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“You’re right. Six months and we’ll be out of each other’s way.”

“Great,” Holly said.

“Fantastic.” Avel scowled at her before turning his attention to the controls. His eyes widened as he saw a red alert appear on his screen. Shit! He’d not been paying attention to the star storm.

He scrolled through the previous message alerts. The alert had gone from amber to red five minutes ago.

“We have a problem.” A quick scan of the data told him they were in deep trouble. The storm was moving faster than anyone had anticipated.

Holly leaned closer and looked at the control panel. “What is it?”

“You need to hold on tight.” Avel redirected all available power to the engines to boost their speed.

Holly leaned back, her cheeks paling. “Is it the storm?”

Avel nodded as the ship lurched to the side. The damn storm was enormous, worse than had been forecast. He couldn’t fly under it or over it. It was chasing them faster than he could fly, nipping at the back end of his ship like a hungry beast.

“Avel, we’re going to be okay, aren’t we?”

He glanced at Holly. He doubted very much they’d be okay, but he wasn’t telling her that. “Hold on. I’ll get us through this.”

He checked the distance to the wormhole and snarled. They were too far away. They’d never make it, even with all power sent to the engines.

The ship plunged several hundred feet as the storm tickled the back end of the ship again and screwed with the propulsion system.

Holly gasped and clutched the arm rests. “Can I do anything? I can help with maintaining control.”

“No, we’ll make it,” Avel muttered.

An alarm rang. Avel silenced it with a jab of a finger.

Tiny pieces of rock and metal pinged off the hull as the storm edged closer. If they ended up in the middle of this storm, the ship would be torn apart. A star storm contained anything from tiny chunks of old meteors to huge twisted wrecks of ships that had been abandoned in space. It would only take a single blow from something big, and they’d be dead.

The ship lurched again. Avel righted their course, keeping an eye on how fast the storm was traveling. The news was bad. It was gaining on them.

“Do you believe in any gods?” Avel asked.

“Erm, I’m not sure.”

“Well, whatever you do believe in, send a request for a helping hand.” Avel tensed as the ship plunged again. He corrected their course, checked the scanners, and let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Did we get past the storm?”

Avel squinted at the scanner. “Not yet. Hold tight!”

The back end of the ship spun out of control. Avel’s head would have slammed against the roof if it wasn’t for the straps holding him in his seat.

Holly screamed as everything continued to spin.

“Hold on,” he yelled to her.

The ship was out of control. No matter what Avel did, he couldn’t correct this star cursed tailspin. More debris crashed against the ship, punching into the rapidly diminishing force field.

“We’re going to crash,” Holly screamed.

“Not if I can help it.” Avel’s fingers were a blur as he chased control of the ship. It was slammed from side to side, more debris pounding it as they were lost in the storm.

Avel spotted the dead planet Sabernicus fifty miles east of their location. If he could get them there, they might stand a chance. They’d survive the storm, and if the ship was still serviceable, he could get them back to Prodigy after it had passed.