Vengeance Read Online Free Page A

about.
    Closer it came, heading directly at them. The yacht seemed sluggish; too late Price realised that the ship was blocking their wind. Their sails were limp. The yacht was moving, but barely. And still on came the ship, and so too did the three moving lights in the sky to the east, growing brighter all the time. In just a few seconds they would be like a rabbit caught in headlights. And about to become roadkill.
    “Brace yourselves!” Price called, as the metal bow of the ship bore down on them. “Brace yourselves!”
    “This ain’t good!” Wall shouted.
    “Monster, get us out of this!” Price called out, unnecessarily. He was doing his best.
    She glanced up at the oncoming aircraft then back to see the metal edge that was the bow of the ship towering above her, rising up, prior to crashing down and surely pulverising them in the process. She shut her mouth and held her breath to stop herself from screaming.
    But, in a small miracle, it was the ship itself that saved them: the pressure wave of the hull puffing into their sails, pushing them forwards and away, just a small nudge, but enough that the surging bow wave lifted them, pushing them over and through. The yacht leaned, over and over, until Price was sure it would capsize, but then suddenly righted itself.
    As it did, Monster spun the wheel, and there was a crunching sound as the side of the yacht rammed hard up against the metal side of the ship.
    The whole area flooded with light, but that only made the shadow around them, in the lee of the ship, seem even darker. And the light lasted only a second. The air filled with sound, so loud it seemed solid, and the tailjets of three Bzadian jets clawed glowing strips across the sky just above their heads. Now the aircraft were rising, the floodlights snapping off, leaving them in darkness.

    “Accelerate to maximum speed,” Zane said.
    His attention was no longer on his cameras. The ship and the strange signal on the thermal imaging were all but forgotten. He was staring at his threat scope.
    In the time it had taken them to fly over the ship, the six blips that were enemy aircraft had halved the distance between them.
    “Enemy aircraft speed estimated at mach 5.” Shelz’ah sounded frightened.
    Zane didn’t blame her. He was starting to get a little uneasy himself. “They don’t have anything that fast,” he said.
    “They do now,” Nikoz said.
    The three Razers were already accelerating and climbing. As they regained supersonic speed, he saw a vapour cone appear like a fuzzy circular disc around Nikoz’s and Shelz’ah’s tailfins, and he knew the same was around his own. There was no sound though. When you were travelling faster than sound you could not hear the sonic boom you created. Nikoz and Shelz’ah stayed in formation at his wingtips.
    Zane keyed his radio. “Coastal Defence Command, this is Patrol Echo Three Four.”
    “Go ahead, Patrol Echo Three Four.”
    “We are under attack by unknown human aircraft. Something new. Travelling at hypersonic speeds. We are inbound at max power but would appreciate a little help here.”
    “Understood, Echo Three Four, routing an air defence wing in your direction.”
    Zane breathed a small sigh of relief. Their backup was on its way. All they had to do was stay out of reach of the humans for a few more minutes and the six-on-three odds would be turned on their head. His airspeed indicator passed mach 3.
    “Thirty kilometres and closing,” Shelz’ah said. Her voice was not steady. “Enemy speed estimated at mach 6 and still climbing.”
    Mach 6 and climbing! Zane checked his scope. These new human planes were catching up as if the patrol was standing still.
    “Twenty-five kilometres,” Shelz’ah said.
    “Azoh! We’re not going to outrun them,” Nikoz said. “We’re going to have to turn and fight.”
    He was right. They wouldn’t reach the safety of their air cover in time. Not by a long shot.
    “We’re not going to turn,” Zane said.