Morgan's Choice by Greta van Der Rol Read Free Book Online

get strapped in.”
    They headed for the crew compartment while
she climbed through the hatch into the bridge. A VN 34 utility
shuttle. She’d spent the last few nights becoming familiar with the
specs and using the flight simulator software. She sat down, locked
into the ship’s system and checked status. Ready for take-off,
awaiting final clearance. She breathed deeply, willing her heart to
stop hammering. Off this ship to who knows where?
    “ F75 you are cleared to enter airlock bay
fifty-four.”
    F75. That’s us. “Acknowledge.”
    She applied some pressure to the lower
thrusters. The ship lifted off the deck and floated forward, into
airlock bay fifty-four. Thrusters off. A hiss, a clunk as the ship
settled back onto its landing gear. She waited, each second an
eternity. Atmospheric pressure dropped in the airlock. Vacuum. The
bay doors slid open. She looked out at a blue and white world, a
marble floating in the blackness of space.
    “ Clear to go, F75. Safe journey.”
    Thrusters down, drive into slow. F75
drifted out of the airlock and into space. She checked the route
the ship had been given to take it to the space port on the ground.
A swift calculation plotted the best time to amend the vector so
the ship would bounce off the atmosphere, pick up speed and power,
and disappear into shift-space. They’d need to be quick to avoid
the flights of fighters the warship could send out if somebody
realized what was really happening.
    The side wall of the battle cruiser rose
behind the shuttle like a cliff pock-marked with caves. How crazy
was this? But then, the whole thing had been crazy since Curlew had left Belsun station and she
really was sick of life in a cell. At least this way she’d have
some chance to plot her own destiny. She hadn’t given up on going
home; not completely.
    “ F75, return to the airlock. Repeat,
return to the airlock.”
    Every nerve in her body tingled. What the
fuck? The order came from the battle cruiser. Maybe she
could — A beam of white
light blasted across her ship’s bow. A fighter appeared alongside
the shuttle.
    “ Turn back now or be destroyed.”
    Morgan sagged even as she applied the left
thrusters to turn the ship. Hells fucking bells. This was planned, a
trap.
    The bridge hatch slid open. Sayvu clambered
inside, yellow eyes wide with fear, arm outstretched. “You can’t.
Don’t go back. You mustn’t. They’ll kill us, kill us all.”
    One look at the girl’s face was enough. That
was real, genuine terror. Fine. She wasn’t finished yet.
    Before the ship had turned around completely,
she hit full power, controlling the vector. A Supertech versus a
standard thruster control system? No contest. Sayvu gasped as she
fell, flung out of the bridge hatch by the acceleration. F75 shot
down the battle cruiser’s flank. Grinning, Morgan diverted all
shield power to the rear. This would be fun if it wasn’t so
serious. The fighter that had menaced them had only just managed
its turn. They’d launch others, of course, but up close to the
cruiser they’d think twice about shooting. The ship lurched as a
beam struck the shields, sending them shimmering. And again. Shield
power down to ninety percent.
    She scanned space, looking for options and
spied a shuttle on its way down to the planet. A burst of the left
thrusters slewed F75 around forty-five degrees. The fighter fired
again and missed. Just a little further. Top thruster on. F75
dropped, almost searing the underside of the shuttle as it streaked
past. The battle cruiser was a shrinking mass behind them. She
fired up the shift drive. A few minutes more and they’d be
clear.
    A whole wave of fighters emerged from the
warship’s belly like wasps from a hive. Good luck to them. They
were fast but by the time they reached here, F75 would be gone.
Morgan pushed the power past the safety limit. Alarm sirens
shrieked a strident warning and red lights flashed.
    Now. She forced the change to shift
drive.
    What the fuck?