The Dead Fleet (Juggernaut #3)

Fifty Two

The defenceless interceptors weaved through the maze of the dead fleet as they searched for the path to the outer boundary. Once beyond the fleet they would have the safety of open space. From there it would be a straight run to the beacon. The pirates wouldn't be able to catch them.

Easy.

The pirates had other ideas.

Enemy ships swarmed through the fleet behind them. In groups of two and three, they flew over and around the wreckage of the fleet, blasting away at will.

No two pirate ships were the same. None of them were dedicated warcraft. It was as if the pirates had simply taken anything that could fly and bolted on a weapon. Their aim was poor but their weapons were still deadly.

"Ellie, I just realised. We can't take the short path out," said Malachi.

"Why not? We're faster."

"Because they know the way better than us. They have the advantage for now."

Malachi flinched as the pirates demonstrated this advantage indiscriminately, taking any shot they could. Every missed shot meant they lived, but each one hit another part of the fleet and set in motion more slowly tumbling debris. The dead fleet itself was becoming their enemy.

Another volley of laser fire spat past his Valkyrie. Malachi slammed his flight stick to the side. His body automatically tensed in anticipation of the g-force. His Valkyrie spun through two revolutions as he turned right and away from the danger. Malachi levelled out. To his left, the colours of two different energy weapons traced along the path he had just flown.

Ellie's had been below him a second ago. Now he couldn't see her anywhere. Blips and lines whirled around his scanner as he twisted and turned to avoid the ships behind him. She was in the microcosm somewhere.

Then she was in his head.

'Look out!' said Ellie's voice in his cockpit.

'Where are you?'

'You're going too fast! Slow down.'

'Slow down?!'

Malachi eased off the throttle. He knew they were in her element now. He had learned to trust her instincts over the years, and he trusted her still even though he was afraid.

Oddly, Ellie seemed calmer. It had become a race for her. A race for her life, a race against time, but still a race, nonetheless. Counter-thrust slowed his forward momentum. Pirates chased closer. Blaster-fire lit up his cockpit.

"Yes!" Ellie could hear the fear creeping into his voice. "Don't worry," she added. "I'm almost there."

There was no fear in her voice anymore, Malachi realised. She sounded calm. Measured, focused, and relaxed.

Just like she always did before doing something crazy.

Ellie's Valkyrie blinked onto his scanner. A friendly green blip directly beneath him. Heading right for him. No, for the space behind him. She was playing decoy.

Ellie accelerated and rolled her ship as she climbed, doing anything she could to draw the attention away from Malachi.

Laser blasts filled the sky ahead of her. Ellie powered through the danger zone, trusting to luck more than anything else. Coloured death streaked either side of her cockpit, bathing her in twisting patterns of light and shadow.

The decoy worked. Ellie's high speed pass had got their attention. They split their forces. Half followed Malachi has he turned and dived in the direction Ellie had come from. The others pulled up and poured weapon fire into Ellie's wake.

Malachi had to concentrate on what was before him. Dodging the laser fire clawing at his ship was one thing, but it would do him no good to crash into the fleet wreckage while he did. He gripped the flight stick tight and opened the throttle as much as he dared. He could feel the sweat inside his gloves. The patterns on the scanner danced and spun in three dimensions as he flew as fast as he dared and turned has hard as he could.

Malachi rolled his Valkyrie and hugged the belly of his ship close to a large transport. A tanker of some kind, he realised, and noticed that is was strangely intact for such an ancient battlefield.

He held the turn and swooped closer to the transport hoping to use it for cover, before he realised his mistake.

Pirates trailed him, peppering the larger ship with blaster fire.

The Valkyrie's scanner locked on to the tanker in its insatiable hunger for new data, and relayed to Malachi what it had found.

Malachi's eyes darted to the display, his mind took in the new information, his eyes opened wide, and his left hand threw open the throttle. Gravity's hand pressed Malachi into his seat as the Valkyrie surged forward.

A final stray energy blast flew past his ship. The ship behind him absorbed all the others, and the hull ruptured. The tanker exploded. The volatile fuel stored there by the pirates ignited in a deathly blossom of orange and yellow. The pirates were vaporised instantly. Smaller ships and wreckage near the tanker vanished in the explosion. The shock wave rippled out in every direction. What wasn't destroyed by the blast was rocked by it, and another dangerous shift in the fleet began.