Lunar Conspiracy

Fly to Stay Alive

Tava hurried onto the bridge and didn't have to ask why Jornea had summoned her.  She could see the Militia Carrier sitting just outside the asteroid field, waiting for Athena to come out.  Kartk slid into the gunner station and grabbed up his controls.

Jornea glanced over her shoulder, looking grim in the few seconds she could spare for the diverted attention from the dangerous rocks spinning and crashing around them.  "I'm sure I don't have to tell you we can't stay here forever.  But as soon as that Carrier starts dropping her fighters, we're going to have to either fight or run.  Personally, I'm in favor of the running idea."

Tava could only nod.  "I didn't expect them to start pursuing us so fast.  Do you think you can slip them?"

Jornea snorted.  "Of course I can."  She reached over to tap at her com unit and made an announcement to the rest of the ship.  "Fasten your seat belts, ladies and gentlemen, we're about to hit some turbulence."  Then she was gripping her controls with a gleeful grin and pressing forward.

The attempted run was short lived however.  As soon as Athena began to move, so did the Carrier.  Fighter ships started dropping from their bays and turning into the asteroid field, already opening fire on Athena.  Jornea only smiled wider and jerked starboard, banking Athena sharply to send her back into the field.

Tava hung on tight to her chair as Jornea wrestled with the controls.  Athena was meant to be flown with a co-pilot, but Jornea was still doing an admirable job of flying without.  She dipped beneath the path of one space rock and skimmed between two more before putting the ship into a corkscrew.  Tava would never be able to understand how Jornea, or any other pilot, managed to pull off these maneuvers. She was always cross-eyed at the end.

The spinning suddenly stopped and they made a ninety degree dive to skim the bottom of an asteroid. Jornea followed the hunk of rock all the way around until they were right back where they had started. Tava spotted one of the pursuing fighters just before Kartk blew it to smithereens.

Jornea whooped in victory and Tava heard the answering laughter from Kartk. The joy was short lived however, as answering fire shook the ship. Looking over Kartk's shoulder, Tava counted up nine fighters in pursuit.  Jornea licked her lips as she focused.

She managed to line up three more shots for Kartk, then she was narrowing her eyes.  "That's all the fight we have time for boys and girls. Time to show them our pretty ass." She shoved forward on the controls and smacked buttons.

Tava gasped as they went full speed ahead. Jornea was going to run them straight into something. "Jornea!"

"Shut up Tava!"  Her fingers skimmed over her panel, managing to open a com line to the engine room in the middle of a narrow miss maneuver.  "Kit! I need every last ounce of power we got! Divert weapons." Kartk yelped out in irritation. Kit soon chirped that it was done and Kartk shoved at his controls. But there was nothing left to do except watch Jornea fly.

Jornea flicked switches and pulled off a complicated set of twists and turns that spoke volumes of her reflexes. She growled into her com again. "Not enough Kit! I need more! Divert anything non-essential!"

Tava blinked in surprise as a curious floating feeling started in her stomach. Then she was quickly belting herself in to combat the lack of artificial gravity. Kartk did the same. Jornea just wedged one foot under her seat and the other under her console, unable to spare the precious seconds to get on her belt. Jornea sighed and shook her head. "Little more Kit!"

The Kitsunes' voice came immediately over the com. "I've got nothing left to give! Everything is going to you already!"

Jornea cursed as she yanked hard and they went careening around one asteroid and under another, much too close for comfort. Shots went past them, blowing an asteroid to bits and making Jornea curse again as they were pelted with bits of rock. Kartk grabbed at his useless guns in an attempt to clear a path.

Jornea sneered and shook her head in irritation. "Gimme life support!" That generated protests from both Tava and Kartk. Jornea just yelled over them both. "If I can't lose them we're dead anyway so gimme life support!"

There was a beat of tense silence and then Tava saw Jornea grin just as Kit's voice came over the line. "Done." Tava pressed her lips together. The ship was fairly large. They would have several hours of air left. If this chase lasted longer than that, they had bigger problems than air.

Tava wanted to close her eyes as Jornea pressed even more speed out of the ship. The constant motion just made her sick without the visual reference. She could only sit and watch out the front shield as Jornea pressed the ship to the limits and beyond.

Athana's engines screamed in protest. The hull was trying to shake itself apart. The controls were being stabbed viciously and throttled by Jornea's fingers. No one spoke and half the crew couldn't see each other but tension was thick enough to be felt by all.

Jornea suddenly gasped out a word of affirmation. Tava breathed out a huff of relief as she spotted open space. They shot out of the asteroid field and Jornea sat back in her seat with a grin. The ship shuddered as the flight path straightened out and the engines didn't have to compensate for the harsh maneuvers.

"Alright, Kit. Life support would be good about now." There was a long pause as Jornea tapped out a command to make a jump into hyperspace and switch to auto-pilot. She paused when there was no response. "Kit?"

Tava cursed and unbelted to float out of her chair. "Maybe he couldn't belt in in time." She lurched for the engine room, determined to get there and see what was wrong. She could feel Jornea close on her heels. She grasped the ladder and yanked to dive down to the lower level. Then she was pushing and pulling her way down the corridors.

Tava winced at the sight of Kit's limp form hovering in the middle of the engine room. Jornea shot past her and scooped the little fox into her arms, looking him over frantically.

Tava drifted over and hovered behind Jornea. "He alive?" Jornea nodded. "Infirmary."

Jornea twisted and shoved towards the hall, intent on getting her little friend fixed up. Tava moved over to the panels and flipped life support back on. Next were weapons, just in case. And after a quick announcement to the rest of the ship, gravity. She sighed as her feet rested solidly on the deck once more. She was getting to old for this.

She made her way back to the bridge and slid into the pilot's seat, checking their position on the Nav computer.  It appeared they had lost the Milita ships and were headed for semi-settled space.  Tava supposed that was best.  Settled space had too big a concentration of Militia ready to shoot Athena out of the sky.  And they obviously weren't worried about taking prisoners either.

Either way, Tava knew where to find a Human colony and continue her mission.

She reached over to com down to the infirmary.  "Everything alright down there?"

Jornea answered after a moment.  "Kit appears fine.  Doc still seemed a little drunk when I woke him up so I let him go back to bed.  Whatever was in the atmosphere back there had some pretty potent stuff for him.  You think he'll be hungover?"

This last didn't appear to be directed at Tava, as it had gone softer.  And Kit could be heard stating his opinion.  "I don't care if he's hungover or not!  He's not touching me with anything until he's demonstrated complete sobriety.  And even then, I say I'm fine and don't need treatment!"

Jornea chuckled and the com went dead.  Tava just shook her head and aimed for the closest Human colony.

Kartk glanced across the bridge at her.  "Well, I have to admit, the brat knows her stuff when it comes to piloting.  She just hides it really well under all the immaturity."

Tava grinned, shrugging.  "It might all be faked.  Sounded like she's even older than I am when I actually got her to sit still for ten minutes."

"What is she?"

"No idea.  She says she hasn't got a clue either.  But I'll be very interested to find out."