Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

Sazo heard Rose.

The relief he felt was alien to him, a sweeping lightness he hardly knew what to do with.

The drone he’d sent to look for her wasn’t near her. Curiously, the signal it received was from a distance, but stronger than anything that would have been transmitted by her earpiece.

When the spoken message she sent came through, of her explaining that the earpiece was damaged and she was using a transmitter, he finally managed to pinpoint her location to a sector of the moon, although not her exact position, and then he paused to consider his options.

He wanted to act, and he didn’t like hiding away.

Sometimes, Rose had taught him, hanging back worked better than storming in.

But maybe it was time to do some storming.

He sent the message from Rose on to the Barrist , although he knew it would take some time to reach Dav.

Then he scanned the area around the moon, and picked up a large freighter making for a spot in the sector where Rose’s message had come from.

He decided it was too close to her to risk doing it damage, and began hunting for another target.

He eventually rose up from behind the little moon he was using for cover, and did a quick orbit of the bigger moon.

There were a few good options.

A landing pad on the opposite side to where Rose was, that its owners were clearly trying to hide. Everything here seemed to be camouflaged or tucked away, as if they were all either hiding from each other or trying not to draw attention to themselves from passing space traffic.

Sazo decided the landing pad would go first, so he blasted a warning that it was under attack, allowed a five minute escape time for anyone near it, and then wiped it off the face of the moon.

He hardly ever got to use his weapons anymore. His reputation proceeded him, and he and his fellow Class 5s just had to show up, and most people decided to cooperate.

He didn’t even feel guilty about destroying the landing pad. They were holding Rose against her will. They were lucky he gave them five minutes to get to safety.

After he hung in the air over the landing pad, just to make it very clear that he had been responsible, he moved on to the second target he’d found, a building set low to the ground which his sensors told him extended deeper underground.

He decided to give them a little longer to get out, and sent out the warning.

Instead of running for their lives, they tried to shoot him.

He easily dodged the laser strike aimed at him, and returned fire.

At the last minute, he decided to only raze the upper levels, as Rose had also taught him that once everyone was dead, you couldn’t bring them back, and it would be useful to leave some witnesses to report his attack.

Once the dust had settled, he sent out a message on blast to every transmitter on the moon, making it clear Rose McKenzie was to be released to him, or he would destroy every facility on the moon, one by one.

Then he began to orbit the moon in a slow, continuous roll, changing his angle slightly with every rotation in the hope Rose would see him, and reach out again.

He sent out a time limit of three hours, and began to look for his next target.