The console lit up like a Christmas tree and a warning siren blared. Jel nearly fell out of his chair with surprise. Recovering his wits, he realized that sound could only mean one thing: another ship had dropped out of phase space right near his. He pulled up the scanner on the screen. Three small ships were headed his way. The computer found them in the ship database and popped up their info. Jel's stomach dropped into his toes.
“Nilites,” he spat. Hitting the intercom button, he spoke into the mic. “Tish, we got company. Nilite police. Three Liton-class frigates, closing fast. How's it going back there?” A woman's voice came through the speaker.
“Not done yet. The Temporal Siphon still needs a few more minutes. Can you hold them off for three minutes?”
“I'll see what I can do. Hurry it up.” He flipped a switch and the engines roared to life. The three ships had spread out, moving to surround him. One of the ships hailed him. He responded, hoping to give Tisha more time. “What can I do for you?” he asked, already knowing what the reply would be.
“Our sensors have detected a time distortion coming from this location,” replied a deep, no-nonsense voice. “Please shut down your engines and prepare to be boarded. Any act of aggresion will be met in kind.”
“Um, I don't know what this time distortion thingy is, but I'm sure I don't have any of them on my ship.”
“Then you have nothing to fear. Shut down your engines immediately.”
“Ok, ok, gimme a sec to find the switch. It's my first time flying this type of ship. The controls seem to be all mixed up, you know what I mean? Heh, heh,” he chuckled. The officer did not laugh. Jel made a show of searching for the engine power switch, hemming and hawing, while his mind frantically scrambled for more options. When he thought he had stretched their patience long enough, he said, “Aha! This must be it.” He flipped the switch, killing the comm connection. He immediately launched his ship forward, straight at the frigate positioned directly in front of him. He closed the distance quickly. When he could just make out the frantic looks on the faces of the pilots, he veered to the right, just barely avoiding a collision.
“Heh, that will give them something to think about,” he smiled. His celebration was cut short by an angry woman shouting over the intercom.
“J you idiot! Next time warn me before you let a drunken monkey fly my ship!”
“Your ship? Last I checked it was my wallet that got lighter when we acquired this little baby!” he yelled back.
“We can argue that later. I need thirty seconds more!”
“Come on, we have to warp now! In a few moments we'll be nothing but scrap metal!” As if to emphasize his point, at that moment the ship shuddered under a rapid serious of collisions. He didn't need the computer to tell him they were being shot at.
“Don't warp! This machine is unstable as is, I don't want to find out what a time warp will do to it!”
“Then shut it down! This craft is agile, but I can't dodge everything, and the shields are almost gone!”
“I can't shut it down til its finished! You know that!” Warning lights flashed everywhere. Shields were gone. Jel knew the next hit would turn them into space junk. He made up his mind.
“Get out of that hold and seal it! I'm warping!” Before Tisha could argue back, he initiated the time warp.
To Be Continued...
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