I had stayed for some time in the firing range after Willis had left and just allowed what he had told me stink in.

  Now, making my way back towards my room, I had gotten lost amongst the myriad of corridors of the ship. A small seed of panic was developing in my stomach, but I knew whatever happened I would come across someone eventually; if worst came to worst I would have to shout for help.

  I took another left and saw a large pair of double doors before me, which I knew would take me to the bridge. I hoped I would find someone there because it was time I swallowed my pride and just asked for directions.

  Entering the bridge, it took my eyes time to adjust to the dim lighting as I made my way further inside. I scanned the room and saw José’s black dome-like head just visible over the top of the chair. I made my way towards him and saw that he was staring at a cluster of holographic images displayed in the air in front of him.

  “What’s your take on this, boyo?” he said, zooming in on a few of the holographic pictures.

  Each picture depicted a ship—no, on closer inspection I saw it was, in fact, different ships that had been captured at different time intervals all leading up to the last few hours. The hull and outline of each ship were slightly different, but all were sleeker looking than The Kennel and appeared to have more firepower, judging by the cannons and gun turrets that covered each ship’s outer surface.

  “It appears to be different ships photographed at differently timed intervals. All are slightly different in body image but all have one thing in common, weapons. Apart from that, I’m not sure what you want me to say,” I said with a shrug.

  He tapped his chin and threw his hands out so the images moved away from him and enlarged.

  “All these images were taken just after we left Safe Haven. All the ships pictured here have been captured by our sensors. They all have a few things in common—when they notice we’ve detected their presence they flee, they all have similar weaponry, and you can follow the trail of pictures all the way back to a few hours after we departed Safe Haven.”

  “If it was the same ship, I would say we’re being followed but you can clearly see each ship is slightly different,” I said, pointing to the images.

  “What if it was done on purpose?”

  “What do you mean?” I said, looking at him confused.

  “I mean what if it’s the same ship just disguised to look different,” he said, thick Spanish accent coating the words.

  “Well, it could, but I mean how—”

  The ship lurched underneath my feet causing me to slam into the console I was in front of; I braced myself against it and held on for dear life as the ship rocked back and forth. I steadied myself and looked towards José, who still sat calmly in his captain’s chair.

  “What the fuck was that!” I yelled, walking towards him.

  I didn’t get an answer as the bridge doors opened and Willis, Poppy and Tuari made their way through the doors.

  “That,” said José, pushing his red-tinted glasses up his nose, “was the surprise attack from the co?os who have been following us since we left Safe Haven. All hands on deck! Let’s see if we can’t make these motherfuckers pay before we shake them off our tail. Tuari take over from the autopilot, Willis weapons, Poppy surveillance, Quinton…” he said, looking my way, “stay out of the way and don’t get hurt.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “What?” I asked, affronted.

  “Have you ever been in a space dogfight before?”

  I shook my head.

  “Then shut your whore mouth,” Willis shouted from where he sat, “and watch and learn. Newbie here has been on the ship five minutes and he already thinks he knows his elbow from his asshole.”

  “Just watch,” José said, “watch and learn. Hopefully, this won’t be your last time in a situation like this.”

  “You never know though,” Tuari said with a laugh. “Our Luck’s been pretty good lately; it’s about time it ran out.”

  I looked at him as the colour drained from my face and all he did was smile.

  “We have a battleship class ship on our rear; I can detect ion cannons, plasma cannons, lasers and numerous other forms of weaponry on her. She appears to be keeping a safe distance from us while she targets our engines,” Poppy said, fingers dancing in the air in front of her.

  “Tuari, how far out are we from our targeted destination?” José asked.

  “A little over an hour.”

  José said nothing as he tapped his finger against his chin.

  “Incoming hail,” Poppy said, looking over her shoulder.

  “Well, it would be rude not to answer it,” Tuari said before José could respond.

  An image flickered across the bridge viewing screen before it settled onto a picture of Gregory’s face; his expressionless gaze scanned everyone on the bridge before settling on me. A slight smirk curled the corners of his lips before he nodded his head.

  “Can I speak to one José Battle?” he asked.

  “I am him.”

  Gregory turned his attention towards José and said nothing as he studied the man before him.

  “Hmm, interesting, I expected something different. Nevertheless, you are in possession of property that belongs to the Xcorp organisation, and as such I have come to recover it. If you hand it over willingly and peacefully nothing shall happen to you or your crew; if you do not then I shall be forced to destroy it and cut our losses.”

  José said nothing as he looked towards me then slowly turned to Gregory. “What about our boy here?” he said, pointing towards me.

  “I am afraid we shall be taking him as well.”

  “You see, that’s where we may have a problem,” José said, wolf-like smile appearing on his lips. “You said ‘nothing shall happen to your crew’ and as of right now Quinton here is part of my crew, so would you like to re-negotiate and come back with a better offer?”

  Gregory said nothing as he stared at José, I saw the mask crack ever so slightly as he bit the inside of his cheek, then it was renewed again. A blank, almost bored expression washed across his face.

  “I am afraid Xcorp doesn’t make deals with pirates; we have a zero-tolerance policy regarding such matters.”

  José gave him an “I don’t really give a fuck” shrug, which only caused Gregory to bite the inside of his cheek even harder.

  “Look, mate,” Willis said, “what’s your name?”

  “Gregory Goodwin.”

  “Fuck me,” Willis said rolling his eyes. “I have never met a Gregory who wasn’t a complete and utter cunt,” he said to the room before addressing, my former boss: “Look, Gregory, we ain’t giving up the goods unless you make a better offer than the one we’re about to get from our current client. You better their price and the little data-stick is all yours.”

  “Does this uncouth dog talk for you?” Gregory asked José.

  “Not normally, but on this occasion I think he’s hit the nail right on the head. So what do you say, Gregory? Would you like to make us an offer?”

  The screen viewing went blank as he cut the feed.

  “Well, I guess that’s a no,” José said. “Tuari, divert all the power from the shields to the engines. I want full power to them until we reach our destination.”

  The ship rocked from side to side as incoming fire bombarded its side.

  “Won’t lowering the shields make us defenceless?” I asked.

  “Only if they hit us,” Tuari laughed as he punched and pulled levers and buttons in front of him.

  I looked around the room in wild panic as the faces that returned my gaze were either joyful, crazy, sombre or happy.

  “Are you telling me that for the best part of an hour, we’re going to try and play chicken with an enemy ship while they try to blow us up? And the only thing you’re counting on is not getting hit?”

  “Yup.”

  “Of course, asswipe.”

  “It’ll be OK, Quinton.”

  As the various answers from the crew came back my way I looked towards José and sent a pleading look his way.

  “Life only starts, my friend, when danger and failure become the norm. Tuari, you know what to do—let’s give this hijo de putas a run for his money!”