The Line of the Sol Empress

Chapter 27.2

[Hope]

"I said go!" Eshe commanded. "Gabriel, take her and leave! I will find my own way." She fired again, then shouted at the ceiling. "Station AI, shut off beta bay lighting."

Under the cover of darkness, Gabriel took up his sister's hand. "We have to go. Trust her." They sprinted the final few meters to the dock port passageway under the orange flashes of more plasma bolts. Entering the ship, Gabriel punched a green button. The metal dock isolation hatches creaked as they the closed. At the bridge, he jumped into the pilot's chair and turned toward Hope. "Do your Empress thing."

"Sol override, code sigma-omicron-lambda," she said, sitting down in the other chair and slapping her hand against a flat biometric scanner.

"Identity confirmed. Override achieved, Empress," an overhead monotone voice responded.

"Grant Gabriel override status."

"Confirmed."

Gabriel said, "Detach from dock. Ramp fusion reactors to full power and warm up the quantum drive."

With a clunk, the docking clamps released. The acceleration forces pushed them sideways as Gabriel fired the maneuvering thrusters manually to move away from dock. He glanced at his sister. "I've always wanted to fly one of these." Small, nimble, and fast, the Corsair was designed to be an interceptor.

Touching a com switch on the control panel, Hope said, "Station AI, lock down all ships at dock."

Gabriel nodded. "Good idea. No use having them come after us." Forces pushed them back against the seats as he engaged the main fusion thrusters. The rear visual display showed them moving away from the port.

An anxiousness tingled in Hope's fingertips. "Report status of subjects Celeste and Eshe." Please be alright...

Static came in reply. The Corsair AI reported. "Communication failed."

"Damn," Gabriel muttered. "Short-range coms are being jammed. They are on to us." He commanded the ship AI, "Tactical display on. Enable all weapon systems."

A holographic display of the local space appeared in front of the control panel. A green icon represented the Corsair as it moved away from the station. Five additional vessels, all of them Commonwealth warships, were shown as red triangles with telemetry text boxes to the side. Three of them shifted course and multiple blinking red dots emerged from them, racing toward the Corsair. A red warning light flashed on the control panel.

"Missiles!" Gabriel exclaimed. "Hold on, this is going to get rough."

With a control yoke, he nosed the Corsair down until the world below loomed in the forward visual display, then increased the fusion thruster output to maximum. Hope felt herself being pushed back against her chair.

Hope's eyes widened. "Are you going down to the planet?"

"Just going to skirt the atmosphere. That should mess with the missile tracking."

"Should?"

"No problem."

Rolling her eyes, she said, "That's almost as bad as our father saying no worries." Her breath halted as another concern rose in her mind. I hope they haven't found the Firebird Rise.

The ship rumbled as it skimmed across the atmosphere and Hope grasped the seat arms against the violent shaking. The tactical display showed eight missiles following behind. The display flickered and disappeared because of the atmospheric interference. They swung around the planet, emerging on the other side.

Gabriel pumped his fist as the tactical display came back on. "Yes! Only three missiles still on us." He lifted his eyes. "Ship AI, engage point defense system. Take them out."