Pirate Ambush Read Online Free PDF

elbowing and shoving their way forward. Peri peeked through an open door in one of the shacks that lined the streets. Two tough-looking aliens sat inside, deep in conversation. One of them opened a wide astro-case. Peri caught a glint of gold, before the alien noticed him and slammed the case shut. His glare was enough to make Peri slip away quickly and not look back.
    Every street corner had buskers or pirates arguing – sometimes both. The whole place stank of stale drink, sweat and open drains.
    Peri pulled his crew aside. ‘I picked up some short-range coms-patches from the Phoenix ,’ he whispered. He pulled the postage-stamp-sized devices from his pocket. They had delicate gold circuitry on one side and chameleo-skin on the other.
    He handed them out. ‘Stick one behind your ear. It’ll blend into your skin, and they’ll allow us to communicate with each other. Without our Expedition Wear, we’ll need them if we get separated.’
    Peri stuck his coms-patch on. He heard a loud whistling in his ear as the device connected to his circuits and his brain. The whistling vanished and a menu of options appeared in his mind’s eye: Open Radio, Close Radio, Track Others, Transmit Image.
    Peri mentally chose the last option. He’d uploaded an image of Jaxx into his coms-patch before leaving the ship. ‘I’m sending you all a photo of Jaxx.’
    The space pirate flashed across Peri’s vision like a ghost. He was looking at Selene, but he could see Jaxx’s face hovering over her. The space pirate looked really familiar as if he’d met him somewhere before.
    ‘Will you stop looking at me?’ Selene huffed.
    Peri shook his head and the image of Jaxx faded. ‘Haven’s huge. We should start searching.’
    ‘This way,’ Otto shouted, pointing towards the roughest-looking area of the marketplace. The streets were even narrower, as if the shacks had been pushed together by a trash compactor. The buildings seemed to have been made from whatever their alien owners could find – shipping crates, bits of spacecraft, sheet metal and tarpaulins. Smoke and the sound of arguing drifted through the gaps in their walls.
    ‘How are we going to find him in there?’ Diesel asked.
    ‘I have found more elusive prey in harder places,’ Otto boomed. ‘This is child’s play.’
    As they followed Otto down the alleyway, Diesel muttered, ‘Meigwors have strange childhoods.’
    Peri tried not to laugh. ‘Everything about Meigwors is strange,’ he said. But he was worried about how they were going to find Jaxx. They couldn’t disappoint General Pegg. They had to locate Jaxx and this was their only lead. Peri wasn’t about to let his first official Star Fighter mission end in failure.

 
    Chapter 8
     
    ‘Mind your own business or I’ll blast you into space,’ snarled an alien with a dozen eyes.
    Peri swallowed as he backed off into the crowd, hoping the alien wouldn’t come after him. It was really hard to search for anyone on Haven. No one on this asteroid liked to make eye contact unless they absolutely had to.
    At the next crossroads, Peri stopped his crew. ‘We’re attracting too much attention as a group. Let’s split up. Selene, head back to the teleportation platform and keep watch. Otto, go left. Diesel, go right. I’ll carry on in this direction. Use your coms-patches to keep in touch.’
    Peri set off, but the alleys got narrower and darker as they twisted down and down into the worst part of Haven. The smell of sewage became almost unbearable. But before he decided to turn back, Peri spotted a crowded tavern.
    The perfect place to find a space pirate!
    Peri sneaked along the outside of the tavern, peeking through the gaps in the tarpaulin sides. Tired-looking waitresses carried large trays filled with glasses that brimmed with a foul-smelling liquid and dishes piled high with fried space-rats on sticks. There was no sign of Jaxx. Two humans with scars over their faces and burns on their arms were talking close to