The Enforcers, like all peacekeepers, are those who have been granted the power of state-sanctioned violence. This is necessary in any society, yet one must be wary of the commensurate risks and flaws. Power, once granted, can be difficult to withdraw.

  – Etrius, the First Hero

  APEXILLOS

  After soaring through space at high-G acceleration so much, slowly building speed and then decelerating at a mere one gravity felt agonizingly slow to Apex.

  It had been over a day since they’d sent their little decoy out. Gristlemaw had, in fact, taken the bait… but cautiously, which helped them out. He hadn’t approached at full speed, so by the time he was close enough to realize it wasn’t his target after all, Apex had been well on his way to the fourth planet. He was betting that a notorious pirate wouldn’t want to barrel right into the space around a planet that was occupied by multiple Enforcers, even if none of them could stand up to something like the Rattling Saber by themselves.

  Gristlemaw wasn’t stupid. Apex refused to underestimate someone who had anticipated their diversion and which system they would jump to next. He was bound to realize that they were going to attempt to hide in the most dangerous sector of the system, since he knew they had advanced cloaking abilities. It would be the best option, even if it was the most obvious. Going toward the outer system would be even safer, probability-wise, but if they were caught there would be little they could do about it.

  Apex was banking on the fact that Gristlemaw was a pirate, so the Enforcers would almost certainly call in reinforcements. They would take some time to arrive – the trick that Adamis had used for a swift interception required too much setup – so they would have a couple of days, at best, before Gristlemaw was forced out of the system.

  Of course doing that meant that they’d be exposing themselves, as well… and Gristlemaw knew that. Sallus had called it ‘a game of chicken’ when he’d laid out this part of his plan that he’d put together with Pan. He wasn’t sure what that had to do with waiting out the clock like this, but that wasn’t important. This was Gristlemaw’s home territory, so when it came down to the last minute, he could probably afford to stay a little longer than Apex and his crew could.

  Which meant that he would expect them to get desperate and do something wild and possibly dangerous.

  That was what Apex was betting on for phase one of his plan to handle the old pirate.

  The nice thing about this plan was that most of the options Gristlemaw had that didn’t follow expectations were actually worse. While some of the later portions were risky, phase one relied upon him ‘outsmarting’ Apex and the others. They didn’t have to fool him, because they would assume he wasn’t fooled, now.

  Unfortunately, Apex couldn’t handle high-G acceleration and maintain stealth. The heat buildup would be enough that he would need to vent far too quickly, giving away his location. Even going slowly at low-G burn like he had been built up a lot of stored heat over time. He would need to vent sooner rather than later if he wanted to keep the stealth up. Now that he was coasting near the resort planet, packed with civilian ships and Enforcer vessels, venting would call attention to him immediately. Once he did that, he’d have to cloak again and get out of the area quickly, lest the Enforcers manage to track what little signature he did leave.

  Even his spells couldn’t hide his presence fully from a dedicated ship looking in nearby space. Distance was his greatest ally in remaining hidden, and threading between orbits around the planet only worked because they didn’t expect something to be there.

  “That’s definitely an older model. Here as a nod to how important the visitors are, not for real security.”

  Sallus referred to the frigate he’d been approaching this entire time. Normally he’d be a lot more wary about a frigate that had military-grade equipment, but he didn’t intend to give them a chance to fight back. He also didn’t intend to destroy them, anyway. Naven may have bowed out due to their last action, but by Apex’s standards their deal was still on. These Enforcers may or may not be corrupt, so he’d spare as many of them as he could.

  He’d had to slow down on approach, so was maneuvering at orbital velocities, not interplanetary space speeds. Gentle bursts of his thrusters, his wings tucked into his sides, carried him into a corrective course that would glide up alongside the frigate. It would be the greatest test of his stealth abilities, even with the distraction of all the sensors of the Enforcers watching Gristlemaw.

  That had been another part of his plan. Let the pirate’s chase after the decoy attract the worry and attention of the local enforcement. It also cleared away most of the civilian yachts, though a few were still orbiting the brilliant emerald-and-sapphire marble below.

  Apex idly wondered what these Lesser Folk were thinking of the sudden intrusion into the system. A notorious and long-dead pirate showing up in their system of relaxation and expensive pleasures was unlikely to be met kindly. From what Sallus had said, these were all very wealthy people visiting, and much less fortunate sorts attending to their needs. She hadn’t spoken kindly of them, either.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  He was starting to become more curious about his partner’s history and motivations. Now that his anger had to be set aside so he could do complicated plans, he wondered if he should pressure her for something beyond their shared goals. She’d already proven to be much more complex and deep than he expected, at least in her history. Her actual attitude remained ruthless and efficient… mostly.

  He still remembered some of the less deliberate and controlled things she had said during their initial escape. He’d heard grief and fear in those moments, something she rarely showed now. It was an odd and interesting contrast.

  Finally, Apex was near enough to the frigate to make a move. It was a dangerous game now… if he were detected, the multiple cannons and missile racks would make short work of him. He’d drifted close enough that it would be trivial to track and blast him, even if just using visual. He’d need to move fast to get inside missile range and into the gaps in the firing arcs of the mana cannons.

  A short burst with his thrusters sent Apex toward the larger-looking ship. According to Sallus, he actually massed more than this one, even though the frigate was a little larger in size. Unlike his own patchwork armor, this frigate – though supposedly an older model – had fully sleek and pristine armor plating covering the hull. Even without the shields, mana cannons would need several hits in the same area to punch through the hull.

  It was a good thing Apex wasn’t using a mana cannon. Just as he got within range for his plasma lance, he saw the thrusters fire and the nearest point defense turret turn toward him. Ignoring the few light pecks of the mana bolts against his armor, the draconic starship lined up the targeting laser and released the heat he’d stored up, blasting it through the narrow nozzle of the plasma lance.

  A few warning notifications lit up his vision as the turret kept blasting through the three seconds it took him to burn through the outer hull, but this was also part of the plan. He could survive this much with minimal damage… and the turret went lifeless a moment later, as the plasma stream penetrated deeper and pierced the main reactor of the frigate.

  The running lights of the Enforcer frigate flickered off, then on again as the backup reactor took over. It wouldn’t be enough to power the weapons systems, but just in case Sallus was wrong, Apex turned on his shield. He only dropped it for a moment, to fire another brief jet of plasma to carve a slice on the side of the frigate, and then set his front claws on the top and his rear claws on the damaged plating, prying it away slowly.

  He could have done it more quickly, but he had at least twenty minutes before anything would come close to the damaged ship, and he and Sallus had agreed that giving the Enforcers inside a chance to evacuate the room and seal the bulkhead might possibly soothe Naven. He didn’t need to hurry, he just needed to be efficient.

  So he was.

  The unarmored hull beneath was easy to open for Apex, his claws tearing into it and ripping open the torpedo bay. A quick tuck inward grasped two torpedoes – all that he could handle with his plan – and some of the wreckage with another claw. Quick and effective.

  Then he reengaged his stealth, banking the heat once more as he fired the thrusters. Soaring away from the frigate and the alarmed Enforcers converging on his location, he kept the burn going long enough to build up some speed, setting a course angling up from the ecliptic plane. He knew there would be enough of a signature to track a possible position later, but the Enforcers did not know his capabilities so wouldn’t be able to guess where he’d be.

  Gristlemaw was much more intimately familiar with Apex’s limitations. He’d be able to make a much more educated guess of what part of space Apex would end up in. With the dragon’s stealth, there’d be too many options to commit to one right away, but the narrowed field would be catnip for a hunter like the old pirate. Gristlemaw was too canny to walk into a trap right away, especially with so many options available, but Apex intended to make it all too tempting.

  He cut his thrust and opened the bay doors, carefully tucking the torpedoes inside. He wasn’t under acceleration, so they just sort of drifted in his belly, but he’d feel a lot better once they were secured onto the frames that the crew had cobbled together during the long trip here.

  “All right, Sallus. You’re up. Rewire those warheads just as I tell you.”

  The dragon waited until the two torpedoes were fastened securely before he started another burn, still carrying some debris in one claw. Small corrections were all he needed… for now. It would be enough to make it impossible to pin him down during low power under stealth, but now he was definitely noticed. And with that attack, any reinforcements from the Enforcers would be coming in hot, so Gristlemaw had to act soon or lose the chance to catch his quarry.

  Good.

  In space, soon was relative, which meant they had hours for Sallus and the crew to work on the warheads. This was still very quick, dangerous work under that time frame, but Sallus had claimed she could do it. Of all her wide range of skills, Apex knew her engineering was top notch, so he’d leaned into that.

  “Apex, what is it you’re doing now?” Naven’s voice finally poked into his head as the Navy man got too curious for his own good.

  “We can’t fight Gristlemaw, and we can’t retreat without losing our chance to close in on our target.” Apex rumbled the explanation while he watched the ongoing work. “We’re going to have to confront him in a way that lets us escape, and keeps him from following. That means we’ll have to trap him somehow.”

  “A ship that size, you can’t cut or tear deep enough to damage the reactor or Etherglide Engine. You don’t have the firepower to seriously damage the cruiser before the defenses tear you apart.” Now Naven’s voice wasn’t accusatory, just musing thoughtfully. “I’m guessing you have some other way to keep him here?”

  At that question, Apex snorted out a chuckle. “No. And he knows it. That’s why we can trap him.” He did another short burn, keeping his trajectory unpredictable. He could keep this up for over a day if necessary, but hopefully it would only be a few hours before they could lay the trap.

  The dragon sensed Naven’s confusion, and a small part of him enjoyed it. Pan had been very helpful here. So he gave another hint to the poor human.

  “We can’t hurt him. So we’ll help him out.”

  The Obvious Trap