Never Surrender (Science Fiction Romance)

Chapter 4

"Incoming!" Hugo said as another drone zipped by them.

The cloaking shields' proximity alarm blared nonstop as they tried to maneuver out off Ecliptis' atmosphere.

"The cloak's not going to hold if this continues." Hugo warned.

"Boss, look at that."

"On main screen." Lenk said.

"What the fuck is that?" Francis demanded, staring at the screen.

"Something very bad, obviously." Tolly scoffed, throwing a sarcastic look at Francis.

"Looks like an energy field." Lenk muttered.

"That would be a photonic paraphoretic field. An energy generated dome used to cover the entire Citadel." Hugo explained. "I've heard rumors of this being developed over a decade ago. It was built as a security measure to protect the most important part of the capital. I thought it was just talk since no one's ever actually seen it before."

"Get us out of here, before we're boxed in." Lenk said.

"Fuck, how much time do we have?" Tolly demanded.

"Don't know, but I'll say not much. Maybe five minutes, or not even that. The Citadel is pretty big so it'll take at least a couple of minutes to enclose the whole area." Hugo muttered, his fingers busy on the control panels as he brought up more data and tried to calculate the progress.

"You know, this is why I don't like Tilion core planets. There's always some shitty surprise." Tolly growled under his breath. "Damn it, the dome is closing fast. We're not going to make it."

"Get all the power into the aft thrusters." Lenk said.

"There's no way we can do that, unless we drop the cloak." Hugo answered.

Dropping the cloak was just as dangerous as being trapped inside the dome. Both options could have fatal outcomes. Being exposed even for a few seconds could mean discovery. Being discovered in the capital using an illegal tech like cloaking would mean ship confiscation and lifetime imprisonment. But the bigger risk was that security would try to scan the Abyss as soon as it became visible. Any ship without a legal ID would be immediately targeted for termination by the planet's security cannons. Blocking an ID scan would be just as bad.

Lenk nodded in quick decision. "Drop the cloak. It's show time."

"Aye, aye, boss." As always, the crew accepted his decision without question.

It took five seconds for them to be noticed by the security drones.

"Attention! Attention! You are in a restricted area. This air space is restricted by Tilion Law Enforcement. Cut your engines and wait for further instruction. Comply at once or you will be shot down." The drones flashed its message in a bright holo across the sky.

"The hell we will." Tolly jeered.

"They're scanning us, boss." Hugo said.

It would take the drones at least a few minutes to hack through the Abyss' various blocking suites before they could scan their ID signature. It would take another few minutes for them to also scan the ship's hold for illegal cargo, which the package they just picked up would definitely fall under. The planet's anti-aircraft guns would take two minutes to activate and could vaporize a threat in seconds. Having illegal cargo wouldn't get them shot down, but having no legal ship registration definitely would.

The dome was closing fast, and they were running out of options for escape. Either way, they only had a few minutes before they were trapped or shot down.

"Get the weapons up,"

"Weapons ready. Beam cannon's primed." Francis said.

"Take out anything that gets in our way." Lenk told him.

"You got it." Francis grinned from the weapons station. Getting into a firefight always put him in a good mood.

There was not enough firepower from the drones to do much damage to the ship. Francis released a string of laser bolts from the hardpoints and blew up dozens of the drones as the Abyss climbed towards upper atmo. They half expected the AA guns to start blasting at the ship, but it was Tilion military Starstrikers that came chasing. A dozen dart-like fighters came charging after them from the other side of the planet, rounding the curve along the planet's edge.

"Damn, those fighters look fine. I could've been piloting one of those." Tolly muttered almost wistfully as his fingers flew over the controls, trying to outmaneuver the Starstrikers.

"Fighters are still on our tail!" Hugo reported.

"No time for flirting, Tolly. Get us straight to orbit." Lenk ordered.

"These Starstrikers are fucking good." Tolly said. "But I'm better. I'll show them what it's like to go against me."

The Starstrikers were faster and more agile than the Abyss as they flew circles around them. The Abyss did a barrel roll to dodge a hail of laser fire as it hurtled towards orbit.

"We need shields." Hugo warned as several bolts of laser scorched the hull. The ship shook as sparks flew and a new alarm began blaring in the background.

"No shields. Divert all power to boost the thrusters and get us out." Lenk decided.

No shields meant their ship couldn't take many more hits, but if they were trapped inside the dome, it would be game over for them anyway.

"We're hit! Portside quarter." Hugo announced. "And they're still trying to scan us."

"Block it for as long as you can." Lenk told him. Hopefully they would be off the planet before the scan completed.

"Another bird down." Francis announced with satisfaction.

"Power boost online." Hugo said.

"Come on, come on." Tolly's fingers tighten ever so slightly over the joysticks. "Come on, baby, you can do it."

The Abyss shot past the pack of fighters with a sudden burst of power from the boost, racing to reach the rapidly contracting opening at the top of the dome.

"Almost there, baby," Tolly urged.

"Better get a move on, we have more on our tail." Hugo growled. "Eight more birds are on us."

"Go go go go go!" Tolly maneuvered the ship to slip through the opening, narrowly scraping through.

Two Starstrikers were hot on their tail, but didn't have enough time to turn as the dome closed. They slammed into the shimmery energy dome and exploded on contact. The rest of the squadron flew off in all directions as they narrowly avoided the same fate.

"Woot!" Tolly shouted. "That's what you get for kicking me out of military school."

"Fire up the jumpdrive." Lenk said. "Time to blow this joint."

"Jumpdrive ready." Hugo answered. "Coordinates set. Jumping in 10, 9, 8..."