ReDawn (Skyward, #2.2)(57)

The ship was much larger than mine, with a wider canopy. There in the pilot’s seat was another dione, recognizable by the bright blue skin under their flight helmet. I pulled farther forward as destructor fire rained over us—the ships behind us were apparently more interested in taking me down than they were worried about hitting their allies. The larger ship cut to the side, trying to evade me—

But not before I caught a glimpse into the hold, where a second dione sat next to Rinakin, who was bound and gagged.

“He’s there,” I said to Arturo. I followed as the ship turned a wheel roll to try to shake me. I stayed firm on its tail.

“Orders?” Arturo asked.

“Hang on,” I said, and I fired my light hook at the spinning ship, trying to grab it.

My hook connected, but the other ship’s momentum pulled me to the side, right into a line of destructor fire. My shield took a hit, and I felt the impact in my bones.

“Angel,” Arturo said, “I’ve got three on my tail. I’m going to have to pull away to shake them.”

“Do it,” I said.

“You’ve got more on you,” he said. “Watch out—”

The destructor fire continued, and I was forced to drop my light hook and take a dive beneath the diones’ ship to avoid losing my shield. “I lost them,” I said to Arturo.

    “Stay alive,” Arturo said.

I had to ground that ship, but I couldn’t do that way out here away from the trees. And certainly not with so many ships on our tail.

“I’m going to take them on,” I said. “Don’t let them get away with Rinakin.” I pulled one of my favorite maneuvers from the junior leagues, a tight turn where my ship pivoted and my gravitational capacitors groaned and the weight of the universe seemed to bear down on my body—

And then it lifted, and I opened fire right in the faces of the enemy ships. They dodged to the side, but I pegged the shield of one and then caught another in a long burst of fire. It rolled, trying to avoid me, but its boosters went up in smoke and then the ship exploded, blooming like an opening flower.

The ship started to drop, beginning an uncontrolled descent, still flying forward with the force of its momentum.

The pilot didn’t eject.

I’d killed them.

“On your right,” Arturo said, and he opened fire, driving back two ships. “Rinakin’s ship is just ahead.”

Right. Focus. I gripped the control sphere much tighter than I’d been trained to do, trying to ignore the panic rising in my throat.

I killed someone.

They were alive before, and now they were dead.

I did that.

    Me.

“There it is,” Arturo said. As if he sensed my hesitation, he flew past me, chasing after the ship. “Plan?”

Bile rose in my throat. I had to get out of here. I had to get out of the sky before—

Destructor fire shot over my left wing, and I startled. I slammed forward with my boosters, picking up speed, joining Arturo.

That was enough. I had to end it now. I gained on the ship holding Rinakin and shot at it again with my light hook, which connected, wrapping around the fuselage.

With my light hook in place, I did the only thing I could think of to do.

I reached into the negative realm, called to Naga behind me, and pulled.





Twenty-one


We ripped out of the negative realm and skidded across the metal surface of Wandering Leaf. Our momentum died abruptly in the negative realm, but our boosters propelled us forward anew as we emerged again. I cut their power, keeping my eyes on the ship that held Rinakin as it skidded toward the base of one of the autoturrets and crashed to a stop.

My ship skidded a bit, grinding the landing gear against the metal of the platform, but it didn’t sustain too much damage. I scrambled out, tucking Chubs under my arm in case I needed to hyperjump. I didn’t know what the diones would do with Rinakin, but I guessed if they were his guards they’d be less averse to violence than not-Rinakin had been.

Sure enough, the canopy opened and one of the diones pointed a pistol at me and fired.

I lunged away behind the wing of their ship. They weren’t going to mess around, so neither would I. I grabbed coordinates for the spot right behind the dione’s seat and sent them to Chubs.

We appeared directly behind the dione with the gun, and right in front of the other very surprised dione, who let out a shriek.

Arturo’s ship had slid farther than mine, and he climbed out and raced toward us, but before he could arrive I put a hand on each dione and sent Chubs the coordinates I knew best.

We appeared moments later in the living area in my home on Spindle. Several Unity operatives looked up at me from where they were playing a card game. They could do nothing but watch as I shoved both diones forward and then slipped into the negative realm again, directing Chubs to bring us both back to the surface of Wandering Leaf.

    I ducked into the hangar to find Arturo staring at me wide-eyed. His voice was muffled by his helmet, but still audible. “I was going to try to punch them again.”

“Thank the wind it didn’t come to that,” I said, and climbed into the back of the ship, searching for Rinakin.

The oxygen generators were still working in here, so thankfully he hadn’t gotten a whiff of the miasma. Rinakin looked up at me in shock, though he must have assumed I was the one chasing down his ship. One side of his head was red and swelling, possibly from the impact on landing.