After a few hours of auto-pilot, where Ruby dozed off a few times she stood to stretch her legs. The ship flew just like her father's, the one she'd trained on and she was glad. There were some things she was sure she wouldn't have been able to do with a new ship. The old girl knew where it was going and steadily made its way there. She was walking back and forth checking on everyone realizing she was the only one awake when something caught her eye out the front window. A small craft appeared in the distance seconds before the ship recognized it. It was at least twice as big as their ship and the shape was unfamiliar to Ruby. It was possible the Hallaw had come up after them, but it seemed unlikely they'd deploy a craft for three measly prisoners and two children.

The ship did appear to be heading in her direction. She hoped the combat styles of the ship were the same as her father's as she turned them on and checked to see if the ship had scanned them. It was actively scanning them and appeared to have made a turn to come their way. She became wary they would be in trouble.

“Charles, wake up,” she whispered.

“What. I'm not asleep,” he said and immediately fell back asleep.

“Charles, I'm not kidding. Get up.”

This time she said it a little louder and he popped out of his chair.

“You see that. What do you think that is?”

Charles looked at the radar and his eyes widened.

“It a Craintor battleship. It's not like the one that took us. This one is strictly for bringing people in.”

“So, us. It's been sent after us.”

“It would seem that way. Does this ship have hyper-drive?”

“It does, but if it's anything like the ship I fly, it only works half the time.

“We might have to risk it. We don't stand a chance unless we run. If we can make it to civilian airspace near Tomlin, they will help us get down.”

As if the ship had heard them and figured out their plan, they engaged their own hyper-drive. Where the ship was still hundreds of miles away one second, the next it was right beside them. It was indeed twice as big as their ship and Ruby was staring right into their bridge where the Craintors stood. As she weighed their options, they started to power up a weapon. The whole ship pulsed with its energy and glowed a bright green.

“We need to go now,” Charles said.

Ruby flipped the plastic box that covered the hyper-drive button, making sure they were still on course for Tomlin, and pressed it. The ship shook for a minute and there was a slight delay that seemed to last an eternity before the ship shot off into space. The Craintors were right behind them. She could see them in the mirrors that showed the back window of the ship. Taking off had momentarily stalled the charge of their weapon but she could see the ship had started to pulse again.

She turned the cameras where she could see the front of their ship.

A large green beam shot out towards the ship and she dodged it just before it hit them. The blast made the ship jerk sharply and the girls woke up. Mawri started to cry and Rori started to unbuckle her belt.

“Stay buckled love. We're hitting a little turbulence,” Ruby said.

“Charles, the gun is up top. You'll have to return fire to slow them down.”

Another beam shot out and she dodged it again, but this time it caught one of the ship’s side panels. The ship shuttered and almost fell out of hyper-drive. She briefly considered letting it so the enemy would just keep going, but decided the ship was already under too much pressure and that might cause them to kill the engine.

“How far to Tomlin?” Charles yelled down from where he’d climbed up into the top of the ship. The gun was small and Ruby really hoped it worked. She was answered when she saw a small purple beam strike the front of the Craintor ship. It smoked a little but didn’t make a dent. She put the shields up on their ship and pushed it towards the planet.

“Less than five minutes away if we can hold them off,” Ruby yelled back.”

Another beam rocked the ship but the shields held as Charles sent another pitiful purple beam back at them. She readied the com and tried to find the Tomlin frequency.

“This is Ruby coming in hot Tomlin, do you read me?”

“We read you, Ruby, explain quickly. You’re in a Hallaw registered ship.” A voice came back through the radio.

“Damn it,” she said. “My party and I were on a flight headed from Manta Ray to Sarta. The trip was intercepted by Craintor who sold us to Hallaw. We escaped in a Hallaw ship and are now being pursued by Craintor. They are entering the atmosphere with us, can we count on support.”

“Confirming such a breach happened,” the voice came back.

Another beam flew out at the ship. She pulled up right before it struck.

“We have confirmed the story, sending air support in sixty seconds.”

Ruby breathed a sigh of relief as they entered Tomlin’s atmosphere. The Craintor ship did not back down until a dozen Tomlin fighter ships rose and came after them. Then they decided to run for it. Ruby was able to land on the base parking deck before the ship gave out completely.

“Thank you, Tomlin, air control, we’ve landed safely.” She let go of the breath she’d not realized she had been holding.

After such a harrowing experience, finding a planet with a hotel they could afford was the best thing that could have happened. Tomlin was mostly hotels and restaurants. At least, the place they’d landed was. They checked into two rooms and Ruby and Rori took one. Sammie needed immediate help so Ruby called the front desk for an ambulance when they got to their rooms. Sammie had insisted they wait so she could tell Mawri goodbye before they took her. Ruby knew if she got to the body scanner and there wasn’t a lot of internal damage, she would be okay.

Their hotel rooms adjoined and Mawri ran into hers excited they were all staying together. She tucked the girls into one of the beds and turned on the large holopad to cartoons. They snuggled down and happily watched. Charles walked in and hugged her. His nerves were frayed and if she was being honest, hers were, too.

“I’m going to stay here with the girls, take a shower and get some rest. Let me know when you guys get back. She will be ok, Charles. You guys will be back within the hour,” Ruby said to Charles, just as the ambulance shuttle driver knocked on the door. Charles nodded and opened the door for them. The men wheeled a bed into the room and helped Sammie onto the white rolling bed. Sammie looked exhausted, and her skin was pale. They had probably arrived just in time.

“We’ll see you when you get back. You’ll be just fine,” Ruby told Sammie, and kissed her on the forehead. The men wheeled Sammie out of the room, and Charles followed behind them, closing the door.

The food Ruby ordered when she checked in arrived and she let the girls eat in their bed while she took a much-needed shower. The water was amazing as it ran over her aching body. She felt like a new person when she came out. Sitting down to a delicious dinner and laughing with the girls almost made her feel normal. She knew there would be some discussion when the couple returned. She knew she wanted to be with them, but she found herself nervous. She climbed into bed with the girls and fell asleep.

The communicator rang in their room sometime later. She looked over to see the girls were completely asleep. Charles was on the other end, they were on their way back. She took a deep breath and crept out of the bed to go into the bathroom. Ruby fixed her hair and dressed in a clean jumpsuit she had purchased from the hotel store. She looked completely beat up with bruises she didn’t even realize she’d gotten, but it was the best she could do.