The two ships rapidly approached the defensive shield covering Lord Lestron’s estate. “It’ll be a tight fit,” he told Debra, “so keep the yacht right behind us.”

Debra nodded and with a few adjustments quickly had the yacht only a few hundred feet behind Will’s ship. Will glanced up at the tactical display. “The cruisers have detected us and are on their way.”

Will took the tablet Lord Lestron had given him and pressed a button. “Shields are down.”

As soon as the two ships were through, Will reactivated the shields.

“The shuttles are moving off, but the cruisers are following,” reported Debra.

“Good,” said Will with a quick nod. “Now let’s lead them away from here so we can get more room to maneuver.” He pulled back on the control stick and they were pushed back into their seats as the ship accelerated into space. Debra mimicked Will’s command and the yacht was soon alongside Will’s ship. The cruisers matched their maneuvers and speed. Once in space, Will and Debra activated the shields on the two ships.

“Keep an eye out for any other ships,” ordered Will having learned his lesson from their encounter with the Ormecrans.

“Sensors only show the two cruisers.”

“Okay,” said Will after about fifteen minutes. “Let’s see what how they react when the ships split up. I’ll take the ship right and you take the yacht left.”

“Got it.”

“Now,” cried Will as he pulled the control stick to the right and Debra pulled hers to the left. The two ships turned sharply and were soon moving away from one another. The cruisers ignored the yacht and maintained their pursuit of Will’s ship.

Will smiled. “Just what I expected.” He look over Debra. “Now bring the yacht around and follow the cruisers.”

“I’ll never catch them,” said Debra.

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” answered Will with a slight twinkle in his eye.

She’d seen that look before and knew she’d soon be upside down or hanging sideways in her chair. Will began flipping switches and pushed a button as he yanked the control stick hard to the left. The forward and aft reaction control thruster fired spinning the ship around. As it spun, Will pushed the control stick forward and to the right. It took all of her concentration for Debra to maintain control of the yacht as Will's maneuver bounced her around on the chair. The ship was now heading right for the cruisers.

Will immediately began evasive maneuvers and held his finger over the weapons control so he could begin firing as soon as the ships were in range. Will and the two cruisers began firing simultaneously. Will swirled and rotated his ship to avoid their fire, but several blasts hit their mark. “Shields at eighty percent,” reported Debra. However, he was also able to score several hits on one the cruisers.

“Minimal damage,” called Debra as she scanned the ship.

In spite of the damage his ship was receiving, Will continued his approach to the two cruisers. During the attack the cruisers had to slow down which allowed the yacht to gain on them. Will looked up at the tactical display and smiled.

The ship took several more hits, but both cruisers also suffered damage, but not as severe as the damage to Will’s ship.

“Shields down to forty percent. Minor damage to engines.”

“Get ready,” warned Will.

The yacht was now getting close enough that the cruisers began to consider it a threat. One of the cruisers broke off from Will’s ship and set off to intercept the yacht.

“Evade best you can,” called Will. “I need you to get the yacht close to that cruiser.”

Suddenly Debra understood what Will had in mind. “Don’t worry,” she answered. “I’ll get it there.”

Will fired the forward control thrusters forcing the ship of the nose down. Debra felt as if her stomach was in her throat as her seat seemed to fall out from under her. However, she fought to concentrate on the yacht controls as the cruiser had begun to fire on it.

Although the yacht had been built for luxury and comfort, it was surprisingly maneuverable. However, she wasn’t an expert flyer and the yacht was taking damage. Having transferred the energy from all the ship’s systems, except engines to shields was the only reason it hadn’t yet been destroyed.

“Almost close enough,” called Debra. The yacht’s reactor was already nearing critical so it wouldn’t take much to overload it. “Now,” she cried, sending the overload command. The cruiser tried moving away, but was too late as the blast wave slammed into it.

“Cruiser’s shields and engines are down,” excitedly reported Debra.

Will merely nodded as the other cruiser had finally adjusted its course and was once again in pursuit of their ship. However, due to the damage suffered by the ship’s engines, the cruiser was slowly gaining on them. With his shields down to forty percent, he couldn’t risk another close encounter with the cruiser. He turned the ship back towards Thadeus Seven. He had an idea, but he didn’t like it.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The cruiser was still out of range as they approached the planet. The five shuttles were still in orbit waiting for the cruisers to return. Will set course towards them. The shuttles were just ship to surface transports so they didn’t have weapons or shields. As they drew near them, Will began flipping switches to set the plasma blasters to minimum power.

The shuttles scattered as Will’s ship approached, but they weren’t designed for speed and Will had little trouble catching up with them. Moving from shuttle to shuttle, he painstakingly fired a single plasma blast at each of the shuttle engines.

By the time the cruiser was in weapons range, three of the five shuttles were disabled. Knowing that would be enough to require the cruiser’s assistance, he broke orbit and headed back into space.

“Any casualties?” he asked in a low voice.

“No.”

Will breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s get out of here.”

Setting a course out of the system, Thadeus Seven was soon behind them, the cruiser remaining behind to retrieve the crews of the damaged shuttles.

Once out of the system, Will set course for Celentus since it was the only place they knew they’d be safe. After engaging the auto pilot, he leaned back and closed his eyes. “I never thought I’d do something like that,” said in a distressed tone. “I’m supposed to protect people, not use them to protect myself.”

“It’s not like you had a choice,” argued Debra. “They attacked us. We have a right to defend ourselves.” Her voice grew angry as she continued. “If anyone’s to blame, it’s Grandle.”

Will nodded. “I know you’re right. Until he’s no longer in power, we’ll always be on the run.”

“Then we should find a way to remove him from power,” said Debra, her anger still present.

Will gave a grim chuckle. “Unfortunately, I think that would take more than just the two of us to accomplish.”

The two of them just sat there for a while.

“And how did they find us anyway?” asked Debra breaking the silence.

Will considered the question. “Sensors didn’t show any ships following us and we didn’t tell anyone we were heading for Thadeus Seven.”

“Could they have figured out from our heading when the Ormecrans attacked us?”

Will shook his head. “We passed near several other systems before reaching Thadeus Seven so I don’t think so.”

Will suddenly sat up. “It can only be one thing,” he said. “The Ormecrans must have installed some sort of tracking device on the ship.”

“I knew we couldn’t trust them,” declared Debra in a furious tone. “And they certainly had access to the ship.”

Will leaned forward and began modifying the sensors. “The tracking devices I’m familiar with use ultra-high frequency transmissions. They have a greater range and are difficult to detect if you’re not looking for them.”

He pushed a button and looked at the sensor display. He just shook his head. “I should have figured they’d do something like this,” he muttered.

“It’s okay,” said Debra, reaching over and patting his arm. “We know now and can get rid of it. Where is it?”

“Sensors can’t pinpoint its location.”

Debra handed him a scanner. “Then let’s go find it.”

The two of them headed down the ladder to the engine room at the bottom of the ship. Both were breathing heavily by the time they got there. Debra put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. “This place needs an elevator,” she said when she could talk.”

“Wasn’t in the budget,” answered Will.

Each of them took their scanners and began working their way around the room. The opened all the equipment and control panel cover, lockers and anywhere else a transmitter could be hidden, but found nothing. They moved up to weapons and shield control and did the same thing. Again, they found nothing.

They finally reached the level where the crew quarters were located. “Could it be mounted on the outside of the ship?” gasped Debra.

“Not likely,” answered Will. “Not as easy to hide and a greater likelihood of it being damaged.”

They each went into their quarters and began scanning. “Will,” cried Debra. “I think I’ve found it.”

He hurried over. She stood in front of her closet door and was looking down at the metal case which the Ormecrans had used to deliver their belonging from the ship. “Oh, very clever,” declared Will with a hint of admiration in his voice. “They arranged it so we brought the tracking device on board ourselves.”

“I’m sure Velin was behind this,” snarled Debra bending down to pick it up. “Let’s toss it out the airlock.”

Will put a hand on her shoulder. “Wait. I’ve got a better idea. Why not use this to send the Earth ships on a wild goose chase.”

Debra stood up and smiled. “I like that.”

They went back up to the control room where Will brought up the star charts. He pointed at asteroid field a few hours away. “I think this would be a fine spot to leave the transmitter.”

In a few hours, Will activated the shields and slowed the ship as they entered the asteroid field. The material in it varied in size from small pebbles to asteroids the size of small moons. Debra began scanning for an asteroid they could land on.

Will swerved the ship around the larger bodies and the shields sparked as smaller particles impacted them. Finally, Debra found them an asteroid that was large enough and stable enough for them to land on.

“Dead ahead about three hundred miles,” she instructed Will

“Got it.”

They circled the asteroid using the ship’s lights to find a flat area large enough for them to land on. Once they found a suitable site, Will gently brought the ship down and it settled into the rocky gravel which covered much of the asteroid’s surface.

Will and Debra took the metal case down to the cargo bay where he put on a spacesuit and jetpack. Once Debra was out of the cargo bay, he depressurized it and opened the cargo bay door. Picking up the case he stepped out the doors. Due to the low gravity, he barely had to fire his jetpack as he slowly floated to the ground.

The ship’s lights flooded the area and he quickly found a small ledge and slid the case beneath it. He slid a few larger rocks in front of it to protect the case and to keep it out of sight. Finishing, he headed back over the ship and using the jetpack flew to the cargo bay door. After closing it, he pressurized the cargo bay and removed the spacesuit.

Within ten minutes, they’d lifted off and were slowly making their way out of the asteroid field. Once clear, they resumed their course for Celentus.

“So what happens now?” wondered Debra. “Do we just stay on Celentus and hope Grandle gets tired of looking for us?”

“Well Celentus is a beautiful planet and King Raphul would give us everything we could ever want,” suggested Will.

“Hey,” scolded Debra. “Now you’re starting to sound like me. You’d be bored to tears and you know it.”

Will laughed. “You really do know me, don’t you?”

Debra reached a hand over and rubbed his arm. Not as well as I’d like,” she said sweetly. “After all, you did promise me a vacation on Halsned.”

He looked over at her and smiled. “Well, I always try to keep my word. I guess that means we’ll just have to figure out a way to make that happen.”