The Siege of New Terra (Star Sojourner Book 7) Read Free Page A

faster. We unholstered our weapons. “Set it on stun,” I told Bat. We'll drag the crotes under trees where the infras can't detect them."
    He let out a breath in relief and spun the ring to stun setting. I heard the splash as the boulder rolled into water.
    “What was that?” the human pirate asked and swept his light across the water where the boulder jutted above the disturbed surface. “Did that crotefucker just surface and go back under? C'mon,” he told his two companions, also humans, I realized, “I want that slimeshittin' Vegan like a drowning man wants air!”
    “Go easy,” one of the other humans said. “He already took out two of our people.”
    “I'll go easy when his fuckin' head is on a platter. The man who takes that bottom feeder gets a thousand creds from my own 'count!”
    Bat and I stayed low as the three pirates trotted to the water's edge, still under the trees where we hid.
    “Dammit!” I muttered as one of the airborne craft hovered above the pirates.
    “Do you figure,” Bat asked, “those infras can pick up warm bodies under trees?”
    “It looks that way, Bat,” I whispered. “The ships have got ears too.”
    “Guess we'd best be quiet.”
    “Oh no!” Huff's head broke the surface near the pirates. The hovair was directly overhead.
Not now, Huff!
I sent the thought.
    “What'll we do?” Bat asked in a throaty whisper.
    “We're committed. Let's go.”
    We slid down the muddy slope until we were in range of firing and stopped behind a slender trunk. The pirates fired at Huff and he went under again, but one of the hovairs dropped out of the sky, skimmed the water's surface and fired a missile into Huff's position.
    “Oh, no,” I whispered as water erupted in a blaze of fiery light and spray. “Huff…”
    “That oughta do the slimy fucker!” the human leader shouted. “Look for his body. I want his
head
. The fish can have the rest of him.”
    I spun my stingler's ring to hot beam, lifted mental shields, and fired. The leader screamed and threw up his arms, then sank lifeless to the mud with his jacket smoldering. “That'll do you,” I said through clenched teeth.
    Bat swept his weapon, still set for stun, and the other two pirates crashed to the ground before they could fire.
    “Huff.” I stood up and scanned the water. If he was dead, his body would float, unless it were so torn…
    The hovair banked and soared in our direction. I realized that Bat was pulling on my sleeve. “They've spotted us!” he cried. “Jules! We've got to make it to the hovair. It's our only chance.”
    A missile exploded to our left.
    “Duck!” Bat shouted as tree trunks exploded like shrapnel around us.
    I threw a glance back at the empty surface with my stomach knotted and followed Bat as he ran to the grounded hovair under cover of trees.
    Chancey sprang the hatch from inside and we threw ourselves into the deck while he snapped it shut. The Deneb lay dead in a corner. The craft's engines were idling with a keening sound like a bird of prey ready to spring into flight.
    “Where the hell's Huff?” Chancey asked as I slid into the pilot's seat and strapped on the belts.
    “We're not sure,” Bat told him, but…" I saw him shake his head. My throat went dry and tight. Tears burned my eyes. I wiped them on my sleeve and lifted the craft into the night sky. “Strap on!” I called as I flipped switches to shut off all our lights. “It's going to be a fast ride.”
    They did.
    My stomach caved against my backbone as the hovair streaked skyward in a shuddering climb that pinned me to the seat. I hung onto the controls and watched a viewport full of stars. Through the port window, I saw the pursuing craft rise to follow.
    “Here we go!” I muttered, slowing, and threw on full reverse thrusters. The hovair lurched over its right wing in a sickening dive and we plummeted toward the ground. “And here we go again. I forced the craft into a pull-up that seemed to defy the laws of