Free Morgan's Return by Greta van Der Rol

distance ahead of the energy trail. Good. It would buy them a few precious seconds.
    "Jirra's in," Davaskar said.
    Morgan already knew. "Shift transfer… now."
     
     

    Chapter 6
 
    E llen forced her way back from the Total Machine Meld. Rats. Damn Selwood to hell. She sagged back in the fighter's seat, a line of sweat trickling down the side of her face. TMM was wonderful, but she sure felt terrible when it was over. Her whole body trembled, and her muscles felt like mush. If she'd needed any proof that Selwood was back, the way the yacht had disappeared sealed the issue. Only a Supertech could have handled a ship like that.
    She'd been lucky when Curlew disappeared the last time. Selwood had her hands full, keeping the damaged ship going. A micro-jump was an obvious move, and a few educated guesses had proved right. Not this time, though. Curlew was gone.
    What now? Tell Makasa his favorite girl was on the way home? If Ellen did that, her time with the Star Fleet was finished. Not that she couldn't afford to quietly disappear. As the mastermind behind the Black Cat Corporation she'd stashed away plenty of credit, in a multitude of different accounts, while smiling at Makasa pontificating about 'evil' Supertechs only interested in their own survival. She'd heard the stories, seen it happen, once. They tested your morals. And if you failed, you had an accident, a fatal one. Hirach had been shot at point blank range, apparently killed while boarding a pirate vessel. Except Ellen knew it was a Fleet officer who'd pressed the trigger. Makasa had never caught her, though. She'd learned how to act, how to keep her head down, to never betray what she really thought, at a very young age. She'd been a good little Supertech. She sent a silent 'thank you' to her mother. At least the dragon had been good for something.
    Ellen shook her head. This wasn't doing her any good. Better head back to Iniciara. She set the nav coordinates, then transferred to shift drive. Selwood. Burn in Hell, bitch. Ellen's stomach churned. All that work, all that hiding her skills, all for nothing. They'd kill her, no doubt about it. If they found out. If Selwood arrived.
    Leaning forward, Ellen pulled the water bottle from its holder and drank, then let a little splash over her face. She was only beaten if she gave up. Selwood had changed her name, and she was with a man from a planet outside the Coalition, on a ship with a bogus ID. Perhaps it would be enough to discredit her? Not to Makasa, though. Selwood always had the man wrapped around her finger. He might even know his favorite Supertech was still alive, doing some sort of clandestine job. Ellen shook her head. Just thinking about all the possibilities made her head hurt. The easiest way was still to kill Selwood. She toyed briefly with the notion of taking out a contract, through Black Cat. No. She'd do it herself. Why give somebody else the pleasure?
    Curlew was supposed to be heading for Torreno. However fast that yacht was, it certainly wouldn't beat her military craft. She'd be ready and waiting days before Selwood arrived.
    Ellen drained the last of the water and tossed the empty bottle aside. She'd better prepare a good reason why she'd disappeared unannounced in one of Glebe's fighters, and why she'd fired missiles and sustained damage.
     
    " Returning to normal space in ten… nine…"
    Captain Glebe should be reasonably happy with her version of events. Ellen had spent a bit of time modifying the Firebrand's records using images from a training mission and adding a record for an old Comet fighter, many of which were in private hands. In the fighter's transaction logs, Ellen's ship had engaged a Valyrie class heavy strike fighter, which was joined at the last moment by the Comet.
    The stars appeared, bright as diamonds. And there was Iniciara, the visible hemisphere now almost completely in the night phase, the dark continents sparkling with hazy light.
    Ellen took a deep breath. She