Of course, the pirates also knew this standard procedure. When the Querida returned to normal space with a stomach-churning blump, the other vessel was right beside it, all set to close and board.
Events began to unfold rapidly. The instant they left topspace, the engineer of the Querida was on the topcomm trying to get through to the nearest naval base. His counterpart on the pirate ship, meanwhile, was activating a special topspace jammer that broke up the normal harmony in the local region of topspace, preventing the message from beaming through. Simultaneously, pirate gunners fired heavy-duty beamers at the stern of their target. The gunners were well-practiced at their task and exceedingly accurate. It took but a single shot to blow out the Querida’s engines, leaving the small charte
