Page 9 of Zayrik

My pulse quickened. The heat in my biceps flared, intensifying my resolve.

I’d been in worse spots before, even without a mission’s structure. There was no backup. Just me, an unfamiliar ship, and an unconscious female bleeding out in my cockpit.

Katar Station’s security forces werenotstandard. They weren’t just local enforcers. They were hitting hard.

I had my answer.

She wasn’t justanythief.

Who the hell are you, thief?

I kicked the engines to max burn, twisting hard to avoid another blast. The ship groaned like she was about to fly apart. She wasn’t built for this kind of maneuvering.

I took a fast inventory. Damaged shields, no weapons worth mentioning, and a navigation system running on old data.

This ship wasnotbuilt for combat. But neither was thefirstship I ever flew.

I twisted hard into a tight bank, scraping past the outer hull of a freighter. The security fighters had to adjust, splitting formation to avoid collision.

I took the gap.

The station’s outer defenses were coming onlinetoo quickly. No way they got clearance to shoot me this quick. Meaning someone had pulled strings. Someonewanted her dead.

My decision not to turn her over to them seemed increasingly justified.

The next round of cannon fire streaked past.

A loud warning blared through my console. ‘Damage to rear stabilizer. Power loss detected.’

I growled.Flutzing perfect.

I gritted my teeth, scanning the closest jump points. No way I was making a clean jump in this condition.

We were limping.

And if I didn’t lose themnow, we weren’t going to make it anywhere.

I flipped three switches, rerouting all remaining power to forward thrust. The stabilizer protested, but the shipmoved. Faster than they expected.

The jump point wasjustin range.One shotat making it. The targeting lock screamed.

Another incoming blast.

I twisted hard, burning every ounce of speed we had left, punching us straight into the jump.

The stars ripped sideways.

Finally, silence.

No alarms. No weapons fire.

We werefree.

For now.

I exhaled slowly. The ship wasn’tdead,but she wasdamn close.

I finally turned my head, taking in the thief sprawled across my bunk. She hadn’t moved.

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