Chapter 26

Levi awoke in the dark, his comm flashing with the alarm they'd set the night before.

"Cora," he crooned softly, caressing her hair to wake her. "Time to get up."

Cora stirred just a little, holding him close as she surfaced into wakefulness.

"Okay," she mumbled into his chest. "I'm up."

Levi grinned and the two of them slowly pulled themselves from the mattress and into the darkness of the room.

It was midnight as they left their little makeshift home behind with the hopes that they might find a more permanent one at the end of this mission.

In any case, a lot still stood in the way of such a dream, and he knew, for now, he had to keep his mind on their goal of taking down the Jorvlens.

They gathered their minimal belongings, leaving behind much of the clothing Cora had stolen but taking a few cans for the journey in case it took them longer than they hoped to steal a vessel.

"Ready?" asked Levi once they had everything.

"As I'll ever be," Cora replied with a grin.

They made their way by cover of darkness to the hidden hover cart and, keeping the lights off, sped south.

Over the last two days they'd seen several large vessels, as well as a smattering of smaller craft flying low overhead, and from this they understood an airfield was probably close by.

That was where they were heading now in the hopes of commandeering a ship for their own purposes. If they could find even a small transporter, they could make it back to Noxxa and pick up Levi's starship, the PulXar Star Cruiser. The ship was old, but the hyperdrive was still better than many modern ships on the market. Levi knew it would be their best chance at catching up with the Imperial Surfer.

As Levi drove the hover cart toward the airfield, he felt Cora's hand slip onto his thigh—a gentle reminder that he was beside him and therefore with him the whole way. It soothed any fears he had of failing to make it off Jorvla. They had gotten this far together, and as long as they stuck together, they would make it the rest of the way. He truly believed that.

Soon the bright lights of the airfield appeared in the distance, and as they approached, a few large ships appeared. What they needed, though, was a small, inconspicuous vessel, and Levi hoped they'd be able to find something that would allow them a quick getaway.

He parked the hovercraft in the shadows of the airfield's outskirts, and with a look of encouragement to Cora, Levi climbed out of the hover cart. She crept along behind him as he approached the airfield on foot, sticking to the dark outskirts of the facility.

It was quiet in the middle of the night, but as they approached the launchpad, Levi saw something that made him smile.

A small shuttle was docked with a refueling line attached to its underbelly.

Levi scanned the launchpad for any crew or dock workers, and he spied a single Jorvlen at the end of the fuel line going over some paperwork. Her back was turned to the shuttle, and Levi saw that as their chance.

"Follow me," he whispered to Cora, and she nodded, falling right behind him as he crept forward into the light of the launchpad.

He kept his eyes on the Jorvlen dock worker as they approached the shuttle, which was still humming softly.

As gently as possible, Levi removed the fuel line from the ship's belly while Cora climbed up into the cockpit. In another second, Levi was there beside her, leaving the fuel line lying on the launchpad, still pumping fuel.

Levi kicked the shuttle into gear, and before the dock worker had even noticed they were there, he was launching the ship into the air and away from the launchpad, the airfield, and the Jorvlen.

It didn't take long for an alarm to come blaring through the ship's speaker.

"A Galactic Enforcement tracker has been placed on this shuttle," said the ship's AI. "Please report to the nearest Enforcement Station."

"Well, that's not good," Levi said, turning to Cora.

"Time to kick it into hyperdrive and then ditch this ship."

Levi nodded, but as he went to press the hyperdrive button, another message came over the speakers.

"A Galactic Enforcement patrol ship has been detected," it told them.

Levi glanced down at the ship's control panel and saw the radar had picked up another ship, just a short distance behind them.

"Shit," he said and slammed his hand down on the hyperdrive button.

The ship suddenly kicked into warp speed, and the stars that had pinpointed the shuttle's window suddenly blurred into streaks.

The enforcement ship slipped out of the shuttle's radar but reappeared a moment later. Levi gritted his teeth, trying his best to outmaneuver Galactic Enforcement, knowing that if they got caught, they'd not only be charged with stealing a vessel, but probably also for trespassing—Levi on the Jorvlen ship and Cora in the facility on Egshur. And, most of all, they'd be prevented from completing their mission.

It wouldn't matter that they were trying to stop the Jorvlens. The enforcement was very strict and would punish them to the fullest extent of intergalactic law.

Not just strict—relentless.

Every move Levi made, Galactic Enforcement mirrored. Soon, the AI spoke again.

"Fuel levels are low," it told them.

"Fuck," Levi muttered. "Is there anywhere we can dock?"

"The Star Lounge Space Station is up ahead at coordinates D530.K. This ship has just enough fuel to get there," came the AI's reply.

"Great," Levi replied. "Put in those coordinates."

He figured if they could dump the ship there, they might be able to slip into the crowd and lose the enforcement.

Within a fraction of a flick, he saw the space station come into view, and with a couple of expert maneuvers, he'd managed to put a bit of distance between them and the patrol ship.

"Get ready to run," he told Cora as he switched out of hyperdrive, just seconds away from the space station.

In a breakneck move, he brought the shuttle flying into the first empty docking bay he saw, just in time to avoid crashing nose-first into the landing pad. The shuttle landed instead with a heavy jolt, and the moment the transparent airlock doors closed behind them, Levi pushed open the shuttle's doors.

A second later, he and Cora were running into the station itself, not even looking back as the enforcement patrol ship hovered outside the space station helplessly.

Now all they had to do was find a way to get to Noxxa. Levi had a feeling he knew just how.