EIGHT
There was a brief frozen moment when everyone stood staring out the front window as if they could see Calhoun right in front of them. It was Krista who made the first move as she rushed to her seat, breaking the spell that held them.
Troy practically threw himself into his seat. “Strap yourselves in!” he yelled over his shoulder to the others except for Tristan who had already disappeared to the engine room.
“He’ll be on us in under five minutes,” Krista informed them, surprisingly calm.
“Any chance he hasn’t detected us?” Ziggy asked hopefully.
“Afraid not,” Krista told him with a slight shrug.
A loud beeping came from the system in front of Krista and she looked down at it and then to Troy, wide-eyed, “It’s a communication. Should we accept it?”
Troy chewed his lip in indecision. “Go on, let’s hear what he has to say!”
“Troy, no!” Lena cried, clutching Orla’s hand where she sat beside her.
“He’s going to come after us anyway! We might as well hear what he has to say!”
There was a brief moment of silence and then Calhoun’s face appeared on the small screen in front of Troy. His round face was red with anger and his eyes were almost lost in the folds of his eyelids as his face screwed up into a look of sheer menace. The others had been craning their necks so they could see too but shrank back when Calhoun began to speak.
“You brats better turn around and get back to Goramir! I swear I will shoot you out of the sky if you don’t!” he spat out, flecks of saliva beading the corners of his mouth he was so angry.
“Can he see us?” Ziggy whispered and Krista shook her head.
“What’s the matter, Calhoun,” Troy retorted with false bravado, “Get into a little trouble when we left?”
Calhoun’s face went a deeper shade of red but he managed to keep his voice even, “Don’t think you can get away from me! I will hunt you down like vermin! You can’t get away from me!”
“Make up your mind!” Troy chastised, “First you want us to go back and now you want us to run away? What’s it to be?”
Troy laughed out loud when Calhoun’s face contorted into a mask of sheer hatred and then just as he was about to start shouting at them the screen went blank.
“What happened?” Lena demanded.
“I cut him off,” Troy explained, “There’s no point talking to the man. He can’t go back to Goramir, I guarantee it! He was breaking the law and he should be in prison by rights! He’s on the run!”
Krista turned in her chair and looked at the others, “He’s right, you know. He doesn’t want to take us back – he wants revenge.” She looked to Troy. “Now what? Can we outrun him?”
“We could try, I suppose,” Troy said, not feeling very confident. He pressed the intercom for the engine room. “Tristan, we’re going to have to try and outrun him. What are our chances?”
There was silence and just as Troy thought that maybe there was something wrong with the intercom his brother replied.
“I made some modifications to the engines but if we are at full power for a long time there is a chance it’ll blow the engine!”
“So, our chances are good?” Troy asked.
An irritated sigh was heard over the intercom then Tristan said, “Yes, but not for long!”
Before he could get to full speed though, Ziggy raised his hand and pointed out of the window, a terrified look on his face.
“It think that’s him!” he croaked.
“I see it!” Troy cried as he piloted them away just as an object streaked towards them.
“He’s firing at us!” Lena cried, clutching the arms of her chair in terror.
“Hold on!” Troy warned them and suddenly he was heading straight for Calhoun’s ship.
“What are you doing!” Ziggy cried in alarm, “You’re heading straight for him!”
“Could everyone be quiet and let me fly!” Troy retorted, fear making him snippy.
The others fell into silence, Troy could still sense how afraid they were but didn’t have time for reassurances. Particularly since he was feeling more than a little afraid himself but didn’t have the luxury of letting someone else pilot the ship and keep them alive. The pressure of which only added to his anxious state.
Calhoun’s ship loomed closer and another missile was fired their way and this time it managed to clip the very edge of Star Chaser before it exploded causing the smaller ship to shudder in the aftershock. Krista reassured everyone no damage had been done and Troy flew straight under Calhoun’s ship and beyond them forcing their former caretaker to turn around.
Troy used all of his concentration to get Star Chaser to full speed. He hoped that his little manoeuvre had bought them some time. Glancing at his monitor he could see Calhoun’s ship had turned faster than he had hoped.
He grimaced and silently willed Star Chaser to go faster still. It felt as if the whole ship was humming with the effort of keeping up such speed.
Behind Troy the others kept a fearful silence, not wanting to break his concentration. Lena couldn’t help letting out a frightened squeak when a laser blast went streaking past, just missing them.
“Krista!” Tristan’s voice yelled over the intercom.
Krista jumped but quickly answered.
“Deploy a signal flare!” Tristan continued.
“What good will those do?” Krista exclaimed, “A flare won’t do anything!”
“At close proximity it will blind them for a few moments! It’ll buy us time!”
Krista looked at Troy who shrugged and nodded before turning his attention back to flying.
“Okay,” Krista said, “here goes!”
The flare shot out behind them and exploded close to Calhoun’s ship causing a bright flash of light.
“I think it worked!” Ziggy exclaimed, leaning forward to look at the monitor.
Calhoun’s ship did slow down a bit but not for long before it sped up again. This time it seemed to be catching up a lot quicker than before. Another laser blast had Star Chaser rocking slightly and an alarm sounded from the control panel.
“What does that mean?” Lena demanded fearfully, “Have we been hit?”
Troy quickly switched the alarm off before saying, “I think it just skimmed us otherwise we wouldn’t still be flying.”
Suddenly there was a flash of light from the monitor that was keeping Calhoun’s ship in view.
“What was that?” she croaked in mounting fear.
“I think,” Troy began then hesitated, “I think someone just fired on Calhoun.”
“Who was it?” Ziggy asked.
Troy pressed as button and the image from the monitor appeared projected on the windshield. There was Calhoun’s ship and behind that was a much larger one that, once again, was firing on the smaller one.
“Who is that?” Lena asked.
Troy felt his throat constrict and he stared disbelieving at the large ship that had somehow come to their rescue. He was taken back to the last day he saw his parents alive and the ship that had been responsible for changing everything. The same ship that was now helping them.
“Troy!” Krista cried bringing his attention back to the here and now, “let’s go! While Calhoun is busy!”
Troy focused on the screen and couldn’t believe it when Calhoun’s ship fired back at its attacker. “He must be crazy!” He muttered then vanished the image back to the monitor and concentrated on escaping.
“Troy!” Tristan said over the intercom, “You have to slow down! The engines are starting to overheat!”
Troy checked the monitor and could see that they were no longer being chased but it was a few moments before he began to slow down. The high-pitched hum from the engines began to subside and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Looking at one another they all smiled then laughed, giddy with their close escape.
They all stood and drifted back to the kitchen where they had been so
rudely disturbed before. All except Troy, who stayed behind on the bridge to get a little time to himself. His emotions churned and he felt as if he couldn’t breathe properly. He needed to talk to his brother to try and sort everything out. Why would Red Raven save them from Calhoun? The same man who had caused the deaths of his parents was now responsible for their escape from Calhoun. These thoughts kept spinning around in his mind and he sat with his elbows on the console and his head cradled in his hands. It was only a slight noise behind him that made him look up.
“Oh, hey Orla,” he said with a smile as the girl came to stand beside him.
He started to say something but the words died in his mouth as Orla merely stood staring at him, her large violet eyes brilliant from the starlight. Troy put a hand out to steady himself as a slight dizziness came over him and then he blinked and Orla was smiling at him. Putting the weird light in her eyes down to the reflection off the console he smiled and stood up, suddenly feeling much better.
“How about going to join the others?” he asked her and she nodded with a smile.