Nova checked the display. “Captain, we’ve successfully cloaked, but—”

A tremor shook the cockpit, pushing Nova and Legart forward into the console. A series of smaller jolts rocked the ship sideways.

Ace held firm onto the rear of Nova and Legart’s seats but an abrupt shift in motion sent him reeling off balance and landed him on his back, inches from Orion’s command chair.

“I thought we were cloaked,” Ace bellowed, climbing to his feet.

“We are!” Legart shot back, white-knuckling the steering gears.

Ace scratched his head. “Then how are they able to spot us?”

Nova turned to the radar display. “They can’t. They’re just gunning as much of the area as they can.”

“Shot in the dark tactics?” Orion mused aloud. “Telltale signs of an inexperienced pilot. Take evasive action.” He was surprised the Enforcement shuttle had been lucky enough to hit the ship. Even so, the Galaxy Runner’s plated hull could withstand more than just light machine gun fire.

Legart let loose a string of whispered curses while wrenching the steering gears back and forth to evade the trailing gunfire.A monitor displaying a blue wireframe schematic of the Galaxy Runner flashed red. Text raced across the screen. Nova pounded a selection of buttons. Nothing happened.

“Dammit!” Legart howled after the ship shook under more gunfire.

“Cloaking systems are deactivating,” Nova warned. “The cloaking device has been damaged.”

The loss of the cloaking system didn’t faze Orion. It was more of a financial bereavement than anything else. The device served its purpose and that’s all that mattered—in truth the real surprise was that the outdated equipment had lasted this long. Orion was not one to trust technology, no matter how innovative or advanced. Some pilots would argue to their last breath that state-of-the-art machinery and cutting-edge star ships offset the difference between a mediocre pilot and an expert. Orion, on the other hand, maintained that you can give a technically inferior scrap-heap to a skilled pilot and he would still fly circles around any high-tech marvel.

Case-in-point, the Enforcement Shuttle that tailed them was far superior in design and was equipped with newer gadgets, radar, and armament than the Galaxy Runner. Orion had heard that some of the latest Enforcement Shuttles had even been equipped with a hyper stardrive, but that was only speculation and rumor.

Orion’s eyes fixed on Legart’s back. “I think it’s time for some old fashioned maneuvers.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Legart replied. He raised the steering gears, avoiding an incoming asteroid. The space rock passed by the side window, spiraling through the darkness until it was out of sight. Legart took a silent sigh of relief. He was thankful that, in his advancing age, his reflexes hadn’t slowed down—at least not much.

Nova remained consistent at studying the display monitors, shifting her attention from one to another and so on. “Captain, it looks like they’ve stopped firing.”

Before Orion could respond, Ace let out a defiant laugh. “Of course they did. Those G.E. stooges couldn’t keep up with us even if they tried.”

“No, they’re still behind us and closing in,” said Nova. “And I’m registering a protonic build-up.”

“What’s generating it and where’s it coming from?” Orion asked.

Nova scanned the display. “It’s originating from a multi-polar super electromagnetic coil housed in the Enforcement Shuttle.”

“Huh, a…what?” Ace stuttered. “Sorry, think you could repeat that so everyone can understand?”

Orion tilted his head up. “A particle beam cannon.”

“Looks like they’re planning on using it too,” Legart added.

Rayet had ordered Magellan to cease fire. The machine guns were too light to deal any real damaged to the pirate ship, but they had succeeded on a different front: they rendered the cloaking system inoperable. The beam cannon would finish them off.

“Sir, don’t you think we should just try to immobilize them?” Magellan groaned. “I mean, beam weaponry is designed for maximum force scenarios—”

“Is the coil prepped?” Rayet asked, ignoring his co-pilot.

Magellan was reluctant to answer. “Yes, Sir.”

“Good. Lock on target and fire.”

The bottom of the Enforcement Shuttle had opened, allowing a triangular mechanism to lower down. Exhaust vents were affixed around the contraption. A barrel-like gun turret folded out, pointing ahead to the pirate ship. A succession of lights flickered across the lower portion of the shuttle.

A cluster of tiny, round particles materialized in front of the turret. More particles appeared, all being sucked into the barrel. A fleeting instant later and a blast of red energy discharged from the turret, creating a burst of blinding light.

The crimson beam streaked across the blackness of space.

“The particle beam cannon has fired!” Nova shouted.

With a scowl, Legart tugged on the steering gears, taking the ship into a vertical climb. The beam sliced near the ship’s right side. A clear view of it zipping by could be seen from the cockpit windows.

The force of the Galaxy Runner’s swift ascension threw Ace against the back wall of the cockpit. “Legart! What are you tryin’ to do, old man, kill us all?”

“Grab a seat, kid,” Legart chuckled without cracking a smile. “If the excitement’s too much for you, that is.”

Ace sneered. “Excitement I love, it’s just your rank amateur piloting that’s too much for me.”

Nova spun around in her chair to face Orion. “I’m registering another particle escalation. They’re about to fire again!”

“Some toy they have there,” Orion said with a hint of amusement. “That’s less than a sixty second gap between each discharge.”

Most beam weaponry needed a set recovery rate of at least two minutes to energize the particles. More importantly, if a beam was fired at a faster rate than what was recommended, the particle emissions could destroy the cannon barrel. It was obvious that this new Enforcement Shuttle had been upgraded.

A second streak of red energy passed by the windows, this time from the left side. A flash of light entered the cockpit.

“That one was closer!” Ace remarked, rushing over to Legart’s side. No sooner did he hammer a switch on the console than a seat ascended from a floor panel. He plopped down, fastening a safety restraint.

Seated between Ace and Nova, Legart was breathing hard. Between trying to keep the Galaxy Runner moving at an erratic pace to avoid the blasts and preventing the ship from colliding into any floating space rocks, he was at wits end. They were getting nearer to the heart of the asteroid field and, from here on, it would only get denser.

Legart gave the thrusters a burst. “Not sure how much further we can go, Orion.”

For the moment, Orion was silent.

Rayet’s Enforcement Shuttle continued to accelerate. The gun turret on the belly of the ship tilted, taking aim. Then it did something that few could imagine a beam weapon capable of. It fired simultaneous blasts, one right after the other without taking more than a second or two between bursts to recharge.

With all thrusters alight, the Galaxy Runner neared closer to a congestion of asteroids. The space rocks were packed together so closely that they had all but formed a solid wall.

Legart spun the steering gear in one direction than in the other. Two more energy beams had been evaded.

“I can’t keep this up all day,” Legart warned.

Orion could see the sweat forming on Legart’s brow. There was no question, Legart was a great pilot, but even he had only managed to elude the particle beams by dumb luck up until now. Orion knew all too well what would happen if one of them hit the ship. A single particle beam could shred through the Galaxy Runner’s hull like a high-density laser through rice paper.

“We’ve got two options, either turn around and fight, or smash head first into that asteroid barricade,” Nova stated. “I’d go with option one, Captain.”

Orion took comfort with how calm Nova was. She had only been aboard the Galaxy Runner for less than a month but, over that time, she was virtually emotionless. Legart was no pillar of emotion either, but at least he expressed some form of perpetual irritability. Come to think of it, he had never even seen Nova laugh, get angry, or express fear.

Orion contemplated his options. Nova was right. Fight or accept defeat, and maybe an early grave. Not an easy choice, but Orion was never one to be forced into a disastrous lose-lose decision. Forfeiting their lives was out of the question and engaging in space combat was too risky. If we could just disengage their ship, Orion pondered. The Enforcement Shuttle was heavily armed, giving it the advantage. The Galaxy Runner didn’t stand a chance in that arena. Further, starting a battle could end up getting someone, either his own crew or the Enforcement officers, killed—and that was something Orion wouldn’t allow.

The ship spun upside down, just missing contact with a beam. The blast seared through a chunk of a nearby asteroid. The rubble pounded off the cockpit’s windows.

Nova and Ace turned to Orion, both awaiting a response. The pirate remained quiet, his attention fixated to the floor, deep in thought.

After a short moment, Orion tilted his head up, observing a fractured remnant of asteroid smack off the window. He grinned. Looks like I’ll go with option three.

“Legart, bring us as close to the asteroid barrier as you can, then evade their fire,” Orion instructed.

Legart nodded. He had no clue what Orion was planning, but he had been aboard the Galaxy Runner long enough to know that there were three things a man can count on: death, galactic taxes, and Orion Darkstarr.

“Keep it up, they’ve got nowhere left to go,” Rayet said, enthusiasm brimming in his voice. The pirate ship had been caught between a literal rock and a hard place. This was it, in moments the Galaxy Runner and Orion Darkstarr would be nothing more than stardust. Whatever cargo Galaxy Enforcement was supposed to be guarding would be lost too, but it would be a small price to pay.

Each crimson energy beam left a trail of light in its wake. They sparkled by the Galaxy Runner, every subsequent blast closer to hitting its target than the last. The particle discharges, missing the pirate ship, ended up shattering several asteroids. Some of the space rocks split into fragments upon impact, while others were impaled by the energy beams—leaving gaping holes through them.

The Galaxy Runner was more maneuverable than it looked. Performing a chain of perfect barrel rolls, the ship dodged another wave of beams. The blasts continued to make short work of the asteroids ahead.

The Galaxy Runner’s crew could now see the brilliance behind Orion’s plan. The Enforcement Shuttle’s beam cannon had blasted an opening through the asteroid barrier!

“Bring us through the barricade,” Orion ordered, leaning back against his command chair.

The rough outline of a smile took shape on Legart’s face, even though on him it still looked like a grimace. “Aye, Captain.”