Evershore(Skyward #3.1)(48)

“Nedder’s closest,” Arturo said.

“On it,” Nedd said.

“Follow me,” I said to Juno. I scooped Snuggles, Boomslug, Bob the commslug, and the inhibitor taynix out of their boxes and took off at a full run toward the hangar.

When I arrived, I watched through the windows as Nedd pulled a barrel roll past the autofire. The turrets were focused on the ship with the cannons and were doing some impressive damage to the ship around it. Maybe they would be able to disable the thing before—

The blue light grew even more blinding. Nedd used his light-lance to flip around one of the turrets and landed on the platform right outside the hangar.

Juno’s floating platform zipped along behind me as we ran up to Nedd’s cockpit just as he lifted the canopy. The noise of the autofire was deafening, and I dove into the cockpit behind Nedd, straddling the back of his seat and holding on with both hands. Juno hovered beside Nedd’s seat, and the four slugs flattened their bodies against me.

Nedd pulled down the canopy and didn’t even have time for a wisecrack before he took off again. The turrets were so focused on the planetary weapon that they didn’t fire on us, but when we got far enough away that the vibrations returned, I had Snuggles hyperjump us several kilometers farther just to be certain.

The world flared blue as the cannon fired, the blast rocketing through Wandering Leaf, tearing it apart. The autocannons had taken out a good half of the Superiority ship, and the cannon’s light faded, no longer powering. We’d gotten rid of the weapon.

But we’d lost the platform in the process.

“Jerkface,” FM said, “did the UrDail pilots all make it out?”

“They did,” I said. “No casualties. Just catastrophic damage.”

“Dude, I saved your life,” Nedd said. “The least you could do is stop squeezing my pecs.”

I dropped my arms from around Nedd’s chair. I hadn’t realized I was holding on so tight or so…awkwardly. “Sorry,” I said. “Hang on, I’m going to transport us to my ship.” My whole body was squeezed into a space so tight I wasn’t sure how I was managing to fit. I’d only gotten in here on pure adrenaline.

I directed Snuggles to jump Nedd’s ship to the beach next to mine, still sheltered under the cliff, then I held on to her and had her hyperjump me, Juno, and Boomslug out of the cockpit. We landed in the sand outside my ship.

There standing in front of it was Kimmalyn, with Happy tucked into a sling across her chest. “Thank the stars you’re okay,” I said.

“Happy teleported me to the other side of the beach,” Kimmalyn said. “I was thinking about stealing your ship, but I guess you need it.”

“I do,” I said. I didn’t think for a minute that the cytonic with the mindblades had been killed in that blast. They would still be out there, and I wasn’t going to let them wreak havoc on our forces. “If you take Happy home, you can get another ship and then hyperjump to Naga,” I said. “That’ll get you back in the fight.”

“On it,” Kimmalyn said. “Just…be careful.”

Scud, she’d been shot out of the sky. It was only Happy that had saved her. “If you’re too shaken up—”

“I’m fine,” Kimmalyn said. Her hands were shaking, but she gave me a very forced smile. “I would feel much worse knowing you all were still up there without me. Happy, let’s go home.”

Kimmalyn disappeared, and I climbed into my cockpit, Juno floating in behind me before I closed the canopy.

My radio was going nuts.

“Jerkface!” FM said over the radio. “Are you okay?”

“He got out,” Alanik said. “He’s down on the beach.”

“I’m here,” I said. I lifted my ship a couple of meters, using my sensors to take stock of the battle. The planetary weapon was high enough in the atmosphere that it wasn’t falling immediately to the ground, though the cannon was obviously destroyed.

Jorgen, Alanik said in my head. Watch out—

With a great crunching of metal and shattering of glass, my ship ripped apart around me. A pair of mindblades sliced down into the dash, obliterating the canopy. I slammed down the altitude control and jumped out through the torn metal, pulling my slugs with me out onto the sand.

I could feel the enemy cytonic over on the beach. They’d hyperjumped after me. Juno slid out through the broken glass and hid beside me, the ship between us and the enemy cytonic.

It wasn’t going to last for long. I felt more mindblades forming around the enemy cytonic, another volley about to rip through the ship to get at me.

“Now would be a good time for that meditation,” I said to Juno.

“You are completely relaxed!” Juno said.

I reached for the nowhere, skimming my mind over the surface. My birds formed again, little shards of death and nothingness, and I flew them with all my might over the ship toward the enemy cytonic. More blades flew at us, and I pulled Juno’s platform down as I flattened myself against the ground. The enemy’s mindblades dug into the ship, and I twisted mine around, jabbing at the enemy cytonic where I could see them in my mind.

The enemy’s mindblades vanished. We’d had cover but they hadn’t, and when I peered over the ship I found the body of a dione with bright red skin lying bleeding on the ground.