The Glimmer dropped out of jump space. Tarkus immediately let out a curse.
“Two pirate ships,” he said. “Right on top of us!”
“How could they have known?” asked Kaira, forgetting she was trying to avoid distracting him.
“They didn’t. It’s just bad damn luck. The area of space we were aiming for is small, but not so small they could know exactly where ships would appear.”
“What do we do?”
“Well, first off they’re going to demand… here we go.”
He flicked a control and a gruff female voice rang out. “Freighter, you’re outnumbered and outgunned. Power down your engines, your shields, and your weapons. If you allow us to board then you will not be harmed.”
Tarkus cut the comm signal off again.
“Like hell we won’t,” he said. “They won’t just take the ship, they’ll take us as well
