ET4H2-5C felt terror rip through her as the Peregrine's alarms mixed with her memories of the Megaship attack. Despite Alex's order to take the other seat she couldn't move, frozen in fear as the consoles flashed with activity.
"Pursuing vessel has just completed a scan of the Peregrine's contents," Verity announced, causing ET4H2-5C's breath to catch in her throat. Someone had attacked her Megaship before, presumably looking to capture slaves. Were they doing it again?
"Has my presence put you in danger?" she managed, her voice a horrified squeak.
"Ahh, I don't think so. I mean, you're a peach. But I'm pretty sure they're after something else," Alex said over her shoulder distractedly as her scan finished.
"Pursuing vessel has been identified as an Alliance Chieftain," Verity confirmed.
"Alliance ships shouldn't be used to chase Alliance people. That's bullshit...." Alex grumbled to herself
"Alliance Chieftain. Four-hundred ton, fifty-eight meter-" ET4H2-5C began, brain snapping into autopilot before she wrestled back control of it. She clasped her hands over her mouth as her cheeks burned and her heart pounded.
"Please forgive me, I'll... be silent," she squeaked, but Alex just laughed.
"Go for it, Ship Lady," she replied. "But seriously, go sit down!"
"Fifty-eight meter wingspan, sixty-eight meter long, Medium class combat ship. Commissioned by the Alliance government and produced by Lakon Spaceways, although sold publicly," the slave recited despite her terror. "Quite new model, only started production in thirty-three oh four."
Alex reached down, grabbing hold of the slave's upper arm and lifting her onto her feet.
"Thank you, but seriously! Go! Sit! Down!" she ordered urgently.
But before ET4H2-5C could even process the order a violent shudder passed through the Peregrine, and the ship began to shake beneath their feet accompanied by another alarm.
"Oh fuck off!" Alex spat as she yanked back on the stick. "Not you. Grab something solid!"
The ship pitched up violently, the sudden force sending ET4H2-5C crashing back to her knees. Her additional set of magnets activating automatically. The slave let out a scream as she wrapped her arms tightly around the closest thing to her. That thing being Alex's waist and the back of the pilot's chair.
"Oh Jesus. Hi there," Alex muttered as she threw the stick to the side, sending them into a sideways roll away from their pursuer. The stars spiraling outside the canopy.
The slave clamped her eyes shut as the world spun around her. Her stomach lurching in protest.
"This feel the same as the interdiction you had earlier?" Alex called down.
"I was asleep at the time!" the slave cried back, leaving Alex frankly impressed that anyone could sleep through something like this. But she couldn't give it too much thought, as she slammed both the stick and throttle forward. Plunging the ship into a frantic dive away from the Chieftain's clutches.
"You know ships inside and out. You know how these work?" she called out, hoping that if she kept her passenger talking that would give the woman something to focus on.
"In theory! They're.. trying to trigger a safety feature in your Frame Shift Drive. Send a signal indicating you've flown dangerously close to a gravity well. At that point the Frame Shift Drive drops you out of Supercruise as a precaution. Is that.... correct?"
"Precisely!" Alex called back.
"You probably know the technicals better than I do. I just know that if I keep out of their targeting reticle, they can't upload the signal," she growled as she sent the ship pirouetting through the stars. There was silence in the cockpit for a few moments, Alex diving and banking the ship this way and that to try to shake their pursuers.
During one sharp corner the slave caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. There was a pouch attached to the side of Alex's seat, and a small stick had just been ejected from it. ET4H2-5C heard its impact on the wall behind her with a reverberating ping, and she turned to look over her shoulder just as Alex was forced to bank hard the opposite direction. The slave let out a terrified squeak as she ducked her head. She felt her hair ripple as the stick grazed past before it collided with the other wall and shattered into splinters.
".....just getting the hang of those," Alex growled through clenched teeth.
"What do they want?" ET4H2-5C whimpered below her.
"So uh, funny story," Alex replied, still wrestling with the controls.
"We're right on the edge of Imperial space... right? You guys don't have a huge presence here, so some.... unpleasant people like using it for business. I uh, may be carrying some cargo..." her voice faltering as she threw them into a high-speed turn.
"... for one unpleasant person..... that a different unpleasant person might not want to see get delivered."
"You assured me you weren't a pirate!" the kneeling woman cried out aghast.
"It's not piracy!" shot back Alex. "It's smuggling. There's a difference!"
"Then what's your plan smuggler?" ET4H2-5C wheezed between hard breaths. Her usual formal tone cracking as she tried to get air into her lungs against the force of a particularly hard roll.
"I am not a smuggler!" Alex called back indignantly. "Just because... I occasionally dabble in smuggling... if people are willing to pay enough... that does not.... make me as a person... a smuggler!"
ET4H2-5C shook her head, eyes still screwed shut.
"I apologize Miss, but plan?"
"Fucker is on me like a bad date. I can't shake 'em in the open, and I'm too weighed down by cargo to dance properly. But there's a ringed planet not far. I'm going to drop us out of Supercruise in the rings. I can lose them in the rocks, then jump back. Even if they follow, we'll be far enough ahead it won't matter!"
"You intend to fly though a planetary ring system... while being pursued?!"
"Absolutely. You got a better idea?" Alex called back.
