“Can we jump?”

“We’re charging, but we need to get away from the station.  Our drive can take the strain better than most, but it could cause another gravity surge.  Like before, but worse.”

The comm chimed again.  The shipboard lights were tinged red.

“And what would that mean for us?”

“Lensing would bend our bearing like last time, unless I can course correct, and, well…”

“And what?”

Chime.

“And we may lose some time.  I think they had a head start on us getting here.  Sanctuary isn’t on maps so that’s less of an issue, but…”

“But it’s a scary thought anyway.”

“Yeah.”

Chime.

“We’ll hold that plan in reserve, then.  Can you have both versions of our heading ready?”

“Maybe, if you stall them, keep them talking.”

Chime.

Stella returned to the pilot’s seat and steadied herself.  Wow, was she good at the whole regal bearing thing.  The Prodigal Queen indeed.

I set the throttle for a steady but non-threatening pace.  Sensors showed a dot matching our speed and course.  I could just imagine LaVert in this situation:  “Looks like a song and dance.  How’s a nice andante sound, Cap’n?”

But I needed to stay in the moment.

“Well then, Weaver, if you would be so kind?”

“Aye aye, onscreen.”

I opened a video channel.  A man appeared on our display.  He had a short-trimmed beard, his posture was stiff, and he was wearing a blue-and-gray armored hardsuit.

“We have weapons trained on your vessel.  Do not attempt to flee,” he said.  Couldn’t even be bothered to introduce himself first.  Rude.  I turned back to my task.

“I wasn’t aware Mara abided piracy in their orbit.  I’ll have to bear that in mind if I ever consider a future visit.”  I heard Stella say, with very convincing  feigned surprise.

“We are authorized knights of Galcorp, and you are in possession of a stolen vessel.  You will submit to search and seizure.”

Oof, already telling us what we would or wouldn’t do.  Cap’n called guys like that ‘carved from limestone.’  They looked tough, but all it took was a little vinegar to make them come apart.

“Whoever you are, you may want to take another look at your charts.  The authority charade may fool your hapless victims back in the empire, but this is a free system, and I doubt the locals will take kindly to raiders threatening honest visitors, especially so near an inhabited station.  If I were you I’d go back to shaking down rich tourists in Cyril Alpha.”

A quick glance was enough to tell how red-in-the-face furious Mr. Knight-Captain was, but he made no move.  Stella had called his bluff, at least for the time being, while we were still in Mara's patrol zone.  

Meanwhile, just a few more steps and I’d have the gravity-corrected guidance figured out.  I just hoped we didn’t need it.

The drive charge, on the other hand, still needed more time.  I gestured to Stella to keep going.

"I am curious, though.  Captain, how did you come by that armor?"

“Through rigorous training and commitment.  You know, despite your bad attitude, if you were to relinquish the wanted criminal Thomas Keenan, I would still be inclined to leave you to your business.”

“I know no one by that name.”

“Then you should know I am under no instructions to capture him alive.”

I put on a burst of speed before I even heard the faint pop of the call ending.

The sensor array lit up half a breath later.

But we cleared the cannon blast.  The drive was almost ready.  We were probably safely in open space.  Maybe we could make it.

Wait.

They were still pacing us.  No. Outpacing.  And pulling closely in front of us.  Just how hard were they running their engines?

I chanced a look up from the instruments.  The knights' ship could swallow ours whole, and I could see it clearly without magnification, absurdly close in the expanse of space.  It was pulling ahead of us, broadside.

My meager piloting ability was already being taxed.  I couldn't count on being able to pull parallel before impact.

"Brace!" I yelled.

I pitched us full around, praying to—well, someone—that the automatic stabilizers were enough to halt the spin facing roughly opposite our momentum.  Then I leaned on the throttle as hard as I could.

Even with the high-gee padding on the seats, I felt like a pancake.  I really, really did not want to know how close our stern must have gotten to their hull.

After an extremely long moment, the acceleration let up and I could see we were hurtling back the other way, past the station and toward the planet, allegro.

If we had been in a bigger ship, we probably wouldn't have emerged from that in one piece.  Then again, if we had been in a bigger ship we may have been properly armed.  Not that two people could have crewed one.

After a few minutes that lasted an eternity, we settled into orbit over Mara, temporarily out of the frying pan.  Pursuit would not be far behind.

“Shit, Weaver, I’m so sorry,” said Stella.  I hadn't ever heard her voice break before, even under pressure, even in a cell.  It did now.  “I didn’t think I was at the point of ‘dead or alive.’”

“Those do tend to be the options.”  A stupid old joke on the Kingfisher.  Pirates don’t tend to get the consideration of being taken prisoner.  You had to be there.

With so much adrenaline ebbing out of me, I got a fit of the giggles.

“Breathe,” Stella reminded me.  “We’re not safe yet, remember?”

I gasped for air until I could think again.  Stella waited with a hand on my shoulder.

“What now?”  That was a very good question.

"They may not risk shooting us down near the planet, but as long as we're in orbit they've got us cornered, and we aren't built for combat.  We'll never make it to open space."

"Could we land?"

"Not without sitting in port for entry procedures.  At best we'd be turned away, at worst…  Crash."

Tense silence.

“And if we try to make a dash?”

“They open fire.  I’m not a pilot, we’d be an easy target.”

Stella closed her eyes a moment and took a few deep breaths.

"Then it looks like the decision has been made for us."

"Are you sure?  So close to a planet—  I'm not sure—"

"Life or death, Weaver, unless there's another chance to outfox them."

LaVert could have, at the helm.  Captain Osman could have, in a heartbeat.  All I had was the engines.

It was the only way out that I was confident I could make work.  There was just no going back from whatever happened in the process.  I choked on any words I might have said.

But Stella wasn’t wrong:  Survive now, pay the bill later.  We needed to commit to a course of action.

So that was that.  Capacitors charged, condensers aligned, matrix confirmed.

One touch of a switch, and we were gone.

Presto.

MellieBee

Extra credit every time you guess one of my special interests based on Weaver's narration.