1. Operating an illegally modified spacecraft.
2. Exceeding safe speed in a heavy traffic zone.
3. Unsafe manoeuvres.
4. Threat to other spacecraft.
5. Refusal to comply with an official order by orbital control.
6. Resisting arrest.
-List of charges placed against Kei and Yuri (Ages 17 and 16)
by the Mezuiliuan space police. Dropped due offenders' ages and the
crashing of all computer files related to the case.
Tamikia leaned back in her grav chair, it bobbed slightly before the effect fields compensated. Her gaze rested on one of the several monitors that covered her desk. She reached forward and tapped the screen of one to get a printout. The printer began to hum softly.
"Tanis," she called out. "Get in touch with my tax lawyers. I need to know what the UG capital gains tax will cost me if I take over the entire industrial capability of Gelves World and if there are any loopholes. Oh and start some tea."
"Yes ma'am," the computer answered in its soft contralto, voice.
"Have one of my hackers get into Manson's account and remove the money he's been embezzling. Once that is done report him to the proper authorities. If he manages to get away have a price put on his head. Dead or alive, preferably dead, mangled in fact."
"How much should the price be?"
"Half the interest the embezzled funds have earned, that should be enough."
"Yes ma'am," the computer said.
"That's all."
She looked at the other monitors on her desk, tapped a few keys, and then shrugged her shoulders. There was nothing else that really needed her personal attention. She would have the computer check the accounts for Ty Tech and that cleared her workload for the next several hours.
She spun her chair around and stared out the large, tinted, picture window that took up the entire outside wall of her office.
Yuri, Kei and Mughi were out on the lawn with her daughters. The two trouble consultants had been up since very early in the morning, Tamikia wondered if they had even slept. They had checked the house, looking for anything suspicious, attics to sub-basements, quite a bit of work.
Then they had put subcutaneous transmitters into her daughters and herself at breakfast. Tamikia rubbed at her arm, the pain had long since faded but she did not like the idea of having a transmitter inside her.
After that the trouble consultants had left to check out the perimeter defence and security. Her security commanders had sent in reports praising the two. If she did not count Kei breaking the arm of one of the guards, they had handled themselves very well. It made her feel better.
They were wearing those revealing uniforms however and she could not help remembering Pell's earlier comment about them corrupting her children. She pushed the thoughts away, also remembering what she had told him. At least they're probably cool she thought.
"Now if you do end up going to a university one of the first things you're going to want to do is find the clique that is the most popular," Kei told Catherine. She was lying on a bench under a large tree, its canopy providing shade from the late morning sun. She reached down, pulled a blade of grass from the lawn and began chewing on it.
"And then I become friends with them?" Catherine was sitting beside Kei.
"No. You destroy them. Then, when they are scattered and broken, you rebuild them around you. That way you're the alpha. You make friends with them and you're always the outsider that they invited in." Kei took the blade of grass from her mouth. "Make sure you have a friend you can trust to watch your back and you should be fine. It's great fun."
"I don't get it."
"It sounds confusing, and to be honest, a little cruel, at first, but once you get into the flow of things it will make a lot of sense. Or at least it did to me."
"What did Yuri think about all this?"
"Who do you think explained it all to me? Oh granted she looks innocent enough but she's been known to tamper with brakes and put a person's credit rating in the toilet. Quiet yes, but not harmless."
"Do you have any other suggestions?" Catherine asked. Her tone of voice suggested she was not really certain if she wanted to hear them.
"It wouldn't hurt to have your mother buy you a nice car maybe a yacht with a good fold drive. Being able to make a trip to another system is always a good way to make people very jealous of you."
"That's important, making people jealous?"
"No, but it is good for laughs. Remember school only happens once."
"I want to say that it sounds terrible, but it all makes a certain kind of sense."
"Welcome to the human race."
Yuri sat on the lawn, her back up against a sleeping Mughi. Susanne was also using the cat as cushion. She did not seem alarmed by him, not like her sister.
Yuri listened to the five-year-old's triad as she picked shapes out of the clouds. Yuri found herself being reminded of the imaginary worlds one could see in the soft billowy clouds. Susanne had an excellent imagination and was not ashamed to let it run wild.
Yuri was brought out of the quiet reverie by the soft beeping from her left earring. She reached up and brushed her hand across it to activate the comlink. She answered the call quietly as not to disturb Susanne.
It was the shipyards calling to tell her that the refit on the Angel had been completed and they could pick it up. She thanked the caller, signed off, and then called Tamikia.
The buzz of the phone on her desk took Tamikia's attention from what was going on outside. She turned and placed a hand on the speaker, activating it.
"Yes," she said.
"Tamikia, this is Yuri." Tamikia was slightly surprised to be getting a call from Yuri when they were only about twenty meters away from each other.
"What can I do for you?"
"I got a call from the ship yards and the Lovely Angel's refit is complete. I'd like to bring it back here so we can use it if necessary. Would it be a problem if Kei or myself went and got it?"
"I think that maybe you should both go," she told Yuri.
"Pardon?"
"We might be able to draw out an attack if you both leave."
"I don't think that is a good idea," Yuri told her.
"The mansion is probably one of the most secure places there is. As soon as you leave I'll take the kids and we'll go into lockdown mode. Even if something happens we'll be safe. We might be able to get someone for you and Kei to question."
"I'm not entirely certain." There was obvious doubt in Yuri's tone.
"You can't stay here forever." Tamikia was not entirely certain of the course of action she was suggesting, but she had spent a good part of her life taking chances and making them succeed. She would go with what she knew worked. "I agree it's a risky choice, but I think the possible rewards merit it."
For a few seconds Yuri said nothing. "Okay, we'll try it. And you go into lockdown mode as soon as we leave."
"I promise."
"Okay. We'll be back soon."
"Good. You can take whatever vehicle you want from my garage."
Yuri shut her com off. She was wary about Tamikia's plan. It was not that Kei and herself had not come up with plans that involved even greater risk, but, she thought, looking down at Susanne, she would have thought that Tamikia would be wary about such risks.
Of course she was right. She and Kei and improved the security of the mansion, which had been impressive before. She and Kei leaving would be a good feint.
"Susanne, I want you to go and see your mother now," Yuri said as she stood. "Come on Mughi." She tapped his side with the toe of her boot. He woke but waited until Susanne was no longer leaning on him before getting to his feet.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"To get my ship. I'll give you a ride when we get back." Yuri knelt so she was almost eye level with the five year old.
"Promise?" Susanne asked.
"Promise." Yuri reached out to straighten one of the bows in Susanne's hair and then sent her running towards the house with a pat on her back. She then stood and strode across the lawn to Kei.
"Come on Kei, we're going to pick up the Angel."
"Doesn't Tamikia want one of us to stay?" Kei asked.
"No. I guess we did a good job of securing the place." She made a quick gesture with her hand, a signal that said, 'more information later'.
"Nice of her. Catherine we'll continue the conversation when I get back." Kei stood.
"Sure." Catherine said.
"Catherine, I think your mother wants to talk to you."
"Okay," Catherine said. She got up and started towards the house.
"What's up?" Kei asked as soon at Catherine was out of earshot. She got up from the bench.
"Tamikia wants to pull a feint, see if she can draw out an attack." Yuri turned and started towards the garage.
"Gutsy move."
"I suppose. Possibly stupid."
"Not stupid, but maybe premature. We would have been suggesting something like this in a few days."
Yuri nodded. "Are you filling that poor girl's head with bad advice?" Yuri asked changing the subject.
"And what would you consider good advice. Lock yourself in a room and study every single hour of the day? I'm telling her how to enjoy her self."
"Did you tell her to find a friend who could hack into the school's files and change her marks?"
"You never did that," Kei said.
"Do you actually think you graduated on the basis of your scholastic merit?" Yuri asked lightly.
"Where do you want me to send your body?" Kei smiled. Always a bad sign with that tone of voice Yuri knew.
"Kei, your shoes are untied." Yuri said. Kei looked down. Why she could never be sure. Only Yuri could get her to fall for a line like that. Yuri took full advantage of it and swept Kei's feet. Then she sprinted towards the entrance of the underground garage, Mughi at her heels.
"You little..." Kei yelled as she got to her feet and ran after Yuri.
Kei was planning on various types of revenge against Yuri. Nothing excessive of course, just enough to let her friend know that she, Yuri, had pushed things a little too far. It was good for Yuri to be reminded that such limits existed, Kei thought.
She followed Yuri into the garage, a huge, underground pace where a fleet of various vehicles were stored. Yuri has stopped at the bottom of the stairs, standing near one of the many sports cars
Just before Kei could lay hands on her Yuri said, smiling, "Tamikia said we could take what ever we want."
Kei stopped short, just in front of Yuri. She looked around the huge garage, remembering all the vehicles she had seen there during an earlier security sweep. She whistled appreciatively and then said. "I'm still going to hurt you Yuri," she said as she walked off between a pair of APCs. "You just won't know when it comes."
"Promises, promises," Kei heard Yuri call out.
The place was incredible to the point of being ridiculous. Kei wondered if Tamikia had actually decided on the set up or if some architect had decided if for her. There were so many damn vehicles in the place. Had that been a conscious choice of Tamikia's, or. Like the arms locker in the house, was if just a side effect of owning so many companies?
Kei decided it really did not matter as she went in search of the perfect vehicle.
Kei stopped beside a battle tank. It had large, armoured smart-wheels, and had a rounded, almost organic shape. At the moment it was a neutral grey in colour, but Kei was certain that was just the chameleon field was just inactive. "How about a tank?" Kei yelled off towards the direction she thought Yuri was.
"Can't parallel park a tank," Yuri yelled back.
"You probably can't," Kei said softly as she continued on, looking for something else.
Not far from the tank she found what she was looking for. It was a black sports car. It was low, streamlined and looked like it would cut through the air like monofilament.
Now this is what I was thinking of, Kei thought, running her fingers across the smooth, cool surface. The surface was like ice in that it offered little resistance to her fingers. Frictionless. She reached down and opened the door. The new car smell wafted out at her.
As she slid into the leather seat tiny actuators adjusted cushions, providing her with a very comfortable place from which to drive the car. The fittings inside the war were polished aluminium and dark wood. She grasped the leather steering wheel in her hands. "Oh baby," she said. "Yuri! Come here."
It was a few seconds before Yuri, Mughi at her heels, came around the tank and walked up to the car. "This is rather pretty."
Kei smiled up at her. "Be dear and fetch the keys for this. I'm going to ride her hard and put her away wet."
"What a pleasant turn of words Kei. Why don't you get the keys?"
"The moment I leave this darling I know you'll be sliding your unworthy butt into my seat."
"Unworthy?"
"Skanky?"
"Let's stick with unworthy."
"Shoo," Kei said, making 'go away' gestures with her hands. "Go and get those keys."
"Fine," she said. "Mughi, stay here. Make sure Kei does not do anything too etchi." She walked away.
Kei looked at Mughi. Mughi looked back at her. "What?" Kei asked.
A short time later Yuri returned. She tossed the keys to the Kei. "There you go." She walked around to the passenger door.
"Any problem getting them?"
Yuri opened the door and let Mughi jump into the small, back seat. "Not really. The woman in charge of the motor pool seemed a little wary." She pushed the seat back and then slid into the seat. "Comfy," she said a moment later.
"Aren't they? So, what about the lady in charge?"
"She did not think we should take this. One of a kind prototype. Never been driven. That sort of crap. I told her that we would break it in for her." She closed the car door.
"And did that make her feel better?"
"Strangely enough, no."
"Too bad for her," Kei said as she slid the key into the security jack on the dashboard. The instruments lights flickered and then came on steady. Kei put the car in gear and slowly pulled away from the other vehicles.
"Has its own fusion generator," Yuri commented from her seat.
"The better for me to drive it with my dear," Kei said.
"Traditionally I should probably be saying that to you."
"You know what I think about tradition," Kei said, and punched the accelerator. The electric motors driving each of the wheels winded. The smart tires flattened themselves out, greatly increasing the amount of tire surface on the ground. Kei twisted the wheel and the car spun neatly out between a stretch limousine and a bunch of racing bikes.
Members of staff were looking on. Most of them had looks of horror on their faces.
Kei did not care. "Road trip," she shouted as she took her foot from the accelerator, brining the car back under her control. She lined it up with the far of patch of sunlight streaming through the garage's exit. Putting her foot down the car leapt forward. The acceleration pushed her back into her seat.
I'm in love, Kei thought.
The car was stopped at the west gate of the inner shield wall. The commander of the gate contingent nodded as he recognized them.
"Off to town ladies?" he asked as he triggered the gate to open.
"Don't wait up," Kei said with a smile and then, put her foot down on the accelerator, the car leaping forward. She turned the wheel sharply and passed through the half open gate.
"You almost ruined the paint job," Yuri said.
"Never," Kei told her. She looked about as she drive towards the outer wall. "We got dormant warbeasts in the woods around here, right?"
"Yes."
"Those things take forever to get back up to speed. I didn't cover it in the notes Tamikia gave us. How did she deal with the lag?"
"Extra adrenal and endocrine glands, as well as a symbiotic bacteria that produce stimulants and other nasty drugs. They can be functional within ten seconds of activation and fully operable in forty," Yuri told her.
"With all those drugs they can't be too stable."
"Probably not. Oh yeah," Yuri said, remembering another important piece of information, "each is fitted with a laser cannon."
"Tamikia is certainly pushing the bounds of legality isn't she?"
"It's the golden rule, she who has the gold makes the rules. Anyway it's not that bad. Each has a cortex bomb set to go off if they leave the area between the shield walls. If one goes rouge, nothing embarrassing will happen; unless you happen to be within the shield walls. And then, well, one might argue that you were too stupid to be allowed to live."
"Very nasty."
"Me or Tamikia?"
"Both of you."
Another contingent of guards patrolled the outer gate wall. As soon as they passed through it they were off of Tamikia's property and on the open road.
"I like these newly settled and sparsely populated planets," Kei said as she accelerated up to 200KPH, "they don't bother with barbaric little things like speed limits."
Yuri leaned over and turned the car's information screen so she could see it. She brought up the features menu and then drilled down to the stats on the wheel motors.
"You'll like this," Yuri said as she began to enter commands via the screen touch interface.
"What?" Kei asked.
"Just a moment."
The car shook slightly as the forward bumper reconfigured itself into an air dam and the rear shifted to form a spoiler.
"What are you playing at Yuri?" Kei asked her.
"Motors are only producing sixty percent of their potential, safe output. Ready for a hundred?"
"Bring it," Kei said with a laugh.
Yuri did.
The car shifted about, almost as if it were a live thing. It dropped slightly as the smart wheel spread out, and then it leapt forward, rising as the wheels narrowed to reduce friction.
"Yes!" Kei shouted. They hit a steep incline and climbed rapidly out of a valley, onto the windswept lands above. The car rocked as a cross wind caught it, but Kei kept it under control.
"Decent ride," Yuri said, doing her best to maintain a blasé tone of voice. In truth she was a little worried.
"You said, safe output?"
"Yes"
"Do they have an unsafe output?"
"I'm not really sure that is a good idea."
"Is little Yuri scared?" Kei asked in a sugary, condescending tone. "Scared of the big, fast car?"
"You're an idiot Kei." She reached for the screen. She was not going to take that sort of crap from Kei. "Okay, we can overpower them for a ninety seven percent increase in performance, but that is going to require special coolants, which we only have a limited amount of."
The car shook again as more control surfaces unfolded from the body.
"How long?"
"Long enough for you to get us to the shipyards hotshot, if you got the guts to really push it." Yuri did not know why she was goading Kei. No, that was not true. She knew exactly why she was goading Kei. What she did not know was why she was bothering to do it.
"Just watch me," Kei said, shifting low in her seat, getting ready for the acceleration.
"Your choice red." Yuri entered the commands.
The car almost left the road as it surged forward.
They dropped the car off at a high-security parking lot just outside the spaceport. Kei had come close to riding it all the way there but a few kilometres short of the goal Yuri had cut the power back on the motors. Had she not done so it was likely that the motors would have burnt out. As it was the motors probably need a lot of maintenance.
A moving sidewalk took them from the public space sport into the shipyards. Mughi had his usual effect on people; the Angels found that they had a large clear space around them. They showed their identification to the security personnel and were allowed to enter.
The Lovely Angel had just been pulled out of the work hanger and it shone in the mid-day sun. They cycled the port hatch open and entered their ship.
"So what's new?" Kei asked as she started the pre-flight check.
"Let's see." Yuri picked up a binder full of freshly, printer paper from her seat.
"I like the new seats and a stereo in the cockpit was a nice idea." Kei increased the volume a few decibels.
"We have a new fusion reactor, a Hurricane mark two." Yuri said it like it was supposed to mean something to Kei. "An overall increase of thirty-six percent in available power."
"Useful."
"Here's something you'll like. Total replacement of the thrust system which means a whopping fifty-two percent increase in speed and a forty-five percent increase in acceleration."
Kei was impressed and laughed. "We can take her out on the racing circuit. What about manoeuvring?"
"Just a sec." Yuri flipped through the pages. "Ah here. They didn't do anything directly but the increase in power and speed translates into a sixteen percent jump in overall manoeuvring."
"Crucial. What about my suggestion for the warp drive."
"You don't really think that suggestion had a chance?"
"It might have."
"Okay I'll check." Yuri flipped through the pages. "Living quarters, environmental control, gravity control, weapons systems, ah here it is, warp drive. It says, and I quote, 'We apologize but at this time the inclusion of a Brock/Hogan gravity compensator is impossible.' End quote."
"Oh sure we've put are lives on the line to protect the entire galaxy and they won't even give us a lousy prototype, experimental, ridiculously expensive, grav compensator." She would have liked to have the grav compensator. It would have been useful. "What was that about weapons?" Hopefully they had done something with that.
"No real changes except..." Yuri frowned and began flipping back and forth between pages. "Oh damn, they replaced the targeting computer."
"So, isn't that good."
"Not really, Mughi and myself have been playing around with the old targeting computer for the past few months. Overall we only get a small improvement in targeting and it is a completely different system." Yuri sounded upset.
"Those bastard," Kei said with no feeling. She could not really understand Yuri's distress. "Anything else?"
"Not much. General improvements in living quarters; the auto chef has been replaced, the entertainment system was upgraded and this is nice. They put a new, lighter, composite armour on the vital areas of the ship. A fifty-six percent improvement in protection."
"So we soak up more damage, move faster, dodge better, and while we don't hit much harder it will probably seem like we do. The ship is also a nicer place to spend time in. I think we got a nice deal." Kei was looking over the diagnostic screens. "What's that?"
"What?" Yuri asked.
"I just got a red light on thrust unit number seven."
"Let me check it out." Yuri took an interface cable and plugged it in behind her ear. She turned to the keyboard on the console.
Kei watched as Yuri went to work. The thrust unit warning disappeared from the diagnostic screen.
"What did you do?"
"Corrected a problem in the diagnostic program. There was a little software glitch."
"The last time you did something like that you ended up blowing an entire thrust array on that frigate."
"Why do you always have to bring up my past errors?"
"It's my purpose in life." Kei smiled. "Like remember that time you increased the fuel flow of Francine's car. Totally ignored all the safety specs in the maintenance computer. When the engine blew and set all those fires it was quite an impressive show."
"That should have worked perfectly and that was years ago."
"Only about four."
"Okay but you have to admit that things like that don't happen all that often."
"No I don't."
"Well you should." Yuri sulked.
"Maybe in another lifetime." Kei began the pre-flight check, verifying everything checked out. She was near the end of the list when one of the communication-screens flashed to life. "What now?" Kei asked, looking up at the screen.
"Panic buttons have been activated. Both Tamikia's and Catherine's." Yuri told her. She pulled an interface cord from the console and plugged it into her datajack.
"When two go off that's no accident." Kei rushed the last few checks. The external power feeds were cut, armour plate sliding over the access ports. The support gantry rolled back quickly, slamming into the walls of the hanger with a loud 'clang'.
"This has got to be an inside job," Yuri said.
"Why do you say that?" Kei shunted power to the AG units and the ship began to rise.
"They were in lock down mode. Even if there was an attack the moment we left, they still would not be able to get at Tamikia and the kids. The house computer has also been closed up tight," Yuri explained.
"Sounds bad," Kei said, but she was distracted. "What the hell were those codes," she said, trying to remember. "Oh yeah. Beronavas air control this is Zulu, Charlie, tango, niner requesting double alpha clearance. Transmitting 3WA authorization codes now. Keep this channel clear." Kei transmitted the codes and then turned her attention to piloting the Angel. It would be up to air traffic control to keep anyone out of her way
"Should we call the police?" The Angel turned hard under Kei's hand and began to pick up speed.
"No, if someone is monitoring police bands we loose the element of surprise." Yuri called up navigation programs, which flashed onto secondary screens.
"Good point. What's the maximum speed we're allowed in atmosphere?"
"Mach four and only at an altitude above two thousand meters, and only in emergencies."
"Well it's not as if they can take away my pilots license." Kei brought the trust units on line and the ship shot forward, Nap Of the Earth. "I really do hope that warning light on the thrust unit was a software glitch."
"So do I," Yuri said.
"Why Pell? Why did you do it?" Tamikia demanded as she was pushed towards the ship, a squashed, black sphere with oversized thrusters.
"Ah the lady looks for a reason for your betrayal," the leader, a man named Daniel, said, looking at Pell. Daniel was tall, attractive, reed-thin man, with long, black hair and beautiful, lavender eyes that could not be natural.
"Why did you do it Pell?" Tamikia demanded once again of her major-domo.
"That's the thing Miss Jinnas." Daniel smiled as he stopped in front of the ship's hatch. "He is not Pell but one of my men. Miss Jinnas meet Thomas. Thomas is sort of an idiot."
"What?" the man Daniel had called Thomas said.
"Mark is dead because you didn't know the girl was armed. You weren't even aware that Miss Jinnas was armed. Fortunately I had the foresight to have her searched, but you should have known none-the-less. "Now Tamikia, if I may be so bold to use you first name," he turned his attention to her, "you see almost a month ago we captured Pell after you sent him on that little fact finding junket. We wiped his mind, keeping a little for a personality program, and put Thomas into his body. Expensive but we are being well paid. Thomas is fairly useless but he does seem to be able to loose himself in others personalities. I think its because he doesn't have one of his own."
"I got you in here," Thomas stated flatly. "Don't talk down to me."
"Oh and that is so impressive." Sarcasm lashed like a whip from Daniel. "You shut off some security programs and convinced on sight security that the ship was supposed to be landing here. Real tough. I suppose that doing it after the 3WA agents left did take some intelligence."
Thomas cringed back from Daniel as if the words could actually hurt him.
"Daniel, something is closing from the west, it's flying NOE very fast," a woman's voice sounded over the com.
"How fast?" Daniel brought his comlink to his mouth.
The Lovely Angel passed overhead, slightly below mach one. The mass of air it pushed ahead of itself was enough to push Daniel and the others against the ship. It tore things off the roof of the house, stirred the water of the pool into whitecaps, and shattered windows of a green house.
"That fast," Daniel barely heard the voice over the other noise.
"In," yelled Daniel as he pushed Tamikia and Thomas ahead of him into the ship, sealing the hatch behind him. "Get us the hell out of here," he called into the com. He felt the ship rumble slightly and then, with a jerk, it took to the air. They won't catch us now, he thought.
Kei bled speed faster than was safe. She touched controls and vernier thrusters flipped the Angel one hundred and eighty degrees. Bringing the main thrusters back onto line she stopped the ship almost instantly. The restraint harness dug into her chest, forcing air out of her lungs.
Yuri, who had not fully tightened her harness, slammed face first into the instrument panel hard enough to bloody her nose.
"Tamikia and her kids are in that ship," Yuri said, her voice nasally as she pinched her nostrils closed.
"Are you sure?" Kei fought to steady the ship.
"The subcutaneous transmitters I put in show them to be in there."
"Breem Motors six," Kei said as the computer matched the ship. She took the forward firing, gatling cannons off safe.
"Heavily modified for speed." Yuri looked at the readings she was getting. "Probably not much in the way of weapons."
"Too bad for them." Targeting circles appeared on the screen. The Breem began to lift off.
Kei pressed the triggers. The cannons spun out deadly streams of metal that cut trenches into the patio stone and then rebounded off the armour of the Breem.
"Damn." Kei switched over to the lasers mounted in the Angel's wings.
"They're moving out," Yuri said.
"Thanks for the update." Kei brought the thrusters back to life and followed, rolling the Lovely Angel right side up as she did. She fired the lasers but the beams of coherent light glanced off the ship's reflective surface. "Damn it," Kei yelled. "Those bastards are going down. Increasing power to lasers."
"Hold it Kei," Yuri told her.
"What!"
"If you use too much power you could seriously fry that ship. We can't take the chance with Tamikia, and her kids aboard."
"What do you suggest?" Kei took the lasers off line and increased the Angel's speed. The Breem Six was pulling ahead.
"Missiles, right into the engine section. It will shut her down, relatively safely."
"Relatively?"
"Missiles in ship's engines is an inexact science at best," Yuri said sarcastically.
"Aw fuck, do it," Kei said. "I'll call the police now that surprise is no longer a problem."
Yuri nodded and turned to her controls. She armed two low-explosive missiles, perfect for surgical strikes. She linked their sensors into the Angel's targeting computer. It was too easy. She looked up at the status screen.
"Oh hell," Yuri growled.
"What?" Kei kept her eyes on the screens, shadowing the fleeing craft.
"They're broadcasting ECM at incredibly high levels and at very short range. As far as the missiles are concerned it doesn't exist and our targeting computer isn't too sure either."
"Try for a lucky shot." Kei suggested.
"Oh that's all we need, a rouge missile looking for a target."
"Do we have any LOS missiles?"
She checked the inventory. "No." Yuri shook her head. "You're going to have to follow them closely. It's going to take time to set up ECCM."
"You bet."
"Fuck," Yuri said.
"What now?"
"This stupid targeting computer uses entirely different protocols. This is going to take too long. I'm going to lobotomize the missiles and set them for proximity triggers."
"The ship is heading towards the city."
"Great." Yuri shook her head "Just try to keep up with them." Yuri looked down at the small computer screen and began to work.
The two ships flew low, tearing up soil, uprooting trees with the wave of air they pushed in front of them. Kei kept on their tail, never more than twenty meters separating the two craft.
As the entered the city both ships were forced to slow down as they dodged around buildings. The Breem Six's pilot tried to loose them in the canyons of glass and steel but the Angel would not be shook.
"Well?" Kei asked as she swung around a skyscraper, getting in behind the fleeing ship once again.
"Still working," Yuri said. There were a number of safety features on the missiles to keep her from doing what she was attempting.
The Angel shook, the vibration travelling through its hull.
"What was that?" Yuri asked, not looking up from the screen.
"Helicopter, we sheared its rotors off."
"Blame it on them," Yuri said.
"They already took down a small building."
"Wasn't our fault," Yuri said absently.
Kei flipped the Angel onto its side to pass through the narrow space between a row of buildings. The starboard wing tip tore the roofs off several cars before she could increase the ships altitude.
The wave of air the craft pushed ahead of them and the area of low pressure they left behind was too much for many of the windows of the buildings they passed. Glass panes blew out of their frames and fell to the ground below, shattering and spraying the streets with deadly shrapnel.
The other ship turned into a canyon of buildings that stretched for many kilometres through the centre of the city. It began to pull ahead and Kei matched its speed. It was a few seconds later that she noticed that they had broken the sound barrier. This is no good, she thought.
The other ship snapped up into a steep climb. Kei stood the Angel on its tail and went ballistic for a few seconds. The wash from both ships' engines caused even more damage to the area below them.
"We'll hit the atmospheric envelope in forty five seconds," Kei said, grunting a bit due to the high Gs they were pulling. The inertial dampers were having trouble compensating. "If you are going to do something you better do it now."
"I almost got it," Yuri said. "There. Now let's see what the targeting computer can do."
The green circle on the targeting screen suddenly went red and centred on the other ship's engine structure.
"Gotcha," Yuri said.
"Do it," Kei told her.
"Missiles away." Yuri tapped the firing control.
The two missiles dropped out of the bay, their engines already engaged. They were marked with red dots on the Angel's screen.
"Hope this doesn't kill them," Kei said.
"Amen," Yuri whispered. The missiles hit.
Daniel held onto the acceleration strap as the ship approached space. He wished that they had not had to pull the inertial compensators when they put in all the extra thrust units. The G's the ship was pulling were not pleasant. Tamikia's youngest daughter had already passed out.
He lost his footing when the ship suddenly shuddered.
The force of acceleration was beginning to ease; they were slowing down. Alarms were going off. He pulled himself up and turned on one of the ship's coms.
"What's happening?" he yelled.
"We lost engineering and the drives," the pilot's voice came out over the com, a touch of panic in her voice.
"What?"
"No engines. No power. No luck."
"Shit," Daniel swore. "All right," he turned towards Tamikia, "get in the escape pod." He pointed to the emergency hatch with his machine pistol.
Tamikia gathered up Susanne and led Catherine across the lurching deck to the escape pod. Daniel followed. There was only one pod; the others had been removed during the refit. Bad planning Daniel thought.
Thomas tried to follow. Daniel grabbed him by his arm and pushed him back.
"What?"
"I'm letting friends die in the bridge you bastard. I've lost some good people in engineering. Do you really think I'm going to save you?" Daniel asked him. The ship was hardly moving now. Soon it would reach its apex and start falling.
Thomas went for the pistol in his waistband. Daniel clubbed him across his face with the machine pistol, the metal splitting the skin on forehead as he fell away. "Idiot," Daniel said and then stepped back into the pod. He shut the hatch, sealing Thomas and the others to their doom. He motioned Tamikia and her children into the rear of the pod then separated himself from them with a security net. He took a seat at the controls and launched the pod.
"A life boat just launched," Kei said.
"They're on it," Yuri told her.
"Right." Kei deployed the small anti-personnel lasers and locked them on the small craft. The lasers played across the lifeboat's hull, cutting away control surfaces. "It's crippled, can't run now."
"What do you want to do about the Breem?" Yuri asked. The ship was beginning to fall.
"Let's lock it up with the gravity manipulation fields and drag it along with us."
"Good idea," Yuri said as she deployed the fields. "Get us in close."
"On it." Under Kei's control the Angel sped towards the falling Breem, passing close enough to it for Yuri to snag it. The ship shook as it took the other ship in tow, stopping its fall. "Now let's chase down that lifeboat."
"Locking on the transmitters, just follow the bouncing ball."
Daniel cursed as the small craft stopped responding to the controls. He had hoped to link up with his contact in space, but that was now impossible. All he could do was land and hope a hostage would allow him to make his escape.
He wrestled with the controls for what little manoeuvring was still available and began emergency landing procedures.
Behind him Tamikia was making sure Susanne and Catherine were tightly strapped into the crash couches before she secured herself.
Daniel wished he had had a chance to tighten his own harness.
"Bet that wasn't fun," Kei said as she watched the lifeboat slide to a halt.
"Any landing you can walk away from..." Yuri said.
"Assuming they walk away from it."
"Police are showing up." Yuri saw several gun ships closing in on the area.
"Bout time. Might as well give them the Breem."
"Right. Cutting fields." The Breem, no longer tethered to them, dropped almost forty meters before slamming into the ground. "Now that likely hurt."
"They'll probably be alright, assuming that that thing had you basic crash protection. Taking us down." Kei dropped the Angel's lading gear and cycled down the AG units. The ship descended on the diminishing effect fields.
"Let's have a nice chat with some kidnappers." Yuri pulled her pistol from its shoulder holster. A nasty smile was on her face. She vaulted from her seat and took of towards the hatch. "Mughi, come on."
The landing gear adjusted to keep the ship level on the rough ground. Kei powered the ship down and then followed Yuri out.
They closed on the lifeboat quickly, their weapons levelled at it. Mughi loped along off to the side; he would circle around and come in from behind.
The lifeboat hatch swung open and Daniel stepped out. He held Susanne around the waist with one arm, his other hand held a machine pistol pushed into the struggling child's side.
"Ladies." He smiled. "If you'd be so kind to give me the override codes to your ship I'll be off. I'll put the child into an escape pod and leave her just out side of the gravity well." He kept his back to the lifeboat's hull as he slid away from the hatch.
"Go in and make sure Catherine and Tamikia are all right," Yuri told Kei. "I'll handle this." Kei bobbed her head in agreement and entered the ship.
"Let her go." Yuri brought her pistol up.
"You don't seem to get the general idea here do you?" Daniel said.
"Do you actually think I'd be stupid enough to believe you?"
"Well I was sort of hoping." He admitted.
"Let her go or I'll blow your head from you shoulders." Yuri pulled the first stage of the trigger and a targeting laser sprung from the barrel, a red dot appeared on Daniel's face.
Daniel blinked as the laser light hit his eyes. There was doubt in his face, and a little fear as well. He let go of Susanne and then tossed it away. "Okay. You win."
Susanne ran to Yuri, wrapping her arms around the young woman's legs, hugging them tightly. She was crying, Yuri could feel the tears against her skin. She placed one hand on Susanne's head and pulled the trigger.
The round hit Daniel in the shoulder, knocking him back against the lifeboat. He slapped a hand against the wound and slid down the hull, leaving a trail of blood.
Susanne cried harder and held to Yuri tighter. Tamikia, Kei and Catherine came out of the ship.
Kei walked to Daniel, pulled him to his feet, spun him and pushed him against the lifeboat before cuffing his hands behind his back.
The police gun ships began to land.
Yuri slid her pistol back into the shoulder holster. She bent down and gently untangled Susanne's arms from her legs.
"Come on, I promised you a ride in my ship." Yuri said as she brushed hair away from Susanne's eyes.
She stopped crying and looked up at Yuri. "Really?" she asked.
Yuri smiled. The resilience of youth, she thought.