Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(39)

“Yes,” she said. “They were given orders over the hypercomm to retreat and wait. They’ve reported that the kitsen are fighting alongside us, so they want a larger force to beat down the resistance.”

Saints, that was not a good sign. “Amphi,” I said, “I’m giving you temporary command of the flight.”

“Jerkface?” Arturo said. “What are you doing now?”

“I’m going to go for help,” I said. We had a few moments here, so this was the best chance I was going to get. I couldn’t rely on the mindblades for everything. They were an effective tool, but I’d seen some of the monstrous weapons the Superiority had on their side and I wouldn’t be able to stop them all—not even with the rest of the flight watching my back. “They’re waiting for backup, so we need it too. I’ll try to get Stoff to let me take the platform.” I was tempted to tell him, rather than ask him, but I wasn’t sure how much longer that would work. It had only worked the first time because the command staff was reeling from the loss of Cobb and half the assembly, and because no one wanted to argue with me after what had happened to my parents.

I needed to feel out the situation, and I needed to do it quickly. “FM, I want you to come with me. Sentry can team up with Quirk and Nedder for the moment. We’ll land our ships and leave Snuggles in mine so we can return quickly and get back in the air.”

I hoped it would be quick, anyway. I didn’t know how long we’d have before the Superiority forces would arrive. “Alanik can keep me posted. Contact me immediately if you need us. Everyone clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Arturo said.

“Say hi to Stoff for us,” Nedd added.

I landed my ship against the cliff where it would be partially sheltered from view. FM’s came down beside me.

I looked over my shoulder at Juno. “Do you want to stay here?” I asked. “I can’t guarantee you’ll be safe in the ship.”

“I’d like to come with you,” Juno said. “Clearly my presence has been helpful.”

“It has,” I said. “I’m not going to use mindblades on Detritus though.”

“A shadow-walker travels the path at all times,” Juno said. “Not only when violence is required.”

I didn’t really know what that meant, but I also didn’t want to have to explain Juno’s presence to Stoff. “Actually,” I said, “the most helpful thing you could do is stay here and teach that meditation to Alanik.” She might not have a lot of time to learn, but she didn’t know how to use mindblades, and if she could pick up any skill at all…

“I can see the wisdom in that,” Juno said. “I never dreamed I’d work with a single cytonic, let alone have the privilege of directing two.”

“It’s your lucky day then.” I flipped on my radio. “Angel, if you want to come pick up Juno, he can run you through some exercises while I’m gone.”

“If his exercises taught you to do that,” Alanik said, “then I’ll be right there.”

“She’ll probably complain less than I did,” I said to Juno. I showed him how to work the radio in case he ran into trouble before Alanik arrived, and then I lifted the canopy of my ship.

My taynix needed to remain on Evershore so Gill would have a target he recognized to bring us right to our ship. “Stay here,” I said to Snuggles and Boomslug. Not that Boomslug could go far, but he tended to go wherever Snuggles went.

“Here!” Snuggles said.

I didn’t know if she understood, but it had to be good enough. I climbed out of my ship and met FM and Gill out on the sand.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Yeah,” I said. “Let’s make it fast.”

“All right,” she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Gill, take us home.”





Thirteen


It was even later on Detritus than it was on Evershore, but when we emerged in the taynix room on Platform Prime, we found Rig still at his desk in Engineering. Rig smiled when he saw FM, but then his smile immediately dropped.

“If you came without the rest of the flight, I’m guessing this isn’t good,” he said.

“It’s not,” I said. “We need to talk to Stoff.”

“I’m sure he’s gone to bed,” Rig said. “Almost everyone has.”

“Except for you,” FM said.

“Yeah,” Rig said. “I’ve been looking at some of the reports on the other platforms from the exploration crews. They found one a few hundred klicks from here with some similarities to Wandering Leaf. We think it might have a control room, and I’m charting us a good way to get in and take a look without getting hit by the autofire.”

That could be useful. I wondered if Stoff would let me take a few of the platforms to defend Evershore. Our planetary shield filled in the gaps between the platforms that had been wrecked, so I was pretty sure we could take a few without leaving ourselves entirely open, but Stoff wasn’t much of a risk-taker.

I could probably bring Wandering Leaf, because it technically belonged to the UrDail and not to the DDF, and I hoped he’d send a few extra flights. It might help if I reminded him that the Superiority hadn’t attacked our planet since we’d put up the shield, and that we could hyperjump back in a hurry the moment anything changed. Though I’d have to spin it in a way that allowed him to cover his ass later if I had any hope of convincing him extra firepower was necessary.