Zenith Read Online Free Page A

whispered in her ear on dark nights. And here in this wasteland, a graveyard where many had met their demise, death felt closer than ever.
    “We need to single out the seekers,” Andi said.
    “On it,” Lira said.
    The tracker was slow, but it was a beast. The smaller asteroids bounced off its sides, barely scraping the reinforced material. The seeker ships followed behind, protected from the brunt of the asteroid attacks.
    Andi knew they had to separate them, get the seekers alone in the sky.
    A massive, hulking rock appeared ahead of them, easily the largest asteroid in the belt.
    “Lira,” Andi said, a plan brewing in her mind as she pointed at the asteroid, “circle us around that thing.”
    “Circling will slow us down.” Lira cocked her head, her blue skin stained with flashes of white as the single star in the distance came into view.
    Andi gritted her teeth. “Do it, Lira.”
    Lira nodded, clenched the wheel, and sent the Marauder careening around the massive asteroid.
    The Marauder swung in a great arch, and in the rear-cam, the ships pursued, flashes of white and black, shadows that just wouldn’t quit. But as they angled further and further around the outer edge of the asteroid, the tracker ship slowed too much.
    Now it was just the seekers and the Marauder , odds that Andi knew her ship and its crew could handle.
    “Wait for it…” she whispered, her breath hitched in her throat. In the rear-cam, the seekers followed, streaks of light with their guns firing on auto while they tried in vain to catch up to the Marauder . What was the plan? Even if the two seekers caught them and tried to dock, with ships that small, they wouldn’t be able to haul the Marauder across the skies.
    Another flash of white.
    “They’re getting closer!” Breck shouted in the com. “Ready for the command!”
    Andi bit her tongue, the metallic tang of blood strong enough to keep her fear at bay.
    Another flash.
    Prox alarms, blaring in Andi’s ear.
    “Incoming!” Breck shouted. “They’re almost on us!”
    “Any time now!” Gilly yelped.
    Close.
    Closer.
    Andi could make out the outline of the pilot behind the wheel of the first ship.
    “One more second,” she whispered.
    “Andi, we should shoot.” Lira’s blue eyes looked black in the darkness.
    Andi hissed in a breath.
    “Now, Captain?” Gilly asked.
    Andi could imagine her, tiny and fire-headed, seated in her gunner’s chair several decks below, an entire crew’s fate at her fingertips.
    “Now,” Andi commanded.
    A breath of a second. Andi stared at the back of the seeker ships, imagining the men inside. Knowing that here and now, they were facing their final moments.
    Then came the hiss of Gilly’s Big Bang sliding loose from its chamber, a death rocket that Andi knew would fly true.
    She saw it in slow motion as it struck the seeker on the left first, the blast taking out both ships. The explosion was a work of art. Two ships in one shot, bits of metal and blood and bodies. Carnage stained the skies.
    The Marauder whined as the blast knocked it off course, as if the dying ships had lain bleeding hands on them and shoved.
    A strange, still silence.
    “Seekers are down,” Breck said. “Nice one, Gil.”
    Andi loosed a breath, her fingertips releasing their hold on the arm rests. But it wasn’t over yet. She glanced sideways at Lira. “Take us to the center of the Belt. Bigger asteroids.”
    Lira caught on. “We can lose them there, and fly out the backside, hide somewhere on Solera.”
    “Fuel?”
    Lira spat a wad of Chew into her mug. “Low. But we can make it.”
    Andi felt the swell of victory, like a star exploding in her chest. She loosened her harness, allowed herself to breathe a little deeper, and was just leaning her head back against the rest, when Lira cursed.
    Breck and Gilly’s voices shouted into the com, and somewhere, down in the pit of Andi’s dark soul, she knew she’d missed something.
    “There’s more,” Lira said.