"I am just trying to get to safety,” she said, slapping the mostly dead controls to make something happen.
"I am here to protect you."
She raised her eyebrow. "You have quite the timing."
"I always like to make an entrance."
Freya blinked.
Did… did a cyborg just make a joke?
5
Protect the Ambassadors, Master System relayed again in Kian’s head.
"Iknow," he replied. "I know. Protect the Ambassadors." His body shifted slightly in the seat from the engine force as he twisted his ship, slipping through a barrage of shots. The Terrans engaged them hard, coming out of nothingness and attacking.
Had they been hiding in the Ambassador's ship?
No way to know.
The ship hung in the stars, damaged from the explosion. Much of it now scrap, a hunkering piece of junk in the starfield.
At least it was resources. What they didn't use, the cyborgs would take in trade to--
"Kian, do you have that one in the distance?" Harbin asked.
Kian focused and turned his ship around. A pod moved away from the other ships like it was trying to flee everything.
"I'm on it," he said and accelerated toward the pod.
It slipped in and around some of the debris and the other ships. Clunky, but effective.
Whoever was flying was not a trained combat pilot. He caught the ship quickly and came up on its left flank.
So did a Terran fighter.
The Terran ship moved into attack position against the pod.
With weapons charging that weren’t pointed at him.
“Well, that is different,” Kian muttered as he accelerated and locked the fighter in his targeting system.
He came up from underneath and destroyed the fighter before it could fire on the escape pod. The explosion singed his ship. He burst through the flames that evaporated as the oxygen dissipated and looped around. He shot straight over the pod, though he couldn’t see inside.
Was the passenger all right? How many passengers could it hold? Surely no more than one.
“Terran Ambassador, are you injured?”
No response.
He waited a beat, scanning the ship to see what kind of damage it had sustained.
"Terran Ambassador. Are you injured?” he asked again.
The scans revealed there was damage to the maneuverability and sustainability. The Ambassador did not have long before the ship was unable to support life.
"Right. Yes. I am fine."
