Page 16 of The Alien's Stolen Rebel

Panic flooded Rachel’s eyes, and I cursed myself for telling her. I’d expected fear, but she went far beyond that. My companion hadn’t realized her homeworld was at risk, and I wish I’d been wise enough to cushion the blow. That knowledge could unsettle the bravest heart.

I struggled for something to say to lessen the sting of my words, but there was nothing. Should I tell her it would all be fine? She was smart enough to know that wasn’t true. Promise to keep her safe? I had no idea how I’d do that, not against the weight of a warlord’s entire horde.

Before I could resolve my dilemma, space twisted behind us, and a ship dropped out of hyperspace. Fortunately, it emerged where we’d arrived. Had their navigator been less skillful, they might have missed the target and wound up on top of us.

In the unlikely event that I found myself on friendlyterms with the crew of—I studied the scanner for a moment—thePursuit Predator,I resolved to buy their navigator a drink.

She was a warship, or at least, she had been. In terms of fleet combat, she’d been obsolete since before the Uplink War. Still dangerous to us, though: she carried more weapons than theStarshadow,and powerful engines too. Her name hinted at her function—built to hunt down and destroy fleeing enemies, she was fast but paid a price for that speed. Her shields were tissue-thin, her targeting systems old, and her hull weak.

It didn’t matter. Against even the toughest racing yacht, she had a large edge. Add to that the signs of a competent crew and I didn’t want to chance a confrontation. Cutting the thrusters, I lowered the engine’s output to near zero and hopedPredator’screw hadn’t upgraded their sensors.

Rachel’s eyes still betrayed her fear, but she’d pushed away all other signs of the panic that had gripped her. Not a tremor disturbed her smooth skin, and her brow remained clear.Impressive, I thought, watching her stare at the screen. The human was afraid but refused to allow that to keep her from action.

“They’re turning our way,” she said. Her voice sounded calm, not even a hint of fear disturbing it. “Probably picked up our ion trail.”

I cursed under my breath before replying. “I hoped they wouldn’t have the sensors for that.”

She shook her head and pointed to the image of ourpursuer. “No, look, it’s the only upgrade I can see, but this array? That’s a bloodhound sensor suite. Less than a decade old.”

I stared at Rachel, and she turned to face me, a grin lighting up her face. “Surprised? I’m an engineer’s daughter, raised during the war. I did my stint on the Martian observation array, watching for inbound raiders. Of course I know my way around attack ships.”

“A point,” I conceded, liking the human more and more despite myself. Inconvenient, tempting, and surprisingly competent. That made for a distracting companion. I turned my attention back to the problem now following along our path. “Stealth will not keep us safe from her, then.”

So saying, I pushed the throttle forward, and theStarshadowleaped at my command. Acceleration forced us back into our seats again, like a boulder falling onto our chests.

“If you’re going…to pin me to the cushions,” Rachel said, gasping for breath against the force of acceleration. “At least…buy me dinner first.”

I laughed, and saw blood rush to her cheeks, defying the pressure to spread a delightful blush. “I’ll remember that.”

Ahead, an asteroid appeared on the sensor, nice and big. Heavy, too. I grinned. It hadn’t been a given that my improvised plan would work out.

I steered toward the mountainous asteroid, taking us into its orbit and letting its gravity help the turn. Weswung close enough to see the crags and cracks covering the miniature world below.

At our closest approach, I killed the thrusters and fired theStarshadow’sguns. Warp cannons thrummed, superheating the rock from the inside, and the asteroid burst into a dozen pieces. The force of the explosion sent them all tumbling away into the void.

“What was that for?” Rachel asked, between gasps for breath. As I answered, I turned off every system I could, letting us drift silently. It felt wrong—after all that work to get the ship to full power, here I was cutting us down to the bare minimum of life support again.

“The gravity assisted turn will be hard to follow when the asteroid is no longer there to measure from,” I explained, grinning. “And our hull is diamond. From a distance, that makes us just another rock. ThePredatorwon’t be able to tell which of the new asteroids is us, and with the power turned down so low, we won’t leave much for their sensors to pick up.”

She didn’t look convinced. Neither was I, not fully, but it was a better option than fighting or running. “In a few hours, we’ll be far enough away from our pursuers. Then I will fire up the engines at low power and hope we’re too far away for them to recognize the drive signature.”

“That’s pretty clever.” Despite her obvious doubts, Rachel smiled, and I straightened up. Her praise made me feel twice as tall, and my heart pounded.How canshe have such an effect on me? I have not yet known her a day.

I shrugged off those uncomfortable feelings as best I could. “It will be a clever plan if it works. We won’t know that until the enemy tries to pick up our trail.”

“So, what do we do while we’re waiting?” Her voice caught as she asked, and I grinned.

“I shall make you dinner.”

With the power on low,it was more of a challenge than it should have been. The foodmakers wouldn’t print anything complicated, at least not in a timely fashion. If we wanted a tchan-root pancake, for example, we’d have to wait at least two hours.

Emergency food paste was available, but I had no intention of calling that a meal. It would keep us alive, and that was all.

As a luxurious racing yacht, theStarshadow’sgalleyhad more than just makers. There was a small stove and a selection of cookware, presumably so the emperor’s chef could make his food just the way he liked it. Unfortunately, there were no ingredients to cook with, making it even less useful than the foodmaker.

My stomach rumbled, and I cursed the party food at Frax’s aborted wedding. It had tasted good enough, but it lacked any staying power.

Hah. I doubt the chef intended to fuel a quick getaway. Especially not with his unwilling bride along for the ride.

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