Free Space Wars! by Max Chase

 
    Chapter 1
     
     
    ‘Follow that ship,’ Prince Onix screamed across the Bridge of the Phoenix . He pointed at the Meigwor viper-ship snaking away from the dusty orange planet. ‘Make them pay for attacking Xion!’
    Peri pulled the thruster levers hard. The Phoenix raced after the enemy craft.
    ‘Locking target trackers,’ Diesel shouted. The half-Martian gunner cracked his knuckles. ‘One X-plode detonator coming up.’ He reached for the button on the gunnery station.
    ‘Wait a nanosecond, Diesel,’ Peri ordered. ‘Why is that vipership leaving Xion? Where’s the rest of the Meigwor fleet?’
    ‘Who cares?’ Diesel replied. ‘You blast first and ask questions later.’
    ‘Stop arguing and do something,’ the prince snapped. ‘You promised my father you’d destroy the Meigwors.’
    Peri glared at him. ‘We said we’d help save Xion as long as you never attack the Milky Way again. We need to find out what the Meigwors are up to – then we can start kicking some alien space-butts.’
    ‘Watch out!’ Diesel shouted as alarms erupted across the Bridge.
    A huge purple and silver meteorite was plummeting towards them. Peri jerked the Nav-wheel sharply and slammed on the dodge mechanism. The Phoenix flew past it.
    ‘What the prrrip’chiq was that?’ Diesel asked.
    ‘The s-s-space h-h-highway,’ stammered Prince Onix. ‘Look what the Meigwors have done.’
    The twisty, twelve-hundred-lane space highway that had surrounded Xion had been shattered into gazillions of pieces. Huge chunks of Astrophalt were caught in orbit around the planet. The vipership started blasting its way through the debris.
    Peri was not going to let it get away. He checked the Phoenix ’s cloak and activated the sprint-thrusters. The ship zoomed along in the vipership’s trail, through the space-carnage.
    ‘The Cos-Moat will slow them down,’ Prince Onix said.
    ‘I don’t think so,’ said Diesel. ‘Look!’
    The dark blue bubble of corrosive goo that surrounded the whole planet was also in tatters. The viper slithered easily through a gap, with the Phoenix close behind.
    ‘We’re in their slipstream,’ Peri said. ‘Next stop the Meigwor fleet!’
    Otto’s massive bulk and freakishly long neck loomed over Peri. ‘Wait! Stop!’ he boomed. The Meigwor bounty hunter was part of their crew now, but he hated fighting against his own people. ‘We can’t defeat the entire fleet! We’ll be captured! They’ll send me down the mines for being a traitor!’
     

     
    Peri shook his head. Too much was riding on this mission. If they stopped the Meigwors, then the king of Xion had promised to send the Phoenix back to the Milky Way and never attack their home again.
    ‘No more running away,’ Peri said. ‘This time we’re taking it to the Meigwors. We’re going to end this intergalactic conflict and get home. Otto, help Diesel on weapons!’
    The bounty hunter shuffled over to the gunnery station. Diesel activated rows of triggers and armed the X-plode detonators.
    Tsack! Selene materialised in the empty chair next to Peri.
    ‘Where have you been?’ Peri asked.
    ‘Engineering,’ Selene replied, wiping a smudge of grease from her cheek. ‘I’ve made an adjustment to boost the emergency thrusters and reconfigured the vaporising lasers.’
    ‘We’re going to need all the help we can get,’ he replied. Their radiation gauges screeched as the enemy vessel tested its weapons systems. But the viper-ship showed no sign of changing course. The Meigwor vessel hadn’t noticed the Phoenix shadowing it.
    Prince Onix came up beside Peri’s chair. Peri almost gagged at the stench of space-squid sweat that came with the prince. ‘We’ve got to do something!’ Onix said.
    ‘It’s no use!’ Otto boomed. ‘The entire fleet of vipers will swoop down on Xion and your cowardly people will surrender! They’ll be slaves to the victorious Meigwors before the day is done!’
    ‘Otto!’ Peri and Selene scolded.
    ‘What?’