Pirate Ambush (2 page)

‘I hate
prrrip’chiq
asteroids!’ Diesel snapped.

‘You can’t shoot yourself out of this one,’ Peri shouted. ‘You’ll create too much debris.’

‘Just watch me, dumboid!’ Diesel yelled.

‘Don’t say I didn’t warn you,’ Peri said, weaving through the maze of space-rocks.

He twisted and dodged until he glimpsed the narrow green laser beam of the finish line. His circuits buzzed with excitement. He was going to finish first! Peri hit his booster rockets and darted forward.

‘Peri, you must collect the last beacon before you cross the finish line.’ General Pegg’s voice crackled over the radio.

Aaaaaargh!
How could Peri have forgotten the last beacon?

If he failed this test, someone else would take his place on the
Phoenix
. He couldn’t let that happen. It wasn’t just that Peri wanted else to be a Star Fighter more than anything in the solar system. He and Diesel were keeping a big secret. They had two unofficial crew members hiding on the
Phoenix
: Selene, their fearless engineer, who had been a stowaway, and Otto, a bounty hunter from planet Meigwor. If anyone found out about either of them, Peri feared he and Diesel would be kicked out of the IFA.

The final beacon was only seconds away from the finish line. Peri was going too fast for the transporter beam. He punched in the coordinates of the beacon and activated the laser net.

‘Negative,’
the computer responded.
‘Too dangerous to use laser net at this speed.’

‘Override safety protocols,’ Peri commanded, pressing his palm against the control panel to override the ship’s computer.

‘Override accepted.’
The computer dropped the laser net in place.

Peri guided his pod towards the beacon. Blood pounded in his head. He fought hard to keep the nav-stick steady. He had one chance to get it right.

‘Now,’ he yelled and pulled up. As the net scooped up the beacon and brought it on board, the nav-stick was wrenched from Peri’s hand. The laser net’s split-second grab was like slamming on the brakes at top speed. He was thrown against the astro-harness. His fighter pod spun violently. He banged on the stabilising thrusters, but he just kept spinning.

‘
S’fâh
, Peri!’ Diesel yelled over the radio. ‘What are you doing?’ Diesel was zigzagging madly, trying to keep his own fighter pod out of Peri’s way.

The finish line was just ahead. Peri slammed on the boosters. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but maybe he could still do it. With the right touch, he could nudge his out-of-control fighter pod in the right direction. He punched the nav-stick left, then right. He held his breath as he spun through the green light of the finish line. He regained control just in time to see Diesel’s pod cross the line. The final scores flashed on the screen. The race was over. Peri had crossed the finish line first!

‘Rocket-tastic!’ Peri cried. ‘Eat my two point three seconds, Diesel!’

General Pegg’s voice came over the radio. ‘Peri and Diesel! Back to base immediately!’

Peri steered towards the IFA base-ship. General Pegg sounded really angry, but why? Peri and Diesel had both passed the final Star Fighter test.

The automatic docking controls guided the fighter pods into the landing bay. Peri’s pod touched down with a jolt. He tore off the astro-harness and climbed out. Diesel stormed towards him. His narrow band of spiky hair had turned scarlet and his eyes flashed yellow.

‘You cheating lamizoid!’ Diesel shouted.

Before Peri could reply, General Pegg marched into the landing bay.

‘I’ve never seen such reckless flying!’ he yelled. ‘I should discharge you both for endangering each other’s lives!’

Peri’s circuits went cold.

Had he just thrown away his chance of becoming a fully fledged Star Fighter?

Chapter 2

General Pegg flicked a finger across the touch screen of his wrist-computer and the scores on the board above the landing bay changed. ‘Peri, I’m penalising you fifteen seconds.’

That’s not fair
, Peri wanted to shout.
I crossed the line first!

‘I win!’ Diesel cheered as his band of hair turned orange in celebration.

‘Be quiet, Diesel!’ General Pegg yelled. ‘You may have won the race – but I’m not sure either of you is mature enough to become a Star Fighter.’

Peri felt his stomach turn as if he was doing somersaults around a black hole. Diesel’s hair had turned a sickly green. After a week of the most intensive training in the history of the IFA, General Pegg couldn’t fail them now, could he?

One of the trainers ran over to Peri. ‘You’ve broken the all-time record!’ he said, but an angry look from General Pegg sent the trainer scurrying away.

‘Using the laser net at that speed was a reckless stunt, but –’ The general’s mouth twitched into what could have been a smile. ‘I can’t fault your skill as a pilot, Peri – nor yours as a gunner, Diesel.’

The general’s mouth tightened. Peri wondered what he was going to say next. ‘You are young and I’m worried that you both take too many risks,’ he continued, shaking his head. ‘I need some time to decide if you’re truly ready to become Star Fighters.’

General Pegg turned and marched from the landing bay, leaving Peri and Diesel staring at each other.

‘He can’t stop us becoming Star Fighters
now
, can he?’ Diesel gasped.

‘He can do what he wants,’ Peri replied and headed for a service hatch at the edge of the landing bay.

Diesel followed him. ‘Where are you going?’

‘Keep your voice down,’ Peri hissed. ‘I’m going to the
Phoenix
.’

He climbed into one of the service tunnels that ran through the IF base-ship. ‘I want to check on Selene and Otto,’ he said, ‘but I need to sneak on board. We don’t want anyone asking too many questions. If Pegg finds out about Selene and Otto, he won’t just fail us, he’ll vaporise us!’

‘I can understand why Otto’s hiding,’ Diesel said. ‘Who wants a smelly Meigwor bounty hunter around? But Selene’s dad works for the IF, so why does she need to hide?’

‘There has to be a reason she stowed away on the
Phoenix
in the first place. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.’ Peri pushed past a stack of crates, then held up a hand to stop Diesel. ‘There’s a camera at the corner,’ he said. ‘We need to stick close against this wall. It’s in the camera’s blind spot. I’ve memorised a sensor-free route from the blueprints. We’ll still need to be really careful though.’

Peri and Diesel shuffled along, then slipped through a door into a main corridor. At the end of the corridor was an entrance portal that lead to the launch bay. After activating the doors they hid at the sides and peered round as the doors slid open. They were in luck! There were no security guards.

Diesel moved towards the doorway. Peri grabbed his arm to hold him back. ‘Wait,’ he hissed and pointed to the four cameras aimed at the
Phoenix
. He pulled a small gadget from his pocket. It was round with a red button. ‘This will knock out any camera within range. We’ll have ten seconds to get on board. Ready?’

Diesel nodded. Peri pressed the button and whispered, ‘Now.’

They sprinted to the
Phoenix
and up the ramp.

‘Where are Selene and that big ugly dumboid?’ Diesel panted as they raced into the ship’s mauve-lit corridor.

‘I don’t know.’ Peri wheezed as he spoke. ‘They must be hiding somewhere on board. We’ll ask the
Phoenix
where.’

As he went to touch a com-pad, it lit up and a message flashed across the screen:
Follow the lights . . .

At their feet, a series of lights pulsed along the length of the corridor to a portal, lit with a silvery glow.

It opened and, stepping through, they found themselves in a tiny storage room filled with stacks of zero-gravity toilet rolls. ‘Selene? Otto?’ Diesel shouted. ‘It’s us!’

Peri heard Selene tut. ‘I know! It was
me
who led you here.’

Then the image of the storage cupboard in front of them blinked to reveal a large workshop filled with monitors of every size and shape.

‘Come in,’ Selene muttered. ‘You need to be on this side of the hologram. I rewired the security systems and this room is no longer on the blueprints.’

There were sleeping bunks at opposite ends of the workshop and bits of electronics equipment scattered everywhere in between. Selene was fiddling with a spiral-shaped device on a workbench. It had a trigger in the middle and a funnel at the other end.

Peri peered at her device. ‘What’s that you’re working on?’

‘Don’t bother asking her to show you!’ Otto shouted. The bumps on his long Meigwor neck bulged with annoyance. ‘Inferior device! Doesn’t work!’

‘It’s something my dad and I were trying to perfect,’ she said, ignoring the Meigwor bounty hunter.

‘Have you been in touch with your dad?’ Peri asked, thinking she must be worried about her father. Peri assumed he had been on the IF Space Station when Xion attacked the Milky Way.

Selene huffed. ‘If you must know, yes, I have spoken to my dad.’ She threw down the wire she was trying to solder. ‘Satisfied? Can we drop it?’