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Now Blaze was this close, the Pecket had no way of firing on him. But they’d know he was there. If he didn’t move his ass, they’d assemble a welcome party to take him out.

“Compression is complete,” the ship’s computer said.

“Open the airlock. And switch to auto pilot. Maintain speed with the Pecket ship.”

“Confirmed.”

There was a soft hiss, and a door behind him opened.

Blaze raced along the short corridor. He entered the airlock and tried the air hatch on the Pecket ship. Of course, it was locked from the other side.

“Computer, can you override the locking mechanism from your end?”

“No. The mechanism can only be opened from the Pecket ship.”

Blaze returned to his ship. He grabbed a portable oxygen tank and braced it against the air hatch door.

It was a risky move. If the tank went the wrong way when it exploded, it would rip through the tunnel.

But he was all out of other ideas. He fired a single shot at the oxygen tank.

The tank ignited, blasting a hole in the air lock door. It slammed into the side of the tunnel before thudding to the floor.

“Caution! Breach in the compression chamber. Decompression in ten seconds.”

Blaze sprinted to the hole in the air lock. It was just big enough to get through. He scrambled in and looked around. He was in the underbelly of the Pecket ship, surrounded by equipment. An alarm blazed over his head.

He grabbed a sheet of metal and stuck it over the hole to seal the breach.

Blaze fell against the wall, gasping out a breath.

The ship juddered and his stomach rolled over. They’d just hit warp speed. If he’d been ten seconds slower, he’d have lost Eden forever.

But he was here now, and that meant he could get to her, make sure she wasn’t hurt, then stop these jerks from ever trying something so dumb again.