Daughter of The Dragon

“Pe

And now Pe

Except… the Sholagars weren’t breaking. Would you look at how tight they are; they’re practically on top of each other; they’ve got to be inside each other’s wakes and in all that plasma that would… Pe

His collision alarms shrilled as the Sholagars rocketed through, cracking Pe

Pe

Then, a woman screaming, a long rope of sound abruptly cut as Red’s Lucifer, out of control, burst in an orange fireball. Pe

Then there were no more maybes. Turbulence roared in like a tidal wave, smacking his fighter’s belly, forcing him not up but over in an arcing loop, and then Pe

“No!” Pe

Then his alarms screamed again, and Pe

Later, Pe

They did the only thing they could. They broke: Pe

There was a violent lurch as Power clipped him, and Pe

Bucking, Pe

The power cut out. His engines failed, and Pe

Now, gravity counted. Pe

Got to reach the recovery switch. Struggling against unconsciousness, he moved one leaden arm, but it was hard work and his arm was so damn heavy and he’d never been so tired and banged up and beat up in his life. His right arm lifted with agonizing slowness, his finger shoving through air thicker than molasses. For a fraction of a second, maybe less, he couldn’t remember why that stupid spin recovery switch was so damned important. His brain hitched over the problem. Airspeed’s zero… got to roll the ship… angle… down… got to angle down…

There was pressure against his right index finger; now, through his glove, he felt the bite of the switch, a sense of something giving. Then, a shudder ripped through the Lucifer’s frame, and there came a loud, throaty rumble.

Then he saw something beyond his canopy, something whizzing in a blue-and-silver blur, then it was gone, then it came again, then gone, then again, and…

“Pe

Control, get control! And now Pe

Pe