Backyard Starship: Origins 2 Read online

  “Not that it matters, but was this intentional?” Petyr asked, guiding the Arrow in an accelerating orbit fewer than five hundred meters over Eugenia’s whirling surface.

  “Of course. I’m only surprised the asshole didn’t show up sooner. I must have missed my mark on that Discon,” B admitted.

  “I thought you were a good doctor,” Petyr chided.

  “Lift the nose. We’re too tight,” Hoot said.

  Petyr obeyed, and Hoot stayed silent.

  “I am a good doctor. I’m just better at other things,” B said. Her signal on the scanner was getting closer. She was close and getting closer.

  “What things would that be, Agent Gerti?” Petyr asked.

  “Clever, you are. I’m a Peacemaker, which is something you’re going to learn all about once we dispatch Darghis. I needed him to throw the first punch. For legal reasons, you understand.”

  “Peacemaker? As in, the law?”

  “The very same. Although I’m a bit less visible as a Peacemaker. Something I think you’re quite familiar with,” B said.

  “Ah. A spy.”

  “You catch on quickly. He has you in target-lock at a range of—that entire rock is only so big. I need you to get even closer to the surface if you can.”

  Darghis snarled into the comms. “You can dig into the surface and it won’t matter, Groshenko. You’re going to die on that rock, and I’m not even going to waste a missile on you. I’ll let the asteroid do my work for me.”

  “I doubt that very much,” Hoot said.

  Darghis’s ship broke over the horizon, so close Petyr could see the hull plates in his rear camera capture. “Is he going to ram us?”

  “He might,” Hoot admitted. “B, how close are you?”

  “Nineteen seconds.”

  “Not close enough. Darghis is going to—” Hoot said, but B hissed into her mic, voice roughened by anger.

  “Stay. Close. To the rock!” B shouted.

  “I can’t get any closer. Hoot, take the stick!”

  “Doesn’t matter. Petyr, pull up. Break up or we die,” Hoot snapped as Petyr tore up on the control, hurtling the Arrow away from the asteroid as a flare of plasma erupted from the darkened surface just behind them.

  Three mines coughed out of a ground launch and drifted slowly as Darghis’s ship broke over the darkened horizon at murderous speeds.

  “B! You bi—” Darghis raged, but his anger was cut short by three detonations that turned his ship into a cloud of expanding gas as the mines struck home in a rat-tat-tat, exploding so fast Petyr’s eye could not make sense of the chaos.

  “I told you to stay close to the rock,” B said into the silence. Hoot had control, flipping the ship and counterthrusting so that Petyr now drifted, watching the silent shadows of Eugenia as she turned, eternally, in the place where it was neither dark nor light.

  “You knew?” Petyr asked.

  B shrugged, her antennae waving shyly. “Of course. Peacemakers aren’t like the Soviets. We keep excellent records, and we never accidentally lose our weapons. I knew there was a passive defense near the fuel dump. It’s guild policy.”

  “You really do understand Russians,” Petyr said with a slow grin. Missing weapons indeed.

  “And Americans. But mostly, I understand the need for justice. Interested?” B asked.

  “You mean work out here? With your Peacemakers?”

  “I mean exactly that. There are other people who lead two lives. Why not make it three, Agent Groshenko?” B asked.

  Petyr stared into the darkness that was marred only by the dim shadows of Eugenia and a few stars, their bright points scattered far and wide.

  After a long moment, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “What’s the pay like?”

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  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  J. N. Chaney is a USA Today Bestselling author and has a Master's of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. He fancies himself quite the Super Mario Bros. fan. When he isn’t writing or gaming, you can find him online at www.jnchaney.com.

  He migrates often, but was last seen in Las Vegas, NV. Any sightings should be reported, as they are rare.

  Terry Maggert is left-handed, likes dragons, coffee, waffles, running, and giraffes; order unimportant. He’s also half of author Daniel Pierce, and half of the humor team at Cledus du Drizzle.

  With thirty-one titles, he has something to thrill, entertain, or make you cringe in horror. Guaranteed.

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  J.N. Chaney, Backyard Starship: Origins 2

 

 

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