Gotcha.

Man, what a hectic day ... didn't even have time to get on the Net yesterday. Therefore, I have a large part to make up for it.

Copper had proven that it was, indeed, possible to go slower than they had been. Acid grumbled and Electrik laughed at him.
Hellantra wasn't far - a half-hour at the most. Tubelectric was close to a lot of planets, which was convenient.
After twenty minutes of hyperspeed and Kaz, who was busy bouncing off the walls, the sublight engines kicked in and they reverted to realspace. Hellantra hung in front of them, mottled red and black, closest to the small sun it orbited. The system was fairly young, the star still cooling and expanding.
"Only a millennia or so old," Copper said dryly. "Really, quite young."
"I'll take your word for it," Defalcon said doubtfully, as Hellantra grew larger in the viewports. "What are we doing here again?"
"Search me. You suggested it."
"So? We might as well make this trip useful."
"True, which is why I sent Evaluator to tell Shonar where we are. He should show up in a few minutes. I sent Eval before we left."
"So what are we doing until then ...?"
"We land. Right there," and coordinates spilled across her screen. "If you're good I'll let you land her."
"And take responsibility if she bounces? No way."
"I thought you were a crack pilot."
"I am, but if I crash her we're stuck on Hellantra for good."
"No, just until Shonar shows up."
"Are you sure Eval actually went to Shonar? 'Cause he's not back," Acid called in at her. She shrugged.
"I assume he's with Shonar, trying to figure out who's leading these guys. I -" she stopped and then groaned. "Blast."
"What's wrong with you?"
"I forgot. Some Hellantrans are less than friendly."
"We knew that."
"Defalcon, they also have starfighters."
"Oh."
"Yeah. Where's Claw?"
"Right here," her partner said, sliding into the gunner's seat. "Good job, Copper. I think every Hellantran in the system is aware we're here." His tone was caustic, but he flashed her a grin as he armed the lasers. Defalcon shook his head.
"Make yourself useful and keep us on this general heading," Copper told him. "I'll take care of the complicated stuff. How close are they, Claw?"
"Don't get so worried. These guys are ameteurs."
"Lack of targets," Defalcon noted. "No practice."
"Well, much as I'd like to, I'm not giving them something to shoot at. Let's get this over with."
"Agreed. There's only five. Dive and loop around behind them, Copper."
She nosed the Assassin down and sped up, flashing under the Hellantrans and pulling up, the ship now being "upside down". Two shots and the trailing Hellantran exploded. Defalcon grinned. "Nice shot, Claw."
"Thanks. Hold on."
Copper sent the Assassin into a spin and shot forward between the rapidly-recovering Hellantrans. They scattered as she pulled up, but the fourth decelerated and dropped behind them. Since it wasn't firing, Copper ignored it in favor of the more immediate threat.
The Hellantrans were not only ameteur, they were clumsy. They used an outdated tactic and spread out, one coming up from below, one coming in from the left, and one dead ahead. A well-placed torpedo took care of the one in front, and Copper pulled into a climb and veered to the right. The remaining two, focused as they were on their target, promptly collided. One exploded, and the other was completely disabled, still moving but in a straight line and unable to maneuver.
A shot rocked the Assassin, and the shields dropped. The last Hellantran, the one who had hung behind, was on their tail, in a position that was difficult to shake. Another hit made the black Darkspray shudder, and the shields were alarmingly low.
Suddenly their pursuer vanished from the scanners. Copper spun the Assassin and found a familiar ship flying through the debris, which was all that was left of the Hellantran.
"Shonar! What took you so long?"
"Sorry I'm late, but you seemed to be doing fine."
"That's what you think, buddy."
"Glad to be of assistance. Evaluator caught me just as I found something of use, which was good, as I'm sure he told you."
"No, I thought he was with you. He's definitely not here."
There was a silence. Then, [/i]"He left just after he told me where you were going. He said he'd encountered something odd and was going to check it out before he returned to you."[/i]
"He's not back yet."
"That's odd. It was over twenty minutes ago."
"Something's not right. Did he say where this thing was?"
Yeah, he's not that stupid. He said it was orbiting the second moon of Sardiff."
"That's not far from here. Care to take a look?"
"Good idea. Lessaria out."
"Assassin out. Good luck."

Tune in TOMORROW to find out what happens to Evaluator! *dramatic music*