“Fredrak, anything?” Gaylen asked, refocusing himself on the objective as the protective fleet around him began to shift.

“Nothing,” the agent said. “They’re either not there, not able to answer, or dead.”

“Well, keep trying. We need an entrance.”

The new arrivals didn’t take the time to line up properly; it would have given their enemies time to rearrange properly in turn. Instead they made a dash straight forward, leading with fire from powerful main guns. Seconds later, that other part of the main Authority fleet advanced as well, serving as shields for their support ships.

The alliance didn’t have enough biggies to protect the smallies, so they reacted like a disturbed swarm of insects, scattering about in several large clusters. Both advancing forces fired wildly rather than focus on a target, the point seeming to be to divide the alliance fleet as much as possible.

Flying evasively suddenly became immensely more perilous. Gaylen did his best to keep track of three separate fleets and their firing lines, weaving through an invisible maze of death, but knew damn well that blind gambling had just come into play as well.

This was all a bit different from squeezing through blockades or dodging petty pirates.

He dodged left, down, down again, up, did a sharp U-turn to avoid colliding with an errant alliance fighter, then swerved about to continue heading for the station. The fighter suddenly blew up, scattering about in a burst of heat on Gaylen’s sensors. Except there had been no incoming blast from the fleets.

An instinctual, wild dip was all that saved the Addax from a blast that seemed to come out of nowhere. Another fighter close to the station was hit, as was the thruster of a frigate further back in the ever-more divided fleet. Gaylen sent the ship up into an equally wild shift, and another shot missed.

He set the sensors to shorter range and more precision, and coupled with the heat from the shots he now picked up the enemy. It was a little autoship: No pilot or life support system; just a gun, some thrusters and a simple computer. And in this case a potent cooling system as well, allowing for surprise attacks.

Herdis took a shot and hit, but the autoship stayed on course and fired again. A pilot would probably have disengaged, especially since the surrounding fleet was becoming more aware of them. But the problem with mass-produced autoships was that they didn’t have a pilot’s self-preservation instincts, and were known to fly right into a killshot if it meant landing one in turn.

That latest shot scored a glancing hit on the Addax’s side as Gaylen dodged. It was an ass-clenching moment, but the hull held.

Gaylen banked left to avoid the fourth shot, and just kept on banking, narrowly keeping their rear out of the ship’s firing line. It stayed on them, the firing line inching closer as the sharp turn sent the Addax into a shrinking circle within the chaotic battle raging before the station.

“I don’t have an angle,” Herdis said.

“I’ll give you one,” Gaylen replied, and waited for the right moment. There was an obvious way of getting out of this; tilting just enough for the pivot gun beneath the ship to be able to aim back at the pursuer. It would be the easiest shot, and provide a small profile in the process. And their window before the autoship could fire again was shrinking almost as fast as Gaylen could process it all.

He waited until the very last second, then did a sharp dive instead, ravaging everyone on board and straining the Addax terribly. The autoship fired at empty space and Gaylen flew beneath it. Herdis took her shot, and this time it worked. The ship split in two.

The good thing about those things was that they were predictable: They expected logic.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Nicely done,” he said absent-mindedly and set them towards the station again. There were hints of a new order being established in the battle, but a heavily armoured Authority ship with a massive pivot gun was leading a charge into a part of the alliance fleet, backed up by a following of smaller ships.

It was all coming in the general direction of Gaylen’s general path. He was about to make yet another shift when that giant main gun stopped, despite alliance ships being within range. Gaylen couldn’t see any significant battle damage on the heavy vessel and puzzled over this for a few moments, until the gun pivoted around and shot one of its accompanying Authority ships. He took it to be some catastrophic mistake, until the gun fired again, at another friendly ship.

“What?” Herdis said numbly.

“We can question good fortune later,” he said, as the bulk of Uktena Station spread out before them. “Now for the final run. Fredrak? Anything?”

“Still nothing, I’m afraid.”

“Then we better get creative.”

He could now make out station-side fighting. The Authority had managed to destroy several of Uktena’s mounted guns, enough to be able to land one of their ships up against an airlock without anyone being able to aim at them, then another vessel against that ship’s other airlock. They were sending forces into the station. Taking over the surviving station guns would make a significant difference to the battle, and both fleets knew it. A small force of Authority ships guarded their comrades, while a similarly small alliance force tried to swoop in to take out the vulnerable ships.

Not taking part in THAT, Gaylen thought, although the destroyed guns were a boon.

“Hold your fire unless they come after us,” he said to his gunner and moved dangerously close to the whole mess; just enough to slip into the cannon-free zone. It looked like one of the Authority ships might take a shot, but a well-timed assault by the alliance held their attention. Gaylen then swooped away from it all, just above the station’s hull, looking for a place to board.

He spotted something interesting; an overhanging section that had been added to the main hulk at some point in the station’s history, or rather the airlock beneath it. It was either for private use or minor commercial ships, and the Addax would narrowly fit through. It was just a matter of clearing the obstruction.

“We’re going in crude,” he said to Herdis. “Shoot that covering,” he went on as he slowed the ship.

The woman took careful aim and then fired without any objections. The covering wasn’t armour-grade, and yielded to even a small defence cannon. About half of it remained in place, flapping slightly until the energy was used up.

“Again?” she asked.

“No,” Gaylen replied. “We can use this.”

He manoeuvred the Addax very carefully nearer to the flap, then fired a magnetic cable into it. Then, with the battle still raging about, flashes of heat appearing on his sensors like bubbles rising to the surface of a drink, he hovered slightly onward, pulling the flap more open. Then, just as carefully, he went about and slid the Addax inside. He touched the ship down, then reeled in the cable enough to more-or-less close the flap.

With a bit of luck the Addax would now go unnoticed.

He landed on the floor, magnetically locking the struts in place, then extended the umbilical to seal around the inner airlock.

“Kiris, get on opening that,” he said through the comm, and the golden woman promptly hurried out of the engine room.

Gaylen released himself from the straps and bounded to his feet.

“Stay on the gun,” he said to Herdis, and the woman pivoted the weapon around to face the opening. “Just in case.”

He ran on Fredrak’s heels across the living room and down the stairs. Ayna, Kiris, Bers and Jaquan were already waiting for them. Ayna looked nervous. Bers gripped his axe with both hands and looked ready to fight a Kapadian dragon. The others looked a healthy middleground.

“As planned,” he said again, to Jaquan and Ayna as Kiris worked to break the lock. “Keep the airlock sealed unless you absolutely have to point a gun at someone to make them go away. And don’t contact us unless you have to.”

Jaquan nodded.

“Good luck,” the man said.

“Yeah,” Ayna said, letting out a nervous, slightly shaky breath. “Good luck. Bring back souvenirs.”

“I intend to,” Gaylen replied and hurried over to the airlock door. He recognised Kiris’s finishing finger movements over her breaker, and the device and the door made a simultaneous noise. The woman hit OPEN, and stale air blew into their faces. Clearly this place saw little to no use.

Perfect.

“Let’s go,” he said, and took the lead.