Pirate Ambush (7 page)

The other pirate was halfway through crunching into a fried rat. ‘Can’t be a real one, can it?’ The pirate spat tiny flecks of fried rat as he spoke. ‘We’ll check it out, but I want to eat first.’

‘Yeah, all right. The guy selling it hangs around outside the Probe Palace. He should be there for a while.’

Peri couldn’t believe his luck. He activated the coms-patch. ‘Someone’s trying to sell an IF ship. It has to be Jaxx,’ he whispered. ‘Otto, the seller does business around the Probe Palace. See if you can find out where it is. I’ll round up the others. We’ll meet you there.’

‘Maybe later,’ Diesel replied. ‘I’m in the middle of buying something.’

‘That sounds like a long shot, Peri,’ Selene chipped in. ‘And I’m in a good place to watch people coming and going. Jaxx is bound to pass me if he’s here.’

Peri sighed.
Why aren’t they listening to me?
He would have to go and collect them. He activated the location-trackers on the coms-patch. An arrow appeared in his field of vision and Peri started jogging in that direction. He weaved through the streets until he found Diesel in the middle of a small crowd, haggling with an old man.

‘Come on,’ Peri said, pulling Diesel away. ‘We’ve got to go.’

‘
Põr’sünĝ
,
Peri
,’ Diesel hissed. ‘I’ve got him down to ten squares. You have to be pretty clever not to fall for their tricks. They always start too high.’ Diesel turned, but the old man and the crowd had melted away. Diesel patted down his pockets, then gasped. ‘
S’fâh
, all my squares are gone. I’ve been robbed!’

Peri dragged the half-Martian away before he could cause more trouble.

They found Selene crouched by the teleporters, watching people arrive and depart. She shrugged and followed them.

Peri activated his coms-patch. ‘Otto, any luck finding the Probe Palace?’

‘Yes!’ Otto boomed over the coms-patch. ‘It’s a large casino next to a used-spaceship yard! Transmitting coordinates now.’

A map flashed across Peri’s mind’s eye. ‘Come on,’ he said.

Peri led Selene and Diesel back through the streets of Haven until they came to a tall, tapered building that towered over the others. A sign saying
Probe Palace Casino
hung over the door. Otto was waiting for them outside. He pointed to a squat orange alien with a mouth full of gold teeth who was standing at the entrance to the used-spaceship yard.

‘That’s Awdus Erox, the spaceship dealer!’ Otto boomed. ‘I bet he bought the ship from Jaxx hoping to sell it for a lot more!’

‘But why would Jaxx abandon a decent ship?’ Diesel said.

‘He must suspect the IF is tracking him,’ Peri said. ‘But he’s always a step ahead of us. Someone must be helping –’

‘What do we do now?’ Selene interrupted.

‘The ship is our only lead,’ Peri said. ‘Diesel, Otto, you guys pretend you’re interested in buying it. That will create a diversion, then Selene and I can sneak on board to snoop around.’

As Diesel and Otto started haggling with Awdus, Peri and Selene tiptoed past. The IF ship was made of sleek grey and yellow panels. It wasn’t big, but it looked fast and well designed. It was definitely the best ship in the yard.

‘This way,’ Selene said as she shinned up one of the ship’s metal landing struts.

She pulled out an electro-wrench from her pocket and removed an access panel, then helped Peri up into the ship and on to the Bridge. Inside, it was a mess. The deck was covered in wires, components and strange-looking gadgets.

‘I think Jaxx was taking apart the consoles,’ Selene muttered, almost to herself.

‘See if you can figure out what he was trying to do,’ Peri said. ‘I’ll check the computers.’

He activated the main console. The flight data confirmed that the ship had escaped just before the IF Space Station had exploded. Peri searched for more, but there was little else in the memory. Jaxx had done a good job erasing the data, especially the security feed. Peri hunted around the ship’s programming for anything that the space pirate might have overlooked.

‘Gotcha!’ Peri found a back-up flight plan on the system. His neck tingled as he pulled it up on screen. Jaxx was planning to intercept a comet close to the rings of Saturn.

But that didn’t make sense. Why was Jaxx returning to the solar system and not running as far away as he could?

Peri turned to ask Selene what she thought, but she was fiddling with some sort of gadget. It looked a bit like her electro-pulse device, but she’d been made to leave that behind on the
Phoenix
.

‘What have you found?’ he asked.

Selene quickly shoved the device into a bag. ‘Nothing useful.’

Peri frowned.
Why is she acting so weirdly?
he wondered.

‘Did you find anything?’ she asked.

Peri nodded. ‘A flight plan. I think Jaxx is heading for the rings of Saturn.’

‘We’d better get going then,’ Selene replied, slinging the bag over her shoulder and heading for the exit hatch.

Peri ran after her and they raced back to collect the others.

Diesel and Otto were still arguing with Awdus Erox.

‘Let’s go,’ Peri said.

‘Not now, Peri!’ Diesel shouted. ‘This ship is almost ours. We’re down to a thousand squares.’

‘It’s not worth more than nine hundred squares!’ Otto boomed.

‘Nine hundred squares?!’ Awdus Erox spluttered. ‘That’s daylight astrobbery!’

‘Don’t you know how to haggle?’ Diesel asked him. ‘You couldn’t sell space to an astronaut.’

‘Is that so?’ Awdus Erox huffed. ‘I sold a sleek one-person craft earlier today. It was a sweet deal, part-exchanged for that ship.’

Awdus must have sold it to Jaxx
, thought Peri. A one-person craft would be perfect for intercepting a comet. ‘We’ve got to go – now!’ he told his friends.

‘You and your precious Star Fighter mission!’ Otto boomed, shaking his head.

Awdus Erox gulped. ‘You’re Star Fighters!?’

Before any of them could react, Awdus had run off and there was a yell from a large pirate close by. ‘Star Fighters . . . Get them!’

Peri spun around. There were three pirates armed with metal poles charging at them. ‘Smash the Star Fighters!’ one of them hollered.

‘Run!’ Peri screamed.

Shouts for Star Fighters’ blood followed them as they fled. Otto took the lead, shoving aside anyone who got in his way. Peri leaped and dodged the aliens who had fallen as he ran, making sure Diesel and Selene were keeping up with them.

The mob was getting louder as they knocked over stalls and crashed into people. Diesel, now ahead of Peri, stumbled. Something clattered to the ground from Diesel’s pocket and Peri snatched it up. He jumped over a sewer ditch and kept running. Peri glanced down at the object in his hands. It looked like the Mission Capsule Diesel’s father had given him. But there was no time to think about it. Peri raced on, hoping he’d survive the angry crowd long enough to find out the secret Diesel was keeping.

Chapter 9

‘Hurry!’ Peri yelled to Selene. ‘The mob’s catching up!’

Diesel was already on a teleportation platform. He was fighting back angry aliens who were trying to stop Otto taking over the controls. Peri stuffed the Mission Capsule into his jacket pocket so Diesel wouldn’t see it. Then he shoved through the queue of aliens and ran on to the platform with Selene right behind him. As he and Selene skidded to a halt, Peri shouted, ‘Let’s get out of here!’

Otto slammed on the controls and they were beamed aboard the
Phoenix
.

Peri jumped into the captain’s chair and hit the pyramid-shaped button to fire up the engines. ‘Selene,’ he said, ‘override Haven’s security and beam us out of here!’

‘Already on it,’ she yelled as her hands darted over the controls. A flash of bright light filled the Bridge and then vanished. They were back in outer space.

With a twist of a zip-dial Peri removed the
Phoenix
’s disguise, then pulled down the thrusters and set their speed to maximum. As soon as they were clear of Haven, he planned to find out what was on Diesel’s Mission Capsule.

‘Something’s following us,’ Diesel said. ‘They’re too small and fast to be ships or drones. Magnifying now!’

A black-and-yellow mist appeared on the screen. As the 360-monitor zoomed in, Peri saw thousands of small robotic wasps swarming towards them.

‘Zespa!’ Selene cried. ‘My dad told me about them. Their wings are made from ultra-sharp blades and will tear through the
Phoenix
like a photon beam through ice. Activate shields.’

‘
Ch’açh!?
’ Diesel exclaimed as the cloud of Zespa grew larger and wider. ‘Haven’s scanners have damaged our shields too! They won’t take many hits.’

‘We’re going to have to outrun the Zespa!’ Peri grabbed the Nav-wheel and fired the thrusters. It was going to take all his ability to outrun a million robot wasps in an enormous asteroid field.

Something sleek and metallic caught his eye. It was a small, one-man fighter, blasting away from Haven.

‘Jaxx!’ Peri yelled and pointed at the 360-monitor. ‘Otto and Diesel, start shooting Zespa!’ Peri swung the
Phoenix
round to follow Jaxx. Within seconds, Otto was blasting with the
Phoenix
’s quantum-blaster.

Chung-Tung-Tung! Shoow-waaawk!

Diesel was firing the laser cannon. ‘Seventy destroyed!’ he yelled.

‘That’s nothing!’ Otto shouted. ‘Two hundred vaporised.’

Chung-Tung-Tung! Shoow-waaawk!

‘Three hundred obliterated!’ Diesel yelled.

Peri swerved around a space-rock, then dodged more Zespa. They were everywhere. Every time he spun around an asteroid more deadly creatures were waiting. It wouldn’t take long before they’d overwhelm the ship and Jaxx’s craft was getting further and further away.

‘I’ve got something that might help,’ Selene said. ‘An electro-pulse!’

‘But it’s never worked properly,’ Peri hissed. ‘This is not the time to test out a new gizmo!’