She nodded her thanks and offered a small smile. She could do this. She would do this. Krystal hit the thrusters once more, sending the ship into a slight roll.
“They’re getting within range.”
“Wait, Domik. I want them closer.” Zac was focused on the Xakul ship which suddenly turned to face them head on. “Fire!”
With a flick of his wrist, Domik struck the enemy ship with a blast from the plasma cannon. The hull was torn in two, an explosion sending debris spiraling away from where the Xakul ship had been moments before.
T’arq quickly powered up their vessel. “Cloak up.”
Krystal engaged the cloak once more and T’arq flew the ship away from the wreckage of their vanquished foe.
“Nice work, Domik.” T’arq turned to grin at the usually stoic weapons specialist, whose mouth tilted in reply.
Their original trip into the asteroid field had felt like a long voyage, because she had spent so much time collecting data and T’arq had taken an indirect flight path. But this time they flew directly toward their target, and Krystal realized just how close the Zataras was to the Xakul stronghold. She pulled up the navigation screen and, checking their location, estimated that it would take them less than a quarter of the time to arrive, even if the shuttle they were using was much slower than the stealth ship.
They moved into the asteroid belt, hiding occasionally to avoid passing Xakul ships, though they were few. Were most of them engaged in the battle with the Zataras? She shuddered, wondering how the big starship was faring in the attack, but then pushed the thought away to focus on the task in front of her.
Krystal glanced at T’arq sitting next to her.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied, surprised to find that it was the truth.
As one, they flew the shuttle to where they had seen the Xakul’s fake asteroid base. Krystal was surprised to see it wasn’t as big as she remembered, although it was much larger than the Zataras. It was just a big rock.
“Comms are down,” CJ reported with a nervous laugh.
“That signal jammer must be still going,” T’arq said, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.
A door on the side of the rock slid back and a Xakul fighter emerged, flying directly toward them.
“Have they seen us?” She whispered.
“Can they?” T’arq replied.
“I don’t think so.” She knew the Xakul should not be able to see them, but there was still a part of her that was nervous about being found.
An eerie quiet descended on the cockpit as they watched the Xakul fighter approach them. Closer and closer it drew, and Krystal’s heart pounded faster and faster. The ship flew so close to them they could see the Xakul pilot in the cockpit. Krystal shuddered as it passed over them, releasing a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
“Feel better now?” T’arq asked, patting her hand.
“Yes,” she took a few deep breaths, forcing her heart rate to calm, “but I’ll be a lot better when we’re back on the starship…assuming it is still in one piece.”
“I know the feeling,” he muttered, his lips pressed together in a grim line.
“Domik, get those charges ready,” Zac ordered. “T’arq and Krystal, keep the cloak up and be ready to move any moment. CJ, keep checking the comms. I don’t like being this isolated from the Zataras.”
Domik was part of the way through priming the explosive charges when an alert popped up on Krystal’s screen.
“I think we have company,” she said, pointing to where a series of dots had appeared. She zoomed in to see a swarm of Xakul ships approaching their position.
“Shit.”
