“Keep on the Doppler,” he said without looking over at her. “See if you can spot our pursuers.”

“Y-yes sir,” Milla blurted, refocusing on the task at hand.

The shuttle had a full scanner suite, but as deep in the atmosphere as they were currently flying, the radar systems were still the most effective.

The vessel pursuing them was, surprisingly, in Milla’s opinion, not particularly stealthy. The metallic composite of the hull reflected radar quite well, something that a similar Priminae ship would not do. However, she was having almost more luck tracking the atmospheric distortion of its passing than the ship itself.

“They are still pursuing, two kilometers above us, on our six, yes?”

“Six, copy,” Steph said. “Not trying to shake them yet. Don’t have a lot of places to hide here.”

“Then what is the plan?”

“When we make a run for it,” Steph said, “we’re going to need as much confusion as possible to buy us some lead time.”

“But we could do that now, yes?”

“Yes, but not until I know where all our pursuers are,” Steph said firmly. “If they left even one of those parasites in orbit, we’ll never get clear. I need them all down here with us when I make the break, otherwise it’s for nothing.”

Milla wasn’t sure she understood, but she nodded anyway.

“Just watch the radar,” Steph said. “Need to know when the other two come into sight.”

“I understand. I will inform you,” Milla said. “What happens then?”

“Good,” Steph said, glancing over at her and flashing a smile. “And that, my dear Miss Chans, is when the fun begins.”

►►►

PC Parasite Five

► “He is going deeper into the atmosphere, Subaltern.”

Subaltern Penae Girar nodded. “I see the track, Saulo. What pressure are they at?”

“Three standards and increasing.”

Penae hissed, annoyed.

Space-capable vessels were not particularly suited for atmospheric transit, even when they were designed to handle such conditions. The stresses on a hull were far different in the void, and thus ships had to be designed to resist vacuum rather than pressure. Certainly, they could be made strong enough to handle some significant pressure, but it seemed that either the target vessel was better suited to planetary atmospheric conditions, or the pilot was insane.

Either was annoying, but of the two he’d much prefer the ship design to be superior. Crazy people were more trouble than they were worth.

“Signal Three and Eight,” Penae said. “Close the loop.”

“Yes Subaltern,” his subordinate said. “Orders issued.”

“Helm to my command,” Penae said, reaching for the controls.

“Helm is yours to command, Subaltern.”

The control circuits switched over to his station, and he pushed forward, driving his craft deeper into the atmosphere.

►►►

Shuttle Eagle One