Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

to end up with a crater you could drop a small moon into. Does the phrase deep shit ring any bells? Oz, any suggestions?” “You could always offer to surrender,” said the AI calmly in his ear. “Of course, they’d probably kill you slowly and turn you into Hadenmen… but it is an option you haven’t considered.”
    “Thanks a whole bunch,” said Owen.
    “Can’t we fight back?” said Bonnie.
    “We don’t have anything powerful enough to hurt them,” said Hazel. “And anyway, our targeting
    systems just went offline. We need the extra power for the shields. Which are currently on the brink of collapse.” “There must be something we can do!” said Midnight. “I am open to suggestions!” said Owen.
    “Moon, those are your people. Can’t you… talk to them or something?”
    “The augmented men undoubtedly consider me a traitor,” said Moon, his thick, buzzing voice calm and unmoved. “Of us all, they want me dead the most. Our situation would appear to be hopeless. I estimate our shields will collapse in the next thirty seconds.”
    There was an explosion at the rear of the yacht, and the whole ship shuddered. The alarms came back on again for a few seconds before Hazel shut them up, running her hands frantically across the control panels. “Hull breach, Owen! We’re losing pressure, and we’ll have to drop a hell of a lot farther into the planet’s atmosphere before the pressures equal out. We have a small fire, but the automatic systems seem to be handling it. Rear shields are down, mid shields… are holding. For the moment. Twenty percent systems failures all across the board. We can’t afford to take any more hits like that.” “Do we have escape pods?” said Bonnie. “Grav sleds? Any way off this wreck?” “I don’t believe this,” said Owen. “I’ve already had one ship shot out from under me, and been forced to crash-land in a jungle.
    Why is this happening to me again? Moon, think of something!”
    There was another explosion in the rear. The ship’s engines were shrieking horribly. Warning lights blinked all over the control panels, and then everything shut down. Owen looked at the dead panels before him, and didn’t have a clue what to do.
    “Oh, shit,” said Hazel. “Main computers just went down. Shields are down. All weapon systems offline.
    Life support is failing. The engines are running out of control. This isn’t a ship anymore, it’s a missile.
    Owen, with all the computers down, we have no way of landing this ship.”
    Everyone looked at each other. Owen thought hard. He had to stay calm. Think it through. “We’re all Maze survivors,” he said hesitantly. “Maybe if we just bailed out, and hope we hit a deep enough part of the ocean…” “No,” said Hazel. “Not at this speed. We’re tough, but we’re not that tough.” “Oz?” said Owen. “There must be something we haven’t tried.” “Sorry, Owen. Nothing I can do. Doesn’t this remind you of our arrival on Shandrakor? I’m almost nostalgic.”
    “That’s it!” said Owen, turning quickly to Moon. “When the Imperial starcruisers shot the hell out of the first Sunstrider, you integrated yourself with the ship’s computers directly and guided us down! Can you do the same again?” “Wait a minute!” said Hazel. “The last time he tried that, we still bloody crashed, and we were lucky to walk away alive!” “Do you have a better idea?” said Owen.
    “It’s moments like this make me wish I’d stayed a pirate,” said Hazel. “Moon, get on with it.”
    “I have already established a connection with the surviving computer systems,” said Moon, just a little distantly. “A plan has occurred to me. It is somewhat extreme, but offers a seventy-three percent chance of success. All other alternatives present distinctly lower chances of survival.” “Oh, hell, go for it,” said Owen. “But if you smash up my ship again, I’ll melt you down to repair it.”
    “Oh, ye of little faith,” said Moon calmly, and he shut down the engines. The few remaining controls went dead, and even the emergency lighting went out. It was very dark on the bridge, and very quiet.
    “Moon,” said Hazel in a dangerously calm tone of voice. “What have you done?” “I’ve shut everything down,” said the augmented man, his golden eyes glowing brightly in the dark. “I am hoping to convince the Hadenman ship that we are dead in the water. They should then call off their pursuit and