"My conveyor is five miles to the south, Tedor. We're going to blow you out of the sky unless you—"
Tedor snapped the telio off, went to the controls and replaced Dorlup at them.
"Can he do it?" Laniq wanted to know.
Through the port, they watched the other conveyor streak into view. Suddenly there was a rattling noise and a furious hissing as Ruscar opened up with rockets and machine guns. Cursing, Tedor clutched at the controls and their conveyor plummeted towards the earth.
"We're not armed," Dorlup wailed. "He can destroy us at his leisure."
"Maybe." Tedor brought them down to within a few hundred feet of the ground, Ruscar right behind them. The lack of anti-aircraft fire meant Ruscar had ordered the ground batteries out of action, since they might just as easily have hit him.
Ruscar's craft opened up again. A rocket ripped into the hull of their conveyor and exploded, flipping it in a quick 360 degree turn and flinging Tedor from the controls.
He climbed groggily to hands and knees, dragged himself back to the pilot chair. Laniq was stretched out on the floor, moaning. Dorlup sat dazed in a corner. But by the time Tedor sat at the instrument panel again, Laniq was on her feet groggily at his side.
"Bad?" she said.
"We're helpless, unless we can out-maneuver him."