Fresh exhilaration as the engines roared, showed their true power, kicking the yacht out of the tower. The rest of the crew and the new guests raced to the cockpit. The ship was staying close to the station.

The part of Tarl that was piloting the ship spoke, “Hyperspace systems are still charging. We’re being contacted.”

“Put them on,” Eli commanded.

A face appeared on the consoles. A middle-aged male, bright yellow skin, red and orange eyes. His nose was batlike. He wore a red uniform and stood on what looked like the bridge of a sizable starship. Crewmembers in similar uniforms stood behind him, attending to readouts and control panels.

“Stop your ship and prepare to be boarded. If you comply, your deaths will be quick, I swear on my honor and my god.”

The bitter voice of Savaa, “High Inquisitor Tahun, I wish that they’d sent another.”

Eli and the others turned to see that he had removed the mask.

The fugitive looked young, barely out of his teens. On Earth at least, he would have been seen as handsome. His glossy skin was a very dark shade of black. There was no hair on his head, not even eyebrows.

It was a young man’s face, but the eyes carried the venom of a hard life. The narrow, all white eyes shone with a natural light, like an insane supernatural being had polished them. Behind them, a deep resentment.

In the center of his forehead, there was a white mark. The tadvash interpreted this as an emblem of absolute domination.

“You are wise to fear me, murderer,” the man on the other side of the line said.

“Fear? Not at all. It’s just that I’d rather be hunted by a true believer. That way, the whole thing would be pure.”

“I am a believer!” Tahun snarled defensively.

“No, a believer has different eyes. Your eyes are full of hunger. You just pretend to be a believer because you know that it will help you get what you want. And it has. You are a powerful figure on our world. But it will mean nothing when the system collapses.”

The people in the background looked uncomfortable. The high inquisitor was enraged. The fugitive pressed the button on the console that shut off the com before he could respond.

“Fighter craft incoming!” Gami warned, pointing at a group of sleek ships on the scanner screen.

Tarl dodged a protruding structure, moved to avoid an arm where a passenger liner was docked. Then he sent the craft spiraling around a massive antenna. After many loops he suddenly pulled away, one of the enemy ships kept going, messed up as it tried to correct and found itself going in the wrong direction. Tarl hit the accelerator, threading the needle between two vessels as they left a bay.

Tarl feinted, before executing a sharp bank, barnstorming a small hangar. Slipping past the ship that was moored there, the Mandruuka exited the other side of the hangar. Then he cut to one side and continued along the ring station.

They fired a shot whenever they had the opportunity, shaving off a few shield charges. Tarl fired back with the turrets but wasn’t able to score enough hits to drain their shields.

“Could we dive down to the planet?” Eli asked without thinking.

“Good idea,” the pilot declared, before abruptly pointing the craft’s nose straight toward the planet.

“What the hell are you doing?” Anara demanded.

“Haven’t you ever heard of a gravity slingshot before?” Tarl asked, annoyed.

Warning systems cried out in abject horror as the ship raced toward the surface of the planet. The craft began to violently shake. Tarl pitched to one side. The shaking slowed, then stopped. On the side mounted camera displays, Eli saw settlements, spotted an aircraft. Clouds raced by. The settlements disappeared in the distance. A new one appeared, this a collection of lights, as they were at the night side.

The other side of the station shot past, then they reached the middle ring. Tarl slid the ship into the rocky maelstrom. The weird alien took the vessel along the ring, weaving around the oddly colored asteroids. Eli glanced at the aft displays; three enemy ships had managed to stick with them.

The pursuers opened fire. One of the purple rocks took a hit from a stray shot. Dust glittered as it blew apart. One of the bigger pieces slammed into an amber colored asteroid. The ship veered, narrowly avoiding one of the larger chunks. The rear facing cameras showed one of the pursuing ships shatter into flaming scrap when it failed to avoid the obstacle.

Another incoming barrage did its damage to the shields. This time it came from a different angle. A ship was outside of the ring. It was running parallel to them, taking potshots at them through the rocks with a turret.

Tarl returned fire. The energy shield flashed as the bolts struck. In a sudden panic, the enemy ship veered away, slamming into one of the asteroids. Chunks of rock broke away, striking other asteroids. A lovely display of colors joined the flames and obliterated metal.

“Ya! Got the bastard!” the body that was piloting the ship shouted in triumph.

The one behind them exploded. One of the bodies that manned the consoles looked up and grinned. The display for the anti-pursuit mine launcher showed one less piece of ordnance.

“Another wing coming in!” Gami warned.

Tarl went to Hyperspace. The colorful rocks were replaced by the strange storms.

“Tarl!” Gami, shouted, “We aren’t in the lane!”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I’ve heard that the things that lurk in the clouds are dangerous,” Eli said.

“Don’t worry about it,” the pilot insisted.

Gami tapped the console in front of her, “Your plan failed. Those fighters are closing in.”

The human looked at the display. Wireframe depictions of flying wing type ships sped along.

“I probably don’t need to say it, but this ship can’t outrun them,” Anara stated.

“It’s okay. I can evade them till we reach the next shipping lane,” the pilot reassured them.

Anara stared at the anvil heads, “Let me guess, it involves the things that live in the clouds.”

“If you don’t shut-up, I’m turning around and taking you back.”

A bolt of energy flew past the viewscreen. The pilot veered, jinked around. The bolts still came. A harsh beep and an angry light told them that one of the blasts had found its target. The pilot kept weaving the craft around. On the outskirts of one of the clouds something appeared.

At first, it looked to Eli like TV static, although it was a bright shade of green, rather than black and white. The longer that he looked at it, the clearer the shape became. The thing was all mouths. Some were enraged, locked open in battle cries. Others were hungry, chomping ravenously. Some even seemed lustful, licking and smacking lecherously. Its appearance, the flow of its movements were almost rotoscoped, as if it had been drawn upon the very fabric of the universe by the hand of some incomprehensible being.

The pilot aimed the ship toward this horrid thing. And as they sped closer, the thing’s true size became apparent. One of those mouths could have easily swallowed the dreadnought he had seen in the trap where they had met Tarl.

Despite its size, it darted forward. The pilot turned sharply. A mouth lunged, still attached to the body via a neck. It missed. The teeth snapped shut just off of the ship’s port side. Eli stared at the blinking outlines of the fangs. The ship passed by the monstrosity. Another mouth moved into position.

The pilot kept the same speed. He weaved his way around the menagerie of grinning mouths, roaring maws, and snapping jaws. Cavalier rocketed across the surface of the monster, angling around the side. The fuzzy being in the pilot’s seat turned the ship away, changed the trajectory again. A long row of green razor blades closed around the viewports, filled every camera screen. The vessel raced through the gap as the mouth closed.

Gami looked up from the scanner screen, “No sign of those fighters.”

“See, nothing to it,” the pilot said, relief in his voice.