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longer,
we’ll be dead. We need a distraction. Do it.”
    Instantly, long streaks
shot out from Calíbre ’s cannons, lighting up the Victor’s shields. A perfect hit.
Grey gave silent thanks. Leena was manning the main guns this
shift. She was the best gunner he had. The attacker slowed its
pursuit somewhat, but made no move toward Calíbre .
    “ Shields down on the
Victor, sir. They should back off now,” Decker said. “Head for us,
we’ll cover you.”
    “ I don’t think so,” Grey
growled. “Cidra, give me one more shot.”
    With the Victor closing fast on her tail
again, she flipped the nimble jet vertical and dove hard left. The
Victor followed on an intercept course. Cidra yanked her ship hard
around and under the Victor at neck breaking speed. She could hear
Barrios’ loud gasp behind her.
    “ Hang on,” she ground out.
The attacker was now above and behind her trying to swing around.
She pulled the K12 straight up and upside down, her guns facing the
Victor’s unprotected side.
    “ Now!” she yelled, but Grey
was already firing. Orange lines lanced across the Victor, ripping
through its vulnerable belly as Cidra pulled them through the
inside-out loop. A violent explosion shook the bigger ship,
followed by a small series of flashes before it burst into a raging
ball of fire.
    Cidra brought the transport around to
witness the full destruction of their attacker. The tiny cabin was
quiet except for her ragged breathing. While she fought to control
her thundering heartbeat, it slowly dawned on her that six people
had just died at her very sweaty, very shaky hands.
    Grey slammed the comm switch. “Did you get
an ID on that ship, Decker?”
    “ Working on it now. We
should have it by the time you come aboard.” Decker’s voice
bellowed over various whoops from Calíbre ’s deck crew.
    Grey shut off the comm and scrubbed his
hands over his face.
    “ Well, that was
interesting,” Barrios said weakly, his face a light shade of green.
“Friends of yours, Stone?”
    Grey exhaled hard. “Everyone has enemies.
We’ll find out who it was.”
    Someone wanted him dead.
That much was certain, but they didn’t touch Calíbre . Either they did not view her
as a threat—a very remote possibility—or they wanted Calíbre unharmed for
another reason. Piracy . He would make a list of possible suspects later. He had the
feeling the list would be succinctly short. First, he had someone
to thank.
    He turned to Cidra, who sat staring out into
space. “Nice flying, Cidra. We make a good team.”
    She didn’t appear to hear him, her face
frozen. He realized she was shaking hard. “Are you all right?”
    “ Fine.” She closed her
eyes, her jaw muscles tightening. “Killing is new for
me.”
    He fought the urge to pull her into his arms
and hold her. This was her personal battle. He prayed the strong
warrior within her would win. He could not afford for her to go
soft on him. Out here, a moment of hesitation could be bad. Worse
than bad. Downright deadly.
    Grey leaned over, commanding her full
attention. “Cidra, they were trying to kill us and they would have.
We had no choice.”
    Cidra nodded. He was right of course, but it
didn’t stop the trembling in her gut that threatened to invade and
conquer the rest of her body. They had families, children,
homes.
    “ I’ll bring us in.” Grey
took over the controls.
    She didn’t argue, didn’t have the energy.
She pulled the quiet strength of Kin-sha around her.
    Numbly, she watched his
ship fill the main view screen. Calíbre . Cidra concentrated on the
sound of it, repeating it until her heartbeat returned to normal
and she no longer felt like vomiting. The name rolled through her
mind as if it had always held a place there.
    A Moorian-built cruiser, it moved
gracefully, its red square-tipped nose slicing through space. The
silver main body extended back from the nose, short wings flanking
each side. A massive space foil looming over the aft part of the
ship