HAWK

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: BREACH (5/6)

Once it had passed safely through the membrane, it took less than a minute for the impulse shuttle to cross the bubble's 500-mile radius towards its centre.

The possessed X1 in the control room did not move from its circle. Its visor was flashing thousands of times per second, its computer now the brain of the ship.

The F-88 in the docking chamber was similarly still, as was the gold-skinned alien in its cockpit. It sensed the shuttle slow and knew they'd arrived at their destination. Though it could not see, it knew exactly what was outside.

The tiny black marble at the centre of the blue bubble was pulsating as if it was alive. Despite its size, its gravitational pull was tremendous. Had the shuttle been any other type of ship, it would have been sucked into it and crushed instantly.

'It's time...'

While the X1's visor started flashing faster and faster, outside the ship, the wormhole began beating frantically.

Three.

Two.

One.

The wormhole ballooned to a globe five times the size of the impulse shuttle and then collapsed just as fast.

In a black flash, the impulse shuttle had gone.

* * *

The Pegasus zoomed out of the space station at a speed much greater than either Kas or Mack would have believed it capable of. Kas wanted to get up and throttle the governor for almost killing them all, but they weren't safe yet - far from it. It was only when they arrived in open space that Kas realised they were accelerating into a war zone. Thousands of X1 fighters were giving chase to Swanne's fleet of Wraiths.

Needless to say, it wasn't a fair fight - there were as many as ten fighters per Wraith and the smaller ships could do little but practice evasive manoeuvres and try their best to stay alive. If it wasn't for the Wraiths' advanced shields and incredible speed, the fight would have been over very quickly.

Kas immediately started to decelerate.

'Don't stop!' Swanne barked.

'We'll be killed if we go out there!' Kas shouted back.

Swanne sneered but she could see Kas's point. 'Keep us alive for another minute,' she said as her eyes flashed green. Kas looked at Mack sitting beside her, pleased to see she wasn't the only one who looked nervous.

'Take the controls,' she told him as she swivelled to her right.

'Why, what are you going to do?' Mack replied.

Kas didn't answer. She was looking at the backup control panel which Pari had converted into the weapon controls. It wasn't much - just a twenty-inch screen above a compact control column. She pressed a button and a crude 2D model of the freighter appeared. Its back was covered in dozens of little green arrows that Kas knew to be the guns. She took the control column in her grip and twisted it to the left.

The arrows turned to the left.

She'd barely slipped her index finger over the column's trigger when two little red dots had appeared on her screen. Captain Mack reeled off a list of expletives and threw the Pegasus into an evasive manoeuvre while the cockpit rumbled with the unmistakable pummeling of laser fire against deflector shields. Kas knew they wouldn't last long and aimed her green arrows at the red dots.

OK, Worm... let's see what these things can do...

She pulled the trigger, and the Pegasus kicked back as a dozen blue beams shot out of it. One of the red dots on Kas's screen disappeared.

'YOU GOT ONE!' Mack screamed as the second X1 veered off to the side.

'Keep it on top of us!' Kas shouted.

'I'm trying!' Mack yelled as he slammed the control column sideways, spinning the Pegasus around. Another round of laser fire drilled along the side of the ship - but Kas didn't hear it. All that existed for her was the little red dot on her screen and her team of green arrows.

C'mon you little...

She pulled the trigger, bucking the Pegasus violently again as another shower of blue beams blasted out of its body.

The red dot blinked and disappeared.

Gotcha...

But just as she was starting to feel confident, another red dot appeared on the screen. Kas swore and spun her arrows to face it. She was about to pull the trigger again when Governor Swanne slapped her hand away.

'DON'T FIRE!' she screamed. Kas glanced out of the viewport and saw Swanne's giant Wraith zooming towards them. 'Let it dock!'

'Enabling docking gears,' Mack said as the Wraith swerved behind the Pegasus.

'We'll be sitting targets!' Kas yelled.

'Only for a minute,' Swanne replied. 'My ship will extend its shields to cover us until we're aboard.'

But the sound of the two ships docking was lasting way too long for Kas's liking. If any more X1's came along, Swanne's Wraith wouldn't keep them protected forever.

'Ships are engaged!' Mack yelled. Kas pressed the intercom.

'Worm! Get up here, we're switching ships!'

'On my way,' came the response.

Kas looked over her shoulder to see Swanne already running out of the cockpit. She spotted President Mantana cowering in the corner.

'Go with Swanne!' she yelled at him. The president nodded and ran after the governor. Kas was about to tell Mack to do the same thing when the Pegasus suddenly lurched to the side.

'INCOMING!' he shouted. Kas looked back at the weapons screen and saw dozens of little red dots converging on them. This time the entire ship started to vibrate as the X1's swarmed around them and started firing on all sides. Kas fired back as fast as she could, but the red dots were arriving faster than she could take them out.

'We have to go,' she said as she jumped out of her seat. Captain Mack did the same and joined her in running out of the cockpit.

They entered the cargo hold just as Worm emerged from the engine room in her mech-suit. They started sprinting towards the rear doors but suddenly stopped.

The Black Chains were standing side-by-side and blocking the ramp. In front of them, Kymeira was crouched low in an attack stance. Her eyes were bright green.

'Let us through,' Kas said.

The panther stretched open its jaws and roared.

Worm stepped in front of Kas and Mack and extended the two long blades from her forearms, then charged towards the panther.