Evil Star (2 page)

‘He’s making evasive manoeuvres!’ Peri yelled as the
Phoenix
zipped past Daxx’s ship and watched it vanish into clouds of yellow-grey space-fog.

Peri slammed on the turbo-reverse. Instantly, the
Phoenix
spun round and shot into the cloud after Daxx. A thick mist folded around the ship.

‘I’m tracking him on the Velocity View,’ said Peri.

‘I love a good chase!’ Otto boomed. The Meigwor bounty hunter paced the Bridge excitedly.

‘Does Daxx know we’re following him?’ Diesel asked.

‘Dad and I made sure the
Phoenix
’s cloak is set at one hundred per cent efficiency,’ Selene said. ‘The
Space Wolf
doesn’t have powerful enough sensors to detect us.’

The Bridge lights dimmed and glowed red. ‘
Cosmic turbulence ahead
,’ announced the calm voice of the ship’s computer.

An astro-harness snaked around Peri. His stomach lurched as the
Phoenix
plunged into a patch of turbulence. The floating control panel flipped away from his grasp. Peri grabbed it with his fingertips and hauled it back as the
Phoenix
was buffeted by the space-fog.

‘
Frrr’wowoh
!
?’ Otto screamed as he was thrown into the air, bounced against the ceiling and then slammed against the deck. ‘
Oooph!?
’ The Meigwor used his long arms to grab hold of the control panel. He stared at Peri. ‘Blast the space pirates! Then we can get out of here!’

‘No!’ Diesel cried. ‘We need the Heart of Mars in one piece to lift the curse on my planet.’

‘Who cares about that stupid jewel?’ Selene snapped. ‘I need Daxx alive to clear my dad’s name. The IF needs proof that it’s Daxx who’s the real space pirate!’

‘Hold on tight!’ Peri yelled as the
Phoenix
burst from the nebula cloud. They were only seconds behind Daxx, but their target had changed direction again. He was swerving around the wreck of a plasma-tanker. Peri dodged between the corroded metal ribs of the tanker’s hull and shot out the other side.
We’re catching him!

Red lights flashed across the control panel, but it wasn’t another space-hazard. It was something potentially worse – an incoming message from the IF Command Centre.

‘Otto, Selene – hide!’ Peri shouted. The IF didn’t know anything about Otto and Selene being aboard the
Phoenix
. If they did, Peri and Diesel would be in serious galactic trouble.

Otto raced across the Bridge and slid behind the gunnery station, but Selene wasn’t as fast. Diesel pushed her to the floor.

‘Lie flat and keep quiet,’ the half-Martian hissed as the 360-monitor whirled up, showing the tired face of General Pegg.

‘I will not keep quiet!’ The general glared at Diesel. ‘Star Fighters – report on your mission progress,’ he barked.

‘Sir –’ Peri started.

‘I’ve checked your Mission Capsule coordinates,’ the general interrupted. ‘Your objective was to capture Jaxx. What are you doing on that side of the universe?’

‘We’re hot on the heels of the pirate who stole the Heart of Mars,’ Peri replied.

The general took a sharp breath. ‘I hope you know what you’re doing. You’re heading straight for an Astro-Void.’

Peri frowned. Apart from Daxx’s ship, there was nothing at all on the 360-monitor in front of them. Peri wondered what the general was talking about. ‘Sir?’

‘An Astro-Void, Peri,’ the general snapped. ‘Diesel, you took astro-navigation classes – explain it to him.’

‘I got top marks in my class, but I don’t think we covered . . .’ Diesel looked at Peri for support, but Peri just shrugged.

There was a tiny cough from below and they both looked down. Silently Selene put her hands together, then opened them out as wide as she could.

Diesel shook his head. ‘What the
prrrip’chiq
does that mean?’ the gunner muttered.

Selene rolled her eyes. ‘It’s a vast dark space between galaxies,’ she whispered.

‘What’s going on?’ General Pegg’s eyes bulged. ‘Who else is on your ship?’

Peri’s throat tightened. General Pegg was going to confiscate their Star Fighter badges for hiding Selene on board, but they couldn’t pretend she wasn’t there now. Peri reached down and helped her stand up. ‘Selene is –’

‘I know who she is! She’s a stowaway and a troublemaker,’ the general snapped. ‘I’ve kicked her off the IF Space Station more times than I can remember, yet somehow she always manages to return.’

Selene shrugged. ‘It’s not my fault that your security systems don’t work properly.’

‘Quiet!’ General Pegg ordered. ‘I will not have civilians on an official IF mission. Lock Selene in a holding cell for her own safety – and yours. Return with her and that space pirate in custody soon, or your Star Fighter careers will be the shortest in IF history! End message.’

Peri felt stunned as the 360-monitor whirled back into the control panel. Why hadn’t he explained to General Pegg that Selene was an incredible engineer and a valuable member of the crew? They couldn’t afford to lose her from the
Phoenix
.

Diesel pulled out a pair of handcuffs. ‘Are you going to come along quietly then?’ he asked Selene.

Selene leapt back. ‘You spineless creep! After all I’ve done to save you!’

Diesel’s yellow eyes flashed. ‘No one has ever needed to save
me
, you bossy bugonaut!’

Peri jumped up and put himself between them. ‘No one is arresting Selene. Diesel, give me the cuffs.’

Diesel’s narrow band of hair bristled as he handed them over. ‘I can’t believe you’re taking her side.’

‘She’s part of the crew,’ Peri said. ‘End of story.’

‘Hey, Earthlings!’ Otto boomed, crawling out from behind the gunnery station. ‘The cosmic-rat has led us to his nest!’

Peri turned to look where Otto was pointing. The 360-monitor showed that Daxx’s vessel was heading straight for a huge shimmering blue planet.

Selene hit the intercom switch and shouted, ‘Dad, come to the Bridge! You’ve got to see this.’ Then she slammed the ‘Emergency Stop’ button, making the
Phoenix
come to a dead stop.

‘What are you doing?’ Peri demanded.

Selene put her hands on her hips. ‘I don’t understand. There shouldn’t be any planets in an Astro-Void.’

Jaxx materialised next to Selene. He started activating the scanners.

They watched Daxx’s ship duck and swerve on its approach to the shimmering blue planet as if it was flying an obstacle course.

Then the
Space Wolf
disappeared.

‘He’s just vanished like a plasma-phantom!’ Jaxx exclaimed. ‘There’s no sign of cloak activation, not even a heat signature.’

Peri realised that something was horribly wrong.

Chapter 2

‘Daxx’s ship can’t just have disappeared. It must have landed on the blue planet,’ Peri said. ‘Magnify the planet, Selene. I want to see what we’re up against before we get any closer.’

Selene spun a couple of zip-dials and frowned as the 360-monitor dissolved into  static. ‘The planet is shielded against magnified optical viewing. We’ll have to get closer to see anything.’

‘This is bad,’ Peri said. ‘First the ship we’re following vanishes. Then we come across a planet that shouldn’t exist. And the planet blocks our optical scans.’

‘This is just like that shielded asteroid I helped us sneak on to,’ Diesel said.

‘You mean Haven,’ Jaxx said. ‘Do you think this could be another port for the Mezzoka Clan?’

Peri shivered at the idea of meeting up with the organised clan of the worst criminals in the Milky Way. He hoped that wouldn’t happen.

‘Your parents upgraded the Ultrawave scanner,’ Selene answered. ‘Let’s use that to find out.’

‘We’re in big trouble if Daxx is working for the Mezzoka Clan.’ Otto smacked a button on the gunnery station. A rectangle of red light appeared in the deck under Diesel’s feet. As the gunner jumped aside, the deck panel slid away. ‘Let’s arm up!’

Shurrrpppt!
A device like a small Ferris wheel floated up into the Bridge with more than twenty double-sided racks displaying almost every hand-held weapon Peri had ever seen – and a few that he hadn’t.

‘Where did that come from?’ Peri gasped.

‘And how does Otto know it’s there when I don’t?’ Diesel complained. ‘I’m in charge of weapons.’

‘I told him about it,’ Selene said. ‘He organised the whole thing while we were hiding on board and you were taking your Star Fighter exams. I had to keep him occupied somehow.’

‘You didn’t think that telling a Meigwor bounty hunter about a huge stash of deadly weapons might be a bad idea?’ Diesel pushed past Otto and hit the switch to stop the wheel rotating. He stared at the selection. ‘Where are the dusters and Paralysides?’

‘Dusters!’ Otto boomed. ‘Pathetic weapons!’ He smacked the button to start the racks spinning again. ‘We need much bigger firepower.’

Over on the other side of the Bridge, Peri jumped as a loud wave of static burst from the control panel. ‘What the space dust was that?’ he exclaimed.

‘Sorry,’ Selene murmured as she fiddled with a zip-dial until the noise vanished. ‘I was trying to magnify the Ultrawave signal, but the planet’s too well shielded. We’ll try the Exo-Scanners next.’

‘Reconfigure the forward sensors,’ Jaxx said. ‘We could use them as a plasma-sonar array. That might pick up a signal from the blue planet.’

‘Good idea, Dad,’ Selene said.

Otto pulled a large grey tube from the weapons rack. ‘Plasma-bombs! Perfect!’

‘Are you insane?’ Diesel exclaimed. ‘You’ll blow us up if you’re not careful.’

The patches around Otto’s eyes darkened. ‘I know what I’m doing, Martian moon-head!’

‘Otto, Diesel – knock it off,’ Peri ordered. ‘Keep focused on our mission.’

Diesel’s hair was bristling. ‘I’m not the dumboid who wants to start a war with the Mezzoka Clan!’

‘Who are you calling a dumboid?’ Otto shouted. He pulled his silver electro-prod from his belt and flicked it out. It lengthened by a metre and began to crackle.

Peri leapt up to stop them fighting before it got out of hand, but he was too late. With a snarl, Otto lashed out at Diesel. The half-Martian dodged the electro-prod and it hit the deck. A shower of electrical sparks exploded in front of Peri, forcing him back. Being part bionic sometimes had its downsides.
An electrical surge from the prod could fry my circuits!
He’d have to find another way to break up the fight.