Living in Freefall (Living on the Run Book 1) (14 page)

Ericca moved
Viper
forward a bit.

The Gunship turned toward it to keep all guns to bear.

“
Viper
, evade vertically as needed.” Ericca said.

“Aye, Captain.”

The Kodiak gunship again opened fire.

Viper
instantly jumped skyward thirty feet without
nosing up.

Fifty calibers ripped open
Prince Rutherford’s
conning tower. Again air and wreckage rushed out of the ship, as did three more
bodies. Again the Kodiak thrashed.

As Ericca brought
Viper
back down to the deck, she
held up a new message. “Renovating? New door perhaps?”

“Sis, sis, sis. You know you’re ticking them off, don’t
you?”

“Angry men make mistakes, little brother.”

“Yes, but do you need them stumbling all over themselves?”

“I do, actually. Now it’s your turn, Archer.”

“Okay. Hand me some paper.”

“No, gunboy! You’ve been aching to shoot something. Now’s
your chance.”

“Oh! Right!” Riley brought his guns around.

Those in the Kodiak saw
Viper’s
right turret turn
toward them. The men laughed and pointed. To them,
Viper’s
puny
peashooters must have seemed a joke. Clearly, the believed Riley’s small guns
would do little harm. They were wrong.

Riley smirked deviously and pulled the trigger.

The Gunship’s right weapons racks exploded into small bits
of metal and fire. As their ship began to list to port, the wide-eyed men inside
watched Riley turn his guns toward their left wing. The guns on that side
vanished in a hail of fire. The Kodiak staggered back like a dazed
prizefighter, spun around, and crashed into the pipes behind it. The sudden
release of gas from the pipes flipped the gunship onto its back, and there it
lay. Held by their restraints, the men inside dangled from their seats
upside-down.

Riley’s smirk grew. Interlacing his fingers behind his head,
he leaned back in his seat. “That wiped the smiles off their faces. You just
got to love Rachel’s Phiton-charged particle cannons.”

“I’ll say,” answered Ericca. “With all these guys standing
around staring at us, I’m beginning to think our cover is blown.”

“You think?”

“Sequence of events, little brother. Did you notice?”

“What? You mean the part where as soon as we get off the
phone with Captain Kori, these guys show up? Can’t say I haven’t noticed,
actually.”

“It could be just a coincidence, Archer, but it certainly
looks suspicious.”

“You may have something there.”

“Oh, look. A door. Shall we see what’s inside?”

But before he could answer, she slipped
Viper
through
the gaping hole created by the Kodiak. Inside, the lights were out. She hit her
floodlights and turned
Viper
to see which room they had entered. The
monitors, cut from their power source, were dark. One body, wedged between two
consoles, was bloody and blistered from the sudden decompression. His vacant
eyes stared at their ship accusingly.

Ericca’s smile fell away. She killed her light and turned
back to the opening.

Stone-faced, Ericca pushed
Viper
through the hole and
back out onto Rutherford’s deck. “What say we take’er for a spin, Archer?”

“I’m with you, sis. You lead; I’ll follow.”

Seeing that man abruptly brought to an end Ericca’s every
desire for fun and games. But as she took
Viper
up and away from
Rutherford
,
a hail of gunfire—
charged bullets
—sprayed the canopy.

Archer turned his weapons on the
Prince Rutherford
.
Under the onslaught of his guns, the hull burst open. The immediate outrush of
air violently flung the foot-soldier gunmen into space.

“Well,” Archer said solemnly, “at least we know our shields
will hold against hand-cannons.”

“So,” said Ericca in an effort to shake that guy’s face from
her brother’s mind, and hopefully hers. “I guess now they know we’re here for
real, huh?”

“I did my best to make that clear to them, sis.”

“What say we test those guns of Rachel’s? You up for a
little target practice?”

“Nope,” Archer answered. “I’m up for a
lot
of target
practice. Bring it!”

“You’ve been bristling to shoot something. Okay, Gunnery
one. Now’s your chance. Roger?”

“Roger, Cap.”

“Target practice is a ‘go’! Scanner arrays and weapons
systems are your targets today. High score is twenty-nine bazillion. Can you
beat that score, Gunnery?”

“Roger, Dodger,” Riley responded. “Gunnery is a go.”

Then, as
Viper
pulled away, an idea struck him.

“Now that I’ve said it, I think Dodger is an excellent
handle for you, sis.”

Ericca throttled forward.
Viper
responded like a
bullet. “What was it, Dodger?”

Archer spun his guns around. “Yep. What do you think of
‘Dodger’ as a handle?”

“No, thank you.” Ericca headed for the next ship over. Try
as she might, she couldn’t force a change in her mood. Why did death have to be
so blasted real, so blasted permanent?

“All pilots have a tag. What’s wrong with Dodger?”

“What?” She scoffed.

Flashes of gunfire exploded all around them.

“Look, Archer, can we just focus on this?” Ericca dodged
each projectile, but it took some effort. She looped
Viper
and zeroed in
on the
HMS Protius’s
scanner array.

Quickly, Archer aimed and fired. The Phiton charged
particles ripped through the
Protius’s
shields to instantly obliterate
the scanner dish. He fired again. The shield emitter vaporized. He focused on
the ship’s big guns and fired once more. The huge explosion caught the
attention of the other big ships, and they, too, began to fire at the little
troublemaker.

Ericca pulled back hard and brought
Viper
back to
another large ship. “Good gravy! Looks like we stirred up that hornet’s nest again.
Look at your scope!”

Ericca’s scanner showed small blips pouring from a larger
one—Talons from the carrier.

“It looks like you’ll have your hands full, Dodger.”

“Archer, can we just not do this now? Turn your attention
back to the task at hand like that big ship over there.”

“Sure. Fine.” Thwarted, he shook his head. Targeting the
scanner array and cannons, he let fly. Tiny but bright sparklers zoomed toward
the large ship.

Flames spewed bits of metal from
HMS Gorgon
.

“Hey, Archer. You want to trade jobs for a little bit? I’ll
show you an easy way to take down a Talon or two.”

“Sure, Dodger. I’m game.”

“Stop it.” She said sternly. “I’m in no mood to play!” Ericca
tabbed her console, and its display switched with Archer’s. “First, little
brother, you want to get a few Talon’s lined up behind you. Make easy, graceful
sweeps.
Viper
turns sharper than those chasing us, so keep your arc just
a little tighter than that of the Talons.”

“Got it,
Dodger
. And then?”

“And then you stop calling me Dodger. I happen to like my
name. Can’t you just respect that?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said sullenly.

“You don’t like your name, Archer?”

He sighed. “Riley? You don’t seem to like it.”

“Fine. Point taken. You want me to call you Riley, Riley is
what I’ll call you. But for now, let’s just set that aside and focus on the
Talons behind us.”

“Oh, alright! What do you want me to do?”

“Just before you lose them turn back. Snake your way back
and forth with the Talons strung behind you like a pearl necklace. They’ll
struggle to stay with you, so be careful you don’t lose them. Leaving them in
the dust is itself a game ender. If you can get the pilots to focus on
Viper
,
they’ll forget about their surroundings.”

“Got it,
Ericca
. I’ve picked up a few tails now, but
I’ll stay out of pistol shot.” As Archer eased the ship back and forth, Ericca
could see that he began to understand the little ship’s abilities better.

“Good. Very good job, umm Riley. Now pick a target ahead of
us, like a conning tower or the broad side of a ship. Swing back and forth as
you make your way to it. Just before you reach it, veer away at the last
second. The idea is to get the Talons to modify your chosen target, a conning
tower or something. But
be
careful. Don’t you hit it.”

“Hey, cool. Get them to do the heavy lifting, huh?”

Like a giant snake a string of Talons did their best to
follow
Viper
.

“You got it,” Ericca answered. “In the meantime I’ll just
amuse myself by making these guys madder.”

She swiveled the guns around at the string of Talons
following serpentine. When compared to agile
Viper
, the Talons
maneuvered like sluggish trucks.

“Hey, Archer, you catch on quick. Your piloting is perfect.”

Ericca took careful aim and . . .

. . . and froze.

Her thoughts immediately went back to that lifeless body
caught between the consoles, and to those staring eyes. Shaking it off, she
quickly considered her options. She could kill some faceless dillweed chasing
them . . . or she could aim to wound.

“Sis?” Archer said. His face in the monitor showed concern
for her hesitation.

She squeezed the trigger. One tiny but surprisingly bright
dot flashed out of the gun to slice off a wing two Talons back. As it spiraled
out of control, she pulled the trigger again, ripping the wounded Talon in
half. This was a firefight. It wasn’t the time to go wobbly.

“Sis?”

“I’ll be okay, Archer,” she whispered. “Neat toy you have
here.”

Archer forced a smile. “You hesitated.”

“What? Did I?”

“You had second thoughts, huh? First shot crippled his ship.
You could have let him go. That would have taken him out of the fight.”

“I’ve always believed one had to be tough in war, Archer. I
forgot for one brief moment that my job is to make sure things brake and men
die.”

“Some say good guys try never to kill, sis.”

She fired again. A Talon six ships back exploded.

“Archer, I understand. They call it, ‘Being civilized.’ They
hope the survivor will just go on back home.” She paused. “Idiots.”

Archer continued with his back and forth sweeps. “You don’t
believe that?”

“I don’t. Those that say such stuff don’t understand that
Confed soldiers are insane. Being brutal is a religion to them. Let ’em live,
and they’d see you as weak, and come back at you again and again. Screw that.
The smart money is on putting Confederates down like the dogs they are.”

Flashes of gunfire started to come at them from every
direction as one Talon after the next converged on
Viper
. Archer pulled
the ship into a loose turn, picked up a few more followers, then found his mark
and turned back toward it.

Ericca was mindful of each shot she took. She was careful to
choose her target and take it out with lethal force. Cripple one ship, wound
another? What the . . .? She knew her aim was to turn one Talon after
the next into a violently exploding fireball. But blast! That dead man’s
accusing stare wouldn’t leave her alone. Fine. Determined to be stronger, she
wouldn’t be frightened by the memory and dissuaded from doing what she knew was
right.

She could tell at a glance the better pilots among those
that followed. She’d take them down, and leave the inferior pilots to Archer.

The
HMS Ventura’s
scanner array loomed large before
them. Archer jerked left to turn hard over. Behind him, several ships, unable
to make the turn, collided with the
Ventura’s
hardware and hull. The
enemy ship was severely damaged. Archer turned back and headed for the
HMS
Tall Man
.

“I think the best targets on these big ships are the scanner
arrays, sis.”

“Good call, Archer. Blinding them is always a good choice.
But I’ll take it from here. The sky is getting pretty hairy with gunfire.”

Archer seemed stressed and was clearly glad to give control
back to Ericca.

“Roger, Dodger. She’s all yours.” He checked his scanner.

“Just had to sneak that in, huh?” Ericca said, as she picked
up another string of followers, found Archer’s target of choice, and headed for
it. And, just as she had instructed Archer, she lured these Talons right into
the big ship’s conning tower. Thrummed by a half-dozen Talons, the tower’s base
exploded. The massive structure tore away from the ship’s main body.

“Hmm.
Tall Man
seems a little shorter these days,
sis.”

She chuckled. “An apparent quarrel with Talons recently cut
it down to size.”

“So, who won the argument?”

Ericca laughed. “Between the Talons and him? I think we
did.”

Archer snickered. “Time to head home, sis?”

Suddenly
Viper
jerked and spun around. Ericca
recovered control and checked for damage. A lucky shot had clipped a port
panel. Sparks and smoke coughed from the new gash in
Viper’s
left flank.

“Port engine is down,” Archer called out. “Redirecting fuel
lines.”

Ericca turned away from the fleet and pushed the remaining
engine up to full capacity. Where did that crippling shot come from? She
gnashed her teeth. She had only taken her mind off those shooting at them for
one microsecond. That’s all it took to let that shot get through. She cursed
herself under her breath and refocused on the job of keeping them alive.

“We have Talons gaining on us, sis.”

“We’re accelerating, Archer, but
Viper’s
sluggish.
Shift power to the rear shields.”

“They’re closing within gunshot, Ericca. Can you get any
more out of her?”

Ericca took a breath. “I’m trying.”

“They’ve launched rockets. Ah crap! They’re HvM180’s.” He
dropped chaff.

Ignoring it, the rockets began to close the gap between
Viper
and them.

Archer laid down a spread of gunfire. Several rockets
exploded, but not all. One had slipped through and was gaining fast. He fired
again.
Viper
bucked from the too near explosion. Flashes of the blast
streaked past the canopy.

“The Talons are still closing, sis.” He spun his guns around
and vaporized the leader. But the others, still advancing, seemed determined.
He pulled the trigger again. The second in line exploded into a ball of fire.

Viper
pitched. Struggling to keep it together, Ericca
fought to hold the little ship on course.

Archer fired again. Another Talon exploded and the rest
began to peel away. “That did it. They’re turning back to the fleet.” Archer
breathed a heavy sigh of relief. “It’s over.”

“Not quite, little brother. We took a bad hit back there. We
have to get atmospheric and soon or . . .”

“Alright, Coredei is the nearest habitable planet, and it’s
straight ahead.”

“Blast! Dillhole Coredei? Really? Man, I hate that place!”

Confusion rolled across Archer’s face. “As I recall, as
pirate strongholds go, that one is pretty tough. Despite that, you used to love
being there. Now you hate it? Really?”

“No, not really. I suppose I don’t. It’s just that there’s
someone there I’d rather avoid.”

“Luckily, we know the place. Or at least we did. And it’s a
big world. Shouldn’t be too hard to avoid the estate.”

“Fine. Distance?”

“At our current speed, half a day. Sorry, sis. There’s
nothing closer.”

“With luck, no one will ask questions. If we stick together
and cover each other’s backs, we’ll make it out of there alive.”

“We will, Ericca. Of that I have no doubt.”

“Uh huh. Sure.”

“No desire to see Tyson?”

Ericca shook her head.

Riley remembered their leaving Coredei nearly two years
back. But he didn’t know why. Not really. Ericca had asked him to trust her,
and so he did. She never said more about it. Riley thought that’d be their home
forever. The four years prior, Tyson Blackhart trained the two youths to defend
themselves with fist, knife, and sword. He taught them how to fight mean and
dirty with whatever they could lay their hands to. He taught them how to handle
a gun, and how to shoot to kill. Both learned fast and well. And, as kind,
caring, and generous as Tyson was, they knew he couldn’t protect them forever.
Even he had a higher-up he had to answer to—
his father, the king
—a man
who wasn’t nice, or kind, or understanding in the least.

Having to run away in the dead of night came as a complete
surprise to Riley, but Ericca said it was the only choice left to them. After
that it’d be foolish to seek out Tyson ever again. If they did, Ericca warned,
they’d better have good reason for doing so.

“Get Captain Kori on the horn, Archer, and see if they’re
ready for these guys.”

“Aye, aye, Captain Ericca.” Riley hailed
Freefall
and
spoke to Mrs. Kori. Jordon was tied up with preparations, but Mara assured Riley
that the rebels would be ready in time. Riley told Mrs. Kori that he and Ericca
had left the fleet in all due haste just to stay on the safe side, and that
they
wouldn’t
be home soon. Though it was never said, each found comfort
in the other’s voice. Reluctantly, Riley signed off and turned his attention
back to the tasks before him.