Chapter 13

Tinsley felt her heart racing as she slipped behind the partial wall that separated the cockpit of the Thunder Bolt from the rest of the small ship. She knew she didn’t have much time to get to the blasters, and the longer Dante was alone with the pirates, the lower his chances were of making it out in one piece.

The thought chilled her. She didn’t know how many of the pirates there were—maybe four or five—and with their heft, and presumably some of their own weapons, their only chance was to get some firepower of their own.

A cry came from the back of the craft, and she wasn’t sure if it was Dante’s voice or one of the pirates. What she did know was that could only mean one thing—fighting was breaking out.

“Shit,” Tinsley muttered to herself. It was now or never.

She rushed out from behind the partition, ducking into the storage cupboard as fast as she could in the hopes the pirates didn’t see her.

But it was too late for that.

“Hey, there’s another one!” came a grating Jorvlen voice from the end of the ship.

Tinsley scrambled to find the blasters at the back of the cupboard. She knew they were both locked in a small black briefcase, and as footsteps echoed outside and came ever closer to the cupboard, Tinsley finally caught sight of it.

With her heart pounding in her ears, she grabbed the briefcase, just as the door to the cupboard flung open.

Two gray-skinned Jorvlens met her there, their faces contorted with anger.

“Hey you!” one of them yelled, but Tinsley had managed to open the briefcase already.

The pirates saw the blasters at the same time she did, and the looks on their faces contorted into shock. They reached for their own belts, but Tinsley was faster.

She wrapped her hand around one of the pistols, whipping it up and sending an energy blast at the first Jorvlen’s hand. He was thrown back, and the second Jorvlen glanced down at his fallen friend for a split second before pulling out his own pistol.

Like his friend, though, he was too slow. Tinsley was already pressing the trigger again, and she watched as a blue blast of energy flew toward him hitting him square in the shoulder.

The two of them fell to the ground just outside the cupboard and Tinsley let out a deep exhale. Outside, though, she still heard fighting. Luckily, she hadn’t heard any blasts—at least she didn’t think so—but time was still not on their side.

She grabbed the second blaster and ran out of the cupboard, jumping deftly over the two injured pirates.

She kicked away their weapons before casting her attention to the scuffle that had edged its way into the Thunder Bolt’s main area. Dante was struggling to hold one Jorvlen by the neck while another came to attack from behind. He had to let go of the first pirate to fend off the second, and soon they were standing off again, all three panting.

The two remaining pirates looked down at where their crewmates lay injured. A stalemate was clearly happening. It appeared the two standing Jorvlens didn’t have their own weapons, and that changed everything.

“Dante!” she called, and he whipped around.

In one swift motion, she threw one of the blasters into his hands. He caught it deftly and fired on the two pirates left.

“So, like I said,” he told them with a wry grin. “We won’t be the ones surrendering.”

The pirates groaned, eyeing the blaster warily.

In the meantime, Tinsley kept her gun trained on the two injured pirates. They weren’t badly hurt, but they were incapacitated. The blaster hadn’t just affected the place it hit, after all. These were spreaders—guns designed to spread the energy charge throughout the whole body of its target. When she’d shot the pirates’ hands and shoulders, she may as well have shot every inch of their bodies.

“I think it’s time you got off our ship,” Tinsley said, keeping her gun trained on her two pirates while looking up at the other two.

“Take your injured,” Dante added, gesturing to them, “and leave us the hell alone.”

The Jorvlen Dante had held in a headlock earlier, who Tinsley took to be the leader of the little crew, grunted but said nothing. Slowly, so as not to arouse Tinsley’s or Dante’s ire, he moved toward the injured pirates.

As the now-freed Jorvlen pirate approached, though, Tinsley got the distinct feeling he was looking her up and down. When she met his gaze, she found a look that made her skin crawl. It was if he was sizing her up, and she’d never felt more like a piece of meat in the eyes of a man. It disgusted her.

“Just get them and get out,” she thundered, suddenly furious, “before we change our minds.”

The Jorvlen just gave her a sleazy grin before hoisting one of the injured parties up. His crewmate did the same, and soon they were marching back toward the airlock. Dante nodded at her as they passed before slipping on a helmet to escort the pirates out to their pod.

Tinsley was left shaking, sucking in deep breaths to try and calm herself. She didn’t want to let that pirate affect her so much. Over the ship’s speakers, she suddenly heard Dante’s voice.

“How about we send these clowns off on a little detour?” he said.

Tinsley managed to crack a smile.

She switched on the external cams and watched on the control board as the pirates filed back into their pod. Looking closer, she could see a small orange device attached to the outside of their ship, blinking intermittently.

“The gravity net,” she muttered under breath, and suddenly she got the feeling she knew what Dante was going to do. Gravity worked both ways.

She chuckled, just as Dante appeared on the cam. He turned and winked at the camera before raising his blaster and pointing it squarely at the gravity net.

“Bye, bye,” he said gleefully and shot a single powerful blast at the orange device.

Tinsley suddenly felt the Thunder Bolt rock, and when she looked up at the control board again, she could see the pod careening at breakneck speeds into the great beyond.

She laughed to herself and pressed a button on the panel.

“You’re an artist, you know?” she joked, feeling the tension that had gripped her before draining from her body. “That was beautiful.”

“You’re the real artist,” he told her warmly, and she saw him disappear from the cam.

A few moments later, he reentered through the airlock and removed his helmet.

“Now if you’d please get back to your canvas,” he joked, gesturing to the pilot’s seat.

But Tinsley needed to do one thing first. She stepped forward, throwing her arms around Dante and planting a deliberate and impassioned kiss on his lips.

She felt his hands fold around her, resting on her lower back. Even though she knew they needed to get going, she also needed to show him how much he meant to her, even if she still wasn’t sure he felt the same.