Page 13 of The Alien's Stolen Rebel

There was no time to investigate, no way to try again. My only option was to fire up the engines again and keep my speed down, ducking and weaving through the wreckage to deny Frax’s pilots a clear shot. Their speed gave them the advantage, and if I couldn’t match it, their numbers would be too much.

That was an intolerable outcome, so I tried the throttle again, this time pushing it forward slowly. Once more, the power climbed briefly before dropping off a cliff.

“You are supposed to be a racing yacht, voidfucker. What’s wrong with you?”

A shot grazed the hull, too close for comfort. If my pursuers had been willing to hit us full-on, that would likely have wrecked theStarshadowand killed us both. Luckily, they were trying to take the ship intact, and that called for more delicate aim.

“I need speed, fucker. Come on!” I cut power wherever possible and then started on the impossible. With the engines spun up, they should generate enough power for all the systems, but it was something to try.

Medbay went untouched, of course, and I kept minimal power to life support and sensors. Everything else I channeled to the engines.

Hope filled me as the ship surged forward, only to be crushed as the thrust died again moments later.

Another pursuer caught up, and I saw Frax had chosen his pilots well. Between the two of them, they’dsoon have me boxed in, and turn the wreckage of the station into a deadly trap. I had to shake them, but unless theStarshadowstarted cooperating, I didn’t have the speed. Was there a limiter in the engine room? I snarled and shook my head—what difference did that make? If I left the pilot’s seat, theStarshadowwouldn’t survive long enough for me to reach the engine room, let alone find and disable a limiter.

Dodging became increasingly difficult as the enemy closed in. Resorting to desperate measures, I called the medbay on the intercom. Perhaps the human could disable the limiter, though I hesitated to disrupt the autodoc while it worked on her.

More enemy ships closed in on us, working their way through the twisted remains of Caliban’s ruined loops. With no time to spare, no other choice to take, I growled and said, “Human? Rachel?”

“What is it?”

The reply came, not from the intercom, but behind me. I spun to see Rachel in the doorway, radiant and flushed, her white dress freshly cut open in several places and showing delightful slices of her pale skin. No wounds or scars marred her. The autodoc had closed her injuries up without leaving a blemish on her.

She hung onto the doorframe, knuckles white, and she looked unsteady on her feet, but she was there. The grim determination in her eyes made it clear she had a reason to be. Maybe, just maybe, she’d get to the engine room in time to save us.

The ship trembled as another blast clipped theStarshadow.With shields up, we’d never have felt it. With all power redirected to the engines, it shook the ship and sent Rachel staggering onto the bridge.

She grabbed hold of the copilot’s seat, almost falling as a second blaster-burst sent theStarshadowinto a spin faster than the ship’s gravity could compensate for.

I caught her one-handed, fighting for control of the ship with the other. She grabbed hold of me, fingers digging in, and for a moment I lost track of what I was doing. The touch of her warm skin on my arm, the pressure of her grip, the fire in her eyes as she caught her balance…all combined to send desire crackling through my body like a tidal wave, sweeping up all before it.

The urge to take her right there on the bridge was almost impossible to resist. If our lives hadn’t been on the line, I don’t know if I’d have managed it. As it was, I saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes as we parted.

I recognized it easily, since it mirrored my own.

Rachel pulled herself into the copilot’s seat, which immediately took hold of her, molding itself around her luscious body to keep her safely in place. Do you know how ridiculous it feels to be jealous of achair?I growled and forced my attention back to the pressing task of not getting us both killed.

Beside me, Rachel fumbled with the controls, looking for something. I abandoned the plan of sending her to her to the engine room—the near misses and glancing blows kept theStarshadowjoltingthis way and that, and if she tried moving through the ship, she’d die.

I had to find us some space, buy some time to work. But with two pursuers close behind, and another two lying in wait somewhere, I didn’t see a way to do that.

Rachel yelped, drawing my attention back to her. Her right index finger stuck into the console’s bioscanner, the one I’d carefully bypassed to get the ship moving. It wasn’t easy to restrain my instinctive grab for her wrist, but I made the effort.

Her grim, focused expression assured me she had a plan, which was more than I did. Might as well give her a shot; at worst it would kill us both and that would just save some time.

“I am Princess Rachel of Mars, daughter of King Heston, first of his name, proclaimed planetary sovereign by order of the Martian Colonial Senate in the twenty-seventh year of Olympus colony.” Her words were bold, her voice confident, and her posture anything but. Her cheeks heated in a delightful blush as she spoke, keeping her eyes firmly averted from me. “Engines to full power. Now.”

I didn’t know what she expected. It seemed like a plan of utter desperation. But to my surprise, the ship responded at once, leaping forward as power poured into the thrusters. We nearly hit a piece of debris before I adjusted, and my evasive maneuver almost took us into another. TheStarshadowgave me everything she could, and I struggled to keep up with the raw power suddenly at my disposal.

Enemy fire cut through the space behind us, but I quickly outpaced our pursuers, leaving the threat in our wake. Instead, I struggled to avoid the ruined parts of Caliban station as we raced through them.

I lost track of everything else, even the human beauty beside me. Only the wreckage was real, that and theStarshadow. Spinning, dodging, weaving, our near misses got nearer, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep the pace up for long.

We burst free from the junk cloud and I laughed with relief, even though it was straight into the gunsights of an attacker who’d gone over the wreckage rather than chase us through it. I slammed the throttle forward, and we were through their kill zone before they could fire. Their shots fell behind us, tearing into the damaged station instead. Intense plasma fire tore through the hullmetal, sending red-hot fragments spinning in every direction.

I guess they’re done playing. Diamond hull or no, we’d have taken some serious damage if that had connected.Plasma cannons weren’t a good choice for capturing anything intact, but they’d stop the yacht in its tracks.

It didn’t worry me.TheStarshadowdanced to my will, absurdly responsive. She followed the slightest hint of a command, skittering across the sky and out of the line of fire, twisting around to catch our would-be killers in a warp cannon shot that sent fragments of it twisting in every direction.

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