Dark Beneath the Moon Read Online Free PDF Page B

question,” Baden said. “He should be on standard trader channel, and I’m trying to get through to him with a signal, but he’s not answering.”
    “Try other channels. Pirates?”
    “Could be. So far, pretty ineffective ones.”
    A flash of movement drew my eyes to the main viewscreen, and I saw our attacker speed past and turn to make another run at us.
    “We haven’t fired on him?” It wasn’t really a question, since I would have known if we’d let fly with one of our own torps.
    “Not yet,” Hirin answered. “It’d feel like zapping a fly with a flux laser. I thought Baden would get him on the comm, and we’d see what was what.”
    Baden pushed himself away from the comm console. “He won’t respond. I know damn well he can hear me.”
    “Fire a—” I started.
    At the same time, Hirin said, “Viss—”
    We both stopped short. Damne . My fault. I was sitting at a pilot’s console, and Hirin had the chair. I shouldn’t have been giving any orders.
    But it sure is hard to break a habit like being in command.
    “Sorry,” I said. His was only an echo behind mine.
    He didn’t let it rattle him, though. “Viss, I’m going to fire a torp in his path to let him know he’s not dealing with a sitting duck here.” He nodded at Baden, who keyed in the code.
    My face radiated heat, and I knew it must be blood-red, but I pretended I didn’t notice the blush. It was the same order I would have given, which should have made me feel better, but somehow it didn’t.
    “I’ve got his drive signature and ship registration,” Yuskeya said. “The registration could be faked, but we’ll know the sig if we run across him again.”
    “Good job,” Hirin said. “Baden, is that torp ready?”
    “Whenever you are, Cap—Hirin,” Baden said. He didn’t turn around, but I knew that suddenly I wasn’t the only one red-faced.
    “Fire whenever you can get a fix on his trajectory, then. Get close, but don’t hit him. He doesn’t seem to have shield capability, and I don’t like killing people unless it’s absolutely necessary.”
    A few seconds of concentrated silence passed, and then Baden said, “Firing.” A hollow crump reverberated up through the Tane Ikai , nothing like the impact of our attacker’s flash-pack torps, but enough to let us know that our own torp was away. I’d been a little miffed when Hirin had armed the ship without my knowledge a month or so ago, but in the circumstances he’d been right. I’d decided it was nice, after ten years without him, to have someone watching my back again.
    But I had to figure out this two-captains-one-ship thing soon, before it drove both of us crazy.
    Once again, however, I was distracted by events beyond my control. Baden’s aim was brilliant, and the torp sailed through the vacuum toward the starrunner, on a course to skim past it. We were all surprised to see a bright burst of radiant energy as the ship’s shields flared and the torp detonated, obscuring the starrunner for an instant. When the flash dissipated, he was still there, but accelerating away from us rapidly.
    “What the—I thought he didn’t have shields!” Hirin yelped.
    “None registered,” Yuskeya said. I glanced over at her. She sat frowning down at the data on her console. “That doesn’t make sense.”
    Baden frowned at the screen. “That little bastardo . What kind of game was he playing, anyway?” His fingers skittered over the comm board. “Wonder if he’s trying to send any messages right about now?”
    “Pursuit?” Rei asked briskly, her hands steady on the piloting controls. She carefully didn’t address the question to either of us in particular.
    Hirin looked the question at me, and I shrugged. “What would we do with him if we caught him? We’ll report it when we get to Mars. We have the ship sig.”
    “I got reams of ship data before Baden fired the torp,” added Yuskeya. “Figured it wouldn’t hurt to do a scan. No cargo in his hold, just one