Ajos: The Restitution - A Sci-fi Alien Romance, Book 1, стр. 35
Kerena’s eyes widened.
The first ship had crashed within a second of exiting hyperspace.
That could have been them too.
Between the many asteroids and the speed at which they were going, her heart lodged in her throat every time they had a near miss.
God knew, she didn’t want to become mere splatter against one of the same rocks that she’d been admiring earlier.
But the asteroid belt was thinning out. She could see ahead, and she breathed a breath of relief while still holding on to her seat.
Kerena bit her lip, feeling helpless in the situation.
But she had to trust that Ajos and V’Alen could get them to safety. She had no other choice.
Both males both were pressing buttons like crazy and the ship shook once more.
They were hit again.
“Shields at fifty percent.”
“Qef,” Ajos cursed.
V’Alen looked at his friend. “We have two options, Commander. Divert all power to the beam array and hit them with all we’ve got or divert all power to the thrusters and shoot ourselves toward the surface of Choria G622.”
“Chances of survival if we hit them with the beam array?”
V’Alen blinked, but his answer came one second later. “Chances of survival are at fifty percent.”
Ajos glanced back at her, and their eyes held.
What she saw there was fear.
Regret and fear.
At first, she thought he was reconsidering coming on this journey as he saw his life flashing before his eyes, but something in his gaze told her differently.
He wasn’t scared for himself.
He was scared…for her.
“If we divert the power, we’ll be left open. Not even the shields will work anymore.” Ajos delivered the news as he held her gaze and she respected the fact that he was telling her this even though he didn’t have to.
“Do it,” she said as she caught sight of the enemy ship once more. “Hit them with all you’ve got. If we run for it, they might follow us to the surface. Don’t worry about me.”
Ajos blinked and paused, his hesitation clear.
“Do it!” Her voice surprised her.
She sounded a helluva lot stronger and composed than she felt inside.
Inside, she was a withering fool who might piss herself.
Their ship shook again.
“Shields at ten percent,” V’Alen announced.
“You put your life in my hands once again,” Ajos said with a note of something she could not read, too busy freaking out about the fact that THEY WERE BEING BOMBED BY AN ENEMY SHIP while in an asteroid field and she didn’t want to die in space!
“Because I trust you.” Now it was her words that surprised her.
She was sure color drained from his face a little before he jerked his head and turned back around.
“Get ready to divert all power to the beam array,” he said.
V’Alen punched some buttons. “Ready, Commander.” There was no fear in the robot man’s voice and she didn’t know if that was because he didn’t feel any emotions or because he was so used to this shit, he wasn’t fazed.
The enemy ship swooped again.
This time, it was coming at them from the front, guns blasting.
She couldn’t see who was piloting the ship, it was just all black, and she was happy about that.
She didn’t need to see who it was to know that it was the same beings that had taken her from Earth—the same beings who’d bombed the base and killed so many innocents—the same beings that the Restitution was fighting to bring to justice.
Ajos gripped the controls, his face grim as he stared ahead.
Nothing seemed to shake him, not even as the enemy ship came closer.
Their ship shuddered with each hit it sustained and an alarm began blaring, but Ajos held fast.
The black ship was coming straight at them, obviously sure that this last pass was going to take them out—and she hoped they weren’t right.
“Shields at one percent.”
“Now!” Ajos shouted, and V’Alen engaged something.
She literally heard the power go down; it sounded like a battery draining. The ship sounded like it died, and they were suddenly enveloped in darkness.
Only dim light strips that ran along the floor lit up the interior along with the buttons on the control panel.
There was a rumble that turned into a growl as Ajos began snarling, his gaze focused on the approaching enemy ship. And as his growl turned into a roar, he pulled back on his controls.
Then, it happened.
A bright light erupted in front of them, so bright she was momentarily shaken, not realizing what it was.
It took her a second to register that the light was coming from their ship.
The light shot forward and the other ship couldn’t have seen it coming until it was too late. The enemy ship couldn’t change course, and Ajos’ plan became clear.
He’d waited till the last moment to fire just so he wouldn’t miss and boy oh boy did his shot hit its mark.
The ship in front of them fractured and split right through the middle, breaking apart.
Ajos roared, the deafening sound echoing through the shuttle as the enemy ship disintegrated in front of their eyes.
Nothing could have survived that. Nothing.
V’Alen hit something to shut the weapon off, and what was left of the power returned to the ship.
Kerena breathed, her chest heaving, anxiety still flooding through her veins.
All she could do was stare at the wreckage.
There was hardly any space debris.
The enemy ship had blown apart in less than a second.
There was silence now, and she realized it was because the roar was no more. Ajos was silent, his face hard.
“Nice work, Commander,” V’Alen said, as their ship turned and began moving through what was left of the asteroid belt. “Diverting the remaining power to the thrusters.”
“Can we make it?” she asked.
“It will be a rough landing, but nothing I can’t handle,” V’Alen answered. “I will have to land by sight. That signal grows stronger the closer we get. No doubt the Hedgeruds were heading to retrieve whatever device is causing it when they came upon us.”
Kerena finally