Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

transit seems to be an attractive target.”
    Darcy went silent, again.
    Both of them knew the odds of them making it out of the system was small. The enemy could just fire a missile at the human freighter and boom, the freighter would be gone, and all the fighters heading towards it would be stranded inside the system. Fighters were not equipped with hyperlight technology. That type of bulky equipment couldn’t be carried on small crafts. Usually, a carrier conveyed fighters in between systems. But there was no carrier in this system. They had launched from an orbital space station, a place they couldn’t return to.
    This time, Brigum broke the silence, “Well D, if there’s anyone I’d want to be with, it’s you. I couldn’t think of a better person to spend my last moments with.”
    “D-don’t get sentimental, Brim. We’re not dead yet. You and I have much more time together. I’m the best flyer in the parsec, remember? Alcohol might dim my feelings, but not my skills.”
    Several minutes later, Brigum observed that one of the missiles was definitely heading towards his group of fighters. The com chatter in between the fighters sounded noisily in his head. One voice was saying all the fighters should split further apart. Another voice said that if the fighters closed themselves together, they would stand a better chance at knocking the missile out with their combined countermeasures.
    A third voice said one of their fighters should go attack the missile before it touched the group. But nobody volunteered.
    In the end, the voices were split. As a result, some of the fighters tried to distance themselves as far as possible from the rest. Other fighters huddled close together to attack the missile when it came.
    Brigum opted to be as far away as possible.
    As the missile came closer and closer, it veered towards the densest group of fighters. Before even reaching the range of the countermeasures on board the mark nine fighters, the missile detonated.
    For one moment, everything was fine. The next moment, all electronics everywhere in the cockpit turned off. Suddenly, his helmet display blackened. He couldn’t see through his nanoscreen anymore, and he couldn’t hear the electronic chatter from the other pilots. He was in complete darkness. He took of his helmet.
    The cockpit was in pitch blackness. None of the cockpit displays were on.
    “D?” He could hear the sound of Darcy’s helmet unlocking as well. “D?”
    “Brim?”
    “Good, you’re okay.”
    “That was some sort of EMP. All my controls are gone. I can’t see a thing. Switching on emergency lights.”
    Suddenly, the cockpit glowed blue.
    “Can you reset the cockpit controls?” Darcy asked.
    “Trying.”
    Several minutes later and no avail. They were dead in the water.
    “We’re running on the remaining oxygen,” Darcy said. “As far as I can tell, the oxygen recycler isn’t working. Nothing is. We’re drifting in the direction of the freighter but it’s only our momentum.”
    Silence.
    “I’ll keep trying,” Brigum said. For the next few minutes, he tried everything he knew about the mark nine fighter to reboot the cockpit controls, but nothing worked. “How much oxygen we got, D?”
    “I don’t know. Whatever is left in the spare oxygen packs.”
    Silence.
    More time passed. Eventually, Brigum said, “I can’t do it, D. I can’t get the cockpit controls working. They’re all dead. Everything is dead. I can’t get us out of here.”
    Darcy was silent.
    Brigum sighed. He couldn’t believe it. So this was how he would perish, not in a flare of light against pirates but in suffocation. He wondered how the other fighters were doing. What was Gerry doing, now? And Slim? And Pack? Were they all in the same situation as he—isolated from the universe in a pit of death with time slowly trickling away?
    The seconds ticked. It was only a matter of time...
    All was silent in the cockpit as Brigum tried the same thing over and over