Page 48 of Phoenix's Last Heist
“Take the gunner’s seat,” she barks. “You’re about to get a crash course in space combat tactics.”
It is inadvisable to push the engines without?—
“Not helpful, Ada!” Lyra shouts, increasing the thrust and sending the ship shooting forward.
“Lyra, who’s on theEdax Deorum?” I ask again, dread suggesting I already know the answer.
“Look here—these switches engage the targeting, but you have to wait until the ship is within range, shown here. As soon as the ship hits these crosshairs, hit this button to fire. We’re loaded on plasma ammo, but it’s still best to make it count, meaning don’t fire if you don’t think you can hit it. If you fire in bursts, the cannons need a five-second cooldown period and the target will almost certainly return fire in that window. I don’t like being a sitting duck.”
“A what?”
She narrows her eyes and continues. “They’re going to catch up to us shortly—my ship is fast, but it’s no match for theirs.Our only chance is to shoot them down, or damage their ship enough to give us a head start to safety,” Lyra says. Then, she snaps: “Find me a hiding place, Ada! I don’t care how big, bad, or dangerous it is. I’ll take it over the alternative.”
Scanning,Ada acknowledges.
Our ship rumbles with a groan and the deep creak of shearing metal has Lyra swearing a blue streak.
“That better not be the hull…”
“Lyra! Who’s on that ship?” I demand, belting into the gunner’s seat and gripping the controls for the plasma cannons.
“Not now, Ranger,” she growls. “What’s my status, Ada? How’s my ship? And where the fuck am I taking us?”
The fear buried in the tone of her commands twists my insides. Before I can ask her again, theEdax Deorumpops onto the holographic screen in front of me and rapidly closes the distance.
“Ada!” Lyra shouts. “Coordinates, now! Coordinates to something—anything!”
The nearest inhabited object is the salvage stationHephaestuscurrently orbiting the abandonedInferisasteroid mine.
“Hephaestus!Stars, we might be saved. Is Evie still aboard? If she’s not too pissed at me, maybe she’ll let us duck in for a spell,” Lyra replies, swerving hard again. If I wasn’t belted into the gunner’s seat, I would’ve been thrown across the cabin.
Evelyn Redfern is registered as the site manager. It’s likely she’ll be on board. Are you certain you wish to infringe upon her hospitality given how your last encounter went?
“We don’t have much of a choice, do we?” Lyra grumbles. “Input the coordinates, now!”
“Who’s Evelyn Redfern? And what happened last time?” I ask, concern seeping into my tone. “Please tell me there were no explosions involved—or jilted lovers.”
Both Lyra and Ada ignore me.
Approximate time to arrival: ten minutes.
“Even with light speed engines? Come on Ada, I know you’ve got some of the good juice on reserve. Now is the time to break it out, baby,” Lyra says tightly.
Light speed is inadvisable in our current state. There is structural damage to the hull after the initial escape attempt.
“Are we going to break apart into little pieces or is this more of a ‘you break it, you bought it’ situation that I will happily buy my way out of once we find a maintenance station? I need solutions, Ada, and you’re only giving me problems today.” Lyra eyes the scanner with the holographic ship closing in and swears.
“They’re almost in range, Orion—be ready to fire,” she commands.
The probability of a safe landing onHephaestuswith our current structural integrity is 69%.
Panic ratchets my heartrate up.
Lyra chuckles at that. “Nice. Alright, that’s a solid shot, so I’m gonna go for it. Ada, fire up the light speed engine and make forHephaestus.And no sass, please.”
Our encroaching pursuers veer within range, and I line up a shot on the screen. The first blast goes wide, but the second catches the bottom of the craft, scorching a long burn mark down the hull. Lyra whoops as theEdax Deorumshudders to a halt, but quickly circles back and returns fire.
Lyra pulls back and maneuvers us away from the blasts, expertly steering the ship as if it’s become an extension of her body.
