Carson Mach 1: The Atlantis Ship by A. C. Hadfield Page B

Danick peered down and quickly turned. “We’ve got five unidentified ships. Four klicks away and heading in our direction, Captain.”
    “You can drop the rank now,” Mach said. “I stopped playing military man years ago.”
    “Did you hear me? Five ships!”
    Mach smiled back at his panic-stricken face.  
    As predicted, the JPs would be tested and would prove either way if they were suitable for the mission. If they failed to come through this minor problem, he’d need to find a good pilot from the prison.  
    “What do you want us to do?” Lassea said.  
    ThePhalanx-E provided a nice target for pirates. Mach would’ve been disappointed if pirates didn’t take the bait. No visible weapons and the possibility of ransoming a dignitary, how could they not decide to take a bite?  
    “Keep at full speed and head for the closest part of the belt,” Mach said. “Follow my instructions and you’ll get out of this in one piece.”
    “We should’ve known,” Danick said. “The AI—”
    “Screw the AI.” Mach stood and walked to the console. Five green dots, without the standard CW ship codes above, flashed on the edge of the screen. Two split in either direction; one maintained a course directly behind them—the classic pincer movement of pirate fighters. They were gaining on the Phalanx-E.  
    “We’ll be in the belt in a minute,” Lassea said. “I need to slow us.”
    “Hold your nerve and take her in,” Mach said. He watched the monitor. Two fighters headed below them on the starboard side, two high on port. “Let’s find out just how much they want us.”
    Lassea thrust to port and passed between the first two asteroids. Danick leaned in his seat and winced as they narrowly avoided the huge piece of rock on their starboard side. The way ahead looked impassable, but it always did because of the different sizes and orbits.  
    “Commonwealth ship,” a voice crackled on the intergalactic distress frequency. Mach loved how the pirates abused the channel for their holdups. “Return to the valley or we fire. You can make this easy on yourselves if you just give up now.”
    “What do we reply?” Danick said.  
    “Nothing,” Mach said. “Maintain your speed and head for the middle of the belt.”
    “We’ll get hit if we don’t thrust,” Lassea said. “It’s too dense.”
    A small rock bashed against the side of the Phalanx-E and the cockpit juddered. Mach grabbed the arm of his chair to maintain balance. “These E classes have five times the heavy armor as a pirate fighter.”
    “We can’t take hits from asteroids and lasers.”
    “Have faith in CW design,” Mach said, enjoying watching the flustered two young officers out of their comfort zone. If they were coming along, this was only a starter. “If you want to return to your comfy apartments on Fides Prime, follow exactly what I say.”
    Danick glanced down at the tracking monitor. “They’re almost on top of us.”
    “Commonwealth ship,” the voice crackled again. “This is your final chance.”
    Mach configured the distress frequency on his smart-screen and raised it. “Give it your best, shitbird.”
    A rock bounced off the side of the Phalanx-E. The ship vibrated and something dropped to the floor behind Mach. An alarm repeatedly bleeped. Lassea gasped. “Our port thruster’s gone. I need to reduce our speed.”
    A red laser zipped past the front window and hit an asteroid. Tiny fragments of rock chipped away into a small cloud of dust.
    “You see that?” Mach said. “They ain’t gonna hurt us. I want you to head directly for that asteroid and thrust to starboard to hit it side on.”
    Danick spun and gave Mach a wild-eyed glare. “You’ve got to be kidding me?”  
    “Not in the slightest,” Mach said. “We’re going to play a game of skillion.”
    Lassea set a course for the asteroid and glanced over her shoulder. “You want to knock it out of its trajectory and disturb the others around it?”
    “Now