Fury to the Stars (Universe in Flames Book 2) by Christian Kallias Page B

Chase.” Her voice was strained with
pain. “Let’s go.”
    He and Daniel stared at her in shock as Sarah
covered her mouth with a gasp. “Did you just break your—”
    “We’ve got to go!” she shouted. “Step on it!”
    Without another word, Chase pressed the panel again
and it closed, pressing and pushing both bodies even further into the tiny
space. Then Sarah went into the cockpit followed by Daniel, squeezing together
onto one seat, while Chase took the main seat and Tar’Lock used his extreme
bending abilities to manage himself a position somehow on top of them, all
limbs extended against the canopy windows.
    As Chase turned the engines on and lifted the
fighter from the landing bay, the four of them gazed down at Argos’ ship.
    “Should we destroy it?” inquired Sarah.
    “I was thinking about the same thing myself.”
    “Take it down, Chase!” Daniel agreed.
    “Alright.”
    Without hesitation, he acquired a target lock on the
ship and squeezed the trigger. A volley of laser fire made direct impact, but
Argos’ shields must have been still up as they were instantly deflected in all
directions. One even hit their own fighter on the port wing. Chase immediately
stopped firing and carefully avoided another two shots, not easy to do inside a
landing bay with not much room to maneuver.
    “Forget about it, Chase, we need to go,” said
Daniel.
    “Agreed. Engaging cloak.”
    The onboard computer spoke.
    “Not enough power to engage cloak.”
    “Dammit!” Chase keyed a few functions on the ship’s
touch pad, redistributing shield power to the cloak systems. The ship’s engine
made a higher frequency roar and the cloaked engaged. “We maybe have thirty
seconds of cloak… if we’re lucky.”
    “Punch it then,” Daniel urged, impatient to get out
of there. He didn’t like closed spaces, and while he had gotten used to
cockpits over the years, being squeezed against both the walls and Sarah with a
smelly insectoid so near his face… It was a little too close for comfort.
    Chase took the fighter out of the bay and hit the
afterburners as soon as they were out of Hellstar.
    “How did you get the cloak back?” asked Sarah.
    “I transferred any ounce of juice from the shields.”
    “Is that wise?”
    “We’re about to find out.” Chase opened a channel to
the Iron Fire . “We’re coming in hot. Cloak should fail any second and we
have no shields.”
    “Understood, Lieutenant Commander.”
    Some systems lights on the ship started to blink
orange then red. The cloak was failing.
    “Will we make it?” Tar’Lock asked anxiously.
    Chase frowned. “I don’t know. We need another five
seconds to get out of range of these turrets.”
    Right on cue, the onboard computer sounded off.
“Target lock!”
    “Oh crap. Hang on guys.”
    Chase entered into a spin as some extremely powerful
green ion shot illuminated the canopy and grazed it.
    “I never thought I’d say it,” Tar’Lock whimpered,
“and I’m really sorry about the timing too, but there is a slight possibility I
might soil myself here.”
    Both Daniel and Sarah instinctively looked up,
Tar’Lock being only a few centimeters over their heads. He gave them a
constipated smile.
    “You wouldn’t dare,” Sarah warned. She’d been
through a lot these past few days. She was in no mood to add this to her list.
    “Not exactly the optimum position for me to control
every one of my bodily functions right now. I promise I will do my best to
avoid any leak.”
    Daniel groaned as Sarah glared upwards. “And I
promise I will kick your ass otherwise.”
    Another flash of green light illuminated the cockpit.
    “That was too close for comfort,” Daniel muttered.
    “I know.” Chase turned sharply. “We’re almost out of
range.”
    Just then, the Iron Fire started firing a
volley of torpedoes towards the Hellstar turrets. They didn’t destroy them, but
it gave Chase the necessary time to exit firing range.
    “My god!” exclaimed Sarah,