A slight shift in the air must have warned him something was off.

Juden spun around, but not quick enough. Val kicked the phaser out of his hand and punched him in the face. The tall, dark-skinned man stumbled back and hit against the wall. He shook his head, straightened, and stared at the woman.

She smirked. “Still think you have the upper hand, smart ass?”

“How did you—”

Instead of finishing his sentence, he lunged at her. Catching her by surprise, he managed to throw her to the floor. A phaser shot barely missed his head. He cursed and ran off down the hall.

“Val!” Peter came running. “Are you alright?”

She grunted as he helped her back to her feet.

“Yeah. Can’t believe he tricked me like that.”

The entire ship shook.

“Damn it! What now? Nim!”

“We just hit an asteroid field,” said the voice in her wristpad.

“I thought we weren’t moving?”

“The engines are off, but we drifted into it.”

She cursed, and they both raced toward the bridge.

“What about the big guy?” asked Peter.

“We’ll have to worry about him and his friend later. We need to get the shield up, at the very least. And get out of that field if we can.”

“Doubting yourself, sis?”

She snorted. “No, but I don’t know how much damage we’ll sustain before we reach the bridge.”

The floor shook again as they raced through the halls.

“Not to mention the reset,” muttered Peter.

“Can we reverse it?” she asked as they ran.

“I’m not sure. Maybe. Depends whether you have backups of your system and how long ago they were made.”

“Well, Nim is OK at least.”

“Yes, there’s that.”

They reached the control room as Starrider got hit again. Val jumped into the pilot’s seat and Peter sat next to her. Her fingers ran over the controls and the ship stabilized. Then it dove toward safety, gliding between drifting rocks.

Once they were out of the field, she sat back and glanced at Peter.

“Can you check if we have backups?”

“Kaine made a few,” cut in Nim’s voice.

“Kaine! I have to go check on him. Can you take over, Peter? I’d rather not let Starrider drift back into that field.”

“Sure, sis. Any particular destination in mind?”

“We’ll worry about that later. Just keep us away from those rocks.”

“No problem.”

She jumped out of her seat and hurried toward the infirmary.

“Whenever did Kaine get a chance to do backups?” she asked as she walked.

“While you were sleeping,” answered Nim.

She grunted. “Figures. Sneaky guy.”

Nim’s voice sounded confused. “I thought it was a good thing?”

“Not that he did it covertly.”

“I don’t think that was the intention.”

“No?” She sighed. “No, I suppose not. Guess I’ll have to thank him after all. How is he?”

“I can’t access the sensors anymore. But last I checked, he was stable.”

“What about Ondine?” she asked, suddenly concerned about the girl. “Where is she?”

“She was looking after Kaine when Juden took over. She must still be there.”

“I did ask her to keep an eye on him, didn’t I?”

The door opened when she reached the infirmary and she stepped in. The stasis tube was still there, where she’d left it, with Kaine’s body inside, though ice now covered the man’s skin. She checked the display and saw all the lights were green.

Now reassured, she looked around her.

“Ondine?” she called out. “Where are you hiding? It’s just me, Val.”

She heard the sound of metal scraping against metal and bent down to look under the tube. A panel slid open and the girl’s head popped out, blinking at her.

“Hey! Good to see you, girl. You okay?”

Ondine nodded as she crawled out, her metal leg clinking against the floor. Val helped her up and they hugged.

“You took good care of our friend, thank you. Now—”

“Val!” It was Peter’s voice coming through the ship’s speakers. “Can you hear me?”

She walked to a console on the wall and tapped on the screen. It lit up and carried her voice to the control room.

“Yes. What’s up?”

“The battlepod is gone.”

“What?”

“They took it. Juden and that other guy... Found footage of them getting in and taking off.”

She cursed.

“Why didn’t they come after us again?”

“I’m more concerned about them now having a tool that could blow us out of the sky.”

“They wouldn’t do that.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because they want the Corvair. Destroying it would defeat the purpose.”

“Why do they want it?”

“Hell if I know.” She sighed. “Alright, I’m coming back.” She glanced at the girl. “Come on, little one, I want you to meet my brother.”

Ondine blinked as Val ruffled her hair.

They glanced at Kaine, then stepped out of the infirmary.