Pirate Ambush (8 page)

‘Trust me!’ Instead of reaching for the gadget she had left on board when they teleported on to Haven, Selene pulled a different one from her bag. It was almost identical. It was the device he had seen Selene fiddling with on Jaxx’s ship and then hidden from him.

Peri wove in and out through the swarm of Zespa, narrowly missing an asteroid. They didn’t have much choice – it was Selene’s device or nothing. He nodded at her. ‘Give it a try!’

Selene activated the electro-pulse.

Huummm-mmm-MMM! Beep-Beep-BEEEEP!

Its strange racket got louder and louder, and then went completely silent before a blinding flash of blue light erupted from the gadget. Peri’s eyes flickered and his body twitched as the pulse crackled through him and out into space.

In an instant, the Zespa were nothing more than floating dots spiralling slowly away through space.

‘
Mars’rakk
!’
Diesel cheered as he high-fived Otto. ‘Selene, I can’t believe it worked. How did a wastoid like you manage that?’

‘It was nothing. Just some . . .’ Selene looked away. ‘Hey, where’s Jaxx?’

Peri activated the long-range scanners. They showed . . . nothing.

‘He’s escaped!’ Otto boomed.

‘Not for long,’ Peri said. ‘I know where he’s heading. If we use Superluminal speed, we can beat him to the rings of Saturn.’

Peri slid open the red Superluminal panel and punched in the coordinates. He flicked the switch and the
Phoenix
moved faster than light itself. As the view in the 360-monitor blurred into a swirling pattern of starlight, Peri felt for the Mission Capsule in his pocket. He looked around. Diesel and Otto were comparing footage of their Zespa-blasting. Selene was fiddling with her gadget again. They were distracted, but Peri knew they’d notice if he slipped away. He didn’t have much time before they reached Saturn. And he needed to see what Diesel’s Mission Capsule said before they got there. He didn’t want any more surprises.

His hands tingled as a button labelled
Sneak-o-Cloak
flashed on the controls. He smacked it and saw a faint shimmering green field of energy projected from the control panel. As the light stretched past, Peri’s bionic connection told him it would hide his actions from the rest of the crew. As long as no one walked right up to him, all the others would see was a hologram of Peri just sitting in the chair.

A monitor whirled up from the arm of his chair and a Mission Capsule reader popped out of the top of it. Peri plugged Diesel’s capsule into place. Peri channelled the sound into his coms-patch. The screen flickered, before the stern-faced emperor appeared.

‘My son . . . you must get the Heart of Mars back at any cost!’ The emperor pointed to a jewel as big as one of Otto’s fists. It glowed with an orange radiance. It was stunning. Distracted, Peri didn’t notice Diesel walk over and step suddenly through the Sneak-o-Cloak.

‘Will you tell Otto –’ Diesel stopped and his eyes flashed yellow. ‘That’s
my
Mission Capsule!’

Diesel lunged, but Peri grabbed the capsule first and slipped out of the chair. ‘You should have shared this with me. We’re Star Fighters, and we’re friends.’

‘Give it back. You’ve no right to look at it,’ Diesel shouted, kicking the chair. ‘My father swore me to secrecy. He blames the Xion attack for the Heart of Mars being stolen, and thinks that all Martians will be cursed until it’s returned. I have to find it and you can’t stop me.’

Peri sighed and handed the Mission Capsule back. ‘Diesel, didn’t you think I would want to help you?’

‘Stealing my Mission Capsule was a strange way to go about it!’ Diesel growled. ‘I don’t need any help, but . . . having a lamizoid like you on my side wouldn’t hurt, I guess.’

Peri glanced up at the 360-monitor. Saturn, the dusty gas giant, was beginning to fill the entire screen. Sunlight glinted off its wide, revolving ice rings. ‘We won’t tell the others,’ he said, deactivating the Sneak-o-Cloak.

The green shimmer around them vanished.

‘Selene,’ Peri said, ‘use the Exo-Scanner to look for Jaxx’s ship’s heat signature.’

‘Already on it,’ Selene reported. ‘Displaying on screen.’

Peri studied the scanner’s results. The rings of Saturn were shown as a patchwork of different colours and shades, revealing the coldest and hottest spots. They were all blues and browns, apart from a tiny amber speck. Peri was puzzled that Selene didn’t spot it, but there was no time to think.

‘There’s Jaxx!’ Peri pointed and snapped his fingers. The control panel slid under his hands and he fired the sub-light engines. ‘If we’re quick enough, we can catch him by surprise.’

But as they got closer to the one-man ship, it bolted.

‘He’s going in at the wrong angle,’ Peri shouted and pulled hard on the Nav-wheel, adjusting the
Phoenix
’s position. He watched as Jaxx’s ship bounced helplessly between the ice rings. Peri carefully activated the thrusters. As the
Phoenix
surged forward, Jaxx’s small craft dived through the rings.

‘Diesel, Otto,’ Peri shouted, ‘we’re going through the rings! I need your help to blast a path for us.’

Peri swerved down. The gunners started blasting chunks of ice out of the way. As they came out of the other side of the rings, Jaxx’s craft was flying wildly out of control and on a collision course with the planet.

‘Something’s wrong!’ Selene cried.

‘Scanners show that Jaxx is injured and unconscious,’ Peri reported.

‘If I don’t do something, he’s going to crash!’ Selene screamed.

Before Peri could ask the engineer what she meant, Selene had vanished.

Jaxx’s ship was lurching between the churning masses of ice. It wasn’t going to survive long!

‘
Phoenix
,’ Peri called, ‘find Selene!’

Selene appeared on the monitor inside Jaxx’s cramped vessel. She was leaning over the unconscious body of Jaxx, trying to steer his ship. ‘I’m doing the best I can, but the ship’s too badly damaged,’ she yelled. ‘You’ve got to beam us back, Peri!’

Peri’s fingers raced across the control panel. He pulled a lever to activate the teleportation beam, but nothing happened.

‘It won’t work!’ Peri cried. ‘The mineral deposits in the ice are causing too much interference.’

Selene looked terrified. ‘If you don’t do something,’ she said, ‘we’re going to die!’

Chapter 10

‘Engine’s in a critical condition,’ Selene yelled. ‘Navigation’s dead!’

Jaxx’s ship spun off the edge of an ice-rock, scattering pieces of the starboard engine across the rings. Peri needed to somehow get the small vessel away from the ice rings’ interference. It was the only chance he had of beaming them on to the
Phoenix
before Jaxx’s ship crashed or exploded.

This isn’t just some stupid obstacle course
, Peri thought.
Selene and Jaxx’s lives are in my hands!

‘The IF obstacle course!’ Peri exclaimed. His mind tingled as he realised he knew what to do. His hands darted across the control panel. He yanked on the thrusters, sending the
Phoenix
hurtling towards the tiny craft.

‘Have you lost your bionic mind?’ Diesel shouted. ‘You’re going to get us all killed!’

‘Peri!’ Selene pleaded. ‘Don’t do anything stupid!’

‘Don’t worry,’ Peri yelled. ‘I’ve done this before!’

It wasn’t going to be easy to intercept Jaxx’s out-of-control ship, especially at this speed. He thought he might just be able to snatch them up with a laser net –
if
he could dodge the ice debris . . .

He swerved the ship left, then right. It was just a matter of timing – and hoping that the g-forces involved wouldn’t rip both ships apart. He activated the laser net as the
Phoenix
hurtled towards Jaxx’s vessel. Using his bionic connection to make microscopic adjustments, he angled the net to grab the damaged ship.

‘Hold on tight!’ he yelled to Selene.

The
Phoenix
heaved violently as the laser net snatched up Jaxx’s ship. Peri strained against his astro-harness as both vessels were thrown spinning off into space towards Jupiter. But they still weren’t far enough from the rings’ interference.

‘Ten, nine, eight –’ Peri counted.

‘Peri!’ Selene screamed. ‘Jaxx is awake, but we’re losing engine stability!’

Peri smashed on the emergency thrusters. The
Phoenix
roared forward. The whole Bridge shook from the strain. The laser net was ripped apart by the awesome forces bearing down on it, catapulting Jaxx’s ship away from the rings.

‘Activating teleporter!’ Peri yelled as he slammed down the lever.

A nanosecond later, Jaxx’s ship exploded in a fireball the size of a comet.

‘S’fâh!’
Diesel exclaimed.

Otto bowed his head. ‘It was a noble death.’

Peri pulled another lever. Selene and Jaxx rematerialised on the Bridge in a bright shimmer of orange light. They had their arms around each other as if they were wrestling.

‘No!’ Peri and Diesel leaped from their chairs and grabbed the fugitive. ‘Get your hands off her!’

‘Death to the pirate!’ Otto rushed forward with his silver electro-prod out.

‘Wait!’ Selene jumped and grabbed Otto’s arm. ‘It’s not what you think.’

‘Let go!’ Otto yelled, trying to shake Selene off.
The electro-prod swished wildly, sending sparks flying everywhere. As Otto dragged her towards Jaxx, Selene pulled a small tube from her belt and pressed it into the Meigwor’s arm.

Otto screamed and dropped his weapon to cradle his arm. ‘What was that for? He was trying to hurt you!’

Selene snatched up the electro-prod and pointed it at Otto.

‘He was hugging me!’ Selene panted. ‘Jaxx is my dad!’

‘Hugging?’ Otto boomed, the splotches around his eyes darkening. ‘Awful . . . Terrible . . . Disgusting human behaviour!’

‘Your dad?’ Peri let go of Jaxx and stared at him. He could see the family resemblance now. Selene had his eyes and chin. They even had matching smears of grease on their cheeks.