"What do you mean they got away?!" Nastrum shouted into his comlink.
"The car that commed us earlier saying they found that cab just called for some help searching the area they lost sight of them in." spoke one of his men from the other end, "I don't know what they pulled, Boss, but it's just a matter of time before we find them again."
"I want those cat-girls found now! I want you to find that dirty pair and throw them in a cage, where cats that size belong!"
"Gotcha, Boss. We'll let you know when we have them."
"(Feeling better, Jinx?)" Karmlyn asked her colleague.
"(I believe so.)" Islyne/Jinx answered, sitting up on the back seat of the cab, "(I suppose now we plan our next move. With this cab damaged as it is, those mob men can spot it all too easily.)"
"(Yeah, and we're just as easy to spot too.)" Karmlyn looked in the hovercab's glovebox and found a glowrod, which she activated, bathing the immediate area in a soft light. She then looked around. At first, she noticed nothing more than the same dusty walls she saw earlier with the cab's lights. Then she noticed a stairwell, with the steps leading up. "(Look there,)" Karmlyn pointed them out, "(If those stairs lead to the roof, we have a way outta here.)"
Islyne/Jinx got out of the cab, "(How is that?)"
"(My droid's on the ship. It can pilot it over here and pick us up.)"
"(That's great,)" Islyne/Jinx spoke with a hint of a smile, then it faded, "(But, could the police stop it?)"
"(They could, but considering where their bonus pay is coming from, it's worth the risk.)" With Karmlyn leading, they headed to the stairwell.
On the Red Star, Karmlyn's droid remained in it's "sleep mode," operating with minimal computer processing and power. It was interrupted from its slumber by a comm signal directed to it, and it activated fully at once, making some beeping noises in response to the call.
"It's me, Beepo," Karmlyn told the droid over the comm, "Me and a friend are in a bit of a tight spot. We need you to locate the comm signal, and bring the ship to the roof of this place."
The droid beeped an affirmative, and rolled off to the cockpit.
By now, Nastrum had boarded the back seat of a black hover-limo and was on his way to the general area where his two targets were. Two somewhat smaller black hovercars were escorting the limo.
It was this time he got a call on his comm, which he answered, "What is it?"
"I have some news, Boss," spoke a voice at the other end, "We might be able to get those two girls, but we better hurry."
"What did you find? Where are they?"
"A ship just took off from the spaceport, and is moving over the city toward where those two felines disappeared. The owner of the ship is a Karmlyn Sen-Tiago of Absolin, a mymar female. She's probably the one who gave you trouble."
"I want that ship shot down, now."
"We're moving some of our heavy artillery to the area. If that doesn't stop them, there's always our hired help."
"I don't care how you get them. Just do it!" He then pressed a button on the comm, ending the conversation. He then grinned, "Well, cats, looks like your luck has just run out."
On the roof of the abandoned building, Karmlyn and Islyne/Jinx waited near the top of the stairwell. They waited for the Red Star to show up. Their attention was on the direction of the starport as ships continued to land and take off. But one pair of lights gradually headed their way.
"(There she is!)" Karmlyn told her peer, "(We'll soon be outta here.)"
"(We will be out of here,)" Islyne/Jinx reminded, "(When we reach hyperspace.)"
The ship approached, began its descent, and Karmlyn's comm beeped. She answered it, "Hello?" And from the other end came a series of chirps and beeps. Karmlyn grinned, "Yes, we see you Beepo. Nice to see you too." The droid responded with happy beeping tones.
Islyne/Jinx looked at Karmlyn, "(You can understand those whistles and chirps?)"
"(Not word for word,)" Karmlyn told her, "(but I get the general idea of what he says.)"
The Red Star continued its descent, continuing to approach the building. Then blaster fire erupted from below and struck the ship, knocking it off course a bit. Both women could hear panicked bleeps from the droid via the comm.
Karmlyn swore a couple choice words, followed by, "(Those goons tracked us down!)" She yelled into the comm, "Make a flyby with the hatch open! We'll jump on!" There were a couple of questioning beeps in response. Karmlyn snapped, "Just do it!"
The ship was fired on again, striking it once again, but doing nothing more than knocking it to the side a bit. From below came the sounds of speeding hovercraft. Islyne/Jinx peered down, and saw black hovercars coming down the street. Nearby, she could see men with what looked like an "artillery blaster," used against vehicles and smaller spaceships.
The lead car drove up to their building, and tried to knock down the doors. But the cab backed up to the doors on the other side kept that from happening. The hovercar got it's front end smashed, but the doors only buckled a little for all the driver's trouble. Islyne/Jinx then went back to Karmlyn, "(Here they come!)"
"(And here we go!)" Karmlyn pointed to the Red Star, descending with its hatch open, approaching at a speed just slow enough for them to keep pace with. As it approached, the two women prepared themselves.
"(Now!)"
The mymar leaped for the hatch as it was about to pass by them. Islyne/Jinx was able to get a solid grip right away, and climbed aboard. Karmlyn was climbing in, when the ship was struck again. Her feet slipped, and she gripped the hatch to keep from falling.
Islyne/Jinx turned her way, "Karmlyn!"
Karmlyn then quickly scrambled aboard, gasping a bit once in. She then yelled, "Okay, Beepo, close the hatch!"
The hatch began closing, and the ship began accelerating away. Another shot hit the ship, but it barely shuddered.
"(Damn mobsters,)" Karmlyn swore as she walked away from the hatch area, with bare feet, "(That was an expensive pair of shoes I lost!)"
Islyne/Jinx rolled her eyes upward, "(Let's just leave this place.)"
"(Yeah,) let's blow this joint!" Karmlyn then began running forward, and Islyne/Jinx followed. They soon got to the cockpit, which was large enough for two up front in the pilot and co-pilot's seats, and enough room between them and the door for a few people. The cylindrical droid retracted a cord from an interface in the control pannel, turned, and greeted them with a series of beeps.
"Sorry I didn't tell you about that last blaster," Karmlyn told it, "but I didn't know." She then got into the pilot's seat and took the controls, "Those jokers are really a pain."
Islyne/Jinx slipped into the co-pilot's seat, and looked at the instruments, "(The systems aren't showing much damage. Shields are still holding.)" She relaxed slightly, "(It appears fate was with us once again. I saw the artillery blaster those men were using. It was a little small for this kind of ship, but it should have done some damage.)"
"Yeah, good thing I upgraded the shields. Now let's beat it." Karmlyn gripped hold of the throttle, "Hang on to your tail, Jinx!" She then yanked the throttle back to full, and the Red Star shot upward, heading away from the city and it's planet.
Islyne/Jinx was just recovering from the sudden tug of inertia, a beep went off from the control panels. She looked at it, "We're being hailed, from a police patrol vessel." She looked at the sensors, "There's two coming up from the spaceport." Beepo made a couple whistle noises that sounded a lot like "Uh oh."
Karmlyn sighed, "I don't see how it'll make much difference answering them or not, with the cops' chief getting the under the table bonus."
"But if we don't answer, they'll have the right to fire."
"What do we tell them if we do, say we can't land because of a disk that says their boss is taking bribes? You think they'll buy it? Besides, if the mobsters hear that, it'll confirm what that disk has, and they'll really be after us."
Karmlyn continued to take the Red Star up and up into the air, and into space. As they did, however, the two police craft slowly and gradually closed the distance gap between them.
"Still closing." Islyne/Jinx informed Karmlyn, "They'll reach us before we can get out of the planet's gravity well."
Karmlyn grumbled, "Well, we can't fire on them. We do, and not only will they have every excuse to get us, if they do catch us, we're sunk completely. Shooting a cop's a capital offense, and they're wanted everywhere." She paused for a moment, "However, I do have a few tricks if things get desperate."
"We may be needing them." Islyne/Jinx pointed to the sensors, "Two more patrol craft closing in, one thirty-five low."
"Not good. Reroute laser power to shields. That'll give us an extra boost. Beepo, plug in and see what you can do to help." Islyne/Jinx worked the instruments, and the droid plugged into an interface on the pannel.
The fighters continued to close in as the Red Star moved further away from the planet. Islyne/Jinx continued to keep an eye on the sensors. At one point, she announced, "We'll be in their range in about thirty seconds. Three minutes until we're out of the gravity well."
At that moment, shots began streaking past the Red Star, though at a wide berth. The control panel beeped again, advertising someone was radioing them. Islyne/Jinx was puzzled, "They fired at us, then hail us?"
"Warning shots." Karmlyn informed her.
The four patrol ships continued to close in. They fired again, but it was infrequent at first, only a few shots streaked by. Then they began to become more frequent.
We're in their range." Islyne/Jinx announced.
"Better give them a harder target." Karmlyn then began to maneuver the ship around, pitching left to right, up and down in random motions. It worked at first, the shots kept missing. Then one struck the ship, and it shuddered. Beepo gave a few panicked beeps.
"Rear shield down twenty-five percent." Islyne/Jinx reported.
"Reroute some power from the front shield to the back." Karmlyn told her, "That should help with the recharge."
Karmlyn continued to dodge the shots, but occasionally one would hit the ship, and bring the shields lower.
Finally, a shot resulted in the ship rocking extra hard. Beepo bleeped frantically. Islyne/Jinx looked at the instruments, "That shot penetrated our shields completely. Hull's still intact, but more shots like that, and -"
At that point, Karmlyn then cut the throttle. Islyne/Jinx looked her way, "What are you doing?"
"A distraction." Karmlyn pushed a few buttons and switches, "When I give the word, push that button right there." She then pointed to it.
"What will that do?"
"A little surprise."
The Red Star slowed down, and the police ships caught up with it. They activated their tractor beams, which took hold of it. The ship shook at the beams drew it backward, closer, and closer to the four craft ...
"Now!"
Islyne/Jinx pressed the button, and a canister flew from the back of the Red Star. The tractor beams hit it, and it exploded into a thick cloud of small silver debris, engulfing all five ships.
Karmlyn then hit the throttle, and the Red Star took off again, no longer hindered by tractor beams. Islyne/Jinx looked at the instrument panel, "I can't get anything on the sensors. They've stopped working."
Karmlyn grinned, "And so did theirs."
"That canister was some kind of sensor jammer?"
"Yep. Makes it virtually impossible to either tractor or scan." Karmlyn was briefly interrupted by the droid beeping happily a few times, "Unfortunately, it'll dissipate enough in less than a minute so they can see out their viewports we're gone."
The Red Star left the debris cloud behind, and continued to speed away from the planet. The cloud slowly dissipated, and the police craft saw their quarry was getting away. They began going after the ship again, and once they left the cloud began firing again.
Islyne/Jinx kept an eye on the instruments, "Almost out of the gravity well." Then the ship rocked from a laser shot. Again, the droid beeped a few panicked beeps. After the shaking, Islyne/Jinx looked at the panel again, and gave a damage report, "That shot punctured the hull over our right engine."
"Just a few more seconds." Karmlyn began to grit her teeth. To both women, the seconds seemed to take forever to pass.
Then Islyne/Jinx saw a green light start blinking on the instrument panel, "We're out of - "
Before Islyne/Jinx could finish, Karmlyn activated the hyperdrive, and the stars streaked and blurred as the ship disappeared from realspace.