“What do you think you’re doing?” cried Erica jumping to her feet. “You didn’t clear this with us.”

“Wasn’t enough time,” answered Frank never taking his eyes off Will and Debra. “Didn’t think much about it when I heard about the reward, then lo and behold look who shows up. I’m not about to throw away a half million credits.”

“But Debra’s a friend,” declared Ned, in a surprisingly firm voice.

“Former friend,” corrected Frank. “Haven’t seen her in years and she suddenly shows up wanting us to help her.”

“Former friend is right,” furiously snapped Debra. “And for your information I wasn’t expecting you to help us out of the goodness of your heart. We intended to pay.”

“How much?” asked Frank.

“What would you say if we matched the half million?” she answered.

“I think that’s a good deal,” suggested Ned in a soft voice.

Frank looked over at Erica who’d sat back down. “What do you think?”

She looked over at Will and gave him a smile. “For old time’s sake, I’d be willing.”

Frank sat there thinking for a moment a slight smile playing across his face. The little voice in the back of Will’s head told him not to trust him. He agreed. He tilted his head towards Debra and gave her a quick wink. She gave a faint nod.

“Now wait a minute,” Will interjected angrily. “Half that money’s mine. I never agreed to pay all of it.” He glared at Debra. “You told me it would be three hundred thousand, tops.”

“Hey,” shot back Debra, her eyes blazing. “I had no idea there was a reward out for us or that my so-called friends would double-cross us.”

“That’s another thing,” cried Will. “You told me we could trust them. That makes you oh for two.” He cast a furtive glance around them. Ned and Erica were just staring at them, while Frank still held the blaster on them.

“That’s their fault, not mine,” she shouted back. “Besides what good does money do you if you’re spending life in prison?”

Frank’s expression still hadn’t changed. Will knew he needed to up his game. He laughed angrily. “You’re right. I may be locked up for life, but at least I’ll be alive. After all I’m not a deserter.”

“How dare you,” cried Debra jumping up from her chair and slapping Will across the face.

Will roared in pain and jumped to his feet. He shoved Debra back against the desk. Feeling around, her hand found a glass paperweight and she flung it just over Will’s head. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Erica getting up.

Frank had gotten to his feet and was waving the blaster. “Stop it you two or I’ll blast the both of you,” he cried, confusion in his voice.

As Debra picked up a vase from the desk, Will stepped in front of Erica, knocking her to the ground. “Sorry,” he cried as Debra hurled the vase at his head. Ducking down, he grabbed the legs of his chair and in a single motion swung it back up over the desk into Frank’s stomach.

He gave a shout of pain and fell back into his chair. The blasted fell from his hand and clattered on the desk. Debra grabbed it and moved over to the side of the desk away from everyone. “No one move,” she cried brandishing the blaster.

Will went over and stood beside her while Erica slowly got to her feet. Ned who hadn’t moved, remained where he was, but Will was sure he’d seen him smile. Meanwhile, Frank was bent over in his chair wheezing as he tried to recover from having the wind knocked out of him.

“Okay,” said Debra, breathing heavily. “We’re just going to leave and don’t want any trouble. However, just in case anyone gets any bright ideas.” She flipped a switch on the blaster and fired at the intercom on the desk which burst into flames.

The two of them backed up with Debra continuing to hold the blaster on her former partners. As they reached the elevator, Will pushed the button and the door immediately opened.

“By the way, Erica,” called Debra as they stepped inside and the door started closing. “Will’s mine.”

“You didn’t have to say that,” said Will as the elevator descended.

Debra smiled and rubbed his back. “Of course I did. I promised you I’d tell her that.”

As the elevator door opened to the lobby, Will gestured at the elevator controls. “Might want to take care of those,” he suggested.

Debra nodded and fired a quick blast into them causing them to spark and sizzle. She shoved the blaster into her belt before she and Will walked calmly out of the elevator. Looking around, there was an exit which led outside, but since they had no idea how to get to their ship, they went over to the transport tube and got in line. However, both of them continually scanned the area for any sign of security officers.

There was only one person left in front of them when they saw two uniformed officers step off one of the elevators. Each had a holster holding a blaster and one held a tablet which both officers looked at as they scanned the lobby. The person in front of them was a young man in a suit and tie holding a briefcase. He tapped his foot impatiently as he continually looked at his watch.

Debra tapped his shoulder. “Excuse me, sir. Might we go ahead of you? We’ve got a very important meeting.”

He barely looked at her as he answered harshly. “Not my problem, lady.”

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

The door to the transport opened. “Unfortunately, I really must insist,” demanded Debra as she stuck her blaster in his back. He gulped and stepped aside allowing Will and Debra to rush past him into the transport. “Sorry,” called Will as the door closed, “but you know how cutthroat business can be.”

They sat there in silence as Will looked over the compartment. “Doesn’t look like there’s any other way out,” he said after a minute or so.

Debra pulled out the blaster and handed it to Will. “If security’s waiting for us, I’ll try and distract them.”

He double checked the blaster setting. “Hopefully I won’t need to use it.”

The car began to slow down and finally stopped. The door slid open revealing several people waiting to get in, but no officers. Will and Debra got out and joined the crowd of people moving towards the exit. It looked like they were in the clear.

“Look, Will,” whispered Debra as they got closer to the exit. He followed her gaze and saw officers by each of the doors taking a look at people as they went by. “I’ve got an idea,” she whispered. “Get ready to run for the door.” Before Will could stop her, she headed back into the crowd away from the doors.

He continued moving towards the doors waiting for whatever Debra was going to do. Suddenly there was a scream from somewhere back in the crowd. “Help,” cried a woman’s voice. “He’s got a blaster.”

At the cry the crowd surged forward people pushing to get out of the doors. The officers did their best to fight their way back into the building towards the source of the scream. One of them must have passed within five feet of Will, but was too busy trying to get through the crowd to notice him.

Within a few minutes, the rush of the crowd had gotten Will outside. Most of the crowd hurried away from the building while some hung back, their curiosity overriding their fear. Will worked his way into one of these groups and watched for Debra. The minutes passed and still she didn’t appear. He was on the verge of heading back in to find her when at last she pushed her way through the door, nearly falling as others tried to get past her.

Will first impulse was to wave and call to her, but the last thing they needed to do was draw attention to themselves. He worked his way out of the knot of people he’d been standing in and headed towards Debra. He soon lost her in the crowd, but made his way towards the group of people she'd been with when she came out.

As he walked, he suddenly heard Debra’s voice call. “To your left.”

Looking to his left, he saw her about ten feet away. He made his way over. “Quite a distraction,” he whispered proudly when he reached her.

“Learned it from you,” she whispered back. “These guys just can’t help wanting to be the hero.”

Will smiled. Yeah, that’d been him all right. “Let’s get to the ship and get out of here.”

There were still many people moving away from the transport building, but as they drew closer to their ship people began turning off in different directions and after a while they were alone. They started walking more quickly while keeping a careful lookout, but saw no more security officers.

They were about fifty feet away from the ship, when the whine of a hoverjet could be heard. Looking up, they saw it heading for them. “Stay where you are,” broadcast a voice from the hoverjet. “You are under arrest for assault.”

“Run,” cried Will.

They both took off for the ship. As soon as they began running, blaster fire began raining down on them. “Arrgh,” cried Debra as a blaster pulse hit her in the back and she fell to the ground. Will ducked down and spun out of the way as the blaster fire hit the ground around him.

As soon as the firing stopped, he flipped the blaster to its maximum setting and got up on one knee. Holding the blaster out in front of him with two hands he fired at the hoverjet. One of its engines burst into flames and it began spiraling as it headed for the ground. Rushing over, he threw Debra over his shoulder and ran for the ship.

He punched in the access code and the door opened. Putting Debra down in her seat, he strapped her in. He then jumped into his own seat and after strapping himself in began flipping switches. The ship’s engine sprung to life and they lifted off.

“This is Preltis Three security,” blared over the radio. “You are ordered to land immediately or we will have no choice but to take offensive action against you.”

“Bring it on,” muttered Will as he took the ship up into the atmosphere. He flipped on the tactical display and saw three ships leaving the surface. “Velton class fighters,” noted Will. “These guys aren’t messing around.”

Will knew his best chance was to engage them while still in the atmosphere since the fighters were built for space combat. He activated his shields and swung the ship around heading for the lead fighter. As soon as it was in range, he began firing. The fighter tried to move out of the way, but the aerodynamic drag slowed it down enough for Will to score several hits. As it turned away, he could see smoke trailing from its engine.

He turned the ship towards one of the other fighters which was heading towards him. The third fighter had now come around and was closing on Will’s ship from behind. He smiled and quickly started pushing buttons and flipping switches while keeping an eye on the tactical display.

Just as the two fighters were nearly close enough to start firing on him, Will pushed the final button. The ship’s retro rockets fired and the control surfaces on the fins went hard over. The ship immediately slowed and dropped in altitude. The two fighters began firing, but ended up firing at each other. They pulled up just in time to get out of each other’s line of fire. This gave Will his chance.

Turning off the retro rockets, he activated the auxiliary thrusters and commanded the fins to their maximum lift configuration. The ship accelerated and shot up into the atmosphere after the fighters. Coming up behind one of them, he began firing. It tried to evade, but in the atmosphere its maneuvers were sluggish and soon there was a flash as its engine exploded and its pilot ejected.

The remaining fighter had come back around and was heading for him. Knowing he had the advantage in weapon’s range and shields, Will maintained his course towards the fighter. The ship shook as the fighter scored several hits, but they had little impact on the ship’s shields. However, it only took a few plasma pulse impacts from Will’s ship to knock out the fighter’s weaker shields. It turned away.

Will immediately headed out into space and set course out of the Preltis system. Hearing a groan, he looked over and saw Debra opening her eyes and rubbing her head. Her face showed a moment of panic when she couldn’t get up, but then she saw Will and it went away.

“Welcome back,” he said cheerfully. “How are you doing?”

“Does getting knocked out by a blaster always cause such a headache?” she asked groggily.

“Yeah,” answered Will.

She looked around. “So what’d I miss?”

“Let’s see,” said Will rubbing his chin. “First there was a hoverjet and then three fighters. Now we’re on course out of the system.”

“What about …” cried Debra before she paused and rubbed her head. She continued in a softer voice. “What about the money we hid?”

“I’m afraid that’ll have to wait for another time. I’m sure they’re still tracking us.”

Will turned on the autopilot and unstrapped himself. “Let’s see about taking care of that headache,” he said while getting up.

He came back a minute later holding a medikit. “Do I need to undress?” asked Debra giving him a smile.

“No,” he answered with a smirk. He pulled out a tube and pressed it against her neck and there was a small hiss. “Better?”

She twisted her head and shook it gently. “Yes, the headache’s gone.”

Will took back the medikit and was soon strapping himself back into his seat.

“So where are we going?” asked Debra.

“Celentus, I guess,” suggested Will sounding discouraged. “With a reward put out on us, I don’t know where else we can go.”

Debra nodded. “Yeah, all my old contacts wouldn’t think twice about giving us up for a half million credits.”

Will sat there quietly for a few minutes. “It looks like if we’re going to get to Grandle, we’ll have to find a way to do it on our own.”