Junus’s hand was tight on his controls as he watched his target trying to evade the missile he’d fired. He’d had the enemy dead to rights, caught him napping, too focused on the target he’d been chasing to notice Junus sneaking up on him. Overconfidence was the bane of fighter pilots, a flaw that took down even the best. But this pilot was good.

His evasive maneuvers were wild, unpredictable. He’d broken the missile’s lock twice, only to have the weapon reacquire. But now Junus realized the enemy was going to outlast the missile. The weapon had only a few seconds of fuel left, not enough.

His hand moved, angling the throttle, bringing his ship right toward the enemy. He had the advantage. His prey had no choice but to continue to evade the missile…and that meant Junus could get behind him.

He brought his ship around, matching the target’s moves, keeping his vector aligned with the ship a few thousand kilometers ahead of him. His finger rested on the firing control. His lasers were charged and ready. This was someone important, or at least one of the enemy’s top aces. Taking him down would remove a massive threat to the rest of his fighters…including the anti-ship strike moving forward behind the interceptors.

He fired, but the shot went wide, thrown off by the target’s sudden change in thrust. He countered, maintaining his position and fired again. Another miss.

He took a deep breath. The pilot in front of him was the most skilled he’d ever faced…and he knew if he made any mistakes, his adversary could turn things around on him in an instant. He tapped the throttle, increasing acceleration, closing slowly as he kept firing.

*   *   *

“Raptor, you’ve got one on your tail!” “Ice” Krill looked down at the screen, watching as Stockton tried to evade the enemy fighter pursuing him. Stockton was one of the best—in truth, Krill knew, the best—pilot on Dauntless. But he was in trouble now.

“I can’t shake him, Ice.” Krill couldn’t remember ever hearing Stockton sound so tense, but the strain, the fear, was clear now.

“I’m on my way, Raptor. Just hold on. A few more seconds.”

Krill pushed his thrust to the limit, moving his vector toward a direct line to the enemy. Clearly it was a gifted pilot on Raptor’s tail, an ace. But Krill knew a pilot was most vulnerable when pursuing an enemy, and chasing down Raptor would take all any pilot had to offer. It was a chance…if he could get there in time.

He saw the flashes on the scanner, the enemy firing at Raptor’s ship. It was too close…he couldn’t count on the enemy missing much longer. His eyes dropped to the display. He was too far away. There was no way he’d make it to close range.