Page 49 of Rogue Starfighter

8

Priya

Home? How dare he use that word after last night?

The Wraith cleared the moon’s shadow under minimum power. Ahead, the transit lane command had marked safe looked empty. Black space. No orbital traffic. No active sensors. No scans. No drones.

Vesh’s display flashed red. Three Scythe interceptors powered up directly in front of us. They had been sitting dark in the exact lane we were assigned to use, weapons charged and pointed at us. Waiting. Like they fucking knew we were coming.

“Contact!” Vesh snapped. “Three interceptors. Weapons hot.”

“I see them.”

“They were not on passive sensors.”

“Because they were waiting for us.”

The lead Scythe fired. I rolled the Wraith hard enough to slam my shoulder against the harness. White energy ripped past the canopy where my head had been. The second interceptor split high. The third dropped below our flight plane and held there. “Third one’s waiting to cut off our escape.”

“Yes. Break left.”

I broke right. The Scythe interceptor above us fired into empty space.

“You ignored me,” Vesh said.

I had. But I had a good reason. "Three ships, one target. High ship pushes us low. You told me to go left because it was the logical route. They knew that, too.”

The Wraith was not built for battle. She was fast, nearly invisible, and lightly armed. None of that would save us once the enemy could see us. The three Scythes spread out and boxed us in with the moon at our back. Vesh’s hands moved over the sensor station. “Lead ship is painting us. Missile lock in four seconds.”

“Countermeasures?”

“Limited.”

“That’s not a number.”

“Two bursts.”

“Save them.”

“Missile lock in two.”

I drove straight at the lead interceptor. Vesh did not question me. He transferred the forward camera to my display and shifted our remaining weapon to manual control. The Scythe grew from a point of red light to a black wedge filling half the canopy.

“Priya.”

“Not yet.”

“One second.”

The interceptor fired.

“Now.”

Vesh released one countermeasure burst as I rolled beneath the missile, dodging the attack. The projectile followed the false signal and curved across our stern. I yanked the Wraith vertical. The lead Scythe flashed past beneath us. Its own missile struck the ship coming down from high position. The explosion filled the tactical display.

“One damaged,” Vesh said. “Still flying.”

“Rude.”