Drifter

Eli fired up the main thrusters, setting the contents of the little hidden bay ablaze as Cavalier blasted out into space. He quickly locked onto the ship that Aydem had stolen from Shimmering Devil’s main hangar. It was a small shuttle, a scissor-tailed thing that sported a set of forward-facing wings.

Eli gave chase. He analyzed the shuttle’s trajectory and decided that he was heading for the system’s lone gas giant.

No sign of Gami, thanks no doubt to her ship’s cloaking system. Jiraa’s ship detached from where it had forcibly docked with Shimmering Devil. None of the vessel’s guns returned fire as he proceeded to systematically and viciously destroy the cruiser.

The pink furred killer sent out a message on a general frequency, “Now you’ll have to travel all the way to Lashua if you want to turn him in.”

This turn of events interested Eli. What had at first seemed like an act of wanton destruction for its own sake was in fact a move designed to hinder his opponent.

Eli keyed the mic, “That was pointless. Bohoat Mog is dead, and I’m taking Aydem to Ujita.”

“Where justice will be done for his crimes? I like the sound of that, but the mob will take care of him all the same, and they pay much more.”

Eli discovered, to his discomfort, that Jiraa’s statement sounded reasonable. The screams of the fugitive in the apartment washed across his mind. He forced them away when he saw that Jiraa was going full throttle in the direction of the gas giant.

Eli brought the massive planet up on one of the long-range cameras. The cloudy world was surrounded by countless moons. Entering the big world’s atmosphere would mean certain death. So, one of those moons must be his destination.

The human gave each of the satellites a quick check, hoping to figure out which one the target was heading for. There was a mangled ball enclosed in a hell storm of debris, the victim of an asteroid strike. One of the moons sported an odd pattern of craters, as if the universe was trying to use it to communicate with its inhabitants. Another looked volcanic, dreadful wounds covering its surface.

There, Aytem was heading for a blue and white sphere that wore a halo of icy shards. Before Eli could intercept his target, the shuttle settled into this halo, disappearing completely. The targeting system let Eli know that Jiraa had just entered weapons range, a reminder that he wasn’t the only player on the board. He entered the ring and began his search.

The ice ring was thick. The task of navigating it while simultaneously checking the scanner readout was daunting. Eli slid his craft around the frozen obstructions. The neon wireframe projections and simple icons on the sensor screens mirrored the icy chaos.

Jiraa slowly flew over the ring. He methodically swept sensor beams across it, sometimes wide, other times tightly focused.

Eli bumped up the speed, struggling to keep ahead of his rival. His eyes strained to pick out details on the readouts. A near miss, followed by a particularly heavy area forced him to totally focus on piloting.

Jiraa’s voice again, “Your name is Eli,” it was a statement, not a question.

“And you are Jiraa.”

“Correct. I’ll cut you a deal: if you find him before me and give me his position, I’ll give you ten percent of the reward.”

“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll have to pass.”

“I understand. You’ve gotten this far. Now that we’re nearing the end, you can’t bring yourself to bow out.”

“True,” Eli admitted, rapidly looking from the scanner to the viewport.

“I saw the symbols under your brand. They trained you, didn’t they? Tried to bring you into the fold?”

“I rejected it.”

“Yes, again, I understand. But is it from wisdom or resentment? Perhaps neither of us can tell. Perha-”

His words suddenly stopped, and he let out an involuntary cry of shock. Eli checked the targeting computer and saw that Jiraa’s ship was turning sharpy, firing wildly. A mine had traveled up one of the scanner beams and was on a collision course. Just as he managed to destroy it, Gami uncloaked and started shooting at point blank range.

A shield charge flared out. Jiraa simply turned in her direction and gunned it, ramming her ship. She tried to move out of the way, firing side-mounted maneuvering jets. This was only partially successful. The bulldog front section of Jiraa’s craft tore a wide gash down the length of the underside of her vessel.

Eli watched in horror as her ship dipped down into the ring. She barely avoided a few of the larger chunks of ice. One struck just to the left of the cockpit, causing more damage. Before long she began to uncontrollably descend into the moon’s atmosphere.

Aydem chose that moment to make a run for it, bolting out of the ring. Jiraa moved to intercept. He fired a set of hidden turbo boosters, began to rapidly close the distance. Eli’s gaze moved back and forth from the pursuit to the moon.