The Sac'a'rith Read Free Page A

said, “You are not expecting this to go well.”
    “I have lived through enough deals of this kind to be suspicious,” he said. He strapped himself into the pilot’s seat and continued, “When we come out of jump space I want them to think I am alone, so let me do all the talking.”
    “Yes, sir.” I was beginning to understand his personality, which was secretive; he told me very little. I was used to this, having been a slave for so long, but it did not sit well with my inquisitive nature.
    “Engaging jump drives,” he said as we entered the azure timelessness of jump space.
    Coming out of jump space has a disorientating effect that pilots affectionately call “post-jump hangover,” as it feels a lot like the morning after a heavy night. This means that a pilot is temporarily incapacitated for as much as a minute after a jump. During that brief time, the ship’s computers have to make all the decisions.
    Once the post-jump sensation had passed, I saw in front of us what was obviously a trap. A small fleet of ships were arranged in a circle around the rendezvous site. They must have noticed us, as they were just beginning to turn in our direction.
    Narcion turned on the communication system and called out a series of codes, which I assumed identified us to the approaching fleet. “There is a distinct lack of response,” I said.
    “It appears so. Time for Plan A,” he said.
    “Plan A?” I asked.
    “Power up our weapons and target their leader.”
    “Yes, sir,” I said as I followed his orders, “but we are a hauler, not a battleship. It might be wiser to jump clear while we still can.”
    “Not at all. I promised to deliver this ship, and that is what I mean to do,” he said with a smile as he roared the massive engines up to full power and made for the approaching fleet.
    As we neared the fleet he repeated his message several times, each time without response. I was starting to worry that his plan might not include our survival.
    “Zah’rak, set the weapons to full auto and head to Cargo Bay Three.”
    “Yes, sir. What do you want me to do when I get there?”
    “You will find my personal cruiser there. Board it and get it ready to fly,” he said.
    Now his plan started to make sense. I quickly set the guns to full auto as he had ordered and ran down to the cargo bay. There I found his ship, unlocked. It was a small, light, fast attack cruiser, perfect for an escape run. It had no specific markings on it of any kind and from the outside looked very plain. It was not the kind of object you would notice, nor would it stay in your memory. It was the perfect kind of craft for those who did not want to draw attention to themselves.
    I released all the docking clamps and boarded the vessel. Once on the bridge I powered up all its systems and charged its weapons. I did not have any real combat experience in space, but I figured it could not be all that much different to fighting on the ground. The trick would be to stay calm and watch for attacks at any angle.
    It was not long before I saw Narcion board the ship on the security cameras. Once he was aboard I locked down the ship, depressurized the cargo bay, and aligned the cruiser for launch. Since it was in a cargo bay and not a normal spacecraft dock we would have to open the bay doors and fly out instead of using a launch tube.
    “Good work. Now we wait,” said Narcion as he took the co-pilot’s seat on the bridge.
    “For what?” I asked.
    “Right now the hauler is winning the fight out there, but it won’t be long till the larger ships engage and start taking down our weapons. Once that happens, they will send in their smaller ships to attempt to breach our hull with boarding parties. That is when we will launch.”
    I could see the wisdom in that plan. As small and fast as we were, the larger ships had no hope of catching us. The only ships we needed to be concerned with were their light attack craft. If they were tied up, our chance of