Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(41)

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw FM and Rig exchange a look.

I didn’t really know what to say to that. I didn’t want to argue—I’d been worried that Stoff was going to take away what limited autonomy I had now that he knew Cobb was in fact incapacitated. DDF protocol was clear that he had the right—even the responsibility—to do just that.

“I can decide how many flights to call to Evershore,” I said. I didn’t want to belabor this too much—it was good news really, and Skyward Flight needed us to take care of this quickly and bring them help.

But this felt more like a trap.

“Yes,” Stoff said. “You’ve been very clear on what Cobb ordered you to do. If this is your mission, then you should have the autonomy to complete it, don’t you think?”

Ah. I saw what he was doing. On paper I was a renegade. I’d taken my flight and our starfighters to ReDawn, officially against orders. I’d then returned and demanded that we cut the assembly out of the loop and that we work with the kitsen to retrieve Cobb. There were plenty of people who would testify to my insubordination—everyone but Cobb would consider that case open and shut.

Stoff hadn’t arrested me when we returned, but he’d been watching me ever since. He’d been giving me a lot of leeway in case my actions might be in Detritus’s best interest, but he’d never quite committed to attaching his name to anything I’d done in case it blew up like the scudding Superiority ship.

If Stoff kept this up, he could still take credit for anything Skyward Flight accomplished—if he wanted the credit. If we failed he’d be able to wash his hands of it. Say I acted on my own, say he didn’t really understand what was happening while I was offworld.

Did Stoff really not care about anything but keeping his head down and avoiding responsibility for whatever came next?

“Sir,” I said. “Forgive me for questioning, but that’s a lot of autonomy.”

“It’s no more than the admiral saw fit to give you,” Stoff said. “Isn’t that right?”

Stars. Maybe that was all he cared about. This was in fact a lot more autonomy than the admiral had seen fit to give me. I didn’t want to push Stoff too hard though. I only wanted to understand his motives, not change his mind.

“This is important,” I said to him. “We’re protected for now, but it isn’t going to last. The Superiority’s resources are as vast as the galaxy. They’re trying to convince the delvers to be on their side. If we don’t find a way to resist them…”

Stoff cringed, his shoulders hunching forward. “You don’t have to tell me.” I saw genuine fear in his eyes. He was terrified. “If you think you can do something to better our situation, then you scudding well had better do it.”

He closed the door in my face.

“Did he seriously just do that?” FM asked.

“Dump responsibility for everything on us?” Rig asked. “Yeah, I think he did.”

Not on us. On me. I was an easy mark. My parents were gone, so I couldn’t depend on them to cover for me. I was isolated. Politically speaking, I was expendable.

Stoff seemed sincere about wanting us to succeed. He knew how desperate our situation was. But he wasn’t going to do anything about it. He was a vice admiral; with Cobb out of commission it was his job to step up and lead.

But he was hiding like a coward because he was too afraid to deal with it.

“Jorgen?” FM said.

“Hang on,” I said. “I need to check on the others.”

I leaned against the wall next to Stoff’s door, reaching into the nowhere. Alanik? I said.

Still nothing, she said. This rodent keeps talking to me about birds. There are no birds living in my mind, Jorgen, and I don’t know what he means about the waves either.

Huh. That had made sense to me, but… That’s about how I feel when you talk about finding locations in the nowhere, I said. Maybe mindblades aren’t your thing?

I felt annoyance from her. Alanik didn’t like to think herself incapable of things other people could do.

I understood. I didn’t like it either.

I can keep trying, she said, but I worry about leaving those ships alone in the sky. We could go up there and try to take them out if you want. Fewer to fight later.

If there was the option to wait or to act, Alanik was like Spensa—she always leaned toward acting. More than leaned; she ran toward it at full speed. This time she had a point, but I still didn’t think it was the right move. No, I told her. Protect the city.

There are a lot of cities, Jorgen, Alanik said. A whole planet’s worth. How are we going to protect them all?

She was right. Evershore didn’t have a shield, or even the cover of platforms and debris. They were so exposed. At least we’d only had to protect Alta. The kitsen were spread out over the entire planet.

How did people survive this way? How were we going to protect them?

Could we?

I’m working on it, I said, as if I had a clue about what I was doing. Focus on Dreamspring for now.

“Jorgen?” FM said. “Should we head over to Command?”

The command center was staffed all night. The vice admiral had probably already put in the call and gone back to sleep, leaving the rest of it to us.

We did need to head over to Command, but if Stoff was really going to let me have whatever I wanted…