A Perfect Life nd Other Stories (13 page)

He smiled. “I see you’re as charming in person as your legend.”

“We mean you no harm,” Emily said.

The man’s smile faded. “I seriously doubt that. You’ve been asking
a lot of questions, Captain, and you’ve cost me a lot of treasure.”

Tate felt a chill pass through her as she sensed just who it was
Emily was speaking with.

“A simple misunderstanding,” Emily replied. “I’m sure we can come
to some equitable terms.”

He chuckled, then grew serious. “It’s a little too late for that,
Hart. Besides, you don’t have a lot of credibility with me.”

Emily smiled. “Perhaps you’d like to come aboard so we can discuss
this. I have a very nice Terisian wine I can offer you.”

He laughed again. “Oh, really? Mine, no
doubt.” He leaned back in his chair and relaxed. “I prefer to play host. You
may bring the wine, of course.
”

“Very well,” Emily said. “Give me an hour to prepare.”

“An hour? My dear, you look fine as you are.”

“Nevertheless . . .” Emily cut the comm signal, exhaled a long
breath, and leaned back in her chair. She turned to her first mate. “Is that
who I think it is?”

“Could be,” Tate said. “He’s faked his flag signal. But I think
that’s Ul.”

“Now what?”

Tate checked her sensors. “He hasn’t powered up weapons. I think
he’s giving you the hour.” She moved to the seat next to Emily’s and watched
her type out a coded distress call.

“I need options, people,” Emily said. Collins and Gunner turned in
their seats to face her.

“We don’t really have any,” Tate said. “We can make a break for
it, but we can’t outrun him.”

“What about the debris field?”

“No one’s made it through alive,” Collins said. “Remember the
Orion? We’re a much smaller ship and we have no armor.”

“Think help can get here in an hour?”

Tate shook her head. “Doubtful.”

Emily let out a nervous chuckle. “That’s what I like about you
guys, you don’t pull punches.”

Tate reached for her hand.

Emily took a deep breath. “I guess I’ll just
have to see what he wants. It’s likely me.” She smiled wanly. “Might be time
for you to take command, Mate.”

Tate shook her head. “I can’t let you go over there, Captain.”

“You will if I order it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“Think of the crew, T. I’m not worth losing them all. Losing you.”

Collins and Gunner shifted nervously. No, Tate didn’t want any
harm to come to them. She remained silent.

Emily ran her hand through her hair. “What if we evacuate the
ship? Think he’d let the crew go?”

Gunner cleared his throat. “The pods are defenseless,” he said.
“From what I’ve heard, he’d enjoy picking them off.”

“What if they held a surprise and not the crew?”

Tate looked at her. “A diversion?”

Emily nodded then ordered Gunner to fill the
pods with explosives. She turned back to Tate. “If we made a break for it, how
soon could he catch up?”

Tate made a mental calculation. “He’d need time to get to full
power. Maybe an hour. But he will, you know.”

“I know.” Emily typed on her console. “We’ll wait as long as we
can, then head for these coordinates on my mark. Full speed.”

Tate glanced at the setting then went to her seat at the helm,
plotted a route, and locked it in. A tense silence filled the bridge as they
waited for most of the hour to pass and for Gunner to finish with the pods. She
jumped when his voice crackled over the comm. “Ready, Captain.”

Emily gave the order and in a whoosh, four lifepods shot across
their view.

“Engage engines.”

Tate opened the throttle, and the
Sea Devil
sprang away
from the battle cruiser. As it shrank in her aft view screen she saw the pods
explode in fiery clouds, masking their escape. She asked Collins for more power
and heard back the usual complaint, “I’m giving you all she’s got, sir!”

“Shut down auxiliary systems,” Tate ordered.

“Aye, sir.”

As the distance between the
Sea Devil
and Ul grew, Tate
relaxed, just a hair.

Gunner returned to the bridge. “Shall I prepare for battle?” he
asked.

“No,” Emily said. “We’re going to evacuate.”

Tate turned to her, eyes wide. “We just jettisoned the lifepods.
You realize that, right?”

“Look again at the coordinates I gave you.”

Tate did, then shook her head. “The refugee planet?”

“What better place to hide?”

Tate fingered the scar on her forearm. The crew were all former
refugees. They still had their chips. “But when Ul catches up to an empty ship,
he’d only have to search nearby planets,” she said. “We’d jeopardize everyone
down there.”

“We won’t leave an empty ship. He’ll find only debris. It will
look like our engines blew.”

Another chill passed through Tate. It was a risky move. She
marveled at how calmly Emily left the bridge to prepare her crew. Ignoring the
adrenaline speeding her heart rate, Tate moved through the checklist to log the
crew for transport.

Emily returned to her seat in silence. Neither spoke until Tate
announced they were in range.

“Secure stations,” Emily called to the crew. “Stand by for
transport.”

Tate made a final check of the log. Her breath caught. “Em,” she
said, forgoing formality. “You took yourself off the list. Why?”

Emily’s voice was steady. “Like you said, we can’t risk him
tracing the crew to the planet. If I stay behind, he won’t care who gets away.”

“Em, no.” Tate stood, stepping back from the helm, shaking.

“It’s me he wants. The rest of you will be
safe.”

“Captain, no—” Gunner started to protest, but Emily silenced him
with a raised hand.

Tate understood the logic of Emily’s decision, but her heart
pounded and a tingle rippled from her scalp to her knees. “I won’t let you.”

“That’s an order, Mate.” Emily went to Tate
and met her gaze, her eyes wet but her expression determined. “We knew this
could happen. We don’t have a choice. It’s time for us to part ways.”

Tate could barely breathe. Emily kissed her then stepped back.
“Now, T, quick. Get it over with.”

Tate leaned against the console and pushed the button, her hand
shaking. A blinding flash filled the bridge. When she could see again, she
found Emily staring at her.

“Why are you still here?” Emily asked. She spun around, but they
were alone. Gunner and Collins had vanished, their clothes draped across their
seats. “What went wrong?”

Tate shook her head. “Nothing went wrong.”

Emily’s eyes widened. “Damn it, Tate!” She exploded in fury and
pushed Tate against the bulkhead. “What have you done?”

“You didn’t really think I’d leave you.”

Emily pressed her forearm across Tate’s throat, pinning her. Her
eyes burned. “You could have saved lives.” Her voice was filled with disgust.

Tate struggled to breathe against the pressure of Emily’s arm.
“Don’t you get it, Em? I can’t do this without you.”

“You don’t
know
that.” Emily’s voice rose in anger. “You
never tried!”

“I never wanted this life. I only wanted to be with you.”

“But you were the pirate. You were the leader.”

“That was a
game
. This isn’t.”

Tate closed her eyes against Emily’s disappointment. The pressure
on her throat lessened, and she let herself sag to the floor. Emily knelt and
pulled her into a tight embrace. They sat together, quiet.

This wasn’t how she wanted them to end. All she had wanted was a
life with Emily, a perfect life. Nothing else had mattered. She had thought
that if she waited long enough, kept Emily safe, that eventually they’d have
that. The war wouldn’t last forever. It couldn’t. They’d never been in any real
danger. Until now.

She felt Emily’s tears on her neck. The shrill of a proximity
alarm turned their attention away from each other. Ul approached.

“No point in arguing anymore, I suppose,” Tate said.

Emily released her and sat back wiping her face. “I’m dead, Tate.
You can’t protect me.”

Tate rubbed her throat and went to her seat at the helm. “You’re
not dead yet.” She felt Emily watching her. “I could use someone on weapons,”
she said, pushing Gunner’s clothes to the floor. “We seem to be short handed.”

Emily eased into the seat. “What do you have in mind?”

“I’m not sure. Just get your hands on the triggers and be ready to
fire until we run out of ammo. Better buckle in.”

Emily fastened her harness then gripped the
controls and flexed her fingers to test her reach to the buttons. “It’s been a
long time since I’ve fired a gun.”

Tate glanced at the aft view screen and saw Ul’s ship approaching.
She engaged the engines and spun the little craft about, facing their enemy.

“Hang on,” she said, then maxed the accelerator, and they bolted
forward. “
Fire
, Em!”

Lasers and torpedoes shot from the
Sea
Devil
. Just as Emily refined her aim and got a hit, Ul started firing back,
and Tate slammed them into an evasive pattern, threading his laser fire. Emily
adjusted and got a few hits, but the armored ship showed no sign of damage.
Tate peeled off to starboard, rolled the
Sea Devil
, and passed under Ul.
Emily switched to the rear guns and kept firing as they circled around the big
ship and sped away.

“It’ll take him a few minutes to turn around,” Tate said,
breathless. She straightened their course and burned the engines into the red
zone. Alarms shrieked. Tate turned to Emily and smiled. “We could really use an
engineer right now.”

Emily still gripped the gun controls, though she’d stopped firing
once they were out of range. She checked the sensors. “He’s coming.”

Tate looked out the front window. A small cloud grew as they
approached. “Think that’s a nebula?” she asked. “Maybe we can hide there.”

Emily let go of the weapons and examined the sensor readouts.
“Wait, T, that’s not a—”

“Crap!” Tate reversed the engines and they both crashed into their
harnesses then lurched back in their seats, staring out the window.

The
Sea Devil
slowed to a stop amid a debris field. Flashes
in the distance registered on the sensors as nuclear explosions. Radiation
clouds glowed, lit by laser fire and detonations. Bits of what had once been
warships floated by. In the distance, intact ships danced in a choreography of
death. For years the pirates had operated on the periphery of the war. Tate had
never seen it up close. What looked out the window to be a cloud with insects
buzzing and flashing, the sensors revealed as thousands of vessels engaged in
battle, ranging across millions of miles. A wall of war to the fore, Ul closing
in aft.

Tate banged her fist on the console and groaned in frustration.
Emily placed a hand on hers. Her voice was steady. “It’s okay, T. You did your
best. Save yourself now. Please.”

Tate looked at her. Emily’s eyes were wet but retained their
fierceness. “You really don’t get it, do you?” Tate said.

“Get what?”

Tate shook her head and turned back to her controls. There was no
point in explaining it now, and they didn’t have time to argue. She turned the
Sea
Devil
toward Ul and engaged the engines. Emily watched her, then put her
hands back on the gun controls. The fuel gauge alarm sounded, the engine
overload warning lights flashed. Tate ignored them. Ul began firing as soon as
he was in range. Emily fired back, and Tate spun them through elaborate evasive
maneuvers until the port engine gave out and they spiraled out of control. She
lit the thrusters to stabilize the ship just as Ul shot out their remaining
engine. Emily continued to fire and knocked out four of his guns before the
trigger clicked and nothing happened.

They sat still amid blaring alarms, watching as the dying
Sea
Devil
rocketed toward Ul. With the last of the fuel expended, Tate took her
hands off the controls and unhooked her harness. She reached under the console,
opened a compartment, and pulled out a laser rifle.

“Where’d you get that?” Emily asked.

Tate smiled. “I always wanted one.” She checked the power supply
and flicked the on switch. “Open a portal.”

Emily stared at her for a second as if to question her sanity then
turned to the console and typed commands. “We’re moving too fast. I can’t get a
lock.”

“Keep trying,” Tate said as she tested the rifle against her
shoulder and aimed toward the portal frame on the aft bulkhead.

Emily’s fingers flew over the keyboard. The frame glowed, and an
image flickered where there once had been wall. Tate spun the gun’s setting to
high and put her finger on the trigger. The image flickered out. “Captain, I
need a portal!”