Issue 13 - Ray Gun Revival

The Price of Conquest, by Mik Wilkens Pg. 2
“An incoming vessel,” Connie said.
“A little warning next time would be—”
“Freighter Wincarnis,” the voice on the comm
said. “Come in, Wincarnis, or we will fire.”
“Damn!” Kressa dove for the weapons board.
“Excellent response time,” the computer said.
Kressa bit back an angry retort. Heart pounding,
she scanned the controls, trying to make sense of
them. A light on the board started to blink.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“The pursuit indicator.”
Pursuit...? She swallowed hard and looked at
the screens, but she saw only stars ahead and the
lighted spider-web clusters of cities falling away
beneath them.
“I don’t see any pursuit.”
“With luck, you never will.”
Kressa returned her attention to the barely
familiar array of controls before her. “What’s
following us?”
“Configurations indicate a light cruiser and a
destroyer.”
She glanced up again, limbs zinging with
adrenaline. “Warships? Just because we didn’t
ask for clearance, they’re coming after us with
warships?”
“The Patrol wanted to talk to Cameron Thorne,”
the computer said, as if that explained everything.
“I know that, but why?”
“Presumably to search the ship.”
“Connie, what aren’t you telling me?”
“It would require years to impart to you all of
the information to which I have access but have
not told you.”
Kressa scowled and studied the weapons
board again. Slowly the controls began to make
sense. They were not very different from the
Darsan’s, there were just a whole lot more of
them. She activated the guns and experimented
with the sensitivity of the controls and targeting
systems.
“Connie, give me a report.”
“We are clearing the atmosphere. Setting
course perpendicular to the system plane.
Pursuing vessels will be in firing range in one
minute, twenty-eight seconds. There is also a
chance the Patrol will have vessels within range
to intercept us outside the atmosphere.”
“How much of a chance?”
“Impossible to compute.”
“Want to make a guess?” Kressa asked.
“No.”
“Be sure to tell me if you detect any. And let
me know if I do anything wrong.”
“Of course.”
Kressa studied the screens in a vain attempt
to locate the pursuing ships before Terra’s swiftly
diminishing globe.
“Pursuing vessels will be in firing range in thirty
seconds,” Connie said.
Kressa licked dry lips and turned her attention
to the sensor readouts, waiting for them to pick
up a target for her guns.
“Fifteen seconds,” Connie said. “Computing
jump to Arecian system.”
“No! Not Arecia. Try—” She thought fast. “Try
Maetar.”
The Patrol vessels began to fire.
Following her instincts, her experience on
board the Darsan, and an occasional suggestion
Ray Gun Revival magazine Issue 13, January 01, 2007