shaq, don’t kill them!” I shouted, hoping he would hear me and stay out of the fight. I didn’t want to be responsible for any more dead law officers who were just doing their jobs.

  “Are you kidding?” Tattoo hissed beside me. “It’s us or them.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” I insisted.

  Quasar’s assault rattled the entire guard unit, the men screaming and shouting as she threw her weight around inside the cab, knocking them against the walls before throwing one of them out of the cab. He stumbled into Matt, who tackled him, driving him back against the wall and punching him in his face shield enough times to disorient him sufficiently to steal his rifle.

  Tattoo produced her shiv as she rushed into the cab, stabbing a guard in the side. I winced at the violence, angry at her insistence on bloodshed but unable to stop it. She shoved the guard against the wall and stabbed him two more times before taking his gun.

  Behind us, Druck let out a loud battle cry as he opened fire on the forces at our backs. Plasma flowed back toward him, the bulkhead absorbing the return fire before the guards took cover.

  Quasar took care of the last of the guards in the elevator as Shield and the other two remaining soldiers for hire jumped in.

  “Get out,” Tattoo said, pointing her rifle at Quasar.

  “What the hell?” Matt said.

  “The only reason I don’t shoot you is because you got us this far,” Tattoo said as Shield and the other two soldiers for hire picked up the other rifles. “Now send us down.”

  “What about Druck?” Quasar asked. He continued shooting from the corner, holding the other guards back.

  “A noble sacrifice I won’t forget. Send us down, or we start shooting.”

  I glared at her before glancing down at the phone. Reluctantly, I entered the command to send the secondary elevator to Deck One. Tattoo smiled when the number lit up on the screen inside the cab and the doors began closing.

  “Thanks for the ride, loser.”

  “Shit,” Matt said, looking at me. “Now what?”

  CHAPTER 15

  “Go help Druck,” I said. “I need a minute. Make sure he knows his own people abandoned him.”

  “Got it,” Matt replied, running back down the corridor.

  “What are you going to do?” Quasar asked as I returned my attention to the phone, tapping furiously on it.

  “They powered down all the guard bots at once. Which means there has to be a command inside the main system to do it. I’m trying to find the command.”

  “If you turn the guard bots back on before they get to the escape ship…” Quasar said, trailing off. We both knew what would happen.

  “It’s what they deserve,” I said. “She didn’t have to stab that guard or betray us to get off the station. Shaq, thanks for not biting anyone.”

  “No problem,” he buzzed in reply. He added something else after that I didn’t understand.

  “Ben, whatever you’re doing, hurry up!” Matt shouted from the end of the hallway.

  “I know!” I shouted back.

  I entered a few more commands, leading me to a list of available operations. One of them was called SentryPostureMode. Retrieving the value, I saw it was set to zero. “Matt, let’s go!” I called out, certain the guard bots in the hall would reactivate the moment I changed the value back to one. It worried me that my bots might start shooting at the guards. Since they wouldn’t be able to see me to know if I was under threat or not, I hoped that wouldn’t be the case.

  Tattoo probably thought I was weak for not wanting the guards too badly harmed. I didn’t care. To me, it took a lot more strength to succeed with rules and limits than it did by any means possible. It was easy to be a loose cannon, harder to have morals. We weren’t the bad guys, and the guards weren’t either, which meant we were really on the same side, even if they didn’t understand that.

  Matt and Druck sprinted down the hallway. I set the SentryPostureMode command back to one, and then quickly used the command line’s history to return to the hatch command, relocking the escape ship’s hatch before recalling the elevator to Deck Six.

  Timing was everything. Would we make it on board before the guards reached us? If I turned the guard bots off again, would they have time to take out Tattoo and her group before I did?

  It was all coming down to the wire, and in the back of my mind, I was kind of impressed with myself for getting this far. And impressed with Matt. He had completely kept his cool through all of this, both of us a far cry from where we had started this journey.

  “Zar, be ready in case Tattoo and friends didn’t disembark. Shaq, you too.”

  Shaq stuck out a tiny thumb in affirmation. Quasar readied herself to charge into the cab like she had before.

  The first guard reached the corner, cautiously pausing there. Druck fired from his hip, sending plasma bolts into the wall and forcing the guard back. The elevator arrived. The doors opened.

  “Clear!” Quasar shouted after bursting into the cab.

  Looking into it, I saw what Tattoo and her soldiers had left behind. The guards were still slumped on the floor, all of them shot dead. It took less than a breath for me to go from impressed to dismayed. Bringing the mercenary convicts along had been a mistake after all, and the guards had paid the ultimate price. Damn.

  “Let’s go!” I shouted.

  Matt and Druck fired aimlessly down the hallway, backing into the cab as the guard bots reached the corridor. They swiveled toward us, guns aimed in our direction as I sent the elevator back to Deck One, and then quickly changed SentryPostureMode back to zero.

  The bots slumped forward, offline once more as the doors closed and we started the descent.

  “That was close,” Matt said, exhaling sharply.

  “We aren’t out of the woods yet,” I replied. “Stay sharp.”

  Matt nodded and brought his rifle up again, ready to shoot. Druck did the same.

  “I can’t believe she left me behind,” he muttered. “That bitch. I knew she never really liked me.”

  “That probably says something positive about you,” I replied.

  He glanced over at me and smiled. “Yeah, it probably does. Former Lance Corporal Emil Druck, Fourth Mech Division, the Ishima Complex. Since we’re on the same side right now. Figured you should know.”

  “I’m Ben,” I replied. “Matt, Quasar, and Shaq.”

  “I know Quasar. Nothing personal. Family business, you know?”

  “Eyes forward, Corporal,” Quasar replied as the elevator slowed.

  “If you have to shoot any guards, aim for the extremities,” I said.

  “Not really my usual tactic,” Druck said.

  “Welcome to my side,” I answered.

  He laughed. “Okay. Aim for the nuts. Got it.”

  “That’s not what I said.”

  He laughed harder. “I’ve got it, Bennie.”

  The doors opened. Druck went out first, sweeping the passageway with his rifle. “Damn.”

  Three guards were outside the elevator, all of them dead. One of Tattoo’s goons was down too, slumped against the bulkhead, bloody but still breathing.

  “Chez,” Druck said, kneeling beside him.

  The mercenary looked up at Druck, opened his mouth to say something, and died.

  “Come on,” I said. “We need to find the ship.”

  A clamor in the distance gave us a good idea which way to go. It sounded like someone was trying to get through a blast door by smacking it with a rifle.

  We ran down the passageways, cutting through an intersection. Passing a few more dead guards, we reached a powered down guard bot facing away from us. We found Shield dead at the end of the hallway, a huge hole in his back. Another mercenary had fallen just around the corner, succumbing to her injuries.

  We turned the last corner, ducking back as plasma fire sizzled toward us, hitting the bulkhead.

  “Open the hatch!” Tattoo shouted. “Open it, and I’ll let you get to the ship.”

  “Forget it,” Matt shouted back before I could answer. “Put down your rifle and maybe we’ll take you with us.”

  “Go screw yourself,” Tattoo snapped.

  “Matt, hand me your rifle,” Quasar said calmly. “I’ll take care of this.” He didn’t argue, passing her his gun.

  Shaq hopped from her back to me as she put her back against the bulkhead, preparing to pivot out into the open.

  “Good luck,” Matt said.

  “I don’t need luck,” she replied. She smiled as she spun around the edge of the wall and sent a single plasma bolt in Tattoo’s direction. Her return shot rang out, the round hitting the ceiling over Quasar’s head. “Clear.”

  We moved around the corner. Tattoo was on the deck in front of the hatch, a large hole in her forehead.

  “Wow, lucky shot,” Druck said.

  “There was nothing lucky about it,” Quasar countered.

  I used the phone to open the hatch, and we poured into the ship’s small airlock, using the controls on the bulkhead to close the outer door and open the inner one. It led out into a tiny corridor. The cockpit was on the left, passenger seats on the right.

  I went left, pausing at the threshold to the cockpit.

  “Ben, what’s wrong?” Matt asked, standing behind me as the others found seats.

  “This isn’t like Star Squadron or Head Case,” I replied, looking at him over my shoulder. The controls were similar in that they had a stick and a throttle, but that was the end of it. Instead of a VR helmet, there was only glass between us and space. Instead of switches and a center console, I found a flat black surface positioned beneath the thrust control. “I don’t know if I can fly this. Hell, I don’t even know where the ignition is.”

  CHAPTER 16

  “Well, whatever you’re going to do, you better do it fast,” Matt said. “I can’t imagine orbital security is going to sit there and wait for us to get the hell out of here.” He looked past me, through the cockpit glass. “That might even be them now.”

  I looked forward again, spotting the five thruster trails in the distance as they shortened and vanished, the ships ahead of them coming directly toward us.

  “Shit,” I said, throwing myself into the pilot seat and grabbing the restraints. “Here.” I passed Matt the phone. “Strap in and hold on tight.”

  “Try not to get us killed,” Matt replied.

  “I’ll do my best.”

  He left me alone in the cockpit, staring at the controls. Or rather, lack of controls. My first guess was to tap on the flat surface.

  It activated immediately, rows of icons appearing on the screen. Even better, the surface became tactile beneath my fingers, each icon gaining an individual feel. The power button was top-center, and I hit it without hesitation. There was no sound, but the interior of the ship shuddered before gaining a smooth vibration. That had to mean the engine was active. I had the stick and thruster control. Did I need anything else?

  Watching what I assumed were orbital security starfighters racing toward me, I decided I didn’t.

  I opened the throttle, and the ship accelerated forward, shoving me back in my seat. Clearly, it didn’t have the same kind of inertial dampening systems as Head Case. A loud grinding sound came from the port side and the ship shuddered violently for a few seconds before fully launching away. Looking back, I saw the debris of the docking mechanism spinning out into space behind us.

  I knew I had forgotten something.

  It didn’t matter. We were clear of the station and gaining speed. We weren’t clear of the starfighters. I could barely make them out in front of us, identifiable only by the shadow in the center of their wide thruster output. I was certain this ship had to have a HUD like Head Case, or some other means to track incoming traffic besides trying to catch up to their trails, but I had no idea how to turn it on.

  Bright flashes lit up the fronts of the fighters, and I reacted instinctively, pulling up on the stick and putting the ship into a sharp climb. The G-forces slammed into me, stealing my breath and forcing me to reduce the angle before I passed out. The energy bolts zipped past, missing us by a lot.

  Knowing I had to be more careful maneuvering, I guided the ship through a slower arc, trying to get the nose pointed toward Kasper. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was supposed to do now that we had stolen the ship. I couldn’t land at the spaceport. I would need to find somewhere to touch down and then remote-pilot Head Case to our position for pickup.

  The orbital security starfighters weren’t willing to let me take the easy way out of here. They changed direction, pulling up toward me and unleashing another barrage. I responded by jerking hard to the right, throwing me against the restraints and leaving me reeling from the sudden pressure. One of the energy blasts hit the fuselage. A warning beep screamed around me.

  “Shit!” I shouted. There was no way this ship could outperform one starfighter, nevermind five. And they obviously didn’t have any qualms about shooting at us. What the hell was I supposed to do?

  I did my best not to panic, increasing the thrust more gradually as the starfighters shot past, no doubt planning to circle around behind me. I didn’t have any kind of rear view. No visibility out the back, no camera. Once they reached my tail, we were all as good as dead.

  Pushing the stick forward and diving toward the planet, I did the only other thing I could think of to do. I started mashing the buttons on the control pad, hitting each in turn. One of them must have opened a comm channel, because a voice echoed over the beeping, ordering me to surrender. Another one pulled up the HUD I had been looking for, while a third finally showed me the rear view.

  And the starfighter right behind us.

  “Shit!” I shouted again, reducing thrust. “We surrender! We surrender! Don’t shoot!”

  “Stop your acceleration and bring the ship to a complete and total stop,” Control ordered, his perfect calm a stark contrast to my fear. “Shut down your engine, and prepare to be boarded.”

  “Okay, okay,” I replied. “It might take me a minute. I’m not really sure what I’m doing. I’ve never flown a starship before.”

  “That’s because you’re a murderous thug,” Control replied harshly. “When they put you up for execution for what you just did, I’ll make sure to be there to watch.”

  “What?” I whined. “We didn’t kill anyone.”

  “We saw the feed from the satellite. We know what you did.”

  “That wasn’t us. That was Tattoo and her goons. We killed her for you.” The pitch of my voice was so high, I knew I must sound like a baby crying into the comms. This had all gone so very, very wrong. Why did I think we could possibly escape from prison? I didn’t care if they executed me, I was going to die anyway. But Matt? I couldn’t stand the thought.

  “You were involved. That’s enough.”

  I fought harder to regain my composure. There had to be a way out of this. I just needed a minute to think. How could I get the ship to the planet’s surface without being blasted by the starfighters?

  I couldn’t. Unless…

  It was a bad idea, and when it didn’t work we would all die. But a quick, unexpected death had to be better than being held prisoner and put in front of a firing squad, or however these assholes handed out the death penalty. Matt would never know what hit him.

  “I’m sorry, man,” I whispered, moisture reaching my eyes. Not that I was eager to die either, but what other choice did I have?

  None.

  “You know what, Control?” I said. “If you’re going to execute me for something I didn’t do, then come get me.”

  I opened the throttle again, increasing the angle toward the surface. Looking back toward the prison satellite, I guesstimated the location of the space elevator wire, twisting the stick to use the vectoring thrusters to send us in a hard turn.