His Majesty's Starship by Ben Jeapes

Author:Ben Jeapes [Jeapes, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-1-908039-03-3
Publisher: Wizard's Tower Press
Published: 2011-04-19T04:00:00+00:00

*

Adrian could see the highlands clearly from his position in Sharman, five miles up. They were on the Roving’s dark side but they were this side of the planet’s curve and they stood out clearly on radar. Sharman had mapped out the contours on the first journey and now a red trace on the display showed the optimum course for him to take to pick up his passengers. The autopilot had already picked up on it.

A fiery streak blazed past the viewports and erupted into a fireball a mile ahead of him. Adrian yelped and hauled at the stick to avoid the explosion, and something large and dark flashed over Sharman. Radar showed nothing but by the light of the Roving’s big moon he caught the shape of a landing boat circling around him. He thought he caught a glimpse of circular insignia on the wings, before he was dazzled by the flare of the intruder’s exhausts.

“Pull up and return to orbit,” said a voice in his earphones. A human voice, as far as he could tell. And the design of the boat that he had glimpsed was human too.

“Who are you?” Adrian shouted.

“Irrelevant. Pull up and return to orbit.”

“I- I have to pick up two crew-”

“We’ll do that.” The voice was toneless. “Pull up and return to orbit. We are armed-” As if to prove the point, another missile flew past. “-and we can enforce our orders.”

“I-” Adrian swallowed. He glanced up, picturing the attractive emptiness of orbit, then ahead into the dark, picturing his two friends waiting for him. “I understand,” he said. “Complying.” He pulled at the stick slightly and Sharman’s nose tilted up. He swallowed; then at the same time cut all power to the main engines and fired the forward thrusters. He lurched forward in his seat and the straps tightened around him as Sharman stopped dead in the air, then plummeted. As the nose came down he fired the main engines again at full power, and the boat accelerated at full thrust towards the mountains below.

There was a bellow in his earphones before he broke contact, but he ignored it. Whoever was behind him was armed, but they didn’t know the terrain. They didn’t have a map of the highlands already programmed into their flight computers, and that would surely give him the advantage.

He tried to open a comms channel: he was being jammed. So, he would just have to get there first.

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