Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky, #3)(17)

Soren snorted. “You can’t just walk up and take a Hovercraft. And a distraction would never work. Any disturbance on a routine patrol would get reported back to the command leader at the Komodo. If you create a diversion, you’re basically putting everyone on high alert.”

“What if we contact them first?” Aria said.

“And say what? Our feelings were hurt when you tried to kill us?”

Perry leaned forward, forcing himself to ignore Soren. “What are you thinking?” he asked Aria.

“That we’re approaching this the wrong way,” she said. “We have to get way ahead of them.” She looked at Soren. “Can you hack into their communications from this ship?”

“Honestly, Aria, sometimes I feel like you don’t even know me.”

“Answer,” Perry snapped.

“Yes. I can.” Soren looked at her. “For the last time, hopefully: I can hack anything.”

Aria smiled. “Perfect.”





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9


ARIA


Her plan was this: they would transmit a false message to the Dragonwing, sending the patrol on a mission to assist a downed Belswan—which they would pretend to be.

If the order came from a Dweller commander, Aria reasoned, the pilots would have no reason to check it. When the patrol unit came to assist, they’d walk into an ambush. Aria and Perry would have their team waiting, ready to overpower the crew. They’d take over the patrol ship and then return to the Komodo disguised as the regular team.

It was the same way she’d entered Bliss when she’d been searching for her mother. She’d put on a Guardian uniform and walked right in.

Why fight the enemy when you could fool them?

“I like it,” Roar said, when she’d finished explaining. “It’s a damn good plan.”

Aria caught his eye and smiled in thanks.

“It would get us close,” Perry said, nodding. “Closer than any other option we have.”

Aria looked at Soren, who stared into space, lost in thought. She wondered what he thought of the plan most of all.

“It all depends on you,” she said. “The only way it’ll work is if you break into the Komodo’s communications system.”

Soren looked at her and nodded. “I can do it. No problem.”

She never doubted it. For all the trouble he was, Soren had one skill she could always count on. In a way, it was what had started everything.

Soren stood. The glazed look in his eyes was gone, replaced with fevered anticipation of the challenge. “I’m going to run a basic vulnerability analysis to get a look at the Komodo’s attack surface.”

Aria had no clue what that meant. Judging by the blank faces around her, she wasn’t alone.

Soren rolled his eyes and wiggled his fingers in the air. “You know. Feel the security system up a little to see what I’m dealing with.”

A laugh burst out of Jupiter, but he muffled it when Perry stood.

“Uh, sorry,” Jupiter said.

She forgot how commanding Perry could be. How he could quiet people with a look when he chose to.

“Get to work, Soren,” he said, and then turned to Brooke and Roar. “Let’s start outside. I want a full sweep of the terrain. If we’re going to draw them to us, I want to be in the strongest position possible.”

Brooke looked at Soren and wiggled her fingers in the air, parroting his gesture. “That means we’re going to feel up the surrounding area a little, Dweller. See what we’re dealing with.”

Soren’s eyes never left Brooke as she grabbed her bow and headed outside with Perry and Roar.

“What was her name again?” he asked when she was gone.

Aria stood, trying to hide a smile. “Laurel,” she answered on a whim. Soren irritated everyone else. Let him be on the receiving end for once. Inspired, she added, “I think she likes you, Soren.”

Then she jogged outside.

Perry was buckling a black belt with a Dweller pistol in the holster. He seemed comfortable with carrying the weapon, though he’d held it for the first time only a week ago. His bow and quiver also rested at his feet. Aria smiled to herself. Instead of choosing a weapon from her world or his, he’d decided to take both.

“Do you need me?” she said. She could scout as well as Roar and Brooke, who had already disappeared into the darkness.

Perry looked up. His hair was tied back with a leather strip, but a piece fell forward, a blond wave coming to rest at his eyebrow. “You want the truth?”

Aria braced herself for a comment about her arm. “Always.”

“That’s my answer. But it’s probably better for you to keep an eye on things here.” He grinned, sweeping his bow and quiver over his shoulder. “I’d do it, but I’m worried my fist might find Soren’s face.”

As she watched him walk away, she tried to shake off the feeling that he’d left too quickly. He’d just said he needed her always. Why couldn’t she focus on that?

When he reached the edge of the woods, she called out, “Be careful.”