They watched quietly as the battlepod came closer and closer to Starrider.

“Do you have any idea who took it?” asked Peter.

“I’ve thought about it a lot. The only thing I can think of is that Juden and his friend must have found a way to break free, but I don’t understand how they could have taken control of the ship. Nim would have powered down rather than let him do that. It’s what he did last time.”

“He must have reset the system, then.”

She stared at him. “But there is no AI!”

“It would still have given him power. He could then go manual to lift off.”

“Wouldn’t that damage the ship?”

“It could, but I guess he was willing to risk it.”

Val swore.

“What I don’t get,” said Peter as they came even closer, “is why they haven’t tried to shoot us down. They must know we’re here by now.”

“They wouldn’t know who’s inside the battlepod,” she reminded him. “Probably think we’re Impies.”

“Then why not hail us?”

As if his words had been a signal, a white light blinked on the dashboard.

“Incoming call,” said the onboard AI.

“Put it through, but no microphone. I just want to hear what they have to say.”

A few seconds of silence followed, then a man’s voice rang in the small cockpit and Val instantly recognized it.

“Hello, hello!” said Juden. “I’m guessing that’s you, Val and Kaine. How are you, buddies?”

Val looked at her brother. “He doesn’t know Kaine is on Starrider! He must still be in the stasis tube.”

Seeing they were not responding, Juden spoke up again. “I know it’s you! I saw that ship you’re in back at the spaceport. You must have used it to escape those nutjobs who were shooting at you. Glad you made it out. And I mean that.” Another silence. “Well, what? Not going to say hello to your old friend? Fine. But it seems to me like we have a bit of a standstill. We both know you wouldn’t shoot at this beauty—you’re too attached to it. Don’t think I didn’t notice. And I obviously couldn’t shoot through the shield of a battlepod—not with a ship this old! I’m not giving her up, though. And you can’t take her back. So how about a compromise? You stop trailing us and I promise to get you another ship—something more modern. It would do you good. You really shouldn’t be so sentimental about a freaking ship. Look where it got you. So, what do you say? I’ll even put it in writing if it makes you feel better.”

Peter glanced at his sister. “I know you’d never take the deal, but he does have a point about the standstill. Any ideas?”

Val squinted at the screen and nodded. She pointed toward the back of Starrider.

“Head for the docking bay.”

“It’s closed, Val.”

She looked at him and grinned. “Not for long.” She tapped on her wristpad. “I have the keycode. And he doesn’t have an AI to stop me.”

Peter chuckled. “Alright. Let’s do this thing.”

He turned to the dashboard and his fingers ran over the controls. The battlepod sped up.

“What are you doing?” came Juden’s alarmed voice.

Val leaned and hit a button to open the microphone.

“I’m coming for you,” she said sweetly before cutting off the link.

Peter laughed.

As the battlepod moved closer, Val pressed her wristpad against the dashboard to send the code through. And the door slid open.

“They’ll be like sitting ducks,” said Peter. “They’re on manual, so they can’t leave the cockpit. Well, at least one of them can’t. You sure there are only two of them?”

“Positive. But that other one is a mountain of a man. I’d rather not have to fight him.”

“We have phasers.”

“So do they.”

The battlepod landed. They jumped out of their seats and hurried to the hatch. Both grabbed their phasers and stepped out. They paused, looking around the small bay. It was quiet and empty.

Val looked at the ceiling. “Nim?”

“I’m here,” he answered.

“Nim!”

“I’ve reconfigured the speakers so that I can speak in only one room at a time, so the intruders cannot hear me.”

“Good thinking! Can you connect to my wristpad? It’d be even more convenient if you could talk to me through there.”

“I can now that you are back on board.”

“Great! You remember my brother Peter?”

“Hello Peter.”

This time, the disembodied voice had come from Val’s wristpad.

“Hi Nim. Glad you’re okay.”

“I should be the one saying that. We all thought you were dead.”

Peter grinned. “I’m tougher than I look.”

Val snorted. “We can share war stories later. Nim, can you tell me what happened?”

“The prisoners escaped. The big one broke a drawer and the dark one used a piece of selite to jam the controls and the door opened. I shut everything down, as I had before, but they used the reset code to get the power back up.”

“Can you regain control?”

The voice hesitated. “No, Val. The reset did something to the system. It’s different now. I don’t understand it.”

Val cursed. “Are they still both on the bridge?”

“Only the dark one.”

“Where is the mountain?”

“He should be here any minute now.”

Val cursed again.